Another up-the-veggie quota recipe, I originally wanted to make celeriac fries from a recipe online but I couldn't find any. I'm pretty sure it is out of season so I had a backup plan in the shape of carrot fries. Now, I know sweet potato fries are usually the plan B option, but the Hubby DOES NOT LIKE sweet potatoes. Boo. I do know he likes carrots though so these Roasted Parmesan Carrots were worth a try...
Yay or Nay: Yay
Even though they look Nay, they were a yay after all. So it turned out that the Hubby doesn't like cooked carrots as they remind him of sweet potatoes and in turn I did have to give him a portion of raw carrots instead. The prep was easy enough, I put everything in a bag, gave it a shake and hey pesto! The only complaint was that the crumb didn't quite stick to the carrots but that may be down to the frugal amount of oil I was using. Also, the crumb cooked before the carrots so they were erring on the side of still being raw. On the plus side, the Hubby did like them after all as they had a bit of a bite to them. Result!
I'd read in the weekend paper that it is recommended that you eat at least two and a half cups of veggies a day. I did a quick calculation of what I usually eat in a day and it definitely fell short. Now I consider myself a pretty healthy eater but this scared me a little as I knew I wasn't getting half of that. Anyway, I browsed the net for recipes that would include more veggies and most importantly disguise them for the Hubby. This Spicy Shrimp with Cauliflower Mash ticked the (more) seafood box and the hiding-the-veggies box too, no harm in trying right?
Yay or Nay: Hmm...in the middle
It's meant to be one or the other right, but this divided us both. We both loved the shrimp, it was seasoned well and had a nice kick. However, the mash was, er, interesting. Yes I didn't use the white beans so maybe that affected it but the texture was slightly off. The cornmeal thickened but made it look a little unappetising. Even though I've cut down on my cheese intake, it definitely needed more cheese to add somedepth of flavour and DO NOT SKIP the salt, as I learned the hard way, I can promise you it will be a tasteless mealy slop.
There's nothing better than a surprise right? By chance someone at work had left a pile of old Bon Appetit magazines on the communal table. Honestly I have never flicked through the magazine or considered reading it, but seeing as there was nothing else to do during lunch I figured it can't hurt. The surprise was, they were pretty informative and definitely inspiring for mid-week meals. Yes they probably require a little more work or ingredients you can't quite get your hands on but it's worth a try!
The recipe for Passport Pasta intrigued me as it sounded as delicious as a meaty pasta I usually make but switched up with harissa and Merguez sausage.
Yay or Nay: Yay
It was better than I expected, the chorizo gave it a kick and the feta added a nice salty element. I do have to say that actual merguez sausage probably would have elevated this but could not find it for the life of me! Next time I might make my own sausage based on Ottelenghi's recipe in this weekend's Guardian instead.
I had a craving for some juicy, spicy and crispy chicken and I knew Jerk Chicken would hit the spot. I tried to make some before but it didn't have the depth of flavour I was expecting. I was hoping that researching several spice combinations would help see what I might be missing or could do without. This spice mix from Diethood looked simple enough and I combined it with a slow cooker method for Jerk Chicken.
Yay or Nay: A 50/50
The method itself was easy, cook for a few hours and then finish off in the broiler in order to make the skin crispy. The spice mix was a little lacking, so I think next time I'll either buy a ready made spice mix or try another recipe.
This isn't the OFFICIAL recipe for Bojangles' Dirty Rice, I got this through randomly clicking through Pinterest so it is from Nosh Cook Book instead. I was looking for a side dish for some jerk chicken I was making, naturally the spicy moreishness of this spicy cajun rice (not dissimilar to jambalaya) was a natural pairing. Now, I love me some Bojangles but you can't get it in Upstate NY so any trip down South means a trip to the nearest Bojangles!
Yay or Nay: Yay
It was pretty much fry off the sausage and onion then dump everything else in, boil, cover and simmer for 20 minutes and that's it! I used brown rice instead of white, omitted the celery salt as I had none and used leftover chorizo instead of ground pork. Still tasted good though!!
As soon as I moved to the U.S. I needed something from home to rustle up dinners while I wasn't working. I remember seeing Jamie do his thing on TV with Gado Gado. It looked delicious on screen and I had never tasted something like this before, so when I needed some inspiration I knew this was the dish to try. First, I had to buy the book, later I realised I could've just looked up the recipe online. Duh! What did we do before the internet?
Yay or Nay: Yay
Sorry, the photos are a little skewed! This was a combo of pictures from my last two tries of this recipes. Obviously the ingredients don't match but that's the beauty of Gado Gado, you can mix and match ingredients BUT keep the dressing the same! I substituted the green beans for Thai basil which I had leftover from Pho (although I think I had some Vietnamese coriander in the first pics). Anywho, it was all good, made even better with the nutty tangy dressing which is the star!!
As I was prepping for dinner I realised I forgot potatoes, so I frantically searched through my fridge to see what I could come up with. By chance I had a bulb of fennel that I hadn't used for a slaw so I googled what I could make. I didn't even have to scroll that far down before this recipe for Roasted Fennel with Rosemary Breadcrumbs. Sounds like a winning combo with grilled salmon!
Yay or Nay: Yay
Surprisingly, it was fragrant and the mix of crunchy breadcrumbs with the warm aniseed of the fennel was a winner. Note: The breadcrumbs were good mixed in with giant cous cous and feta salad.
