An extravaganza of side dishes, a la Nigella!

I invited my parents-in-law over for dinner this evening, with the intention of trying out some more recipes from Nigellissima, the Nigella Lawson recipe book I'd been given for Christmas. I planned a roast beef with 'Italian Roast Potatoes', 'Savoy Cabbage with Potatoes, Fennel Seeds and Taleggio' and 'Garlic Mushrooms with Chilli and Lemon', followed by 'Vanilla Panna Cotta'.

My first problem was that when Steve had done the grocery shopping, he hadn't been able to find any gelatine leaves. Uh oh, I couldn't make the panna cotta without them! I'd better find some, quick! I assumed the most 'upmarket' supermarket would be most likely to have gelatine leaves, so I headed for New World in New Lynn. Not only did I find gelatine leaves (yes!) but also rose water which I've hunted for before and not found, and I was able to stock up on muscovado sugar which Nigella loves to use in her recipes.

By the time I got home with my goodies, Steve had put the beef in the oven to roast and my guests had arrived. Still plenty of time to make everything though...except the panna cotta. It's supposed to refrigerate for a minimum of six hours, and I probably had three...maybe four if I pushed it. And I had to make it yet, a tricky little dessert that I'd never attempted before. Uh oh. Well, never mind. I decided we'd just have that deliciously simple mousse again. No point stressing after all. Better to sit down and enjoy a visit with guests.

The roast potatoes were so easy - potatoes and garlic cloves in the roasting tray, rosemary and olive oil on top...in to the oven. Beautifully simple.


We made the cabbage dish using camembert instead of taleggio at Nigella's suggestion. I confess, I didn't even bother asking Steve to look for taleggio but I will have a look for it myself next time I do the grocery shopping and see if it makes a difference to the dish. I wasn't sure about the wisdom of having potatoes in this dish AS WELL as the Italian potatoes, but actually, there's not much potato in this dish. So it's a matter of frying the potato, spring onion and fennel seeds, then adding cabbage, water and seasonings. Then you just add the cheese after it's all cooked and the liquid has been absorbed. It looked tasty.


Steve made the mushroom dish for me, which was particularly handy since I don't like mushrooms. Basically, you fry the mushrooms in parsley, lemon zest, chilli flakes, minced garlic and salt, then season with lemon juice.


What do you think of our impressive meal?


The roast beef was dry (should have made gravy!) and the potatoes were nothing special (although still yum!) but the cabbage....WOW! So good! And I was told the mushrooms were divine. The cabbage and mushrooms are definitely going in the recipe book and will definitely be made in my house again!

Fantail Potatoes, Christmas Pudding Liqueur & Dog Biscuits

I had to take Jayden to the doctors this afternoon to get his plaster cast remove and a fibreglass one put on. While we were sitting in the waiting room I picked up an old copy of the Australian Woman's Weekly. It was a Christmas special with all sorts of delicious recipes. I used my phone to take a copy of the recipes for Fantail Potatoes (they look just like the ones Mum used to make, but with bay leaves and stock), Christmas Pudding Liqueur (similar to the drink Sue made for Christmas day - maybe a new flavour for her to try) and Dog Biscuits (why not?). I'll try them out and see how they go. Might be some new additions to the recipe book!

Recipes from Aunty Marie

Yesterday was a good day for the family recipe book project.

Another feature I wanted to incorporate in to the book was a small (one page) feature on the role the Edmonds Cookbook has played in our (cooking) lives. The Edmonds is so popular in New Zealand that there is an average of TWO COPIES PER HOUSEHOLD. So what I thought I’d do was list all the copies we have in the extended family, and then the recipes included in our family recipe book that came from those different editions. The editions make a difference, because for instance, Gran Schroder’s 1955 copy was all imperial measurements. The 1980 edition is by far the most popular version resulting in a more ‘homemade’ style of food while the more recent editions are not found to be so idiot-proof.

So far I had:
1955 edition – owned by Gran Schroder. We have several recipes from this version, mostly in the baking section.
1980 edition – owned by Mum and also Sue & Jim. We have quite a few recipes from this version.
1998 edition – I was given this copy when I first left home and went flatting. As it has been kept at Mum’s house (and she prefers the 1980 version) there are no recipes from this in our book.
2002 edition – Steve and I were given this when we got married. There are a few recipes from this version in the book.
2011 edition - Steve and I bought this when we thought we'd lost our 2002 edition. We haven't included any recipes from this one.

So I got an email from Nana Burland telling me that she originally had an older copy which she’d given to her daughter-in-law Rhonda in Australia. Now she uses a 1992 edition (because you can’t NOT have an Edmonds cookbook!). Also, she said her daughter Sue had a copy of the 1980 edition. That edition was really popular! So that’s awesome. I don’t have any recipes from the 1992 edition, but that’s okay.

Then Rhonda emailed me to let me know that the copy Nana Burland gave her was a 1976 edition. No recipes from that either, but good to add to the list. :)

Then Andrea advised that her copy is actually a FIRST EDITION Edmonds MICROWAVE cookbook. It came out in 1989 and she was given it for Christmas 1989 from Mum & Dad. Very cool! Will have to see if she can recommend any recipes from it.

I emailed Steve’s Uncle Jon & Aunty Marie to see if they had a copy, and Marie came back and told me that their version is the 2004 edition. Then she gave me FIVE recipes for the book! Not from the Edmonds, but just five recipes she wanted included. YAY!!!!! Totally made my day! Lol

They were:
Pork Tenderloin - ’We love this!’
Meat Dumplings - ’This one is a family favourite, tasty and not expensive to make. It is essentially a meat dumpling served on rice with a broth type sauce.’
Nigella Lawson’s Peanut Butter Cups – ’This is one I make each Christmas, or for special occasions. Everyone loves these, it doesn’t matter if you don’t usually like peanut butter.’
Kai Si Min - ’It tastes basically like the filling they put in spring rolls, but nicer (not greasy!). Very cheap, but filling, and absolutely yummy dinner. I believe that pretty much everyone was making it back in the seventies.’
Jamie Oliver’s Yorkshire Puddings - ’I tried this the other week and it turned out absolutely perfect! Impressed the family and a guest.’

Yay! This project just keeps getting better and betterer. lol

Chapter headings

I've been making some good progress on the recipe book project lately, scrapping more of the recipes ready for the book. I decided that I would do a 'title page' for each 'chapter' of the book, with a quote from a family member. Some of the quotes we've got are so good, but don't relate to a particular recipe. Like Poppa Pete's one about his mum's cooking. So I'm working on getting one for each chapter. This is where I'm at so far...

Starters & Snacks

Soups

Main Meals

Side Dishes

Desserts

Baking

Condiments & Sauces
I might see if I can get a quote from Jim about his aioli or hummus for this one.

Preserves

Drinks

Special Occasions

Sundries
I might ask Rhonda to give me a quote for this, so I have a Burland quote. That will help even it all out, so each part of the family is in there. :)

Pumpkin Bake

Maureen Hancock's Scalloped Potatoes

Fran's Yorkshire Puds

Bubble & Squeak Cakes

Recipes from Grandma

I got a letter from Grandma today....with more recipes!! Ha ha! I love that everyone is contributing. I really thought I'd have to nag people to get a recipe from each of them, so I love that people are just sending them. It's so great. This book is going to be AWESOME. Chops & Orange Casserole Meatballs in Ginger Raisin Sauce Potato Cake Fruit Pudding Steamed Creamy Mushroom Fettuccine That makes nine recipes from Grandma. :) She also said 'The only time your grandad got in the kitchen was Saturday nights and he would cook a big fry up - bacon, eggs, etc, etc. Not very healthy, but went down nicely thank you!'

Fran's Yorkshire Puds

Lynda sent me an email today with a recipe for Yorkshire Puddings that she got from her boyfriend's sister Fran. They ate them on Christmas Day and Lynda said they were delicious. Mmm, I love Yorkshire Puddings! I have photos of Lynda and Fran together at Christmas to go with the recipe, as well as a picture of the Yorkshire Puddings themselves.

Recipes from Poppa Pete

Today we went over to Poppa Pete's. It was the first time we'd seen him since Christmas. We had a chat and spent a bit of time just catching up, then we asked Poppa Pete if he had any recipes he wanted to contribute. He started off giving us a few of his, then, wonder of wonders, he brought out Granny Rhodes (his mother)'s recipe book and Granny Booth (Nana Rose's mother)'s recipe book. AWESOME!! Nana Rose had written a few down too, so we got some of hers as well. It was so great. SO great. :) Check this out - this is the front page of Granny Rhodes' recipe book:

And, I thought it was funny, we found this 'recipe' for knitted bed socks in there!!

From Poppa Pete: Boiled Fruit Cake Butter Chicken With Yoghurt - 'This is another one that I make that I love.' Caramel or Chocolate Dairy Food Cake Chocolate Truffles Chopped Chicken Livers & Mushrooms Christmas Cake - with a photo of his 2010 version! Coconut & Cinnamon Cake Countryman's Kidneys - 'One of my favourite recipes for kidneys.' Date & Ginger Cake Distinction Pie (from the Speights Southern Man Cookbook!!) Fish a la Mariniere Glazed Salmon with Mustard Dill Sauce Honey Glazed Lamb Iced Biscuits Krunch Moggy Sponge Mushroom & Tomato Scramble on Eggs Mustard Crusted Lamb with Couscous Oat Squares Pancetta Wrapped Chicken Thighs Parkin Pear Pastries - 'This is a beaut dessert. I have tried this, it is a cracker!' Piggy Head Brawn - 'This is a good one. I don't do this anymore as it is a hassle for just one person.' Pineapple & Vanilla Slices Powder Puffs Rolled Oat Shortbread Sauce & Glaze for Spare Ribs Scones Shepherd's Pie (also from the Speights Southern Man Cookbook!) - 'I made that, and it was good.' Treacle & Raisin Sponge Victoria Sandwich Cake Wholemeal Fruit Loaf Yoghurt Recipe (for a cake made by measuring the ingredients out with a yoghurt pottle!) Yorkshire Parkin From Nana Rose: After Dinner Mints Apricot Mould Be-Ro Krunchies Biscuits Blue Band Sponge Sandwich Cake Boiled Choko Bottled Beetroot Carrot Cake Cheese Cakes Chelsea Buns Chicken Pie Chocolate Cake Chocolate Crispies Chutney Elderberry Wine Energy Bar Fruit Punch Ginger Bread Gingerbread Biscuits Herbed Zucchini in Cream (found written on the back of a pantyhose packet!!) Honey Nut Cakes Macaroni Bake Meatballs in Spicy Tomato Sauce My Cheesecake Nutties Pavlova Pickled Gherkins Pikelets Plastic Icing (white icing) Plum Sauce Rhubarb Crumble (found written on the back of a Christmas card!) Rum Butter Russian Fudge Savoury Omlette Schnapper Baked Spice Biscuits Spicy Meatballs with Rice Sweet Delicious From Granny Rhodes: Almond Cake Almond Snaps Apple Snow Apricot & Pineapple Jam Australian Shortbread Banana Cream Belgium Cake Biscuits Blackcurrant Jam Bottled Beans Bottled Peaches Bottled Pears Bottled Tomatoes Brandy Snaps Butter Sponge Cake Cake With Apple Sauce Caramel Toffee Cheap Toffee - 'This was the recipe she used for Plot Toffee for Guy Fawkes. We'd wrap it up in little cones of greaseproof paper and take it to the teacher in the morning. It'd make you chew for hours, good for shutting the kids up. Really stuck your teeth together.' Cheap War Cake Cheese & Tomato Paste for Sandwiches Cheese Custard Cheese Eggs Cheese Pudding Chocolate Biscuits Chocolate Icing Chocolate Jelly Chocolate Sandwich Chocolate Truffles Christmas Cake Christmas or Birthday Cake with Almond Icing Christmas Pudding Chutney Cinnamon Coffee Cake Coconut Cake Cream Cream Cheese Cream Filling Cream Salad Dressing Crunchies Custard Kisses Dainty Pudding Dandelion Wine - 'Dandelion Wine, Elderberry Wine, flippin' Parsnip Wine! She'd make anything in to wine. Some turned out rubbish, some were dynamite.' Delicious Biscuits Egg Biscuits Egg Nog Biscuits Eggless Cake Farmhouse Cake Filling for Chocolate Cake Firelighters Fish Cakes Fish Pie Four Currant Loaves Fruit Fool Ginger Biscuits Ginger Nuts Ginger Wine Grapefruit Marmalade Ground Rice Cheese Cakes Harvo Bread - 'Harvo was a proprietary recipe, made by a company, sold in special little loaves. God knows how she got the recipe.' Honeycomb Ice Box Cookies Iced Biscuits Jelly Jordon Cake Krunch Lemon Cheese Lemon Curd Lemonade Macaroons Marmalade Marzipan Meringues Mincemeat Minties Mock Cream Nice Fish Dish Oat Cakes Orange Cake Pavlova Cake Piccalilli Pound Cake Quaker Oat Biscuits Quaker Oat Cake Queen Cakes Quick Raspberry Jam Quick Strawberry Jam Raised Meat Pie Raisin Scones Rice Cake Rolled Oat Biscuits Salad Cream Sausage Croquettes Scones Scotch Eggs Scotch Pastry Shortbread Shortcake Shrewsbury Biscuits Snap Closure Bottling Sponge Cake Sponge Parkin Sponge Roll Sponge Sandwich Strawberry Jam Stuffed Plaice & Shrimp Sauce Filling Sweets Tea Biscuits Tomato Chutney Tomato Pickle Tomato Sauce Trifle Vegetable Salad Vegetable Soup Very Nice Sweet Cake Walnut Chocolate Drops Walnut Sponge Cake Wartime Butter Wartime Dog Biscuits (these are really dog biscuits, not a funny name for a recipe!) Wartime Lemon Cheese Wartime Salad Cream Wartime Sweet Cake Wedding or Birthday Cake Yeast Cake Yeast Spice Cake Yorkshire Parkin - 'We always had Yorkshire Parkin and Plot Toffee on Guy Fawkes.' From Granny Booth: Apple Crumble Apple Crumble Pudding Apple Surprise Tart Cherry Cake - I have this written in Granny Booth's handwriting, Nana Rose's handwriting, Poppa Pete's handwriting and even Steve's handwriting. Obviously a popular family recipe!!! College Pudding Cream Horns Curd Tarts Date & Walnut Cake Dundee Cake Fish with White Wine & Mushroom Sauce Flakey Pastry Flan Pastry Ginger Biscuits Ginger Bread Ground Rice Tarts Lemon Meringue Pie Oat Biscuits Shortbread Shortcrust Pastry Sponge Flan Walnut Cake And a few that were accredited to others: Betty's Christmas Cake - Betty Stephenson Cherry Cake - Mary Steele (Nana Rose's grandmother!!) Economical Cake Recipe - Kath (not sure if this is Nana Rose's sister Kathleen or Poppa Pete's sister-in-law Kath) Eggless Ginger Cake - Ann Rhodes (this is Poppa Pete's grandmother!!) Ginger Bread - Mary Steele Ginger Pudding - Kath Mary's Chocolate Cake - Mary Welch (Sue's sister & Steve's aunt) Potted Meat - Geoffrey (not sure if this is Uncle Jon's son Geoffrey or just some random unknown man) Sand Cake - Ann Rhodes Susan's Devils Food Cake - Susan Rhodes (have photos of Jim making this for the kids birthday this year!) - 'Is a good recipe. Really good.' Tomato Sauce - Betty Stephenson (Poppa Pete's sister) I was so pleased and excited that when we got home from Poppa Pete's, I went through our recipes and got the ones we'll be contributing. :) Steve: Banana Lemon Cake - with a photo of the one he made me to take to work that says 'Happy Birthday DollyB' on it. Ha ha! Devils Food Cake - an Eves Pantry recipe that unfortunately makes 18 cakes. Not 18 servings but 18 whole cakes. lol That's the problem with commercial baking recipes. But I have a picture of my 21st cake which was made using that recipe to go with it, and it's neat to include as part of Steve's baking history. Apparently they sold it to Starbucks, so if you bought Devils Food Cake in NZ, this was what you were buying... Chocolate Cake - this is his most popular recipes and I have photos of about seven different cakes to go with this one!! Sweetcorn Fritters Pancakes Bacon & Egg Pie Banana Cake Melting Moments Lemon & Yoghurt Cake Sachertorte Biscotti Christmas Fruit Mix Christmas Mince Pies Christmas Cake Elle: Jamie Oliver's Winter Pudding Bombe - we made this and took it to the belated Christmas dinner we had at Sue & Jim's, so I have lots of photos of the kids and I making it. :) Spring Rolls - not sure about putting these in, but I have photos of the kids making them! Sushi - another one I'm not sure about putting in, but I have photos of! Toad In The Hole - this is a Gordon Ramsay book from the book Lynda bought me, and I have photos of it too! Beef Olives

Recipes from Mum and Andrea

Yesterday I went up to Mum's, planning to borrow her rollerblades (Mum and I have the same size feet). Unfortunately when the kids and I got up there, it was bucketing down with rain. So definitely no outdoor activities. I figured that since I was up there, and stuck inside, I'd go through Mum's cookbooks with her and get recipes for my Family Recipe Book project. I got HEAPS!! Some are even from a cookbook of Nanny's...

I got... Stuffed eggplant with pesto - a WW recipe Chicken & sundried tomato snack - WW Veal steaks with lemon & rosemary sauce - WW Chicken Tzatziki - WW Watermelo jelly - WW Potato, leek & bacon soup - WW Apple & Fruit Sponge Pudding - 'A perennial favourite of the Maud family - apples or apples and berries or apples and rhubarb.' Stuffed Marrow - 'I was often given marrows from excess grown by friends. I used to fill them with a bacon, tomato & onion mixture and top with cheese & breadcrumbs. Was another dinner party favourite.' Meat pie - 'Was one of Dick's favourites. I would make the pastry and he would make the meat filling.' Apple pie Christmas mince pies Neenish tarts - 'Another favourite.' Louise cake - 'A favourite of Dick's.' Cheese cakes - 'They don't have any cheese in them! But are delicious little cake filled tarts.' Chilli jam - 'I got this recipe from Maggie. She was making the jam when I visited and gave me a jar of it with the recipes.' White bread Croissants (need to find the photo of Steve making these for Christmas breakfast) Raisin & nut bread Blue Mountain Broccoli - 'Always a hit.' Mixed herb dumplings - 'Dick likes these. :)' Chicken & mushroom casserole Beef cobbler Chocolate orange biscuits Whole oat slices Old fashioned lardy cake - 'One of Pop's favourites from his childhood. His mother used to make it. Lard used to be a commodity in reasonable supply then, though frowned upon these days.' Butterfly or Angel Cakes Ginger Beer - 'My mother used to make ginger beer, and store it in the cupboard in the kitchen. Occasionally a bottle or two would explode, but it was delicious.' Spiced lamb kebabs with coleslaw - WW Athenian mince - 'I used to make this when I first got married.' Pork, noodles & broccoli stirfry - WW Grilled lamb cutlets with red currant jelly sauce - WW Hot cross buns - have a photo of Mum & Callum making these - 'Used to make these on Good Friday every year, often using fresh yeast.' Honey muesli - 'Honey muesli is a great way to start the day!' Christmas Pudding - 'I used to make this every year until we got hold of Granny Hancock's recipe.' Colonial Goose - 'A New Zealand classic. I once made it for catering a Playgroup dinner and had five legs of lamb boned. I served it with stuffed baked potatoes (stuffed with a tomato, bacon and onion mix and topped with cheese).' Milles Fuelles slices - 'We called these Match Sticks. Easy to make and really styly.' Meatloaf Baby pecan pies - 'Was from a Jo Seager TV series. Always useful for taking a plate.' Apricot loaf - 'Easy and delicious.' Lemon loaf - 'A good standby.' Courgette slice - 'This recipe was given to me by Leanne Jackson when I worked at Sellars & Co solicitors. The kids always enjoyed it, and it was a good way to get them to eat courgettes.' Boiled fruit cake - 'This recipe was off the back of a packet of mixed fruit. It was given to me by my mother-in-law when I was first married because Dick liked it. Often it would be half eaten before it was cold. I used to double the mixture and make two or three cakes.' Port & prune truffles - 'Another Jo Seager recipe taken from her TV series. I ring the changes by using citrus prunes and Cointreau.' Flummery - 'Bev Richardson used to make this when I was about five and it was always a favourite.' Rare fillet of beef with green sauce - 'A recipe from a competition in Wellsford run by Halls Electrical about 1992. I have made the green sauce lots and it's delicious.' Pumpkin & lentil soup - 'Yum!' Thai fish salad - 'Make this all the time.' Fish with lemon & Caper sauce Pulled taffy - 'Our kids can remember making this with me when they were young.' Spiced apple shortcake - 'Always a favourite.' Egg n crumbed fish - 'Fish fingers are popular with kids and these ones we knew that they were all fish. Kids loved them.' Cho kanjang - 'Found while researching for our trip to South Korea. Dick and I really like it.' Lemon cheesecake - 'Contributed this to a book I was involved in creating to raise money for Korean charities during our stay in Korea (2008).' Dukkah - 'Used to serve this dukkah with breads and dips at the restaurant (Bardz Brasserie in 2004).' Pan fried lemon chicken - WW Chicken & mushroom scallopine - WW Fish & potato pie - WW potato cakes - 'Used to make them all the time.' Steamed thai chicken rolls - WW And I got a couple from Andrea too: Andrea & Rita's mulled wine Chicken & vegetable curry - 'Andrea made this and it was so delicious.' Cajun chicken with lime, tomato & avocado - 'One of Andrea's favourites to make, especially nice on the BBQ.' Coconut ice - with a photo of Andrea selling it at Calf Club Day! Chicken, vege & tortellini soup - WW - 'I made this for dinner when Mum was sick. She needed a light, clear soup. It was so delicious that we've had it many times since. It's one of the few I cook (Mum usually cooks!).' I must put Dad's avocado/sour cream recipe in there too. So simple and so delicious! Overall, I was delighted with that! LOTS of recipes for my Family Recipe Book. Awesome!! One very happy Elle. :)

Recipes from Brooke

Yay, I got some more recipes today! Three, from my cousin Brooke in Melbourne. Woohoo! Funny that the recipes are arriving from the most unlikely sources. I expected them to come from Mum, Jim, Nana Burland, etc. :) Just goes to show what I know! Brooke sent me really basic, simple recipes for 'Mum's Stirfry Vegetables', Spaghetti Bolognaise and Burritos. Brooke wrote 'Given that mum was never the brightest chef in the house, we have very simple and basic recipes that we generally eat during the week.' All good, that's just like most working families. In the book they go!