Salt and Pepper Tofu

From Cooking with Soy, Yoshiko Takeuchi, New Holland Publishers, 2013.

My partner had made a wonderfully creamy tofu. Some was left and needed to be used up so I decided on salt and pepper tofu.

The tofu was patted dry with a kitchen paper then cut into block shapes. I put a tablespoon of black pepper and a few shakings of white pepper into a mortar with some salt. They were pounded until well crushed. This was mixed with one tablespoon of plain flour and one tablespoon of cornflour. When it was fully combined the tofu blocks were dipped in it to completely cover them. They then went into hot oil to deep fry them until they were golden.

I do like salt and pepper tofu. They are crunchy on the outside and creamy inside and over all is the tang of the salt and the heat of the pepper. A dipping sauce was made of some sweet chilli sauce and lime juice.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Sautéed Mixed Greens

From Vegetarian, Pippa Cuthbert & Lindsay Cameron Wilson, New Holland Publishers, 2010.

I had made rissoles from the night before’s risotto that had firmed sufficiently for me to just squeeze a handful together and form it into a patty shape. I wanted greens to go with them. I had English spinach and watercress in the refrigerator and needed a simple recipe to use them.

I cut the leaves from the spinach bunch and picked the leaves from the watercress. I chopped a red chilli and a garlic clove. I took a handful of sesame seeds and quickly roasted them in a frying pan. I put on a saucepan of salted water and, when it was boiling, tossed in the greens for a minute or two and then drained them.

I heated a little olive oil in a frying pan and threw in the garlic and chilli for a few seconds, then added the greens. I seasoned them while they were heating up in the oil. After a couple of minutes sautéing I sprinkled them with sesame seeds and they were ready to serve.

These greens were delicious done this way, so much so that it could become my standard method for serving greens.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔✔

Spinach, Roasted Capsicum and Ricotta Lasagne

From Vegetarian, Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson, New Holland, 2010.

Like most lasagne recipes there were a number of tasks to be done before the lasagne could be put together.

A tomato sauce had to be prepared. An onion and some garlic cloves, all chopped, were sautéed until soft, at which time a can of tomatoes was added, a little sugar, a handful of torn basil leaves and seasonings. This was left to simmer for about half an hour.

 A Béchamel sauce had to be made. When ready a big handful of grated Parmesan cheese was added.

Red capsicum had to be put under the grill to roast them. When they had blackened they were placed into a plastic bag to steam until they were cold enough to handle. They were then peeled and cut into slices.

A goodly quantity of spinach leaves were blanched in a pot of hot salted water until they had begun to wilt. They were then drained and dowsed in cold water. Excess moisture was squeezed from them and they were cut up finely. This was then combined with a mixture of ricotta and cream cheese. The recipe called for only ricotta but I had both in the fridge so wanted to use them up. An egg went into this mixture together with salt and pepper.

The dish was now put together. A third of the Béchamel was spread on the bottom of a casserole dish. This was covered with a layer of lasagne. Onto this went half of the tomato sauce and half of the ricotta mix. Another lasagne sheet covered this. Now another third of the Béchamel was added. I then placed on this half of the capsicum slices, another sheet of pasta, the rest of the tomato sauce, the remainder of the ricotta mix, another pasta sheet, then the rest of the Béchamel. To finish the remainder of the capsicum was laid over this and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese was added. It went into the oven and was baked for about half an hour.

This turned out to be a rich lasagne. It was creamy from the béchamel and ricotta, with the added tang of the capsicum slices and the tomato sauce cutting through. Filling, satisfying comfort food.

I am glad it turned out to be so good for the book it comes from is a bit of an editorial disaster, so much so that I always hesitate to use it. I don’t trust it in the slightest. Every recipe I have tried has had some element in it that is not quite right. This recipe for example has a list of ingredients which begins with the sub heading ‘For the tomato sauce:’. Then follows the complete list of ingredients so one would take it that they are all for the tomato sauce. There is no indication of where the sauce ingredients end and the remainder of the recipe ingredients begin. To find out you have to read the recipe itself. It’s not too difficult to do but incredibly annoying to pay for a book to find that it has been put together so poorly. I always check recipe books now before I purchase them. If they are from New Holland publishing house I tend to cast them aside. 

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔

Pommes Lyonnaise (Sautéed Potatoes with Caramelised Onions)

From Bistro: Great French Food, David Bransgrove, New Holland Publishers, 2011.

I tend to want to try any potato recipe that I find. For this one the potatoes were boiled with their skins on for about a quarter of an hour and then peeled when they were cool enough to be handled. They were then left to cool and cut into slices. These were then fried in butter until golden. They were now put aside while the onions were cooked.

Sliced onions were added to the pan and fried until they had browned. The potato slices were now added and cooked with the onions until they were heated through. All was seasoned and it was time to eat.

These, naturally, were wonderful comfort food, buttery and savoury. I tended to overcook the onions a little so that were on the black side rather than golden but that added a dimension to the flavour that I enjoyed.

Heading for France in a couple of months time has me looking at French cooking so this book was an obvious one to delve into. It's a handsomely produced book with a range of what appear to be standard classics of French cuisine.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

Choux de bruxelles à l’auvergnate (Pan-fried Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts)

From Bistro: Great French Food, David Bransgrove, New Holland Publishers, 2011.

Another recipe for Brussels sprouts found so another one to try. It had to be modified for it was a French recipe and they always seem to have some meaty element to them. This one had bacon strips in it. I just left them out, using olive oil for the frying and a little extra salt to gain that saltiness that the bacon would have given.

The sprouts were boiled in salted water until tender. While they were cooking chopped shallots and garlic were fried in olive oil and butter until soft. Cooked chestnuts were added to these with some sliced sage leaves. When they were heated through, the sprouts were added and mixed with the other ingredients. Seasonings were added and they were ready.

It would have been better to have roasted the chestnuts as the recipe stated but the chestnuts had already been cooked in water. They thus became more of a chestnut paste as they were fried. It all tasted quite good though—and I always enjoy Brussels sprouts.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔

And yet another soup

Roasted Tomato, Lentil and Chestnut Soup

from Vegetarian, Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson, New Holland Publishers, 2010.

I was not going to use this error-filled book again but I had a few chestnuts on hand and wanted to find a recipe in which to use them. I found one in Vegetarian.

Before much else could be done, tomatoes had to be roasted in the oven. They had some sugar sprinkled on them which would account for the slight sweetness in the soup. Apart from shelling the chestnuts there was not much else involved in putting this soup together. And it was a reasonable soup though not particularly special. The touch of sweetness from the tomatoes and the chestnuts worked quite well with the savoury taste of the lentils. From the ingredients I would have thought, though, that it would have been a lot more flavoursome.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔ 

Another Pumpkin Soup

Butternut Pumpkin Soup with Blue Cheese and Walnuts

from Vegetarian, Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson, New Holland Publishers, 2010.

I have not been particularly happy with this cookery book. It has many errors in it (See my blog ‘A Cook Book to Avoid’). However, to date, I have only cooked two items from the book. I thought I would give it another chance with a different recipe. I tried a soup. It’s difficult to go wrong with a soup.

Because there were so many errors in different recipes I gave this a thorough read through before going very far. Everything seemed to be in order.

It was a simple soup. The butternut pumpkin has a sweetness to it that was nicely modified by the addition of blue cheese and the brown butter sauce added at serving time.

Taste: ✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔