My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

For related content, visit our food content hub.

Food/Recipes

Cookery bookclub - May - Jerusalem by Ottolenghi and Kitchen Diaries I by Nigel Slater

521 replies

Curioustiger · 25/04/2013 10:40

Come join the Mumsnet cookery bookclub! Each month we choose two cookery books - one popular, like Nigella / Jamie / Delia, so you probably already have it / can borrow it and one a bit more unusual. We cook a minimum of two recipes each - you choose the recipe, they just have to be ones you have never cooked before- which works out at four new recipes each month.Then we chat about them!

To see our April thread about Feast by Nigella and the Smitten Kitchen blog / cookbook, click here ... This thread is still live as we're quite taken with these books and are keeping on going!

For May, our books are:

  • Jerusalem by Ottolenghi
  • Kitchen Diaries

and we'll post on this thread.

For June our books will be
  • Mexican Food Made Easy by Thomasina Miers
  • Thirty Minute Meals by Jamie Oliver


We will always try to pick at least one book with recipes available on the Internet, and local libraries are great for cookbooks if you can order in advance, so don't be put off if your cookbook collection isn't threatening the foundations of your house extensive.

We have veggies, low carbers and 5:2ers on the thread so this is very diet compatible! Although I refuse to take any responsibility for cake-induced weight gain (even my own).
OP posts:
Report
Pantah630 · 25/04/2013 11:08

Signing in, with a resolute no cakes for May rule in our house :)

I've been flicking through Jerusalem and like the look of the following. Roast chicken with Jerusalem artichoke and lemon, Chicken with caramelised onions and cardamom rice, turkey and courgette burgers and prawns, scallops & clams with tomato and feta.

I've only looked at May in Kitchen Diaries and fancy the lamb chops and the salmon & dill fish cakes and the lemon amaretti cream pots not much else. Will have a look through the rest of the book. I do like Nigel but my word he is coming across like a tosser in the few recipes I've read so far. It doesn't sound so bad when he speaks that way on the tv but seeing it written that way is making me cringe. :(

Report
kneedeepindaisies · 25/04/2013 16:10

Oooh May is sneaking up quickly isn't it.

I have Kitchen Diaries so just Jerusalem to get. That maybe a little May present to myself Grin

I would like to say no cake in May but I think it's very unlikely.

Report
JammySplodger · 25/04/2013 16:16

Ooh, can I join (will head to the library and order the books tomorrow). Think I got in a little too late for the April thread.

Report
Curioustiger · 25/04/2013 16:54

Come on in jammy! But NO COOKING until 1st May. From these books.

OP posts:
Report
IDismyname · 25/04/2013 17:07

Pantah - I've done the Chicken with onions and cardamon rice - its YUM.

I would suggest you try and get some barberries - they really add a 'zing' to the dish that currants just wouldn't give - IMHO

I need to find a few recipes out of the book to cook.

It was a Christmas present and so many of the dishes in Jerusalem require (in my mind) - decent weather or decent summer veg, that I'd mentally shelved it.

Time to get it out!

Report
Curioustiger · 25/04/2013 17:30

If anyone wants barberries and can't get them, I live near a host of middle eastern shops and am happy to procure and post! Although this cane up on another thread - sour cherries or dried cranberries work too.

OP posts:
Report
XBenedict · 25/04/2013 17:31

Oooh can't wait to get started with my Kitchen Diaries Smile

Report
Pantah630 · 25/04/2013 17:47

Will bear that in mind tiger, thanks blue will give it a go next week :)

Report
snoworneahva · 25/04/2013 19:07

I have Jerusalem, made the stuffed aubergine with lamb and pine nuts last week - it was lovely, even the dcs enjoyed it! Good dinner party dish, all the work is done ahead of time.
I have Nigel Slaters kitchen diaries II and it's good for everyday stuff....might have a look at the first one.....but I find him annoyingly pretentious and overly verbose when writing a recipe.

Report
Kiriwawa · 25/04/2013 19:25

Oh wow those stuffed aubergines look amazing! I have made a beetroot and tomato salad from the book so far (got it in Feb) which was delicious.

I also have Kitchen Diaries so it would be rude not to join in Grin

Report
LifeofPo · 25/04/2013 19:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

contortionist · 25/04/2013 19:34

Great - I have both of these but haven't cooked anything from either of them Blush

Report
LifeofPo · 25/04/2013 19:35

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

EnglishGirlApproximately · 25/04/2013 19:40

You can get Sumac in Sainsburys but if you're stuck for ingredients you can buy from the Ottolenghi website. Be warned though, its so tempting! I haven't posted my results on the old thread yet as I cooked mostly this week but I spotted this thread starting.

I love Jerusalem and can recommend the Sofrito, Majedra, Shakshuka and Cod cakes in tomato sauce. We really loved the roast cauliflower and hazlenut salad too. I think I'm going to try some pastries - purely for the sake of this thread :)

Report
Curioustiger · 25/04/2013 19:40

contortionist that's perfect!

OP posts:
Report
kneedeepindaisies · 25/04/2013 20:23

Hello new people

I quite like the Kitchen Diaries. I know old Nige sounds a bit pompous but its one of those cookbooks I can read in bed. Smile

Report
Coconutfeet · 25/04/2013 22:06

Ooh, can I join? I've got both those books but haven't cooked a lot from either of them. I'm in a bit of a cooking rut at the moment (got a baby and also a bit of a veg-refuser as well as dp who is on a low cholesterol diet, all of which limits my cooking options somewhat) so hopefully it'll be the push I need.

Report
JammySplodger · 25/04/2013 22:14

Well I can reserve Kitchen Diaries II (when I remember my library pin number), but Jerusalem is completely booked out till mid-May. The recipes on-line look very tasty though!

Report
WilsonFrickett · 25/04/2013 23:35

New to this board but couldnt resist the thread title. I LOVE Jerusalem and have finally finished 'just reading it' - it's so interesting - and have started cooking from it. YY to the chicken with onion and cardamom, I have to say its the best rice dish ever (am a good cook but not good at rice). Having people over tomorrow and my second go At the lamb shwarma is marinating as I type.

make the shwarma

That all said, I'm off Nigel. Too hair flicky.

Report
HazeltheMcWitch · 26/04/2013 00:36

I'm lurking, as I have too much on at mo to add another to-do to the pile.
But I am forced out of my lurkage by mentions of sumac. If you have not tried it sprinkled on a fried egg*, please do so at your earliest convenience. Don't laugh, it really is amazing.

*Yes, the egg may be in a sandwich.

Report
Curioustiger · 26/04/2013 07:06

Hello coconutfeet and wilsonfrickett, hazel I will try that! There is no egg dish I don't like. jammy it's kitchen diaries I not II. But either way, if you struggle we can pm recipes (google has been legendary so far.

My copy of Ottolenghi arrived yesterday so I am looking forward to cooking from it NEXT WEEK. When we officially start!

OP posts:
Report
WilsonFrickett · 26/04/2013 09:37

Hazel I now put sumac and za'atar in everything.

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

Pantah630 · 26/04/2013 10:27

I have a glut of eggs, MiL has chickens, ducks and a goose, so will be trying the sumac out later :)

Report
MostPeopleAreMad · 26/04/2013 13:35

Hello everyone, can I join in too? I have both books, but I've only cooked a couple of things so far from Kitchen Diaries and nothing at all yet from Jerusalem (though I'm very tempted by the turkey & courgette burgers - yum. And I think DS would love those...)

Report
Pantah630 · 26/04/2013 13:56

Hello most do look at Aprils thread as well, you still have time to cook from SK and/or Feast :)

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.