First up in the 200 Super Soups cookbook by Sara Lewis. This is definitely one I'm going to buy. I don't really need more soup books in my life but this book is a thousand times better than the 2 New Covent Garden books I own. The design is clear and concise, there are photos for each recipe and there are a ideas for accompaniments - and even alternatives to recipes making the already brilliant 200 recipes a much bigger number.
There is a short introduction about different types of soup, how to make stocks and ideas for finishing touches. To the point and all the info you need. The different sections of the book include speedy soups, chilled soups, winter warmers and something special.
The first soup I made was the Vietnamese beef pho, a dish I've enjoyed eating out but have never made before. The ingredient list looked quite long but I already had all the ingredients as I make fragrant soups quite often as they're easy to make, healthy and most of all, delicious. The pho was equally fragrant and delicious. I didn't simmer the stock for long enough, I will do next time as the ginger and star anise flavours probably weren't as strong as they should have been - that's what you get for not reading the recipe properly in advance! There is a nice alternative recipe with prawns and kaffir lime leaves which sounds lovely so that's one to add to the 'to make' list - getting longer by the second! So this book was on to a good start.
The other soup I tried was the summer vegetable soup, opting for asparagus as we had stalks which seemed a shame to waste; nice and seasonal too. Again, very easy to make with a very short list of ingredients needed and a really gorgeous flavour. Both recipes I made were from the healthy section but they certainly didn't feel worthy dishes! I didn't even need to season the asparagus soup as the flavour was strong enough. Obviously the quality of the veg will always affect the dish you're making so seasonal soups are best if possible. So very pleased with this book, if you couldn't already tell! Price is amazing, it's just the space I'm running out of! Luckily these books are petite and oh so browsable.
The second book to try was 200 Meals for Two by Louise Blair. The introduction this time contains information on food groups and store-cupboard and fridge essentials. Perhaps not as useful as the soup introduction but still nice to have. The sections in this book are brunch, light bites, quick suppers, special occasions and desserts. I love brunch recipes and with full-page photos everything is even more inviting, especially the baked eggs with salmon and the blueberry French toast.
I have made just one recipe from this book so far, hot haloumi with fattoush salad. I'd never eaten haloumi before and always wanted to try it, it just seems so expensive to buy for one meal so I waited till I found a good price (Asda grilling cheese - good stuff!). My god does that cheese squeak! It was pretty weird to eat but I loved the flavour which went really nicely with the fattoush salad, with added avocado. The dressing was really simple and added a nice subtle garlic flavour. I would make this again, just gear myself up for the freaky texture - I know what to expect! Not a concise testing of the cookbook but I can tell that everything looks really tasty and easy to make. Yet another one I want to buy. There are 26 different titles in this collection which is extremely dangerous! I have 200 Desserts on it's way to me, and 200 Chicken dishes waiting for me at the library. It's a serious addiction! The only ones I've read and wouldn't buy so far are the 200 Super Salads and 200 Barbecue Recipes. The salad book is nice to glance through but nothing complicated enough that you couldn't put together yourself, and I wouldn't get enough use out of the BBQ book to justify buying it.
A little addition for this week, a lovely and fresh recipe from the June 2010 issue of Prima magazine. Ginger and lemongrass chicken with mango and basil. The topping was easy to make, just ginger, lemongrass, 5-spice, soy sauce and olive oil all whizzed up together. No need for hours of marinating which was great, just straight in the oven. The little mango salad was perfect with the chicken and absolutely perfect for these hot days when you don't want to cook for too long or eat really heavy food.
A little addition for this week, a lovely and fresh recipe from the June 2010 issue of Prima magazine. Ginger and lemongrass chicken with mango and basil. The topping was easy to make, just ginger, lemongrass, 5-spice, soy sauce and olive oil all whizzed up together. No need for hours of marinating which was great, just straight in the oven. The little mango salad was perfect with the chicken and absolutely perfect for these hot days when you don't want to cook for too long or eat really heavy food. I'm now going to cook some tofu fried rice from yet another 200... book and cry over how rubbish the French football team is :-(
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