Recipe Week

Earlier this week, a friend was writing her shopping list and moaning that her and her husband always eat the same food and that she was bored.  Everyone else sympathised and it reminded me of the time Jon and I had 'recipe week'. Out of sheer desperation not to spend another week eating Spag Bol and Jacket Potatoes, we decided to spend a week trying a new recipe each night.  Now this is not easy for everyone and it was a week when I had a bit more free time.  Also it can be expensive, so you might want to make some rules about what you can and can't choose. Anyway, I'll be honest, I can't remember everything we had but here are some of the recipes and some of my other favourites too.

Recipe book 1: My Daddy Cooks

We have had this book for several years and have cooked quite a few recipes from it.  The thing we like about it is the simplicity of the recipes - they're tasty but not too difficult to cook.  You also don't need masses of ingredients and because Nick Coffer is a stay at home dad to Archie and Matilda, the recipes are family friendly too.  During recipe week we had Spinach, salmon and cherry tomato linguine or 'traffic light pasta' as it is called in the book.  I chose this one as a family recipe and everyone enjoyed it - although my very fussy daughter picked out the green stuff of course!  Other favourite recipes include Pork and fennel casserole (yum) and Mexican lasagne which is chilli con carne, layered with tortillas, crème fraiche and cheese - yes it is as good as it sounds!

We have also cooked this beauty, from the book

This is the Savoury breakfast bread pudding which contains all the best parts of a cooked breakfast and more.   It takes a while to prepare and you have to leave it in the fridge overnight but it's worth it.  It contains ten eggs, so is pretty hearty but perfect for when guests stay over and you want something special in the morning.  Nick Coffer's blog can be found here which contains loads of recipes and 'how to' blogs and, even more great news, he has a new cook book coming out called The After School Cook Book.

Recipe book 2: Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course

I bought this book for my Husband at Christmas after seeing the Gordon Ramsay TV series.  What we liked about the TV series is that it went back to basics and tackled some of the questions that all home cooks would like answered.  The book is really good and has chapters on cooking for one or two, cooking good food for less and basic skills.  I cooked Roasted mackerel with garlic and paprika and learned how to fillet a fish at the same time (it wasn't pretty but once cooked, looked ok).  This was served with crushed potatoes with spring onions and vinaigrette - sounds very fancy but it was actually really simple and of course, delicious.  I would really recommend this cook book as, although we haven't cooked masses from it, its a great place to look for good quality recipes and 'how to' tips

Finally, I have to share one of my favourite recipes from Nigella's Kitchen.  This one is going to divide opinion as it contains - love it or hate it - Marmite!  It's a really simple recipe called Marmite Spaghetti and contains just 4 ingredients - pasta, unsalted butter, marmite and parmesan cheese.  You basically cook the pasta, then melt the butter and marmite together with a little of the pasta water.  Stir the pasta into the marmite mixture making sure everything is thoroughly coated.  Then serve with grated parmesan on top.  So easy and great for when you haven't got much food in the house but can't be bothered to go shopping!

So, there we go.  No need for boring food ever again.  Just use those cookbooks instead of letting them gather dust on the shelf!