Cookery Challenge : October

Time to join Penny once again at The Homemade Heart for her cookery challenge. Do click on the link to see how the challenge works and read about more recipes.

An interesting and curious month for my September cookery book challenge. If you remember I chose to use 'How to Eat' by Nigella Lawson. One of her earlier cookbooks. Although I had owned this book for some months it was very little used, so the cookery challenge was a great excuse to dust off the cover.

As we were away travelling I decided to take the cookery book with me. That was amusing to start with. You may remember in the gîte we hired, the equipment was a little basic. It was only on day three that I discovered we had no oven. I kept finding recipes I liked the look of and then realising I didn't have the tools for the job. In the end I found a simple mushroom risotto in the low fat section.

Not quite so easy. I had to use an empty beer bottle as a fluid measuring device. The lovely mixed mushrooms I'd hoped to buy turned into very plain button mushrooms. Despite all this the risotto was very quick and simple to make and very delicious. I will try it again soon with a variety of mushrooms this time.

Once I returned home I was able to be a bit more imaginative. This time I went for duck breasts oven cooked with soya sauce. They were served with a chilli and orange salsa which cut through the richness of the duck beautifully. Alongside I made some egg noodles and stir fried them with shiitake mushrooms, spring onions, chilli and mangetout. The verdict was a resounding success.

Despite the lack of photos in this book the recipes are imaginative and set out in a variety of sections: fast food, cooking in advance, weekend lunches, meals for one and two,low fat etc. Having got off to a good start I will now make an effort to dip into it a little more frequently.

For October my choice is a Jamie Oliver book. This one called Comfort Food has been residing on my cookery book shelf since my birthday in April. Time definitely for a little comfort food I think.

What have you been cooking recently. Have you any favourite cook books?

Barbara xxx