Shaun M

Happy birthday, Quentin. Glad you had a special day.

Happy birthday, Robert. 🥳🎂Thank you for your gift to us all - insightful film reviews.

Oooh, I haven’t made that dish but sounds right up my alley. Everytime I read a Madhur Jaffrey book I have a new list of recipes to make. Cooler here, too, but we have a “seasonal” reason - it’s autumn.

First day of autumn in the southern hemisphere - whatever seasons mean anymore. Dove into Musa Dağdeviren’s lamb and bean casserole (kuru fasulye) from the epic & peerless The Turkish Cookbook. Some heat from chillis, dried chilli peppers & capsicum pepper paste. Canned cannellini beans work well. 🍽️

How fab! Report back. 😉

After breaking down a duck for the first time ever (more blood(?) than expected) to make the duck ragù recipe in the cookbook Via Carota (named for Rita Sodi’s & Jody Williams’ restaurant in Greenwich Village, NYC), I had a carcass left over, so I made stock. Future enrichment & nourishment.

Recipe calls for 3 duck thighs. I broke down a duck & had 2 thighs (obvi). I used one of the breasts but rendering some of its fat before following the recipe & then applied the breast with the thighs as provided by the recipe.

The real beauty of Jody Williams’ & Rita Sodi’s pisi all’anatra (pisi with duck ragù) is its texture - silky due to the slow-cooked & shredded duck & use of duck fat. I used busiate instead of homemade pisi, & it was a breeze to make. I recommend this ragù & the chefs’ cookbook Via Carota.

There’s a Moroccan recipe where the carrots are roasted in thick batons with spices, but no mention or yoghurt or other “sauce” at the end other than olive oil.

You’ve got me stumped. Sounds like a Turkish preparation but can’t find a (similar) recipe (or variation) in the 6 Claudia Roden books that I have.

Can you provide a basic outline of your carrot salad - I’ll check against her recipes to see if I have it (if I do, I’ll let you know which recipe it is).

Oh, that’s marvellous. What a wonderful experience and memory.

The Book of Jewish Food is a masterpiece. I’m still cooking through that one, too!

I’ve loved Claudia Roden’s cookbooks (loose term) for ~25 years. I am still cooking through many bookmarked recipes for the first time. Chicken in a spicy honey sauce from “Med” harkens to a Moroccan dish in her legendary “The [New] Book of Middle Eastern Food”. Warming, fragrant & nourishing.

That’s an excellent novel capturing the politics and social dynamics in (then) modern England. I couldn’t quite get into Hollinghurst’s The Sparsholt Affair, though.

Her voice is so beautiful - check out “Free”. That song makes me smile and makes me feel like I’m walking on air.

Tha looks exquisite, Ana. 🤌

This recipe works well. Also, happy birthday, Nigella! 🎂

My kind of kings.

She’s a great writer. I have re-read An Everlasting Meal with delight over the years. The related cookbook is excellent and is told in her voice.

Good for you!

I couldn’t get beyond ep 2. Days of Our Lives is better scripted than this trashy soap opera.

I have seen this doco a few times. Agree that it’s mesmerising - Jennifer was so her own and yet so compassionate. What a diamond of a being. I still think 2 Fat Ladies is one of the most entertaining and properly informative cooking shows.

I started watching it, too, although I’m not generally interested in any shows in which 20-somethings are the main focus.

Looks delicious, Rahul!

Happy Thanksgiving, Ana! 🦃

I’ve made various recipes from all of @edentravels.bsky.social books. I
Imagine myself wherever she writes about. I believe her birthday is coming up soon, so good timing with these Armenian cookies.

What a delight to see. I have marked that one, too, but might have to settle for NZ dried apricots.

What a tremendously crafted review! I’m definitely going to look out for this film.

I will follow La Lawson’s helpful tips on reheating. Also, I don’t have a microwave.

The fennel gratin in @nigella.bsky.social’s great work Cook, Eat, Repeat is pitch-perfect, inviting & glamorous. The book itself is replete with insight, guidance, candour, humour & generosity. The application of white vermouth is inspired as its herbal quality brings out the best in fennel. Repeat.