Kristin's Cookbook Project

As there was a combined Asian and Middle-Eastern grocery store that has finally opened in the small coastal town where I live, it made it a lot easier for me finding some non-western cooking ingredients that the "regular" grocery stores and supermarkets don't have. One of those things being curry leaves, which meant I could finally make Acehnese Chicken with Curry Leaves from the cookbook named Coconut & Sambal by Lara Lee. While this was perhaps a slightly more complicated and time-consuming recipe, it was still fairly easy to make. Even with A LOT of chili in it, it didn't taste too overpowering spicy hot, but I do enjoy when the food has a kick to it. I can admit I'm more used to Thai, Chinese, and Indian food, so I do enjoy trying something a bit different from time to time, and I'll probably make this one again some time.

I recently also tried a second salmon dish with horseradish from the "365 sunne middager på en halvtime" by Ingrid Espelid Hovig book, which I'll talk about today. This salmon was breaded before fried on the pan, but somehow I struggled a bit with the breading and getting the salmon breaded properly, but that's more on me rather than it being a crappy recipe. The end result was good though, and I really enjoyed the sauce with it.

Sorry that I haven't been good at updating here lately, but I'll play a bit catch-up starting today, posting about some of the things I've made in the last couple of months. First off, salmon with spinach and horseradish sour cream, which I made from a Norwegian cookbook called "365 sunne middager på en halvtime" edited by Ingrid Espelid Hovig (roughly translated as "365 healthy dinners in less than 30 minutes). Obviously, based on the title of the cookbook, it's a dinner that's fairly quick to make, which is always a good thing. When I baked the salmon in the oven, I decided making it a bit more interesting flavour-wise by adding pink pepper. Overall, it was an okay dinner, and the flavour of the horseradish gave it a nice little kick without being overpowering.

As I love seafood and I had some salmon I wanted to use, I found a recipe for an Indian salmon curry in a Norwegian cookbook titled "Med smak av India - milde dufter og rike smaker fra Nord-India" by Naresh Mehra. Although the list of spices and such may have been a bit daunting to lots of white people, it was nontheless an easy recipe to follow with a rather tasty result. As it is autumn, almost winter, it's nice with some flavourful and comforting dinners when it's cold outside.

It's after all soup season, so why not make soup? Recently, I made the vegetable soup that's a nod to Waverly Hills Sanatorium from the cookbook Food To Die For by Amy Bruni. It's one of those recipes that's almost stupidly easy to make - just chopping a few veggies, measure a couple of things, and let it simmer on the stove for an hour. I think even a teenager could make it, perhaps with some supervision from a parent depending on the teen's skills. It's that easy. As it takes an hour on the stove, I can't say it's a quick weeknight dinner, but it's still an easy dish to make. It's tasty too, especially if it's a chilly night where you need to warm up a bit.

Sometimes a pizza is in order, and I found a fairly easy recipe for pizza with fresh tomatoes in the Norwegian translation of 500 Pizzas & Flatbreads by Rebecca Baugniet, so I had a go at it. As mentioned, it was a fairly easy recipe to follow, and I got three pizzas out of it. They may not have been perfectly round, but that's on me, not the recipe. Something else that I really enjoyed, was the fresh tomatoes in it, both as a topping and in the actual tomato sauce. I didn't have any fresh basil around, so I had to use died instead, but it tasted good anyway. Yes, the pizza was something of a Pizza Margherita, with thin Italian crust. Although I'm one of those who enjoy spicy hot foods, I do enjoy food with fresh and simple ingredients too. As this is a vegetarian pizza with few ingredients, a lot of them basic ingredients, it's a fairly cheap dish to make too.

I do love a tasty chicken dish, so when I came across a recipe for chicken kebabs in Parwana: Recipes and Stories from an Afghan Kitchen by Durkhanai Ayubi, I wanted to try it. The recipe itself was fairly easy to follow and a rather quick dinner to make too. The sauce was really flavourful, which is always a good thing (can't go wrong with a tasty sauce). The only thing I really missed was perhaps some leafy green salad or something, but that's just me. If you've got picky eaters (kids) who don't like to eat veggies, there's some tomatoes in the sauce, pureed in a blender, so they probably won't notice there's veggies in the sauce. As a small stroke of luck, I found liba bread for £1 a four-pack at the local supermarket last week, which was rather fitting as I planned to make this dish sooner rather than later.

As it's autumn and thus soup season, I looked through my cookbooks and decided I wanted to make a Thai-inspired chicken soup I found in a Norwegian cookbook named "Matmisjon - Ekte mat fra ti matbloggere" edited by Hanne Stensvold. The recipe I used was one of those that's fairly easy to follow, and the only adjustment I needed to do was not using as much stock/water, as I didn't quite have enough room in the pot, but it produced several portions of soup anyway, so it wasn't a big deal really. The soup itself had some warmth and kick to it, as I used both red curry paste and a chopped chili in it, which is rather nice on a cold autumn day. A big bonus is that as it's made from scratch, rather than being one of those soup-mix things, is that it was a bit filling too (I feel that a lot of times, those soup mixes doesn't quite cut it). I dare say this is one of those recipes I'd love to make again.

As I've got a weak spot for Thai food, I ended up making beef satay with peanut sauce recently, thanks to a Norwegian cookbook called "Fristende Thai". I didn't have any skewers, so I didn't bother with those, but overall it was a fairly easy recipe, even if the beef needs to marinate for a little while. I also served it with some chopped spring onions for some more flavour and texture. While it may not look too fancy, it was tasty and I'll probably make it again some time.

As I was fortunate enough to get my hands on some ground beef, I of course knew I had to make something. I found yet another recipe in Trines mat by Trine Sandberg, which in this case was a taco casserole with beans and carrots. This taco casserole, which has a nachos vibe to it, was one of those fairly easy everyday dinners to make and somewhat filling. An added bonus was that as it has both beans, onion, and carrots in it, it has a somewhat healthy element to it. Nothing wrong with eating a few veggies here and there after all. At least for me, it's a dinner I would love to make again some time in the future.

Sometimes I'm craving a bit of seafood, so I found a recipe for panko crusted cod with a salad in a Norwegian cookbook titled "Karlas kjøkken - hverdagsmat på menyen" (roughly translated as Karlas Kitchen - Weekday Food On The Menu). Both the fish and the salad was easy enough to make, but I didn't bother making the remoulade as I had some sour cream in the fridge I wanted to use up before it expired. Also, I made some homemade mashed potatoes to make the dish a little bit more filling. Overall I dare say it was a nice meal. Not the most spicy by any means, but it was good nontheless.

Sometimes it's nice to change things up a bit, so recently I made cauliflower casserole with cheese from a cookbook titled From Dill to Dracula: A Romanian Food & Folklore Cookbook by A. M. Ruggirello. It was a fairly easy recipe to follow and all that and it tasted okay so I can't complain, but I'm unsure if I'll make it again though. If nothing else, it doesn't hurt eating veggies from time to time.

As I was craving something with a little bit of a kick to it, I decided to make chicken enchiladas with tomato and chili salsa for dinner recently. I found the recipe in the Norwegian cookbook called Trines Mat by Trine Sandberg, and I think it was fairly easy to make. Okay, so we might need to focus a little bit once the tortillas are filled up and needed to be "transported" into the baking dish so it (the tortilla) doesn't fall apart, but that's not a big issue really. I did find the enchiladas both tasty and filling, which is a good thing, and I think the chicken enchiladas could easily be made for Taco Tuesday, or for that matter, the Norwegian "tradition" of Taco Friday.

As it's autumn, I wanted to try something from one of my more autumnal cookbooks, so I recently made BBQ beef sandwiches from the cookbook called Slow-Cooker Fall Favorites, published by Gooseberry Patch. One of the good things about using a slowcooker is that it does the work for you. Fair enough, the beef turned so tender it was easy to pull apart and all that, but for me, these BBQ beef sandwiches was a bit too boring/bland for me, even as I added some lettuce and used some no-knead ciabatta rolls. So for me, it wasn't really worth it, but I'm sure someone else might enjoy them more than what I did.

I do love a good Chinese dish, and as I had some bao buns in the freezer that I wanted to use, I ended up making bao buns with crispy chicken and pickled carrots for dinner today. I found the recipe in a Norwegian cookbook called "Alt Asiatisk 2" by Elisabeth Le and I found it fairly easy, especially as I had both the bao buns and the sriracha mayo already, so I didn't need to make those things. Making the crispy chicken and pickled carrots were fairly easy in my opinion and the directions made it even more easy. Fair enough, I doubt I would last long working in a kitchen based on presentation and such, but the food was overall good I think. I also made use of some lettuce from my garden, just to have some more veggies.

I've finally created something in the kitchen from one of my cookbooks again. As I had some salmon I wanted to use up, I decided making salmon lasagna with squash and asparagus from Trines mat (Trine's Food) by Trine Sandberg. The recipe was easy enough, although slightly time consuming and probably better to make during the weekend. Another slight issue was, I don't know if it was because I used the wrong dish or something, but the sauce didn't go all the way to the top so to speak, so the top layer with lasagna pasta got crispy and slightly burned instead of cooked when in the oven. So yeah, I had to remove the top layer of lasagna pasta before eating. It tasted okay though, perhaps slightly flavourless in my opinion, but perhaps it is because I enjoy using a lot more herbs and spices. That said, if if made correctly, I wouldn't be surprised if even kids might like it, due to the mild taste (if they enjoy eating fish and veggies, that is). But for me? I'd prob...

As I was fortunate enough to get my hands on udon noodles last week, I ended up making Japanese Yaki Udon for dinner. I did use a recipe from the Norwegian cookbook "Alt asiatisk" (Everything Asian), and the author also has a food blog  with plenty of recipes. For me, Yaki Udon was one of those fairly easy recipes and I did enjoy the taste of the sauce, in addition to the texture of the noodles.It's anyway a recipe I'd love to make again some time due to the taste and how easy it was to make. I can't deny that making more use of my cookbooks has made me realise just how easy it is to make various dishes from the Asian continent, whether it's Chinese, Thai, or other cuisines. Sometimes the list of ingredients might be a bit intimidating by the length, but it's really tasty.

Recently, I had some chicken I wanted to use, so I went through some of my cookbook and wanted to try Chicken Cilantro from The Kitchen Without Borders cookbook. It was a fairly easy recipe to follow with the added bonus of some veggies to make it a little bit more nutitious. I've been a bit wary of cilantro, as some feel it tastes like soap (if I remember correctly, it's a gene thing or something), but it turned out I actually liked cilantro once I tried it. Oh, by the way, the cookbook itself is worth checking out, as it has roughly 70 authentic recipes from immigrant and refugee chefs. I've tried a few recipes before starting this blog, including the Cake Baklava, and it's a fun cookbook.

As I've been a bit busy, I've totally forgotten to write a blog post, but last week I made a chicken stir-fry with green veggies and I used a recipe from a Norwegian cookbook called "Vidunderlig kinesisk" (roughly translated as Wonderful Chinese). I had to visit an Asian grocery store to get my hands on Chinese five spice for the recipe, as the regular grocery stores and supermarkets didn't have it, but then I had an excuse to actually visit an Asian grocery store, which is always a bit fun. The recipe was fairly easy to follow and the end result tasted really good in my opinion. I've also fallen a bit in love with Chinese five spice as a result and I'm now in search of more recipes containing that spice blend. I think it's one of those spice blends that gives a bit of warmth to a dish in a sense and I bet it tastes really good on a cold autumn day. It's also highly likely that I'll make this recipe again some time. One can't go wrong with...

As I was craving some seafood, specifically salmon, I found a recipe in a Norwegian cookbook for oven baked salmon with dill sauce. The cookbook I used is called "365 sunne middager på en halvtime" (roughly translates as 365 healthy dinners in 30 minutes) edited by Ingrid Espelid Hovig, and in my opinion it was a fairly easy recipe to follow. Yes, I needed to use a couple of pots, as well as a mixing bowl for the sauce, and something for the salmon in the oven, but having a dishwasher helps in the clean-up. Now, even with the pink pepper, in addition to the dill sauce, I did find the dinner overall a little bit too plain for my taste. Good? Yes, but still a bit too plain. Perhaps I'm a bit spoiled as I'm a bit used to food with a bit more spice to it, but if you're one that struggles with too much spice, whether it's too flavourful or hot, it might be something for you though. I might make it again though, even if I struggled with the lack of spice.