Lily's Blog

The day I stop learning, please throw me in the box. And you know which box I’m talking about!

I loved doing the Julie & Julia experiment because I learned a lot. I had a lot of fun cooking the recipes. Despite protestations, big, little and visiting guinea-pigs enjoyed the experiment.

A few people have mentioned to me that they are sorry that the Julie & Julia experiment had finished. In some ways I kind of am as well.

Reading Julie Powell’s book, led to my original idea. But it seems I certainly wasn’t the first with the idea!

Helen, one of my blog readers, recently told me of another blog with the same idea. Maggie set herself the challenge of cooking her way through Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries this year, about 200 recipes. She said, ‘… So, from the start of 2009, I shall attempt every recipe in his book, and will chart my progress on the blog, listing successes, failures, also-rans …’

Maggie is still alive and kicking. Last Wednesday, she posted recipe number 182!

As far as I have read on her blog, she is generally complimentary of Nigel Slater’s recipes. However I read with interest her severe criticism of one recipe in a recent post. Maggie said, ‘ … Why is cheesy bubble and squeak not better known? Because IT DOESN’T WORK, that’s why! Sorry Nigel, after all your recent triumphs, this was a failure, and I think I know why. Firstly, your measurements were imprecise …’

I smiled when I read this post. Nigel Slater too can get it wrong sometimes!

Maggie also referred to another blog, Helen’s blog. Helen completed a similar experiment in 2008 with Nigella Express. 189 recipes.

Helen too is alive and well and still blogging!

So guess where this is leading …

You are right.

I’m thinking of taking on another challenge!

I have lots of cookery books

But at the moment Avoca’s cookery books are the ones that most inspire me. I like their simple to prepare, honest-to-God, (not sure where He comes in), down to earth food.

I’m thinking of cooking my way through the original ‘Avoca Cafe Cookbook’.

While browsing through cookbooks in Easons Limerick, last weekend, one of the girls kindly offered to check their records for me. She told me that the Avoca Cafe Cookbook was their biggest seller after Clodagh Mc Kenna’s book, (which had been on special at €6.99) and two small inexpensive cookbooks, (costing less than €2). The Avoca Cafe Cookbook was first published in 2000. To still be a best-seller nine years later, says something about the book.

However I am open to suggestion if anyone can suggest a better book for the challenge.

I’m not setting a time limit. The challenge will be to complete the project in a reasonable length of time. I have to think of a name for the challenge yet!

I never want to write solely a food blog. As before, I will mix the food posts with other posts.

I’m thinking of cooking a special meal mostly at the weekend for whoever is around, for Denis and youngest mouse and/or whoever is visiting. They can rate the various recipes.

You will be glad to know Denis and youngest mouse have given the idea the thumbs-up. They realise they are guaranteed lots of hot food. And at least they are guaranteed to be well-fed, one day a week!

Plus, because these recipes are much more mobile than salads, I can do things like bring a cake to work or when visiting. There’s more scope.

The 108 recipes in this book for this experiment are as follows:

17 Soups

Green bean and coconut
Courgette and almond
Tomato, celery and apple
Tomato and red pepper
Tomato, lentil and orange
Roasted carrot and red pepper
Petit pois and mint
Baked garlic and onion cream
Cauliflower cheese
White Winter vegetable
Aztec corn
Mixed mushroom
Spiced lentil and lemon
Tuscan bean
Parsnip, rosemary and olive
Sweet potato and lemongrass
Potato and fennel

15 Fish and Chicken

Fish pie
Smoked salmon frittata
Salmon and leek tart
Herb-crusted cod
Asian-style crabcakes with fruit chutney
Salmon and smoked trout terrine
Chicken, asparagus and ratatouille pancake stack
Baked chicken with plums, ginger and soy
Baked chicken with parmesan and wholegrain mustard
Chargrilled breast of chicken with celeriac mash and roasted cherry tomatoes
Nicki’s chicken curry
Thai chicken curry
Eimer’s spinach, chicken and creme fraiche filo parcels
Chicken marinated in honey and mustard
Chicken and broccoli gratin

13 Meat

Beef and Guinness stew
Braised beef in orange sauce
Pepperpot beef
Kilmacanogue meatballs with herb and tomato sauce
Avoca’s shepherd’s pie
Baked lamb with cumin, cardamom and coconut milk
Baked lamb with oven-roasted Mediterranean vegetables
Avoca’s Irish stew
Santa Fe pork stew
Pork and chicken terrine
Normandy pork
Spanish pork
Lakeshore pork

18 Vegetable Main Courses

Potato and celeriac gratin
Leek, blue cheese and rocket frittata
Spinach omelette
Spanish omelette
Tuscan pizza
Open pizza sandwiches
Raised Mediterranean vegetable pie
Mediterranean tart
Sun-dried tomato, olive and ricotta stuffed baked potatoes
Mediterranean lasagne
Lentil and nut loaf
Spinach, roast pepper and tomato roulade
Ricotta and sweetcorn roulade
Piperade tartlets
Aubergine, feta and poppy seed tart
Caramelised onion and three-cheese tart
Spinach, pecan and blue cheese pies
Asparagus, smoked bacon and Gruyere quiche

8 Breads

White yeast bread
Brown bread
Soda bread
Fruit soda
Multiseed brown bread with fruit
Focaccia
Tomato, cheese and black olive bread
Banana bread

24 Tea Time and Desserts

Avoca scones
Avoca brown scones
Apple streusel biscuits
Italian chocolate fudge biscuits
Bir’s biccies (Bakewell biscuits)
Muesli biscuits
Chocolate hazelnut cookies
Gertie’s shortbread
Baked cheesecake with lemon topping
Karen’s mango and raspberry cheesecake
Carrot cake
Chocolate orange cake
Strawberry meringue roulade
Chocolate roulade
Mixed berry tiramisu
Chocolate and amaretti mousse
Pecan and maple tart
Lemon tart with caramelised strawberries
Caramelised rhubarb and custard tart
Custard
Hazelnut and plum tart
Moll’s Gap apple pie
Mixed berry Normandy tart
Chocolate and raspberry tart

13 Salads (I might wait for warmer weather!)

Carrot and courgette
Beetroot, almond and yoghurt
Cauliflower, broccoli and roasted monkey nuts
Roasted herbed potato with balsamic vinegar
Chickpea, bulgur and wild rice salad with cumin
Chickpea, chilli and coriander with banana and mango
Spinach, sun-dried tomato, Parmesan, pine nuts and pasta
Smoked bacon, blue cheese and pineapple pasta
Tuna, fusilli, mixed pepper
Kilmacanogue curried rice
Triple rice salad with sesame dressing
Red cabbage with bacon and red onion
Butterbean, smoked bacon and garlic

The following 7 salads were also in the Avoca Salads Book, so I wont repeat them.

Carrot with roasted sesame seeds
Broccoli, feta, hazelnut and cherry tomato
Potato and mint
Moroccan couscous
Oriental bean sprout and egg noodle
Avoca three-bean
Summer fruit salad

I’ve left out Relishes and Sundries because it would be hard for my guinea-pigs to rate them. They include recipes for things like lemon curd, french dressing, spiced vinegar and shortcrust pastry. I’ll assume most of them are incorporated in the above recipes.

So this mad-woman here is adding a further 108 recipes to her previous 41, 149 recipes in all.

It appears I am somewhat less mad than Maggie (approx 200 recipes), Helen (189 recipes) and Julie Powell herself (524 recipes).

Only somewhat, though!