3 by Nigella Lawson - Submitted by Sharon

My original intent when I selected books for this challenge was to read, cook from, and review Nigella Bites by Nigella Lawson, a book that has been on my shelves for years and that I'd never used.  But that was before I started watching Nigella's cooking shows and (as a result) borrowing more of her cook books from the library.  I quickly became enamored with her friendly style and wonderful looking/sounding recipies, but mostly with her approach to food preparation and eating.  Nigella specializes in comfort food and comfort cooking.  Some of her recipes are very easy and others are more complicated, but she takes the time to give suggestions on how to simplify processes to make things easier on the cook without sacrificing great taste.  I began looking through several of her books (now having purchased them) and just had to make something from each of them.  So instead of reviewing one cook book, I will be reviewing three!

I first cooked from Nigella Bites.  The book is smaller than the others, yet contains beautiful photography and notes pages in which to write.  (I wrote on the recipe pages themselves, but oh, well.)  This book provides recipes for various occasions or types of days, such as "All Day Breakfast", "Comfort Food", "Trashy", "Party Girl", and "Temple Food."  One of my favorite chapters was "Legacy", where Nigella shares some of her favorite family recipes.  What makes these interesting are her fond memories of the recipes and those who made them before her.

The first recipe I made from this book was "Chicken with Chorizo and Cannellini" from the "TV Dinners" chapter.  (No picture here, because I had a mini-disaster which was totally my fault).  The recipe is very simple and really delicious.  It is a chicken breast poached in chicken stock with chorizo sausage cooked in olive oil and garlic with cannellini beans and steamed kale added to the mix.  My "mini-disaster" was with the kale.  I thought I would be smart and steam it in a steamer bag in the microwave.  Bad idea.  Next thing I knew, smoke was coming out of the microwave and the kale was completely scorched/burned!  No kale for my dish.  It was still fantastic, though.  I added onions, and the chicken/sausage (I used turkey because I couldn't find chorizo)/bean combination was fabulous.  It's too bad about the kale, because that would have added some beautiful color as well as flavor.  Next time I'll steam the kale on the stove.

My next recipe from this book was "Sweet Corn Pudding" from the chapter entitled "Trashy".  (Now, I've made corn pudding for years and have never considered it trashy, but whatever...)  Corn pudding is corn baked in an egg/milk/cream mixture.  Nigella uses both canned sweet corn and creamed corn in her recipe.  The pudding came out beautifully; nice and high and fluffy.  But there was one major difference between her recipe and the one I've been using:  Nigella does not include sugar.  This is fine if you are serving it with something sweet.  If you are not, then it might come as a bit of a surprise.  When I make this again,  I will add sugar to it.

The second of Nigella's books is How To Be A Domestic Goddess.  To me, the title conjures up a Martha Stewart-esque book that tells you how to grow your own flax and weave your own fabric.  But it isn't like that at all.  It is a book on baking and comfort.  Two of my favorite things!  My granddaughter and I made her "American Breakfast Pancakes" one Sunday morning, which were a big hit.  I also made her "Strawberry Shortcakes".  These are biscuit-type shortcakes that are filled with strawberries and whipped cream.  Mmmmm..... 

There are so many recipes I want to make from this book.  There is an "Easy Almond Cake" that looks and sounds delicious, yet very easy to make.  It does require a spring form mold pan, which I do not have.  So I'm waiting until I can either find one or order one.  (I could probably use a bundt pan and get the same effect).  Nigella put raspberries in the center and sprinkled it with powdered sugar.  What a perfect summertime dessert!  Actually, I could start on page one and work my way through this book.  And like her other books, Nigella's casual and friendly style shines on every page. 

The third book is Nigella Express, which features recipes from her show of the same name.  It features "good food fast", which is exactly what I need.  I made two recipes from this book, "Chicken Mushroom Bacon Pot Pie" and "Pollo alla Cacciatora".  Both are about as comforting as comfort gets.  The title of the pot pie recipe pretty much tells it like it is.  It called for two small casserole dishes and splitting a sheet of phyllo dough between them to make the lids.  I do not have two small casserole dishes, but I have a souffle-type dish that I thought it would be perfect for making one generous size pot pie. 

Here's the result:

 

(Note:  The dish containing the pot pie belonged to my grandmother and was made by Hall China for the Jewel Tea Company in the 1920's.  It is the "Autumn Leaves" pattern that is often seen today in many antique shops.  She bought it and several other pieces of that pattern from the Jewel Tea truck that came to her neighborhood.)

The Pollo alla Caccitora is basically a chicken caccitori recipe in a stew form.  I love her addition of cannellini beans (of which I'm rapidly becoming a huge fan) to the stew.  That along with the texture of boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut up into pieces and the cut up strips of bacon make this a very satisfying dish.  I plan to make both dishes again during the fall and winter months.

As with the other books, I could start at the beginning and cook my way through the entire book and never tire of it.  These books are in my permanent rotation now, and I plan to cook frequently from them.

Comments

[Tara]

I am a huge Nigella fan and enjoyed your reviews. May I recommend: pasta with meatballs from N. Bites (I don't make fresh pasta), coca cola ham, and the chocolate layer cake; and from HTBADG the dense chocolate loaf cake and gingerbread with lemon frosting. Yum!

[BooksPlease]

I have two of these - Nigella Bites and Nigella Express, plus others as well. I love all her books. Most recently I've been using Nigella Express - the "Broccoli and Stilton soup" is really good, although I don't use as much Stilton as she specifies in the recipe. I've made both "Chicken Mushroom Bacon Pot Pie" and "Pollo alla Cacciatora" and several more as well - a good book for cooking in a hurry.