112. Hummus with cumin & paprika

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food - link
Rating: 4.5/5
Comment: This is my first attempt at homemade hummus - so easy I will certainly make it from scratch more often! I think most recipes use yoghurt but this uses creme fraiche - will try yoghurt next time. The cumin and paprika give it a nice subtle kick.
Use this again: Yes.
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, spicy chicken fajitas, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas, cottage pie with rosti potatoes, tandoori chicken, french onion soup, tin foil salmon/trout.
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread, chocolate mousse, salmon in filo pastry with pesto, chicken tikka misala.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

111. Apple Pie (Moll Gap's) - Avoca cafe cookbook 1

Avoca Cafe Cookbook (1)
Rating: 5/5
Comment: I've made apple pie once before but can't remember which recipe I used. This one's a keeper. The pastry was a little difficult to work with but it all worked out fine in the end. It's supposed to be rested in the fridge for 4 hours but didn't have time.  Used a 23cm tart tin rather than the suggested 25cm. My lovely husband prepared most of this - I just helped roll out the pastry!
Use it again: Yes.
Other nice newly tried recipes: Lemon Tart, Strawberry meringue roulade,Tuscan Bean soup, lakeshore pork, chicken marinated in honey and mustard, herb crusted cod, shepherd's pie, pepperpot beef (use far less tomato than suggested).
Other nice recipes: Chicken and broccoli gratin, beef and guinness stew, pork normandy, chocolate and orange cake, brown bread.
Average recipes: Santa fe pork stew.

110. Scones

Recipes from my mother for my daughter (Lisa Faulkner)
Rating: 4/5
Comment: I've been looking for a plain white scone recipe for a while, and this one's perfect. The dough came together well and produced simple scones.
Use it again:  Yes.
Other nice recipes from this book: Toria's crispy marinated chicken.

109. Beef Pie (R Allen)

Rachel Allen- Easy Meals
Rating: 4/5
Comment: This was surprisingly nice. I thought there would be too much leek in it but it had a lovely taste. I didn't include celery and it wasn't missed. Used beef stock rather than plain water.
Use again? Yes.
Lovely Recipes from this book: Easy Lemon Cake, pork chops with apple and sage, tarragon chicken.

108. Chocolate victoria sponge (M Berry)

Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book
Rating: 4/5
Comment: Nice enough light chocolate cake. The icing to go with this is margarine so used a chocolate (using real chocolate) buttercream icing and higher quantities to include a covering on the top.
Use it again: Yes, for a light choc cake.
Lovely recipes from this book: Coffee victoria sponge, lemon traybake.

107. Pork Masala (R Allen - Easy Meals)

Rachel Allen- Easy Meals
Rating: 3/5
Comment: This was only OK. The pork was quite dry.
Use again? No.
Lovely Recipes from this book: Easy Lemon Cake, pork chops with apple and sage, tarragon chicken, beef pie.

106. iced Lemon Traybake (M Berry)

Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book 
Rating: 4.5/5
Comment: Yummy light, quick and easy lemon tray bake with a subtle taste of lemon in the sponge part and zesty icing. Very simple all-in-one method. Cooked it at 170 degrees - fan oven for just under 30 mins.
Use it again: Yes.
Lovely recipes from this book: Coffee victoria sponge.

105. Cauliflower & Broccoli mac 'n' cheese (D. Skehan)

Link to recipe
Kitchen Hero: Great Food for less (Donal Skehan)
Rating: 4/5
Comment: Great winter comfort food. Saw this on Donal's cookery tv show and thought it was a nice twist on a childhood favorite - mum used to make Delia Smith's mac 'n' cheese with rashers and leeks - a recipe I now use for a comfort food treat very occasionally. Will now also use this recipe with some modifications -  rashers. I think a head each of both broccoli and cauliflower is a bit too much though so will use two-thirds of each. Also, Donal used a mixture of cheese on the tv show (cheddar, parmesan and some kind of blue cheese?), so also used a bit of a mixture and topped it off with some breadcrumbs as well as cheese.
Use again? Yes.

104. Tarragon Chicken (R Allen)

Rachel Allen- Easy Meals
Rating: 4/5
Comment: This was tasty enough and very easy, even with dried tarragon, but I think the amount of stock specified is too much. At 1 pint the liquid is supposedly meant to reduce and thicken after simmering for about 8 minutes - it took over 15 minutes and it still hadn't reduced down by much. (I used the kindle version of the book which may have mistakes). However, it did still taste lovely and was so easy - great for mid-week dinner. This uses creme fraiche.
Use again? Yes.
Lovely Recipes from this book: Easy Lemon Cake, pork chops with apple and sage.

103. Pork chops with apple and sage (R. Allen)

Rachel Allen- Easy Meals
Rating: 5/5
Comment: Very tasty pork loin chops and very fast to prepare. This uses eating apples, cider, sage and creme fraiche. My mother told me about this and I will definitely be making this time and time again. I used yoghurt this last time which split on me so I think I'll stick to creme fraiche.
Lovely Recipes from this book: Easy Lemon Cake.

102.Tin foil salmon (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food
Rating: 4.5/5
Comment: Lovely refreshing way to cook salmon. Very easy and quick and tasted lovely. Used sesame oil for the first time which worked very well.
Use this again: Yes. The recipe also suggests using trout which I will try another time.
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, spicy chicken fajitas, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas, cottage pie with rosti potatoes, tandoori chicken, french onion soup.
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread, chocolate mousse, salmon in filo pastry with pesto, chicken tikka misala.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

101. Lemon yoghurt cake (M Berry)

Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book 
Rating: 2.5/5
Comment: This was easy enough to make but disappointed with the result. Tastes fine but a little heavy.
Use it again: No.
Lovely recipes from this book: Coffee victoria sponge.

100. Dreamlike shortbread (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale- Baking Made Easy 
Rating: 3/5 
Comment: Only OK. This recipe uses a mix of flour and rice-flour. I think the rice flour gave it an odd taste, but I did use brown rice flour which may be the cause. I added in some chocolate chips for variety. I will make these again using regular flour.
Use it again: Yes, probably.
Lovely recipes from this book: Fudge brownies, classic victoria sponge, pavlova, Chocolate cake, Chocolate melting pots, Soda bread, Strawberry and mascarpone swiss roll, baked plaice with rosemary and anchovies, mini toad-in-the-hole, Focaccia, glam mac and cheese, mini dark chocolate and raspberry swirl cheesecakes, lemon tart.
Avoid: Banana and Honey Souffle, ginger and mascarpone creme brulee.

99. French Onion Soup (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment: Tasty enough onion soup - the first onion soup I've ever made and pleased enough with the result. This was a very easy recipe which suits the cold winter days. Photo to follow next time.
Use it again: Yes.
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, spicy chicken fajitas, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas, cottage pie with rosti potatoes, tandoori chicken. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread, chocolate mousse, salmon in filo pastry with pesto, chicken tikka misala.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

98. Cheesecake brownies (R. Allen - Cake)

Rachel Allen - Cake
Link to the recipe
Rating: 4.5/5 
Comment: Yummy - much nicer than a regular Rachel Allen brownie recipe I sometimes use - the cream cheese balances out the richness a little, although it has a slightly odd taste, still good. I also think I will add more of the chocolate chunks part to the melted choc/butter mixture relative to the amount of chunks - maybe 30-40 %. These were even nicer the second day.

Use it again: Probably, but not as often as my regular brownie recipe.

97. Chicken Tikka Misala (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 3/5 
Comment: This was alright but lacking in something. a quick and easy dinner for mid-week. 
Use it again: No. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, spicy chicken fajitas, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas, cottage pie with rosti potatoes, tandoori chicken. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread, chocolate mousse, salmon in filo pastry with pesto.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

96.Tandoori chicken (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment: Tasty enough spicy chicken - this turned out far better than the lamb biryani I tried and it took no time at all to prepare and cook! This is supposed to be served with Cucumber raita and mango but we just had it with yoghurt in wraps and with green beans. I think the cucumber and mango would go nicely with it.
Use it again: Yes, but not frequently. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate (malteser) cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, spicy chicken fajitas, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas, cottage pie with rosti potatoes. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread, chocolate mousse, salmon in filo pastry with pesto.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

95. Santa Fe Pork Stew(avoca cafe book 1)

Avoca Cafe Cookbook (1) 
Rating: 3.5/5 
Comment: This was perfectly adequate, but the final taste versus the effort wasn't really aligned. It has quite a nice spice flavour to it, but not sure I like the overall taste. I did have quite a heavy cold when I tried this, however.
Use it again: Possibly. Everyone should own a copy of the original Avoca Cafe Cookbook.
Other nice newly tried recipes: Lemon Tart, Strawberry meringue roulade,Tuscan Bean soup, lakeshore pork, chicken marinated in honey and mustard, herb crusted cod, banana bread. shepherd's pie, pepperpot beef (use far less tomato than suggested),
Other nice recipes: Chicken and broccoli gratin, beef and guinness stew, pork normandy, chocolate and orange cake, brown bread, 

94.Salmon in filo pastry with pesto(L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 3/5 
Comment: This was alright, but nothing special and not worth the hassle of using filo pastry unless you happen to be making something using filo anyway and have 2 spare sheets left over. The pesto on the salmon was nice but the filo parcel unnecessary - added a nice gentle crunch, however. 
Use it again: No. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, spicy chicken fajitas, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas, cottage pie with rosti potatoes. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread, chocolate mousse.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

93. Vanilla Panna cotta (R Allen - Fave Food)

Rachel's Favourite Food 
Rating: 3/5 
Comment: This did not taste at all good - in fact tasted like gone off cream! It was in date but think it may have gone off - it set fine and I'm sure it would have tasted fine if the cream had been fresh!
Use it again: Yes, and I'll ensure the cream is not sour!
Lovely recipes from this book: Pasta with chorizo and cream, Pea and coriander soup with chilli, hot lemon pudding, mustard and honey salad dressing, brownies.
Average recipes: Homemade burgers.

92.Coffee Victoria Sponge (M Berry)

Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book 
Rating: 4.5/5 
Comment: Lovely simple subtle tasting coffee cake. I used a different recipe for the icing as the quantities seemed a little off but the sponge part was perfect. This will definitely be used again! The tasted even better the second time I made it - I forgot to take a photo but will ensure I do next time.
Use it again: Yes.

91.Cottage pie with rosti potatoes(L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food  
Rating: 4/5 
Comment: Tried this out because of the rosti potato topping - it's a nice change but creates too much washing up as I used the grater attachment on the food processor! I may well use the meat part and just top off with normal mash as it was well tasty. 
Use it again: Maybe. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, spicy chicken fajitas, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread, chocolate mousse.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

90.Chocolate mousse (L. Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 3/5 
Comment: This probably would have been fine except that I didn't notice it uses 50g milk chocolate in addition to 150g dark chocolate! didn't work out too well and was quite heavy. Admittedly it was probably user error - I've never been able to make a nice chocolate mousse. 
Use it again: No. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, spicy chicken fajitas, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

89.Spicy chicken fajitas (L. Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

Rating: 4.5/5 
Comment:A slight variation on a chicken fajita recipe of my mother-in-law's - but this uses cumin and paprika rather than chilli flakes and chilli powder. Added a bit of chilli flakes anyway. Lovely recipe - will use this but will also continue to use the old recipe.
Use it again: Yes. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, lemon& lime poppy seed cake,warm bramley apple pies, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas.
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

88.Lemon&lime poppy seed cake (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment:Lovely cake. However, it works best as a tray bake rather than in a loaf tin. Was a little skepital about using lime zest, but it gave the cake a lovely tangy flavour. For the icing I use more lemon juice and sugar than the amount suggested, particularly when doing this as a tray bake! A nice alternative to the old reliable lemon drizzle cake! I use 1 and a bit tbsp of poppyseeds rather than the suggested 3. If cooking this as directed in the book (loaf tin), it will need longer than directed in the oven and will probably sink even if you don't open the door too early.
Use it again: Yes.
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, warm bramley apple pies, roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas.
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

87.Roasted new Potatas&chorizo Bravas (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 4/5
Comment: Tasty,slightly spicy dish. A good way to use up chorizo and baby potatoes. Tried making the aoili from scratch but it was an epic fail - will use shop bought next time I make this!
Use it again: Yes.
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, warm bramley apple pies. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread.
Recipes to avoid: Lamb Biryani.

86.Meringue Roulade (R. Allen)

Entertaining at home - Rachel Allen Link to book 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment: This is supposed to be an orange curd meringue roulade, however, I only wanted to try out the method for the roulade so used strawberries and cream rather than curd and cream. While it was quite nice, I think I'll stick to the Avoca Cafe version. 
Use it again: No. 
Other nice recipes from this book: Rhubarb crumble cake, Spinach soup with rosemary oil, potato and gruyere gratin, beef and red wine stew.

 

85.Raspberry Jam bread&butter pudding (RA-Home cooking)

Rachel Allen - Home cooking 
Rating: 3/5 

Comment: This is my first attempt at making a bread and butter pudding. I use the delia smith queen of puddings sometimes but have been put off bread and butter puddings by raisins. The book suggests a couple of variations on this - rhubarb and ginger, or the more traditional dried berries and spice. This is an easy recipe, as expected and tasty enough though a little heavy. Great for Autumn or Winter warming. Think I will use it again, but not on a regular basis. 
Use it again: Yes, but not often. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Spiced Chicken Salad, Millonaire's shortbread (sister-in-law got me hooked on this one) and recommended this one - Fish Pie, baked raspberry and ricotta cheesecake, traditional roast rib of beef with yorkshire pudding, roast tomato soup. 
Average recipes: Shepherd's pie  
Avoid: Rhubarb muffins, chicken casserole with cheesy herb dumplings.

84. Lamb Biryani (L P)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 1/5
Comment: Not certain exactly what I did wrong - but this was not great. It wasn't very spicy and there wasn't enough liquid to cook the rice. I did use slightly less spice then suggested, but at the same time the spice got completely lost. The wording of the method states that the rice should be cooked in a separate pan. This is the first biryani I've ever cooked so had to look up the internet to confirm that the rice should actually be added to the same pan as the meat/spices (assuming the recipes I found were accurate). This recipe is supposed to include a small amount of sun-dried tomato, raisins and coconut - none of which I like - but I don't think they would have had much impact. Hope I have more success with the other meat dishes I try from this book :-)
Use it again: No. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Chocolate cake, warm bramley apple pies. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread.

83. Chocolate cake (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 5/5 
Comment: This is the 'let them eat cake' recipe, which is meant to be covered in maltesers and chocolate butter-cream icing, but thought that was too time-consuming and too much icing so did 2/3 the suggested amount of icing and didn't use maltesers. If I was doing this for a birthday, or special occasion, which it is good enough for, think I would go all out and put the maltesers on (it would be very very sweet!).  However, it's still very nice without them. This recipe uses creme fraiche and less butter than normal, which give it a lovely consistency. I use a different chocolate cake recipe (no creme fraiche in it) from the original book (baking made easy), that is also very good (#27 in May). 
Use it again: Yes. 
Other lovely recipes from this book: Warm bramley apple pies. 
Nice enough recipes from this book: Twister Bread.

82. Twister Bread (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast,Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 3.5/5 
Comment: Nice enough bread. A little more time consuming than some bread recipes, but not by much. It wasn't easy to roll out the bread to a rectangle shape but aside from that it was easy to do (although it didn't look anything like the one on the tv programme!).
Use it again: Possibly. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Warm bramley apple pies

81.Warm bramley apple pies (Lorraine Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale's Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment:  tasty apple pastries. These make a lovely tea time snack or would be great for dessert served with cream or custard (used shop-bought puff pastry). The apple part can be a little tart - I tend to add more sugar than recommended and use less ginger.
Use it again: Yes. 
This is the first recipe I've tried from the book and look forward to trying a few more. 

80. Strawberry meringue roulade (Avoca Cafe)

Avoca Cafe Cookbook (1) 
Rating: 5/5 
Comment:  This follows a very different method to the last meringue roulade I cooked -was interested to see if this would be as successful. This was just as much a success and probably nicer - still had a nice crisp outside and soft mallowy inside, but wasn't too mallowy. I'll still also use the other method, depending on who the intended recipients are.
Use it again: Yes. Everyone should own a copy of the original Avoca Cafe Cookbook. The second one's not as useful, but I do still use it as well as the original one.
Other nice newly tried recipes: Lemon Tart, Tuscan Bean soup, lakeshore pork (use pork fillet), chicken marinated in honey and mustard, herb crusted cod, banana bread. 

79. Lakeshore Pork (Avoca Cafe)

Avoca Cafe Cookbook (1) 
Rating:4.5/5 
Comment: I love the normandy pork recipe from this book, but decided it was time for some variation. This was lovely though quite rich and creamy - pork was melt in the mouth. (It tasted much better than it looks in the photo :-). Used pork steak rather than loin.
Use it again: Yes.
Other nice newly tried recipes: Lemon Tart, Tuscan Bean soup, chicken marinated in honey and mustard, herb crusted cod, banana bread.

78. Beef & red wine stew (Rachel Allen - Entertaining)

Entertaining at home - Rachel Allen Link to book 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment: A good warming stew - will add this to my list of nice beef stews/casseroles. It's meant to include carrots but forgot to buy them in advance. (The photo doesn't do the stew justice).
Use it again: Yes, in the Autumn/Winter in particular.

Other nice recipes from this book: Rhubarb crumble cake, Spinach soup with rosemary oil, potato and gruyere gratin.

77. Lemon Tart (Avoca cafe cookbook)

Avoca Cafe Cookbook (1) 

Rating: 5/5 

Comment:  Absolutely perfect. Just the right balance of lemon to cream to eggs. Everyone loved it. Served with raspberry coulis. The recipe creates a huge amount of filling so depending on my mood I either reduce the quantities or make up some mini tarts (usually the former).

Use it again: Yes.

Other nice newly tried recipes: Tuscan Bean soup, chicken marinated in honey and mustard, herb crusted cod, banana bread. 

76. Cardamom Sour-cream cake (Rachel Allen)

Rachel's Favourite food at home 
Rating: 3/5
Comment: Alright cake with a good texture and subtle taste. I don't have a pestle and mortar but it would have been useful to finely crush the inside of the cardamom seeds; Instead I was only able to roughly crush them.
Use it again: No, the flavour wasn't to my liking.
Other nice recipes from this book: wholemeal shortbread biscuits, spicy salmon cakes, gratin of fish with tomatoes and cheese, asparagus and spring onion tart. This is my least favourite of the Rachel Allen's Favourite food books. I love the other two and keep finding new nice looking recipes to try, whereas I think most of the recipes in this book are either too bland looking or just not food I'd be interested in.

75. Simple Roast Chicken (Donal Skehan)

Kitchen Hero - Donal Skehan - link
Rating: 3.8/5 
Comment: I normally roast chicken with garlic, butter and lemon juice, but decided to try something different. This recipe uses a paste of garlic, rosemary and thyme with olive oil - was pleasantly surprised at how nice it tasted. Was concerned it might dry out a little, but it seemed fine. Had trouble making up the paste (there wasn't enough of it to mix up properly). A pestle and mortar may be best.
Use it again: Yes.
Other nice recipes from this book: Spicy white bean and chorizo soup, chicken and broccoli pie, mini caramelised and goat's cheese tarts, sticky marmalade chicken.

74. Lemon Tart (L Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale- Baking Made Easy 
Rating: 3.7/5 
Comment: Nice but a little too citrusy. I overcooked the pastry a little and also did not roll it out thin enough. There was a little too much lemon rind for my liking -  uses juice and rind of 5 lemons. The pastry is meant to include poppy seeds but I forgot!
Use it again: Possibly.
Lovely recipes from this book: Fudge brownies, classic victoria sponge, pavlova, Chocolate cake, Chocolate melting pots, Soda bread, Strawberry and mascarpone swiss roll, baked plaice with rosemary and anchovies, mini toad-in-the-hole, Focaccia, glam mac and cheese, mini dark chocolate and raspberry swirl cheesecakes. 
Avoid: Banana and Honey Souffle, ginger and mascarpone creme bruelee.

73. Mini Molten Chocolate Puddings (Donal Skehan)

Donal Skehan: http://www.rte.ie/lifestyle/food/recipes/2012/0528/3203-mini-molten-chocolate-puddings/
Kitchen hero - great food for less
Rating: 3.5/5
Comment: Tasty but too sweet. Over-cooked the first two, then slightly under-cooked the second two, but all tasted great anyway. Hopefully will get it right next time. Also omitted the chilli but will try a little next time.
Use it again: Yes. 

 

72.Gratin of fish with tomatoes&cheese (R. Allen food@home)

Rachel's Favourite food at home 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment: Tasty dish. The plaice was melt in the mouth - just the right balance of cream, cheese and tomatoes. Will try using a different type of fish (cheaper!), such as cod next time. The cheese is Gruyere, but you can use half of that and half of emmental.Used wholegrain mustard in place of Dijon.
Use it again: Yes. 
Other nice recipes from this book: wholemeal shortbread biscuits, spicy salmon cakes, apple and cinnamon muffins, asparagus and spring onion tart. 

Rachel Allen favourite food cookbooks - this is my least preferred of the 3 books. The other 2 have a far better selection of recipes.  

Avoid: Upside-down rhubarb and ginger cake.

71. Roasted tomato&basil soup (Rachel Allen - fave food for friends)

Rachel's Favourite Food for Friends 
Rating: 3.7/5 
Comment:  Lovely tasting soup. 
Use it again: Yes. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Cinnamon and orange/ginger Biscuits, Chocolate Roulade with raspberries and cream, apple pudding, rhubarb pudding, lemon tea cake, raspberry and honey mascarpone tart. french dressing, lemon tray bake.
Average but still nice: Sweet corn and coriander cakes with tomato salsa, maple roast parsnips, jane's biscuits, cauliflower and cheese soup, apple sauce.
Avoid: Chocolate fudge mousse, chocolate tart.

70. Chocolate brownies (Rachel Allen-favourite food)

Rachel's Favourite Food 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment: Nice brownies but not as good as the Lorraine Pascale ones.
Use it again: Yes, but only when low on eggs as uses 2 less eggs than the usual brownie recipe.
Lovely recipes from this book: Pasta with chorizo and cream, Pea and coriander soup with chilli, hot lemon pudding, mustard and honey salad dressing.
Average recipes: Homemade burgers.

69. Pasta with chorizo&cream (Rachel Allen - favourite food)

Rachel's Favourite Food 
Rating: 4.5/5 
Comment: Delicious pasta sauce - restaurant quality! Quick and easy.
Use it again: Yes.
Lovely recipes from this book: Pea and coriander soup with chilli, hot lemon pudding, mustard and honey salad dressing.
Average recipes: Homemade burgers. 

68. Cinnamon rolls (Avoca book 2)

Avoca Cafe cookbook 2 (Book 2) 
Rating: 3/5 
Comment: These were alright. They seemed to use a lot of yeast relative to the amount of flour. They were massive. The cinnamon, sugar and butter got a bit lost due to the huge expansion of the dough. I overcooked them a little which didn't help matters.
Use it again: Yes, but not for a few months. I'll try this version with less yeast next time.
Other nice recipes from this book: Chocolate chip cookies, lemon curd cake (does not need the buttercream), parma-wrapped chicken breasts with ricotta stuffing, rich chocolate tart with berries.

67. Ginger and mascarpone Creme Brulee (Lorraine Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale- Baking Made Easy  
Rating: 2.5/5 
Comment: I thought the ginger would give a nice flavour to this and the mascarpone lessen the richness, but it seemed just as rich as a normal vanilla creme brulee and didn't really think the ginger enhanced the flavour. I didn't dislike this as much as chocolate creme brulee, but don't think I'll try this again.
Use it again: No. Vanilla only creme brulee going forward.
Lovely recipes from this book: Fudge brownies, classic victoria sponge, pavlova, Chocolate cake, Chocolate melting pots, Soda bread, Strawberry and mascarpone swiss roll, baked plaice with rosemary and anchovies, mini toad-in-the-hole, Focaccia, glam mac and cheese, mini dark chocolate and raspberry swirl cheesecakes. 
Avoid: Banana and Honey Souffle. 

66. Pavlova (L.Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale- Baking Made Easy

Rating: 4.5/5 
Comment: This followed a backwards method, which went against all logic, but it seemed to work. Started off with the sugar, a squirt of lemon juice and 1 egg white. It worked out quite well. If you prefer marshmallowly centres in your pavlova then stick to the traditional method, but if you prefer a little stickiness try this method out. All the family seemed to like it.
Meringues also worked out very well using this method.

Use it again: Yes.

Lovely recipes from this book: Brownies, classic victoria sponge, Chocolate cake, Chocolate melting pots, Soda bread, Strawberry and mascarpone swiss roll, baked plaice with rosemary and anchovies, mini toad-in-the-hole, Focaccia, glam mac and cheese, mini dark chocolate and raspberry swirl cheesecakes. 
Avoid: Banana and Honey Souffle, Ginger and mascarpone creme brulee.

65. Strawberry meringue roulade (Mary Berry)

Mary Berry's complete cookbook 
Rating: 4.5/5 
Comment: Lovely. This was my first attempt at a meringue roulade and certainly won't be my last! Will try the avoca book method for a comparison. Wexford's finest strawberries can't be beaten. This is from my cooking bible - any recipe I've tried from this book has usually been lovely. This, along with Delia Smith complete cooking collection are must-have books for cooking traditional recipes.
Use it again: Yes.

64. Homemade beef burgers (RA - Favourite food)

Rachel's Favourite Food 
Rating: 3/5 
Comment: These were nice enough but a little difficult to keep together. The last burger recipe used had breadcrumbs or flour to help bind, but this only uses eggs. The herbs and caramelised onions in the mix worked well.
Use it again: Possibly.

Lovely recipes from this book: Pea and coriander soup with chilli, hot lemon pudding, mustard and honey salad dressing

63. Classic Victoria Sponge (Lorraine Pascale)

Lorraine Pascale- Baking Made Easy

Rating: 4.5/5 

Comment: I haven't made a plain old victoria sponge for a few years, and decided to try Lorraine's method and ingredients for a change. Everyone seemed to love it! it helped that I used homemade strawberry jam (not one I made)! 
Use it again: Yes. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Fudge brownies, Chocolate cake, Chocolate melting pots, Soda bread, Strawberry and mascarpone swiss roll, baked plaice with rosemary and anchovies, mini toad-in-the-hole, Focaccia, glam mac and cheese, mini dark chocolate and raspberry swirl cheesecakes. 
Avoid: Banana and Honey Souffle. 

62. B-list chocolate chip cupcakes

Saved by Cake - Marian Keyes  
Rating: 3/5 for the cupcakes; 4.5/5 for the icing
Comment: The cupcakes themselves were a bit heavy but the icing was lovely. Will use the chocolate icing again with plain vanilla or chocolate sponge fairycakes.
Use it again: Icing - yes; cupcake recipe - no.

61. Pork Fillet with mushroom, white wine and Sage leaves (R.A - Rachel's Favourite Food)

Rachel's Favourite Food
Rating: 2.5/5 

Comment: We were all disappointed with this. Used yellow pepper in place of mushrooms (due to a mushroom hater).
Use it again: No.
Lovely recipes from this book: Pea and coriander soup with chilli, hot lemon pudding, mustard and honey salad dressing.

60. Carrot and Orange soup (Butler's Pantry)

The Butler's Pantry 
Rating: 4/5 
Comment: Very nice soup. Simple and quick and really wasn't expecting it to taste so good. 
Use it again:Yes.

 Only average other recipes from this book: Red thai curry.

59. Spiced Chicken Salad (R.A - Home Cooking)

Rachel Allen - Home cooking 
Rating: 5/5 
Comment:  Perfectly spiced chicken. The recipe recommends serving this with homemade tzatziki but it was fine just with salad. This chicken would be lovely for other things too.

Use it again: Yes. 
Lovely recipes from this book: Millonaire's shortbread (sister-in-law got me hooked on this one) and recommended this one - Fish Pie, baked raspberry and ricotta cheesecake, traditional roast rib of beef with yorkshire pudding, roast tomato soup. 
Average recipes: Shepherd's pie 
Avoid: Rhubarb muffins, chicken casserole with cheesy herb dumplings.