028. chicken wings with lemon & black pepper

(Date: 19 Feb 2013. The 28th recipe in 2013)

This is from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen. I think I almost followed the recipe to word except 2 adjustments: (1) I left the tray of wings in fridge for 6 hours before baking, hoping to deepen the flavour by a prolonged marination, and (2) I used 1.5 kg of wings instead of 1 kg. And the wings I used did not have the tips - not sure if it's just some urban myth or old wife tale, but there have been lots of talks about how grown hormone might have accumulated in chicken tips and that could be really bad to health. Anyway that's not the particularly meaty part. And Halal counter in supermarkets do sell wings without tips. Why not?

cauliflower soup with roasted hazelnuts

(Date: 3 Feb 2012)

The 23nd recipe in 2013, the 10th recipe from Nigel Slater's. If you asked me again if I am trying to cook through the whole The Kitchen Diaries 2, my answer would still be no, that's not my intention to cook through any book or follow any celebrity chef. But at the moment I'd love to follow Nigel Slater's footsteps in exploring the world of (relatively) simple homey dishes with seasonal ingredients and local produce. Hopefully I'll become a more confident home cook and know more about cooking through using his recipes.

The recipe is from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries 2. 

spaghetti bolognese

(Date: 29 January 2013)

The 19th recipe in 2013, the 9th from Nigel Slater's. Original recipe is "A really good spaghetti bolognese" from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries. I think the title somehow has unnecessarily raised my expectation. While I think it's good -- indeed very good, I am a bit reluctant to say it's really really good.

Chinese greens with oyster & ginger

(Date: 27 January 2013)

The 18th recipe in 2013, and the 8th Nigel Slater's one. "Chinese greens with Oyster & Ginger" from Nigel Slater's The Kitchen Diaries. Ok. I know it sounds weird for me, a native Chinese from Hong Kong, to use an Englishman's recipe to make Chinese greens in oyster sauce. But as part of my journey following Nigel Slater's footsteps in understanding more about food & cooking, why not? (I boiled the Choi Sum in a different way than suggested by Nigel Slater though...)

Instead of steamed rice, I serve it with plum-flavoured Japanese buckwheat soba noodle. The only reason to do so was the fact that the soba was expiring in March. The aesthetically appealing pink & green combo was a bit beyond my expectation.

broccoli & bacon soup

The 14th recipe I attempted in 2013. I kind of have lost count and not sure how many Nigel Slater's recipes I've done so far. (ok. I just counted. It's the 7th...)

The recipe is "a soup of broccoli and bacon" from Nigel Slater's "Tender Volume 1: A Cook and His Vegetable Patch". Or you can find the free version on The Telegraph website (link here). I followed the recipe almost to letter except (1) I used 6 baby new potatoes instead of 3 smallish potatoes (2) I replaced milk with double cream (solely the expiring cream would either go into the pot or the bin. it's not a difficult choice given I'm a tight-ass housewife)

bacon-wrapped salmon

The 12th recipe I attempted in 2013, and the 6th Nigel Slater's.

This recipe appeared as "Bacon-wrapped Salmon" in "The Kitchen Diaries 2" by Nigel Slater. You can also find it on The Guardian website (link here). I followed the recipe almost to word except (1) I made it for 3 instead of 2, (2) I put the thyme in before wrapping the bacon, instead of tucking it in after, (3) I doubled the bacon.

easy chicken curry

The 11th recipe in 2013 and the 5th Nigel Slater's one.

Adapted from Nigel Slater's Chicken Curry with a few modifications. The recipe was originally appeared on The Observer in 2011 (click here to see the full recipe on The Guardian website) and later published in Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food.