Cook in Boots

Banana Pancakes with Caramel Sauce

Sometimes when browsing the net in search of new books -be they newly published, or an author that has so far gone unnoticed – it is possible to stumble across someone who fires up your interest. This happened to me a last year when I found Ravinder Bhogal’s Cook In Boots for pre-order, it came out in May 2008. It was presented in an upbeat modern manner with amusing chapter heading and subheadings.
In due course it arrived, and it is just the very epitome of an upbeat modern girls (boys too perhaps) cookbook. Before I started cooking from it I saw Ravinder on the Good Food channel (UKTV as was then) cooking a recipe from her book (Oreo Cheesecake if you’re curious). I warmed to her immediately, she’s a pretty, well dressed, well spoken, fashion journalist and home cook. She won a search by Gordon Ramsey to find a new Fanny Craddock, and the blurb at the back of the book say she beat off over 8,000 other entrants to take the crown.
It’s a fashionable book, nicely presented with good humoured text and fun play on words in parts. It’s got some lovely pictures including shoes and boots in the chapter heading pictures, if that’s your thing. More than this though, it’s a good cookbook, one I feel actually comes from the heart of the author, and obviously essential to a good cookbook, the recipes work.
I read online that she is currently working on her second book, I scan the book sites regularly to see what it will be and when it’ll come out, it’ll be going in my pre-order basket for sure.
Back to the present though. Here is a selection of some of the recipes I’ve made from the book. I should have perhaps posted a shorter post sooner, but I want my blog to be true to how I cook, and it’s good to be able to say that 10 months on it’s still in my current cooking and reading pile. Indeed, post two about this book is currently percolating away!

Afternoon Tea Pudding
This was my first try last year, when I was just desperate for a quick, comforting, sweet pudding. This fit the bill nicely, basically a bread and butter pudding made with scones and jam. I don’t recall now why I needed a comforting pudding, but what I do remember is that this one did comfort.

Couscous and Roasted Vegetable Salad
I liked this, but would fiddle a bit next time, more pomegranate molasses to up the flavour stakes.

Spicy Shepherd’s Pie
Minced lamb and subtle spicing; think keema with mash on top. Spiced but although there is chilli in it, it’s not too hot – or at least it wasn’t with the chilli I used, we liked this one.
Hot Sausage Roast with Sweet and Sour Gravy
I did the sauce separately in a pan, which made it not what it was intended to be, as I knew the little people wouldn’t like the sauce. This was ok, but I prefer some of other dishes of this type that I already make better.

Double Chocolate Orange Brownies
As a confirmed lover of orange and chocolate together, I have no idea why I’ve not thought to turn the flavour combo into a brownie myself. Works very nicely indeed.

Turkish Delight Rocky Road
The Turkish delight is great in the rocky road. I’ve actually been thinking about trying this myself for ages, when on Nigella dot com someone asked for ideas for marshmallow replacements in one of Nigella’s rocky roads and I suggested Turkish Delight.I’d put a bit of golden syrup in the chocolate mixture next time, as even with the Turkish it needed it I thought.

Pasta, Chorizo and Bean Soup
This is a very very good soup. Veggies, pasta, beans and the essential chorizo sausage. What’s not to like there?!

Left Over Roast Chicken Paella
A good use of the leftover meat from a roast chicken. A nice one to add into your reportiore. It’s not real paella, but it is a good dish.

Dill Crepes with Green Vegetables and Feta
These were a bit of work, crepes, bechamel and vegetable filling, but I thought they were worth it, incredibly filling too.

Banana Pancakes with Caramel Sauce
I made these for pancake day (Shrove Tuesday), they were great! A proper caramel sauce is just what the bananas and pancakes needed, I had some blueberries so added them to the plates when serving, and a worthy addition they were too!