Lorriane Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food

The title pretty much says it all - Lorraine Pascale’s Fast, Fresh and Easy Food 100 Fabulous, Easy to Make Recipes HarperCollinsPublishers 2012. Here in the UK it is accompanied by a BBC2 television series and recipes are indeed fast, fresh and easy.

This is her third cookbook, and it is done in a very similar style to the previous two, glossy pages, clear text and good pictures of the food and Lorraine herself too.

Chapters are: *Canapes & Cocktails * Starters, Snacks & Soups * Salads * Chicken & Duck Mains * Beef, Lamb & Pork Mains * Fish & Shellfish Mains * Vegetarian Mains * Cakes & Puds * Bread & Pastry * Tasty Treats *.

Some of the recipes I have marked to try soon: The Union Cobb, Broccoli and Blue Cheese Soup with Chive Mascarpone, Gingerbread Pancakes with Parma Ham & Maple Syrup, Maple and Balsamic Glazed Lamb Chops with Mint, Toasted Almonds and Feta Couscous, Blueberry and Oat Muffins and Dulce & Banana Cake.

Some of her ideas here are great (see the cookie pops below) and she often gives a bit of a different spin to dishes like Five-Spice Roasted Duck Breast with Cherry and Shiraz Sauce plus Sesame Noodles. I could feed hubby and myself easily from here, our little miss or a more traditional palate not so much. There are plenty new ideas for the “What to have for Supper?” question. One of the really good things about this book is that the main courses all incorporate the sides to go with them, and I know I find that really useful when I’m in food-on-the-table-as-fast –as possible mode. Although I’ve liked both of Lorraine’s previous books, this one is better than her last one I think. You can really feel her creativity in the kitchen here, as with Baking Made Easy.

So far I’ve made six recipes, and here they are.

Wild Waldorf Salad

A Waldorf salad mixed up a bit with the addition of dried cranberries and a honey mustard Greek yoghurt dressing. We all liked this one.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

A bit of a hotch-potch of a recipes this one. Sausage meatballs and a sweet and sour sauce. Hubby was very taken with this one, I thought it was ok.

Lozza’s Lamb Biriyani

A kind of a quick fusion biryani! It was delicious the spices and coconut milk working well with the other ingredients. We both like this one, will make it again with chicken or prawns which Lorraine says both work well here. I served ours with some mango chutney on the side.

Chicken Fajitas

A good fajita recipe, I was particularly taken with the addition of chives to the cream. Although I did use half fat crème fraiche instead of sour cream, but the flavours are very similar. Actually I just did a couple of spoons of the cream as it is normally just me who eats it, however hubby liked it too and the bowl was soon empty.

Prawn Linguine with Chorizo & Cabernet Tomato Sauce

Meaty, gutsy and very Spicy! I halved this one for hubby and myself, I did it with the chilli and harissa paste, hubby was very happy but it was a bit too spicy for me. Lorraine says to use tomato puree instead of the harissa if you don’t like it too spicy, and you know me and my wimpy chilli ways! A keeper this one. Recipe here.

Shameless Shortcut Cookies-and-Cream Lollipops

A very naughty recipe made with Oreo cookies and Nutella (although it could have been cream cheese). Put a very big smile on my daughters face, and I was only just behind her! Made me feel like a child again. These are now known as ‘cookie cake pops’ in our house.

Next Up: Summer Round Up followed
Then:      Nigellissima