Fay Makes it Easy - Review

Well, I’d been anticipating this one, her third cook book. Fay Makes it Easy - 100 Delicious Recipes to Impress with No Stress by Fay Ripley published by Harper Collins in 2013. Perhaps I should look back before going forward, I enjoyed her first book, then her second one more, which to be fair probably puts Fay (or any other book author of any type) under some pressure to live up to expectations. ”And does it?” I hear you ask. Yes, I think it does!
I look to Fay for family suppers, you know inspiration for weeknight teas, that don’t take too long to make, but still deliver on taste and provide reasonably balanced plates for my family. I’ve made a number of dishes so far (some pics on Face Book page). Indeed one in particular was positively a minor miracle on the food front – more on that below though.
This book has more traditional chapters (as opposed to her second one which was days of the week) of – Morning Glory – Let’s do Lunch – Bite-Sized – Delish Dinners – Great Outdoors – Sweet Stuff . There are plenty of pictures of all the dishes, and the recipes are clearly written and laid out. Of course there are always Fay’s introductions to the recipes too, which made me laugh out loud on a couple of occasions. I won’t say which ones and spoil your fun though.
Some of the recipes I have marked to try are: Morning Muffins, Hollywood Raspberry Bircher Museli, Parma Ham and Melon Risotto, Sumac Roast Chook, Wasabi Tuna with Crispy Noodle Salad, Slow-Cook So-Good Beef Stew, San Choy Bau (recipe on the cover of the book), Miso Salmon and Coconut Rice, lastly on the savoury side is a grown up feast of Sozzled Spanish Chicken and Almonds, Patatas Bravas and Sweet Magic Kale.
On the sweet side there are Little Chocolate and Almond Bombes, Lemon and Pistachio Cake, Show Stopping Hazelnut and Raspberry Pavlova and Bounty Banoffee Pie.

Sweetcorn Fritters with Griddled Halloumi
Quick fritters to make and cook, I did mine with chopped yellow pepper (as hubby won’t eat sweetcorn off the cob…) and they go so well with the halloumi. Fay suggested sweet chilli sauce to go with this, and that was good, however my daughter’s choice was balsamic glaze and that was even better.

Parce the Spanish Parcel
This recipe is in the Bite-Sized chapter, though I wanted it for a lunch so did it as one pie with one sheet of pastry. Tomatoes, Cheese, chickpeas and chorizo goes into the filling. Really lovely, and little one ate chick peas willingly!

The Vicar’s Pulled Pork
This was easy to do, I liked it but think I like my pulled pork with a more BBQ-y vibe. My Mum particularly liked this.

Fresh White Slaw
For the pulled pork, a fabulous little recipe of raw veg (cabbage, fennel and apple) with an Asian inspired dressing. Again, little one was keen, and I really thought bribery would be required to get her to eat it!

Aaron’s Amazing Feta, Bacon & Courgette Pesto Pasta
A yummy minty pesto pasta. Mmmm.

Galaxy Krispies
I used 200g chocolate to 100g rice krispies (as opposed to 120g). The Galazy makes them feel more special.

What a Whizz Sticky Date Pudding
Easy to make, and lighter than my dinner party normal one. The sponge, though baked has a distinct moist steamed texture going on.

One-Pot Spiced Chicken and Apricot Rice with Mint Raita
This is it – the minor miracle on the food front at my kitchen table! I decided to make this because I liked the sound of the apricots (!). Chicken flavoured with garam masala, aromatically spiced brown rice and lentils with dried apricots, flaked almonds and a minty cucumber raita.

My daughter isn’t that fond of chicken or spices, none of us particularly like lentils (except in soup). So as tea time was approaching and I was trying to think what else I could do with the ingredients, wondered if I’d go to the shops for something else to cook even. Fortunately, I got a grip on myself and made it anyway.

It was lovely, we all liked the lentils and little one said ”good chicken Mum.” I’ve been trying to hear those words for 10 years!!! Will definitely be making it again.


Next Up: Sally’s Baking Addiction