a Beer, a Whine and The Spirit

This is part of my 101 things in 1001 days challenge.

No, I haven't quite finished this one as yet, but I've sure started well. To date I have made 17 recipes out of over 100 in this book, and have been very pleased with most of the dishes so far. Some I have absolutely loved, some I wouldn't cook again, some I've tweaked to my liking, and some I'm either extremely excited about trying, or not at all looking forward to. (But there's only 2 or 3 of those, that's why I chose this particular recipe book out of my collection.) I was flicking through it today, and even though I know I've read the intro blurb before, the last couple of lines finally stood out to me today:

I will try everything at least once! And I have already repeated some of them! I haven't taken photos of all of them, but here's a snapshot.

So far, I have made; (in order they appear in the book... mostly...)

~ Bechamel sauce (I usually just make this flying by the seat of my pants, so it was nice to follow a recipe for once!)



~ Pesto (a bit too much lemon juice in this recipe for my liking)

~ Slow-cooked Sticky Lamb Shanks with Parsnips (not a huge fan of this one, as I make pretty damn good lamb shanks with my own recipe, but you know, slow cooked lamb shanks are always pretty damn good.)



~ Shortbread (yum - I'll be making this again)

~ Bad bad brownies (these are ridiculously rich - only for a very special occasion!)

~ French Toast (I've made this one twice already - so delish!)



~ Chicken Enchiladas (Oh man this was really really good. I cooked it for friends and got rave reviews)




~ Sopillos (these are almond-meal meringues and they were a bit of a disaster. They tasted amazing but weren't pretty. I'd like to try them again and make them smaller)



~ Houseboat pie (this one says "serves 6" but that would only apply if that's all they were eating for the whole day! There is 1.2 kg of various cheese in this one and it made 2 pies! It was so yummy!)




~ Julian's French Green Beans (adding breadcrumbs and butter to beans - how can you go wrong??)



~ Chocolate mousse (hard to go wrong with a good mousse, and this is no exception)

~ Roasted roma tomatoes (simple and yummy)

~ Fresh Pea and Chorizo Risotto (not enough chorizo for my liking, so I would add more next time. It also required cooking chicken stock from scratch which I'd never done. It took a long time and to be honest, wasn't that flavorsome, so I'm not sure I would bother next time!)



~ One-Pot Pasta (I just made this over the weekend and damn it was SO good. I'd use less pasta and finish it off with chopped, roasted pine nuts next time. There will definitely be a next time!)

~ Jungle Jaffa Cake (I had made this a few times before the challenge and have made it twice since. It's a great gluten free go-to cake that everyone loves.)



~ Ginger nuts (an excellent recipe. I made 2 batches in 2 weeks, and Hubs has just requested more.)


I then, as the recipe book suggested, re-purposed them into a ginger log, just like Mum used to make. Oh so good...




~ Steamed asparagus (simple. Done.)

So that's where I'm at so far with challenge #56. It really is a gorgeous recipe book and would make such a lovely gift for someone about to embark on the world. Or, you know, turn 30 :-)

Looking forward to sharing more reviews with you soon!

Posted by Renae at 10:59 PM Comments