I bought a new cookbook, and actually used it!

On By Katrina

It’s no secret amongst those who know me even casually that the act of cooking and I am not a match made in heaven. I periodically think I would like to get excited about it, but the best I can come up with is occasionally having the desire to eat something a little more exciting than my usual fare. However, all the preparation, following a new recipe, and then the tedious clean up afterwards at the end of the day quite often tends to kill that desire.

So, my interest was a tiny bit piqued when fellow blogger and vegan, Rachel Martin in Scotland, wrote a favourable blog-piece about a new recommended cookbook she’d recently purchased called ‘One Pot, Pan, Planet’. The recipes are primarily, but not all, vegetarian, and most of those are easily adaptable to be vegan. Its other claim to fame is not using a whole plethora of cooking pots and pans – hence the name – which reduces the amount of cleaning up afterwards. I especially liked the sound of that. When I saw it in a local bookshop, despite my vow of never buying another cookbook, because I consider them wasted on me, I bought it.

Tonight, I took it for its first test drive, and it did pretty well. I made Carrot Soup with Tahini and Rosemary, and I must admit that the end product not only looked almost like the picture in the book, but tasted really good, too. Here’s the recipe, if you can read it.

The two – okay, three – things I did a little differently to the recipe (because who doesn’t do that?) was to use apple cider vinegar instead of sherry vinegar, but a little less. And I didn’t cook the carrots with the tomatoes, but added the tomatoes at the end of the cooking. I was a wee bit suspicious about being instructed to cook the carrots in with the tomatoes, as some vegetables don’t cook properly when they’re in with tomatoes, and I couldn’t remember if carrots were amongst those. I also put a few dabs of vegan cream cheese on the top of the soup, instead of the remainder of the tahini listed in the ingredients. The rosemary part was a cinch, though, and followed strictly to the recipe, as I have a bush outside my front door, compliments of sis.

Seeing as the first recipe turned out very tasty, so I’m going to see if I can at least make something from this book once a fortnight. That might sound like a fairly weak commitment to some people, but for me it’s almost adventurous 😊

8 thoughts on “I bought a new cookbook, and actually used it!”

  3. Sounds delicious! It’s fun to try something new once in a while.

    I do understand why you might not be interested in buying a cookbook. Aside from not being interested in cooking every day, a number of recipes (most of them, really) are for people cooking for a group, like a family or a small party. A single person doesn’t need six servings of, say, a fresh salad, unless she’s ravenous or has figured out a way to keep cut leafy vegetables crisp in the refrigerator overnight. I’m also not happy with recipes that require one to buy a large number of ingredients to prepare the dish. I have bottles of various spices, vinegars, and sauces that I use for just one dish: most of the time they’re just sitting in the pantry, unless I determine to make something that will use them up before they go stale.

    I’m also not a fan of cleanup, especially since we’re in the middle of summer right now. That one pot idea is very appealing! I might just look for this cookbook, though hopefully by the time it reaches US shelves, they’ll have converted the metric amounts to US standard. (I wish the US would switch to the metric system, but I don’t see that happening soon.)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The cookbook does seem to have a few specialised ingredients required here and there, but not too many. I don’t cook every day, either – I always make enough, when I do cook, for more than one meal.

      In the days when I did cook more, I remember being caught out sometimes with US recipes, especially the cake or pudding recipes that called for cocoa powder. It took a while before I learned that US cocoa powder wasn’t as strong as what we get here, and to use less 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. When I was in Canada, I noticed that several recipes for baked treats called for custard powder, which we don’t have in the US. You can order it online for a ridiculous price, or substitute it with instant vanilla pudding, as some American cooks have suggested. I ought to remember to buy custard powder while I’m visiting Younger Daughter in Vancouver, though the price of groceries up there is so high, I gasp a little at them.

        (I am lucky the exchange rate of the US dollar to Canadian is favorable for Americans, but I really feel bad for my daughter, who gets paid in Canadian dollars. Things like baby formula and disposable diapers are horrendously expensive, let alone the adult stuff like chicken, eggs, and even vegetables.)

        Liked by 1 person

Leave a comment