Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Nigella Express

New year means a new cookbook!! Nate and I are ready to tackle a new set of recipes, and pictures!

We have decided to sink our teeth into (drum roll please)...Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast.


A few things we noticed, and perhaps didn't bargain for:
1) Recipes are getting a little more difficult.
2) This chick is extremely British so there is some translation and humor as we read the directions. (See example below)
3) On the front cover image she is holding pasta and her cell phone. Odd right? I've decided that is the perfect image for our cooking nights. Inevitably I am on the phone trying to get all the ingrediants out (Nate has the "Looking Disorder"), Nate is preparing, I am most likely giving him suggestions to prepare 'better' and more. That is how I know I am going to love Nigella. Cookbook, pasta, cell phone.
SO, since we were long overdue to have Debra over for dinner (see: Water in our basement thwarts all fun activities), we invited her over for brunch to experience the breaking of the binding and the first recipes. Here she is plating the fruit and orange toast, our little food stylist!


We had Ginger and Pear Muffins.



I didn't like these...at all. Nate said they were ok, which pretty much means they were no good. I really like ginger, but there was maybe a little too much. And I wasn't keen on the texture of the pear in the muffin.

Luckily we made more than one new recipe so as to better our chances of making somethign decent for a guest. Our second dish was Orange French Toast. This one was a winner. And it was Orange-y. You make your own orange syrup on the stove and the end result is warm sweetness. Yum!




And to top it off, we leave you with our favorite British direction from Nigella that made us take pause and re-read the directions:
"....leave the former in a cool spot and the latter in the fridge. Then peel and chop the pear and for everything lazily together."
Ok...so it's subtle but trust me when I say that I triple thought through the former and latter thing, and the best thing is that Nate and I frequently can be found talking in a British accent while we cook now!

3 comments:

emily said...

oooh. the french toast looks heavenly. i've wanted to leave a comment to your last couple of posts, but nothing that i might write could hold a candle in the wind to your uncle todd and your dad. triplets. seriously. all i wanted to say was that i think it's time to lay off the keatys... i'm pushing for a hanson family addition.

Debra Fiterman said...

just to be clear, this recipe could NEVER have happened without my help (ok fine, I didn't do a damn thing) But I am happy to be invited back ANY time!! Thanks again for having me. And Nate, I'm sure you were happy to know it was the highlight of my day. Next season, right??

Nate Hanson said...

Good to know Debra, and in all honesty it was the highlight of my day too. I love to see the vikes lose, but eating and talking was way better.

ps - gert you changed our photo on the main page... very nice... is that an annual update that we can all look forward to?