Jus-Rol Garlic & Herb Tear & Share really needs better instructions... (@NLi10)

 Many months ago we did a series of reviews for the Jus-Rol recipe products.  I had great fun making things on Sunday mornings - just some sweet pastries without all the faff of making the pastry.  As I was very familiar with the items themselves it wasn't a problem to navigate the bad instructions.

Here though it's a little more obtuse - as we'll see as we go along.

Is the baking loaf the baking pan you mentioned earlier? Did we need a specific size pan? How are we supposed to arrange things?  It really could have done with a link to a pro video by the company like the coffee pods have!

At least I can pop the cans successfully this time!

POP!

Turns out it's a series of disks - kinda makes sense?

Six in total - chop 3 into quarters - put in pan

look at all the confusing gaps - was I supposed to smush them? Will it expand?

So - melt the butter and drizzle on?  Um - is it supposed to look like this?

Granted the tin is too big - and my butter plus the garlic butter seems to be too swimming.  We didn't add cheese but that was partially as it already looked overwhelmed by dairy.

While it was cooking I had a look online for other bloggers first attempts with this - and they were all similarly haphazzard.  There were bread piles, tray-bakes, and no one ended up with the box picture.

Ours isn't too bad in the end!  The butter essentially fried the bottom but it cooked through and had decent flavours.

Some bits were crispier than others.  

Next time I think we'd measure out the 3 circles worth of bread quarters (so 3x4 I guess) and make a 'loaf' tin out of tinfoil for it to sit in.  I'm still not sure if it was supposed to rise and mingle more, we did essentially make doughballs (which is fine).

I think also the garlic sauce might have been better as a dip than in the butter bath - but I'm not sure that's what they intended.

It was nice though - and we enjoyed eating it - if not the confusing experience.  We will have to try the savoury style recipes again.

And if anyone knows what we were supposed to do then let us know!

Lockdown Snacks - Spilva Kiploku, Lithuanian Pasta Bake (@NLi10)

Ah - well it's still easy enough to get foods - but maybe not what you'd usually go for - or exactly what the recipie requires.  Case in point - its easy to get Pasta - but Pasta Bake sauces?  Couldn't find one.  So I just grabbed a red sauce and added a bit of water.

This is a Lithuanian brand of garlic (guessing) sauce which looked fab and so was our designated dinner.  Like I mentioned I rinsed the jar out and used that (mixed in) to make it more of a pasta bake.

And here we have 5 kinds of pasta - different shapes and brands - long, wavey, letters, circles, spirals.

All kinds of yummy and with different adsorption and textures it makes it quite fun.

One cheesy side for the veggie, one olive side for me, and three 'bake at home' breads we had at the back of the cupboard.  Yum!

The sauce had a little chilli kick too, and was far to tomatoey for what we used it for with a massive hit of garlic.  Amazing. Definitly going to try a bolognaise with this at some point too.

Proof that humanity can survive in after The Event as long as pasta & olives are still available.

Nutri Extracts Matcha Tea - Ceremonial Grade (@extractsnutri) by @NLi10

Sometimes things get reviewed and written up instantly.  Sometimes I forget about things and it takes ages to try them.  In this case I tried the product the day I got it (and many days after) and then didn't write it up.  This is my own fault because I often try to do too many things with these reviews.

Here we have the product.  It's Matcha Tea powder.  It's in a very unassuming package and came direct from the internet.  I wasn't sure that the PR company would send us samples - but we got two HUGE bags.  This is practically a life-times supply of Matcha powder.

Luckily I still have the stirrer and kit from the last time I made this stuff at work so I can drink away.

The ingredients are pure, the preparation guide has the right temp and that you'll want to whisk it, and also suggests way to make it more palatable to us westerners.

It really is good grade stuff - and makes a stonking cup of green tea.

The taste is a little more 'down' than the brand I'd been drinking so a dash of sugar perks it right up.  Superb.  Not much more to say about it really.

Well - except that if you go to the website www.nutriextracts.co.uk and use the code MATCHA15 you'll get 15% off which makes it a pretty good price too (£8 a bag before discount when I paid £20 for my smaller tin!).  If you know someone who doesn't mind the fairly plain packaging then it'd make a great gift!  You should probably ignore some of the health claims though, but it's good for mild relief of my arthritis symptoms, and due to the slow release caffeine you get a nice buzz for 6 hours.  

And that would be that - review straight up & done - except the packaging said that I should try using it in recipes.  And I was at the time supposed to make scones for my birthday (7th July) and take them to work - and green tea scones would be awesome! But - scones require a decent amount of wrist energy to make, and don't like the hot weather we are having.  I'd end up with painful wrists and overly floured scones! I mean - this is all clearly just procrastination - but at some point I will bake things again - and I have no doubt at all that I'll have some of this left ready to pop in half the mixture to see what happens.

Cadbury Creme Egg Cheesecake Recipe (@Cinabar)

As part of Cadbury's Creme Egg Camp they have worked with Georgia Green of Georgia’s Cakes and launched some remarkably chocolatey Cadbury Creme Egg recipes. As it is Easter I picked a cheesecake to have a go at.

We started by collating all the ingredients; there were some serious numbers of Cadbury Creme Eggs involved, and I have to say chopping them was sticky business!

We mixed up the cream cheese with the icing sugar, added the chopped creme eggs, and whipped cream. There was a fun par of trying to stick halved Creme Eggs around the edges, which was also messy business! This looked okay when it had set though.

Finally we did the decorating, and as the caramel sauce went everywhere (it glugged out) we didn't get as far as the melted chocolate, but is still looked good.

In conclusion this is a very sweet chocolatey treat, and less is more with the portion size! It did make a lovely Easter cake on Good Friday. Happy Easter everyone, the full recipe is below:

Cadbury Creme Egg Cheesecake by Georgia’s Cakes

INGREDIENTS

10 Cadbury Creme Eggs
6 mini Cadbury Creme Eggs
150g digestive biscuits
75g melted butter
750g full fat cream cheese
150g icing sugar
1 vanilla pod
300ml double cream
White chocolate, melted
Dark Chocolate, melted
Caramel sauce

Utensils
8 inch cake ring or spring form tin
Acetate

METHOD
1. Line the inside of the tin or ring with some acetate - this will make it easier to remove the cheesecake after it’s been set
2. Crush the biscuits into fine crumbs and stir the melted butter in
3. Pour into the cake tin and press around the bottom of the tin so the whole surface is covered and compact
4. Put in the fridge to set
5. Chop 5 of the Cadbury Creme Eggs up into small chunks and set to one side
6. In a bowl, beat together the cream cheese, vanilla seeds from the vanilla pod and sifted icing sugar
7. In a separate bowl, whisk the double cream until it’s just started to firm up
8. Gently fold the cream into the cream cheese mix until it’s combined
9. Add the chopped up Creme Eggs and mix in
10. Take out the cake tin with the biscuit case
11. Cut the remaining Cadbury Creme Eggs in half - length ways - and arrange them facing out around the sides of the cake tin (use the goo to make them stick to the sides!)
12. Pour in the cheesecake mix and flatten off the top with a spatula or palette knife
13. Set in refrigerator for at least 1 hour
14. Once set, take out the fridge and remove the tin being careful with the outside of the cake
15. If applied, remove the acetate too
16. Drizzle over some white chocolate, dark chocolate and caramel sauce in a criss cross pattern
17. Cut the mini Creme Eggs in half - length ways and - arrange around the outside of the cheesecake

Gousto Cooking Recipe Box (@GoustoCooking) [By @Cinabar]

The lovely folks from Gousto asked if we wanted to try out a Gousto Recipe box, and we thought it would be fun to give it a try. The idea is that you go on the website and pick one or two recipes from their selection and the numbers of people you want it for (2 or 4) and they send you all the ingredients, including the meat, in a cold box via courier. Exciting stuff! There recipes change every week, but for ours we went with ‘Greek Lamb Pasta with Feta and Dill’ and ‘Lemon and Chive Crusted Salmon’.
When the box arrived we were all very impressed, it was still very cold, it had been packed with ice packs and wrapped in excellent insulting material, and split into sections, chilled and non-chilled.

All the items were fresh and measured into portions and we couldn't wait to get started. There was enough ‘sell-by’ for us to have the meals over the following three days, but we had them the first two consecutive evenings.

Greek Lamb Pasta with Feta and Dill
The instructions were easy to follow, we started off by chopping the herbs and veggies in preparation. The onions were their usual painful selves, but I was pleased that the olives had been pre-pitted. We fried off the onions then added the lamb, tomato paste, oregano and garlic and got that browned.

Meanwhile the pasta went into boiling water to get that started. Next we added the chopped tomatoes, olives, bay leaves and ketchup (never underestimate the addition of some ketchup in your pasta dish).
We added a little water from the pasta pot to get the Ragu to the correct consistency and gave it a good stir. The bay leaves were found and fished out too! The dill got added next and the crumbled feta cheese topping.
The dish was fantastic, I loved the rich herby tomato flavour. I am a fan of pasta, but not usually with lamb. It was an easy to prepare recipe with results that meant every bowl was cleared.

Lemon and Chive Crusted Salmon
Next up we went for a fish dish. Again we started by prepping the veg, this time chopping the potatoes and trimming the green beans. The first thing we did was heat a shallow pan very hot and put the salmon in skin side down to cook the skin. It sizzled pleasingly in the pan.
In a bowl we mixed the breadcrumbs, half the chives and lemon zest. We also added olive oil which I think was the only ingredient we took from the cupboard that hadn’t been included in the box. We placed the salmon on a baking tray and topped it with Dijon mustard, not ingredients I’d normally combine but thats the point.

On top of the mustard we added the breadcrumb mix and then baked the salmon. The potatoes were simply boiled and dressed with the rest of the chives.
The beans were cooked in a way I'd never done before. They were essentially cooked in the shallow pan with a splash of water and capers. Not sure I have ever had capers on their own before, just in tartar sauce. They were served with mayonnaise mixed with olive oil and lemon juice.
The dish looked stunning when served, I loved the arty drizzle of lemon mayo on the beans. The mix of texture on the salmon were spot on, the crumble added such a nice mix crunch and the mustard was fab. I would never have combined mustard with salmon, but the mild Dijon worked very well with it. It was such a good meal.

I really enjoyed using flavour combinations I’d not tried before, lamb and pasta, and who would have thought salmon and mustard would work so well. Both meals resulted in completely cleared plates and were thoroughly enjoyed dishes. I like that the Gousto boxes add a bit of adventure to cooking but in a safe way. The recipes are easy to follow and in terms of convenience you cant beat having the ingredients measured and delivered to the door.
I realise the boxes aren't cheap, but you do get a fab selection of food and well thought through interesting recipes. Plus you can have as many or as few boxes as you like, so there is no long lasting commitment. If you want to give Gusto a try, yo can what recipes are available this week at: https://www.gousto.co.uk

By Cinabar

Cooking with Cauldron Tofu (@NLi10)

We were contacted by Cauldron foods and asked to show how we use their ingredients in everyday recipes. As we already had some in the fridge I just took pictures the next time I made something. 

Here we have BBQ style tofu with noodles. Yum!

To start with - if you want that take-away tang that spare ribs have on your home cooked food you have to get the right sauce. I've never been disappointed with Lee Kum Kee and I'm sure that some of the restaurants I visit use the industrial size versions of these. A little jar like this goes a long way as two dessert spoons of sauce was enough for this meal. Tofu absorbs flavours in the way that the finest cuts of meat do so you don't need to go overboard.

Thin udon noodles complement this well and I've tried many different varieties. These just happened to be the ones in the cupboard - quick and easy so far.

I just used the extra virgin Jamie Oil we got for Xmas as the BBQ sauce is the main flavour. Using a good oil to crisp the tofu up first really helps the texture.

Typically I'd thrown out the outer packaging and forgotten to take a picture of that but this is the pre cut Cauldron tofu.  You can buy the blocks and cut and marinade your own in the sauce overnight for a deeper flavour.  With the precursor stuff you just open and fry so it's a lot faster. And while you are doing that you can catch up on the ongoing soap like drama that is ICW on your iPad!

Adding the sauce really brings the flavours out and it thins in the heat meaning you really do get a lot of meals for one jar. 

And there we go. 15 mins later we have a meal for two ready for the Kikoman soy sauce and polishing off.  Vegetarian, and with the flavours of the take away, superb.

Oat-Ly Oat Milk, Original and Chocolate [by @NLi10]

Ooh look - a perfectly normal Thai Curry stir-fry dish. I wonder what makes this review worthy?

In this particular instance instead of diluting the insane amounts of red curry paste that I love with coconut milk I used oat milk!  I first heard about Oat Milk through the Journalist/Comedian/Secret Dancer Andrew Collins and always meant to give it a try. Eventually I managed to secure some and then it only took a week or so to pluck up the courage to open it.

Ok - so this probably isn't the most suitable use for this drink (they even do a thicker version that I couldn't get designed for cooking) but as I'd run out of coconut milk and had this open in the fridge it made a good substitute.

I'd opened it a few days before to try as a drink. I shook it enough to make it thicker (the 2nd time...) and it tasted like a mid way between soy milk and dairy milk. The flavour was a bit weak but neither that nor the texture were unappealing. As someone who adores blue top full fat milk this would not sway me from choosing that as a drink so to avoid it sitting in the fridge I decided to try it in other foods.

And it works fine. Sure, it'd be better thicker but it diluted and complemented the curry paste well and didn't cause any problems for those of us eating it. As coconut milk is also vegan this didn't really change the status of the recipie, but it did open up another flavour option.

I had a spot of bother actually finding this product and typically didn't have the vouchers on me when I located it in Sainsbury's. I picked up one of the blue original, and one of the brown chocolate version.

I don't seem to have taken photos of that one though, but as I'm likely to pick more up I can add them at an appropriate time.  Essentially this does change the status of the product - vegan milkshakes are possible. And not only possible - they are quite nice! I think I'd have it with a stronger chocolate taste, but if you gave this to someone without an oat related warning they'd probably not know.  Like the original the texture is closer to water than milk (so more in line with skimmed) but this isn't a problem.

I want to try both the original and chocolate varieties with Weetabix as I think the mixture would be superb.  I also want to make my own milkshakes and hot chocolate to test that out too. I better try it in tea too. Ooh and the ice-cream maker.

Once I've had a proper play with it I'll know whether it's a fad thing that I'll probably not get again, but at the momenti can see choosing the chocolate oat milk over a traditional shake for a nice change.

Cauldron Italian Herb Tofu (@Waitrose) [Review by @NLi10]

Here we have a tofu-recipe review.  It's not quite exciting enough for Veggie Christmas dinners in this format but it's a start.

In Waitrose recently I found some pre-flavoured Cauldron tofu.  Usually this comes in the dried form, but here it's all soggy and malleable.  I decided to get one for review as it had 'new' on it.

First up you compress the Tofu to get it to your desired consistency and remove some of the excess water.  I left it plied up like this while watching Ross Noble do his going around the country via Tweets show.  We had a few to catch up on so we got to watch them while we ate too.

As an accompaniment I went for couscous - which while it has the texture and properties of cat-litter is actually quite nice.  I carefully tipped an approximate amount into a bowl and stuck the kettle on.

I chopped up the tofu (which here looks like smelly cheese) and lightly flash fried the outsides to make it crispy.

I threw some Schwartz at the couscous along with some scissor cut sun dried tomatoes from my ingredient shelf.

I served both with some of that fab Little Doone balsamic dressing I reviewed a while back, and had a lovely meal while Ross chased Leslie Joseph around outside a cafe.  A quick and simple meal that was pretty filling and decently healthy (you may want to add veg of some sort too - I'd run out of leafy greens...)

The tofu benefited from the extra flavours that it had been infused with - the normal version can be a bit plain unless you spend time soaking or dressing it.  This was very quick and easy to put together, and you could have just fried the tofu straight from the pack and then added a sauce for a very good flavoured meal.  I think that I'd choose this over the plain tofu and maybe even over the pre-packed and chopped tofu as you have more control over it. The pre-chopped can just be added to things without even much heating though so that has it's own set of recipes for the summer.

Tesco Katsu Curry - 20 Min Meal Kit [by @NLi10] (@UKTesco)

Tesco asked whether I wanted to review their Thai food.  I said yes.  This is what I got.

While all the PR guff talks about Thai food (which I love) the red box is clearly Japanese.  They do mention this fact so are not confused about their Asian foods, but this is all actually made in Thailand!  While reading the boxes I noticed a curious fact - all of this is Vegetarian!  A lot of instant Thai/Japanese things are not suitable for my Veggie partner so sit in the cupboard for weeks.  This was used almost instantly.

First up you should note - you need chicken (or Tofu/Quorn) and an egg.  One quick pop to the shop on our road later and I'm ready to start.

It all looks quite impressive laid out.  The big bag is rice, the medium bag that looks like rice is long breadcrumbs (Panko Breadcrumbs), the silver is the sauce.  We used Quorn fillets as they are designed to look a little like chicken breasts.

Poof! I added the flour, mixed the egg up a bit and got the breadcrumbs ready.  Messy fingers time!  It was very hard to use a touch screen phone to take a picture of the fillets covered in egg being dipped into the crumbs, but Ms NLi10 was around to do the honours for them hitting the pan.

They look a little odd and anaemic here, I think that usually the chicken makes them stick a bit better.  Heat was vigourously applied as per instructions while simultaneously doing the rice.

Naturally I tipped the left over egg into the left over breadcrumbs and added it to the top of the cooking Quorn. Yummy smells were produced.  The topping tended to fall off a bit.  The sauce went in, the rice went into the serving bowls and we ended up with this! 

It looks a bit brown and fall-appart compared to Tesco's picture AND it took around half an hour instead of 20 mins (as I wanted it crispy and I'm out of practice) but it certainly tasted amazing.  It had all the authentic flavours and all the right textures.  It was nothing like a package meal, I think the added steps are well worth it and I can't wait to try the other one we got sent.

Well recommended and I'd actually make a special effort to pop into the Tesco by our cinema to get more of these - afterall I have 5 eggs left!