Old Favourites

I decided to make spaghetti, which is one of my standard, quick recipes when the kids are hungry. But instead of the usual, I tried one of Jamie's recipes out.

17. Meatballs and Pasta (Jamie's Food Revolution, page 151)

JamieOliver.com recipe link

Obviously I've made meatballs with pasta before, but never with so much herbage! LOL Fresh rosemary was chopped into the ground beef, along with dried oregano. I even went so far as to purchase the cream crackers (very British) that are crushed and mixed in with an egg. Dijon mustard, salt and pepper round off the spices, and the meatballs were quite easy to roll.

The sauce was made using canned diced tomatoes, fresh basil, onions, garlic and chile.

I loved the texture of the meatballs....I much prefer this to the mundane meat sauce I usually throw together. I could really taste the herbs. Both boys tucked in and neither complained, so I think it was a hit! :)

18. Aloo Gobhi (Jamie's Food Revolution, page 88)

This is a dish I've been making for myself for years, based on a recipe I scribbled down in my friend Usha's kitchen one day. I thought it would be fun to compare Jamie's version (plus I had a cauliflower in the fridge that I needed to use up, and it was a lazy Sunday afternoon with nothing better to do!) The main difference is fresh vs powdered spices.....cilantro for ground coriander, chopped ginger instead of ground, no garlic at all (surprisingly), fresh green chili peppers from my garden instead of the red hot, ground cayenne. Jamie also adds a bit of unsweetened coconut, and bakes the end result in the oven for 20 minutes. He suggests serving it with some lemon juice squeezed over, but I prefer to eat it the traditional way, with some plain yogurt. Very, very yummy. Honestly, not a lot of difference from my usual recipe, but I like the idea of using fresh vs dried ingredients.

19. Cauliflower Cheese Soup (Jamie's Food Revolution, page 136)

I had to use up the other half of the cauliflower, so I opted for a quick and easy soup recipe. Not much different from how I've always made this type of soup, except there was no addition of cream or milk....just cheese. Everything was pureed in the blender and the resulting texture was surprisingly creamy, anyways.