What we thought of Cooking At Home with Karen Martini

April 3, 2014

March for The Cookbook Guru was all about Cooking At Home with Karen Martini.

I don’t think this Cookbook Guru choice sparked the fire in people’s bellies like previous books but we still had some beautiful stand out recipes that are well worth sharing and making in your kitchen.

This is what we created in our kitchens this month:

Marinated Chicken with Cinnamon, Garlic and Rosewater by Glenda at Passion Fruit Garden
Syrian Chicken with Saffron, Ginger and Lemon by Leah at Sharing The Food We Love
Crushed Olive Oil Potatoes and Baked Flathead with Mint & Caper Dressing by Lona at Lona’s in the Kitchen
Spanish Inspired Spiced Almonds by Leah at Sharing The Food We Love
Syrian Chicken (an adapted version) by Lady Red Specs at Please Pass The Recipe
Swordfish with Tomato, Chilli and Caper Sauce by Francesca at Almost Italian
Baked Plum and Almond Cake by Leah at Sharing The Food We Love
Baked Pears with Prunes, Chocolate and Almonds by Francesca at Almost Italian

What was your favourite part of Karen Martini’s Cooking At Home?

We seemed to start of savoury and head for the sweet as the month moved on for this book. Our taste buds appeared to love spices and fragrance with a pretty smooth transition from more earthy curries from Charmaine Solomon to the more Middle Eastern inspired flavours of Karen Martini.

I found it interesting to discover in Glenda’s post about cooking with rosewater for savoury dishes and based on her feedback wouldn’t hesitate to try giving it a shot in my kitchen.

Once I realised that the list of ingredients was not actually going to end up in a convoluted recipe I really loved creating the recipes that I tried. I found them relatively easy to follow although I did question quantities on a few things, particularly the spiced almonds and will trust my instincts next time.

Which recipe will you be recreating in your kitchen?

I’ll most definitely be making the Syrian chicken recipe again and taking on some of the adaptions that Lady Red Specs added to her version of this recipe. The fragrant and well balanced flavours of the spices really hit a note for me and I loved the idea of adding some carrots to the dish to create a full meal in one pot.

Francesca has already made her own version of the Baked Plum and Almond cake and has plans to make it again after it being such a success for her.

It’s what The Cookbook Guru is all about…

I found it intriguing that we all seemed to adapt and work with Karen’s recipes rather than following them slavishly like we may have from other cook books or recipes. Most of us made a change or two along the way with our recreations to suit what our palates preferred, our pantry’s held in supplies and where our kitchen knowledge told us that changes needed to be made. I think it highlights the value that a cookbook has in not just about teaching us to try new foods and recipes, but can acting as an amazing source of inspiration too.

I hope you enjoyed discovering some new recipes from Karen Martini as much as I did. She’ll be someone I’ll be looking out for when I’m cook book shopping next time for her great food ideas and easy inspiring flavours.

I can’t wait to see what we all create in April as we move further into the world of Middle Eastern cooking with Claudia Roden.

Happy Cooking,

Leah and The Cookbook Gurus