2020 recipe resolution: January
sneak peak: I'm following a new recipe every week in 2020, and January included some curries, fattoush, and avocado pesto
I didn't do a blog post on my New Year's resolutions for 2020 (scandal) but I'll tell you one of them now for nothing (generous): I'm trying out 52 new recipes in 2020, one for every week of the year. They may not happen once a week (hello, holidays) but there will be 52 in total. The logic behind it is that I tend to stick to my old favourites, purely out of convenience and not having to think too much rather than anything else (the usual suspects being daal, Thai green curry, and pasta pesto with peas).
At the end of each month, I'll recap the recipes I made with a mini review here, for your very eyes! I'll also link to where you can buy the recipe books if applicable, and where possible I'll add links to the recipes themselves as well. I've been posting the recipes as I go on Instagram, so if you want to keep up in ~real time~ then you can follow me there @imogenfin.
1 of 52: kale fattoush
The first of my new recipes was the kale fattoush from Rukmini Iyer's The Green Roasting Tin. This is my housemate's recipe book and I will miss it almost as much as I will miss her when they both return to Straya. This is probably the first recipe which has made me actually enjoy kale, so I now have a trusty one to return to whenever it crops up in my Oddbox. 7/10
2 of 52: green lentil and spinach curry
I may not be a new vegan any more, but Aine Carlin's The New Vegan is still a classic. Not only does it contain the recipe for the first dish I ever made to impress Felix (the aduki bean casserole, in case you wondered), but it contains many more delicious ones just waiting to be chosen. So far I have had a 100% deliciousness hit rate with this book and the effort and time required are pleasingly little too. I made the green lentil and spinach curry and OH MY GOODNESS. I know it's early days, but this is already very much in the running for best recipe of the year. Wow. 10/10
3 of 52: satay sweet potato curry
For someone who both makes and eats a lot of curry, it has taken me a long time to get round to making a satay curry. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I massively prefer crunchy peanut butter which doesn't lend itself to currying quite as much as smooth, but this time I didn't let such a measly hurdle stop me. Satay, be mine! I was recommended this satay sweet potato curry from BBC Good Food by a friend whose curry expertise is greater than mine, so I knew it was one I could trust. Lo and behold, it was excellent (although it did finish off my peanut butter which was a bit of a sad side effect). 8/10
4 of 52: bucatini with avocado pesto
This may sound odd, granted, but don't knock it til you've tried it because it really does work. This wasn't so much a case of finding a recipe and following it, as knowing that avo pesto is a thing and wanting to give it a go. A quick Ecosia search throws up plenty recipes - here's an example. I used bucatini (hollow spaghetti) because hollow pasta is a revelation and if you haven't tried it yet then I suggest you do so because it's great. I toasted some breadcrumbs to scatter (okay, inelegantly dump) on top for a bit of texture contrast and it was a resounding success - I had it three nights in a row. (Partly also because I had a lot of Oddbox avocados to use up...) 8/10
5 of 52: vegan chilli
I am a huge fan of Jamie Oliver's veggie chilli recipe, a classic that can quite honestly do not wrong. In the interests of research, though, I decided to branch out and try a different version. Unfortunately I wasn't convinced by this one; I think it would be better with kidney beans rather than green lentils (which was all I had on hand), but it was quite watery and didn't have a great deal of flavour. However it does have a full five star review from 86 ratings (at the time of writing) on the BBC Good Food website so I might give it another go because I now feel like I'm missing out, sad times. 6/10
Tune in next month to hear about February's recipes! Also, recommendations welcome - please share them in a comment!
I didn't do a blog post on my New Year's resolutions for 2020 (scandal) but I'll tell you one of them now for nothing (generous): I'm trying out 52 new recipes in 2020, one for every week of the year. They may not happen once a week (hello, holidays) but there will be 52 in total. The logic behind it is that I tend to stick to my old favourites, purely out of convenience and not having to think too much rather than anything else (the usual suspects being daal, Thai green curry, and pasta pesto with peas).
At the end of each month, I'll recap the recipes I made with a mini review here, for your very eyes! I'll also link to where you can buy the recipe books if applicable, and where possible I'll add links to the recipes themselves as well. I've been posting the recipes as I go on Instagram, so if you want to keep up in ~real time~ then you can follow me there @imogenfin.
1 of 52: kale fattoush
The first of my new recipes was the kale fattoush from Rukmini Iyer's The Green Roasting Tin. This is my housemate's recipe book and I will miss it almost as much as I will miss her when they both return to Straya. This is probably the first recipe which has made me actually enjoy kale, so I now have a trusty one to return to whenever it crops up in my Oddbox. 7/10
2 of 52: green lentil and spinach curry
I may not be a new vegan any more, but Aine Carlin's The New Vegan is still a classic. Not only does it contain the recipe for the first dish I ever made to impress Felix (the aduki bean casserole, in case you wondered), but it contains many more delicious ones just waiting to be chosen. So far I have had a 100% deliciousness hit rate with this book and the effort and time required are pleasingly little too. I made the green lentil and spinach curry and OH MY GOODNESS. I know it's early days, but this is already very much in the running for best recipe of the year. Wow. 10/10
3 of 52: satay sweet potato curry
For someone who both makes and eats a lot of curry, it has taken me a long time to get round to making a satay curry. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I massively prefer crunchy peanut butter which doesn't lend itself to currying quite as much as smooth, but this time I didn't let such a measly hurdle stop me. Satay, be mine! I was recommended this satay sweet potato curry from BBC Good Food by a friend whose curry expertise is greater than mine, so I knew it was one I could trust. Lo and behold, it was excellent (although it did finish off my peanut butter which was a bit of a sad side effect). 8/10
4 of 52: bucatini with avocado pesto
This may sound odd, granted, but don't knock it til you've tried it because it really does work. This wasn't so much a case of finding a recipe and following it, as knowing that avo pesto is a thing and wanting to give it a go. A quick Ecosia search throws up plenty recipes - here's an example. I used bucatini (hollow spaghetti) because hollow pasta is a revelation and if you haven't tried it yet then I suggest you do so because it's great. I toasted some breadcrumbs to scatter (okay, inelegantly dump) on top for a bit of texture contrast and it was a resounding success - I had it three nights in a row. (Partly also because I had a lot of Oddbox avocados to use up...) 8/10
5 of 52: vegan chilli
I am a huge fan of Jamie Oliver's veggie chilli recipe, a classic that can quite honestly do not wrong. In the interests of research, though, I decided to branch out and try a different version. Unfortunately I wasn't convinced by this one; I think it would be better with kidney beans rather than green lentils (which was all I had on hand), but it was quite watery and didn't have a great deal of flavour. However it does have a full five star review from 86 ratings (at the time of writing) on the BBC Good Food website so I might give it another go because I now feel like I'm missing out, sad times. 6/10
Tune in next month to hear about February's recipes! Also, recommendations welcome - please share them in a comment!
my chilli is better :D
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