there’s a lot to get done in Belleau Kitchen this month, it’s only the 1st and I already feel like i’m running behind!… i’ve been in a little baking world of my own for the past couple of weeks so I apologise now if anyone feels neglected… I love the blog world and all my friends and I hate it when I don’t get round to seeing what everyone’s been up to and catching up on all the gossip from all over the world… so it totally humbles me when I receive entries for my challenge… it’s been a brilliant one this month, every one with a story, so I urge you all to grab a cuppa and settle down to click on the links and read all of the posts… it’s been a proper trip down memory lane for a lot of you… and not so much for those of you with little memory left like me…!
Michele from Food Football and a Baby got The Mangalore Ladies Club Cookery Book and picked Shrikhand
Beatrice chose for her mum Manu at Cooking Manu and got an amazing looking Tiramisu… how fab to get an authentic tiramisu eh?
Mel at Sharky Oven Gloves got Red Oven and Anchovy Pasta, which she randomly chose from La Cuisine des Paresseueses (Cooking for Lazy People)… always makes me laugh!
Lou and Steve from PleaseDoNotFeedTheAnimals have submitted their usual double whammy, Steve’s book was Fish by Sophie Grigson and he got Roast Cod with a lemon, garlic and parsley crust…
and then Lou got the brilliantly titled Grub on a Grant by Cass Clarke and selected a lovely dish of Tarragon Chicken.
the lovely Susan over at her Spice Garden clearly remembered exactly which book was her first, which was Craig Claibornes New York Times Cook Book and her Random Recipe was this amazing looking herbed spiral bread… check out her site, it has a brilliant step by step guide
Sarah from What I Baked This Weekend, gave me a double whammy as she got a scone recipe (and you know i’m looking for that perfect scone) from one of her oldest books, Eat Drink Live by Fran Warde.
The Art of Being Perfect, kindly diverted from baking glorious cupcakes, to cook this stunning sausage carbonara from Jamies Italy by Jamie Oliver
and Lucy the Kitchen Maid has the most hysterical story and brilliant photo’s of an old recipe clipping she used to cook from as a child… it was a lovely post that reminded me of my mums clippings book. The recipe was for Gingerbread and it’s a proper classic.
Phil from As Strong As Soup had a tough time with his memory bank but finally chose the most fabulous ‘Cooking with Robert Carrier’… oh what a glorious book!.. and from it he got pear Clafouti, and look at this beauty!
Let’s welcome Corina from Searching for Spice who is gives us her first Random Recipe entry. She remembered that her first book was a gift from an old teacher in Germany, the book is called Kartoffeln Leicht Gemacht (Potatoes Made Easy) and she got Potato Rosti with Chorizo and Pepper Ragu
now I urge you all to go over to read Angela’s lovely post at Free Angela it’s a brilliant demonstration of exactly why this challenge works for me and the power of the blog world, her book was the first book her mum bought for her, Loves and Fish, A Love Your Neighbour Cook Book and got Gingerbread Modeling Dough, which is genius if you ask me.
and again, a real trip down memory lane for Debbie over at cooking up a storm in a teacup with this amazing retro Prawn stuffing from the St Michael Freezer Cookery Book… good old Marks and Spencer… aren’t they marvelous?!?!
Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog remembers her very first cookbook from when she was 8 years old! It’s called A Children’s Book for the Kitchen by Ursula Sedgwick (where are all these writers now?) and from it she got these Crispy Crackolates, which she neatly adapted into Easter nests!
Michael, from Me, My Food and I chose from his second ever cookbook, Food Network Favourites, these rather fabulous Spicy Chinese 5 Spice Rubbed Chicken Wings
let’s take a special moment to welcome our beloved Brownieville Girl back into the fold (get it… cake mix… fold…no?) with her American Brownies, picked at random by Brownieville Princess from Delia’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course… no, even I can’t believe this is the only entry this month from this book!!!
over the atlantic to New England and Ocean Breezes and Country Sneezes book was the brilliantly titled Country Desserts by Lee Bailey and she chose this amazing Country Peach Cake!
Gary from Exploits of a Food Nut chose the first cookbook her bought when he went off to University, the brilliant Madhur Jaffrey’s Ultimate Curry Bible, from which he picked Singapore Style, South-Indian Chicken Curry
Jo over at Comfort Bites clearly remembers her first book as New British Classics by Gary Rhodes (somehow I knew he’d crop up somewhere…) and randomly selected this yummy Creamed Cabbage with Bacon
the lovely Chele from Chocolate Teapot made these fabulous Botham Burgers from Jamies The Return of the Naked Chef, which she got as a gift from her brother, it was the first book she got in the UK…
and look at this amazing Hot Spinach salad from From Beyond My Kitchen Window, who picked it from her first ever cookbook called Doin the Charleston a book full of recipes from South Carolina… so pretty!
and of course, let’s not forget about my entry, which I seem to have done every month since I started this but thought I ought to include it from now on… it was the very odd Parsnips Molly Parkin from Cook for Hire
…now, because of the random nature of the challenge, I kind of worked out that there is no fair way to pick a winner other than using a random number generator, so without further ado, the winner of the fabulous Geometry of Pasta is… Astral from The Art of Being Perfect… which is perfect really seeing that she actually cooked a pasta dish!
thank you all again for entering… eat and of course, enjoy!
Reader Interactions
Excellent selection of recipes and fascinating to get a glimpse of where everyone started from in their cooking. I'm really envious of Michelle starting with The Mangalore Ladies Club Cookery Book – it makes other books sound ordinary. (Good name for a band, too).
What an excellent round up this time! I am looking forward to reading each and every one.
Ha ha Phil, now that you say it, I should suggest that as a name for the Kay and Aditi music group 🙂
Awesome round up Dom, am off to have a nose around the other blogs now, its such an interesting challenge because it really does throw up so many different styles and dishes.
When are you posting up the next one?
This is so great – I need to get me a copy of the Mangalore Ladies' Wotsit too. Well done, everyone, and thanks Dom!
Thanks for doing this Dom! It was a lot of fun! I'm so happy that I date my cookbooks! LOL!!! Have a great week!
Fab round up Dom! Love finding out about everybody's first book.
This was such an inspired idea Dom. Good fun to do. It's so interesting to see where people started. Thanks for the round-up. What, I'm wondering, are you going to come up with next?
My entry, a few hours too late to be included!
http://bakingobsessively.blogspot.com/2011/05/random-recipes-my-first-cookbook.html
Next month I will be better…
Looking forward to checking out all the entries 🙂
I just so happened to have a fresh cup of tea to hand when I clicked on this post. This RRR is a great idea and a lovely introduction to some blogs I haven't read before.
Oh Dom me and Beatrice can't wait to know this month random recipe!!!She will read this post after school! Have a nice week! LOL
Great round up Dom! I am working way through reading everyone's stories and recipes, and suddenly get really hungry…
I look forward to the next one!
Enjoy your bank holiday.
What a lovely round-up Dom, and for someone who is properly addicted to buying new cookbooks, a timely reminder of all the brilliant recipes in the books I already own that deserved to be relived!
There are some great recipes here. I'll try and take part again next month.
Thanks for the round up and encouraging me to discover a long forgotten cookbook!
Wonderful round up as always Dom.
Well done everyone :-}
The parsnip dish sounds interesting ….!
Delicious round-up, sorry I couldn't take part in the end, will try to do better this month!
Dom, my good man, have you forgotten my Random recipe contribution?
@ Foodiva …. I know, it's been so manic, I have not forgotten you, rather than re-posting on this one I am planning to kick off RR#4 with your post from April (and May hopefully) but I urge you all to go and read Foodiva's blog http://foodivakitchen.blogspot.com/ xx