4 Reviews from Jan/Feb 2004

[luv2cook]

I haven't been too inspired to cook from CL lately, but the recipes this month looked interesting. I started the week off with Chicken Braised in Walnut Sauce.

Very delicate sauce. The wild rice didn't really seem to go with it. My GF and I both agreed that something was missing and my mother and husband liked it. I won't make again.

I also made Spicy Yellow Soybean, Lentil and Carrot Curry. This was interesting. I used chili paste instead of curry paste -- bought the wrong ingredient. In order to be fair, I feel like I would have to remake it again with the correct ingredient. It was an interesting blend of flavors. The yogurt was key in this recipe as a topping. Oh, the ten minutes to cook the lentils is a joke. Try 20 min. at least.

I then made the Beef Stew. This cooked up nicely. It didn't knock my socks off but was pretty decent. I served it with Creamy Mashed Potatoes. They were creamy - could have used a little more horseradish IMO. I personally would not serve MASHED potatoes with such a juicy dish again.

Finally, tonight for dinner I made Southern Shrimp and Grits. This was better than the night before's dinner, but I wouldn't serve it for company. The sauce was WAYYYY too runny to serve with grits.
I was going to make the simple slaw but realized too late that I didn't have any celery salt, so I had to improvise. I won't do that again! My mother didn't like it enough to take for lunch. I thought it was pretty good and my DH is not home yet for his "review."

[lhall]

I made the Simple Slaw with the Border Style Shrimp from the 12/03 issue. I've been trying to find a good slaw recipe as DH isn't big on vinegar in slaw and I don't do sugar in vegetables. I made it first so it had some time for the flavors to meld and chill before dinner.

We both thought this was rather bland, watery, and not really good. I added more mayo, celery salt and black pepper to it today and it was better.

Leigh

[akushner]

Thanks for the review of the stew. I have it in my slow cooker right now for dinner tonight. Hopefully it tastes yummy!! The wine really threw me in a loop, but when I tasted the *liquid* ingredients all together...they tasted alot better than in my head lol.

[ElinorC]

I agree about the Chicken in Walnut Sauce. It had surprisingly little taste considering the walnuts. They have such a strong taste that it should have made more of a presence. I won't repeat this recipe.

[greysangel]

I wish I had read these reviews of the chicken in walnut sauce

I made this last night and while it wasn't bad, the ingredients didn't really come together to make anything spectacular. Only a so so here and not a repeater.

JeAnne

[Kuvy]

I'm making Beef Stew tomorrow - I was thinking since it was on the front cover it WOULD "knock our socks off" - guess I'd better lower my expectations a little!!

Q: I'm going to make it in the late morning then have it for an early dinner, (around 5:30pm). The recipe says "Make and keep warm in a... slow cooker." Should I make it all the way up to point of "stir in olives and cook for 30 minutes or until beef is tender" in a dutch oven then transfer to my crock pot for the rest of the day, adding the vinegar and parsley at the end? That would have it in the crockpot for about 5 hours from the olives-addition onward. (It implies that you can cook the entire thing start to finish in a slow cooker but then you wouldn't be browing the meat first, right?)

[SusanMac]

We also made the walnut chicken last night. Very boring. The seasonings didn't complement the walnuts at all. Since CL mentioned this is a classic Parisian dish, so I'm guessing the traditional version uses tons of cream & butter? Doesn't matter to me. I've learned that cinnamon, cayenne and walnuts don't mix well. It's been a while since a CL recipe got an "x" from our house, so I figure win some lose some.

[adrianna!!]

Did it say Parisian? I thought it said Persian!

I agree...it was certainly not a "disaster dinner" but I am not planning on making the chcken in walnut sauce again. To me, the sauce was reminiscent of basically just a gravy.

[Jessica]

Hmmmm. I had the chicken with walnut sauce on my to-try list but I think I will skip it. Thanks for the reviews.

[SusanMac]

Oops..."Parisian" and "Persian" look similar but are very, very different! I read Parisian, but that may have been wrong. Doesn't matter now, as I won't be making it again. LOL!

On the plus side...last night we made the Asian Barbecue Beef . CL made them as sandwhiches, but with all the great sauce, we served it over brown rice. Very, very yummy. The sauce was too thin, although I probably didn't have quite enough beef. Very nice balance of sweet and spicy. Next time I'd add some red bell peppers for color and veggie. Some bok choy would be nice, too.

We also made the Banana-Coconut- Pineapple upside down cake. This was also reviewed on another thread. It was fantastic! Extremely moist. I cut back on the sugar based on other reviews. Other than that, I wouldn't change a thing. (although it is a very thin cake.)

[Ralph]

I (and DW) will have to disagree about the Chicken Braised in Walnut Sauce.

We really liked it. The sauce to me seemed a lot like a marsala sauce, but obviously without the marsala!

I'll admit I made it a bit differently - I used boneless chicken breasts (they were on sale). We could see how this wouldn't be as enjoyable dissecting chicken from the bone. Would think this would also work with bite-sized chicken pieces.

[Rottlover]

I made the cover beef stew and served it on top of mashed potatoes as suggested and we loved it !!! I send leftovers to the office with DH to give to his paralegal (she loves that we don't eat leftovers) and she raved about it as well.

[helene]

Originally posted by luv2cook

I also made Spicy Yellow Soybean, Lentil and Carrot Curry. This was interesting. I used chili paste instead of curry paste -- bought the wrong ingredient. In order to be fair, I feel like I would have to remake it again with the correct ingredient. It was an interesting blend of flavors. The yogurt was key in this recipe as a topping. Oh, the ten minutes to cook the lentils is a joke. Try 20 min. at least.

Can someone post that recipe? Thanks