Cookbook Club: November

Thistles and Kiwis,

When I read about.the cookbook club over at Jo’s Brookford Kitchen Diaries I thought it sounded tremendous fun and would give me some good inspiration to try new things in the kitchen. The first book selected was Basque by José Pizarro. To be honest, the chef wasn’t someone I had come across before, and like Jo herself said, despite reading lots of British foodie articles, he somehow has passed me by.

Anyway, I couldn’t find a copy of the book in the library or easily in any shop (it was published in 2017), so I turned instead to the collection of his recipes in The Guardian. I have their Feast app on my iPad, so had a browse to see what was there.

In the end I decided to make the lamb albondigas or meatballs, partly since we love meatballs and partly as there wasn’t a massive choice – one hardly needs a recipe for roasted asparagus with fried duck eggs and serrano ham for example – or used hard to get or unavailable ingredients. In fact, the recipe I chose used a couple of ingredients I couldn’t get – jarred piquillo peppers and oloroso sherry – which were substituted with these grilled red capsicum and the sherry I have in the cupboard. I did find a bottle of sherry vinegar however!

The meatballs were a pretty standard recipe with breadcrumbs, egg, parsley, oregano, garlic, lemon rind, paprika and salt.

The sauce is made with onion, sherry, a tin of tomatoes, dash of sherry vinegar and the peppers/capsicum. The meatballs are browned, the sauce made, and then they are added back for final cooking.

I served them as suggested with some crusty bread, and also had a salad on the side and of course a glass of red wine.

Verdict? After the first mouthful Karl said ‘mmmmm….these are good’ and they were indeed. I asked him to rate the dish out of five and he said ‘4.5’. So of course I asked what I should have done to make it 5, and the reply came….’serve them with patatas bravas’. Well…..

You can find the recipe here.

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

25 Comments

  8. Hi Barbara, very creative in the kitchen and also in finding an alternative as you couldn’t get the book. I love the idea of Jo’s Cookbook Club and hope to join next month. Your recipe certainly looks like it was a success and I’m sure it tasted delicious. x

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