Time to Eat with Nadiya Hussain

After reading a review of Time to Eat by Nadiya Hussain, which sounded quite intriguing, I promptly checked it out of the library, with the test before buying idea in mind.

I noticed right off that she generally prepares large amounts of a meal with the idea of freezing a portion.  She uses her freezer A LOT! I don't know about you, but no matter the larger freezer I now have, it is always full, with barely enough room to squeeze in more stuff.  I'm trying to avoid getting a separate freezer unit as it is hard enough getting the one we have in order and under control.  

According to her Publishers:

"Nadiya Hussain knows that feeding a family and juggling a full work load can be challenging. Time to Eat solves mealtime on weeknights and busy days with quick and easy recipes that the whole family will love. Nadiya shares all her tips and tricks for making meal prep as simple as possible, including ideas for repurposing leftovers and components of dishes into new recipes, creating second meals to keep in the freezer, and using shortcuts--like frozen foods--to cut your prep time significantly."

I'm also a great one for "repurposing leftovers" things that I shove in the fridge rather than freeze.  At the same time, she uses more prepared foods than I do, which actually I try to avoid, such as canned corned beef, fish pie mix, store bought crepe pancakes (I would use any extra I had from making crepes), precooked rice, etc., and difficult to locate items. Maybe I'll be able to find some canned, pressed cod roe one day, don't know.  I've checked several stores to no avail.  Guess it's Amazon for the truly serious.   All in all, fine for those with big time constraints.  If you discount the search for unusual ingredients.

To try the recipes out, the first thing I made was from the front section, her Avocado Pesto, thinking to use some of our current abundance.  The recipe also called for "a handful of frozen spinach" (?) :) for which I substituted a handful of my garden Brazilian spinach.  It was a nice smooth type of guacamole, good with little crackers or chips and to top cheese on toast.  

Next, I wanted to give Nadiya's Watercress Quinoa Kedgeree a go, which would be an excellent use of some red quinoa lurking in the bottom of my Rice Etc. container.  Normally a kedgeree would feature leftover rice, and I did add in some when the liquids didn't evaporate, as per the time given in her recipe, and whilst we were waiting on dinner.  Also I didn't have any cans of smoked trout on hand.  Though did try to find it at my usual natural foods market, as well as at the supermarket, but no go.  Subbed out with a can of sardines.  In addition, the recipe called for Bengali spice mix, for which I prepared her recipe at the back.  Wonderful, as it incorporated quite a few miscellaneous seeds that don't get used as often as they should.  Now I have extra of an amazing spice.  However, the time indicated for the total meal prep was quite a bit off.

 So, it's all good, though you couldn't call this an easily put together meal.  She adds quartered, hard boiled eggs on the side, and I think a poached egg on top would also be lovely. We had some chopped tomato in avocado halves as a side. 

Ms. Hussain also included an interesting slow cooker lasagne preparation, for which I had some reservations, due to the indicated relatively short time on low setting.  Checking other recipes, they all called for longer cook times.  However. being game to try things, and by then running short of time, we went ahead with good results.  I did add a dash of white wine, and used one can Crimini mushrooms along with a cup or so of fresh button mushrooms.  Also, cut the whole thing in half, as I was not making the extra freezer prep. (which actually made following her directions somewhat confusing).  Sometimes it's hard for me to keep from fiddling with things.

From Time to Eat, by Nadiya Hussain

With a side salad, this lasagne made for a perfect meal, and fairly easy to put together.  I'll be linking this post up to Weekend Cooking, hosted by the Intrepid Reader, Marge, and with Heather at the November edition of her Foodies Read Challenge.  Be sure to check out both sites for good book and cooking ideas.