What a fantastic choice of book, created to help people who struggle with their sense of taste due to chemo or other medical reasons. We were all really interested to see if the things we chose would work for Karen, but aside from that, the food we created was tasty and zingy, we all loved it. And the best thing was that Tracey was with us, we’ve missed her so much.

Starters

Julie – pea fritter

This came with a lemon mayonnaise which had preserved lemons in. Julie made the mayonnaise from scratch for us, and it was delicious. The fritters used frozen peas, chilli, preserved lemons. It had a substantial kick which somewhat masked the pea flavour.

Jus – cauliflower with gochujang

Jus had originally planned to make a butternut squash and mushroom thing which she didn’t like the look of, and having tried it the next day she was glad she followed through. Instead she made cauliflower with gochujang. Roasted, and then the sauce was cooked separately, including maple syrup. 

Mains

Janet

Lasagne – garam masala and turmeric with it. She roasted the meat with the vegetable base and the spices. The white sauce had cardamom which was a great addition. Although there were a lot of stages to it, it was easy to make.

Karen

Salmon with rose harissa on fennel salad. This was the first time she’d used fennel – it was all so tasty with the addition of a yogurt dressing.

Sides

Sue 

Satay cabbage and mushrooms. Lovely taste. A lot of cornflour, which she thought seemed more than necessary. The recipe asked for shiitake mushrooms, instead she used portobello which worked well. The distinctive and delicious satay taste came from a combination of peanut butter and cashew nuts. 

Debrah

Mango salad with chicory, mango, tomatoes, nigella seeds. Very fresh and light.

All of the dishes worked well together, and the meal felt light and healthy. 

Puddings

Jane – tiramisu

Looked a bit solid, and I thought it would be a bit too acidic, but actually it was tasty and luscious. The coffee and cherry mixture worked really well. 

Tracey – peach galette with citrus cream.

Peaches marinated in orange blossom water. It used dukkah that Tracey made with rose petals, lots of nuts, cardamom seeds and 3 tablespoons of cinnamon – though interestingly we could only smell hazelnuts.