Mushroom, Basil & Lemon Salad

Who doesn't love a picnic?  Ok, so maybe just as there are a few Scrooges out there who don't love Christmas, I'm sure there are also a few ne'er sayers when it comes to picnicing, but for the most part a good picnic seems to be universally popular.  Whether you're six or sixty, whether you'd rather hike for several hours to some remote destination or simply throw a rug on the living room floor, there's something about the informality of a picnic which transports most of us to that "happy place".  Of course, like all good things, timing is everything.  Unless you're planning your feast on a rug in front of a blazing fire, winter time when the wind is howling and the snow is six inches deep is probably not ideal.  Likewise, I personally think that summer is not great for a picnic either - it can generally be too hot, all the ideal spots are usually completely overcrowded, and here in New Zealand at least you will spend the whole time fighting with the ants who want to eat your food and the sandflies who want to have a feast on you.  Spring and autumn though always seem to me like the perfect time to pack up the basket and head outdoors for a little alfresco dining.

In my part of the world, right now is absolutely perfect picnic time.  The weather is glorious.  It's still plenty warm enough to be outside in something sleeveless, but without the harsh intensity of summer's heat.  There's scarcely a breath of wind, and the light has that beautiful golden quality that is unique to autumn.  Doesn't hurt also that here in New Zealand we can experience breathtaking scenery at just about every turn - sounds braggy I know, but it's actually true.  I only have to look out my front windows for a vista which sweeps from the sea to The Grampians.  Everything is so lushly green, after last week's heavy rain, punctuated by a blaze of gold and russet as leaves turn and trees begin to shed their autumn cloaks.  If ever there was a siren call to the great outdoors, this is it, and so it couldn't be better timing that this week our I Heart Cooking Clubs' theme is "What's in your picnic basket?".

We continue to cook with Nigel Slater, and I found that he had loads of great dishes which were either suitable for, or easily adaptable to, picnic fare.  I happened to have a pile of mushrooms on hand, so when I stumbled upon his recipe for "Mushrooms with Basil and Lemon" in a Marie Claire cookbook written by Nigel I knew I'd found just the thing.  I love a raw mushroom salad - it's the kind of thing that doesn't need to be refrigerated, and only gets better the longer it sits around, which makes it positively ideal for taking to a picnic.  Layer it up in a big Agee jar, as I have done, and you have something which transports well and looks like you've done something really special.  If you want to be even more fancy schmancy, you could actually put this into several smaller jars for individual servings - just remember though that, whilst that might look cool, all that extra glass weighs something and, unless you have a party of Sherpas available to help out, you are probably going to be the one who has to carry it!

This salad gets plenty of flavour from loads of basil, parsley, and lemon, a nice bit of extra texture from crunchy coriander seeds, and a good kick of heat from some chilli.  I used a small, hot chilli with the seeds left in, but if you prefer just a whisper of heat choose a milder chilli and remove the seeds - it's totally up to you.  This would be a great salad alongside some cold chicken or smoked salmon, or something as simple as a crusty baguette to mop up all the salad juices.  It would also be great to take along to a barbeque - it won't mind sitting around, and would be delicious with grilled meats, vegetables or fish.

Mushroom, Basil & Lemon Salad Recipe
Adapted from recipe by Nigel Slater
from Marie Claire Cookbook
Serves 2-4 depending on what else you have to go with it
Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

250g (9 oz) mushrooms
1x lemon
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
large handful of basil leaves
large handful of flat leaf parsley
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 red chilli, finely chopped
flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Grate the zest of the lemon into a small bowl and set aside.

Wipe the mushrooms clean with a barely damp paper towel (do not wash them) and cut into quarters, or wedges if they are large.  Place mushrooms in a medium sized bowl, add the red wine vinegar and juice of the lemon.  Mix gently together and leave aside for about an hour to marinate.

Roughly chop the herbs and add to the bowl containing the lemon zest, adding also the coriander seeds, chilli, salt, pepper and olive oil.  Mix together well.

Spoon alternating layers of mushrooms and herb mixture into a clean preserving jar, pour over any vinegar or oil remaining in your bowls, seal the jar and head for the great outdoors.

If you would like to get to know Nigel Slater a little better, and to see what everyone else has in their picnic basket this week, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links ...

... or check out Marie Claire Cookbook by Nigel Slater and Nigel's many other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK, or Fishpond NZ.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the delightful Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays hosted by my lovely friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, at Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads, at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollum, and at Cook Your Books hosted by the lovely Joyce at Kitchen Flavours.

               

Lastly, I'm also sharing this post at a new to me event - Cooking with Herbs hosted by the very lovely Karen at Lavender and Lovage.  Thanks, Karen, for the invitation to participate.  Check out the links below to see all the other lovely "herby" dishes.

An InLinkz Link-up

Soy Chicken

I love Asian food, of all varieties, and almost invariably if we decide to dine out we will opt for something Asian ... Thai, Indian, Japanese.  Vietnamese or Malaysian would feature on that list too if such cuisines were available where I live, but sadly that isn't the case.

When I'm at home too, and need to turn out dinner in a hurry, I will often look for a bit of Asian inspiration.  I adore the way Asian dishes seem to really wake-up jaded taste buds with their bright, vibrant flavours;  I love that most often Asian dishes deliver maximum flavour with minimal time and effort applied;  my dishpan hands (actually I don't have dishpan hands because I use a dishwasher, but you get my drift) love the fact that Asian dishes (apart from maybe a pot to boil some rice or noodles) are usually "one-pot wonders";   and my wallet is happy that Asian food is usually very budget-friendly to produce.

This week, at I Heart Cooking Clubs, our theme is "Passport to Asia" - a theme I've been eagerly looking forward to for ages.  Our current chef, Donna Hay, has literally dozens of fresh, simple Asian-inspired dishes in every one of her books - the hardest part of this challenge was narrowing it down to just one dish to cook.  In the end I thought I would share this Soy Chicken dish from Donna's book "Seasons".  It's one of my favourite dishes, and one I've made several times, so it seemed only fair to share it with you.

A whole chicken is firstly poached in a mixture of Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, star anise, cinnamon, ginger, garlic and orange, then transferred to a hot oven to crisp up the skin.  This is absolutely delicious served straight out of the oven, with some steamed rice, and a drizzle of the poaching liquid over the top - some steamed broccoli or bok choy would make a great side.  My other favourite way to serve this is to simply shred the chicken, and serve on a large platter with some carrot and cucumber juliennes, maybe some crisp iceberg lettuce and avocado, some rice vermicelli noodles, even boiled egg wedges and radishes are good too - alongside serve some rice paper wrappers and a bowl of water and let everyone dig in and make their own fresh spring rolls.

Soy Chicken Recipe

Adapted (very slightly) from recipe by Donna Hay

from Seasons

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

640ml Chinese cooking wine

8 cups water

3/4 cup dark soy sauce

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick cinnamon

4 star anise

2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

5cm (2 inch) piece of ginger, sliced

4 strips pink grapefruit peel (or orange peel)

1.6kg whole organic, free-range chicken

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C (390 degrees F).

Meanwhile, put the Chinese cooking wine, water, soy sauce and sugar into a large pot.  Set the pan over high heat and stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved.

Remove from the heat and add the cinnamon, star anise, garlic, ginger, citrus peels, and chicken.  Return the pan to the heat and bring to the boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the poaching liquid, place on a rack in a baking dish, and cook in the preheated oven until the skin is golden and crispy - about 15 to 20 minutes.

Cut into pieces and served with steamed rice.

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the fabulous Asian-inspired dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, at Cook your Books hosted by Joyce at Kitchen Flavours, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

              

Green Tea Soba Noodles with Soy-Roasted Salmon and Broad Bean & Radish Salad

"In Season" is our theme this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, where we continue our journey with Donna Hay, the queen of wonderfully quick and simple, yet sensationally flavoured food.  This is our opportunity to prepare a dish which represents the best of local, seasonal produce, wherever in the world you might live.

I have to confess this leaves me feeling a little smug, because right now in my part of the world it's spring.  Now I know that there is almost no limit to the wonderful and imaginative things that those of you living in the northern hemisphere can do with a pumpkin and pot roast, but really is there anything more exciting than fresh, crisp, green spring produce.  To me the joy of spring food lies not only in all its glory in its own right, but somehow also as the harbinger of what's to come in the summer ahead.  Quintessential spring food in my part of the world includes asparagus, broad beans, radishes, new potatoes, juicy Nelson scallops and West Coast whitebait.  If you were a keen fisherman that might also include salmon, the season beginning in spring and running through to autumn.

After picking up a well-priced side of salmon at the fishmonger's the other day, and some new season broad beans at the market, I knew my dish would have to include these two ingredients.  After searching through my copy of Donna Hay's "Fast, Fresh, Simple", I came across a recipe for Salmon & Soy Bean Noodle Salad with Wasabi Dressing.  In the latest issue of Donna Hay magazine I also came across a recipe for Green Tea Noodle and Smoked Salmon Salad with Pickled Ginger Dressing.  Both looked wonderful, and what I finally decided on was something of a marriage of the two.  In one recipe Donna used raw, sashimi-style salmon, in the other smoked salmon - I went with my own favourite way of preparing salmon, oven-roasted in a soy marinade.  I also mixed together a dressing which included the pickled ginger from one of Donna's recipe and the wasabi from the other.  The final dressing packed a real flavour punch.

This dish was the perfect combination of fresh spring ingredients, put together in a light and healthy way, and best of all ... preparation was quick and simple - whole thing on the table in less than 30 minutes.  I'll definitely be making this again a few times before spring passes into summer.

Soy-Roasted Salmon Recipe

A Couscous & Consciousness original

Serves 2

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

2x pieces of salmon fillet (skin on, pin bones removed)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).

While oven is heating, mix oil, and soy together in a shallow, ovenproof dish which is big enough to hold both pieces of fish in a single layer.  Add salmon to the dish and turn it over in the oil and soy mixture several times, until it is thoroughly coated on all sides.  Add a liberal grinding of black pepper over the top, and set aside to "marinate" until the oven is hot.

Once oven is ready, put the dish of salmon into the oven, reduce heat to 160 degrees C (320 degrees F), and cook for around 8 minutes or until done to your liking.

Green Tea Soba Noodles and

Broad Bean & Radish Salad with

Wasabi Ginger Dressing Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Donna Hay

from Fast, Fresh, Simple

Serves 2

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

100g (3-1/2 oz) green tea soba noodles

1x cup broad beans, blanched, refreshed & skins removed

2x medium-sized radishes, very thinly sliced

generous handful of peppery salad greens & edible flowers

black sesame seeds (optional)

Dressing:

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon light soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon wasabi paste

1 tablespoon finely chopped pickled ginger

Set a medium sized pan of water over high heat and bring to the boil.  Once boiling add the soba noodles to the water, and cook according to packet directions (usually around 5 minutes).

Note:  This would also be the ideal time to put the salmon in the oven.

While noodles and salmon are cooking, prepare dressing by simply whisking all ingredients together in a small jug.

Once noodles are cooked (like pasta, they should be al dente), remove from the heat, drain and refresh under cold running water.  Drain well and toss noodles with half of the dressing.

To serve arrange noodles in a serving bowl or platter, and strew liberally with broad beans, radishes and salad greens.  Add salmon, pour over the remaining dressing, and finish with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds (if using).

If you would like to get to know Donna Hay a little better, and to see all the wonderful seasonally inspired dishes my friends have come up with, then do go visit I Heart Cooking Clubs and check out the links.

I'll also be sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely Michelle at Ms. enPlace, Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth at Beth Fish Reads, Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammie) Sundays hosted by my special friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, at Cook Your Books hosted by the lovely Joyce at Kitchen Flavours, and at Foodie Fridays hosted by Designs by Gollam.

                    

Celeriac, Lentil & Hazelnut Salad

Yes, it's that week again.  It's Potluck week at I Heart Cooking Clubs, and that means that we get to choose any recipe we like from any one of the eight IHCC chefs.  That's a pretty impressive line-up which includes our current chef of course, Yotam Ottolenghi, who enjoys the venerable company of Nigella Lawson, Mark Bittman, Giada de Laurentiis, Jamie Oliver, Tessa Kiros, Rick Bayless and Madhur Jaffrey.

With so much wonderful food to choose from, Potluck week is the time I usually like to try my hand at something a bit special, but at the fag end of a tiring week, and feeling a bit under the weather, something simple, comforting and tasty was called for.

This Celeriac, Lentil & Hazelnut Salad, from Yotam Ottolenghi's book Plenty, was perfect.  It was suitably light when I wasn't feeling like anything too heavy.  Lentils always speak to me of comfort and nourishment.  And celeriac ... well, celeriac is one of my favourite winter vegetables, and is pricey enough in these parts to make me feel like I'm having something quite luxurious.  However, for all that it seems expensive, celeriac does go a long way.  I paid $6 for one medium sized celeriac - I used half of it in this salad, which lasted me two days;  I used quarter of it in a pot of soup which is bubbling away as I write, and which will deliver at least 6-8 servings;  and I still have quarter of it left to use in a Celeriac Remoulade later in the week.

I did, as I always seem to do, tinker with the recipe a little.  I used the brown lentils that I had on hand, instead of the Puy lentils Ottolenghi uses in the original recipe.   For a bit of extra colour and flavour, I also added in some of the roasted red peppers I preserved during the summer, and some of those quick pickled lemons I shared with you a couple of weeks ago (which I now can't help adding to just about everything I make).  I also used flat leaf parsley instead of mint, which I think would have been wonderful, but which is seldom available in the middle of the New Zealand winter.

Since I was going to be eating on my own, I halved the original recipe.  That made two large, main meal servings, which I accompanied one night with grilled sausages and then on the second night with pan-roasted salmon.  Delicious with both, and I think it tasted even better the second day.  This dish can easily be made well in advance, but do make sure to dress the lentils as soon as you take them off the heat and drain them so that they really soak up the flavour.

Celeriac, Lentil & Hazelnut Salad Recipe

Adapted from a recipe by Yotam Ottolenghi

from Plenty

Vegetarian

Makes 2 generous servings

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1/2 cup green or brown lentils

1-1/2 cups water

generous bunch thyme sprigs

1/2 small celeriac, peeled and cut into 1cm (1/3 inch) batons

generous handful hazelnuts

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

1x roasted red pepper cut into strips

quick pickled lemons, roughly chopped (to taste)

flaky sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

generous handful flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Put lentils, water and thyme into a smallish pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the lentils are tender but not mushy - about 15 minutes.

Add the celeriac to another pot of boiling salted water, and cook until just tender - about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a shallow pan over medium heat, toast the hazelnuts until golden.  As soon as they are toasted tip the hazelnuts out into a clean tea towel, and rub vigorously to remove the skins.

As soon as the lentils are cooked, drain, and put into a serving bowl.  Immediately, add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, and a liberal sprinkling of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Drain the celeriac and add to the lentils, along with the roasted red peppers, quick pickled lemons, half the hazelnuts and half the parsley.  Toss well, taste and adjust seasonings to your liking.  Sprinkle the rest of the hazelnuts and parley over the top to serve, and finish with an extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

This is delicious served warm or at room temperature.

If you would like to get to know Yotam Ottolenghi a little better, then do go and visit my friends at I Heart Cooking Clubs and see what they've all cooked up ...

... or check out Plenty and Ottolenghi's other great titles available from Amazon USA, Amazon UK or Fishpond NZ.

         

I'm also sharing this post this week at See Ya In the Gumbo hosted by the lovely, and often hilarious, Michelle at Ms. enPlace, at Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays hosted by my good friend Deb at Kahakai Kitchen, and at Cook Your Books, hosted by the lovely Joyce at Kitchen Flavours.

                     

This and That & Thoughts on a Thursday

It's a sign!

In our garden right now there are these ...

and these ...

and there are also these ...

Ask any normal person what this means, and they will probably tell you it's a sign that spring is on the way.  Ask any foodie, on the other hand, and almost to a person they will probably tell you it's a sign that asparagus season is just around the corner.  In my mind, and quite possibly in yours too, daffodils and asparagus are inextricably linked.

Yesterday I baked bread.  Now I may possibly be the last blogger alive to have discovered Jim Lahey's no-knead bread, but just in case I'm not, let me tell you that this is the bread that is going to change your life.  As long as you have the foresight to start your bread roughly 20 to 24 hours before you want to eat it, it is hands down the simplest bread ever to make and the results are sublime.  I cannot find adjectives enough to describe this bread.

Still, with spring just around the corner, which will soon become this ...

I probably need to start eating a lot more of this ...

and a bit less of this ...

Well, maybe just one more slice!!

Hope you're having a great week everyone xo

Slow-Roasted Quince with Cinnamon & Orange & Cookbook Sundays # 20

I don't think anyone has ever described autumn better than the English Romatic poet, John Keats, who in his poem "To Autumn" describes it as "Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness".  This is indeed a time when the light is softer, misty mornings give way to glorious golden days, and trees are laden with fruit, including one of my favourites - quinces.

It also seems like a time for reflection - a time when, after the summer months, we begin to retreat indoors, slow down and take stock.  And I have much to reflect on this autumn.

This is a photo of my beautiful cousin Cindy, marrying her partner of some 20 years, back in late September.  Sadly, at the time of their wedding, Terry was in the final stages of his battle with lung cancer and died just two days after the wedding.  What a bitter-sweet occasion that was.  For most of us there, we knew that this would quite possibly be the last time we would see Terry alive, but despite the sadness the occasion was a real opportunity for us all to share some celebration with Terry before his passing.

This is a photo of me taken at that wedding with my Dad and my Aunty Helen.  I'm tempted to say she is my favourite aunty, but in truth I have several aunties and I love each of them in their own way.  Still Aunty Helen has a special place in my heart.  She is the youngest of my father's siblings, and when I was younger I thought she was the absolute epitome of glamour.  Before the grey, she was a stunning redhead, and I wouldn't go quite so far as to say she was the family "wild child" but there was, and still is, definitely a naughtiness about her.  As a younger woman she had a shoe collection that could have rivaled Imelda Marcos, and as a talented seamstress her wardrobe was enviable.  I recall times as a teenager when Aunty Helen would come to stay.  Much to my delight she would share my room, and I would sit on the bed gaping in awe as she unpacked something like 15 pairs of shoes and 10 cocktail dresses for a one week stay.  She would go off on dates or out to dances, and the minute she left the house I would dive into the bedroom to try on all the shoes and frocks.  I can remember occasions as a child, when I was probably being a little trying, when my mother would put her hands on her hips, look at me with absolute exasperation, and say "You've just like your Aunty Helen".  I'm pretty sure it wasn't intended as a compliment, but I was always secretly delighted.

Sadly now, my dear Aunty Helen is rapidly approaching the end of the autumn of her life.  She has been diagnosed with a very rare disease, always fatal.  In the time since that photo was taken, barely six months ago, she has deteriorated rapidly and what remains now of her life can be measured in days and weeks rather than years.  I'm grateful to have the memory of sitting with her at Cindy and Terry's wedding, laughing, reminiscing, and listening to some of her naughty jokes, and am reminded that the things we take for granted in this life can be over in an instant.  The importance of slowing down, cherishing the now, and taking time to smell the quinces can never be overstated.

And so, enough reflection, on with the quince.  If you've never tried quince before I urge you to do so.  I guess the fruit is something like a cross between an apple and a pear, but the taste is really nothing like either.  In fact it's impossible to liken it to anything else.   A bowl of quince on your kitchen bench will fill the whole room with its fragrance, and the perfume as these quince roast for 8 hours is nothing short of heavenly.

This recipe is from one of my favourite cookbooks, "Maggie's Kitchen" by Maggie Beer, and is my contribution this week to Cookbook Sundays - keep reading to read more and particpate.

Slow-Roasted Quince with Cinnamon & Orange Recipe

Adapted from recipe by Maggie Beer from

"Maggie's Kitchen"

Click here for a printable copy of this recipe

1.5kg (3.3 lb) quince

2 lemons, juice of

600 ml (20 fl oz)water

1x orange

400g (14 oz) caster sugar

1x cinnamon stick

Preheat oven, on regular bake, to 90 degrees C (194 degrees F).

Peel and core the quinces (reserving the peels and cores), and cut the fruit into eighths.  Pour and rub lemon juice over the fruit as you work to stop them browning.

Tie the quince cores and peels up in a large piece of muslin, and place in a stainless steel saucepan.  Using a vegetable peeler, remove the zest of the orange in wide strips, and add to the pan, along with the juice of the orange, the water, caster sugar and cinnamon.  Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes or until syrupy.  Remove the muslin bag and discard it.  Reserve the cinnamon stick and orange zest.

Put the quince pieces into a shallow baking dish - choose one which is just big enough for all the quince to fit snugly in a single layer.  Add the reserved zest and cinnamon, and enough of the syrup for the quince to be roughly three quarters deep in the syrup.  Cover closely with a piece of baking paper, cut to fit inside the dish and tucking in the edges.

Roast for 8 to 9 hours, turning from time to time, until the quince have turned a rich ruby colour and tender, and the pan juices are syrupy.  If necessary, remove the paper and increase the oven temperature to 120 degrees C (250 degrees F) for the final hour.

Serve with good quality vanilla ice cream, yoghurt or vanilla-infused mascarpone.

I'm sharing these quince this week at Cookbook Sundays, where my friends are delving into their cookbook collections and sharing some of their recipes.  Do keep reading to see what they're cooking - you might even feel inspired to link up a recipe from one of your own cookbooks.

I am also sharing this post with Sweet New Zealand, a monthly blog event created by the very lovely Alessandra Zecchini, and which this month is hosted by Frances at Bake Club. This is an opportunity for all Kiwi bloggers (whether you are living in New Zealand or overseas), as well as for non-Kiwi bloggers living in New Zealand, to connect and share some of those sweet treats from your kitchen.  So, head on over and share something sweet.  And because all good things are made to be shared around, I am also sharing them at See Ya in The Gumbo hosted by my lovely friend Michele at Ms. enPlace, and at Foodie Friday hosted by Designs by Gollam.  Anybody else want a share?

           

 

If you're anything like me you have dozens of cookbooks gathering dust on your bookshelves, some of which have never even been cooked from.  Sure I spent hours browsing through them when I first bought them, marking all the recipes I was going to make with little post-it notes, and yet still those books languish in the bookcase and never make it to the kitchen.  There are others from which I have made but one recipe which was such a resounding success that I've made it over and over again, and yet somehow I've never made anything else from that book.  Sound a bit familiar?!

Take comfort - you are not alone, and now Cookbook Sundays is your opportunity to change that.  Every Sunday I'm going to share with you a recipe that I haven't made before from one of my ever expanding collection of cookbooks.  And, because I know that if you have read this far then you are guilty of this too, I'm inviting you to join in with me.  Each week my Cookbook Sundays post will have a linky for you to share something you've cooked from one of your cookbooks.

The rules for joining in are simple:

1. Your post must state the author and the title of the book your recipe has come from.
2. Your post must mention Cookbook Sundays and link back to this post.  Including the Cookbook Sundays badge is optional, but always appreciated.
3. You may submit as many entries as you like, and you may use the same cookbook as many times as you like.  Old posts are also welcome.
4. Lastly,  remember that what goes around, comes around - one of the reasons you are participating in this is because you want people to read your posts, so do the right thing and go and visit a few of the other participants - you can even "Like" your favourites. 

Now, go and dust off those cookbooks and get cooking!  Use the linky tool at the end of this post to submit your entry/entries - simply scroll down to where it says "You are next ... Click here to enter", and then follow the instructions.  The linky will be open for one week.

Lastly, if you would like to use the Cookbook Sundays badge in your post, simply copy the code in the box beside the badge below and paste it into your post.  Feel free to also use it in your sidebar if you wish.

<a href="http://couscous-consciousness.blogspot.com/p/cookbook-sundays.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa476/Susan_Busch/CookbookSundaysBadge.jpg" border="0" alt="CookbookSundays"></a>