is the taco sauce in Ainsleys recipe the same as the pepper sauce in the list of ingredients?

Yes, I think it is, I have the recipe book, and it lists 4 tblsp of taco sauce, but the recipe on site says pepper sauce. I used to make these often, they are very tasty.But I don't eat chicken any more. If you are a fan of Ainsley's cooking I have seen in WHSmith's a set of 4 of his books for only £7.99, what a bargin. I was trying to give up buying cookery books, but I bought 2 last month, so I'm not doing very well.

Are we talking about Tabasco sauce here? I plan to make these tonight but am a bit confused by the sauce bit.

Hi Bridgie

There are lots of recipes for taco sauce on the net - if you have the time to make it. Otherwise I would suggest you try using ready made salsa and add a bit of tabasco or west indian hot pepper sauce if you want a bit more heat.

I hope this helps.

Hi Essex Girl - could you tell me if the ainsley books offer was available at your local whsmith store or on their website. What were the titles of the books?

Thanks

Hi uk style user, the books were on sale in my local store, they are a pack of 4, I think the titles were,
meals in minutes
all new meals in minutes
low fat meals in minutes ,
plus one other that I can't remember. I looked at them again last week, I nearly bought them, but thought ,no better not.
Then I went into the book shop 2 doors up, and got a real bargin, the BEST from the tv series only £4. Just had to buy it.

Hi Essex Girl

Thanks for your reply. Pity, they aren't doing the same offer near me. I have Meals in Minutes and Gourmet Express 1 and 2. I would love the Low fat Meals and all new meals in minutes. I have tried some of his recipes. I do like watching his TV shows as he is a very happy and enthusieasic chef.

I have The Best book too. You should try Silvana Franco's Tuna burgers very yummy! I have made that recipe quite a few times and prefer making it with fresh tuna rather than salmon. I like Silvana Franco's cooking as it uses store cupboard ingredients some of the time and are not too daunting to try.I would love to try some recipes from her other books. I have yet to attempt Paul and Ben's recipes.

Let me know if you try out the recipes in The Best.

Hi Essex Girl

Thanks for your reply. Pity, they aren't doing the same offer near me. I have Meals in Minutes and Gourmet Express 1 and 2. I would love the Low fat Meals and all new meals in minutes. I have tried some of his recipes. I do like watching his TV shows as he is a very happy and enthusieasic chef.

I have The Best book too. You should try Silvana Franco's Tuna burgers very yummy! I have made that recipe quite a few times and prefer making it with fresh tuna rather than salmon. I like Silvana Franco's cooking as it uses store cupboard ingredients some of the time and are not too daunting to try.I would love to try some recipes from her other books. I have yet to attempt Paul and Ben's recipes.

Let me know if you try out the recipes in The Best.

Hi UK Style user

I made Silvana's burgers last night, I had some salmon in the freezer so made them with that. They were really good. I can never think of anything interesting to make with salmon. I usually just top it with mayo then cheese and breadcrumbs and then cook in oven. So now I have a new recipe , thanks to you. Next time I am in the supermarket I shall buy some tuna and try them with that.

Hi Essex Girl

I'm glad you liked the burgers. Try making them with fresh Tuna and see which you prefer.

I have another recipe which you might like to try which uses salmon. It's on the BBC website and is a salmon and coconut broth by James Tanner. It's fairly easy to make and has the similar flavour and warmth of a thai soup without the heat of chillies and has a lovely clean taste and is great snack on a cold day. I would use a pack of smoked salmon slices which give a lovely smokey flavour to the broth instead of salmon fillets. I use Maggi freeze dried coconut milk powder which keeps for ages and some chicken stock cubes to make the base of the broth. You can get Maggi powder in asian/chinese shops. I would say the only fiddly part of the recipe is peeling and grating the fresh ginger and finely chopped or crushed garlic.

My favourite fish dish is Rick Stein's roasted monkfish on a bed of crushed potatoes and watercress with a bit of balsamic dressing artfully drizzled around the plate. What's your favourite meal?

Hello again,

I have copied down the salmon and coconut broth recipe and I shall try that soon, maybe at the weekend. It looks really easy,I also use coconut powder but it's a different make to the one you use. You ask what is my favourite meal, I have given that question a lot of thought, and my answer would be...

Roast leg of Lamb, and I would have to have that first slice

Roast potatoes cooked around the meat

Yorkshire puddings

Fresh picked runner beans, sprouting broccoli , white not the green stuff, and some fresh garden peas

Gravy, made using the meat juices , flour and veg water, and if needed some burdells gravy salt

Not forgetting mint sauce using mint from the garden.

And to follow apple pie and custard.

But for me that is only a dream. I try not to eat meat, but I know that I could not eat a lamb. We do eat fish and a lot of vegetables and pasta, so maybe I would now choose good old fish and chips.

Hi Essex Girl

Your fave meal sounds good to me. We eat a lot of chicken, pork, turkey and fish. Ocassionally beef and lamb either curried or roasted.

I do like a lamb roast that has been studded with with slivers of garlic and anchovies. Sounds a bit weird having meat and fish together but tastes absolutely fantastic. I do love potatoes baked, roasted, mashed, sauted, crouqettes, fritters, fat chips, yorkshires, mushrooms stuffed with garlic and parsley, sprouts, peas, carrots, swede, cauliflower cheese, stuffed peppers, grilled cherry tomatoes, beetroot. I prefer mint jelly as it does not have a harshness of mint sauce.

I do like apple pie, but especially rhubarb crumble with custard, a baked cheesecake with lots of cream or a hot chocolate sponge with chocolate sauce surrounded in pool of cream.

I have eaten a pot roast in the US it was lovely the beef and pork were so tender. I was not brave enough to eat it with strawberries and cream as is the custom but my mum did and said it was delicious. My Mum is a bit more adventurous in trying new things than me and does prefer her meat more but does enjoy eating fish.

We do eat fish and chips from a local chippie. I do like eating battered cod roe too, along with mushy peas and plenty of sarsons salad vinegar and salt on my chips and ketchup.

Since you eat a lot of fish here are few more suggestions:

Tinned Tuna fish mixed with ratatouile - this is a good standby when I can't be bothered to cook. Drain couple of cans of tuna into a pan and mix with 2 cans of ratatouille into pan and heat gently. Meanwhile cook spaghetti/pasta of your choice. Serve with immediately piled into bowls and sprinkled with cheese if liked. You can make ratatouille with chopped Aubergine, onions, courgettes or cucumber, red or yellow peppers, crushed garlic cloves, tinned chopped tomatoes, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. My daughter loves the courgettes in this.

Fablous fish pie - This is a ainsley harriot recipe found in his book Low Fat Meals in minutes. You'll need 2 salmon fillets, smoked haddock or cod fillet, 1 pack of king prawns or half a bag of small frozen ones will do. You'll need handful each of fresh chopped parsley and dill or two teaspoons each of dried. Poach the fillets in a mixture of 150ml double cream and 300ml milk for 4mins until cooked. Remove carefully from pan to cool. Afterwards flake fish and remove bones and skin. With the reserved poaching liquid make a white sauce using 25g of butter, one small chopped onion, 40g plain flour. Add 85mls of white wine and half the amount chopped parsley and all the dill to the sauce and mix, then add prawns and heat the mixture through.

Boil about 2 lbs of peeled potatoes pots and mash with butter, seasoning and parsley. Grate 25g of cheese. In a large oven proof dish put a layer of prawn sauce then sprinkle over a mixture of the fish, repeat until sauce and fish are finished then top with spoonfuls of mashed pots and sprinkle cheese over it and put under a heated grill until the cheese bubbles. You can bake this in an oven at 180C for 30mins but place on a baking tray to catch spills (if made the day before). Serve with veg of your choice.


If I haven't got white wine then I've used shloer white grape juice. It makes the sauce sweeter but not sickly. Chardonnay is a nice cooking wine to use and is not as dry as Hock.

This is for grown-ups and is a nice treat if you like crab meat. You could use canned crab meat which would work just as well. Its on the BBC website - Crab and chilli spaghetti - Ross Burden. I have tried it once. My hubby liked it.

Salmon in a bag - fold a double length of foil in half drizzle olive oil in the middle and sprinkle salt and pepper and place some onion slices on top then place salmon fillet on bed of onions drizzle with olive, oil lemon juice and sprinkle, salt, pepper and dried dill or teaspoon of fresh dill. Seal up the bag and place on a baking tray and bake for 25-30min at 180-200C. Be careful when opening the bag. There should be a nice gravy which can be poured over the salmon. Serve with veg of your choice. This is my own recipe. I guess you could put a small amount of chopped veg in the bag before sealing it so there'd be a whole meal to serve and less washing-up.

Peppered mackerel fillets - buy these already packed in fridge section. In a pan fry onions and sliced tomatoes in a bit of oil then add the fillets and stir in without breaking add a squeeze of lemon and salt and pepper and it should be ready. Serve with cous cous and salad. Beware of bones and skin when eating.

Smoked trout omlette - This can be found in the fridge section. It is a bit expensive but has a nice taste and is fully cooked. To the beaten eggs, add a dash of cream and seasoning. Pour mixture into heated pan of olive oil and butter. Before the mixture starts to set sprinkle the flaked trout fillet (remove any tiny bones)and half a teaspoon of dried dill put under the grill to cook. Serve with salad or enjoy with buttered toast as a nice brekkie in bed.

Another recipe on BBC website is Tuna crusted in peppercorns and coriander seeds. You can leave out the coriander seeds and just use black and red peppercorns. I would serve with chips and salad.

I hope that I haven't bored you with too many recipes.

I have not heard of burdells gravy salt. Where do you buy it from? I use bisto or oxo cubes added to the meat juices with a dash of worcester sauce thrown in for bit more flavour.

I do improvise with recipes if I'm missing one of the minor ingredients and sometimes they turn out better than the original recipe and other times its a complete disaster. I love to cook but hate housework.

Hi, thank you so much for sharing your recipes with me. If I offered to do your housework would you come round and cook for me and my family? I too like to cook but after doing it for nearly 33 years ( now I'm giving my age away) I sometimes lack imagination in the kitchen and I need a bit of help even though I have many cookery books. I also have loads of "recipe pull outs" from my Mum's magazines dating back to the early 60's . I look at those and I sometimes think nothing has changed.Some of the foods that we think of as "new" were about then. I like making cakes and sweet things. As I said before we don't eat meat but I do miss cooking it, I used to have lots of favourite meat recipes that I cooked for the family. I do have one still a home and I have to cook meat for him, but I don't count frying chicken or steak as cooking.
You ask about the gravy salt, and I have to say that I have spelt it wrong ( which was annoying me all day yesterday) it should read Burdall's. Up untill a few years ago you could still buy it, and I am sure it hasn't made a comeback, it was used to darken gravy, my Mum used it and so did I. It came in a little yellow tin with a silver top. I shall be trying some of your fish recipes out next week.

Hi Essex Girl

You're most welcome. I would gladly come and cook for you and your family. However, if you saw my house which is a mess from top to bottom you'd think twice about that offer!

I too have loads of recipes I've collected which are added to regularly. I will eventually bin the ones that are too cumbersome to cook and organise the kept ones into simple sections. I would suggest you do the same to avoid losing some treasured recipes.

My Mum has recipes dating back to the 1950s when she was going for cookery classes. She is one of those cooks who have made her recipes so many times that there are no real measurements except for her cakes and puddings. She has shown me how to make some of the dishes but I lack the confidence to make some of these on my own as I need measurements and guidance if it goes wrong at some stage. I have also learned a few shortcuts when cooking traditional food from my mother-in-law and long methods from my Mum. My Mum and I give each other doggie bags if we have cooked a lot and fancy a change from our own cooking.

Yes, I agree there were lots of things in the past that were considered new when it first arrived and are still around now and some that have ceased to be. There was a very good drama on the BBC last month based on the life of an English cookery writer who was credited for introducing the mediterrain way of cooking to England in the 1950's (I think). Unfortunately I missed it.

I only started to be interested in cooking after getting married and moving into our house. When I was younger and living at home my Mum would call me to come and learn how to cook traditional food, roasts and cake making I would come down and help very rarely. So it was a shock when I had to do it myself. I have only been cooking for 13 years.

If you want any simple meat dishes for that one family member I can give a few easy ones.

How many do you have to cook for? I just have just the three of us.

I'm sure if you posted a message about the availability of Burdall's gravy salt someone would know about it.

I love watching cooks that are enthuseiastic about there cooking and it shows in their method and finished dish. I love Nigel Slater as its old fashioned recipes and nostalia for yesteryear recipes, Ainsley's sunny personality and interesting ways of presenting food, the 2 fat ladies for their love of good food, the hairy bikers (who are the male equivalent) and are great fun and food looks lovely and they make me laugh, Bill Grangier an Austrailian chef who has a lovely house and his foods are like jewel-like in the sun and Nigella Lawson and Tamsin Day-Lewis for their home cooked rustic appeal of their recipes Delia is good at explaining the science and basics I liked her how to cook series and Rachel Allen's recipes that have a twist on some the traditional meals.

Do you have any favourite cookery writers or chefs that inspire you to try their recipes?

Essex girl and UK Style user, I only wanted to know about Taco sauce now give it a rest.

Have you got your pepper or Taco sauce sorted Bridgie? Did your Chimichangas turn out well? I hope so.

For what it is worth I also posted that I thought Pepper and Taco sauce were one and the same really.

Bridgie

I'm annoyed that you didn't even bother to say "Thanks" for my previous suggestion. There was something wrong with the emailing system as I kept on getting lots of emails that a new reply had been posted for this thread when there was none. Anyway in future if I want to reply to EssexGirl in I will post a new message thread to avoid grouches like you!