Friday 2 August 2019

The 7 Day Basket by Ian Haste Recipe Book Review*

I'm sure you all know by now I'm a real foodie and there isn't much that makes me as happy as cooking or baking. Each week I love to plan our meals in advance, do a big food shop which fills me with joy each time (anyone else LOVE supermarkets?) and then each night make something for George and I to enjoy. I've posted quite a few recipes recently including Creamy Pesto Pasta, Perfect Roast Potatoes and Chicken Fried Rice just to name a few, but today I wanted to share what has been giving me all the inspiration when it comes to food recently - The 7-Day Basket by Ian Haste.
Recipe book held up in front of desk
I love a good recipe book. I have a ridiculous amount and they all vary massively. Some are solely based on slow cooker meals, some are money saving recipes, some are just freezer friendly, but I had nothing like this new book from Ian Haste. If you've not heard of Ian before, he has his own Youtube channel called Haste's Kitchen which has been up and running for 5 years. There you'll find everything you need to start cooking nutritious meals for healthy living. Each video is quick, easy to follow and always leaves me wanting to create something tasty. Because I've been a fan of him for a while, I was thrilled to receive his brand new cookbook and I couldn't wait to put some of the recipes to the test.

Within a few pages, you know this book is different to the rest. Each chapter starts with a shopping list for the week ahead followed by seven varied dinners. It's pretty much all sorted for you, you just need to take that list and pop to the shops. No more struggling for ideas or picking random bits up from the supermarket. 1 shopping basket + 1 week = 7 dinners.
page of recipe book
There are 10 chapters in the book - Warming, Round The World, Relaxed, Light, Veggie, Twist, Summer, Spicy, Variety & Comforting so you have so many recipes to choose from! Each recipe serves two which suits us perfectly but you can easily halve or double the ingredients if you need to. So let's see what I thought of some of the recipes. We've tried out quite a few now but the ones I had to mention are the Crispy Parma Ham & Chive Mac & Cheese, Speedy Chicken Madras & Turmeric Rice, and the Chicken Katsu Curry.

Crispy Parma Ham & Chive Mac & Cheese

I've already made this for George and I a few times and now I'm craving it again! I can see this becoming a regular Saturday night dish. It's warming, comforting and filling, everything I love in a meal. It contains basic ingredients like macaroni, garlic, butter, flour, milk and cheese, things I'm sure most of us have in our kitchen, though you could use any pasta that you have in. For a pasta bake I'd usually use bacon but the crispy parma ham was out of this world. Grilling it only intensified the flavour and it broke apart beautifully meaning each mouthful had a crispy hit. Also the addition of chives to the cheese sauce really surprised me as it's never something I'd think to do but it just added something extra that I think I'd miss now if I didn't include it. I'm just obsessed with this meal.
collage - left side has photo of mac and cheese from recipe book, right side has the one I made

Speedy Chicken Madras & Turmeric Rice

We love a curry in this house, it always takes me back to a time George cooked for me during our first few months together and gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling. We love most curries but a madras isn't something I often attempt myself so I was really excited to find this recipe. All of the ingredients make for a beautiful spicy sauce (though not too hot) and adding turmeric to the rice is such a simple change but gives it much more flavour. This is absolutely perfect on a Friday night after a busy week with some naan bread and a refreshing glass of something cold!
collage - left side has photo of curry from recipe book, right side has ours

Chicken Katsu Curry

You know when you attempt a meal fully prepared for it to all go wrong and then have to end up with a takeaway? Well the Katsu Curry was something I was 100% sure I would mess up and put us in that situation but I'm so proud to say it went well, and it's now a new favourite of ours. I don't know why I find meals like this so daunting sometimes, I mean I know mine doesn't exactly look like the one by Ian but I think for a first attempt, I did pretty well. I loved making my own katsu curry sauce from ingredients like carrot, apple, ginger, onion, garlic and turmeric and the flavours were divine. It might be a meal that requires a bit of time and effort but it's so worth it.
collage - left side has photo of curry from recipe book, right is ours
The majority of our meals from The 7-Day Basket have so far been from the Variety and Comforting chapters so I'm really excited to try some of the other meals in the next few weeks. A few I have planned are - Bombay Chicken & Hasselback Potato Bake, Tear & Share Chicken Shashlik Naan, and finally the Sausage Bake with Balsamic Roasted Onions, Butternut & Broccoli.

I enjoy cooking so much, there isn't much that relaxes me more (though maybe not in this heat) so this has been such a welcome addition to my recipe book collection. We've honestly devoured every meal we've tried so far. If you like the look of any of the meals I've mentioned or if you're in need of some meal inspiration, you can find The 7-Day Basket at Amazon, Waterstones and WHSmiths.

Have you tried any new recipes recently?

*PR Sample

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9 comments

jennyinneverland said...

I'm really hoping to start cooking more and I'm definitely in need of a new recipe book so this sounds perfect. The Katsu Curry looks amazing!

Jenny
http://www.jennyinneverland.com

Heather Nixon said...

Not for me as I'm vegan but I love the photography x

Sophie said...

Oh my god, I hate food shopping!! I'm always stressed out that I forgot something or stroppy when they don't have something. I used to get so excited about recipe books and I hardly ever use them now. I need to use them more! x

Sophie
www.glowsteady.co.uk

FashionRadi said...

I love mac and cheese. Wish I was this excited about cooking HAHA!

www.fashionradi.com

Tiffany Timms said...

Thank you! I'm making the Katsu Curry again tonight and I can't wait!

Tiffany Timms said...

The whole book has beautiful photos x

Tiffany Timms said...

I've got so many and I definitely don't use them enough!

Tiffany Timms said...

Mac & Cheese is one of our new faves I think x

Joy said...

I like the idea of having someone decide for me what to eat but I'd have to pass on all the meat dishes.

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