Cooking: Why didn't I think of that?

Do you ever see things and say to yourself "why didn't I think of that?". I do, especially with words. One of those moments came when I discovered the blog Almost Bourdain, a great blog name that works on many levels. Although if you've never heard of Anthony Bourdain it probably means nothing to you!

Being on holiday has given me the chance to catch up on a backlog of recipes that I've wanted to cook. Two of which have come via Almost Bourdain's blog.

The first is a Jamie Oliver recipe for Sher Ping pancakes. This recipe lept out at me from Jamie's America cookbook which I gave to my friend Penne last Christmas. Reading the recipe (and seeing them made on the TV show) I thought there was quite a bit of technique involved, but they are surprisingly easy to make.

I work with a Chinese guy who is also an excellent cook and someone I use as an arbiter for all Chinese recipes that I cook. He often gets an email from me saying "does this look authentic?". Apparently this is an authentic recipe, but he'd bake the pancakes instead of frying them. I tried both methods and both are delicious.

The pancakes are a great snack food rather than a meal. A lot easier to make than I thought they'd be.

Another recipe that appealed to me was Moroccan Kefta Mkaouara, meatballs in tomato sauce with baked eggs. It's an interesting concept and I liked the baked eggs, but for me the dish lacked a bit of flavour / oomph. If I were to make it again I'd be tempted to zing it up with some more spices. Perhaps a bit of chilli? Upping the cumin and paprika? Ground coriander?