Recipe Book: Cull Your Magazines

Cooking magazines are a hit or miss affair.

Some months, I am overwhelmed with inspiration and close them feeling invigorated, brimming with good intentions.

Some months I close them feeling shortchanged and annoyed, no better off than I was before purchase.

Either way, I always close them.

And once I do, it is Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind.

Enter Catherine (again) with another brilliant idea that is already paying dividends.

1. Get your cooking magazines together.

2. Pull out all the recipes that looked good the first time you saw them (but then promptly forgot) and tear them out.

3. Give the harvested remains to the kids for collage or origami.

4. Sift through the pile and identify the ones you might actually make.

5. Slip into plastic page protectors and place in a binder.

I had so many magazines that I had to break the collection down into seasons - one binder for each.

Autumn is looking pretty delicious.

Thanks to this system, we've had two new dishes this week, both of them hits:

• Roast Tomato, Chorizo & Goat's Curd With Baby Spinach and Polenta Wedges; and
• Roast Pumpkin Soup With Pancetta & Parmesan.

Tomorrow night:

• Chestnut & Parsnip Soup With Pear Puree (which I've been meaning to try for a year); and
• Balsamic Mushroom & Goat's Curd Salad.

 Happy sorting.