A new dish a month in 2024
My partner and I had a couples New Year’s resolution this year to cook a new dish each month. Here’s what we made and what we thought.
Why this goal and how it worked
My partner, John, came up with this idea of having a couple goal for this year to try out a new recipe each month. I thought it was really sweet he wanted to do something together and also a good way to add different meals into our usual rotation of recipes.
We took turns choosing recipes each month. The odd months are my choices, the even months are John’s.
January: Creamy (fake) beef and shells
Recipe: Creamy beef and shells from Damn Delicious
Why Lauren chose it
Any time I make homemade tomato sauce, I have a small number of meals I’ll use it for. I wanted to find a new way to use my sauce and came across this recipe.
What we thought
Solid start to the year. Yummy wintry meal and very easy to make. Something we could easily add to the dinner rotation.
February: Steamed buns
Recipe: Steamed buns from Curated Kitchenware
We used tofu instead of chicken and more soy sauce to replace the fish and oyster sauces.
Why John chose it
During lockdown, I remember trying bao buns for the first time and was immediately a massive fan of them. Had them in a few restaurants in Edinburgh and now thought it was time to try making them.
What John thought
This…could have gone better. The upside of this recipe was that I think we did a really good job with the steamed bun themselves. The recipe didn’t call for salt, though, and if we ever try doing this again, we’ll definitely add salt to the wrapper. But they were very soft and the exact texture you want a steamed bun to be.
I was very bad at pinching the steam buns and making them look nice. As a perfectionist, it was frustrating that I couldn’t replicate exactly what they looked like in the video.
Filling could have been better, though. Not sure if this was because we used tofu instead of chicken, and maybe we should have used a fake chicken alternative. From what I remember, though, I don’t think it would have made a big difference.
All in all, I would recommend how the steamed bun is made from the recipe (with salt added!), but would try a different filling.
What Lauren thought
Unlike John, I did pretty well at pinching the steam buns and enjoyed that part of it. But it did feel like a long and laborious process to get to that point. I wasn’t thrilled with the lack of salty taste, either. I wouldn’t say no to steamed buns again, but we need to find a new recipe.
March: Vegan Irish stew
Recipe: Vegan Irish stew from Keeping the Peas
Why Lauren chose it
I wanted a stew; it was the month of St. Patrick’s Day; I have an Irish boyfriend. So for veggie Irish stew recipes I went looking.
What John thought
My Irish passport is getting revoked for this…I don’t really like stew. Never really have. Lauren was determined to make a stew and hey, maybe my taste buds have evolved since I last tried stew.
Nope. Not a fan.
I did feel bad, though. I don’t think we got the true Irish stew experience Lauren was looking for — it definitely wasn’t as thick as the dishes I had growing up.
Next time we’re in Ireland, might be best we try to find a restaurant that serves a vegetarian Irish stew and get some inspiration.
What Lauren thought
Probably the worst dish of the year in my opinion. Maybe it’s because there was no meat, maybe it’s because I looked for recipes without alcohol, but this recipe was so bland and not stew-tasting at all. More like an uninspiring soup.
April: (Fake) meatball pasta bake
Recipe: Meatball pasta bake by Taming Twins
Why John chose it
After the bao bun fiasco, I needed a win. I knew I wanted to do something new with meatballs, so I decided to go with something very simple that I knew I would like.
On our rotating dinner menu, we sometimes make meatball subs or the classic spaghetti and meatballs. I wanted to try something new with meatballs and this sounded like a fun thing to try.
What John thought
It was indeed a win! Was an easy recipe that did us dinner for two days. It was very flavourful and had a bit of a kick. It also didn’t take all day, which was a bonus.
What Lauren thought
An easy-to-make and yummy recipe we even made a few times after. Even though this dish just called for a tin of tomatoes instead of tomato sauce, it was super flavorful. The chili flakes in the tomatoes are what made the dish for me.
May: Creamy caramelized cabbage pasta
Recipe: Creamy caramelized cabbage pasta by 30 seconds
Why Lauren chose it
My mom often sends me recipes, and this one really piqued my interest. Not to stereotype, but I eat a lot more cabbage dating an Irishman. I’ve always liked it, but love it even more now the way John makes it. The idea of caramelized cabbage sounded divine.
What John thought
To be fair, I make a class cabbage (shout out to my mum for showing me how she cooks it!).
This was a nice meal to enjoy out in the sun. It felt very summery and it wasn’t difficult, nor did it take long to make, which meant more time to spend outside.
What Lauren thought
It was as good as I expected it to be. I don’t think caramelized cabbage has quite the wow factor as caramelized onions, but nonetheless, this was a tasty pasta dish we got to enjoy outside for a picnic dinner.
June: Halloumi and tomato curry
Recipe: Creamy halloumi and tomato curry from BBC Good Food
Why John chose it
Of the five dishes we had cooked so far, three of them had involved pasta. So as much as I respect Lauren’s Italian-American heritage and the delicious food that comes with it, I wanted to look at different cuisines to try.
Probably the wrong month to make a curry, but I was really craving a halloumi dish. I came across this recipe. We have a curry dish that uses fake chicken that is delicious, so I thought trying to make a different curry would be fun.
What we thought
Sounded nicer than it tasted. It definitely wasn’t as good as the fake chicken curry recipe we normally use. Maybe it was the recipe, but we felt like the halloumi didn’t belong in the dish and didn’t really complement anything.
Will need to try a different recipe in the future to see if it is a recipe thing or a halloumi in curry thing.
July: Italian veggie cottage pie
Recipe: Italian veggie cottage pie by BBC Good Food
Why Lauren chose it
Similar to how John was feeling in June, I thought the first half of the year was pasta-heavy, so I wanted to try a different type of dish. I’ve never made a savory pie before, and thought I’d find a recipe for one with pastry. But I came across this cottage pie recipe that sounded more interesting than any pastry recipe I saw.
What John thought
This turned out fantastic. So much flavour and so many veggies! Had to resist going back up for more as this dinner was to do us a couple of nights.
What Lauren thought
I made a few modifications to this recipe, namely adding bouillon powder as some reviews said it was bland and some zucchini to buff up the vegetable content. It ended up tasting amazing. So flavorful. I don’t normally cook recipes with sundried tomatoes, but this recipe made me realize I should make more use of them.
August: Salt and chilli chips
Recipe: Salt and chilli chips form Keeva Eats
Why John chose it
August was a busy period and we were heading off to America at the end of the month, so I wasn’t able to put as much thought into what dish I wanted to make.
Inspired by a couple of takeaways I had, I wanted to try making salt and chilli chips. We already make our own chips using an air fryer, so this was just taking the next step.
What John thought
So the recipe calls for 2 fresh chillies. We got bird’s eye chillies. They’re the same thing, right?
Wrong!
I nearly burned my eyes out cooking this in the pan.
When it was served on the plate, it was quite nice but very spicy.
One thing to note is there is quite a lot of salt in this recipe. This might sound dumb since salt is in the literal recipe name, but for seasoning it asks for a tablespoon of salt and I already season the chips with a bit of salt before cooking, so it was definitely a bit much. I think half a tablespoon would have worked just as well.
What Lauren thought
John nearly burned his eyes, and I nearly died. The worst coughing fit I’ve ever had while cooking. I had to go into another room.
Bird’s eye chillies were the only chillies coming up in search when we ordered the ingredients in our online Sainsbury’s shop. Rather than question where the other chilli types were, we went ahead and bought the bird’s eye ones. We might have avoided the spice catastrophe if we went in person to the store.
Thankfully, the taste made up for the perils of this recipe. But a full tablespoon of salt? No, thanks.
September: Curried cauliflower soup
Recipe: Curried cauliflower soup from Feasting At Home
Why Lauren chose it
There’s a restaurant in Northern Ireland, called the Maghera Inn, near where John’s from that does a curried cauliflower soup with truffle oil that’s one of the most amazing things I’ve ever tasted. I wanted to find a recipe to replicate it at home.
What we thought
This didn’t turn out as nice as the restaurant’s version but was still very good.
Ours wasn’t as truffly as the restaurant’s. This probably comes down to not buying better truffle olive oil. The Sainsbury’s brand tasted nothing like truffle.
Still good though, and a soup we would recommend trying.
October: (Fake) chicken and mushroom pie
Recipe: Classic chicken and mushroom pie from Don’t Go Bacon My Heart
Why John chose it
I love a good chicken and ham pie. Never made my own, though, and normally just go for store bought, so thought it would be fun to try and make a veggie version that Lauren and I could enjoy.
What John thought
Lauren had to stop me from adding all the chicken to this recipe because “it was too much” and “it won’t fit in the pie dish”.
She may have been 100% right, but I’m a stickler for the rules and wanted to follow the recipe to the t. After a brief debate, I conceded, and boy was I right to — it was a lot of chicken pieces!
Pie turned out really well in the end. The sauce was one of the highlights for me.
What Lauren thought
This recipe tested the strength of our relationship as I had to work to get my rule-following boyfriend to recognize there was too much chicken. I’m guessing you can’t use the same measurements for real and fake chicken? Anyway, I’m glad John saw reason (that is, that I was right) in the end.
I also had a coughing fit following licking the spoon I used to measure the mustard. So John chooses the recipes that make me cough. Excess chicken and coughing aside, this was a tasty pie. Would make again.
November: Vegan laksa
Recipe: Vegan laksa from Quorn
Why Lauren chose it
Another restaurant recipe to try and replicate. There’s a vegan Malaysian restaurant in Edinburgh called Soul Vegan. They do an amazing laksa, so I wanted to see what recipes were out there for us to try making our own version.
What John thought
I say this as a meat-eater: Soul Vegan is one of the nicest restaurants in Edinburgh and very much recommend trying it if you get the chance.
The dish turned out nice. The broth was tasty, and its thickness made it quite filling. It was quite the effort to make everything, though. Definitely a bit too much effort to add to our dinner rotation.
What Lauren thought
I’d consider this dish just okay. Nowhere as good as the restaurant. I thought making the paste was going to break my blender before I read somewhere to add water to it to help it blend. Blending the paste was just the start. It felt like it took forever to fry off the paste and follow the subsequent steps. Too much effort for very little reward.
December: Halloumi tacos with spicy slaw
Recipe: Crispy halloumi tacos with spicy slaw from BBC Good Food
We used savoy instead of white cabbage.
Why John chose it
I had one halloumi recipe this year that did not go my way, so I was determined to have one work. Can’t go wrong with tacos!
What John thought
I was right! It is true you cannot go wrong with tacos.
The cajun-style seasoning went really well with the halloumi, and we made the slaw using peri-peri mayo, which was definitely the way to go.
Hooping to make this a regular on our dinner rotations.
What Lauren thought
Solid recipe to end out the year. Easy to make and tasted really good. Plus, I didn’t cough on the cajun spice, so an added bonus to our meal-making experience.
Final thoughts on a year of new dishes
Lauren’s thoughts
Thank you to John for coming up with this cute goal for us. Oh how I love dating an emotionally intelligent man who thinks of stuff like this!
More than just trying out yummy (and some less yummy) foods, I enjoyed there being this new routine to our relationship this year. It was something to look forward to each month.
John’s thoughts
I have been guilty of breaking many New Year’s resolutions, so over the past couple of years I have always made sure that resolutions are manageable.
A recipe a month was perfect. Plenty of time to think of a recipe and to commit to it.
If you’re still trying to think of a resolution, I would definitely recommend trying a new recipe a month. It’s a good excuse to try to make something you haven’t made before.
And hey… it might not turn out great (see our bao buns), but that’s part of the fun.
So what’s our couple goal for next year? Well, no goal planned but a big life step. Cat-loving John wants a cat, and I have accepted these terms. So we’re planning on taking the first step in expanding our family with a kitty.
