Wednesday, 10th March 2010
Things I love most about cooking and food
What do you do for a meal when you really don’t much feel like cooking but you know something is required? When a boiled egg isn’t quite what you’re after or when the taste buds are jaded and you crave that intangible combination of comfort and flavour in 10 minutes or less? I’ll tell you my two favourite stand-by recipes …
Are you ready to make your Christmas pudding? This Sunday, 22 November is Stir Up Sunday so gather all the ingredients and the family and begin. It’s a nice way to start the festive season together - perhaps you can do your Kris Kringle ‘draw’ at the same time over a glass of champagne …
How long since you’ve shelled some peas? On a whim I bought a bag of peas over the weekend, sat down to shell them and found all sorts of memories coming to the surface. Not only that, I then went on to make Risotto Bianco with Fresh Peas and Parmesan. It was all very soothing, enjoyable and satisfying …
Popovers are real show-offs - make a batch and you’ll see what I mean! If you’re unsure of what they are just image Yorkshire pudding, jazzed up with herbs and goat’s cheese and forget the roast beef …
Sometimes it’s good to state the obvious. In this case it’s how to make a perfect green salad courtesy of such great chefs as Damien Pignolet, Alice Waters and Stephanie Alexander. It’s very simple. So why are there so many poor imitations out there?
Remember what we had as a sweet treat before friands and muffins? Usually it was a little tart or a sweet slice of some kind. Bake this jam slice over the weekend and watch it disappear. It’s great to have with your cup of tea or mug of coffee as you remember pre-muffin times …
Give yourself a treat and make a small jar of the most perfect mayonnaise. In the food processor it takes less that ten minutes. The flavour is fantastic, the colour and ‘blobby’ texture exquisite and you’ll feel oh so accomplished.
