Well, blow me down! I was thinking about salmorejo for weeks before I did some research and wrote my recipe. A couple of days later I noticed that Delia has written her own version for Waitrose's free weekly newspaper thing.
She gets right up my nose sometimes.
Showing posts with label Delia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Delia. Show all posts
Sunday, 4 July 2010
Delicious but disappointing
I'm a subscriber to delicious magazine; this is my third year as a regular reader. I'm not a big magazine reader, but I do enjoy articles about food. Plus I collect as many recipes as I can, and theirs are usually appealing and easy to follow.
I feel like it's been in an ever-so-slight rut just lately, though and I've noticed two worrying trends. For the first I blame Delia and her 'I'm too old for this - let's all cheat instead' campaign. To illustrate: I saw a recipe for jerk chicken with Caribbean rice. I though "ooh, I'd like to learn how to make jerk seasoning - that'd be handy". Imagine my disappointment when the first listed ingredient turned out to be jerk seasoning! Well, I'm not stupid - I know that if I buy some jerk seasoning and add it to chicken it'll become jerk chicken. What I don't know is how to make the seasoning from scratch. I do understand: the magazine is catering for all kinds of cooks, from the highly skilled to the 30-minute-throw-together-after-work. But wouldn't it be better to give the full recipe, then mention that there's a cheat if you can't face mixing and grinding spices?
The second trend is a strange reluctance to dictate food choices. Recipes end with a sentence along the lines of "Serve it with some mango chutney, if you like". If I like? Well yes, I can do anything I want if I like. I could serve my chicken curry with strawberry ice cream if the mood took me. When I buy a food magazine I'm really hoping it'll recommend the best accompaniments, or tell me how a chef has or would serve the dish. Not just give me permission to have chutney. I'm old enough to decide that myself!
NB: I'm still a delicious subscriber and I still thoroughly enjoy the magazine, which now has a brand new editor. Perhaps she'll help to brush it over the recent mini-rut.
I feel like it's been in an ever-so-slight rut just lately, though and I've noticed two worrying trends. For the first I blame Delia and her 'I'm too old for this - let's all cheat instead' campaign. To illustrate: I saw a recipe for jerk chicken with Caribbean rice. I though "ooh, I'd like to learn how to make jerk seasoning - that'd be handy". Imagine my disappointment when the first listed ingredient turned out to be jerk seasoning! Well, I'm not stupid - I know that if I buy some jerk seasoning and add it to chicken it'll become jerk chicken. What I don't know is how to make the seasoning from scratch. I do understand: the magazine is catering for all kinds of cooks, from the highly skilled to the 30-minute-throw-together-after-work. But wouldn't it be better to give the full recipe, then mention that there's a cheat if you can't face mixing and grinding spices?
The second trend is a strange reluctance to dictate food choices. Recipes end with a sentence along the lines of "Serve it with some mango chutney, if you like". If I like? Well yes, I can do anything I want if I like. I could serve my chicken curry with strawberry ice cream if the mood took me. When I buy a food magazine I'm really hoping it'll recommend the best accompaniments, or tell me how a chef has or would serve the dish. Not just give me permission to have chutney. I'm old enough to decide that myself!
NB: I'm still a delicious subscriber and I still thoroughly enjoy the magazine, which now has a brand new editor. Perhaps she'll help to brush it over the recent mini-rut.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Cake!
My favourite cake recipe, for low-fat apple cake, is probably the recipe I most frequently pass on. So I thought I'd dredge it up again here!
I recently made a new-Delia-like discovery, too - if you have no cooking apples handy, you can use a jar of bramley apple sauce instead! Hurrah for convenience!
The recipe can be found right here.
I recently made a new-Delia-like discovery, too - if you have no cooking apples handy, you can use a jar of bramley apple sauce instead! Hurrah for convenience!
The recipe can be found right here.
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
Super noodles
Sticky chicky noodles
I've never really bothered all that much about oriental food - Chinese, Thai, etc - because it's not my favourite kind of food and I had no idea how to cook it. Just recently, however, I've taken more of an interest for one reason and another and I've learnt a few recipes. Nowadays I'd say I'm pretty good at noodles!
One of my favourite recipes is one I found in Delicious magazine and have slightly adapted for my own tastes. So here you go:
First of all, mix together about four dessert spoonfuls of soy sauce, the juice of one lime, a teaspoon of chopped ginger (from a jar, in 'new Delia' style!), a few crushed chilli flakes and four dessert spoons of honey. Add to this two smallish breasts of chicken cut into smallish strips and leave it to do its business for ten minutes or so. Then transfer it to an ovenproof dish and put in the oven (medium hot) for about 15-20 minutes.
Next fry some suitable vegetables with a little bit of groundnut oil in a big frying pan or wok. I usually go for either a pre-prepared packet of sliced cabbage and leek or a bag of 'generic stir-fry vegetables' (I'm so Delia!). But if I was starting from scratch I'd use very finely sliced savoy cabbage, red onions, carrots and courgettes.
Separately cook some fine egg noodles and as soon as they're ready add them to the frying pan with the vegetables. When the chicken is ready, take the dish out of the oven and carefully pour or spoon the sauce over the noodles and vegetables. Leave the chicken in the dish for a while (in the oven to stay warm) and give the noodles a thorough jiggle around to make sure the sauce has covered everything. Serve massive plates-full of the noodles with the chicken placed on top, with a nice glass of fruit juice or guava Collins!
Ooh, and hey: remember I said I'd suggest some recipes for dinners that could also create leftovers for lunch? This one's the daddy!
I've never really bothered all that much about oriental food - Chinese, Thai, etc - because it's not my favourite kind of food and I had no idea how to cook it. Just recently, however, I've taken more of an interest for one reason and another and I've learnt a few recipes. Nowadays I'd say I'm pretty good at noodles!
One of my favourite recipes is one I found in Delicious magazine and have slightly adapted for my own tastes. So here you go:
First of all, mix together about four dessert spoonfuls of soy sauce, the juice of one lime, a teaspoon of chopped ginger (from a jar, in 'new Delia' style!), a few crushed chilli flakes and four dessert spoons of honey. Add to this two smallish breasts of chicken cut into smallish strips and leave it to do its business for ten minutes or so. Then transfer it to an ovenproof dish and put in the oven (medium hot) for about 15-20 minutes.
Next fry some suitable vegetables with a little bit of groundnut oil in a big frying pan or wok. I usually go for either a pre-prepared packet of sliced cabbage and leek or a bag of 'generic stir-fry vegetables' (I'm so Delia!). But if I was starting from scratch I'd use very finely sliced savoy cabbage, red onions, carrots and courgettes.
Separately cook some fine egg noodles and as soon as they're ready add them to the frying pan with the vegetables. When the chicken is ready, take the dish out of the oven and carefully pour or spoon the sauce over the noodles and vegetables. Leave the chicken in the dish for a while (in the oven to stay warm) and give the noodles a thorough jiggle around to make sure the sauce has covered everything. Serve massive plates-full of the noodles with the chicken placed on top, with a nice glass of fruit juice or guava Collins!
Ooh, and hey: remember I said I'd suggest some recipes for dinners that could also create leftovers for lunch? This one's the daddy!
Sunday, 24 February 2008
Who are ya, Delia?
So, just as I decided to write about ready-made things and 'convenience' cooking, Delia Smith brought our her new book on more or less the same topic! Cheeky madam.
Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking is about making use of pre-prepared food if you are busy or inexperienced in the kitchen. It's assembly cooking for work nights, making use of the storecupboard and freezer rather than buying everything fresh and spending your whole weekend chopping, pickling and making your own stock.
I think this is a pretty good idea but I'm not overly sure I care for her tone! "Who peels the potatoes? Anyone but you!" It's got a hint of 'I'm sick of cooking for you ungrateful lot and I've become slightly jaded but I'll be damned if I can't make a bit of money out of opening a packet of Smash, since you're probably all cheesed-off with chopping too'.
After all, it doesn't take a staggering IQ to read one of her old recipe books and substitute freshly-grated ginger with some from a jar, does it?
Delia's How to Cheat at Cooking is about making use of pre-prepared food if you are busy or inexperienced in the kitchen. It's assembly cooking for work nights, making use of the storecupboard and freezer rather than buying everything fresh and spending your whole weekend chopping, pickling and making your own stock.
I think this is a pretty good idea but I'm not overly sure I care for her tone! "Who peels the potatoes? Anyone but you!" It's got a hint of 'I'm sick of cooking for you ungrateful lot and I've become slightly jaded but I'll be damned if I can't make a bit of money out of opening a packet of Smash, since you're probably all cheesed-off with chopping too'.
After all, it doesn't take a staggering IQ to read one of her old recipe books and substitute freshly-grated ginger with some from a jar, does it?
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