Published on 12, July, 2020
I love to cook, I think I'm going to be spending the next few days making pickled onions and chutney as I've just cleared all the tomato plants from the garden and have loads of half rip ones.
I took a Yottam Ottalengi recipe book out of the library yesterday, I started drooling almost as soon as I started looking at it, unfortunately I think you need at least 6 people to feed as nearly all of it can't really be frozen and it dosen't look like you could realistically make smaller amounts.
I've started baking again too, I love baking, but I don't have a very sweet tooth and I crap at all the fancy icing and stuff, still no reason for not making a lovely moist apple cake, or a light carrot cake.
I love cooking. I find it really relaxes me, at the end of the day I will go in the kitchen, put some nice music on, pour a glass of wine and just spend an hour or so messing around with ingredients. My speciality is paella. I do make a nice cottage pie though. I recently learned to make Moussaka for the first time from a Rick Stein recipie. I tend to use him and the Hairy Bikers mostly.
Do you ever watch cooking shows on TV? I find them very relaxing, especailly the ones where there is some travel on there too.
I don't bake much but my wife is an amazing baker
I honed my cookery skills, after learning the basics from my Mum, after the discover of the late great Keith Floyd, not only was he an amazing chef, but was the first to take cooking out of a studio kitchen and into the field, quite literally. I just put on BBC 2 quite randomly and there he was, it was from watching him that I learnt the importance of a good stock, to deglaze a pan and so many other things, how brilliant British produce is. I think you can still watch his programs online
I like Bake Off as it's fun and Masterchef, although I'd love to know where these people get their ingredients from? It must be great to have a good market on your doorstep and to be able to afford the stuff. I liked Nigel Slater going round the Levant, I love Middle Eastern food, but it's hard to get round here, everythings South East Asian inspired right now and I really don't like it, it's just a collection of flavours and ingredients that just don't do it for me and I can't be near anything with Jasmine in it as it gives me a sick headache, monosodium glutimate as it makes me really ill and sweet and sour which brings on instant projectile vomitting.
I havn't watched much of Keith Floyd, I will certainly give him a watch after your recommendation.
I love Indian food but Chinese disagrees with me a lot
As for Middle Eastern, Waitrose stocks quite a few Middle Eastern herbs and ingredients, more than most supermarkets
Herge, do you batch cook? I do I make big pots of staples like bolognaise sauce, chilli, various curries and freeze them so as I've almost always got something in the freezer.
Billy, I think all the Keith Floyd programes are quite old now, the pictures are square not wide screen, and he's been dead a few years now, but to me, he's still one of the greats. Basics and classics, good ingredients cooked well and not overly mucked about with.
I'm going to have a go at green tomato ketchup later this week, as I have loads of green unripe tomatoes, plus I have the pickled onions to do.