Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Nigella Lawson's cooking

Do you like cooking? Would you like some very easy cooking ideas? Then you should visit Nigella Lawson's website.

Nigella is a British woman who has become one of the world's most famous cooks. I think one reason she is popular is because she makes food we can all make at home. She LOVES to take shortcuts. For example, she buys baby leaf salad mix in a bag from the supermarket and puts it in a salad bowl with homemade dressing. She just drops it in a salad bowl without washing it, so I really hope that it is "pre-washed"! She also often uses kitchen scissors instead of a knife. You should try it - I've used kitchen scissors for many years, especially for herbs because you can cut them directly over a pot. This means all the flavor from the herb oils goes into the cooking, not onto the cutting board. And of course, you don't need to wash the cutting board if you don't use it :)

By the way, I have never cooked any of Nigella's recipes myself because they are often unhealthy with much butter and sugar. But you should check her recipes and just use her ideas. If you watch her videos, you can get lots of ideas for taking shortcuts while cooking even 'gorgeous' dishes. There is a really good chicken pie video on Youtube. (Search for Nigella Lawson Chicken Pie)

She chats a lot while she is cooking, but don't worry if you don't understand what she is saying. Mostly it is not at all important for the recipe.

Here is one example of a very quick desert. (She calls it "pudding". In England, "pudding" can mean "dessert" or it can mean "pudding" - e.g. chocolate pudding.)

Recipe on her website:

150g mini marshmallows
50g soft butter
250g good dark chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), chopped into small pieces
60ml hot water from a recently boiled kettle
1 x 284ml tub double cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


To see how she makes it, please watch this video:


For a bigger size, go to this page on Youtube.

Be careful about cup and spoon sizes in recipes from different countries. On Nigella's website, go to the recipe page and click on:

EQUIVALENTS AND CONVERSIONS

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