"Did you REALLY make this, Miriam?" (Nigella Lawson in general)

Member Name: miriamb

Product:	Nigella Lawson in general
Date:	27/06/02 (182 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: yummy yummy yummy, easy

Disadvantages: can't think of any just now

Who would ever have thought it? Me, the culinary queen of toast and take-aways, actually having a cookbook on my birthday list last year? Now what a shocker that was, and not just for the recipients of said list. See, I was hooked after seeing the Nigella Bites series on TV, she was sooo glamorous, so competent, and the food looked so good. And as a result, I now have each of her three cookbooks, and I actually use them, rather than just drooling over the pictures (although I do that as well). The first one I got was Nigella Bites, the book of the TV series, but in the interests of completeness and as an overview, I’m going to deal with them chronologically.

Now Amazon says that her next book, entitled Forever Summer, is due out in September this year, and another, Kitchen, in October 2003. Quite clearly, I'm not able to comment on these yet, but just in case you're interested, there's the info.

Throughout all of her books she manages to inject wit and entertaining observations and comments, which make these a pleasure to read as much to use. The photography is lovely, and the frequency of colour plates increases chronologically. And however sad it may sound, I have been known on more than one occasion to take these books to bed with me. Oh dear, my moribund love life..! (Maybe I could sue her as the reason for my singledom? Now there’s a thought)

Anyway: the books.


HOW TO EAT (1998)

This book is basically a general how-to-cook cookbook, and I’m afraid to say is usually used in my home for the first collection of recipes, headed Basics Etc. In here you can find all those silly little things like pastry and bread recipes, for when you feel like improvising but not too much. I’m probably showing off my Complete Novice status here, but I quite often come across whole recipes for a dish and just want information on who to reproduce the really simple components, and t
hen tailor the whole thing as I see fit. This is where this book wins 5 gold stars. It’s easy peasy to follow her directions, and she’s got this really calming, reassuring way of writing and describing how it’s done, what may go wrong, how to avoid it, what it should eventually look like etc etc etc… Absolutely perfect for an utter cookery-phobe like myself.

But there’s more. Chapters are included covering Cooking in Advance, One & Two, Fast Food, Weekend Lunch, Dinner, and two more that I ignore – Low Fat, and Feeding Babies and Small Children. Plus you get the obligatory conversion charts, information on stockists, and further reading.

Recipes using ingredients as diverse as shellfish, couscous, quinces, quail and venison are made to look relatively straight-forward and simple. We have international flavours, from the Far East, North Africa and the Middle East, all over Europe but especially Italy, sitting alongside some very English dishes. Yummy yummy yummy. Everything I’ve tried has worked, and that’s good enough for me.


HOW TO BE A DOMESTIC GODDESS(2000)

Before I’d been initiated into the Nigella school of thought, I’d heard about this book and hated it with a passion. Not that I’d ever read it, mind, I just came to the obvious conclusion that this was a book that preached ‘traditional’ gender divisions and advocated that the woman should be slaving in the kitchen, waiting for the return of her dearly beloved from his hard day at the office. Pah I thought. How wrong I was. Nigella (we’re on first name terms now) in fact suggests baking as an easy way out, prepare, stick it in the oven, forget about it. While [insert recipe] is baking, you can be fighting the system online, or preparing those women’s rights placards for the next demo. Of course, you can also be filing your nails or chatting on the phone to your b
est mate, but this definitely isn’t a manifesto for the passive female. As she says, the idea isn’t about BEING a domestic goddess, but FEELING like one.

As mentioned, this focuses on the art of baking (scary eh). My previous experience of baking was limited to Hot Cross Buns made for Home Economics (that’s cooking, in real language), which did work, but I was a bit apprehensive as to whether I’d really use this book.

This book is sensibly structured to suck you in. I mean, the first chapter is Cakes, followed by Biscuits, then we have a diversion into Pies, but thank goodness, sense swiftly returns with Puddings and Chocolate. Specific chapters are dedicated to Children, Christmas, Bread & Yeast, before closing with The Domestic Goddess’ Larder. And it all sounds so easy and delicious!

Personal highlights are the Supper Onion Pie, Lemon Syrup Cake, Molten Chocolate Baby-Cakes, and pretty much all of the biscuits. I’ve got a sweet tooth, you see. I have made more savoury dishes from the book, but the Supper Onion Pie is just so easy and yummy and proper carby comfort food. It’s on page 85 if you’re interested.

All in, this is a good reason to buy that strange white powder they call flour :)


NIGELLA BITES(2001)

The book that got me into this mess in the first place (I’m talking about the kitchen, obviously). This book is arranged more thematically by mood, rather than occasion, for example, Comfort Food, Trashy, Templefood, and Rainy Days. Other more functional chapter titles are All-Day Breakfast, TV Dinners, Suppertime, and Slow-Cook Weekend, which are much as they sound. This is more a ‘Nigella’ book than a straight-forward cookbook – you get much more of her than in the others. Whether that’s a good thing or not is really a matter of personal taste, but the recipes are great, and I like it.

I have tr
ied nearly every recipe in this book and they’ve all come out tasting as wonderful as they sound like they should. They may not be as lovingly arranged on the plate, but aesthetics aren’t everything - in my home, at least. The first thing I tried was the bizarre-sounding Ham in Coca-Cola served with Sweetcorn Pudding. Surprisingly tasty. From the same chapter (Trashy, in case you hadn’t guessed) is Elvis Presley’s Fried Peanut-Butter and Banana Sandwich, which is a really odd and incredibly fattening item, but is also actually quite nice. The Chicken and Chorizo dish in TV Dinners is an impressive-sounding, -looking, and –tasting number that’s oh so easy but is great for impressing visitors. I think mine are just impressed I can use the hob, frankly, but it’s still very good. My favourite, and the one that gets eaten most is the Double Potato and Halloumi bake. Everyone should try this, so I’ve given the recipe at the bottom. Bon appetit!

There are only 73 recipes in Nigella Bites (as opposed to the 350 plus in How To Eat and the guestimate 200 in Domestic Godess), but you will use them again and again, so it really is worth it.


So there you are. All books contain thorough references in the indexes, all make you feel virtuous for even reading them, and everything (so far) has worked for me without any disasters. I have these in hardback, which are priced at £25, £25, and £20, respectively, although one was a gift and the other two I found online at www.thebookpeople.com for around £9 each. I’m sure they’re all now available in paperback, but hardback’s easier for this sort of thing, and if you can get it cheaper than the retail paperback price, there’s no reason not to. Big thumbs up from me all round!


And now to that recipe.

Double Potato and Halloumi Bake (p.36 of Nigella Bites)

Ingredients:
I large sweet potato

I large red potato
I red onion
I yellow pepper
I red pepper
½ a head of garlic
4 tbsp olive oil
black pepper
125g Halloumi cheese

Pre-heat oven to 200 C/ gas mark 6.
Dice the potatoes into approximately 1” cubes (but red into slightly smaller pieces than sweet). Roughly chop peppers (removing seeds) and onion into bite-size pieces, about 1”, but the onion can be bigger, say 2”. Separate garlic cloves, but don’t remove skin. Place all ingredients thus far in large oven-proof dish, add olive oil and jumble everything around with your hands so it’s all covered. Add loads of black pepper (no salt though). Stick in oven and forget about for 45 mins.
Thinly slice the halloumi, and after the 45 mins, pull everything out, place halloumi over veges, and put everything back in oven, turning temperature to max (or use a grill). Leave for 5-10 mins until cheese has melted, remove, and serve.

This can be eaten as a main meal for 2, or for more as a side dish for something meaty, for example, chicken or sausages.

Summary: