Delia disappoints

Last night I finally caught Delia’s new show, inspiringly titled Delia (back to basics, love). The show, based on her new cookery book, How to Cheat at Cooking, offers the viewer recipes that ostensibly will help him or her avoid fresh food.

I have a few problems with her approach:

-The use of the word ‘cheat’. Why stigmatise any cooking at home with such a word? Why call using marinated roasted red peppers and jarred mayonnaise to make red pepper mayonnaise ‘cheating’? I would argue that in the winter that it’s a seasonal approach to cooking. The peppers in that jar were likely grown in the heat of summer and simply preserved. I resent the implication that using preserved goods is cheating.

Furthermore, using tinned dressed crab is not cheating either. Fresh crab is not readily available throughout Britain, and using the tinned version to enhance the flavour of a soup or a dip should not be an undesirable option.

-I do find fault in substituting ingredients for their fresh, readily available, and for the most part inexpensive, counterparts. Tinned meat and frozen mash, this means you. Fresh potatoes and lean mince are surely the better choice. And, until the tins and bags go some way to stating otherwise, we can only assumed that the source of the produce is not particularly appealing.

-Which brings me to my final point. Why distinguish between the source of some ingredients (ie, pesto: “Make sure it’s Italian,” she remonstrates) and not others? She’s not banging on about the tinned mince in the same fashion: “Make sure it’s from Cheshire”)

All in all, I think it’s a flawed approach. I don’t like being told what I’m doing is cheating. I’m all for getting more cooks in the kitchen, but not like this.

We’ll see what next week’s episode is like, if I can stomach it.

Delia's thai fish curry with mango

I absolutely love this recipe. Delia’s fish curry is extremely fresh and also simple to make. My only qualm - that there are not any vegetables in there – is easily fixed by tossing in some sliced red peppers or courgettes and a few red onions.

I recommend using reduced-fat coconut milk as the reduction of calories outweighs any extra creaminess. Actually, with all the mango in the curry, full-fat coconut milk can make the curry that bit too sweet.

Making the curry paste from scratch is absolutely delightful, and in my opinion, negates the need for those little jars that clutter the refrigerator door shelf. While I really like Bart’s curry pastes, the homemade version, fresh and lively, beats it any time. Blitz the ingredients – garlic, chilli, onion, lime juice and zest, shrimp paste and nam pla (fish sauce) – with a hand blender. Any fish will do, though I like using black halibut.

Serve with brown basmati rice (50 g per person is the recommended serving size).

chicken cacciatore with steamed broccoli and green beans

Chicken casserole dishes: love or hate? On one hand, they are wholesome, usually cost-effective, and homey. On the other hand, they tend to be a bit boring, and if the chicken is not cooked correctly, the meat will be dry and flavourless despite the juices surrounding it.

For these reasons, I have often stayed away from cooking chicken casseroles like coq au vin. They just do not excite me. But when I found Delia’s recipe for a version of the Italian classic chicken cacciatore, I had to try it. The vivid orange-red of the sauce, flecked with deep green rosemary and bay leaf, had an entrancing effect. Look for yourself.

I substituted several chicken drumsticks in place of the whole chicken and found it worked really well. The chicken needs to be browned off first and left to sit while concocting the rest of the casserole. Don’t skip this step!

Of course, all of that chicken skin adds quite a lot of fat to the dish. Although it can be messy, I advise removing the skin before eating with a fork and knife. It could save 300-400 calories, which is quite a lot. Much of the flavour remains, since the chicken and the sauce were still cooked in the skin casing. Besides, the rich liquor of tomatoes, wine, tomato puree, garlic, onion, and rosemary is fantastic all on its own.

This recipe takes about an hour and a half to prepare and cook. I would recommend it for a lazy Sunday afternoon when you can check on the dish intermittently whilst reading a book or watching a film.

Serve the chicken cacciatore with some freshly steamed broccoli and green beans. Delia recommends green tagliatelle, but I think vegetables fit better with the overall dish.

Calories per serving (2 chicken drumsticks with one-third of the sauce, with the skin removed before eating): around 700. Using other, less fatty, cuts of chicken would decrease the calorie count.