WINTER SUPPERS shouldn’t be complicated or time-consuming, says TRISH DESEINE
I am a chronically impractical person obsessed with practicalities. In my hugely overequipped French kitchens, I would dream of routines and functioning recipe file systems, of stacking Tupperware boxes which leap into my hand from their special Tupperware shelf alongside the little sticker and the pen with the ink that doesn’t come off in the freezer.
I devoured images of casually tidy kitchens with labelled Kilner jars and always-to-hand small kitchen implements promising professional skills in only minutes. But somehow none of this ever materialised in my own home. I spent hours and fortunes in Ikea, Habitat, online, at car boot sales. I owned the kit, the books, the magazines, ogled other kitchens and drank in the words of perfectly coiffed and organised cooks. Nothing changed. So from time to time, I would have a Great Big Tidy Up. I took out everything in the kitchen and put it all back again, convinced this would instantly change my life for the better. (The best bit was the cutlery drawer, where my pleasure at sorting out knives and forks could reach almost erotic levels. I was delighted to discover I am not alone in this affliction, and with a friend christened our febrile state the “Kitchen Tidy Hots.”)
At the moment, I am once again living in someone else’s house, cooking in their lovely, higgledy-piggledy kitchen, and there is certainly no room for any of my invading pots, pans or cutlery. This time my kitchen contents are (tidily) stored away in boxes and bags and, preparing for my upcoming Christmas television shows, I have been cooking with what I can find here in my temporary digs. It has been an interesting time, getting to grips with an old range, a temperamental oven, minimal kit and choosing what should be cooked on camera. And once again, I realise how much you can do in a kitchen with so little.
I believe that in most recipe books, magazines and television shows, for the average home cook, and certainly for someone beginning to learn and lacking motivation and confidence (to whom they are supposedly aimed), there are still too many steps, too many fancy ingredients, too much kit and too much technique. From the sublime to teatime, the gap is still too wide. It all looks lovely, yet still, not enough of the people who would benefit from cooking are tempted to try it. Recently I read a chef’s fried chicken “tips”, shared with an audience of amateur cooks which read, “soak meat in 5% brine, heat oil to 165?C, cook breast to 63/64?C, leg to 67?/68?C.” It’s enough to make anyone head to KFC in despair.
So before the Christmas onslaught, forget striving for perfection and give yourself a break. Forget the presentation, the gadgets and the fancy knives – put some good bread, a green salad, some homemade chutney and cooked ham on the table. Or some Dunmanus cheese with a tomato and a sprinkle of salt. Make some rice with butter, peas and parsley. Or some pasta with squished olives or lemon and basil. None of these would get a look in on any cooking show, but they are good, and each of them is a meal. And that, about five nights out of seven, is all I’m bothered about.
And in that spirit, here is an easy recipe, requiring ingredients you will probably already have.
Roast parsnip with pepper and oranges
A dash of orange or lemon on anything is always a good way to bump up flavours when they don’t seem to want to come together. Parsnip and orange are particularly good together, but you can of course use carrots, pumpkin and potatoes or a mix of all.
For 4 (5 minutes preparation; 25/30 minutes cooking)
• 4 to 6 parsnips, peeled and sliced lengthways
• 1 eating orange
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
1. Pre heat the oven to 180C.
2. Arrange the parsnips on a baking sheet, drizzle some olive oil over
them and rub it over all the surface with your hands. Then squeeze the orange juice over them, season with salt and pepper and roast for 25 to
30 minutes until the parsnips are golden and tender.