Monday 10 December 2012

We need to talk about Nigel......


….. Nigel Slater that is. I’ve been watching his show, Friday evenings on BBC1, his Kitchen Diaries. And I’m getting a bit obsessed. Ever since I read in his book: Real Food, that the best thing to do with a cold sausage is to eat it while wondering what to cook, I have been very fond of Nigel. I love his inventive recipies and top tips of what to do with leftovers and odd things uncooked, lurking in the fridge of the fruit bowl. I made his courgettes with pesto and am addicted: ribbons of courgette made with a peeler and tossed with homemade pesto that takes a few minutes to make. And his butternut squash soup where he turns the peel into oily chips, flavoured with rosemary and sea salt, is utterly delicious and eaten daily now. 
I added a lone green chili to one batch and drizzled it with chilli oil, some chopped chorizo to another and chunks of lemony, sauted courgette to another.
I want to eat all the dishes he makes, especially the chocolate and beetroot cake, a slice of which I enjoyed in Teacle & Co. in Hove. I can only watch the show if I’m actually eating otherwise he sends me starving hungy, scurrying to the kitchen for double portions of everything. He made a big pot of the soup and suggested the leftovers be used to make a squash risotto. So far I’ve never had any leftovers……..

Top tip: never watch a cookery show when hungry, that way lies madness.




19 comments:

  1. His wife must be very fat, it all looks delicious! The soup in your picture with the drizzled oil looks lovely but I once had the most dreadful experience with a cafe that thought you had to pour a 2cm layer of the oil to float on the top. Not very pleasant! ;)
    Jess x

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    1. @Jess - you need to read his biography to realise why he'll never have a wife... ;-)

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  2. Now I have to go and find the book/show/anything!!!

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  3. Mmmm, must check him out. Not that I need an excuse to eat.

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  4. We love Nigel in our household too. The Mr does most of the cooking and has all his books. Our favourites are his curry and a sausage spaghetti dish. Mmmm ... feeling hungry now!

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  5. I always watch it but the programme does nothing for me, I just don't fancy his recipes although I love what he said about a sausage! Nigella is the one for me, I dribble whilst I watch!

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  6. Love Nigel, my son and I watch him devotedly, and try to recreate, the beetroot cake is fab. I don't think Jess (above) has read Toast, Nigels partner is not fat, or female :)

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  7. I don't know if he's made it to this side of the planet, but if the recipes are spicy, I'm in.

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  8. His book Real Fast Food is a regular in my house. Excellent food, the sort of instant comfort food that most of us actually eat. And also a great provider of after-pub recipes too.

    Now after reading Lilac's comment I realise I'm eating poofter food!

    [JOKE!]

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  9. I used to make Chocolate Beetroot Cake, and it always produced cries of outrage once eaten, although it seemed to be enjoyed.

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  10. I like Nigel, he feels more real than other TV chefs. Met him once and he was lovely.

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  11. One of my wife's favourites - I'm not a cookery show lover frankly except the Hairy Biker's who are my kind of lads!

    However Nigel does have a simple approach which beats through a lot of the nonsense.

    I heard a great story where a friend of mine watched half a Heston Blumenthal show and was laughing so much his wife came in from the garden to see what was so funny. He thought it was an elaborate spoof show... when his wife said "no this is for real" he was flabbergasted!

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  12. I chuffin love Nigel Slater. And the bi fold doors in his kitchen have had be a drooling! London was fab - but how does anyone manage more than 3 days !!?? Southbank was definatley my favourite walk, and the mudlarking was brilliant xxxx

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  13. you can cook for me anytime!
    Warm Aloha from Waikiki
    Comfort Spiral
    ~ > < } } ( ° >

    > < 3 3 3 ( ' >

    ><}}(°> ~

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  14. OK you had me at cold sausage, possibly my fave food along with hot bacon and egg sarnie. BTW, love the comment from Diane above, more than three days in London is like doing a film festival you need to spend the next day in your room. I did 15 years there...

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  15. You can talk about Nigel all you like. I miss watching his shows. They don't show them here in Australia. It's definitely at the top of my list of things I miss from the UK. x

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  16. I prefer Nigella but that soup certainly looks delicious. I love making soup, so easy but so satisfying. I could live on soup & cake!

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  17. Soup and cake: my kind of diet! Less sure about Nigel - Nigella, Delia, Hugh, even Jamie from time to time, but don't own any of Nigel's recipes; perhaps I'll try a library book and see...

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  18. Toast, Nigel's autobiography is one of the best books ever.

    I adore him.

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