A LITTLE BIT OF READING - AND SOME DIY : "AINSELY HARRIOT’S MEALS IN MINUTES"

Ok, credit where it’s due, I haven’t done books on this page for a very, very long time. But on the contrary, I have done cookery books before. Now, I do not own a massive number of cookery books. But I seem to go for a select few and over-use them, as it were. I mean, I believe in doing things properly. Ainsley Harriot’s meals in minutes are definitely going to be one of those books I am going to over-use. I have made one single meal out of it to date. But it was just SO good… I mean, SO GOOD. I had to share. This has to be an absolute treasure trove. And treasures (of this kind anyway) are for sharing J

Now, seeing as this is a cookery book it has no “story line” per se. But I will tell you about the concept, what I tried to make and the result. Now, anyone who has me added on facebook will actually know the answer to this one. And they will probably roll their eyes as I have been raving about it. What can I tell you, I like my food. Good food makes me happy. Risotto makes me especially happy. Home-made risotto… Well… Now I had some trepidation about risotto. One of my very dear friends who is a better cook than I will ever be most of the time has bad memories with risotto. I trust his culinary instincts implicitly. And risotto is jokingly referred to as “black rice” in the household to this day. Hence, to be fair, I was worried. But the result was risotto to rave about. And no doubt the recipe will be circulating, so more than one household was “saved” with one fell-swoop.

I am quite a confident cook at the best of times. But I wanted to be double-sure with this one. So I did things completely and utterly by the book. You know, bought all the ingredients and didn’t improvise (you know how it goes – “oh I don’t have any X – I’ll stick in some Y and Z instead, it’ll be fine”. I religiously followed the instructions. Which by the way, are crystal clear. The only fault I can find with this particular recipe is that the preparation time is slightly “exaggerated” if you see what I mean. It depends on the speed you chop at, but honestly, it takes me more than five minutes to wash and chop 250 grams of mushrooms alone. But apart from that, no issues whatsoever. Simple, easy to follow and ingredients that are easy to find.  And even though the prep. Time –wise I haven’t tried the more “speedy” sounding dishes but even though there was a slight “inconsistency” here, the recipe claimed it would take no more than 35 – 40 minutes and this was about correct. In short – give it a go! There are a lot of practical but novel ides in there, ideal to, with a tiny bit of prep, spice up your weekday nights with a wonderful homecooked meal. And the added satisfaction that “you did it all yourself”