Episode 5 : Opposites Attract
Nigel Slater looks at ingredients that provide a real contrast on the plate, as he creates a week’s worth of simple yet delicious meals. Whether it is sweet and sour, hot and cold or spicy and cool, the right flavour combinations can create great results. Many people don’t have time to follow cookery books and Nigel’s unflustered style makes the dishes easy to remember without complicated recipes. He also visits local allotment holders and creates a tasty feast from the fruits of their labours.
OMG Nigel used to steal his dad’s rhubarb and dip it in a bag of sugar!!!! I must tell my mum lol as I used to do exactly the same. Isn’t it funny when you don’t really expect something like that to be common behaviour haha. I used to love that but of course it probably did nothing at all to help my teeth. I see he was also using Belazu preserved lemons. I just happen to have a jar of those in my fridge. I adore them and often have them with hummus, tabbouleh, pita and olives. I can highly recommend the Belazu brand for all sorts of things, especially their balsalmic vinegar which unfortunately is no longer sold around here but fortunately I can order directly from Belazu. Their chili jelly is also really nice, and the marinated peppers and artichokes. Making my mouth water right now.
I gave up eating prawns but chilli prawns – especially on the BBQ – were my favourite way of cooking prawns. The paste that Nigel makes for his prawns looks fantastic, lots of coriander and cumin seeds – yum yum.
Nigel visits someone in their garden this time instead of an allotment. Kat has a long narrow garden, probably about a third of the length of mine, and has got rid of her lawn in favour of growing veg in the space. For me this makes a lot of sense, if you have a space, then at least do something productive with it. Lots of people have no space so if you have it, please do something with it – you don’t have to dig up your whole lawn and flower beds, you could sneak some veggies in amongst your flowers, and even just create more beds in the middle of your lawn. Cottage gardens and permaculture have been doing this type of thing for centuries but we seem to have lost the knack of having something useful as well as pretty in the garden.
Anyway, back to the show… lavender and garlic chives and tomatoes and goat’s cheese, interesting. Nigel also mentioned lavender biscuits and lavender ice cream both of which I’ve made, and lavender as a flavour is quite lovely. I also have a recipe somewhere for lavender meringues which I made recently.
The hot spiced fruit and ice cream looks great. I quite often have something hot and something cold together – baked apples with cold custard for instance or grilled peaches with ice cream – and one of my friends just thinks that’s the weirdest thing he’s heard of and why couldn’t I heat the custard to go with the hot baked apple lol but that’s part of the appeal, that hot and cold together.
Recipes are available on the BBC:
