Delia Smith’s Stir-fried Chicken with Lime and Coconut with Onion Pilau, Gordon Ramsay's Griddled Pineapple with Mint

Cooking Jamie’s 30 minute meal options lately has got me in the mood for quick, decent food, and after recently writing about Delia’s Pad Thai I noticed the Stir-Fried Chicken recipe from the same book, with hardly any text instructions, and the blurb “its hard to credit that a recipe as simple and as quick as this could taste so good, but I can assure you it’s an absolute winner”. The recipe can be found here, at Delia Online, and as I've decided to single-handedly prove that Delia Smith is cool and her recipes kick arse, it was a simple choice! When I casually asked a friend round for dinner, I knew this would be a good option. Its fresh and simple, but I hoped the lime and chilli would give a tangy, exciting taste. I had been pleasantly surprised by the modified pilau rice I served up with the weekends lamb kebabs, and decided that the two would marry well. The rice is also simple to present well, which I hoped would impress. The stir-fry looked kind of white so I hoped the rice would give some colour.

To serve with, I decided on Gordon Ramsay’s Griddled Pineapple with Mint and Coconut.Gordon has something to prove in our house. He fell out of favour when the other half was making his White Chocolate Mousse, and it split on her. She was quite heavily pregnant and the time, and it led to... not exactly a breakdown but certainly an episode (luckily Nigella came to the recipe with her Mousse recipe using Marshmallows). The pineapple looked vibrant, with charred stripes across the bright yellow flesh, and I hoped the fresh flavours would fit in well with the main course. I also served the dessert with Häagen Dazs Pralines and Cream Ice Cream, which is unarguably the greatest ice cream of all time. The pineapple could be prepared in advance and left in the fridge which was extremely convenient. So, slice the pineapple into wedges, char, remove the skin, pour mint infused syrup over the pineapple, and leave in the fridge. When ready to serve, sprinkle with toasted desiccated coconut.

So, how did it go? Well, the first job was to marinate the chicken in lime zest and juice, which was easy enough. After an hour, the chicken is added to a hot wok, and stir-fried. In my typical gung-ho fashion I chucked the contents of the bowl in the wok, juice included. Unfortunately, after a short while I realised the chicken was more poaching in lime juice and its own liquid. I strained and added back to the wok, but I fear the damage was done as when I served the meat it was overcooked. Anyhow, after the meat is golden, add finely chopped green chilli, stir fry again, then add Nam Pla, chopped coriander and shredded spring onions.

In the meantime, I did the rice. I’ve decided that the onion pilau rice recipe is now mine! I have used the M&S as a guide. And unfortunately, I overcooked this as well, after worrying about the chicken! Aaaargh!

The main course was tasty enough, quite light and not too filling (no one wants to feel stuffed on a school night). Our guests were too polite to say, but both the rice and the chicken were definitely overcooked. Need to be a bit more confident next time. I think the frozen food issue has knocked my confidence slightly.

The dessert went well too, but was maybe a bit too simple. It was again fresh, although I don’t think there was enough of it (although to be fair, I had made smaller pieces and gave some pineapple slices to the boy-let. I can’t tell if he was impressed or not!). I was sceptical of how the mint syrup would work, but it was brilliant, a real gentle flavour of mint that did not overpower the pineapple. Sadly, I am an idiot, and for my final act, I forgot to sprinkle the coconut over.

Conclusion – I’ll cook both of these again, but probably just for the Mrs and I. It just wasn’t exciting enough.

Delia Smith's How to Cook Book 2 @ Amazon.co.uk

Gordon Ramsay's Fast Food @ Amazon.co.uk

Delia Smith's Pad Thai, and the second lot of Christmas Presents

The problem with cooking in our house is that my live-in supermodel, with whom I have had a child, loves cooking equally as much as I do. No, I’m not Jamie Cullum, just trying to be cheesy and romantic.

Because we both love cooking so much, I am being forced to cheat for the first part of today’s post and let the Mrs do the cooking. I asked if we could have something from a book that was something other than a Rachel Allen or Nigella Lawson book, and was blessed with Delia Smith. Now, Delia doesn’t seem to be in fashion nowadays, and Delia’s Cheat book, an attempt to rival Jamie Oliver’s current crusade, was roundly ridiculed. However, Delia has been writing about food for over 40 years, and is the UK’s most-sold cookery writer having sold an impressive 21 million books. Wikipedia tells me that the cake on the cover of “Let it Bleed” was baked by Delia Smith. This means that Delia Smith is unarguably Rock and fucking Roll. Who would have thought?

We settled on “Pad Thai Noodles with Shrimps” from “How to Cook” and made a stop at an oriental supermarket in the centre of York, where we picked up a packet of dried shrimp, a big packet of shelled and de-skinned peanuts, and rice noodles. I noticed that they had small tins of coconut milk – perfect for us, as we only ever use half a tin anyway. Anyway, I digress. We were surprised later that day when the Mother-in-Law, a coeliac, dropped in and asked if she could stay the night, on the way home from Leeds to Birmingham. By happy coincidence the Pad Thai is gluten-free, and the Mrs got on with dinner. Unfortunately, the Mother-in-Law is not as rock and roll as Delia, and isn’t keen on hot food. The recommended 2 chillis were reduced to a half.

Despite this, all was good. At first, I couldn’t place the shrimp, but they gave a definite fishy taste. I did miss the chilli – it really would have leant some flavour, but it was still a really tasty, tangy dish. I was pleasantly surprised with Delia’s recipe, and have decided that later in the week I will test-drive the “Stir-Fried Chicken with Lime and Coconut” from the same book.

For my part, I managed to cook more than half the recipes in a book this week! Unfortunately, the book isn’t exactly a masterpiece like “How to Cook” – its more of a pamphlet, that I got with one of my Christmas presents – a Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker! I decided that I wanted one after struggling with Fennel seeds in a pestle and mortar for too long, and it has lived up to my expectations. I made the “Rustic French rub” for Lamb steaks, and served them alongside the “Basil, balsamic vinegar and pinenut” dressed salad. The general instructions is to shake with the dry ingredients in first, and then add herbs or garlic etc, and then finally add any liquids such as oil or vinegar. I’m not great at cooking steaks, but rubbed the lamb with the French rub, and left while I made the dressing. I tried to fry on quite a high heat, and managed to get the steaks done not quite rare enough, with just a small line of pink right in the middle. Verdict – the rub was maybe a little too peppery, but was otherwise tasty, while the dressing was great. I will mainly be using the shaker to grind spices but look forward to trying out other recipes in it – any recommendations?

My final foodie Christmas present was a selection of spice blends from a company called Spice Mountain, based at Borough Market. My brother kindly bought me a pack containing Moroccan Tagine spice, Ethiopian Berbere, Goan Curry, Jerk Seasoning and Kofte Kebab flavouring, along with a little pot of something called Sumac, described as a lemony spice. My brother and I must be on the same wavelength, as I bought him a leftovers kit from Rafi’s Spicebox! I am really looking forward to the Kofte Kebab – there is a recipe for spicy tomato chutney on the back of the pack, but I think I will serve with Bombay Potatoes from the Indian Cooking School book.

Delia Smith's "How to Cook" @ Amazon (this is the copy we have, although there are many variations)

Spice Mountain

Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker

Rafi's Leftover Kit

Let it Bleed @ Amazon