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Cooking for (N)One
jamie oliver's ministry of food canada
(Jan.09.09)
It's no secret that I don't really like to cook.
Oh, I'm great at assembling (as in, I can throw together a salad and add some rotisserie chicken) but when it comes right down to ingredients, recipes and starting something truly from scratch - I've never really gotten into it the way so many of my friends have.
Neither nature or nurture can adequately explain this: my father started his career as a chef, taught my mother when they first met and home cooking was a constant in my house. I was even excited to learn how to make French Toast in elementary school. But I didn't progress much beyond those initial basics. Nor do I understand how my mom can so precisely time every detail of a turkey dinner.
My oldest brother (the one who lets me babysit) on the other hand is a great cook. And has me over frequently for a dinner that's more than cereal, omelettes or the salad bar at Whole Foods. So when he said he loved Jamie Oliver's approach to food, I naturally assumed it would be over my head.
But Greg (and the cute chef) had a new angle even I couldn't mess up: Jamie's Ministry of Food. His idea is to get people back into (or remotely familiar with) the kitchen with recipes that are basic but not boring.
People who know how to cook can find easy innovations to stuff they already do. And people like me can actually plate something like Quick Salmon Tikka with Cucumber Yogurt. I downloaded the free video podcast on iTunes, propped my laptop up in the kitchen and followed along with Jamie's real time instructions (no raw dough into one oven, perfect cookies magically out of another). It took less than 20 minutes, tasted great and wasn't something I would have thought of myself.
And yes, I took a picture.
today salmon strips, tomorrow turkey dinner?
-Ashleigh