Thrifty Kitchen on Telly

By Rebecca Law, Editor of the Thrifty Kitchen

I’ve always fancied myself as a chef on the telly. I can’t tell you how many evenings I’ve wiled away on the sofa, eating pre-fab pizza, passively taking in re-runs of Masterchef/ River Cottage/ Ready Steady Cook. All the while, mentally honing my own TV persona in my head: a little more gracious than Gordon, a little less busty than Nigella. In the safety of my living room, I knew exactly who I was going to be when my time came to appear alongside the big culinary names on the TV screen.

And then it came. Ok, so I wasn’t exactly “alongside” the big names but, Channel M, which airs across Greater Manchester, did offer us the opportunity to film four three-minute segments, showcasing recipes from our Independent Age cookbook, The Thrifty Kitchen, to run on a weekly basis ahead of Christmas.

In preparation, it became less about the TV persona and more about which recipes were least likely to backfire in the presence of a camera. Suffice to say, the selected recipes, which were all very straightforward (and delicious!) included no chopping, no peeling and no egg-breaking (not for me, anyway).

I opted to cook the Friday Night Soup; a spicy lentil and tomato based soup, which I inherited from a friend in Holland, who had a knack of knocking up something delicious, regardless of what she had languishing in the cupboard. It takes about five minutes to prepare, with everything going into one pot, and about twenty minutes to cook. This is a lovely, textured soup, with no need to blend. My second dish was a baked rice pudding, another borrowed recipe, this time from a friend who once cooked for me on a blisteringly cold evening in Hamburg. This recipe is even simpler. It takes about three minutes to prepare (which translates as throwing everything into a baking dish) and then baking on a low heat for about an hour and a half.

I’m pleased to say I had a partner for the day, journalist, Ian Gilbert, who had contributed his grandmother’s lemon curd recipe to The Thrifty Kitchen. He was clearly feeling much braver than I, and knocked up several jars of this lemon curd, with awe-inspiring ease (and smoothness when it came to his egg-breaking skills). His second dish was Peter Gordon’s rather yummy hot-smoked salmon fish cakes with a dill and mustard dressing, which had us all clambering for tasters when the camera stopped rolling. That one’s a great example of The Thrifty Kitchen’s main principles, as even though it makes use of a relatively expensive ingredient – the hot-smoked salmon – it does make a very small amount go a very long way.

Watch this space for details on when the appearances will be aired, which can also be caught on Sky and Cable, for those of us who aren’t based in Manchester.