My nephew is now in his late 20s. Ten years ago, for his 18th birthday, we went to the top restaurant in Cambridge. After the meal we had a tour behind the scenes. Like Heston, there were lots of gadgets and interesting ways to cook: water baths, foam makers\u2026<\/p>\n
My nephew went on to work in a top Cambridge college kitchen, then went to\u00a0university in his mid-twenties and now is a successful estate agent in London.<\/p>\n
Like him I have been on a journey \u2013 though mine is still a culinary one.<\/p>\n
It started out with Keith Floyd. I read an interview with him years ago where he outlined his principles for great cooking: buy the best ingredients you can find, cook them as simply as you can and serve with the nicest wine you can afford. Those rules have served me well for many years.<\/p>\n
However, my latest application of those now involves the freezer! This is not the more usual trick of storing small bits of wine or even crumbled cheese \u2013 ready to use in dishes. You read about those a lot.<\/p>\n
My discovery? Cooking from Frozen. Very little on line.\u00a0 Am I the only one?<\/p>\n
This is not about\u00a0ready meals into the microwave for a minute longer than they would get starting\u00a0at fridge temperature. Rather, this approach\u00a0begins with\u00a0home cooked food straight from the freezer to a medium-hot oven\u2026<\/p>\n
This might be with a dish you have already prepared:
\n1) A fruit crumble (with my gluten free topping of butter in chickpea and rice flour, but that is another story)
\n2) Lentil bake or nut roast
\n3) Chilli skins \u2013 left over chicken or fish skins in chilli sauce
\n4) Gratins
\n5) etc<\/p>\n