Words & Images, Spring 2011

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Nigella Bites



“This recipe comes from one of my favourite books, Laurie Colwin’s Home Cooking. There are few food books that have such genuineness of tone, such love of food and of life. Laurie Colwin died young, and I often think of her family, her daughter, whom she writes about with such passion and interest. It’s an extraordinarily powerful legacy that she’s left her.

This cake was introduced to Laurie Colwin by her daughter’s West Indian
babysitter: ‘Its closest relatives are plum pudding and black bun, but it leaves both in the dust. Black cake, like truffles and vintage Burgundy, is deep, complicated and intense. It has taste and aftertaste. It demands to be eaten in a slow, meditative way. The texture is complicated, too – dense and light at the same time.’ Here is the recipe, altered only.” - Nigella Lawson.

I was mesmerized. Her amateur approach to cooking makes you connect instantly. I can do it as well! I can cook something beautiful and tasty, and I don’t even have to be a professional cook! She inspires you to be more creative and not to be afraid of food. Enjoy cooking and don’t make it a chore.

For all the dessert lovers, I’ve posted a sample of her Black Cake recipe. Here, you can get an idea how avid and passionate her writing is. She tells you to mix “pleasurably and stickily” and put fruits “to sleep”. I am not a dessert person, but this makes me want to try and explore, why not. Of course, I will probably add or take something away from the ingredients, but that’s okay, in fact, according to Nigella, best meals are born in your kitchen when you personalize and tweak it a bit, again don’t be afraid to be creative.

I hope you are enjoying something sweet and chocolaty right now. I am on my way home to “put my fruits to sleep”.

2 comments:

  1. I love the quote you pulled. Deep, complicated and intense sound like adjectives use to describe people, which makes the dish sound even more interesting to me.

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  2. I love the concept that creates our own food by changing the conventional recipe a bit. That's the way how we could enjoy cooking in the kitchen.

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