大象传媒

The new crop of spring cookery books is out and as usual publishers seem to be convinced they鈥檙e onto a winner with titles featuring the words 鈥榪uick鈥�, 鈥榚asy鈥� and 鈥榮imple鈥�. (鈥楽limming World鈥檚 Extra Easy All-in-One鈥� must tick every box going.)

It鈥檚 the same with cookery mags and even estimable cookery sites such as this one听have听endless links for 'quick and easy'听recipes of every type. The implication being that . . . well . .听 cooking is really a terrible drag, to be got through, like housework, as quickly as possible.

OK, there are some people who loathe cooking and - to my eternal bewilderment - prefer swabbing their work surfaces, but what are the rest of us saving time for? Ironically, it seems, to watch cookery programmes like Masterchef or where contestants take a lot more time and trouble making a meal than the viewers are prepared to.

Simon Hopkinson's Baked pappardelle with pancetta and porcini defers gratification by all of forty minutes - too long to wait?

Maybe we鈥檙e just too ambitious: overawed by the clever creations we see on telly we just give up. When I was brought up, my mother - not a great cook, admittedly - had a limited repertoire. Monday and Tuesday used up leftovers from the roast. There would be macaroni cheese another night (my favourite), mince another. If it was Friday we knew it would be fish - grilled plaice usually. It wasn鈥檛 too demanding because they were all familiar friends.

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When you ask a Peruvian to define their cuisine, it's never a quick answer. It seems to take, on average, quite a few minutes to clarify the matter. They're a passionate nation and give the Italians a run for their money when it comes to time spent talking about, shopping for, or planning the next meal or snack.

I found this out the long way round, by going to Peru and asking. I admit that I arrived in Lima with little more than a vague knowledge of quinoa, ceviche and avocados, plus a few enthusiastic emails and 'must eat' lists from Peruvian and non-Peruvian friends-of-friends.

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This year鈥檚 warm weather has brought a bevy of beautiful blossom to our trees and hedgerows much earlier than usual. It鈥檚 a great opportunity use wild flowers to add a bright and breezy bit of colour to your baking that鈥檚 as springy as a frolicking lamb. Though it鈥檚 too early for the usual rose petals, don鈥檛 miss out on early spring beauties.

Crystallised flowers are a bit old-fashioned, but in a totally gorgeous way. And as the early blossoms don鈥檛, for the most part,听have as strong a scent or flavour as the later summer flowers, it鈥檚 all about the look. These are decorations you won鈥檛 find in your kitchen shop as they鈥檙e too delicate to transport. But make use of the flowers now, and they鈥檒l keep in an airtight box for weeks.

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It's back again. The new series of Great British Menu is听faster, bigger, higher, better, more brilliant than ever before.

The contestants' brief has been to take their lead from our Olympic athletes, and to push the bounds of gastronomy to the limits and beyond. This may seem stretching the Olympic ideal a bit, to take in cooking, but if you think about it, cooking is all about performance, about beating your personal best, driving up standards.

And that applies to us at home just as much as it does听to the Great British Menu chefs, not to mention Britain鈥檚 Olympic heroes. Go on, be inspired, try a new recipe that you鈥檝e never tried before, experiment with a new ingredient, get out of your culinary comfort zone, push through the kitchen pain barrier. Forget the bit about the pain barrier, but you know what I mean.

Stand back. He's got an espuma gun.

It takes serious training to get to the top of the restaurant world. You can鈥檛 succeed at the highest level in the modern kitchen without being fiercely ambitious and rigorously disciplined. The only limits are those posed by the chefs鈥� own imaginations, creativity and technical skill. This year the chefs have been encouraged to bring the full battery of modern technical gadgetry to bear on their dishes, serious fancy gear - spherification, liquid gels, hot gels, , liquid nitrogen, , water baths, , desiccators 鈥� as well as source some extraordinary ingredients -听to produce their culinary marvels.

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Well, here we are at听the final blog post in this short series, and where better to end up than at the end of the meal. Yes, it鈥檚 time to look at puddings and cheeses. Many of you will no doubt think, 鈥淏eer with puddings? Ridiculous!鈥� But once again the versatility of beer shines through. With cheese in particular it certainly proves to be a more amiable companion than the traditional red wine accompaniment. Fruit beers, honey beers, heather beers and even stouts will all pair a wide range of desserts exceptionally well.

Let鈥檚 take a look at cheese first of all - a traditional farmhouse product with a whole range of flavours and textures.听 Creamy, salty, nutty and earthy are just some of the characteristics of cheese but there are some easy guidelines to follow:

• Pair delicate beers such as a heather ale with young, fresh cheeses.
• Pair malty beers with nutty, aged cheeses.
• Pair highly hopped, bitter beers such as IPAs with tart, sharp cheeses, especially mature cheddars.
• Pair strong, sweet beers, a barley wine for instance, with blue cheeses.

Now let鈥檚 move on to consider some classic desserts. In general anything rich and creamy, like trifle, tiramisu, or even apple pie and cream, will go with a rich Baltic or milk stout, the rich sweetness and smooth texture of the beer complementing the dishes well. There are also strong chocolate notes in these beers and both stouts and porters work well with any chocolate flavoured pudding. Look out for chocolate porter, which has gained popularity in recent months.

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I鈥檝e just spent the last few days in Istria, the northern part of Croatia where they鈥檙e currently celebrating the wild asparagus season. It鈥檚 served every way imaginable but most popularly with scrambled eggs which form part of many local restaurants seasonal tasting menus.

You鈥檇 be lucky to find such a humble dish here. Apart from breakfast dishes and scotch eggs I rarely spot eggs on a menu - a far cry from their heyday in the fifties and sixties.

Whatever happened to hard-boiled eggs with a glistening dollop of rich golden, homemade mayonnaise or blanketed in a comforting cheesy sauce, the classic oeufs mornay? What about omelettes or, if you want to pull out the stops, 蝉辞耻蹿蹿濒茅蝉? You鈥檇 think in these tough recessionary times restaurants would leap at the chance to cut their ingredient bills but it appears not. Are we just too blas茅 about eggs these days?

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How can you resist?

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