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Up close with Nigella

Lawson will share some tips on how to whip up quick dessert for guests.

Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson shows HAFIDAH SAMAT what a charming kitchen goddess she is, especially on her latest show Nigella Express. Think fast, no-nonsense and ultra-fast-to-prepare recipes.

HERE'S a quick cooking tip: there are three must-have ingredients for your refrigerator – lemons, bacon and salt.

These items should be readily accessible especially when you have to prepare a quick meal says British celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.

“I could go bonkers without these items in the fridge,” said Lawson during a recent phone interview to talk about her latest show, Nigella Express.

Lawson believes that everyone can cook.

“Cooking is not for the few. But natural interest helps,” said Lawson.

“In terms of ability, I don’t think it’s some great art that only the gifted can accomplish. I think we all want to eat and the human race would have fallen out of the evolutionary loop a long time ago, if you needed to be an expert to be able to cook.

“So I think everyone can cook. And the key is to have recipes that are simple and encourage the beginner and don’t intimidate.”

Nigella Express is a decidedly tongue-in-cheek take on the usual cook show.

Lawson will explore the relationship between a dish and its ingredients. The 13-episode show premieres on Discovery Travel & Living (Astro’s Channel 707) at 8.30pm on Friday.

Each week, the charming kitchen goddess along with an assortment of guests — comprising families, relatives and friends — take viewers on an appetising journey in her uber modern kitchen as she cooks a variety of familiar and not-so-familiar dishes.

From drinks and nibbles to main courses, soups, appetisers and desserts, Lawson offers viewers a fabulous feast, incredible short cuts and brilliant time-saving ideas in preparing a banquet in less than 30 minutes.

According to Lawson, Nigella Express is not very much different from her previous shows, for instance, Nigella Bites, Nigella Summer and Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen, as the show allows her to exploit her personality and style.

“I am just myself cooking my choice of food. What sets this programme apart from the others I’ve done before is that I focus on food that is quick to get from the stove to the table. The show deals in cook-ahead food that makes everyone’s life easy because the processes and steps are simple, direct and speedy.”

The great appeal of Nigella Express is its meld of fun and breezy commentary.

Lawson has wowed food lovers with her fast, no-nonsense and ultra-fast-to-prepare recipes.

Arguably, her TV shows have a slightly different feel as she sets different tones — notice that beautiful friendly smile and charming onscreen persona — in most of her outings.

Gourmands will notice that Lawson prefers picking ingredients that are easy to obtain. The choices, she said, were deliberate.

Instead of being guided by the professional nose and taste buds of a food lover, Lawson chose instead to rely on personal curiosity and enthusiasm, and simplicity that had been forged by colourful childhood influences.

While her shows are awash with her delight in the world’s often surprising cuisine, it’s also clear that the celebrity host fell under the spell of watching other cookery programmes hosted by her counterparts.

“I think Jamie Oliver is always good and so is Gordon Ramsey. Delia Smith has always been fantastic in Britain. She’s coming back with a new series after five years away from TV, so that will be interesting. In America, I really love Mario Batali. Interestingly, Dominic Cyriax has recently been working on a TV series for Kylie Kwong, and I’m greatly looking forward to that.

“I’m really one of those people who likes anything to do with food. So I’m always interested in all of it, but I’m also incredibly wary of keeping myself slightly innocent of it, because I’ve just got to do my own thing and not be influenced, either positively or negatively, by other people.”

So, what distinguishes her from the other TV chefs?

Lawson stressed her craft of cooking is still “amateurish”.

“Everyone else is much more impressive and professional than I am. I’m not a professional but a home cook. For example, when I chop a carrot, I chop like an ordinary person. I don’t do it as a virtuoso performance. I love those brilliant chefs, but I’m not a professional chef,” she said.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m making huge claims, but I can’t help feeling that I have more in common with my viewers than many chefs do, because I don’t have a team helping me. I don’t have great skills. I cook at the end of the day after I’ve picked my children up from school and done a day’s work.

“So in that sense, I would say that that is probably the chief thing that distinguishes me.”

Not a stranger to Malaysian TV viewers, thanks to her highly-acclaimed shows Nigella Bites and Nigella Feasts over Astro, Lawson admitted her culinary skill is the only domestic art that appeals to her.

“You wouldn’t want to see me ironing shirts. It would take a long time and it would not look great,” she said in jest.

One question arises: is she the “domestic goddess” (a title she earned after the release of the 2000 best-selling How to Be a Domestic Goddess) personified at home?

“I’m a messy person. Really. It was based on the premise that people started labelling me a domestic goddess. It was a joke but if you had read the book it was obviously meant to be ironic. I supposed my natural habitat is home. I’d rather be at home than at a film premiere. Honestly, I’m not a goddess.”

For the 48-year-old mother of two, fame comes with a heavy price. Lawson should know. Life wasn’t all that fair to the famous daughter of Nigel Lawson, who served as Britain’s former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s Chancellor of the Exchequer.

During her climb to success, critics invented the term “gastro porn” — in reference to her curvaceous figure and outstanding looks — as much as for her recipes.

When the subject of misconception was broached, Lawson said she would never want to pretend to be someone else.

“It’s hard to know what exactly people think. I’ve always been at pains to be real. And I suppose, people like to think that some can get everything right in life but I get a lot wrong and I had to learn from my mistakes, whether that’s in the kitchen or out of it.

“People often feel inhibited because they think there is perfection to be attained and somehow that eludes them. And I would say, there is no perfection, try to enjoy what you do, and learn and understand life.”

Married to multi-millionaire advertising tycoon Charles Saatchi, the ex-journalist said women are easier to please than men when it comes to food.

“I think women are more adventurous eaters. Men often don’t like eating things that are unfamiliar to them.”

When asked what she’d prepare for a woman as famous as, say, Spice Girls’ Victoria Beckham, if she came for dinner, Lawson said her choice of meal consists of “something old-fashioned”.

“I read that she likes steamed fish along with roast chicken with a bit lemon and a lovely salad. And I always think people who diet constantly want something rich and chocolatey for dessert. I guess you’d have to bring that out too,” she said.

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