V. disappointed in Nigella Express

[morningpaper]

Well I have been working through a few Nigella Express recipes and frankly I am v. disappointed. It all seems like a waste of (rather expensive) ingredients.

It should really be called "Nigella Processed" because there is a bit too much reliance on crap which makes things taste nasty. Sprinkling chopped coriander on a MCDonald's Ready Meal does not actually make it a delicious home-cooked meal. Is the use of caramalised onions from a jar REALLY that much quicker than frying an onion?

You get the feeling that some of her recipes are things she made 4 years ago and she is guessing what she put into it. The Eton Mess seems to have double quantities of cream - and what's the fun of eating mouthfuls of CREAM? The cookies are incredibly dry and really should NOT be called cookies which I think need a little bit of chewiness - I have never made chocolate cookies before that no one wanted to eat! The lamb tangine was only nice because it had been cooked for 2 hours and the prawn and mango curry had too much red thai paste in it and was overpowering, she could have made something much nicer with just a few spices.

SO if it's on your christmas list, I'd take it off. Stick with Delia, who you know has made every recipe 100 times and when you've cooked one of her recipes you feel like a better person.

Mind you Nigella does LOOK a treat. I would happily go to her dinner parties just to stare at her.

Delia rocks in this house

Our copy of the complete cookery something is falling apart it's so well used

Nigella's books do read well though

I agree ggirl. Nigella's books are OK to read through, but somehow the recipes don't 'work' - and she is the only person whose recipes seem to do this with me.

I must admit, having watched the irritating 'Nigella Express' TV programme, I couldn't even have considered buying the book. My children and I were torn between laughing at her the whole way through and shouting at her in annoyance!

Have you seen her recipe where she tells people to line the tin with cling film 'but don't worry it won't melt' - the internet is full of people bewailing the fact it did melt! Classic Nigella.

Delia's recipes work. They just do.

her stuff is always TOO MUCH

Ok point taken I am about to remove her from my christmas list!!! Although her fairy cake recipe in her domestic goddess books are the best I've ever made.....not sure I've mademuch else though ........and how wrong can you go with fairy cakes ?

So if Nigella is off the Xmas list what's going to replace it?

Yeah I love watching her. But evrthing is a bit OTT. And if you don't have her larder, then ............

Oh no. It's on my list. And I have even ordered it already from Amazon.

Nigella recipes don't work for me either, dd still remembers when I served up Nigella's Lemon Linguine years ago (it was foul). They are really well written though, her books, I love reading them.

I stick to Nigel Slater.

is the programme still on?, i looked for it on monday but autumnwatch was on instead, has the series finished already?

Yes she writes well and I love WATCHING HER - I think she is utterly beautiful

I wish she'd do a christmas special completely NAKED

Heh heh, mp, yes she is gorgeous. Too much botox though??

So maybe I'm a crap cook but I have her book and have so far been very successful. Mind you I don't follow them to down the t as I don't always stock all the ingredients, and have made lovely burgers (with the jarred onion), chicken thing with tomatoes, pistachio chocolate fudge and the fake chocolate croissants.

had a flick through it at my mums... lots of lovely gastro porn, but it is only express if you have a larder the size of a small planet, and your local shop is harrods

although i still love domestic goddess...

cannot watch nigella without seeing the ronnie ancona sketch instead

....breasts...teeth .... mouth .. hair toss etc [grin[

Well the only thing I've tried so far (from the bbc recipes that go with the series) was a chocolate pear pudding which was actually very good. Will keep an eye on the rest. But I do like reading them anyway.

I am sticking to Nigella... my xmas fest last year was just amazing.I followed all her Xmas recipes and they rocked! Not cooking ( yiiiiha) my mum is but if I was I would follow Nigella's recipes!

Haven't seen most of the Express series so cannot comment on that. The only thing is that her scripts werer really bad and her d eilvery even worse!

my current favourites:

Garden Cookbook by Sarah Raven (lovely seasonal take on veg - but with meat, fish etc - truly different)
Kitchen Bible by Tamsin Day Lewis (truly thoughtful book, with credit to other cooks where it's due)

also heard good reports re: that Indian cookery book that was I think on C4? easy indian food or somethign?

I do love Nigella, her book are excellent to read. My favourite books are Feast and How to Eat. Both used an awful lot in this house. DH prefers Delia but then he loves to follow a recipie exactly whereas i like the 'chuck in whatever and hope for the best' method

I have her brownies cooling in the kitchen as we chat.

Silver Spoon is also fantastic! We get a vege box and it never fails to produce a great recipie for that 'what the hell am i supposed to do with 10 tons of Swiss Chard' moment.

Cheers for the tip MP as I was going to ask for this. Domestic Goddess recipes all seem good but I wasn't really convinced by a lot of the Nige Express ones when I saw them on't telly... Might go for that Simon Hopkinson Roast Chicken one, although he's written a few hasn't he. Which is best to start with?

I have her fairy cakes cooking as we speak (or at least 4 year old DD and her friend do!)

I have got In the Mood for Food on order here glanced through a copy a friend had, looks lovely!