FROM THE OVEN to the table
In her latest cookbook, British author DIANA HENRY showcases her free-form style of home cooking.
Closing the oven door and swinging a tea towel over my shoulder is one of the most satisfying movements I make in the kitchen. I love the alchemy that takes place behind that door. It’s astonishing how heat, on its own – without you directing it or supervising it very much – can turn simple ingredients into a meal.
The alchemy of heat is a gift. With only a little knowledge – and gradual practise
– you can learn how to use the warmth within that closed box.
Because I love cooking, I’m happy to make complicated food; I know that some dishes can only be achieved by browning the constituent elements and slowly building layers of flavour. There will never come a time when I don’t want to cook and eat boeuf bourguignon, a dish that needs this kind of attention. But I can’t cook food like this from Monday to Thursday – I just don’t have the time. Instead, I roast foods that are more usually done in a pan on the stove – sausages, broccoli and salmon fillets – just because I think it’s easier. It is literally “hands off” cooking and I’ve built up a repertoire of dishes on this theme. In my mind, and in my cooking, the oven is central.
To cook this way – using very simple methods – you do need a well-stocked cupboard. You’re not doing much to the food you’re cooking, so you need big flavours. There are ingredients – pomegranate molasses, miso, preserved lemons – that you need to get.
Do you need any fancy bits of equipment? Nope. But a few roasting trays are, obviously, a must-have (that way you can roast more than one dish in the oven at the same time). Some of mine have been on the go for 30 years, and the more bashed and worn they become, the more I love them.
Why is it important, when I know that cooking does take effort, to offer you dishes that, while requiring attention, are relatively easy to achieve? Because I believe that the table is important. I wouldn’t have managed to feed my children well and share food with friends on a Wednesday as well as on a Saturday night without finding simple ways to do things.