Secrets of the shortcut cook

Chef Rosie Reynolds is an expert at saving time in the kitchen – here she reveals her top 20 tips for speedy success

As a trained chef, food stylist and cookbook writer, Rosie Reynold’s job often depends on getting great food ready as fast as possible.

“Over the years, I’ve developed ways to cook meals quickly without sacrificing taste, look and freshness,” says Rosie.

“Chefs and kitchen professionals have always used shortcuts to create great food. But home cooks have not always been allowed the same privilege and are often made to feel guilty about using certain tricks and ingredients.

“However, there are some things that I’ll always do when

I’m cooking, which make my life easier and save me time.”

Here Rosie shares her favourite shortcuts and creative solutions so you can whip up your favourite recipes in no time at all.

1 Gather everything you need before you start cooking such as equipment, ingredients and a clean dish towel.

2 Have a large bowl or a plastic bag nearby for food waste, to keep your workstation clean and clutter-free.

3 Fill the sink with hot soapy water to keep your hands clean and to speedily wash up bowls and equipment for quick reuse.

4 Make sure you have a clean cloth to hand for wiping, along with some paper towels for patting, drying and draining foods, which helps to cook them more quickly.

5 Start your cooking sessions by putting on the kettle. This will mean you can make up stock from cubes quickly, rinse out tins to add the liquid to sauces and stews, or get pasta

6 on the boil much quicker. Boiling something? Popping on a lid will speed up the cooking process.

7 Take your meat and eggs out of the fridge around 30 minutes before you want to start cooking or baking. Meat needs to be at room temperature before going in the oven, and it will prevent eggs curdling your cake mix or being undercooked if boiled.

8 Sharp knives will speed things up in the kitchen, a speed peeler will thinly and evenly slice, and a good pair of kitchen scissors will snip precisely.

9 Make dressing in the salad bowl you’re serving it in, then you won’t have an extra bowl to wash up.

10 Don’t spend time scrubbing pans. To wash away stuck-on grime, use a little laundry washing powder as the detergent breaks down grease effectively and quickly. 11 Make double of your favourite pasta sauces, eat half and freeze half in individual portions in freezer bags then pop into a sink of warm water to quickly defrost before cooking next time. 12 You can cook pasta in advance. Once cooked, cool under cold running water, drain and drizzle with a little oil then cover and chill until ready to use. It will then heat through in two to three minutes versus 10 minutes from scratch.

13 Before you start cooking, read the recipe from beginning to end to help you get everything in order so you know what’s coming up.

14 Have everything prepped before you start cooking, such as slicing veg or whisking eggs or grating cheese. This will mean you can add things at the right time and prevent some ingredients being overcooked and others being undercooked

15 To prevent your chopping board wobbling around, use the tried and tested chef trick of a piece of folded damp kitchen towel under your board. It will help you chop faster.

16 Keep some handy longlife packaged food, such as pre-cooked rice, frozen mashed potato, instant noodles, your favourite chilli sauce and pickles, which you can turn into a quick snack or easy meal any time of day or night with a few odds and ends from the fridge.

17 Invest in some good food storage containers to help keep your fridge and freezer neat and tidy and your food at its best. It will save you wasting time when you’re looking for ingredients.

18 Speed up cooking vegetables. Put them in the microwave with a drop of cold water, cover and cook in three minute intervals until done to your liking. 19 Use a food processor to quickly chop veg and herbs instead of a knife.

20 A good microplane-style grater – long, with fine grating teeth – speeds up the time it takes to grate cheese and veg.

■The Shortcut Cook by Rosie Reynolds (Hardie Grant, £15) is out now

Use laundry washing powder to wash away stuck-on grime in pans

Few of us put as much work into cleansing as we do into the other areas of our beauty regime, or even appreciate the powerful role it plays in skincare.

However, the truth is if you get it wrong, the rest of your skincare will be hard to get right.

Finding the right cleanser isn’t easy. There are hundreds of different types out there, from gels and jellies to foaming soaps and rich creams.

Here’s how to pick the best cleanser for you, and get the most out of it.

CLEANSING RULES

Be kind to your skin – remember no rubbing or scrubbing.

Cleanse twice a day, morning and evening. It is especially important to cleanse at night when your skin repairs and regenerates itself.

Washing with hot water and a flannel can dry out skin, causing flaky patches and a feeling of tightness. Hot water can also exacerbate rosacea and damage delicate skin on the face. Washing your face with water alone is not enough to remove make-up, excess oil or pollution particles.

Remove your make-up before you cleanse your face. Many cleansers can’t take off concealer or foundation completely, especially around the eyes and nose. Double cleansing involves removing make-up first, then a second cleanse deep cleanses and nourishes. It can be the fastest way to radiant skin.

Using grainy, exfoliating cleansers everyday could leave skin irritated and even cause breakouts. Likewise, over-washing can lead to an overproduction of oil to compensate for the drying effect the washing causes.

Take your time. Cleansing should take at least a couple of minutes. Apply cleanser to your face and using your fingertips, rub in circular movements for at least 30 seconds, then let it sink in for a minute or two before removing. Use a gentle toner, micellar water, or a clean flannel soaked in warm water to remove any of the excess cleanser.

Always follow with a moisturiser, even if you have oily skin.

CHOOSE THE RIGHT CLEANSER

Keep it simple and save all the fancy ingredients for your serum or moisturiser. Make sure the ingredients list doesn’t contain fragrance, parabens or harsh soap. After you cleanse, your skin should feel completely comfortable.

If your skin feels tight and dry, stings or you’re getting breakouts then you’re using the wrong cleanser and need to switch.

IONCE went on a stand-up comedy course. Turned out I was great at standing up. STAND UP AND DELIVER (C4, 9pm) is a new show in which five comedy novices bravely put themselves through a similar experience, each mentored by someone who’s funny for a living or certainly thinks they are.

Doing the teaching are David Baddiel, Zoe Lyons, Jason Manford, Judi Love and Nick Helm.

Doing the learning, respectively, are the Reverend Richard Coles, former Coronation Street star Katie McGlynn, Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder, former Love Island irritant Curtis Pritchard and glutton-for-punishment Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, former co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party.

“You’re going to teach a Tory to do stand-up?!” sniggers Jason to Nick, boldly breaking new comedy ground with his choice of target.

Of course, the big question hanging over this celebrity project (in aid of Stand Up To Cancer) is how feasible it is.

Asked whether anyone can be funny, Baddiel pauses only briefly before replying: “I don’t think so.”

To illustrate his point, he suggests that he would have struggled if asked to coach a certain former leader of – good Lord, who’d have guessed he’d say this – the Conservative Party.

“I think if you’d left me in a room with Theresa May for two years,” he declares. “I still wouldn’t have been able to get her to tell a joke.”

I can see why he’s singled her out, mind you. Jeremy “Chuckles” Corbyn would obviously have mastered it in minutes.

Over on BBC One a bit earlier, the latest humiliation awaiting the dogs in POOCH PERFECT (8pm) is to find themselves groomed to look like different creatures. I wish I were making this up.

“You can turn your dog into any animal you like,” judge Colin Taylor tells the contestants.

Three-and-a-half hours later and – ta-dah! – Colin finds himself face to face with a “horse”, a “camel”, a “gorilla” and a “lion”.

Me, I’d be letting the lion off the leash at this point.

And finally tonight, we have the last in the series of Mitchell and Webb’s mostly brilliant comedy BACK (10.05pm).

I say “mostly” because it’s turned out a tiny bit darker than I’d have liked.

I appreciate it’s a dark comedy, that darkness therefore plays quite an important role in it, and that ultimately a dark comedy without darkness is like… oh, I don’t know, speedway without motorbikes (am I right in thinking it was Oscar Wilde who said that?).

I’m just not sure I’m as keen on that sort of thing as I thought I was, at least not right now.

Other dark comedies that I’m starting to go off include Newsnight with Emily Maitlis.