Britsh Bake Off bonanza! The final. Are you watching?

Tomorrow is the final of the latest series of the television cooking competition. The previous Great British Bake Off  final drew in a fantastic 6.7 million viewers. I wonder how many viewers tomorrow's BBC2 final will attract as the three lady bakers, Beca, Ruby, Kimberely and Frances go head to head?!

Host Paul Hollywood says work has already started on a fifth series for next year and in the Radio Times he says that "This year's bakers are almost professional. Let's hope that the level continues to get higher but we could have reached our pinnacle. May the best woman win!"

Paul Hollywood believes that baking is more of a treat, whereas cooking is more of a chore, and the show's success has led to communities having bake offs all over the country even down to staff in offices having a 'bake off Friday' and supermarket chains like Tesco having inter store bake offs. In fact you can't move in bookshops across the UK for baking related books. Baking is blooming big.

Mary Berry explains that the Great British Bake Off is 'great family entertainment' and that she feels there aren't many programmes where the whole family can sit and watch from beginning to end. Everything is educational without viewers realising it. Plus, the show has caught Britain in a time of recession and it is lovely and easy and less expensive to do than other activities with children. She also credits the fact that the bakers support each other and become friends.

The Great British Bake Off first aired in 2010 and it took the team four years to get anybody at any television channel to take any notice. Anna Beattie, creator of the show says that "Nobody liked it but we just kept on because we thought it was such a great idea." Beattie simply loved the idea of village fetes and an old fashioned baking competition with enthusiastic, ordinary people, who just wanted to bake a good cake. The viewing figures have risen from 2.2 million in the first series nearly 7 million for the latest series Not so bad for an apparent no hoper! The show has been awarded two consecutive Baftas and it has been bought and copied in 13 countries including the famous tent and décor.

The last in this series of The Great British Bake Off airs at 8pm (Tuesday 22nd October) on BBC2.Will there be tears in The Tent Of Dreams as each contestant tries to make a perfect savoury picnic pie - the final signature challenge? Go bakers!!!

For more info on the show visit http://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/

Rick Stein's book - My Kitchen Table - 100 Fish and Seafood Recipes.

My Kitchen Table   is a new collection of high-quality cookery books featuring mouth-watering recipes from the nation’s favourite chefs - Ainsley Harriott, Annabel Karmel, Antonio Carluccio, Gizzi Erskine, Ken Hom, Madhur Jaffrey, Mary Berry, Raymond Blanc, Rick Stein, Rosemary Conley and Sophie Grigson. I found out about this super series by accident and feel compelled to spread the word. Phil.

I have just purchased the Rick Stein edition and I love it. This is Rick's 100 Fish and Seafood recipes, from simple suppers to pasta and rice dishes to ' food for friends' all complied from the best recipes from his publications, Rick Stein's Seafood (2001), French Odyssey (2005), Mediterranean Escapes (2007) Coast to Coast (2008) and Far EasternOdyssey (2009).

I'm not going to list all one hundred of the recipes but to highlight those that I feel are inspiring to me and therefore those that I may well try to cook and enjoy. My images in this blog are random and an effort to illustrate my excitement over this compilation. I think that I may well purchase Raymond Blanc's version and the baking book by Mary Berry if this book is anything to go by. The price was excellent by the way; just a fiver and no postage added! Feel free to use this link if you fancy ordering a copy for yourself. The link in red at the top of the page will get you to all the titles on Amazon.


                                                                           


Rick's book covers: Soup and Starters, Light Bites and Lunches, Rice, Pasta and Noodles, Simple Suppers, Food For Friends.

From the Soups and Starters I particularly liked the look and the relative low cost of producing the dishes of:

• Sardines stuffed with pine nuts, currants, capers, parsley and orange zest.

• Crab and sweetcorn soup.

• Spiced octopus salad with parsley.

• Seafood tempura

• Squid fried in olive oil with smoked pimentón and garlic mayonnaise.

• Razor clams a la plancha

• Oysters with sauce mignonette

 

From the Light Bites and Lunches section I fancied making the:

• Gravlax (Dill cured salmon).

• Devilled mackerel with mint and tomato salad.

• Eggs Benedict with smoked haddock.

• Japanese fish cakes with ginger and spring onions.

• Crab with rocket, basil and lemon olive oil.

• Sashimi of salmon, tuna, sea bass and scallops.

• Warm mussel and potato salad with pistou.

• Seared scallops with lentils and a tomato and Herbes de Provence dressing.

 

My selection from the Rice, Pasta and Noodles dishes is:

• Crab Linguine with parsley and chilli.

• Seafood lasagne.

• Mussels in Pilau rice with a coconut, cucumber and tomato relish.

• Nasi Goreng with mackerel.

• Roasted sea bass with Pastis and an Arborio rice risotto.

• Provençal fish pasta with fennel seeds, anchovies, tomatoes and olive oil.

• Fish pie

• Seafood couscous.

• Tortilla of salt cod and sweet onions and potatoes.

 

From the Simple Suppers section I really liked the look and sound of:

• Moules Marinieres with cream, garlic and parsley.

• Coconut chilli prawns with cumin puris.

• Portuguese barbecued sardines with piri-piri oil.

• Monkfish with saffron and roasted red pepper dressing.

                                                                      My food DVDs

From Food For Friends I would relish making any of the recipes below:

• Grilled cod with aioli and butter beans.

• Grilled scallops with a pumpkin seed, Serrano chilli and coriander sauce.

• Baked sea bass with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, anchovies and potatoes.

• Fillets of John Dory with capers, olives and rosemary.

I can almost smell the lovely fresh fish cooking on the grill with additional tantalising aromas of garlic and chilli and smoked pimentón. As Rick often says “Delish!”