Taking the fast food challenge

Last week, I took part in a cookery challenge organised by a friend, councillor Paddy Brown. He called me a few weeks ago to see if I could come out of retirement for one evening, to help spread the word that good food need not cost a lot of money nor be difficult to prepare.  

I agreed and the venue, the Annexe in Wharton Terrace was booked for last Wednesday. 

As I hadn’t could cooked in front of people for many years since helping out during career days at local schools, I decided on two very simple dishes. Mediterranean chicken and a 7-minute rice. 

Paddy asked me to provide him with a list of ingredients which were being supplied by Lidl, and suggested that we use our own herbs and spices as most households would surely have these readily available in their kitchen cupboard.

By the time he picked me up, I had gathered all I needed, from pots and pans, to knives and chopping boards, to help me produce the two dishes listed in today’s page.

When we got to the venue, I helped Paddy unpack the shopping. My recipe called for one red pepper and one green one. However, the supermarket bag contained just a red one. I suggested that he was trying to sabotage me and later joked about this to the audience. Talking of sabotage, I had forgotten the interchangeable handle for my saucepan. Panic-struck, I was rescued by the centre’s own kitchen which held a battery of utensils.

There was a wide range of people in the audience, from schoolchildren accompanied by their mothers to older couples eager to learn a few cooking tips.

Once the clock struck 6pm, we both started preparing our dishes, explaining as we went, the recipes and the various ingredients that we used. Paddy was cooking a chicken and mushroom risotto.

Cunning Paddy got a young lady to stir the risotto for him using two wooden spoons. 

He later, gentlemanly confessed that he hadn’t done much of the cooking apart from the preparation.

When the cooking came to an end just over thirty minutes after the start, all the members of the audience approached the cooking stations to sample the cooking. Despite their dislike of some of the ingredients, such as onions or mushrooms, a few of the children wolfed down the risotto or the chicken.

After a casual vote of hands, the result was diplomatically deemed a draw.

The exercise, Paddy explained, was to draw people’s attention to two interesting elements. One, cooking at home does not have to cost a lot. In fact, the ingredients for our dishes including a bottle of wine, cost no more than £12 for a meal for eight people. And, two, cooking food need not be complicated and should be a healthy alternative to takeaway meal.

A fast food report conducted at the end of last year showed that there are nearly 150 takeaways in Hartlepool, despite an initiative to reduce their proliferation. 

Paddy tells me that his cooking challenge is to be repeated monthly at various locations. The next instalment, which will feature another challenger, will take place at Burbank Street Community Centre.