The Hotplate

Ep. 1. Cooking to taste... theirs.

Cooking can impress. Cooking for a partner or love interest can be the first step towards a very pleasurable evening, afternoon or morning even. Showing off one’s maestro-like abilities in the kitchen – skilful hands, confidence and a focussed passion, can inspire a woman’s imagination or control a man’s attention; as we all know, food is the way to a his heart. And so, on the last night of our eighteenth month together I decided I would impress.

Using a recipe from Raymond Blanc’s Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons I planned a meal with some of her favourite ingredients – a Thai coconut soup with king prawns and a side plate of sautéed squid on a bed of steamed asparagus. The plan was simple, an hour’s work in the kitchen to begin a fantastic evening.

I began by readying all of the ingredients, starting with the squid which I like to prepare personally though any fishmonger will do the unpleasant bit for you on request, leaving you with the meat – which I scored gently with a blunt knife across the whole surface before cutting into triangles. Tentacles can be kept or discarded; some find them off-putting though they are delicious. The prawns were next; I like them to curl open as they cook and the effect is achieved by making a shallow cut along the back of each prawn. The ingredients for the base flavour of the soup – 2 garlic cloves, 2 stalks of lemongrass, a 3cm piece of ginger, an onion and half a chilli, can all be chopped finely (though soften the lemongrass first with the butt of your knife). Break the bases of the asparagus and roll 3 limes in your hands to get them ready to juice.

Time to start cooking. If you, like me, have an electric cooker then begin by warming up three of the rings to a medium heat. On one, use a large saucepan to gently sweat (fry) the base soup ingredients for 5 to 10 minutes until soft. Then add a can of coconut milk and 200ml of water and leave to simmer on a low heat – not boiling, and add the lime leaves. While the soup simmers, get a pan filled with a little water boiling fast and heat up a frying pan.

After 15 to 20 minutes of simmering strain the soup through a sieve into another pan and add the prawns. Meanwhile put the asparagus in a sieve over the boiling water and cover it with a lid or plate. After five minutes add the lime juice to the soup and add cayenne pepper to taste. Then take the asparagus out and season well with salt and pepper. Now fry the squid on a high heat for no more than 90 seconds to keep it tender. Serve the soup in deep bowls and place the asparagus on a plate, top with the squid and drizzle a sweet chilli dressing over the top.

Then it should be a simple pleasure to serve it to your love interest and enjoy. Unless, like me, you’re a spice fan and your lover is not. The cayenne pepper that I found deliciously warming was more powerful than a cheap vindaloo to my girlfriend turning my romantic evening into an indigestion fuelled nightmare. I had cooked a top quality meal that she simply could not enjoy.

Cooking for company is about showmanship, flare and confidence but impressing them is about cooking to taste, theirs.

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