That is how the newspaper columns from which this book is derived came to be. Yet another food page of rarefied chefs describing swanky reduction sauces to adorn oversized plates presenting a chestnut and wild-rice stuffed squab was exasperation itself. Who on earth was going to cook such elite fare?
Not I. Nor anyone I knew. Ours is the world of budget cooking coupled with ease and speed.
I took courage in my hands and approached the editor, suggesting that to offset the massive cost of learning 101 ways to embellish spatchcock, perhaps the readers may need 101 ways to cook two-minute noodles. He laughed and said that would be a fine thing, if anyone in fact had 101 ways with instant noodles. Well, may be not 101, but I learnt quite a few options in my life as a supporting mum, I replied, wondering if he'd get the hint for a pay rise.
He didn't.. But he challenged me to write a pilot "poverty tucker" column - which led to a weekly series that has proven immensely popular and has kept me busy responding to mail and taking calls from people who have lost the recipes they clipped and can't remember exactly what to do...
