Dinner was all sorted tonight. Hamburgers at the school twilight sports, but down came the rain (for a change) and washed the menu out. Suddenly it’s 5pm and I have to think on my feet or the “I’m hungry” chorus will begin. Luckily I have plenty of veggies and ingredients to whip up something resembling dinner and keep the wolves at bay.
A few years ago, I remember hearing about this radical new recipe book that was the answer to your dinner motivation prayers. You only needed four ingredients to cook each recipe, minus the condiments of course. Suddenly it was all the rage and the radios and television were promoting this revelation in cookbooks. Sure enough I received it as a gift.
Aptly named 4 Ingredients and now available in four books – 4 Ingredients 2, 4 Ingredients - Gluten free, , 4 Ingredients – Fast, Fresh & Healthy and 4 Ingredients – Quick, Easy and Delicious, I thought it was going to be my saving grace, but I was bitterly disappointed flicking through the recipes. To me it was re-hashed recipes that lacked flavour and imagination. Apparently 2.5 million people thought otherwise.
I wasn’t expecting recipes with palm sugar and kecap manis but I needed to enjoy and feel healthy eating it. One vegetable in a curry doesn’t cut my mustard.
We are blessed with so many fine ingredients. Tastes and textures to keep our taste buds entertained and satiated. I would like to see a cookbook that incorporated different cultures and could be prepared and cooked in less than thirty minutes. My red curry pork burgers are a fine example and I am partial to a ginger and lime infused stir-fry. These are simple and fresh ingredients that don’t scream ‘boring’ to me.
I admire Rachael Bermingham and her co writer Kim McCosker who went from being broke to becoming multi-millionaires. They gathered friends’ easy recipes and modified them to four ingredients. Nobody wanted to publish their book so they went out on their own and they are the highest selling self-publishers in Australia.
They have made subsequent books, have a television program and a very elaborate website. They even sell their titles internationally. For that I admire their drive and commitment to their business.
I consider myself lucky to have been brought up experiencing and enjoying different foods. From a young age I loved oysters and we were more than a ‘meat and three veggie’ family. I still had the fish-fingers on a Friday night when the budget didn’t stretch for the seven of us, but later on I was tasting all sorts of seafood, different cooked meats, grains and anything dished up. I’ve even tasted Patagonian toothfish (Chilean Sea Bass). Delicious!
I’ve met a lot of food-focused people in my thirties and enjoy sharing recipes with as many ingredients as necessary to create a gastronomic delight.
If you want to know what I really thought of this book/gift, you’ll have to ask the person I re-gifted it to.
I give it 4 - for those who lack inspiration to cook something delicious!
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