Cooking is something that has fallen outside my comfort zone for too many years. It is defined as the practice or skill of preparing food. This could range from preparing a salad, roasting a beef joint, or baking a cake. These are all skills that I had never tried until 2015. In other words, I had never really experimented in the kitchen.
Don’t get me wrong. I was not completely useless in the kitchen, but I did have a limited range of dishes in my repertoire. Having bought my own place, this had to change.
The first step was to own a cook book. Jamie Oliver’s Ministry of Food was my source of inspiration throughout. Each month my girlfriend and I identified a dish for me to conquer. It was then over to the nearest supermarket with a long list containing ingredients and equipment. As I successfully ticked off each cooking task, I steadily became more and more confident in the kitchen.
The full list of cooking tasks ticked off for 2015 can be found below, but the highlights included making a fruit cake for my girlfriends birthday, making the pastry for the pies including my initials, and baking a Victoria sponge cake for a charity bake off at work.
- Shephard Pie
- Beef Stew
- Pancakes
- Fruit Cake
- Classic Mince and Onion Pie
- Cup Cakes
- Fish Pie
- Prawns with Rose Marie Sauce
- Victoria Sponge Cake
- Scones
- Roast Beef
- Beef Wellington
I think the next step for 2016 will be to cook for a party, or at least a family member. This was certainly one of the more satisfying and rewarding items on this years list.
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- The Victoria Sponge.
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- Beef and ale pie.
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- Shepherd’s Pie.
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- Fruit Cake.
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- Fish Pies.
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- Beef Wellington.
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- Shepherd’s Pie.
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- Sponge for my Victoria Sponge Cake.
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- Baking station.
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- Prawns with Mary Rose sauce.
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- My first Victoria sponge cake.