Rita Konig - Ritas Culinary Trickery: How to Put Dinner on the Table Even if You Cant Cook

CONTENTS

The author of Domestic Bliss (of which Elle Decoration said: Makes home time fun and brings out the happy hostess in even the most diehard career woman) turns her talents to cooking and entertaining. Some may want to spend hours slaving over a stove but Rita believes that you should keep things simple. While you do of course want to serve delicious food (and within these pages readers will find clever ideas for essential dishes no chic cook will want to be without), the way you serve your guests tells them as much about how pleased you are to see them as the number of hours you spend in the kitchen. This is a book about entertaining as a whole and entertaining for Rita is as much about how to create the right atmosphere, the most sensible way to shop and the most stylish way of presenting your food as it is about cooking. Chapters cover breakfasts, simple suppers, dinner parties, celebrations, catering for children, eating outdoors, picnics, puddings, coffee and (most importantly) treats, and each one finishes with a few, stunningly simple recipe ideas that anyone can cook. Stylishly designed with retro artwork, this book will strike a chord with Rita fans everywhere and add sparkle to all our lives.

Rita Konig, interior designer and author, writes a regular weekly column in The Saturday Telegraph Magazine and is a contributor to Vogue.

FOR ECK AND LUCY

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9781446460306

www.randomhouse.co.uk

First published in Great Britain in 2004

Text Rita Konig 2004
Illustrations Joy Gosney 2004

Rita Konig has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from the copyright owners.

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Art direction: Caz Hildebrand
Design: Julie Martin
Editor: Jinny Johnson
Illustrations: Joy Gosney

ISBN 9780091899196

Extracts from Delias How To Cook Book One by Delia Smith reproduced with the permission of BBC Worldwide Limited. Text copyright Delia Smith 1998.

Extracts from Simply the Best: The Art of Seasonal Cooking by Tamasin Day-Lewis reproduced with the permission of the Orion Publishing Group Limited. Text copyright Tamasin Day-Lewis 2001.

Extract from Flavours by Donna Hay reproduced with the permission of Murdoch Books UK Limited. Text copyright Donna Hay 2000.

This is a book about friends, food and eating not about being a great chef. Having people to dinner is about so much more than being able to produce a great feast. You can go to someones house and eat a delicious dinner but have an awful time. On another occasion you can have a great evening and cant even remember what you ate. What is fun is who else is there.

Culinary Trickery is about entertaining as a whole. It takes a look at the bigger picture: who you have to dinner, how you create an easy and relaxed environment for them to be in, and how you get something good to eat on the table. Obviously you will want to offer your guests some delicious food, but you dont have to be a great cook in order for people to have a good time in your house. Theres always room for some culinary trickery, whether it is laying a beautiful tray at teatime or getting breakfast ready.

My main advice is this: keep it simple. Dont do five different vegetables because its very difficult to have them all ready at the same time. Learn how to cook the perfect roast chicken in a style that suits the season and the occasion roast chicken is a personal favourite of mine and a culinary confidence builder. Discover something you are happy to cook over and over again, and youll find that the more you cook it the better you get. Who wants to start learning how to cook something new an hour before six people are arriving at your house for dinner? Learn how to shop this is as simple as taking advice from your butcher, fishmonger, wine merchant and greengrocer and buy good produce in season. Dont be afraid to cheat and buy pre-prepared dishes, but learn how to mix them in with other things that you have cooked.

The way you serve your guests tells them as much about how pleased you are to see them as the number of hours youve spent in the kitchen. Culinary trickery is partly about finding special treats, how you present and serve things, shopping and styling and a little bit of cooking. Dont bother to use the oven if all a beautiful dessert or salad requires is clever arranging. Entertaining is as much about your home and the environment you create as the food you cook, and while what you provide must taste good, you dont necessarily have to have struggled over a hot oven in order to put something on the table.

While abundance is important, it can be a little overwhelming. I remember as a child going to visit my mothers friend Marge. She is a woman of enormous style and a fabulous cook. I cannot remember a single meal that she cooked, but I do remember the small glass plates of figs that she once served at the end of dinner and how enticing they looked, much more so than an overflowing fruit bowl dumped on the table. If your produce is good it will sell itself, so let it. Allow food to be its simple, glorious self and oddly enough people will think youre terribly clever when all you did was choose a pretty plate and an unexpected time to serve it. Amazing isnt it?

I hope you enjoy this book and it inspires you to invite people over for supper or to visit for the weekend.

Inviting people to your home is not difficult at all and shouldnt be the least bit frightening. If the thought of a dinner party makes you nervous, try to think of it as simply having people over for supper thats all it really is. I still get nervous sometimes, especially when I invite someone I dont know terribly well. There are always a few insecure moments when I worry they will think Im weird, and I have to try to remember the last time I thought someone I didnt know very well was a freak for inviting me to their house. That is a good test Im always flattered and excited to be asked somewhere new. Always invite new people you like, mixed in with old friends you think they might get along with. There are people who champion themselves as heroes for just throwing people together and letting them get on with it. While this can be a marvellous thing, mostly it isnt. I find you do have to think about your guests more than that.