Sore Loser Come Dine With Me.

       Interviewing renowned chef James Durrant at his restaurant The Plough Inn

Naturally, as a food blogger and restaurant reviewer, I take the subject of food quite seriously. Food means different things to different people, for some it's just fuel, for others a passion and for many it's a source of entertainment, (as a nation we now watch an estimated 18 days' worth of TV cookery programmes per week.)

One such programme is Come Dine With Me, a TV show in which strangers take turns to throw dinner parties for each other, rating the hosts out of ten. When this programme first aired, participants were mostly food oriented and quite competitive, however, the long running show has started to run out of steam and is now mostly made up of people who just want their five minutes of fame.

A recent episode of Come Dine With Me has caused a bit of an online furore, four contestants, Charlotte, a twenty something, slightly dippy girl who served pork skewers (the kind of food you might have for tea on a Wednesday night.) Jane, a female detective who was quick to tell us she was very confident but not arrogant, umm. Adam, a geeky 24 year old American chappie and lastly Peter, a portly middle aged bloke who immediately came across as pompous, although obviously the only contestant with any real culinary nous. 

Having had three mediocre meals, Peter was confident that his was the winning meal. He took great pains to prepare a pecorino salad, about which Charlotte said she only liked cheese triangles or dairylea dunkers, not grown up cheese. Next was an expensive slow-roasted rib of beef, followed by a beautifully presented trio of desserts, Pete was visibly chuffed with himself. Unfortunately he'd overestimated his fellow contestants appreciation of fine dining, totally aghast, he read out the results only to find he had received the fewest points. 

What happened next has, I suspect, become Come Dine With Me gold. He flew into a rage saying he'd served the best food with the best presentation and best dressed table and how dare he be graded under Adam, who produced a plate of vomit (a breakfast burrito) or Charlotte, who served up chewy rancid pork and an under-cooked brownie!

The winner, Jane, felt the full force of Peter's wrath, he told her: 'I hope Jane that you spend your winnings on some lessons in grace and decorum because you have all the grace of a reversing dump truck without any tyres on!' Charlotte cheese triangles timidly muttered: 'I don't get it' to which Peter responded: 'Well, you wouldn't would you? Let's be honest, there's nobody in there love.'

As Jane took her thousand pound winnings, Peter told her to take her money and 'Get off my property' thus she and the other contestants were unceremoniously shoved into the street to drink their celebratory champagne. 

Needless to say, people were horrified by Peter's reaction (although many, like myself, found it hilarious and somewhat justified.) Fortunately I have reviewed many excellent eateries, however, I've had my fair share of mass produced ballast masquerading as decent food with a hefty bill to boot and it offends me.

We've sort of subscribed to inferior food here in the UK and we pay through the nose for it.

Prime example, we had these two pre-packed sandwiches and two lukewarm coffees for best part of £12!

I hate to wax lyrical about Spain, but I have to tell you that for the past fortnight I've eaten home cooked meals, always served with a decent bottle of wine per couple, ranging from a basic meal of 6€ to a la carte for around 20€. 

One of my favourite starters (after a large fresh salad) is sautéed mushrooms in garlic

                                            Alternatively I love a fresh prawn cocktail

                               Freshly cooked paella is one of my favourite main courses

 Postres of Spain are quite different to our desserts, invariably homemade they aren't the extravagant desserts we are used to but delicious nonetheless

And what can I say about coffee? They're strong, aromatic and always have a dash of alcohol, the perfect end to a meal, and all this for around £10!

So, I kind of sympathise with Peter, if you're taking part in a cookery programme, the least you would expect is people to aspire beyond cheese triangles. Likewise, eating out should be a treat, restaurants should be serving decent, honest food, not frozen/microwaved fodder.

Lamb chops are very popular in Spain and you usually get a rather large plateful. Lamb has never been my favourite meat as it tends to be fatty, I decided to try drizzling some chops with some fruity balsamic vinegar, the sharp contrast was delicious. 

Drizzle chops with balsamic vinegar, place in a roasting tray lined with greaseproof paper, add a whole bulb of garlic and some par boiled potatoes and parsnips

Remove the chops after 20 minutes and cover with foil continue cooking vegetables, basting them in all the lovely juices

Remove vegetables and squeeze garlic into the juices in the pan, add some stock or red wine and heat over a hob, thicken with cornflour if necessary

                             Season to taste, I like to sprinkle some chilli flakes on top

'We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly.'

- Anna Thomas

Love Donna xxxxxxxx