MEL'S KITCHEN RULES

DAY 70

Move over all you cooks choking up the airwaves, professional or otherwise, churning out lavish dishes ad infinitum “which only take minutes to prepare”. Yeah, right. I’ve never felt the need to go all out with presentation, it’s enough for me to simply sit down to a good nutritious meal which I know is going to satisfy me, and anyone else who happens to be around, without arranging it all on the plate as if it is about to come under the scrutiny of a panel of Olympic judges who we know are subjective anyway and rarely give a newcomer a second glance.

I mean, I don’t just slap it on the plate, but I reckon last Friday night’s dinner which came from my daughter in law Mel’s oven looked and tasted good enough to rival anything turning up on TV. A rolled garlic and macadamia chicken roast with oven roasted potatoes, pumpkin, squash, zucchini and red capsicum, all infused with herb and garlic oil, topped with fresh asparagus, was a delight to behold and inhale, and even better to eat.

Spurred on by last year’s Master Chef (I gave her the recipe book for Christmas) and My Kitchen Rules, she is living proof that even after a hectic day of take daughter to Kinder, report into work for a while, run some errands, come home, run around after her eight month old for the afternoon, back to pick up daughter from Kinder, do some shopping, come home again, juggle two children while preparing dinner, you can still churn out something a lot more appealing than fish and chips or bangers and mash.

Take my hat off to you Mel.