Be prepared

My new book is all about being organised. It’s about preparing and cooking ahead, whether you are feeding the family casually in the kitchen or friends more formally in the dining room. We all love entertaining, but sometimes the reality of the many separate parts involved in a meal can seem daunting. How long will the pudding take to set? When can I prepare the vegetables? Will the potatoes be ready at the same time as the meat? When can I talk to my friends if I’m stuck in the kitchen?

Panic can set in, but that’s where I come to your rescue. Where the concept is ‘cook now, eat later’, it would be easy to give you recipes that could all be cooked in advance and that merely needed reheating. Easy, yes, but a bit boring. What I have done is gather together my very latest, up-to-the-minute recipes, many of which, I will happily admit, need some lastminute attention. But various stages of them can be prepared and/or cooked in advance, which means that on the day itself, you will have much less to do, and will not feel too much immediate pressure.

Being organised, so far as food and entertaining is concerned, is not just to do with the actual cooking. For instance, if you order the fi sh or meat you want well in advance, that’s one aspect of the meal taken care of. We all think freshly prepared is best, but many vegetables can be peeled, trimmed and cut at least the day before, which means one less chore on the day. And don’t ever be ashamed to cut corners to enable you to be organised and ahead.

Buy ready-prepared vegetables or salad leaves in packets if you think you won’t have time: they’re more expensive, but your peace of mind might be more important than cost. Even counting out the napkins, and checking on candles and cutlery a couple of days in advance, puts you a step or so ahead.

But the majority of information in my book does concern some degree of cooking, and when you are doing this in advance, there are certain stages that must be followed. The refrigerator is intimately involved in this, and the ‘rules’ concerning cooling and chilling are particularly important. The ideal temperature for the short-term storage of perish-able foods is just above freezing point. Individual makes of fridges vary, but the temperature range should be between 1C and 7C.

I hope you enjoy cooking these recipes as much as we have enjoyed testing them.

Cook Now Eat Later: Recipes That Make Your Life Easier, by Mary Berry, with photography by Martin Poole, is published by Headline, priced £20.

GINGER AND ORANGE CAKE WITH MASCARPONE ICING

Cuts into 8-10

Ingredients
275g self-raising flour
1 level tsp baking powder
225g baking margarine or butter, at room temperature
225g caster sugar
4 eggs
finely grated zest of 1 orange
5-6 bulbs stem ginger in syrup, coarsely chopped, plus syrup
1 x 250g tub mascarpone cheese

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/ fan 160/gas 4. Base-line 2 x 20cm deep sandwich tins with non-stick paper and grease well.

Measure the flour, baking powder, margarine or butter, sugar, eggs and grated orange zest into a large mixing bowl. Rinse the syrup from 3-4 bulbs of the ginger and then add them to the mixing bowl (this will prevent the ginger from sinking). Using an electric hand mixer, mix well until thoroughly blended. Divide the mixture evenly between the prepared tins and level out.

Bake in the centre of the preheated oven for 20-25 mins until golden brown and shrinking away from the sides of the tin. Leave to cool for a few moments then turn out.

For the filling/icing, beat the mascarpone with 2 tbsp of the ginger syrup. When the cakes are completely cold, sandwich together with half of this mixture. Spread on top of the cake and sprinkle over the remaining chopped ginger.

TO PREPARE AHEAD Make the cakes and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days before fi lling and icing. Make the fi lling/ icing when you need it.

TO FREEZE The cakes freeze well un-iced. Wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw for about 4 hours at room temperature, then fill and ice.

SPINACH AND FETA FRITTATA

Serves 6 

Ingredients
6 eggs
4 tbsp milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper
a little freshly grated nutmeg
a knob of butter
1 tbsp sunflower oil
8 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
100g closed-cup mushrooms
100g fresh baby spinach, coarsely sliced
75g feta cheese, diced
25g black olives in oil, drained and halved
a handful of fresh basil leaves, torn

Method
Blend together the eggs and milk in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Melt the butter and oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the onions and mushrooms over a high heat for a couple of minutes. Add the spinach, stir for 1 minute, then season.

Pour the egg mixture into the pan and spread the spinach and mushroom mixture out through the egg. Sprinkle over the feta cheese and olives.

Cook over a medium heat, loosening the edge with a spatula, for about 5-6 mins until the base and edges of the mixture are set. Place under a preheated grill for a further 3-4 mins or until the top is just set and golden brown.

Invert the frittata onto a heated serving plate, cut into wedges and garnish with basil.

TO PREPARE AHEAD Prepare all the vegetables the day before, arrange on a plate in groups, cover with cling film and put in the fridge. Then the frittata will only take minutes to make. Or cook the frittata completely, turn out and allow to cool. Serve cold, cut into wedges for a summer lunch or picnic. Best made the same day, and not chilled.

TO FREEZE Not suitable.