Nigella cooks, eats and repeats with bread!

Nigella Lawson seems to have a knack for knowing exactly what’s needed, and when.

So if you are growing sick of your own limited repertoire of dishes during lockdown, you may want to tune in for some inspiration from the ‘Domestic Goddess’.

Just in time for the dark nights, and when we are all spending more time indoors and cooking, Nigella is back with her first BBC show in three years.

The food writer and presenter, who, unbelievably, turned 60 at the beginning of the year, first stormed onto our screens way back in 1999 with Channel 4’s Nigella Bites.

Since then she has fronted Forever Summer, Nigella Feasts, Nigella Express, Nigella Kitchen, Nigellissima, Simply Nigella and Nigella: At My Table, as well as appearing as a judge on The Taste and MasterChefs Australia and US.

She has always been adept at producing recipes that are nourishing and comforting, and after a year like this, Nigella’s is on a mission to make mealtimes a little less overwhelming.

The programme celebrates the small everyday wonders of putting together a meal, and the satisfaction in doing something as simple as chopping up an onion or breaking open a pomegranate.

Nigella provides ideas you can stretch and revise, depending on what you have in.

She also caters to meat eaters and vegans alike, shares how to reuse bits of one recipe with another later on in the week, and suggests recipes fit for a banquet.

And it’s all done in Nigella’s inimitable style as she reveals the diverse locations where she finds inspirations for her recipes.

The Guardian has described her as “Lady Bountiful, a sensualist celebrator of appetite”.

She has also been labelled the “Queen of food porn”.

Nevertheless, Nigella is first and foremost a food writer and author – and there is a lot more to her programmes than that infamous “deep pleasure” innuendo and knowing glances to the camera.

In last week’s opening episode (available on the BBC iPlayer), she provided her own personal take on the bhorta, an Indian dish of fried and mashed vegetables, as well as spicy lamb shanks with noodles, and a rich and gooey chocolate tahini pudding.

Now, for the second instalment, Nigella focuses on something that has been on the rise during lockdown – homemade bread.

She starts with her recipe for a gorgeously fluffy white loaf that requires minimum effort, before moving on to a real crowd pleaser: a fried-chicken sandwich garnished with some of her favourite condiments, including pickles and kimchi.

Nigella then shares two recipes that can be made in advance.

First, there’s a cheesecake ice cream which is popped into the freezer for later.

Then, there’s her fear-free fish stew, which starts with a fragrant tomato base full of the warming flavours of mace, cinnamon and nutmeg.

To finish her meal, the host makes a simple yet daring dish of cherry flambé using frozen cherries and kirsch, which she serves up with the now frozen cheesecake ice cream.

Finally, in the bright morning sunlight, Nigella uses up the final slices of her soft white loaf to make rum-spiked French toast.

To date, she has already sold more than three million cookery books to date.

And, as there is also an hour-long Christmas special next month, you wouldn’t bet against Nigella’s new publication selling by the shedload in the run-up to big day.

Talk about perfect timing.

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