I think of cooking in this way as a practice. It’s organised, calm and has a flow. It’s not speedy, hectic, cheffy stuff. It’s just about getting things right, so that you can enjoy every brilliant moment of the alchemy that happens as you turn a pile of ingredients into an incredible offering for you and your family.
So your kitchen needs to be ready to cook in this way. By this, I don’t mean you have to buy loads of expensive equipment. You just need to have an artillery of simple equipment which is accessible (see here–here).
I find it really useful to have my ingredients organised too, so that I can find them easily and so that getting ready to cook doesn’t mean half an hour emptying out the entire spice cupboard. I use little glass jars for my spices and keep them on a shelf within reach of the cooker, which makes things a lot simpler.
You’ll also need a bit of space to cook in. My kitchen counters, like most other people’s, can get cluttered, so before I settle down to cook something, I make sure I clear enough space to comfortably cook in. There are a few bits of equipment that can really help speed things up. You’ll be fine if you just have the basics, but if you are, for instance, a particularly slow chopper, a food processor will be a great addition to your kitchen. Equally, if you find things keep sticking or burning, maybe it’s time for some new pans. All this equipment is a massive investment in cooking from scratch, and that’s the best decision we can make for our happiness and our bodies.
When you are ready to cook, start by reading the recipe from top to bottom so that you know what happens when, and how things need to be chopped and cooked. Then put all the equipment you are going to need close by, and get all your ingredients together near your chopping board so that you have everything to hand before you start chopping. These steps are the key to quick, calm cooking and they may sound glaringly obvious, but I have to remind myself to do them every time I cook.
Other clever chef’s tricks that make my cooking more speedy are having a mixing bowl on the work surface for peelings and trimmings, so you don’t have to keep running back and forth to the bin, as well as making sure as much as possible that the area you are working in is close to the stove, so you can do a few jobs at once.
I’m going to ask you to cook on a high heat, but don’t be afraid of it. Just keep checking. I am also going to ask you to preheat your pans to get some serious heat on things that need it, and to speed things up with your kettle. It’s my best friend in the kitchen, and working with boiling water rather than cold from the tap makes everything that bit quicker.
This might all sound somewhat hectic, but I believe that making these changes in your kitchen will actually have the opposite effect. You will learn to cook in a way that is calm and choreographed, moving quickly but smoothly through recipes.
And that’s what cooking is for me – food that is flavour-packed, nourishing and not too fussy, that can be on your table in a life-friendly time and manner. It’s about using the time you have, however short, to make the tastiest and most delicious dinners possible, and, in making the most of your time, the incredible ingredients that are in season and the foods that make you feel good, you can live vibrantly and eat well.
annajones.co.uk @we_are_food
Equipment for quick cooking
There are a few pieces of equipment I rely on in the kitchen. They range from really cheap to a bit more expensive, but once you have invested in a few of them you’ll be able to make anything in a life-friendly time.
SPEED AND JULIENNE PEELERS My speed peeler has to be the most used gadget in my kitchen and the cheapest. I use it for peeling and for making vegetable ribbons for salads and noodles. I also use a julienne peeler to make noodles from vegetables such as courgettes, it does the job of the currently popular spiraliser but costs about £2 and takes up much less kitchen space. My favourites are the all-metal ones from Lakeland.
GOOD FRYING PANS A good frying pan will last a lifetime. I have a good non-stick pan in two sizes, 22cm and 26cm, as well as a heavy cast-iron frying pan and a griddle pan. My favourites are GreenPan (who use a non-toxic ceramic coating) and De Buyer.
A LARGE SAUCEPAN/STOCKPOT I make a vat of soup, stock or a big pan of chickpeas every week and a large pot makes things much easier. It need not be expensive but it will allow you to cook batches big enough to last a week or fill the freezer. A heavy-bottom cast-iron pan would be my choice, from Le Creuset, but any sturdy large pan will do.
STACKABLE GLASS JARS One of the things that makes a huge difference in my kitchen is having everything accessible and easy to find. I stack all my spices in small glass jars on a shelf next to my cooker, which means they are always at hand. I also keep my dry ingredients in large jars for easy access.
GRATERS – BOX GRATER AND FINE MICROPLANE I use these every day. A good sturdy box grater should set you back between £5 and £10 and is great for grating cheese and vegetables. Microplanes are more cheffy graters and a bit more expensive but one will last a lifetime and they are invaluable for zesting citrus and finely grating garlic, chilli, ginger or any hard cheese.
GOOD KNIVES AND A GOOD KNIFE SHARPENER The main barrier to cooking quickly is being a slow chopper – how good you are at chopping is directly related to how good and sharp your knives are. I use four main knives in the kitchen: a small chef’s knife (about 12cm), a small serrated paring knife (for tomatoes and fruit), a larger chef’s knife (about 21cm) for sturdy vegetables such as pumpkin or squash and a good serrated bread knife. I also have a sharpening stone to keep them nice and sharp. My favourite knives are Kin knives which aren’t the cheapest but, equally, you can find knives that are much more expensive. They stay nice and sharp and last a lifetime. I like Opinel for small serrated paring knives, which are very affordable.
HIGH-SPEED BLENDER I use my blender every day for smoothies, soups, nut butters and hummus. The king of blenders is the Vitamix, which has a super high-speed motor and will make nuts into butter in a matter of seconds. They are very expensive though, so I am not going to suggest you all run out and buy one, but they are a great investment if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Alternatively, most electrical brands make good sturdy blenders at varying prices – go for the best you can afford.
FOOD PROCESSOR It may seem overkill to have a food processor and a blender but they really do different jobs. A blender will liquidise things whereas a food processor will chop and crush things and, if you buy one with some attachments, they can grate and slice too, as well as mixing up icings and cake batters. If I can encourage you to buy one thing for your kitchen it would be a food processor. I have had my Magimix for the last 12 years and it’s still going strong. Magimix are great as they have a good range of attachments and are really sturdy, but other brands such as KitchenAid make good ones too. Again you get what you pay for here; I would suggest investing as much as you can afford.
HAND BLENDER If you can’t get your hands on a blender or a food processor, or your kitchen is too small for big pieces of equipment, then a decent hand blender will stand in for most things. You will need a bit more elbow grease and probably patience but it will do the job. I use my hand blender for making dressings and quick pestos and for blending soups, and I find it really useful. Hand blenders come pretty cheap and I use a basic £10 one which has been with me for years.
KITCHEN SCISSORS A good sharp pair of kitchen scissors are always at hand in my kitchen for opening packets and doing little jobs. If you aren’t the fastest at