TV dinners will be on the menu in many homes next Friday when the 'Late Late Toy Show' is on. Hugo Arnold has a few suggestions
Toys, toys and more toys. Next Friday the Late Late Toy Show will be screened and, in our house at least, we will be found snuggled into the sofa, watching the show. Earlier in the day we might bake cookies, make ice cream and line up mugs of hot chocolate.
This is something of an annual event in our house. Penne and a three-hour Bolognese will have been made and eaten, timed so the cookies and ice-cream are on the table as the lights go up. Fork and spoon food seems the best option when attention is directed at the TV screen.
There are a few rough and ready rules on TV dinners for other, adult occasions. The golden one is: no sub-titled films, they just don't work. You're so busy looking out for the crucial phrase that your supper will go cold, or end up in your lap. Pasta of the stringy variety such as spaghetti or linguini is also out - it requires too much attention, particularly if you are sitting on a sofa.
Anything too fancy, apart from fillet steak perhaps, runs the risk of being undervalued, which leads conveniently to the kinds of dishes that are perfect for TV dinners at this time of year: stews and casseroles, slow braises and curries. This is one or two-pot food, which allows for the minimum of transport and can be eaten with only a fork, and maybe a spoon.
Cheaper cuts of meat braised with the best of the winter vegetables are ideal to eat in front of the TV. Gratins, too, are good choices as they retain their heat for a second helping. Stews, both meat and fish, are easy to eat and prepare. And when we are ready to sit back and really get involved in the action, the jar of cookies will be devoured, and the ice cream entirely polished off. The perfect finale.
FRUIT BISCUITS
225g plain flour
half tsp salt
half tsp ground cinnamon
quarter tsp nutmeg
pinch ground cloves
110g butter
110g sugar
100g raisins
1 egg
milk
Sieve the flour with the salt and spices, and gently rub the butter in. Add the sugar, raisins and egg, lightly beaten, and enough milk to bind. Don't overwork the dough. Break off golf-ball sized pieces and roll out flat. Lay the biscuits on a greased baking tray and bake in a preheated oven, 200 degrees/gas six for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Transfer the biscuits on to a wire rack and leave them to cool.
HONEY ICE CREAM
4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
200ml milk
200ml double cream
1 vanilla pod
200g honey, warmed in a saucepan over a gentle heat
Whisk the egg yolks and caster sugar in a bowl. Heat the milk and double cream together with the vanilla until it is hot, then gradually add to the yolks.
Put the mixture into a saucepan and stir constantly over a moderate heat, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat immediately and pour into a bowl sitting in a basin of iced water. Strain through a sieve, stir in the honey and freeze, stirring twice during the first couple of hours.
The crucial stage to watch is when you are reheating the eggs and sugar with the hot milk and cream. There is a point at which the thickening mixture suddenly cooks and the egg yolks become solid. Watch out and have the iced bowl ready to bring the temperature down and avoid ending up with sweet scrambled eggs.
This is a rich ice cream which takes at least 30 minutes to soften before eating.
REAL HOT CHOCOLATE
From The River Cottage Family Cookbook, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Fizz Carr (Hodder & Stoughton, £20)
Four or five squares of good dark chocolate (at least 70 per cent cocoa solids)
1 free-range egg yolk
a small cup of creamy milk
1 tsp caster sugar
Put a few centimetres depth of water in a saucepan, place it on the hob over a medium heat and bring it to the boil.
Break the chocolate up and put it in a mixing bowl. Put the bowl over the pan of gently simmering water and turn the heat off. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon until the chocolate has melted completely. Take the bowl off the saucepan.
Drop the egg yolk into the chocolate and whisk until thick and smooth. (Yes, this drink is almost like a kind of chocolate custard.)
Pour away the water and add a cup of milk to the now empty saucepan, along with the teaspoon of sugar. Place the saucepan back on the hob over a medium heat.
Watch the milk carefully (it boils over very quickly), giving it a stir every few seconds. Wait till it is hot and steaming, but not quite boiling, then pour a little of it onto the melted chocolate and egg yolk. Now whisk vigorously until very frothy.
The Mayans and Aztecs made their chocolate frothy by pouring it from one container to another. You could try this, but maybe outdoors. Ladle the hot chocolate into a cup or small mug.