A friend of a friend saw you giving an Aga demonstration with Mary Berry and apparently you made popcorn on the Aga without using a pan! My wife and I are at a loss to know how this is possible, as we would love to try this out on our new Aga. We have the three-oven size and are loving it.
Ah, the wonders of Bake-O-Glide, the re-usable non-stick cooking liner. This special PTFE impregnated fabric has many other uses beyond lining cake tins and baking trays. It is really simple to do, and is totally fat-free, which is great, as when corn is popped in a pan you have to use a fat of some kind. Take a rectangle of Bake-O-Glide and place it on the Simmering Plate. Add a tablespoon or two – no more – of popcorn and close the lid. It will take a couple of minutes to start, but you will soon hear it popping away merrily. When the popping sound has subsided, open the lid and pick up the Bake-O-Glide by two opposing corners and a valley will form containing the popped corn. Pour this into a bowl and then repeat until you have enough. Flavour the cooked popcorn with your favourite sweet or savoury ingredients. There’s one other popcorn tip that’s worth knowing about: if you keep the unpopped kernels in the freezer, when you cook them, they pop up larger and fluffier as the change from two extremes of temperature causes the starch to stretch more. Happy popping!
Baked salmon steaks in the Aga have become a star turn in our house – they’re so easy and beautifully moist. I will be cooking them as a light lunch for 12. I want to keep things simple, so don’t fancy the stress of having to make Hollandaise in quantity; I need a good hot sauce for serving with the salmon. Have you any suggestions for something easy and foolproof?
For the simplest sauce ever, fill the goblet of a blender with really hot tap water and leave to stand for a minute before emptying. Place in it two handfuls of the tender stems and leaves from some well-picked watercress, discarding the thicker woody stems. Heat a pint of double cream on the simmering plate, seasoning lightly with salt and freshly ground black pepper, until it is just simmering and pour into a jug.
Switch on the blender and pour in the hot cream with the motor running. Turn off and scrape down, taste and correct the seasoning and process for a further 30 seconds. This will give an intensely green cream sauce that will be a perfect foil for the salmon. Once made, it will keep it hot without loosing its vibrant colour if you place it in your coolest oven for up to 20 minutes. Pour a little over each salmon steak as it is served, with the rest offered to hand at the table.
