Nigel Slaters middle eastern

Yes - was amazed at the saffron from crocuses growing in very barren looking ground. Always like Nigel Slater’s cooking style.

Caught a bit of it the other night. I LOVE Nigel Slater.

Lovely series. I've been inspired to look more into middle eastern cookery. My parents were in Turkey for two years in the late seventies and I loved the food while onb holiday there.

Oh by the way, the cherry juice is heavenly. Visne suyu.

I've really enjoyed this series. I like Nigel Slater and I like ME cuisine so it was the perfect combination!

I really like Nigel Slater he's one of my favourite tv chefs, it's his delivery he comes across as very thoughtful. I missed the Turkey programme but saw the one on Iran the other night, fascinating country and I didn't know saffron eminated from crocuses.

Yes, I only caught the one from Turkey last night, but was enchanted.

Nigel doesn't make it all about him like some celebrity chefs do. He appears genuinely interested in the food and people preparing it. He is someone I would love to spend time with in the kitchen as his cooking style is so easy to follow and the results always look so appetising.

The Turkey programme last night was fascinating and visited areas I have never seen on TV before. He reminds me of Micael Palin in his ability to engage with the people he is meeting. Worth watching again and I hope he does more of these travelogue style programmes.

I've liked Nigel Slater ever since I read his book "Toast".
This series in the Middle East is lovely.

Terribull, the crocuses for saffron used to be grown in the UK - hence the small town of Saffron Walden!

I like Nigel Slater's recipes because they're simple but interesting. When I lived abroad and found it hard to get ingredients his 30 minute cook book was my go-to for recipes as either I was able to obtain all I needed or there were substitutes that I could use.

He seems a lovely guy, too, so interested in the people he met. I received his Christmas Chronicles last year - it gives me such a warm, fuzzy feeling to read it!

Oh I didn't know that Sue Donim, I have been to lovely Saffron Walden a few times so glad for that piece of information, if I visit it again, I'll look out for the Crocuses

Sadly, I don't think they grown saffron there any more, or at least not commercially.

I've been there once and loved it. It's years ago now but I recall we had coffee in the pretty cobbled yard of a cafe.

You can grow them yourselves. It's not as if you need commercial amounts.

It's a particular species that needed. I wonder if you can buy the corms here? It would be a fun thing to do!

Yes. We bought some from the Guardian a few years ago.

You don't get much, just two or three threads from each corm.

We grow Crocus sativus (autumn crocus) as they love our soil and have naturalised in a grassy bit at the edge of a border. You plant the bulbs in late July and harvest the little ribbons of saffron with a pair of tweezers about three months later. Store it in a little air tight pot.

Nigel is very sweet

I use quite a lot in cookery, but I desperately miss Cornish saffron cake since I’ve been gluten free.

Thank you for that info about growing your own! I fancy doing that.

I was absolutely enchanted. It reminded so much of the years I spent in Bulgaria ( they share a lot of history)
I was always amazed at how hard they worked in the autumn to put food away for the winter, not forgetting alcohol
Their expertise at making wonderful food with basic ingredients was wonderful to see.
We introduced lots of Bulgarians to the Roast Dinner, they loved it. Many of them loved Bisto gravy

One thing I learnt from these programmes is not to stint on the spices. The cooks in these programmes didn't just add a pinch of this or that, they threw it in almost by the handful!

I’ve enjoyed this programme, too.