Donal Skehan's blog

One of the highlights of my trip to Louisiana last week was a visit to the New Orleans Cooking Experience, a cooking class presented by Janice B. Macomber or "Boo" as she is affectionately referred to. Boo is an advocate of real Southern home cooking and proper hearty food so it was wonderful to see her speak so passionately about the dishes she grew up eating. The demonstration was peppered with some unbelievable tall tales and stories about living on the bayou - we could have listened to her all day! We cooked southern classics like gumbo, a deep smoky soup made with a roux and spicy bourbon pecan bread pudding (with a splash of Tabasco sauce for good measure), a really sweet and fluffy dessert typical of the region. It was a wonderful way to get an introduction to some classic New Orleans dishes. Boo was also kind enough to give me a copy of her cookbook, which is full of her wonderful stories and make her recipes extra special.

Food has an incredible way of bringing people together. As with any interest, once you find like minded people you can talk for hours and hours. This was one of the things I enjoyed most while filming the new series of Kitchen Hero. Throughout the series we met people from all walks of life, all with one common interest: their love of food and good quality ingredients. From firemen to students, from butchers to fishmongers, everyone I met had something to say about food, even if they weren't the best cook in the world, the minute food was brought up a passionate conversation always followed!

I'm always on the lookout for vintage and retro cookbooks, and over the last few years I've amassed quite a collection. Not only are they wonderfully nostalgic, there are plenty of delicious recipes which are still bang up-to-date. Of course there are also plenty of recipes for aspics and animal innards, things which most people these days would turn their noses up at.  Some of the old American baking cookbooks are the most exciting and last weekend I spent the afternoon going through one of them. The oddest thing I came across was a recipe for Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake and a spiced confection which uses a tin of condensed tomato soup. I'll have to give them a go first before I subject you to them!  In amongst all the quirky ones I came across this fantastic recipe for Oat and Raisin Cookies. I've adapted them and added chocolate chips for an extra sweet hit, but you could also add any extras to the basic mix you wish.

When I discovered this dish, I drove everyone mad by cooking it every chance I got. In this recipe I'm using brown basmati rice which is unrefined and retains much more nutrition than its refined version. This recipe is very adaptable and I have made it with different vegetables, with and without prawns, so make it to your taste.

The quickest way of cooking this dish is to prepare everything beforehand; that way things move a little more smoothly and it also prevents any stopping and starting.

Serves 4

2 chicken breasts
120g peeled prawns (or use good quality frozen ones, defrosted)
300g chorizo sausage, cut into chunky slices
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
170g brown basmati rice
400ml chicken stock
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1 small squash, peeled and chopped into small pieces
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp of olive oil

Filming for the new series of Kitchen Hero is well underway and after seven days of non-stop recording, I've finally had a couple of days off. Not just a normal couple of days off though; a few weeks ago I was approached to appear on the Today Show on NBC in the USA so instead of relaxing I have been to New York City and back! It was an amazing experience and the short nature of the trip made it feel even more surreal!

The theme of the new programme is great food for less, so lots of low cost dishes have been on the menu- this one in particular is one of my favourites and makes a wonderful mid-week meal.