The Domestic Goddess makes it clear that she’s happy with her figure and attributes her youthful looks to her curvy figure. She concedes the she sometimes has moments of doubt, but her attitude to life overrides the doubts.

I love food and I love cooking so therefore I never deprive myself. Thinness is fantastic for clothes, but I don’t do fashion.’

She further goes on to point out that she has a weight range in which she’s happy and that losing weight would most certainly age her:

If I lost 40lb, I would age ten years straightaway. That’s my excuse!

There’ll be no ridiculous baby food diet for this celeb. Sensible woman!

Read the full article.

Within the article there are a couple of unflattering photos to illustrate the point.

Take a lustrous black mane, toss gently and you have one of the key ingredients of Nigella Lawson’s success.

The voluptuous self-styled Domestic Goddess is never less than immaculately coiffed as she presents her TV cookery programmes.

Away from the screen, however, the picture appears slightly different.

Thinning and greying? Kitchen queen Nigella Lawson shows her crown and roots in these pictures, shot while she was out shopping in West London

Read the full article

The fact is, Nigella is fabulous regardless of her having a bad hair day. She’s an incredibly successful woman and has an amazing work ethic. Clearly she leads a busy life and doesn’t always feel the need to look absolutely perfect every time she leaves the house.

More power to her, I say.

There’s too much pressure on women to conform to the unreasonable standards set by the fashion world, the glossy magazines and the print media in general.

Nigella is a great example of what we should aspire to, who cares if she’s going grey?

Nigella talks about chocolate and how it’s not a particular favourite of hers, instead preferring savoury foods. She points out that her girlfriends are always amazed that she keeps chocolate in the house but doesn’t feel the need to eat it. She goes on to point out that it’s only an issue for those friends who are on a permanent diet, not eating all day long, only to shovel it in to their pie holes in the evening. OK she didn’t mention pie holes, but hopefully you get the gist?

A great bit in the interview is when Nigella is disparaging about Cheese and Onion Crisps. She says they don’t taste like cheese, they don’t taste like onion and they smell of B.O.

She may just be on to something here! I need to go sniff a bag of cheese and onion and see whether they have any eau de armpit going on.

But, the absolute best bit is when the host asks her about fast food, and asks whether she’s ever had a Big Mac. The audience falls about when Nigella replies, “No, but I have had a Whopper.”

Classic naughty Nigella!! Love it.

Have a watch, it’ll bring a smile to your face.

VEGETARIAN CHILLI a recipe from Nigella Lawson found in a 2004 NYT online publication.

The full article gives more background and another recipe, but we picked the chili because we thought it would be a terrific late winter warmer. The dish includes a cornbread topping but frankly we’d be more than happy to eat this without the bread (in the name of simplicity… or possibly laziness).

This was a piece written by Nigella herself for the Times and you can read it in full.

Vegetarian Chili with Corn Bread Topping

The chili here is vegetarian, chock-full of kidney beans and red lentils. This should be spiced to taste, but I don’t see the point in a chili without bite: I want heat from red pepper flakes and smoky warmth from ground coriander and cumin, crushed cardamom pods and a scant amount of cocoa.

A certain amount of chopping and stirring is involved, but with a friend to chat with in the kitchen, this can be an unhurried way to unwind on a weekend. At times, it is even more gratifying as a peaceful, solitary activity, an allowable escape.

With the bulk of the work dispatched, the chili can be kept in the refrigerator several days and just heated up in the oven for half an hour when you need to eat it. A little last-minute finessing will be needed before it is reheated, but the effort involved is minimal: just fork together some buttermilk, eggs, a tiny bit of honey, cinnamon and oil and stir them over some cornmeal and a small amount of flour in a bowl. Spread this wet-sand mixture over the chili in its dish and sprinkle lavishly with punchy mature Cheddar.

In cooking, this topping turns into the most fabulous crunchy corn bread — more a crumbly dry biscuit — that you push into the chili as you eat to absorb the hot juices. You need do nothing more to this golden dish than sprinkle freshly chopped cilantro and a dollop of palate-salving sour cream over the top.

Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

For the chili:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups red bell peppers (about 2 large peppers), finely diced

2 teaspoons hot red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed

1 1/2 cups red lentils

3 cups canned chopped tomatoes

3 1/2 cups drained canned kidney beans

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup tomato paste

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

For the corn bread topping:

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups cornmeal

2 tablespoons flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup buttermilk

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon honey

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup coarsely grated Cheddar cheese

For serving:

2 cups sour cream

1 cup chopped cilantro.

Method

1. To prepare chili, heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a deep, wide pan with a lid. Add onions, garlic and bell peppers, and sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in red pepper flakes, coriander, cumin and cardamom pods. Stir in lentils.

2. Add chopped tomatoes, kidney beans, ketchup, tomato paste, cocoa and 3 cups water. Stir well. Cover, and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture is thickened and beans are tender, about 45 minutes. Chili can be made ahead to this point and topping added later. (In that case, cover, and refrigerate for up to 3 days, bringing to room temperature before proceeding.)

3. For corn bread topping, heat oven to 425 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine salt, cornmeal, flour, baking powder and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk together buttermilk, eggs, honey and oil. Pour liquid ingredients into dry; stir until combined.

4. Pour chili into a baking dish 13 by 9 by 3 inches. Spread corn bread topping evenly over chili, and sprinkle cheese on topping. Bake until topping has risen and turned golden brown, about 25 minutes.

5. Remove from oven, and let chili stand about 5 minutes. To serve, cut into squares, and pass sour cream and cilantro at the table.

Yield: 8 servings.

Enjoy!

(Click to make bigger)

The photo is of course all to do with Nigella’s iPhone App: Nigella Quick Collection

Nigella Quick Collection brings you a fantastic new way to cook, using your iPhone and iPod Touch. By bringing together exclusive recipes, video and audio alongside unique features and cutting edge technology this app is designed to make your busy life easier, and to bring you inspiration and advice from Nigella wherever you are.

Looking for a recipe in a hurry? It couldn’t be easier…
Browse the 70 recipes in a variety of different ways, either by chapter, by mood or even by the contents of your fridge.

More

From Herald Sun:

Dinner fit for a culinary queen

Nigella met up with Stephanie Alexander the Australian cook, restaurateur and food writer and Michelin starred Elena Arzak. The three accomplished women sampled locally grown fresh produce as part of the Melbourne Food & wine Festival.

Update: Here’s a brief video from the event. (Might take a whie to load, but persist!)

Three kitchen goddesses raise a glass in celebration of Victoria’s fresh produce

John Mangan

Bottoms up: Stephanie Alexander, NIgella Lawson and Elena Arzak toast local heritage tomatoes, olive oil and crusty bread as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. Photo: Simon O’Dwyer

MELBOURNE culinary institution Stephanie Alexander introduced British kitchen goddess Nigella Lawson and three Michelin star-rated Basque chef Elena Arzak to the delights of Victorian produce this weekend at the Langham hotel on Southbank.

The Basques are renowned for their tapas, known as pintxos or ”spikes”, and Arzak’s restaurant features an investigative unit where a team of culinary alchemists plunder a ”flavour bank” storing more than 1000 products and ingredients to strike that elusive balance between avant-garde and the roots of tradition.

”You’re lucky here in Australia to have so many different influences,” she said. ”I only visit places which have interesting food, and the spirit of experimentation here is very good.”

Read the full story

Olly Murs has named Nigella Lawson as his ideal woman.

“Who’s that sexy chef? Nigella Lawson, she’d be my ideal woman.” “I think she’s very seductive, a proper sexy woman.”

Murs is the X-factor runner up from the 2009 series.

No matter what you think about his singing, you can’t fault his taste in women! Even if his motives are a little suspect:

The singer told the Daily Star that he should date an older woman to replace his mother.

Speaking about his love life at the moment the star quipped: “There’s not much going on romance-wise at the moment. I’ve got a lot of love for a lot of people but I haven’t got a love interest at all. I’ve always said there’s room in my heart for a woman but nothing has come up.”

From RTE

Lawson lore: all about instinct

Daniella Miletic

SHE is the best known female food personality in the world today. The mere mention of her name can cause people to recall, accurately, what she sounds like, how she smiles, and, of course, how she cooks.

You might think it could be unnerving being Nigella Lawson and constantly having your sensual charms – and curves – discussed alongside your body of work. But Lawson says that she can’t control how people perceive her and that ”it’s wrong to get into a state about it”.

She says the suggestion that the way she presents herself in front of the television is carefully thought about is simply false. ”I don’t construct a personality, but I certainly think the personality that is ascribed to me is not my personality,” she says. ”That’s a projection of other people, but also to do with the particular, strange force television has.” 

Her trademark lascivious tone, for example, is unintentional. ”When I am talking to camera … I mean, I love my crew and I have had them forever so I am very very close to them … I know that I am quite an intense person and I know that I am being quite intimate. To me, I am not being remotely coquettish.”

Men and their egos are often the source of this misinterpretation, she suggests. ”One of the things I find quite endearing about men is that they do seem to have a certain sort of confidence and they sort of think anyone is flirting with them.”

This is a great attitude because you really can’t do anything about the way other people perceive you.

While in town she is trying to squeeze in as many restaurant visits as she can. On the list: Gingerboy, Da Noi, Cutler &Co (she’s already visited Giuseppe Arnaldo & Sons and Donovans).

It looks like Nigella wasted no time visiting some of the eateries! Good on her.

”I am always thinking about what my eating opportunities are, and what I can manage to get in,” she says.

And why not?

Actually it’s a bit better than that because this is a mix you can make ahead of time and store in the fridge. Remember, pancakes aren’t just for pancake day!

Go have a look.

Update: And a whole load more Nigella Pancake recipes here

Or if you fancy moving away from tradition and putting a little twist on it, how about:

From: Nigella Express

Homemade instant pancake mix with blueberry syrup

Directions

1. For the dry pancake mix, place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Transfer to an airtight container, seal and store until needed.
2. To make the pancakes, add the appropriate quantity of egg, milk and melted butter per 150g/5¼oz of the dry mixture (a filled American cup measure will give you the requisite amount per batch, so you may like to use one and dispense with any weighing). Mix well to form a smooth batter.
3. Heat a flat griddle or non-stick frying pan without adding oil.
4. Spoon drops of 1½-2 tablespoons of the batter onto the hot griddle and when bubbles appear on the surface of the little pancakes, flip them over and cook until golden-brown on both sides. It should take about a minute per side.
5. Meanwhile, for the blueberry syrup, place the maple syrup and blueberries into a pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 2-3 minutes, until the blueberries have broken down slightly.
6. To serve, pour the blueberry syrup into a jug and take to the breakfast table with the pancakes. If you have any of the syrup left over, you will notice that it sets into a kind of glossy jam. This will keep for a few days decanted into a jar and put in the fridge, and is glorious dolloped into yoghurt or spread on bread.

And another Nigella pancake option via video: