Nigella Bites Episode Rating Graph

Nigella would say that all the food she cooks is comfort food, she is not a restaurant chef, she is an exceptional home cook with a family to feed. Her philosophy is that food must be reassuring and familiar not complicated and intimidating. Look out for Chicken soup with Kneidlach, a soothing Lemon risotto and for jilted lovers, Nigella has the chocolate cake for you.

Inviting friends over is the perfect opportunity to perform and it's worth having a few recipes up your sleeve that look and taste fantastic but don't require a nerve of steel to take on; Lamb Shanks with couscous, Raw salmon with ginger and rice vinegar and Crème Brulee.

If the idea of catering for a party makes you want to lie down quietly in a darkened room, you're not alone. However, for children's birthdays or gatherings in a summer garden, there's always food you can do that makes you actually feel pleased you invited anyone in the first place; Union Square Café spiced nuts, Halloumi with Chilli and spatch-cock birds on a BBQ.

Nigella Lawson shares her favourite ‘weekend' recipes. Intimate and conversational, the programme focuses on the simple yet delicious food she cooks for herself, her family and friends. As ever, Nigella's mantra is “minimum effort for maximum pleasure” and, in this programme, she shows how to create straightforward yet appetising dishes that make cooking an enjoyable part of weekend life rather than performance art.

We all have certain foods which comfort us because they remind us of childhood. Dishes that our parents prepared for us always retain a special place in our hearts. For Nigella, her ultimate ‘desert island dish' is her mother's steak bearnaise and, for dessert, her grandmother's poached pears with vanilla ice cream and dark, luscious chocolate sauce.

For Nigella, entertaining means spending time with friends, not anguishing alone in the kitchen, and the taste of the food is far more important than its presentations. To take the strain out of home entertaining Nigella goes a Middle Eastern style meze. The food itself is not all from the Middle East, rather it's the pattern of eating that's emulated, with a series of dishes, including hummus with yogurt, olive oil and toasted pinenuts, lime-sharp guacamole studded with green chili, garlic and prosciutto with beans. This is easy cooking and easy eating.