NIGELLA'S CHRISTMAS KITCHEN (2006)
3 x 30 min. BBC 2.
Nigella's Christmas Kitchen has won the Best Food/Drink Television Category at the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards.
A total of 25 gold ladles were awarded at the gala presentation in Adelaide, Australia. Among the food professionals who received awards were domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, UK-based Australian Skye Gyngell for Best Food Book with A Year in My Kitchen, and Australia’s Matt Preston, who was voted best food journalist.
Winners were selected by an international panel of 80 jurors from a field of more than 600 entries, predominantly coming from the UK, USA, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, Belgium and Australia.
Commenting on the competition, Jury Chairman, Ian Parmenter, said: ‘This is the tenth year of competition, which has seen more than 4,000 entries. We’re delighted that once again the standard of entries was extremely high, and jurors were consistent in their scoring. They are to be thanked for putting so much of their valuable time towards the judging process.
To be screened on BBC2 this Christmas
Ep 1 - Mon 17th Dec @ 2030
Ep 2 Fri 21st Dec @ 1930
Ep 3 TBC
More about Nigella's Christmas Kitchen (3 x 30')
Flashback Television's BBC Two commission saw Nigella make her first ever series for the BBC. At the time Roly Keating, Controller of BBC Two, said: "I'm absolutely delighted to welcome Nigella to BBC Two. Nigella is a uniquely talented and distinctive cook and this new series will be a real treat for BBC Two viewers."
The programmes focus on Christmas - the last great date in the culinary calendar. Nigella is back in her kitchen at a time when the nights are drawing in and most of us are up for a bit of extended kitchen work. As the last bastion of traditional cooking, Christmas is a time when we are more than prepared to spend whole days stirring, stuffing and marinating but we also need the vital short cuts that makes for an enjoyable experience for cooks and guests alike.
As always, Nigella’s mantra in the series is that cooking can be pleasurable, and there are always ways to eradicate stress. Christmas is a great excuse to potter about in the kitchen, to slow down, take cover from the frenzy of the holiday season and realize how comforting it can be to cook.
In the three programmes Nigella lays out her philosophy for not only coping with but actively enjoying cooking during the festive season. Nigella helps us to deal with pre-Christmas entertaining, Christmas baking (including recipes that have dropped off the Christmas list), the traditional Christmas dinner and delivers her method of cooking a turkey guaranteed not to disappoint. The series also includes an element of travel - a trip to a Salzburg Christmas market - that provides some inspiration for the recipes.
"Flashback Television previously produced 19 programmes with Nigella for Channel 4 including "Nigella Bites" and "Forever Summer."