Product Description

The complete first series of the TV cookery show hosted by 'domestic goddess' Nigella Lawson. Features recipes for many different moods and occasions, including all-day breakfasts, party food, temple food, suppertime and TV dinners.

.co.uk Review

Nigella Bites is an indisputably sensual addition to the canon of cookery programmes. After fearsome Fanny Craddock, dowdy Delia Smith, jolly Jamie Oliver, here is naughty Nigella Lawson. For her, the whole point of cooking is the "pleasure" of food. She espouses uncomplicated recipes for a modern generation constantly on the go and gives short shrift to dietary considerations. Her recipes duly come under such categories as "Comfort Food", "Trashy", "Party Girl" and "TV Dinners". While some might query whether recipes such as pumpkin seafood curry or one whose ingredients involve two types of potato and a Greek cheese really constitute quick, easy and convenient cooking, such qualms soon melt into insignificance.

As the parodists were quick to point out, there is something of a sexual sub-text to Nigella Bites, as much in the lingering attention on the presenter herself as the unashamed sensuality of its recipes. Watch in rapture as the camera scans up and down Nigella's curvaceous but not too well-nourished figure, zooms in on her luscious lips, follows her into her store cupboard to "see my chocolate stash", or wobbles in sympathetic ecstasy as she applies lashings of cream or expertly spatchcocks a chicken. In short, whether you're an envious female wondering how Nigella manages to juggle a hectic life and still produce such delicious culinary fare, or a couch potato male who can barely boil an egg, chances are you'll find much to delight in here. A companion book is also available.

On the DVD: Nigella Bites on disc features numerous extras, including the Christmas special episode, two extra recipes (one for pasta and bean soup, the other an aubergine dish) and, helpfully, full lists of ingredients for each recipe. --David Stubbs