I can’t speak for all the other young lads, but at least as few as possible, I want a contribution from people who write for this Milk Street food magazine. Sometimes, a clever recipe from the fantastic Milk Street food magazine flies by and you immediately think of how can I get started with a delicious lemon curd tart, or Mongolian roast beef. Then it gets to be summer and everyone wants to go out in the garden and barbecue. If only there was an appropriate substitute for the traditional beef stew!

So my mission was to buy a copy of this magazine and see what recipes were available. You see, I had just moved house and found that most of my friends kept taking up cooking from this magazine when they came to visit. So I thought, why not try recipes from one of those cookery cookbooks I have been meaning to buy but never got round to finding the time to buy. But luckily there are plenty of these on offer at quite reasonable prices, and I managed to grab a few recipes for barbecue and fish and chips.

There was one recipe for Cornish pasty, which sounded quite a mouthful so I changed it for something much more pleasant. The recipe is for tomato paste, white wine, butter and margarine. I took two tablespoons of this to a pan and gently poured in the liquid ingredients. I brought the pan to the boil then removed it after about five minutes.

Then I added two teaspoons of soy sauce, three tablespoons of flour and a quarter teaspoon of salt. Mix it up slowly so that everything stays smooth and elastic. Once everything is blended well, remove from heat and let rest for about ten minutes. At this stage I wanted to put the sauce in a separate container so I placed a measuring cup next to the sauce and stirred.

Next I moved on to the second recipe, which was to make a marinade for beef cooked in olive oil. I turned up the oven, brought the sauce to a simmer, added a quarter teaspoon of dried Rosemary, a quarter teaspoon of black pepper, a quarter teaspoon of garlic, and a quarter teaspoon of dried thyme. I stirred the mixture gently, being careful not to stir too vigorously. I took my time and ensured that all ingredients were blended well. Then I inserted the bottle of tomato paste into the marinade and turned the knob to low.

I browned the beef in the sauce, garlic and black pepper, adding the seasonings every couple of minutes until the beef was a deep amber colour. I used half of the marinade, leaving the other half in the fridge while I prepared the rest of the dish. When the entire dish was cooked, I pulled it from the oven, browned it slightly, spread a generous amount of sauce in the bowl of the sauce. Then I ladled the dish into bowls, arranging the uncooked rice on top. Then I cut into the uncooked rice to serve. My guests absolutely loved this dish and asked for the recipe to be made over again!

The next recipe was a barbecue chicken dish that my husband loves to prepare whenever we have a few hours free. I decided to make a barbecue chicken soup using the same ingredients as the BBQ chicken sauce. Again I added a quarter teaspoon of dried thyme, Rosemary, black pepper and a quarter teaspoon of cumin powder. I simmered the ingredients in some chicken stock and brought the sauce to a simmer. I used about one-third cup of milk and ended up with a creamy and tasty soup. My husband was impressed with the cooking and asked me to make it again that night.

You can find more than forty-five recipes in the KitchenAid Artisan Series Collection. I especially like the Asian-inspired soups and the chicken kebobs. These are just two of my favorite recipes. If you love to cook as much as I do, you will truly appreciate the variety and ease of use of Kitchen Aid’s line of appliances.