Nation gets fired up to cook with Gordon

IN January, supermarkets and fishmongers were inundated with customers asking for scallops, while sales of steak went through the roof.

The reason? A special programme featuring multi-Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay, who was going to show us (and a few celebrity guests) how to cook a three-course meal on live telly.

The show went down a storm, so it's no surprise he's setting out to do it again, but this time he's devoting an entire series to the concept.

This new show sees the entrepreneur sharpening his knives and gathering the nation to his bosom as he prepares to teach us how to cook another elegantly simple three-course meal.

So, what's on the menu? Well, to start there's warm goat's cheese salad with apple and walnut vinaigrette. That's followed by a main course of salmon en croute with herbed new potatoes and garlic sauteed broccoli and a dessert of caramelised rhubarb and ginger crumble with clotted cream.

To make sure we have no excuses for not taking part, all the ingredients and utensils required will be listed on www.channel4.com/food.

And of course, you're not going to be the only one sweating and panicking in the kitchen. Gordon will be joined by a celebrity guest, who will serve up their creations to seven lucky diners in front of a studio audience.

If the first edition of this new series whets your appetite for more cooking, then stay tuned, as subsequent editions feature all manner of themes, including Seventies Night, Gordon's Curry night, how to make a three-course meal for under a tenner and, of course, a seasonal special as we hurtle toward Christmas.

It's the latest programme from Channel 4 that is urging us to get into our kitchens and cook our own food. While Jamie Oliver tries to prise takeaway menus from our hands by showing us how to cook meatballs, Ramsay wants the nation to experiment with slightly more elegant dishes.

There's a good chance he won't come across as kind Uncle Gordon in this show, given his reputation for being foul-mouthed and fiery but you have to admire the man's passion.