Delia: Watch Delia Smith Cheat On BBC Two!

It’s been six years, but Delia Smith is back on our screens with a new series. This time she breaks a few of the rules she herself created to explore a new way of cooking which tackles, head on, one of the realities of 21st-century cooking – ready-made ingredients.

Tonight’s episode puts the humble potato under the spotlight. Forget peeling and scrubbing – frozen mash can do the hard work for much-loved favourites such as shepherd’s pie and fish pie, plus a chilled summer soup. Frozen rosti are used in an easy-to-make loaf of bread. And a more adventurous Peruvian dish, Patatas Arequipo, is made with oven-ready potato wedges.

With the cooking done, there’s time for Delia to focus on her other passions. For the first time, viewers get to know more about her than ever before as the cameras get a glimpse of Delia’s world beyond the kitchen and discover how family, faith and football play a big part in her life.

Viewers also see cook, TV presenter and food writer Nigel Slater pop by for a visit. He gives his seal of approval on Delia’s cut-the-corners approach saying: “There’s something quite naughty, in a way, about what Delia is doing and I feel as if maybe she is giving a few people permission, ‘it’s okay to do this, it’s okay to take these short cuts’ but the magic of it is we are still cooking. We are taking short cuts and Delia is encouraging us to take short cuts, but we are still having the pleasure of stirring something on the cooker, so yes I think there is a certain amount of permission from headmistress.”

Monday 10 March
8.30-9.00pm BBC TWO