Listening to the radio on the weekend a chef came on to talk about using strawberries. She then related the method for making a specific strawberry dessert, describing it as "really dead easy".

Fresh strawberries were hulled and chopped, and placed into a bowl with sugar and water. The bowl was tightly covered with plastic wrap and then placed over a saucepan of barely simmering water. The strawberries were then slowly cooked . . . for 4 - 6 hours.

And this wasn't the end of the cooking. After 4 - 6 hours of simmering, the mixture was strained, to make a consomme. You then made a panna cotta and dessert was finished by placing more fresh strawberries into a small amount of the strawberry "soup", heating these in a microwave and then pouring over the panna cotta.

About 8 hours later your dessert would be ready.

This kind of glib talk around the relative ease or difficulty of cooking drives me crazy. Don't get me wrong, I think this dessert sounds fantastic. It's exactly the kind of thing I'd choose if I was in a restaurant. In fact, having heard the chef describe the process, I'd go to her restaurant just to have that strawberry dessert. I also know people who'd happily take this on as a weekend cooking project. But do not, do not, do not tell me this is easy cooking.