Delia's Thai chicken with lime and coconut

Judging by the interested shoppers gathered around the end cap in Waitrose where all the ingredients could handily be found, a good number of households sampled Delia Smith's Thai Chicken over the weekend.

Heavily promoted on TV, the ingredients were well discounted so the recipe  costs just £2.30 per serving.

Thai cooking is regarded with great suspicion by J who is a traditional meat and two veg man. So I didn't tell him what I was preparing and served it up as a fait accompli. He actually liked it! Although he is heavily prejudiced by the words "Delia Smith" and "Waitrose". I have found that Nigella simply doesn't have the same effect.

My observations from cooking the recipe are:

• The juice of two limes is quite plentiful, and if anything the recipe was a little "wet," so I would only use the juice of one next time
• The coconut flavour was more elusive than the lime flavour. J said he couldn't taste coconut at all. I was expecting the sauce to be a bit thicker.
• Delia's method for cooking rice was flawless and worked perfectly. Measure out 150ml rice in a measuring jug (for two), pour into a small frying pan with a lid and add 300ml boiling water and a pinch of salt. Stir once, then put the lid on and barely simmer for 10 minutes. The liquid had been absorbed by then and so I placed a teatowel over the top (having taken it off the heat!) to keep the rice warm. If the liquid hasn't disappeared, Delia advises increasing the heat for a minute.

This campaign is great marketing from Waitrose. The recipe is pretty fool proof but looks impressive, and the average Waitrose shopper likes to cook from scratch when he / she has enough time. The fact that the chicken is reduced in price to £2.89 from £4.33 is a pleasant surprise because Waitrose has only recently started competing in price against the other supermarkets. Its profits were buoyant last year and put down to the successful Essentials range.

93/365: Delia's roast chicken with grapes, Riesling and tarragon

I'm not a very adventurous cook, mainly because J is a traditional meat and two veg man. In the past when I have made boeuf bourguignon or coq au vin, he has sniffed at it suspiciously and groaned "not stew".

But he seemed very impressed by the Waitrose ad where Delia Smith makes roast chicken with grapes, Riesling and tarragon. Find the recipe here. Yesterday I told him I'd bought all the ingredients, and somewhat touchingly he said "Did you go to Waitrose then?" I don't think they have a monopoly on chickens, Riesling or tarragon.

So today the dish was served. I have to say, Delia is right about roasting a chicken quickly, although the smoke was tedious and the mess in the oven is a sight to behold.

But the grapes didn't seem to add anything, although the sauce was creamy and rich enough.

I had to admit that really my ordinary old roast chicken is just as good.

The Waitrose ads are a master stroke though. Last year Waitrose, thanks to its Essentials range, became the fastest growing grocer in the UK which is good going in these recessionary times. I think they could have saved money by losing Heston Blumenthal. To me, he epitomises Emperor's New Clothes. I've been to the Fat Duck twice and had the tasting menu, and the first time it's all "mmm, smokey bacon ice-cream, interesting!" but the second time you start to yearn for some top quality produce cooked simply. But, somewhere along the line, the pretentious few have lauded Heston and El Bulli for their use of canned nitrogen and E numbers. Give me Delia over foul mouthed Ramsay and dull Heston any day.