nigella lawson's early career was as a journalist critiquing books and food.lty pleasure. and i always say, look the one thing you should never feel guilty about is pleasure. you should feel guilty if you fail to take pleasure. this is a risotto. i do it with squash. this is just going to be roasted. onions. barley. some white wine, sherry, anything. some vegetable brooth. this cooks and it needs about 30 minutes. when i was a child, we didn't have huge presents that people get now. we would get -- we would get a christmas stocking and it would be mostly filled with a few paper dolls that you dressed by putting little tags on and foil-covered chocolate coins. but we used to get a pomegranet. we would be getting out the seeds with a hair grip and eating it all morning. the barley is done. so, this is half the squash. and it's been whizzed up in a blender with half the marscapone. and the cooked cubes of unpeeled squash. it's a beautiful color. and that just feeds everyone. it's just so cozy and welcoming. i think so many women deny themselves pleasure in food w

. >> reporter: cook book writer and food network star nigella lawson prefers cherry. >> i want the driedd everything with scissors. >> reporter: her recipe from start to steamer can be mixed up in minutes. >> just put the water to here and let it boil away very merrily. >> reporter: she disdains the moral superiority of pudding purists who dutifully make theirs weeks in advance. >> i'm always doing it slightly at the last minute but actually it doesn't matter. >> reporter: does it taste different if you do it at the last minute? >> i think as long as you steam the christmas pudding for long enough-- and it's always depressing to read a recipe that says five hours-- but actually you're not doing anything. >> reporter: there's the old saying the proof of the pud ing is is in the eating. but a pretty high proof is being poured on it. so maybe it's in the flaming. >> i have a fire extinguisher there. >> reporter: i'm convinced that the real reason that the english likes the christmas pudding is the flaming because it brings out the pyromaniac. >> you're right. my mother would come in triumph