TV's Cookalong has me playing catch-up

It's Hell's Kitchen for Women's Editor

in her cookalong with Gordon Ramsay

"Stay with me, you can do it," yells Gordon Ramsay from the television screen into homes across the nation.

"Slow down!," I scream back at the box, as just minutes into the first of his new series of Cookalong's I feel like I'm in Hell's Kitchen.

I could also be a star in Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares or even The F Word - judging by the bad language coming not just from the mouth of the celebrity chef but his star guest, singer and actress Patsy Kensit.

Yes, you will probably gather I didn't have the best starts to last night's Cookalong.

The new series, which follows the success of a cookalong special earlier this year, shows viewers how to cook a three-course meal live on TV.

Last night's menu featured warm goat's cheese starter, salmon en croute with herbed new potatoes and broccoli followed by a caramelised rhubarb and ginger crumble. It doesn't sound too complicated, I thought, as I laid out may ingredients and utensils just moments before the show began. But who was I kidding? It this was a race, Gordon won hands down.

He catches me well off guard when he starts the show by announcing we are starting with the main - as there's me with lettuce and walnuts in hand raring to go with the stater. But of course it makes sense to crack on with the salmon bearing in mind the cooking times. So I quickly throw to one side to concentrate on the main.

Thankfully I have a TV in the kitchen but I have to admit I'm listening to it more than I'm watching as there's little time to focus on anything but the meal.

Gordon and guest Patsy seem to have wrapped the salmon up in pastry while I'm still making the herb butter mix for it. I quickly roll out the pastry spread the butter on the salmon fillets, sandwich them together and wrap them in the pastry.

My pastry doesn't look great but there's no time to do it again so I whip it into the oven before starting on the starter.

I have to say this must be one of the few shows that you are really grateful for the ad breaks.

Minutes later it's on with the starter, which seemed so easy, until my goat's cheese started to melt a bit too quickly in the oven. Thankfully I salvage it, layer it on the salad and in the end, while not looking anything near Gordon's, it will do as far as I'm concerned. And if they say the test is in the tasting, while it was yummy even if I do say so myself.

So while munching on the starter I continue with the main. Potatoes on the boil, check. Brocolli on the boil, check. Salmon almost cooked, check. Of course Gordon has already dished up while I'm still waiting for my potatoes to cook. Thankfully I don't have to wait too long to dish up. As I pull out the salmon from the oven and plate up, I see he is actually serving up dessert. I've missed all the pudding recipe - but I was always going to struggle on that as I failed to get hold of any rhubarb in the supermarkets.

At that point I'd had enough and I throw in the towel, hot, exhausted and hungry. It was 10pm after all. And while my pastry looked a bit too thick, thankfully it tasted fine as did the potatoes and brocolli.

I sit down to eat with a glass of wine - and as I look up I gasp in horror at the state of my kitchen which looks like its been hit by a hurricane. My kitchen nightmare is over but next time Gordon please slow down - or give us aspiring cooks more time to keep up.