Do you have a secret to making a great Christmas pudding or cake?
Preparing them well in advance. We always make the pudding and cake in August. Jane Scotter from Fern Verrow gave me her Christmas cake recipe about a decade ago and it is the best recipe ever. Both need time to develop in flavour and Christmas cake should be fed periodically with brandy. It is worth using the best quality ingredients you can afford, as it really affects the final flavour - that applies to anything you cook.
What does cooking at Christmas mean for you?
If I am back home in Australia, we tend to do an Australian variation - generally fish on the barbecue, lots of cooling salads (as a family, we still always glaze a ham), then pavlova and a box of mangoes and cherries over ice, as both are in peak season at that time of year. If I am in the UK, I usually spend it with close friends, so I go with whatever they want to cook and try to be as helpful in the kitchen as I can. Last year, I was the designated potato peeler and cutter; I had to make sure that there were lots of sharp edges to crisp up. I do love a good Christmas pudding with lashings of brandy butter and almost look forward to it all year.
What kitchenware do you use most at home?
I deliberately don't fill my kitchen with lots of gadgets - it is nice to separate work and home life. To be honest, I cook only incredibly simple things at home: hearty soups and slow-cooked dishes in the winter and simple salads in the summer. I love good wooden chopping boards, a gritty stone pestle and mortar, and a wooden salad bowl that will improve with age. I think almost any kitchen benefits from having a food processor, as there are a million things you can make with them. Finally, I'm a huge fan of Victorinox serrated knives; they are a staple and reasonably priced.
Where do you find good edible Christmas gifts?
Every year, I buy a box of candied chestnuts from Pietro Romanengo fu Stefano, a beautiful Italian confectioner based in Genoa. They are the best I've ever tasted, still full of the texture and the sweetness of the chestnut itself but not too sweet and almost powdery (in a good way). Pietro Romanengo offers a small selection of traditional Italian confectionery, which can be bought online. I also like to buy panettone from Marches 1824 on Mount Street. WI; it is expensive but worth it. I often give olive oil as a present. I'm a big fan of the extra-virgin olive oil from Two Fields, a Greek social regenerative project that works with local farmers in Crete.
If you're not cooking and want to eat out, where do you like to go at the moment?
I'm loving Mountain, Tomos Parry's restaurant on Beak Street, WI, and I have always loved Lyle's, on Shoreditch High Street, El.
Are there any cooking-themed TV shows you will be watching over Christmas?
I'm obsessed with The Bear on Disney+. So many people have said to me they find it too stressful to watch. But it is exquisitely well researched and there are so many references I think you could miss if you are not in the restaurant world. It shows the drive, the exhaustion and the beauty of building something as a team. I also find the personal stories so moving.
Can you recommend a cookbook to give to someone for Christmas?
My favourite is The Zuni Cafe Cookbook by Judy Rodgers. I come back to it time and time again; it's a book for people who care about technique and precision. Honey from a Weed by Patience Gray is a very beautiful book whether or not you cook, as are Richard Olney's Simple French Food and Cuisine of the Sun by Roger Verge. I don't often buy new cookbooks: I go back to old friends.
Where are your favourite markets in the UK?
I love Spa Terminus, SE16 if I have a free Saturday, or Marylebone Farmers Market, WI, on Sunday. But my all-time favourite is the produce sale we have on the first and third Saturday of every month at Heckfield Home Farm. We have a five-acre biodynamic market garden, an orchard of 400 trees (with apple, plum, quince and mulberry) and a dairy. So it is authentic and it's low key
