Karen’s thoughts on cooking and eating...
What’s important when you think about food?
I learnt so much while I was training to be a chef but the most crucial lesson came from my grandmother, meme. I visited her to learn some of her amazing Tunisian dishes and there I was, madly asking questions, taking notes. She said, ‘There’s one more important ingredient that goes into everything…’ I had my head down, pen poised, waiting. ‘Stop writing!’ she said. ‘It’s love, love, you must cook with love.’ That’s stayed with me. For me, cooking is a convivial, giving affair, relaxed and not too formal, a way to share joy as well as great flavours.
Do you eat differently through the year?
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Karen’s thoughts on cooking and eating...
What’s important when you think about food?
I learnt so much while I was training to be a chef but the most crucial lesson came from my grandmother, meme. I visited her to learn some of her amazing Tunisian dishes and there I was, madly asking questions, taking notes. She said, ‘There’s one more important ingredient that goes into everything…’ I had my head down, pen poised, waiting. ‘Stop writing!’ she said. ‘It’s love, love, you must cook with love.’ That’s stayed with me. For me, cooking is a convivial, giving affair, relaxed and not too formal, a way to share joy as well as great flavours.
Do you eat differently through the year?
Absolutely. The seasons are the bedrock of everything I cook. You can get tomatoes in July but why would you want to? They taste so much better in summer. You could cook a lamb and barley soup in summer but what’s the point? It’s not what our bodies need in hot weather. Cooking with the seasons means eating produce that’s at its best – and cheapest – and developing a wide repertoire that keeps cooks and eaters interested and sustained right through the year.
How do you decide what to make for dinner?
I’m motivated by how I’m feeling, and that’s related to the season and the weather on the day. Is it soup weather? A perfect barbecue night? Think about who you’re feeding and ask yourself what you haven’t eaten for a while. Fish? Barley? Do a mental scan of your pantry and fridge. Do you have a bag of oranges? Six figs? Match a few of those things with an ingredient or idea: it might be ‘soup’ or ‘lamb’ or ‘lentils and lemon’ and suddenly you’re inspired.
Do you always plan ahead?
No! Even though I know being organised helps you make better food I am often standing in the kitchen at 6.30pm, fridge open, pantry open, wondering what’s for dinner. I don’t always have curry paste or soup in the freezer and I certainly don’t remember to soak beans the night before! But I’ve come up with some good ideas out of desperation, like my cupboard special of tinned cannellini beans, thrown in a roasting pan: the skins peel back and go all crispy. And I’ve proven a thousand times that you can make a meal out of nothing. I’ve got my fallbacks: olives, capers, lemon, garlic, pasta, oil, tins of pulses, Tabasco, tuna, an onion kicking around somewhere, and cheese of some type. My Asian fallback is to have lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal and shrimp paste in the freezer and coconut milk in the cupboard. Then, if I want an Asian meal, I’ve only got to pick up chicken and greens, say, not head out with a shopping list as long as my arm.
What’s your motivation for sharing your recipes?
The recipes on this website, and those in my books and magazine columns, are all extensions of me. I want to expand people’s repertoires, introduce dishes that are tempting and achievable, share tips and techniques and generally help people get the same pleasure out of cooking that I do. Sometimes people ask me to sign one of my books and they bring it up apologetically because it’s got a burnt cover or some of the pages are splashed and stuck together. But I love that! It’s fantastic. It makes me feel like I’m doing my job.
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