New Zealand cook and food writer Annabel Langbein is on a quest to help Kiwis get pleasure from creating healthy and delicious meals. Her latest book Anyone Can Cook turns a series of food "building blocks", such as simply prepared flavour bases or key ingredients that can be used in several recipes, into meal ideas that are great for beginners and harried homemakers.
We asked her to share some of her tips for making life easier for busy cooks.
What are the five ingredients you always have in your fridge?
Parmesan, pesto, mayonnaise or aioli, curry paste (Charmaine Solomon’s is my preference) and oyster sauce.
What are the five ingredients you always have in your pantry?
Actually there are 10 I would hate to be without; olives, capers, anchovies, lemons, garlic, ginger, onions, sweet chilli sauce, fish sauce and mustard.
What are your five top tips for making entertaining easy?
1. Plan ahead, make lists and do as much as possible ahead of time.
2. Choose foods you like to cook and eat.
3. If you are short on time buy really good quality ready-made foods like pestos and stocks (Essential Cuisine is a good range), so you can fast track your cooking.
4. Design a meal around the seasons. With the freshest quality ingredients your job as a cook is so much easier.
5. Taste everything as you cook and before you serve, so you can feel confident everything you serve will be delicious.
What are your three favourite easy dishes for those nights when everyone is tired and hungry and you don't want to have to think?
1. The roast chicken dinner. Throw a nice free range chicken into the oven with halved onions, potatoes, kumara etc and let the oven do its work for an hour. It’s a no brainer that everyone loves.
2. The stir-fry made with pork mince or chicken mince, Asian flavours of ginger and garlic, soy and chilli. Add loads of seasonal vegetables and cooked udon noodles. Add a can of drained chopped waterchestnuts and some fresh coriander or mint or basil just before serving.
3. The wrap platter. Cook up mince with Mexican spices or taco sauce mix. Serve with warmed soft flour tortillas, salad veges such as grated carrots, shredded lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber etc, grated cheese , sour cream and salsa.
Do you have any tips for getting children to eat healthy, fresh food?
I think not succumbing to the whole industrial food chain is a start. What you put in your cupboard is what people will end up eating, so if the cupboards are stacked with chips and fizzy drink that’s what children will end up eating. Choose snacks such as hummus and carrot sticks, pita crisps or low fat bagel crisps over corn or potato. Kids are often vegetable phobic for several years, so you need to get the goodness in without them knowing. Try grating carrot and pumpkin into mince sauces and into muffins and cakes. And water as a drink is a great choice.
Recipes in Anyone Can Cook suggest using frozen vegetables and fruit. What other "convenience" foods fit into a healthy family food plan?
I am a big fan of canned beans and chick peas, as well as tomatoes and tuna. They can be added to soups, salads and sautés to bulk them out in a way that’s inexpensive and healthy.
If you had to choose just five kitchen utensils to work with, what would they be?
Sharp knife, Microplane grater, wooden spoon, tongs and a sieve.
What are you growing in your kitchen garden this spring?
This year my spring garden is prolific thanks to a late autumn plant. Right now we are eating snow peas, rocket, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, artichokes, coriander, lettuces and rhubarb. There’s a bit of asparagus and the strawberries and broad beans are not far away.
What is the key to being an organized cook?
Having a well organized pantry, making lists and reducing leftovers or using them creatively so there is little or no waste. As a nation we currently collectively throw out 30% of all the food we buy!
You can buy Anyone Can Cook on Annabel's website.
Home