Anna, nice to meet you! congratulations on your recent book Love Vegetables, tell us a bit more about that project.
Thank you! And congratulations on producing such delicious pasta. I’m a huge fan!
Love Vegetables was a twinkle in my eye for years before it took its eventual form. About 10 years ago, I started testing and developing recipes for other chefs and cookbooks, and since then have ghostwritten a few books, so I had a good understanding of the process of writing a cookbook, and it was something I’d wanted to do since I was genuinely 14 years old. I’d been working on a book proposal in the background of my other work for about 4 years before my publishers White Lion helped to shape Love Vegetables with me. I wanted to write a book about how vegetables are much more versatile and delicious than we give them credit for; we all know we should be eating more of them, but lots of us don’t have the tools to make them as enjoyable as they can be, and plenty of us have had a bad experience with a cabbage or beetroot that has put us off for years. My mission with the book was to reframe peoples’ relationship with vegetables into something wholly more fun and positive.
You're based in Bristol which is quite a hub for foodies, has it always been home?
Bristol is great, and I love being here more every year. I moved about 7 years ago to live with my boyfriend Dan, who never would have moved to London where I’d been since university. Before that I spent a year in Paris to learn French and eat Soupe à l'Oignon with plenty of Comte on melted on top. A lot of people are surprised though when I tell them that I spent my childhood in the US between Georgia and Connecticut on the East coast. I’m still very partial to an ice cream Sundae.
We're coming into Autumn, what do you love to cook at this time of year?
This is absolutely the time when I feel extra lucky to do what I do because I think we’re all drawn to spend more time in the kitchen at this stage in the year.
Testing recipes for work means that I’m often working a few months ahead of where we are (this week I was doing some lovely Valentine’s recipes for a job which will come out in Jan/Feb), but when I’m cooking for pleasure or my family it’s things like roasted squash, hazelnuts and brittle fried sage leaves tossed through Pappardelle, or soupy beans with wilted greens. I have a 2 and a half year old who is just getting into cooking (so long as it takes less than 3 minutes, so we’ve started making spiced shortbread together on cooler evenings, instead of going to the park which is so fun and messy.
What's your favourite pasta dish to enjoy on the sofa?
I probably cook pasta 2-3 times a week for dinner, but the ultimate comfort sofa pasta is my One Pan Pepper and Black Olive Rigatoni. It’s layered with texture and little pops of savouriness from fried almonds and olives. It also happens to be a good store cupboard go-to because it’s made with jarred peppers and tomato puree.
Finally, any places, faces, podcasts or other you'd like to shout out?
Reg the Veg in Bristol is a brilliant green-grocers. I go once or twice a week even though it’s across town from me. I use Halen Môn sea salt to season all my food, because it’s the world’s best sea salt and you really can taste the difference. I’m excited to try Briar, Sam Lomas’s new restaurant in Bruton. I’m listening to Ruthie’s Table 4 podcast from Ruth Rogers of The River Cafe. It’s a window into another world and the restaurant I’d most like to eat at, but never have.
