We chatted with London-based chef Nina Parker about everything food, from her favourite recipes to the ingredients she can’t live without.
You might have followed one of her cook-alongs on Instagram, read her columns or bought her previews books, but London-based chef Nina Parker doesn’t stop and she is out with a new cookbook, even saucier than the ones she published before.
Saucy, that came out the 18th of November, is all about what makes food really taste good, sauces. Quick and easy recipes from around the world, designed to spice up your lockdown meals.
To celebrate her new book, we asked Nina a few questions about her biggest love: food.
What type of chef are you?
An adventurous chef?! I’m part plant-based, part pastry and part a condiments chef?! I love dishes to have a lot of colour and texture and to be relatively healthy. It all has to be delicious of course! I think I’m always changing depending on which cuisine I’m exploring.
How would you describe your cooking style?
Modern, rustic, fusion.
What do you want people to feel when they make one of your recipes/eat your food?
I want people to feel like they can make incredible veggie food that is filled with flavour. I want it to feel like normal delicious food and nothing strange or uninviting as I think sometimes people assume plant-based means tasteless or dry. I also hope that some recipes will transport people to somewhere exotic.
What’s your favourite recipe in your new book? Why?
I think it has to be my chilli oil because this is the recipe that sparked the idea of the book. The idea that if you have one great sauce, you can create many different healthy meals. This is what I look for with everyday eating. I want to feel good but it has to be yummy.
If you had to cook something for yourself, at home, what would you cook?
For lunches, I always go quite veg heavy, lots of seeds, nuts, etc. with a tahini dressing for example. For dinner, I’m often making rice bowls or brown rice pasta with again more veggies. If I have a chilli oil or chilli sambal to hand then these will be drizzled on top. I work from home a lot so I am definitely in the habit of making an effort at least when I’m not going out. It makes such a difference to the way I feel and my energy levels which is a big incentive.
3 ingredients you can’t live without?
Lime, sesame oil and white miso.
What is the one dish that you think encapsulates your ideal food experience?
Any meals I have had on the Amalfi Coast or in the South of France remind me of the good times. If I had to pick one memorable experience, it would be with my Polish grandmother eating prawns and crème brulée in a Port Grimaud restaurant called La Table du Mareyeur which is located 10 minutes from St Tropez. We used to go for lunches at this waterside seafood restaurant every summer and she introduced me to some of the more indulgent foodie flavours. We always used to split the crème brulée evenly down the middle and the crack of the caramel always takes me back to that.
What’s your food-related guilty pleasure?
Crisps every time! I have been known to nail a big bag while talking to someone at a house party. I’m half proud, half disgusted about it.
A chef/restaurant experience that surprised you?
I was blown away by the food at Bubala in Shoreditch. So delicious, imaginative and all vegetarian.
What would you have been if you weren’t a cook?
In my dreams, a pro tennis player. It’s my other great obsession.
