Cooking smarter

WITH HER NEW COOKBOOK, SAM PARISH PUTS FLAVOUR FIRST – AND EFFORT LAST

Chef, food writer and stylist Sam Parish’s effervescent, down-toearth personality shines through every page of her new cookbook. Cook Me, out this month, is every bit the pragmatic, upbeat flavour saviour its to-the-point title infers.

From her ice-cube pesto, rapped to the tune of Vanilla Ice’s ’90s cult hit, Ice Ice Baby (“Alright STOP, pesto and listen; Sam is back with a brand new invention…”), to her flavour-jammed ‘samwiches’, hackstyle snacks and longer-game flexes, all ’90 recipes live and breathe Sam’s minimum fuss for maximum flavour food ethos.

“I start most recipes with a hunger-driven inspiration for that tip-of-the-tongue can-almost-tasteit sort of hunch of a dish. Makes sense right?” Parish says in her signature idiomatic style.

“There’s not a single recipe in this book that doesn’t hit the mark in flavour, and that doesn’t have a trick up its sleeve to get it to the table ASAP.”

No stranger to commercial kitchens or to the world of food publishing, Parish has clocked up time in the Australian Women’s Weekly test kitchens, on the delicious. food team, and on the set of numerous TV shows.

With her first cookbook, she’s on a mission to help home cooks “spice things up, jazz things up, veg things up and use things up”.

As for why she’s rapping her recipe intros to ’90s hip-hop anthems, the mum of one says it all comes back to being approachable to get more people in the kitchen; each recipe is even given an effort rating out of five.

“I wanted to set a casualness of sorts to grant confidence to readers and cooks in their kitchens but also keep things real. I am always striving for flavour and recipes that are achievable at home. No smoke and mirrors – this book is literally how I cook.”

Delivering 30 recipes in three uncomplicated ways gives readers the freedom to choose their own adventure based on their lifestyle and the seasons: think cauli carbonara, lamb skewers with peanut butter baba ganoush, beerbatter fish burgers, and a decadent cheesecake-misu that’s been built on a base of Tim Tams. “Because at the end of the day, we cook to eat, but we should never forget to make it tasty,” Parish says. All recipes and images taken from Cook Me by Sam Parish. Published by Koa Press. Available now in all good bookstores nationwide