Food and family first
TV CHEF MIGUEL MAESTRE SHARES A TASTE OF HIS HOME KITCHEN WITH RECIPES CREATED FOR AUSTRALIAN EGGS
Devoted family man and vivacious mile-aminute chef Miguel Maestre has his two passions combine when he cooks with his daughter Claudia. “There’s nothing better than sharing food with family,” he says, describing his 11-year-old as a great cook.
“I just love seeing how much she enjoys it when we cook together,” says Maestre, who also has a seven-yearold son Morgan, with his wife Sascha. “(Claudia has) actually made these amazing fritters for a school function before, and thinks she makes the best scrambled eggs in the family.”
Cooking with Claudia at home on Sydney’s Northern Beaches is one of Maestre’s favourite things to do when he isn’t on the set of Network Ten’s The Living Room.
And while the dynamic is quite different from the odd-couple relationship he shares with colleague Dr Chris Brown – who the Spanish born star affectionately refers to as Gringo – there’s no shortage of laughter and warmth in the Maestre home kitchen.
It’s a case of history repeating for Maestre, whose foodie passion was born as a young boy tugging at his mother’s apron strings in the southeastern Spanish city of Murcia. “I specifically remember a Spanish tortilla my mum used to make for me and my siblings. It was so delicious that if there were any leftovers, we used to look forward to coming home from school and eating them,” he says. Now that he lives on the other side of the world from that homeland in one of Europe’s sunniest cities, Maestre has embraced warming, wintry fare, and is busy getting Claudia up-to-speed with some of his favourites.
“In winter, we love warm comfort food – anything baked or soups are perfect,” he says.
“There’s nothing better than delicious warm baked tomatoes, with a runny egg yolk oozing out to start the day, and ending with a bowl of hot chicken soup.”