Nadia and Kaye. The chef – and the disaster!
Loose Women pals Nadia and Kaye have created a hilarious cookbook, Disaster Chef, that literally anyone can use – just ask Kaye…
‘I didn’t really like Nadia when I met her’ Kaye
Nadia Sawalha is a super-chef, but Kaye Adams can barely boil water - and she’d be the first to admit that. But the two best pals and Loose
Women panellists have joined forces to write a cookbook that will throw a lifeline to even the most culinarily challenged among us…
Kaye, congratulations on Disaster Chef – it’s really good fun!
Thank you! I hope our sense of humour comes across, but it is also a genuine attempt to help people like me who have no confidence in the kitchen.
So, it’s not haute cuisine?
Not at all! This is a practical guide to help busy people to get tea on the table, and make something special at the weekend. If a klutz like me can do it, then anyone can.
Are you really that bad at cooking?
I’m a bit of a disaster and have been a total disaster! But the point is, I’m getting better.
What’s been your worst disaster?
There are so many. I remember a salmon and leek filo pie – it was burnt, and looked like something someone had scraped off the pavement splattered over a car tyre.
You include some basic stuff, such as how to boil an egg, don’t you?
We did agonise over that section, but it’s incredible what people like me don’t know. I must have made mashed potato countless times, but it was like Russian roulette – sometimes it was fabulous, sometimes awful. I could never work out why, but it’s about drying the potatoes, draining them properly.
Didn’t you learn to cook when you were young?
My mum, wonderful woman that she is, was a dreadful cook. She was ahead of her time, working full-time and setting up a business. I’m incredibly proud of her, but the stove wasn’t the centre of the house.
How did you manage when you left home?
I learned to make spag bol at university, but you live on crisps. In your 20s, you’re in the pub every night and, after kids, it’s the fishfinger years. This is the first time in my life I’ve had the opportunity to go back to basics.
Did you learn a lot from Nadia?
Well, eventually. Nadia and I didn’t really like each other much when we first met – on the pilot for Loose Women. I thought she was one of those stagey, bohemian people. She was wearing sandals and had rings on her toes – I looked at the face and the feet and thought, ‘She’s not for me.’ But once we got to know each other, we really clicked. We became great friends and shared a flat. I remember Nadia rustling up some amazing hummus. I was dumbfounded, thinking, ‘Surely it just comes in a pot from the supermarket?’ Nadia’s fridge is always groaning with delicious stuff, while mine’s like a nuclear winter – especially the night before a big shop.
But can you cook now?
If I have people round for dinner, I think, ‘I can handle this,’ but I remember that awful, heart-pumping panic of old. I used to pick a book off my shelf and try and make something new – how stupid! Now, I go for a safe bet. So, if you came round to mine, you’d have beetroot and mackerel paté, followed by paella and then marshmallow pavlova. It’d be quite safe, I promise!
‘Kaye’s children look afraid if she’s cooked’ Nadia
Nadia, what were you hoping to achieve with Disaster Chef?
I wanted a book that people would find practical and useful. Some of the recipes are very basic, but I don’t want to patronise people. Well, actually I don’t mind patronising Kay. I quite like it!
How did you get to be such a great chef?
I’m not a chef. I’ve never had a cookery lesson in my life. I’m a home cook. For the Arab side of my family, everything revolved around food. My mum made her own butter, bread, ice cream – I learned so much without trying, whereas Kaye was coming in and making a slice of toast.
So, why do you want to pass on your skills?
Well, I hadn’t really appreciated the kinds of things people don’t know – how to make a cheese sauce, cook rice, grill steak. I was horrified when I realised how bad Kaye was. Her Quorn burgers are literally like something you’d scape off the bottom of your shoe. And she burns everything. She starts roasting some veg, goes off and writes six emails and then wonders why the veg is charred and black. When her children go, ‘Have you cooked, Mum?’ they actually look afraid.
Are you trying to show Kaye up, then?
Not at all! I don’t want anyone to be embarrassed that they can’t cook. Kaye is a very accomplished woman – she has so many skills, it’s just that cooking isn’t one of them. This book isn’t about selling a perfect image.
So what is it about?
Having a laugh while you learn! We made all the food ourselves – wine may have been involved and my husband, Mark, took the pictures – and then we all ate it. I have all the beautiful cookbooks, but I like this one because it’s practical and fun. It’s like a kids’ book for adults. If people use it a lot and it ends up covered in splashes of food, I’ll be delighted.
Do you always get it right?
God, no, I mess stuff up all the time. I made a gin-and-tonic lemon drizzle cake last week, and it curdled. But, I promise, these recipes work. I want people to have a go, glass of wine in hand, and have fun. If Kaye can cook, anyone can!