We want to always make sure we do food you can cook at home
Top culinary couple John Torode and Lisa Faulkner are back with some easy-to-cook dishes. JANE HAASE finds out about their favourite comfort food and plans for Christmas
IF you want a feast of food inspiration, John Torode and Lisa Faulkner serve up plenty of simple supper ideas in their latest series of John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen.
Chef and Masterchef judge John met actress Lisa on the celebrity version of the show 10 years ago, when she won the top prize. And the pair married in 2019.
As well as cooking some hearty comfort food, John, 56, and Lisa, 49. will also be getting ready for Christmas and have a line up of irresistible ideas for the festive season.
Here the pair tell us about working together and their Christmas plans.
You both have such busy schedules – how does it feel to be working together again?
L: I love working with John, it’s great. Our schedules have been really busy, so it’s been nice to actually see him.
J: We always want to make sure we do food that people can cook at home, and the idea of this series is that we’re there in your home and just trying to help you through when it’s getting a bit cold, you’re feeling a bit down, and Christmas may feel a little bit too much of a burden.
And it’s brilliant! I love working with Lisa.
How do you continue to come up with fresh ideas? Does it ever feel like work?
J: Never! I have to say I am really, really lucky. The way that this is filmed is that we actually go into the studio, the cameras roll and we cook the recipe all the way through as if we were cooking at home. We don’t stop and start, we don’t change direction, we just cook the recipe! L: We’re lucky in the fact that we love food, so we’re constantly thinking of ideas. We could be watching a film and think, ‘Oh that could be good’.
Do you ever disagree over ideas?
L: Yeah. John will often say something like, ‘I think we should cook quail, they’re really easy to cook and nobody cooks them really’ and I’m like, ‘No’ [Laughs]. Our viewers wouldn’t be bothered about a quail. I feel like I’m the ‘mum viewer’ person and he’s the chef – obviously he is, but sometimes he can be ambitious with his ideas.
Have yours and other people’s eating habits changed since the pandemic?
L: Not really, apart from the fact we couldn’t eat out, but we’ve always cooked a lot at home and from scratch. During the pandemic, we cooked every day and made a daily video, so our eating habits didn’t change at all, but it’s lovely to go back into restaurants.
The entertainment and hospitality industry suffered during the pandemic. Do you feel lucky you had stuff to keep you busy?
L: We were lucky as we did two series of the show. We also cooked for free on Instagram – we made videos to keep ourselves sane and to give people entertainment.
J: On the first day of lockdown, Lisa said, ‘I can’t do nothing.’ And she was the one who instigated doing the videos on Instagram every single day. We did 75 videos, back to back for all those weeks and it was the thing that saved us, really. I think it saved us mentally…
This series focuses on comfort foods. What do you enjoy most about the winter?
J: As an Aussie, we didn’t really have seasons, so I really appreciate them. The best seafood is in winter – amazing scallops and beautiful prawns – the water’s cold, amazing fish like sea bass and turbot and cod and smoked haddock and all those sorts of things are great this time of year. Smoked haddock chowder – that’s wintery, warming deliciousness!
L: I’m not very good with winter, I don’t enjoy it much. I can’t handle the light going and the darker nights. I try to embrace it and go, ‘Lovely slow-cooking recipes’. I’ll light all my candles and sit in my pyjamas. And that does work – I’m very good at getting myself out of that darkness, but it is really not my favourite time of year.
What’s your go-to easy comfort food that you and your family enjoy most?
L: Mac and cheese – I just love it. My daughter loves it. You can pimp it up with bacon, chorizo, leeks, tomatoes and breadcrumbs on top and it can be a whole meal.
Are you looking forward to this festive season?
L: Yes, much more than last year – last year was so depressing. John and I had a lovely Christmas, but it was just me and him because of being a blended family – we have our kids one year and not the next. Usually we’d go away or do something different, but we couldn’t because of the lockdown. We’d planned to see the family but that all changed. So it will be lovely to be able to have all our family round and make Christmas dinner.
J: I’m looking forward to presents as always! We always have a big Christmas and this Christmas we have all the children so hopefully there won’t be any restrictions and we can have everybody together.
Who makes the Christmas dinner?
L: We both do. We get up and cook and laugh. John will have champagne and I’ll have a glass of wine. We’ll put Christmas music on and we love it – we’re in our happy place.
What is the food or drink that means Christmas to you?
L: Stuffing – John makes amazing stuffing and that means Christmas. In November, I make mincemeat, Christmas puddings and Christmas cake for my dad and one for us. The smell of Christmas cake means Christmas to me also.
J: Bread sauce and stuffing for me.
What’s on your Christmas list this year?
L: On my Christmas list will always be a new pair of pyjamas.
J: I’ve almost finished my Christmas shopping! I always put bows around my presents each Christmas, and I always attach a bauble too. Everybody gets a bauble on their present! I do it so my children will have a collection of baubles over the years that they will then have of their own when they leave home.
John & Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen is on Saturdays, ITV at 11.40am