Ainsley Harriott on his Mediterranean adventure
Mediterranean holds a place in chef’s heart but he still loves his local Indian
Ainsley Harriott is one of TV’S most popular chefs – and most enthusiastic. His latest adventure has taken him across southern Europe, northern Africa and the Middle East for his book, Ainsley’s Mediterranean Cookbook. It’s full of classic recipes and some twists, but in true Harriott style, all approachable and achievable.
We quizzed him on all things foodie...
Your death row meal would be…
My mum’s red bean stew and dumplings. It was so rich that
I was hungry, I’d be farting like a trooper.
You still can’t make…
I’m not fantastic with pastry – my hands are too big. Aldo my old pastry chef, was fantastic, and what tiny little hands he had, because great pastry chefs, have very small hands. Why? Because we’ve got too much blood, it’s too warm to make pastry or to do fondant icing and stuff like that. You need very delicate fingers.
Your favourite store cupboard essential is…
A good olive oil is just great and I’m quite into chilli flakes at the moment. My daughter comes over for brunch most weekends when we go to the football [he’s a longtime Arsenal supporter] and her favourite thing in the world, which I do with a hint of garlic and a squeeze of lemon and some chilli flakes, is toast with poached eggs.
Your late night snack of choice is…
I do like a bit of bread and cheese late at night. I’ll tell you a secret, at the moment I’m into the old Manchego with a bit of brown toasted sourdough and I like a little spread of honey on it. You know, late night you need a bit of sweetness, especially when my girlfriend’s down. If it’s just all cheese I won’t get a snog, but if it’s honey!
You like your eggs…
Poached. A soft poached egg, because the kids are going through that brunchy moment. For me, if you’re going to fry an egg you need to fry it properly, there needs to be foaming butter going on there.
Last night you ate…
I had some tuna, I went to pilates yesterday and where I live in south London is a fish stall and Barry [on the stall] gave me this fantastic bit of tuna. Waitrose do chickpea with quinoa and lentils, a little pack. I grate a bit of lemon zest into it and a bit of pepper and you heat it up in the microwave – because it was a rush and I was watching football. I peppered the tuna – two minutes, turn it over, switch off the heat, residual heat is enough – and I had that sat on the top. And it was lovely because I felt very light afterwards. The best hangover cure is…
A Bloody Mary!
Your takeaway of choice is…
Holy Cow, it’s an Indian restaurant. But on a Wednesday night when my son comes over after five-a-side football, it’s a gourmet burger with a butterscotch or banana milkshake.
You can’t stomach…
Funnily enough cucumber is 97% water but whatever enzyme is in there, it gives me the worst headache, so I can’t really stomach that.
But the thing I really can’t stomach is food waste. Don’t overfill my plate – let’s get back to putting food on the table and letting people help themselves because there’s no excuse. I was at a do at the Savoy Hotel, and the amount of people who left stuff on their plates… I hate that waste – and you can imagine that going in the incinerator, that’s not going to feed anybody.
At home a lot of the time it’s just me and the dog Bobby [his partner lives in Chester] so if there’s any waste, there’s always Bobby! There’s very little waste. There might be a spoonful of mash but if there’s two spoonfuls of mash it normally goes in the fridge and I’ll make a potato cake with a fried egg on top of it.
One of the biggest problems we have in this world is food waste.