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A fun Q&A with the much-loved Irish chef and author with Clodagh McKenna
When are you happiest?
In our newly restored walled-garden planting vegetables.
What’s your most treasured possession?
My notebook that I write ideas for recipes, gardening and everything that I am passionate about.
What excites you most about your work?
Creating new recipes and encouraging people to cook more.
Past, present or future, who are the five people you’d invite to dinner, made by you?
• My boyfriend Harry Herbert (of course!)
• Tina Turner
• Dalai lama
• Chief Sitting Bull
• Clint Eastwood
Do you have any advice for someone who wants to become a chef ?
Connect with farmers and food producers in your area.
How would your friends describe you in three words?
Energetic, fun and passionate.
A film you’d watch again tonight?
The Bridges of Madison County.
What living person do you most admire?
It’s not one specific person, it would be farmers and fishermen, in general.
You’re on Death Row, what’s your last meal?
Irish oysters and Irish farmhouse cheeses.
How did you get into cooking?
I have always loved cooking, but it was when I was spending my summers in France with a french family that my passion grew.
What is the most important lesson cooking has taught you?
Not to waste leftovers!
When did you know you wanted to be a chef ?
About a week after I started the three-month cookery course in Ballymaloe.
What quote do you live by?
Life isn’t a dress rehearsal!
What is the best part of your job?
Cooking!
How do you stay inspired?
It’s easy, I love eating.
What did you have for dinner last night?
A Wagu beef burger – the meat was given to us by a farmer in Montana (cousin of my boyfriend Harry). We are in Wyoming at the moment! Butter – I couldn’t live without Irish butter.
If you weren’t a chef what would you be?
A dancer. A soufflé.
What is the bravest thing you’ve ever done?
Being dropped from a helicopter onto a boat in the Irish sea during a storm – it was for TV and terrifying!