Editor’s letter: from the desk of Michele Crawshaw
Annabel Langbein has been a star guest at many of our family gatherings. She was with us at Christmas, at our New Year’s Eve get-together with friends; she was there throughout summer and winter, and even made an appearance at our recent election-night do.
And she’s a popular regular at our weekly family Sunday dinners.
I’d love to say she’s actually sitting around our table, telling us tales of her travels and favourite dishes, and sharing her food inspiration. But so far it’s only her dishes – and one in particular – that are the star at our table.
I’ve been an Annabel fan since a good friend introduced me to one of her earliest cookbooks, Assemble, a few years ago. I was babysitting my friend’s children one night and trawled through her expansive collection of cookbooks but only made it through a few before she and her husband arrived home.
“You MUST take this one home!” she insisted, thrusting a copy of Assemble in my hands as I left.
I did and it became a favourite. While I have a rather large (my husband would say too large!) collection of cookbooks, I spend more time flicking through them than I do cooking from them. I’m one of those people who loves spending time in the kitchen but tends to cook from the same repertoire of dishes week after week.
With Assemble, though, I felt inspired to add a few more dishes to the list. And it’s been the same way with each of Annabel’s consecutive books.
Bang Bang Chicken Salad (think poached chicken, mint leaves, salad leaves, roasted peanuts and the best-ever satay sauce) is the ultimate Annabel favourite in our house and I’m glad it made the cut in her latest tome, Essential, which features 650 of the 10,000 or so recipes she estimates she has written over the past two decades.
She sat down with our writer Suzanne McFadden this month to talk about the life-changing accident that led her to her food career.
In an exclusive interview, she reveals for the first time how doctors told her she was unlikely to walk again, and the excruciating road to recovery.
Now in one of the happiest periods of her life, Annabel says she is constantly reminded of what is important and to never take life for granted.
A nice reminder for us all...