GREEN LIGHT
Healthy, simple recipes get
This super practical book by bestselling author Melissa Hemsley is for everyone who wants to enjoy tasty, healthy food that’s simple and affordable to make.
Melissa’s down-to-earth approach encourages us to cook from scratch while being mindful of life’s pressures and time constraints.
Eat Green encourages reducing our impact on the planet, and includes easy swaps to reinvent leftovers, batch cooking and storing, quick midweek meals that are family friendly and healthy spins on comfort food favourites.
Melissa, and Eat Green, will teach us to be savvy and sustainable in the kitchen, and, at the same time, put something delicious on the table.
I asked her a few questions:
Eat Green doesn’t solely relate to spinach, brussels sprouts and beans. Explain to us a bit about the title of your new cookbook.
Eat Green is packed with delicious, quick, everyday recipes that show you how to eat in a way that’s better for the planet. It’s a relaxed, flexible approach to cooking that will show you how to put a variety of seasonal vegetables at the centre of your plate, how to eat less but better quality meat, fish and dairy (if you choose to eat it at all) and how to cut food waste at home. As well as lots of tips and tricks on having a more sustainable kitchen by way of cutting back on single use plastic, packaging and making your time in the kitchen count. Basically, getting greener in lots of simple ways.
Who is your book aimed at?
It’s for everyone, whether you eat meat, you’re vegetarian, vegan, or something in between. It’s for time-poor cooks who want to get a grasp of how they can get delicious, nourishing food on the table while minimising their impact on the planet. It’s for anyone who might want to learn how to get more seasonal, local, delicious veges onto their plate, or for people who wants to know how to source their meat in a way that’s better for the planet, or for budget-wise cooks who want to cut their food waste.
It’s for families, it’s for couples, it’s for anyone who is cooking for one and would love to see how to make leftovers exciting and cook in a smart way so that every dinner feels special and delicious and not like yesterday’s rollovers.
Tell us three ways we can all cut back on food waste.
Next time you’re cooking, grab a bowl and as you cook, throw in everything that you’d normally put in the bin, from vege scraps to the leftovers at the end of the meal. Could you make stock with those peelings? Could you blitz those extra greens into a lovely pesto or a creamy sauce? Could you make extra and freeze the rest for a rainy day? Get inspired by your fridge, get more flexible with making swaps, start to use your freezer more and take a good look in your bin and see if there’s anything surprising in there!
What is your go-to comfort meal?
I’m a big lover of soup — it’s so nourishing, warming and delicious, and so flexible to whatever you’ve got in the fridge or cupboards. I definitely learned this from my Filipino mum. Often on a Sunday, the fridge was emptied into the soup pot and she always got it to taste delicious. From the time I started cooking for myself, I’ve taken on her waste-free approach, reinventing leftovers, raiding my fridge and seeking out in-season foods.
What recipe from this book are you most likely to serve when entertaining?
The best recipes for feeding a crowd are unfussy, relaxed and with an element of help yourself and pass it along! That’s my favourite way to cook anyway — I don’t like to put too much pressure on myself and I think everyone else enjoys it that way. I love the Chickpea Caprese Salad with Spinach Walnut Pesto. Or the Dosa-style Pancakes and Veg Masala are lovely and great for plonking in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves.
What is the easiest way to make the most of the efforts and energy we put into cooking?
I’m a big fan of batch-cooking
— making double portions or cooking in big batches is brilliantly effective. Divide it up into portions and freeze the extras for those busy midweek evenings when you haven’t got time to cook from scratch.
How can we make the most of a set food budget?
Saving your food from going in the bin is a great way to stick to a budget and make it stretch further. Do this by learning how to cook more from your fridge and cupboards, adapting recipes to what you have in the fridge. Be inspired by the seasons — fruit and veg are more affordable when they’re in season, plus they taste better.
Who inspired you to cook?
I have an eclectic way of cooking thanks to the way my Filipino mum cooked (often a hybrid of Asian and British dishes), growing up in England and Germany where I fell in love with sauerkraut and greens, and having access to the huge diversity of foods London has to offer. When I left home at age 18, I missed mum’s home-cooking so much
I taught myself to cook, asking mum for advice and seeking out recipes to cook for friends who were letting me stay with them in London while I was working my first job and I’d thank them by making them their dinner. I’m lucky too that my mum taught me the value of food. Growing up her mantra was ‘every grain of rice’ whether it was on the plate, fallen onto the table or stuck onto the spoon. She always cooked thriftily, and I’ve taken that on in my adult years.
What is the first thing you remember cooking?
Scrambled eggs (my mum showed me) and a garlic tomato sauce (my big sister’s Italian best friend showed me!)
What are three things you always have in your pantry?
Trusty cupboard staples makes home cooking much easier and more enjoyable on a busy work night. Dried lentils, tinned tomatoes and dried noodles or pasta all provide great bulk to a last minute dinner. And I always pick up a spice or herb mix whenever I travel or ask people to bring me some. My mother-in-law brought a garlic/rosemary/salt mix from south of France and then I have a Sri Lankan spice mix from my December trip which is heavy on cinnamon and cloves and then cumin, chilli and mustard seeds and curry leaves — divine. I always keep eggs on the side too — big fan of a Fridge Raid Frittata. Oh and always onions, garlic, ginger.
And in your fridge?
Butter, greens (could be any mix of chard, kale, cabbage) and kimchi / sauerkraut or something fermented.
Tell us three things about yourself that would surprise:
I wanted to be a medical doctor age 8-17 years old; I adore reading — I’ll read anything — and my dream holiday would be walking and exploring all day then reading all night; and my first client when I started as a private chef 10 years ago was the brilliant band Take That, lovely lads.