Khoo shares her love of cooking

Cook Rachel Khoo is adept at adapting, whether it’s adjusting to the freezing winters in Sweden, or changing tack on a planned cooking show when the pandemic struck, to create a new show. She talks to Emma Clifton.

Rachel Khoo’s Instagram biography refers to her as a “creative solution seeker with a penchant for butter”, which seems like an understatement now I know her new show, Simple Pleasures, was created in the perfect firestorm of a full lockdown and a Swedish winter.

But in Khoo’s case, the lockdown gave just as much as it took away. When the show she was supposed to be filming was postponed, she pitched a new concept to the Discovery network.

“I said, ‘look, I’m in the countryside at my motherin-law’s, I’ve got a kitchen, I can film something’. ” From pitch to production, she says, it was less than four weeks.

“You don’t need a huge amount of expertise, you don’t need fancy ingredients or equipment. You can make delicious food with very few ingredients. I wanted to share my love about why I got into cooking, and the joy it can bring.”

Born in the United Kingdom to parents from Malaysia and Austria, Khoo came to international recognition with her cookbook The Little Paris Kitchen, but she also does a lot of work in Japan.

Since meeting her Swedish husband Robert, Khoo has been based in Sweden, and the pair have two young children. The real challenge, Khoo says, has been acclimatising to the long and brutal winters that come with the extreme Swedish climate.

“There’s a saying here that even when it gets really cold, there’s no such thing as bad weather – only bad clothes. So you just put on the layers and you go out.”

Khoo says it is a country where people hold barbecues all year round, no matter the weather. But she has learnt that working with nature, as opposed to trying to escape it, has helped her mental health.

“Getting yourself outside and into nature – it’s like the Japanese do, with forest bathing. It’s like therapy and it definitely helps, even when it does get dark really early.

“People always think, ‘oh, it’s dark and it’s cold, I want cosy and comforting food’, but actually, sometimes you want the opposite.

“You want vibrant, bright, colourful, fresh, crunchy food – food that really livens up the taste buds.”

When it came to creating her lineup for Simple Pleasures, she went back to the food she knew people would want, but also her own family favourites – think roast chicken and chocolate pudding – but using ingredients that most people find themselves stuck at home with.

“I was already cooking that kind of food because I’m cooking for a young family. It’s all about ‘what have

I got in the cupboard for when I can’t make it to the supermarket’. ”

The simple pleasure that has kept Khoo sane has been running, even though she’s as surprised as anyone to discover that’s the case.

“I never used to be an exercise person, but now I try to do half an hour every day, even if it’s just an online class, so that at the end of the day I really feel like I’ve achieved something.” And, like a true adopted Swede, the weather is no longer an obstacle.

“Even at -12 degrees Celsius, I still put on the layers and go for a run,” she says. “If you can still feel your toes after 15 minutes, you’re OK!”

MEDITERRANEAN VEGETABLE CANNELLONI

The French Mediterranean is the inspiration for this dish packed with all the quintessential flavours of the sunny region. With its medley of Mediterranean vegetables and salty olive paste to add extra oomph, this is an all-round vegetablepacked crowd-pleaser for the family.

Serves 4

FOR THE CHERRY TOMATO SAUCE: 500g cherry tomatoes, halved 1 tablespoon olive oil

A pinch of salt

FOR THE FILLING:

2 courgettes

8 large sheets of fresh lasagne (16cm x 22cm) 8 teaspoons black olive tapenade or paste 200g grilled red peppers (from a jar), drained

and roughly chopped

200g cooked artichokes, roughly chopped Freshly ground pepper

200g creme fraiche

1 small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves Finely grated zest and juice of ½ a lemon Green salad, to serve 1 Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Pop the tomatoes, oil and salt in a small saucepan. Cover with the lid, and cook over a medium heat for 8 minutes or until the tomatoes have burst and become mushy. 2 Meanwhile, top and tail the courgettes and, using a speed peeler, make long ribbons. Stop when you get to the spongy seed core, and discard.

3 With the lasagne sheets laid portrait, spread the tapenade thinly over them. Lay a few of the courgette ribbons down the length of

the sheets to just cover each sheet in a thin layer. Mix together the peppers and artichokes, and spoon 3 tablespoons of this mixture down the centre of each of the sheets, then roll up tightly from the long side to make a roll, trapping the filling in the centre. Place in a baking dish. Repeat with the other sheets of lasagne.

4 Pour the tomatoes over the lasagne rolls. Stir some ground pepper into the creme fraiche until smooth, and dollop it randomly over the top. Cook for about 30 minutes, until golden and bubbly.

5 Chop the flat-leaf parsley finely with the lemon zest. Scatter over the cooked pasta and squeeze over the lemon juice just before serving. Serve with a green salad.

PAN-FRIED DUMPLINGS

These pan-fried dumplings are the result of a marriage between an Asian potsticker dumpling dough and a filling and folding technique more in line with Italian ravioli.

FOR THE DOUGH:

250g plain white flour, plus extra for dusting 180ml just boiled water

FOR THE FILLING:

200g leftover Sunday roast (approximately 150g

meat and 50g vegetables is ideal)

50g baby spinach

50g mature hard goat’s cheese or parmesan

cheese, finely grated

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 150ml water

Spring onions, sliced at an angle to serve (optional)

Sriracha or soy (optional) or other chilli sauce

1 Tip the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour in the just boiled water and stir together until you have a crumbly, lumpy dough. Knead until it comes together into a ball. If the dough is very dry, add a tablespoon of water. Transfer the dough to a flour-dusted work surface and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and springs back when touched.

2 Roll the dough in a little flour and place it in a freezer bag. Seal the bag and leave it to rest at room temperature for at least 15 minutes. 3 To prepare the filling, finely chop the leftover Sunday roast and spinach, and mix together with the grated cheese.

4 Lightly dust the work surface and a large plate with flour. Divide the rested dough into quarters. Roll one quarter into a long rectangle, about 5cm wide and 3mm thick. Place a heaped teaspoon of the filling 2.5cm from the end and fold the end over to cover the filling. Press down firmly, making sure to press out any air pockets. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out a half-moon shape and trim the excess pastry. Place the ravioli on the plate dusted with flour. Repeat with the rest of the dough and filling, squeezing together the leftover bits of dough and rerolling. 5 Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan until

smoking hot, then add the ravioli in batches.

Turn down the heat and cook for 2 minutes or until the base of each is golden. Add 150ml water, cover with the lid and cook for 8 minutes until the water evaporates. Serve immediately.

6 You can serve these just as they are, or garnish with some spring onion, sliced diagonally, and a little chilli sauce.

These recipes are courtesy of Rachel Khoo, from Rachel Khoo’s Simple Pleasures (Season 1), which airs Thursdays at 8.30pm on SKY Living.