My idea of cooking involves a slice sourdough, a semi-ripened avocado, cracked pepper and lemon juice.
It’s super quick, absolutely delicious and nutritionally better than most other fast food options. I also keep a packet of raw almonds in the cupboard, which I find stave off any unwarranted fears of malnutrition.
It’s not that I don’t like cooking, it’s just that it is not high on my list of things to do with my spare time. That was not always the case.
Growing up on a farm, I was taught to cook by my mother, who insists that I am perfectly able to cook, but for reasons she can’t fully explain choose not to.
You see, when I was very small, we had shearers come to the property half a dozen times each year.
This meant my mother had the unenviable task of producing morning tea, a three-course lunch and then, of course, afternoon tea all in quick succession, often for a few days in a row. I remember doing everything from baking scones, brewing tea and boiling vegetables.
Mum (who also had four children) eventually had the good sense to put an end to this particular form of servitude and the shearers were summarily told to sort out their own meals.
Yet I genuinely enjoyed the process of cooking and have long argued that if journalism hadn’t overtaken my life I could/would have become almost Nigella-esque in the kitchen.
Anyway, that was not to be. And in truth the last time I tried to bake a cake with my then 10-year-old niece, we nearly set the house alight when the wrong cooking implement was placed on the wrong hotplate. Thankfully for all concerned, I retired from baking then and there.
Annabel Crabb, however, who grew up not far from my home town on the Adelaide Plains and who also spent early years pestering politicians and bartenders alike went quite the other way. During her first pregnancy, her interest in baking (and in particular bread) grew in an inverse proportion to mine.
Annabel is now not only one of the foremost journalists, authors and feminists in this country, she is also famous for her cakes as the host of the ABC’s hit TV series Kitchen Cabinet. And now she has produced a cookbook with her long-time friend Wendy Sharpe. An extract of their book, along with that of Nigella and The Weekly’s own Michele Cranston, are featured in this month’s issue.
Michele is one of the standout food editors and is best known for her modern Australian cooking – she first came to prominence with the famed ricotta hot cakes of Bill Granger’s eponymous cafes. She is a genuinely rare talent. She not only develops recipes and tests them, she then oversees the photography and styling as keen observers of our food pages will note.
This time last year, I dropped into Maggie Beer’s store in the Barossa Valley and enjoyed a quick salad and non-alcoholic sparking apple juice in the warm dry heat of a South Australian summer.
Maggie, who barely stops to breathe, discussed The Weekly food pages and what she liked about her role as a contributor, and in doing so singled out Michele for special mention. The icon of home cooking said she believed Michele was one of the truly original and great talents of food in this country and I wholeheartedly agree.
This, of course, goes some way towards explaining how someone who barely splits open an avocado came to be in charge of the biggest food magazine in the country.
I don’t, I leave it to the experts!
Pick up a copy of the November issue, on sale Thursday, October 22.
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