When Stephanie Alexander cooks at home these days, she’s more likely to use a familiar recipe than hunt for adventurous new tastes.
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“I find as I’ve got older I’m less interested in rushing out and trying something new – it doesn’t mean that I don’t do it sometimes, but there are some things that I love to do that I’m comfortable with,” she said.
“There’s four million things I could do with roasting a chicken, but more often than not I’ll stick with something basic – rubbed with butter, lemon inside it, bit of garlic in the pan, salt and pepper and that’s it.”
On Wednesday Ms Alexander spoke at a well-attended Christmas Conversation luncheon hosted by the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust at the Hotel Grand Chancellor, in support of her new book, The Cook’s Table.
Something familiar is one of the book’s primary themes as Ms Alexander looks back over her career to combine recipes and her memories of cooking with friends.
“There’s a menu in here called a dinner of memories, and each one of those dishes reminds me of something,” Ms Alexander said.
“Quite a lot of [the book] is drawn on on notebooks that I might have done six or seven years ago – just a quick jotting of a paragraph.
“So once I started to write the book I went back into those notebooks.
“It’s amazing what you forget – you think you’re going to remember it, but you don’t.”
The book offers 25 dinner party menus designed for the everyday cook to share good food and make new memories with friends and family, each menu carefully organised so no detail is forgotten.
