Super Natural Every Day (4 page)

Relegated to the straggler category, I love my
cast-iron frying pan
, the 33 cm-diameter professional
crepe machine
that my partner, Wayne, gave me for my birthday years ago, and the Simac
gelato maker
my dad bought on eBay a few years back. I have a mandolin that makes slicing paper-thin vegetables a breeze, and
Japanese-style lunch boxes
with reusable, multicompartment containers. They’re great for picnics because they allow you to keep components separate until the last minute. But truth be told, none of these get everyday use.

GLASSWARE AND PLATTERS
While I’m not sure they count as culinary equipment, I appreciate nice
wine glasses
, so I keep a supply of those on hand with a range of sizes and shapes: flutes, white wine glasses, red wine glasses, or everyday table glasses. They don’t necessarily need to be fancy or expensive, just thoughtfully chosen. Opt for clear glass, not cloudy. Narrow silhouettes are for bubbles, and glasses with extra volume are nice so you can swirl your whites and reds. Aside from the practical aspects, some glasses just fit better than others in the hand. Some are tall, stretching for the ceiling; others huddle low and close to the table. These are all considerations that are more of a personal preference than anything else.

And finally, I keep a mishmash of
mixing bowls
and serving platters on hand; you can see a range of them in the photos in this book. Most are some shade of off-white. And come to think of it, quite a number of them have some sort of detail or pattern adorning them. I often plate food on large platters to share, and always scan my stacks of plates and platters for just the right one. I look for vessels with the appropriate size, shape, and personality. That means pieces that are not too big and not too small, with details that compliment the colours and textures of the ingredients. The right plate can make the food you’ve prepared look beautiful without requiring much extra effort on your part.

A Few Guidelines

Much of my culinary success (or failure) is connected to decisions I make before entering the kitchen. The single most important variable is finding great ingredients with which to start. This doesn’t necessarily mean expensive, it just means great. Look for fresh, bright, vibrant ingredients and go from there. If you know you’re likely to find beautiful asparagus on your next shopping run, plan for that, but don’t be afraid to mix things up a bit if it’s the baby carrots that catch your eye.

I look for fruits and vegetables that have “the glow”—you’ll know it when you see it. I know it sounds a bit precious, but it’s not. It’s simply the combination of good colour, texture, and the sense that the ingredient was well tended and very recently picked. I see that glow in swatches of wildflowers when we go hiking sometimes—lively, at attention, proud. That’s what I look for in the foods that I buy. I’ll have a taste to confirm the flavour, and then go about building a meal (or meals) around it.

Simply put, if you cook with in-season ingredients, preferably locally grown, and seek out ones marked organic—or, at the very least, avoid those that have been grown “conventionally” with lots of herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides—you’ll be well on your way to a great meal. And, as you’ll see once you get into the recipes, many of them are easily adapted to whatever is available and looks best at your local market. Buy the best ingredients you can afford, and start there.

Another tip, and I know this sounds obvious, be mindful of the weather. A hot, hearty soup on a sweltering day is the culinary equivalent of pulling on wool socks and a heavy coat. Opt for something lighter and cooler. On a cold day, you’ll likely crave just the opposite.

USE YOUR SENSES
Cooking is not just about tastebuds. I try to put all my senses to work throughout the culinary process, whether I’m shopping for peaches or baking a tart. Your eyes will see the mouldy berries in a basket; your ears will hear the violent pops and hisses when you add ingredients to overheated oil in a frying pan; your nose will smell the rich, nutty scent of butter as it begins to brown; and your fingertips will feel the soft, moist centres of muffins that need more baking time.

TRUST YOURSELF
While I’ve done my best to give you accurate cooking times and ingredient measurements with this collection of recipes, in the end, the recipes are written to my tastes, not yours. Don’t follow them blindly. If you’re roasting cherry tomatoes in the oven and you feel a few extra minutes will do them some good, go for it. If you like a spicier curry sauce, feel free to add more curry paste. If you like your salad dressing with a bit more edge, add more lemon juice or vinegar, one splash at a time. Even the best recipe writers are using different produce and ingredients than you, different pans, a different oven—just about every element in cooking is variable. It’s the nature of the beast. As I’ve become a better cook over the years, I’ve learned a lot. The most valuable lesson? Trust my own instincts, trust my own tastebuds. With cooking, like any other skill, you learn by doing, with your instincts growing sharper and more refined over time.

ADAPT
Many of the recipes in this book are seasonally adaptable.

That means if I happen to use blueberries in a recipe, but blackberries are in season at your local market, they would likely make a reasonable substitute. If I call for pumpkin, and you have sweet potatoes on hand, consider using them instead.

The one place I would encourage you to be more conservative with substitutions is when it comes to baking—trading one flour for another or cutting back on one ingredient and increasing another can yield disappointing results. In many of the recipes, I call out favourite substitutions, ones that I know work well.

CHECK YOUR OVEN TEMPERATURE
If you’ve been frustrated by baking in the past, you might want to check the accuracy of your oven. You can purchase a simple, freestanding oven thermometer for a few dollars. You’ll know exactly how hot your oven is; and if your oven is consistently running hot or cold, you can have it adjusted.

USE FRESH BAKING POWDER AND BICARBONATE OF
SODA
For successful baking, second in importance to checking your oven temperature is making sure your baking powder and soda aren’t past their prime. Replace them regularly, roughly every six months. To see if your baking powder or bicarbonate of soda is still active, add lemon juice to a little bicarbonate of soda or hot water to a spoonful of baking powder. If they bubble and fizz, you’re in good shape. Also, look for aluminium-free baking powder to avoid ingesting aluminium and side-step that metallic taste that some baking powders impart.

USE YOUR FREEZER
I’ve started to use my freezer more enthusiastically in the past few years. I freeze all sorts of seasonal fruits, soups, cooked beans, tart shells, cooked grains, and pastry. It can be one of your strongest allies when it comes time to turn out a great-tasting, last-minute meal in a reasonable amount of time.

MEASURE FLOURS CAREFULLY
When I call for flour in a recipe, it means measured without first sifting. Spoon the flour into a bowl but don’t compact the flour. If your flour has been compacted at the base of the bag or canister, be sure to fluff it up a bit before measuring.

Muesli

OATS, SULTANAS, ALMONDS

Flecked with chopped almonds and sultanas, this muesli is something I make a batch of every week or so. The dry ingredients fit perfectly in a 1 litre-capacity glass jar, and the night before I want to eat it, I simply stir a scoop into a bowl of thinned-out yoghurt and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator.

300 g rolled oats

60 g chopped almonds, use Marcona if you can find them

30 g sultanas, plus more to serve

15 g wheat germ or oat bran