Cook & Chat with Alice Zaslavsky

Alice Zaslavsky’s stellar food media career began after finishing 7th in Masterchef Australia, season 4, in 2012. Since then, Alice has authored two books, firstly Alice’s Food A to Z, which is aimed at kids aged 8 plus, and is packed to the brim with funny food facts, clever cooking tips and kid-friendly recipes. Her latest release In Praise of Veg is a number 1 best-seller that celebrates and heroes vegetables and is packed with recipes and guides to choosing, storing, and serving them.

I was delighted when Alice agreed to chat with me on Instagram Live about her books and other fun things!

Firstly we chatted about In Praise of Veg and its beautiful cover which is a riot of colour! The artist behind this and the gorgeous illustrations throughout the book is Vera Barbida who Alice has worked with on other projects including Phenomenom, her digital platform to assist teachers in getting school-age children excited about food. Another notable project is Nomcast a podcast aimed at school-age children to encourage their interest in food and what they eat.

In Praise of Veg features 50 of Alice’s most favourite vegetables – the chapters are colour-coded which I think is so clever! – plus shares tips for buying + storing, cooking with, flavours and ingredients that complement, and ‘scrap medal’ – ways to use scraps and peelings to save them from the compost.

The vegetable matrix (p.12) is such a helpful guide and was inspired by Alice’s time on Masterchef when they referred to spreadsheets that guided cooking times and ratios so they could set and forget and move onto another element of the dish.

The Power Pantry helps the reader to stock the pantry with dried goods and condiments to elevate their cooking. I second every suggestion Alice has given for the spice rack, pantry, and fridge. A couple of pantry ingredients I don’t have … dehydrated potato is one so I asked Alice what she uses this for. Her answer is potato gnocchi in place of flour for a gluten-free option, however, gluten-free flour is an acceptable alternative too if you have that on hand. Also, garlic powder, which I see in lots of recipes, especially dry rubs or marinades. Alice suggests adding a small amount of garlic powder to Kewpie mayonnaise for an instant aioli … genius!

Colour-coded chapters make it easy to find recipes, tips and suggestions for the vegetable/s you have on hand. This idea was included for its function and form. Alice explains that when you alphabetise you limit yourself to languages that are ABC. So in the veg world where zucchini is also known as courgette, or eggplant as aubergine, sweet potato as kumara, alphabetising doesn’t make the most sense however, colour coding is a universal language.

Alice encourages you to utilise your freezer as much as possible and I’d have to say it is a cook’s best friend! It’s great to have a stash of homemade stock, peas & corn, make a double batch of pastry and freeze half for another time etc.

Another idea I heard recently is to cut surplus lemons or limes or another citrus into wedges, freeze those on a tray then transfer them to a ziplock bag or container – add to a G&T and it doubles as an ice cube and a garnish … happy days! Or take a wedge, defrost it and use it as you normally would e.g. squeeze over fish, into a curry, or a salad dressing.
All parts of citrus fruit freeze so well so pour juice into an ice cube tray, finely grate the zest and freeze it in clumps to use in baking or marinades. A guest suggested making natural fire-lighters from waste such as citrus skins, eggshells, or egg cartons. Here’s a link to how to do it yourself. We can all take small actions to reduce our food waste.

I asked Alice which are the most cooked recipes from her book and the list includes beetroot brownie, Romanesco soup, borscht, and risotto.

A few recipes I can’t wait to cook …

Gajar Makhani – Indian style butter carrot – we sell Herbie’s Spices and the butter chicken spice mix would be one of our best sellers – so I’m keen to try this version using carrots instead of chicken.

Beetroot Blender Brownie – looks & sounds amazing. Also, I love vegetable cakes, so the carrot cake, golden bundt cake (using squash or zucchini) are right up my alley, so I can’t wait to bake those. Also, I love the sound of the sticky parsnip & date pudding – and Alice’s tip to cook a small portion of the batter in a mug in the microwave – can dessert get any quicker than a microwave mug cake?!
Clever ideas for sides such as the Mash, crackle & pop, such a brilliant idea to crisp the potato skins (toss in a little olive oil, season with salt & pepper, bake at 180C for 10 minutes or until crispy) to add an element of texture to mashed potato.
Lemongrass Fish Pops with green mango salad – I love the idea of using lemongrass stalks as skewers. I’ve done this with a couple of recipes in my Asian cooking classes, and the lemongrass perfumes the meat from within, and it looks fantastic too.
Fennel & Tomato Panzanella – I often make homemade ricotta but I was taken by your version where you add fennel powder.
Turmeric – I liked David Thompson’s fun fact that turmeric comes in a rainbow of colours, I never knew that, did you?

We finished our chat with a couple of quick questions …

Your favourite tool in the kitchen – Alice said it’s her chef’s knife which I’d have to agree is an essential tool for any cook.
What are you cooking for lunch or dinner today? This led to an impromptu tour of Alice’s fridge which contained a plethora of coloured cauliflower, a treasured truffle (which might get shaved into an omelette), a rather large turnip, and a jar of her Tumami – a tangy tomato and black garlic paste that’s delicious spread on toast with avocado.

You can find Alice on Instagram.