Jo Pratt Interview ♥
Jo Pratt, nota food writer internazionale, è presente nel mio libro – Invitare con Stile.Il Galateo di Madame Eleonora – con i suoi preziosi consigli. E’ stato un piacere intervistarla per il mio blog.
Jo Pratt is a busy mum, wife, food stylist and bestselling author(The Nation’s Favourite Food, In the Mood for Food, In the Mood for Entertaining and her latest one Madhouse Cookbook).She is also a regular contributor to magazines and often appears on TV(Good Food Channel’s ‘Perfect’, ITV’s ‘Ten mile menu’ and Daybreak to name a few).
Jo’s cooking style has come from working with those big chefs to create the most delicious food – and translating those ideas into recipes for the everyday kitchen. She branched out and tried some of her own ideas, which have lead to writing her own books, features and appearing on TV shows in front of camera, rather than behind the scenes!
Jo grew up near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire and now lives in London with her husband Phil and two young children Oliver and Rosa (Jo’s harshest food critics).
Hi Jo, your books are so beautiful!
– How she came to love food?
As a child I loved cooking, possibly due to the fact that both grandma’s and my Mum were all very adventurous cooks. I would help them in the kitchen as much as I could.
-Favorite place to eat.
I am very lucky as there are so many great restaurants near me so I don’t have to travel too far for a delicious meal with a great atmosphere. One of my current favourites is The Duke of Sussex (a Spanish and Italian tapas themed menu). Last year I went to Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant ‘Dinner’ which was amazing. The menu was out of this world.
– What do you love to give to your parents and friends?
Something that they wouldn’t buy for themselves. For example I bought my mum some lovely perfumed beauty products, and my sister some glamorous jewelery.
-What do you most love cooking?
A really love making chocolate brownies, and in fact all types of baking, mainly due to the delicious smell when cooking and you get to indulge in the tasty treats afterwards!
-What ingredients do you like?
Fresh and good quality. I much prefer to buy quality rather than quantity. Once of my current favourites is pan-fried avocado, and also steamed asparagus with grated lemon zest, olive oil and sea salt.
-Any favorite kitchen gadgets?
I love my microplane grater as it grates nutmeg, ginger, garlic, citrus zest, Parmesan cheese and chocolate really well.
– Making an episodic cooking show’s an awful lot of fun, but it is also so hard.. Jo, do you remember your first episode?
The first time I went on to BBC’s Saturday Kitchen was very scary as it is a live show. I had to be up at 5am and was worries I would forget how to cook. I had told all of my friends I was on TV and knew I couldn’t mess things up! It all went really well and I loved it. The best part is having hair and make-up done before you go on set!
–Your big thing is getting people into the kitchen to make homemade food for the family. Are there any super easy recipes that you could recommend people start with that pack a good nutritional punch?
Pan-Fried Avocado, Parma Ham and Mozzarella Salad. Heat a glug of olive oil in a frying pan and fry sliced avocado for about minute each side, until golden. Season well and arrange on a plate with strips of good quality Parma ham or Bresola, and torn pieces of buffalo mozzarella. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with ciabatta or foccacia.
Spiced Chickpea Stew. Fry ½ bunch chopped spring onions in olive oil with a pinch each of chilli flakes and ground turmeric, ½ tsp each of ground coriander and cinnamon for 1 minute. Add 1 can chopped tomatoes, 1 can chickpeas, 200ml water, handful pitted olives and chopped apricots or sultanas. Simmer 4-5 minutes, season and stir in chopped coriander. Serves 2 with accompanying flatbread.
Pineapple, Lime and Mint Salad. Cut a ripe pineapple into bite-size pieces and put into a bowl. Pound together 2 tbsp caster sugar with ½ bunch mint leaves and grated zest of 1 lime. Scatter over the pineapple and pour over 3 tbsp coconut liqueur or pineapple juice (for a non-alcoholic version). Mix and serve straight away or leave for the flavours to infuse.
-Why she wrote the books?
I started writing recipes for a magazine that I did some work experience for and really enjoyed it, so continued to follow with more recipes and then became food editor for Elle magazine when I got my first book deal. I then went to Glamour magazine, a continued to write more books. Writing books is a way of sharing recipes and the love of cooking to anyone and everyone. When I wrote my first book, there wasn’t such a thing as ‘blogs’ but now people are able to publish their own recipes to share with lots of people far easier than it is to get a book published. It is really fantastic the way technology has made things more accessible.
–When you are fresh ideas, where do you turn for inspiration?
I try and go out to eat as much as possible for inspiration but also reading magazines and cookbooks, watching tv programmes but the best form of inspiration is to experiment with different flavours and ingredients.
-Do you have any new projects on the horizon?
I am currently writing a new cookbook called The Madhouse Cookbook which will be out in Spring 2013 and am working on a food and wine matching competition called What Food What Wine? Which is fun.
– Jo do you like my site? What do you think about “Il Galateo di Madame Eleonora” ?
…Siete curiosi di sapere cosa pensa Jo Pratt del Galateo di Madame Eleonora e i suoi segreti sul buon ricevere?
La risposta a questa e a tante altre domande le trovate nel mio libro -Invitare con Stile.Il Galateo di Madame Eleonora- Malvarosa edizioni
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