My kitchen is … a great little space. I bought my home in 2008 and the first thing I did was tear out the kitchen, which looked like a ship’s galley. It has a wonderful view of downtown Los Angeles, which the old kitchen masked. The redesign, by Bruce Bolander, gave me more space and light. I have a long marble-top island facing downtown – the cold surface is perfect for making dough. I bought almost all the equipment from Craigslist – a Viking stove, a Sub‑Zero fridge. I dug deep to find the items I wanted. More storage space would be good, but I’d have to change house for that.
My favourite kitchen tool is … a mandolin – it adds such wonderful layers of raw vegetable textures to salads. I’m also a huge proponent of De Buyer pans – they can get ripping hot, and they have the most nonstick surface one can get without going into Teflon territory. They won’t take the place of actual nonstick if you’re doing scrambled egg, but for anything else, they are excellent.
My storecupboard staples are … a good olive oil, a good salt, a vibrant vinegar, nigella seeds, lots of tea.
When I’m starving I … make popcorn. I pour some vegetable oil into a pot, add 3-4 kernels, put on the lid and the heat on high. Once those pop, I turn the heat off and add the rest of the kernels. I wait 15 seconds, turn the heat back up to medium-high … and voila! Best popcorn ever. I often finish it with a fermented salt we make at Sqirl (made from dehydrated lacto-fermented pickles and dill), which makes it taste as if it comes from a regular NYC Jewish deli. It’s so easy and so satisfying.
My culinary inspiration is … Richard Olney, the American who wrote so powerfully about French cuisine. His Time Life The Good Cook series is one of the finest groupings of cookbooks to date. He’s a master of making food for every day that’s still full of technique and tricks to pick up along the way. He’s such an honest voice – in all his writing there’s a strong sense of self. His recipes are not extremely technical, and stem from a part of the world where you make the most of everything.
My best-kept kitchen secret is … how to “bake-fry” an egg. I love a silky fried egg. To achieve this you put a knob of butter in a frying pan on a medium-low heat. Once the butter melts, you add the egg to the pan. When you start to see the white set, you take it off the hob and put it in the oven at 180C/350F/gas mark 4, and check it in a minute. It will probably take 1½ minutes to fully set – that’s all.
When I’m invited to dinner I always take … a bottle of wine that I want to drink.
Everything tastes better with … lemon juice and fleur de sel.
When I go shopping I … always have a list. Without one I’ll go off on a tangent.
For dinner tonight … I’m currently in Kona, Hawaii, at the Four Seasons and I’ll be cooking for others. I’ll be lightly grilling deep-sea prawns on the beach and glazing them with piri piri sauce – deliciously and deceptively simple. I’ve never built a fire and cooked barefoot in the sand – I’m excited.
