Delicious, fuss-free recipes are her forte – but just because she’s a professional chef, doesn’t mean Lorraine Pascale cooks all the time. She tells Gemma Dunn about letting the domestic halo slip
Simplicity is key for Lorraine Pascale. “It’s the way I live and the way I eat,” explains the chef, discussing the essence behind her latest book, Eating Well Made Easy. “There’s no faff – just chop it up and throw it in.”
It’s this understated approach to delivering uncomplicated, nutritious food that has seen the model-turned-TV-cook take the culinary world by storm; and when I turn up to play sous chef at her home in south-west London, the proof is in the pudding.
Looking far younger than her 43 years, a glowing Pascale’s off-screen demeanour is as fuss-free as her recipes. Dressed in jogging bottoms and a casual T-shirt, she looks every inch the (admittedly quite glamorous) homebody – the only visible sign of her celeb status being a pair of studio lights in her kitchen, which she reveals are used to self-shoot her YouTube cooking channel.
“I’ve started doing it regularly; I’m full-time now and I’m focused,” she says of her move into the vlogger sphere. “I only do two one-minute videos a week because I film and edit them myself.”
Model, baker, chef, mechanic (yes, really!), fostering activist and now director/producer, Pascale is a one-woman band (“I am the team!”), and she’s marching to the beat of her own drum.
Her latest venture, she tells me (while chopping tomatoes for her take on popular Mexican dish huevos rancheros) is all about providing fast, easy and affordable recipes for the busy mum/girlfriend/student etc, who wants to uphold a nutritious diet.
“I’m so passionate about it. Writing healthy recipes comes really easily to me,” explains Pascale, who reveals she pulled the book together in less than three months by using her familiar, classic plates and giving them a healthier twist.
Split across sections that include lazy brunches, weekday dinners and movie nights, the decadent book is designed to work for all budgets – and the best thing about it? You won’t have to trek to mystical heights to retrieve rare ingredients you may never use again.
“I wanted to include recipes that are easy to follow. Most of the ingredients listed you can get from Tesco, Sainsbury’s – local shops. That’s what I was aiming for.”
And one person she is hoping will make use of the book is her 19-year-old daughter Ella, who left for university this September.
“She’s just interested in carbs at the moment,” says her mum, laughing. “I felt really guilty dropping her off when she’s sat there eating a bowl of – overcooked – pasta. I might make some food up and take it down to her…”
In the mean time, she’s thinking bigger and working on a series of quick and easy student recipes for her YouTube channel; a go-to guide for those living on a budget.
“When I was living in a model flat, it was the same story. The beginning of the month was good, but after that, it would just be pasta – apart from Friday treat night at the fish and chip shop.”
Surviving – and excelling – in two of the most competitive industries, Pascale insists she has no regrets in forfeiting her catwalk career for the confines of a kitchen. But I wonder if her unorthodox career path had an effect on her relationship with food?
“I was genuinely not slim enough,” the one-time fashion muse reveals. “I went off the rails for a few months; some girls are naturally slim and it’s fine if you’re like that, but for everyone else, it’s a never-ending struggle.”
Open to discussing her past, as well as her day-to-day life, straight-talking Pascale has come a long way since embarking on a year-long course at Leiths School of Food and Wine in 2005; working in the world’s finest restaurants, founding the hugely successful Cupcake Bakehouse in London’s Covent Garden (now closed), presenting various high-profile BBC cookery shows and selling more than a million books in the UK alone – and yet is overtly honest that her domestic halo slips from time to time.
“I’m just normal. Even though I write recipes, I eat out a lot and I buy food ready to go. If I was to write a book like Nigel Slater’s A Year of Good Eating, only 100 days out of 365 would be spent cooking,” she says, grinning. “And 265 would be ’ate out’, ’ate a can of tuna and some sweetcorn’.
“I feel bad because I don’t cook every day like Nigella Lawson and Nigel!”
If you fancy having a cooking day, here are three recipes from Pascale’s new book to try at home…
:: HUEVOS RANCHEROS WITH JALAPENOS AND GARLIC
(Serves 2)
2 soft corn tortillas
2tbsp olive oil
4 ripe tomatoes cut into cubes
3 spring onions, finely chopped
2 green jalapeno chillies or 1/2 regular green or red chilli, deseeded for less heat if preferred, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Good pinch of ground cumin
Leaves from 1/2 bunch of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
4 free-range eggs
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas mark 6.
Wrap the tortillas in a piece of tin foil, sit on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for about 10 minutes or until they are heated through.
Meanwhile, heat one tablespoon of oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the tomato, spring onion, chilli, garlic, cumin and a little salt and pepper, and cook them for about five minutes, or until the tomato begins to break down.
Stir in half of the coriander, remove from the heat and keep warm.
Rinse out and dry the pan and put it back on a low-medium heat. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil and once nice and hot, crack in the eggs, spaced apart. Cook them gently for about three to four minutes, until the whites are cooked but the yolks still a little bit runny. Remove the pan from the heat.
Remove the tortillas from the oven and place one on each serving plate. Divide the salsa mix between them, spreading it out with the back of the spoon. Slide two eggs on top of each one, sprinkle with the remaining coriander and serve.
:: PASTA WITH LEMONY CHICKEN AND A KALE AND CASHEW NUT PESTO
(Serves 4)
350g wholewheat pasta
1tbsp olive oil
3 large chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized chunks
Leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped (or 2tsp dried oregano)
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the pesto:
100g kale, hard stalks removed
1 garlic clove
50g cashew nuts, toasted
25g Parmesan, finely grated
25g fresh vegetable or chicken stock
1tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
To finish (optional):
Leaves from 1/2 bunch of fresh basil
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and put the pasta on to cook for as long as is recommended on the packet.
As the pasta cooks, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat. Toss the chicken in a medium bowl with the rosemary (or oregano) and salt and pepper. Cook the chicken for about eight minutes stirring regularly, until it’s golden and completely cooked through.
In the meantime, make the pesto. Whizz all of the ingredients together in a food processor or blender to give a rough paste. Season to taste and set aside.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain it well, return to the pan, cover and keep warm.
Once the chicken is cooked, tip it in on top of the pasta along with the pesto. Add the lemon zest and stir everything together. Check the seasoning and then divide among the serving plates. Garnish with some ripped basil, if you fancy it.
:: MIXED BERRY CRUMBLE WITH OATS AND ALMONDS
(Serves 4-6)
For the filling:
600g fresh berries
2 Medjool dates, pitted and very finely chopped
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground nutmeg
For the crumble:
180g porridge oats
80g ground almonds
7 Medjool dates, pitted and very finely chopped
4tbsp butter
3tsp ground ginger
Seeds of 1/2 a vanilla pod
Preheat the over to 190C/fan 170C/gas mark 5.
Put the filling ingredients into a pan over a low heat and cook for about four minutes, or until the fruit just begins to soften. Tip the fruit into an ovenproof dish and set this aside.
Put the porridge oats, ground almonds, dates, butter, two teaspoons of the ground ginger and the vanilla seeds into a bowl and, using your fingertips, rub this gently together to just combine, so everything is evenly mixed in. Tip the crumble topping over the fruit and then sprinkle over the remaining one teaspoon of ground ginger.
Pop into the oven and cook for about 25 minutes, or until the crumble is just going golden brown. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cook for a few minutes before serving.
:: Eating Well Made Easy by Lorraine Pascale is published by HarperCollins, priced £20. Available now