Express Cooking

Donna Hay, the Australian chef, magazine editor and cookbook author, is a food force to be reckoned with. Her latest cookbook, No Time to Cook ($37, Harper Collins), is brimming with simple and delicious recipes sharing space with the world’s most beautiful food photography. There’s no way you can glance at this book and not get hungry! Hay is famous for her attention to detail, personally creating every recipe attached to her name and styling and propping each of the food shots she features in print using wares from her own extensive collection.

Hay recently took some time out of her whirlwind press visit to sit down and chat with Weddingbells. After surviving a 24-hour trip from Australia, arriving in Toronto after midnight and grabbing a few hours of sleep, Hay was fresh, upbeat and ready to talk passionately about food. Here she dishes how her book can work wonders in your pre-wedding and newlywed kitchen, plus shares a couple of her favourite recipes with us so you can get cooking ASAP!

Weddingbells: Your book is called No Time to Cook. Why do you feel people need this kind of cookbook today?
Donna Hay: “I have been listening to people. I listened to my girlfriends talking about how busy they were, how there was never enough time for home-cooked meals. I would hear them say, ‘I loved that recipe, but I just have no time to cook.’ Then I listened to myself. I am a working Mom. I have a very busy schedule yet it’s important to me for us to eat together as a family.”

WB: Your new book has chapters entitled ‘One Pan,’ ‘One Dish’ and ‘One Pot.’ How important was it to make the whole process easier?
DH: “Well, that’s it; I love the process of cooking. I love the shopping and the prepping and the actual cooking, but I loathe the wash up. I wanted to make that part of the process much easier. People now have open-concept homes. I didn’t want the kitchen to look like a disaster after preparing a meal.

WB: I love the sections you refer to as “cheats” where you give us little hints and shortcuts but never seem to compromise on flavour. What was the inspiration behind the “cheats?”
DH: “Simplicity. It is all about great flavours and good-looking food. I wanted the reader to get more bang for her buck.”

WB: Was there a unique challenge in making simple recipes?
DH: “Oh yeah. Listen, it’s easy to create a recipe with 20 ingredients in it. It’s much harder to create a recipe with seven. You really have to give very careful thought to the food and what ingredients work well together.”

What are the three ingredients you can’t live without?
“Sea salt, lemon and Parmesan cheese.”

WB: Who do you like to cook for?
DH: “Anyone! I am a bit of a ‘feeder.’ I love to cook for people that love food, and I always enforce my ‘just try it’ rule. It’s wonderful to see the expression on someone’s face when they have tried a new food for the first time and they just love it.”