What is Comfort cookbook about? Five chapters of inspiring recipes that offer the culinary equivalent of a lovely long hug. They’re aimed more at winter. They are divided into breakfast, soups and salads, lunch, suppers and puddings.
Some recipes inside? Eggs Benedict to moussaka to chicken tettrazzini and pot-roast lamb. Oh, and steamed chocolate pudding. Some people are scared of making steamed puddings but this is completely decadent because it’s served with a chocolate sauce, yet so easy to make. If you’re a chocoholic you have to try it.
What does comfort food mean to you? It’s soul food, something that picks you up on a bad day and makes you go warm and fuzzy inside. Something like the chicken tetrazzini in Comfort. My gran made this spaghetti dish with spring onions, bacon and mushrooms. It has a sauce with homemade chicken stock. It takes me straight back to my childhood when we visited for supper.
Preferred cooking style? Very simple, nothing convoluted. My spaghetti and meatball recipe is fabulous - it’s one of my daughter Ali’s favourites. Even if kids don’t fancy the oozy tomato sauce, they eat the meatballs baked in the sauce.
Any other non-food hobbies or passions ie besides cooking or baking? I can’t live without movies and popcorn - I can see three in a row if time allows. I love swimming in the sea. Magazines are a weakness.
A favourite travel destination? A weekend in Paris was my all-time favourite; I loved all the patisseries. India was exotic; the markets and food were unbelievable. Zanzibar was bliss: I did one holiday and one work trip. The holiday was total relaxation; the work trip amazing because we went into homes and cooked with people. My travels revolve around food - I love tasting and trying new things. I’d love to travel around Australia in a campervan. We are planning a trip to Thailand in 2011.
Preferred style of travelling ie luxury hotel, guesthouse, comfy camping?
I can do anything. I don’t mind roughing it a little, but a luxurious bed and hot bath are equally welcome. Something people know about you? I’m not a trained chef but a graphic designer by profession. I’ve been cooking for the love of it since I was 18.
Tina Bester runs an Observatory café called Queen of Tarts. Her cookbook Comfort (out now) is the ideal winter chill antidote. Photography by Craig Fraser. Published by Quivertree Publications. Retails at R149.95.