That’s how good they are.
I got to know Hetty through her recipes and the sweet stories she coupled them with in her cookbook.
Then, I got to ask her fun rapid-fire questions, about her favorite things right now.
Simply Recipes / Photo Illustration by Sarah Crowder / Shirley Cai
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Describe your cooking style in four words.Borderless.
Your five favorite songs on your cooking playlist.
“Imitation Of Life” by R.E.M.
It has become essential to daily cooking.
A garlic press, in my opinion, is pretty superfluous.
It’s more hassle than it’s worth.
So much garlic is wasted in the crevices and you have to clean it all out!
I’d like to think there are better ways of achieving sweetness and acidity without the preservatives.
If I want to call out one, I might say the Fennel and Gnocchi with Fennel Frond Pesto.
It’s a wonderful example of how to show all the different sides of one vegetable.
Vegetables have so much multidimensional personality and I am always looking to show that in my recipes.
Their mum is too much of a control freak in the kitchen.
(I also didn’t cook much when I was a kid.)
When she has the opportunity to cook, she does love to make the lemon pasta from my cookbookFamily.
What do you feed your kids when you don’t feel like cooking?Frozen dumplings!
Frozen dumplings are also a great after-school snack.
I am obsessed with their mala dry pot!
Why would it be the only restaurant for the rest of my life?
Always and forever.Youre catering the State dinner at the White House.
The main would be kale and matcha noodles with ginger scallion sauce.
The cocktail would be a MSG Martini like the one served atBonnie’sin Brooklyn.
BUY THE COOKBOOK:Tenderheart
