Interview With Suzie Banks of Aesthetics and Gastronomy
Suzie, please tell my readers about your cooking background.
Cooking has been a big part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a young child I was always experimenting in the kitchen. In my mid twenties, I started a catering business producing a range of cakes, pastries and party foods. After running the business for nearly 10 years I realised that many of main ingredients that I was cooking with were making me ill, so eventually I decided that I had to end the business. Now I work as a cookery writer and photographer specialising in developing allergy friendly recipes.
What inspired you to start aestheticsandgastronomy.co.uk?
Simply because I wanted somewhere to collate and share my recipes and photography and I thought that blogging would be a great way to do this.
What's your favorite meal to prepare?
This is such a tricky question for a cook, I have so many favourites! I do enjoy cooking a traditional English breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning - sausages, bacon, fried eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms with a pot of freshly brewed coffee and the Sunday papers.
What camping recipes for kids would you recommend?
I think that it’s important to do things that create lovely memories for children and campsite cooking is an ideal way to include the children and do something memorable.
Barbecues - essential for a camping holiday but made even more special if you make an event out of buying the food for the meal. So why not take the time to find some local shops and markets and go with the children to buy fresh local foods. A butterflied leg or shoulder of lamb is delicious cooked on the barbecue and cooks relatively quickly too. Barbecued corn on the cob and vegetable kebabs are a colourful accompaniment and the children can have fun threading the veg onto the skewers. Potatoes in a parcel is another delicious accompaniment - wrap small cooked potatoes in foil with a little butter and/or olive oil, rosemary, chopped garlic, salt and pepper then cook on the barbecue until sizzling.
Campfire Potatoes - wrap potatoes in foil and bake in the coals of the campfire. For a classic campsite meal serve with sausages, grated cheese and beans!
Noodles - either rice or wheat based ones, are easy to cook on a campsite. Stir fry some chicken and vegetables then stir in the cooked noodles and a splash of soy sauce. To save on washing up and for a bit of fun, serve them in disposable noodle boxes and teach your children how to use chop sticks.
The dessert ideas below are also ideal for children.
For vegetarian campers, could you suggest some vegetarian meals/recipes?
Blue Cheese and Mushroom Burgers - barbecue or fry field mushrooms until tender, fill the cavityies with some crumbled blue cheese (or goat’s cheese) continue cooking until the cheese melts then serve in a bread bun with a handful of rocket.
Baked Brie or Camembert - use a small whole cheese, stud the top with slices of garlic and some fresh rosemary, place on a piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil and finally a grind of black pepper then wrap the cheese up in the foil. Cook on the barbecue for about 15 minutes or until the cheese is soft. Serve with crusty bread.
Roast Pumpkin with Harissa & Houmous - peel the pumpkin and cut into chunks. Place on a tray with a drizzle of olive oil and cook on the barbecue, with the lid on, until tender. Half way through cooking add some chunks of red onion, garlic cloves and slices of red pepper to the tray. When the vegetables are cooked add some cannellini beans and a large handful of spinach. Continue cooking until the spinach has wilted. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Thin down some harissa paste with a little lemon juice and water and drizzle over the vegetables. Serve with houmous.
What's one food you can't live without?
After living with multiple food intolerances I’ve discovered that it is possible to happily live without the foods that you once thought you couldn’t live without!
What are some camping dessert recipes you would recommend?
Barbecued Fruit - bananas (cut a slit lengthways in each banana push in pieces of chocolate, wrap in foil and cook until soft), peaches or nectarines (halve and place a small ball of marzipan in the cavities left by the stone, scatter with some flaked almonds and cook until the fruit is soft and the marzipan has melted) kebabs (thread pieces of banana, pineapple, strawberries and/or peaches onto skewers and barbecue until soft). All of these are delicious with ice cream.
Toasted Marshmallows - spike marshmallows with long twigs and toast over the campfire.
Chocolate Fondue - melt milk or dark chocolate and double cream (or coconut milk) in a saucepan. Serve with a selection of fruits, cakes, biscuits and marshmallows to dip into the chocolate.
If you could learn how to cook any meal from any chef, what meal would you want to learn how to cook?
Sushi - it’s something that I enjoy eating but rarely make myself and I’d love to learn all the proper techniques.
In 10 years do you see yourself still cooking and blogging?
Absolutely! I’m incredibly lucky to be able to make a living doing the things that I love. I’ve recently launched an online recipe store selling allergy friendly recipes (www.allergyfriendlyrecipes.co.uk) so my focus is now on developing more recipes. I’d like to think that I’ll still be blogging in 10 years time. Writing a blog is a fantastic creative outlet and a great way of connecting with people from all over the world.
Thanks Suzie for the interview. Please visit her blog @ Aesthetics and Gastronomy
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