5 Minutes With: Alexandra Dudley

If I had to describe my new cookbook in three words… it’d be foolproof, simple and fun.

I have a bit of an addiction to old cookbooks… I have ones that go as far back as pre-WW1 in my collection and what I admire most about more traditional books is how practical they are. Recipes are divided into salads, sauces and eggs. I have always worked in relatively small kitchens and have learnt to be incredibly streamlined and organised when it comes to cooking, despite not being the most organised person. It’s these books that I found most useful, so I wanted to create a book that followed a similar theme but was informed by the way we cook now.

If readers only cook one recipe from the book… it should be the crispy chicken thighs with fennel and pink peppercorns was one of the key recipes that sparked the idea for the book. It’s from the chapter BAKED, which is filled with lots of recipes that can be flung into the oven and take care of themselves. As the chicken cooks, the fat from the skin drips into the vegetables, whilst the liquid within the vegetables in turn helps to steam the chicken. You are left with tender meat, crispy skin and buttery soft vegetables. It is delicious.

Writing the book was a rollercoaster…. I had an idea for an initial book that I proposed in 2022. It was rejected by almost every publisher. It hurt, but it also encouraged me to make the idea clearer and the book I have written is a better, more universal book than the previous one could ever have been. Sometimes things happen for a reason. One door closes, another opens.

The one misconception people have about food writers is… That recipes always work. Some do, some don’t. There is a tart in the book that took me 15 rounds of pastry testing.

There is so much more to food writing than the food. It can be incredibly witty and honestly makes me laugh to myself far more than slapstick reels. But I think what I admire most about my favourite food writers, Diana Henry, Itamar Srulovich and Elizabeth David, is their ability to tell a story.

Social media has changed the way people cook and eat…So I try to cook things that I genuinely want to eat. Sometimes it looks aesthetic, sometimes it is beautiful and beige.

The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given was…try your absolute hardest and you will feel better.

As a serial dinner party host, my top three tips are… Stick to what you know. This is not the time to try something new. Cook a recipe you feel comfortable with. Prep as much as you can. Don’t forget water!

My love for cooking came from…My Mother. She is my primary inspiration and always cooked fresh and delicious food for us, but I fell in love with the drama and delight of restaurants at a very young age. I loved how they made people happy and how that could be done with food and a good atmosphere.

My favourite restaurant is… Rochelle Canteen.

The Chef I admire the most…is the late Skye Gyngell. She always let the ingredients lead in a way that was both delicate and incredibly beautiful.

My death row meal would be… A freezer cold dry martini (vodka) with a twist, followed by a spread of grilled fish and vegetables with some sort of herby garlicy salsa verde. Really good salty chips. Then Tiramisu for pudding.

Post-book launch... I hope for more of the same. Cooking, writing and hopefully a holiday too.

Cooking Made Simple is available to buy from Waterstones and Amazon Books.