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Sandy Cadiz-Smith's interview



Interview by Laurence Interview by Laurence

We interviewed Sandy Cadiz-Smith!

Visit the blog: eatingcoventgarden.com.


See profile page and recipes



"Food is there to be shared and enjoyed, which is why I love cooking so much. Serving up a delicious meal is amazingly satisfying. And don't be scared of trying new ingredients and recipes!"



Hello Sandy Cadiz-Smith, so tell us...


When did you begin your blog and what inspired you to start it?


My blog is almost exactly a year old. I started it on 18 September 2012. I was working in Covent Garden for the first time in a while and amazed by how it had transformed from an overcrowded toursity place to a real foodie destination. My idea was to write about all the amazing things happening in Covent Garden. It's evolved a lot since then and features restaurants from all over the world, travel stories and recipes.

In your wildest dreams, where will your blog take you as it develops?


I would like it to be the go-to blog for people looking for recipe inspiration, holiday ideas and restaurant reviews. I'm a self-taught cook so if I can do it, anyone can, and I'd like to inspire people to cook more from scratch and to be more inventive in the kitchen. I believe it's supposed to be fun - and it can be. I also plan to launch recipe books and destination guides in the future as spinoffs. And I'm open to anything else that may come along...

What is your favourite dish of all time?


Now there's an impossible question to answer! The more I think about it, the more I change my mind. I like really simple stuff mainly. Here are some of my favourites.

The perfect caprese salad - creamy mozzarella, juicy tomatoes and aromatic basil.
Roast chicken with all the trimmings - something I seriously crave at times!
Spanish Jamon carved in front of you
The perfect bacon and eggs
Steak tartare
A huge plate of garlic prawns

Your photos are great, in your opinion what makes a dish beautiful?


Colour is always important to me. Brown food may taste delicious but it's hard to make it look tempting. It's good if ingredients are different shapes and sizes, too, unless you are aiming for a uniformity, like with a chopped salad. And it mustn't be too runny, dishes swimming in sauce just look a bit messy. Light is also very important, some of my best pictures have been taken in a dappled sunshine, it really seems to lift the food.

Do you have a secret weapon in the kitchen?


I have a timer on my kitchen clock that I couldn't live without. If you get the timings wrong when you're cooking it can lead to disaster and I am easily distracted. So that shrill bell is perfect for bringing me back to the task in hand.

What is your earliest memory involving food?


We had amazing fresh fruit and veg where I grew up in Zimbabwe. As a young child one of my favourite breakfasts was pureed guavas from one of our trees, with dollop of cream in the middle! Plus we used to eat passion fruit (or granadillas as we called them) straight off the vines. Also our cook used to make corn (which we grew on our farm) by cooking it over the fire so it was slightly blackened and smokey, I can still taste it now in my mind! We used to beg him to make it for us that way. I also remember from a very young age understanding that animals were there to be eaten (I grew up on a farm). My Dad had no qualms about showing us the animal growing up, naming it and then telling us when we were eating it. Of course I never experienced any of the bit in the middle which would no doubt have put me off more.

Are there any chefs that you admire in particular?


I love Rick Stein's TV programmes and books as I think they are amazingly inspiring and have got me cooking dishes I would never have tried before. He has definitely helped to make me a better and more adventurous cook.

You talk about growing up in Zimbabwe on your blog, obviously you must have had access to some interesting dishes we probably don't know that well in our part of the world. Can you tell us about some of them?


The food I ate when growing up in Zimbabwe was very British really. Great meat as there were lots of farms at that stage _ we are a very carnivorous nation! My brother jokes that chicken is a vegetable! I loved the massive T-bones on the barbecue (or braai as we call it). And there's the fantastic dried meat called biltong which I often crave. We were given sticks of it to gnaw on when we were babies teething!
Great fruit and veg, too, as I said. Very little fish as Zim is a landlocked country, so most Zimbabweans love prawns

What's your favourite Gourmandize Recipe?


xœ

Any last words or message for our readers?


Food is there to be shared and enjoyed, which is why I love cooking so much. Serving up a delicious meal is amazingly satisfying. And don't be scared of trying new ingredients and recipes! I've served up enough disasters along the way, it's part of the learning experience (the garlicky pineapple in a stir fry once was particularly vile).



Thank you Sandy Cadiz-Smith for answering our questions and see you soon!
Published by Laurence - 13/09/2013



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