Alexina Anatole On The Beauty Of Bitterness

At the moment, it’s probably yuzu kosho – I’m addicted to its zingy, warming and slightly fermented flavour. It’s wonderful used in a dressing to dress noodles.

What makes a great comfort dish for you? 

Few dishes give us more comfort than the ones our grandparents, parents or caretakers made for us, so it’s deeply personal to each individual.

For me, a great British pudding is the ultimate in comfort – and in particular my gran’s apple and blackberry crumble served with cold double cream!

It’s all about those contrasts: sweet apples/tart blackberries, hot crumble/cold cream, crunchy top/soft fruit.

Where do you find inspiration? 

From everywhere! From friends, from travel, from eating out, from going to the market, from music, from cookbooks, from locations, from history, from art. Inspiration is all around.

What ingredients are always stocked in your pantry? 

• Maldon salt (or fleur de sel de Camargue, if I’ve recently been to France) and a big pack of Diamond Kosher salt.
• Anchovies
• Salted butter
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Lemons & limes
• Creamed coconut
• Papaya hot sauce (homemade)
• Ortiz tinned tuna
• White balsamic vinegar
• Tamari
• Bay leaves
• Ginger
• Oats
• Greek yoghurt

What ingredients have you recently discovered that you are excited about?

Less discovered, but more have had my eyes opened to…  sumac. One of my friends is Palestinian and he recently taught me how to make their national dish, musakhan, involving onions cooked for a long time in lots of olive oil and sumac, then combined with poached chicken and flatbreads.

It’s very special. I’ve also recently developed an obsession with adding sumac to strawberries, where its citrusy notes provide a counterpart to strawberries’ inherent sweetness.  

What is a lesser-known recipe you would love to see more people try? 

From my book, I would love to see people try the pineapple, rum and liquorice upside down cake near the back. It’s the first recipe that I developed for the book and I imagine that people might shy away from it due to the liquorice, but I really think it works – especially with a pour of cold double cream!

TRY: Alexina's recipe for Liquorice Miso glazed Aubergine

How do you source your ingredients and what do you look for when selecting them? 

I like to hand pick my fresh produce (the exception being my much-loved fortnightly Riverford box!) so I visit my local greengrocers, butchers, fishmongers and bakery wherever possible.

Ultimately, I’d like to grow my own fruit and veg. I pop to Middle Eastern, Caribbean and Asian grocers from time to time, to stock up the pantry, and I also source specialist ingredients online (yes, from Sous Chef!). 

How do you stay current with food trends and incorporate them into your menu? 

I have a terrible memory and attention span for most things, but food is the exception!

Social media is obviously one way of staying on top of trends but since I’m always reading, thinking and talking about food, I think I just pick things up through osmosis.

Can you tell me about a particularly memorable meal you have had and what made it so special? 

To this day one of the most memorable meals I’ve had was at Evelyn’s Table when the Selby brothers were cooking there (before they got the Michelin star!). It was my idea of the perfect fine dining experience: a small but beautiful counter in a basement in Soho, watching the chefs prepare the dishes before us, a soundtrack of 90s hip hop classics on in the background.

The food was so precise, so beautiful, so elevated, and yet the vibe was cool and relaxed and unstuffy: it was that perfect balance of special and comfortable. The Japanese influences in the menu were sublime and the wine pairings (usually something I find to be overrated) were creative and spot on.

It was phenomenal value too – it’s always so exciting to “discover” places before they get really well known!

How do you balance tradition and innovation in your cooking? 

I think innovation has to be based in tradition. I find “fusion” goes wrong when there isn’t some sort of organic progression or thought process behind a new combination.

Once you have a sufficiently broad knowledge of different cuisines and traditions, it becomes easy to start making connections and innovating in a way that works, and remains grounded.

Try: Alexina's Persian(ish) saffron, yoghurt and cranberry rice recipe

What new tips, tricks or ideas have you learned while writing your book? 

I’ve discovered ways to handle bitterness that I wasn’t previously aware of – for example, I didn’t realise that acidity would so effectively distract from bitterness, and I was surprised by the extent to which salt can neutralise it (try a teaspoon of grapefruit juice or Campari, then try another to which you’ve added a pinch of salt  – you’ll be amazed at how much the salt knocks back the bitterness!).

Which other recipe books, writers and chefs have influenced you over your life? 

Ravinder Bhogal has always inspired me in terms of how she combines flavours. Going back to what I said about fusion above, Ravinder is a master of fusion in a way that’s really authentic and grounded. I also love her restaurant Jikoni in Marylebone, with its feminine energy (you don’t come across many female chef-patrons).

Samin Nosrat is an inspiration, not just because she wrote a phenomenal and very clever book (Salt Fat Acid Heat) about the art and science of cooking, but because her Netflix series (of the same title) was one of the few times I’ve seen a woman of colour present a food travelogue. She really broke the mould there.

Niki Segnit’s The Flavour Thesaurus is a chef’s dream, and a fantastic read too. I use it all the time when considering new flavour combinations. It lives by my bed.

Can you tell us about your journey into food - were you always destined to cook? 

Insofar as I’ve always been extremely greedy, I think, yes, I was destined to cook! It’s the one thing I’ve applied myself consistently to over the last 15 years or so.

Prior to MasterChef I had a different career, but once I reached the final I thought “this is it, this is your chance to give the food dream a go”.

So here I am. It’s not been easy, but I also can’t imagine doing anything else. Even when I’m sick to death of recipe testing you’ll find me, two days later, experimenting with how to perfect a Victoria sponge, just because. 

Who is the first person to try your new dishes? And what do they say?

My friends. And they’re always brutally honest! You always have to take feedback with a pinch of salt, though, because we all have different palates: one person’s perfect dish can be another’s worst nightmare. Different flavours and textures appeal to different people.