#INSPIREDBY ELIZABETH DAY
30/04/2020
Elizabeth Day is the award-winning novelist, podcast host, journalist and all-round badass. Elizabeth started her career writing for the national newspapers before penning four novels including The Party, followed by starting her oh so popular podcast (and subsequent book and tour) How To Fail.
What was one of the very first dishes you remember eating?
Eating PlayDoh. I must have been about two or three and I just remember craving the taste. What a weirdo. But in terms of actual food, I think it would have to be Linzer torte - the delicious Austrian tart with a hazelnut crust and raspberry jammy centre that my mother makes for everyone's birthdays. I know I say it's from Austria, but I will forever associate it with Switzerland as my Swiss grandmother always made it too and her recipe has been passed down the generations. We even have a special way of cutting it: you have to cut a central circle and then the slices radiate out from that point. Once all the slices have been eaten, the birthday girl or boy gets the scrumptious jammy circle all to themselves. After university, I lived in a houseshare in Clapham and I remember being so outraged when one of my male house-mates took a slice of my birthday Linzer torte without telling me and had nabbed half of the prized inner circle. I've never forgotten it.
Who is your food hero?
My Swiss grandmother. She made everything indescribably delicious and was one of those cooks who could magic up a feast from very few ingredients. I still miss her ratatouille. And her fondue. And her cucumber and Marmite sandwiches (don't knock them until you've tried them).
What is your guiltiest food pleasure?
I love salad dressing so much that sometimes I lick the plate after eating.
Which restaurant to you long to return to?
All of them, to be honest. But if I had to pick a selection then Palomar on Rupert Street, 24 The Oval (near where I live) and one of those amazing Lebanese places in Shepherd's Market, London.
What would be your last meal?
I think about this question a lot, and I'm not sure it would be a meal as much as a greedy selection of everything I love. It would involve a vodka martini, excellent champagne, a margarita that is just the right kind of spicy, a bottle of Californian Pinot Noir and then a perfectly ripe avocado vinaigrette, a Globe artichoke, Lebanese aubergine stew with Persian rice, a roast chicken with bread sauce and roast potatoes, an exquisite cacio e pepe, my grandmother's ratatouille, an incredible cheeseboard and my mother's Eve's Pudding (no cream, I hate cream).
What dish do you cook the most at home?
Roast vegetables with feta and couscous. My boyfriend Justin shares it with me, when he's not taking the piss out of me for cooking it yet again.
What restaurant T-shirt would you wear?
Little Dom's or Musso & Frank Grill - both in Los Angeles.
Favourite vegetable?
Aubergine.
Most-used condiment?
Salt. I love salt so much.
Most over-rated dish?
Anything involving too much chili (it is not a substitute for flavour, people!) But also I actually think steak is pretty overrated. Most of the time it doesn't taste of anything other than the things you put on it.
Favourite restaurant not in the UK?
Argh! Too difficult to whittle it down. Some of my favourites include King in New York (the chef there, Jess Shadbolt, is amazing and runs an entirely female brigade. I loved the chickpea panise so much I ordered it twice). Cliff's Edge, Katsu-ya Studio City and Chateau Marmont - all in Los Angeles.
Favourite fast food joint?
I get cravings for Subway sandwiches.
Quick Fire
Breakfast in bed or Hotel Restaurant?
Bed.
English Breakfast Tea or Long Black coffee?
Neither. Jasmine tea.
Martini - Gin or Vodka?
Vodka
Ketchup or Mayo?
Mayo
Stella or Boli?
Boli, darling.
London or New York?
London
City break or Hideaway?
Hideaway
