Ravneet Gill
We've always loved listening to stories about food and the role cooking and eating plays in our personal histories. The first meal we remember (creamy porridge with a dollop of jam!), our first experiences of the kitchen and the connections we make through sharing food with important people in our lives.
Pull up a seat at the table with pastry chef and author Ravneet Gill as she takes us on a journey through her life in food and inspires us all to find our rhythm with cooking through the seasons.
Tell us about your favourite food memory from your childhood.
My mum has a habit of putting green chilli in everything, I grew up eating spicy Sunday dinners and cringing at my mum bringing a bottle of chilli sauce with her everywhere we went. When I eventually started working in restaurants she would visit me and do the same, the worst was when she asked the chefs at St. JOHN for a side dish of green chillies.
What would your advice be to someone who is new to cooking and is looking to put more love into the ritual of preparing food at home?
Focus on seasonality and work your way through recipes like that, when you use ingredients that are in their prime you can get away with doing less and getting max flavour.
Tell us about one of your cooking rituals at home?
I've always got nice cream, lots of good butter and eggs around in case I need to make a cake. I can have a completely empty fridge with nothing else but butter in it.
QUICK FIRE
What's your favourite thing about having friends and family round for dinner?
How LOUD it gets, the stories towards the end of the night especially.
What's your favourite sweet breakfast to whip up on a winter's morning?
Crepes, all year round all the time with a splash of double cream in the batter.
Taste that most makes you think of home:
Green chillies!
Favourite song to cook to:
Has to be an afrobeats playlist.
You have friends coming round for an impromptu dinner, what do you cook?
A quick veggie curry using the best of what I've got, or if I happen to have a chicken it will be a spatchcock chicken with loads of random delicious sides of what I've got to hand.
Your most proud career moment to date:
My first season as a judge on Junior Bake Off.
Best sweet treats in London:
There are so many but to name a few, anything from Le Choux, rugelach from Margot Bakery, dessert at Quo Vadis, doughnuts from St. JOHN, I could go on…
Cosiest dinner in London:
Brawn on Columbia Road
Seasonal ingredients you're most looking forward to incorporating into your dishes:
I love it when Delica pumpkins come in, they are so versatile and I love roasting them for salads, topping flatbreads with them, making sauces with them. Just LOVE.
Rav's debut cookbook, The Pastry Chef's Guide is out now.
Follow Rav: @ravneeteats