An Interview With Celebrity Baker Anna Olson Eat. Love. Spring.
GOT GREAT TASTE? Try These. To bake like Anna Olson, you’ll need to pick up all the right ingredients. Start with her cookbook, make sure you have all the right tools, add a dash of love, and before you know it, you’ll be baking like a pro!
by nature, and truly is the way our ancestors used to cook, since they could only use what was available at that moment. Spring: asparagus, snap peas, chives, mint. Summer: tomatoes, basil, oregano, corn, peppers, eggplant. Fall: carrots, onions, potatoes, squash apples, sage, rosemary. Winter: stored produce like root vegetables and dried fruits and nuts. Do you have a favourite recipe from your newest book, “Bake with Anna Olson”? That is always the most difficult question to answer – my favourite changes with my moods (not what I crave to eat, but what I crave to bake). So right now, I love things like profiteroles and éclairs, while I wait for our fruit season to start (fruit desserts are generally my favourite). What are your Top 10 Kitchen Tools? In no particular order: 1. Offset palette knife 2. Silicone spatula 3. Ginger grater 4. Bar citrus juicer (the handheld type) 5. Parchment paper (That’s a tool, isn’t it? I’d have far too many dishes to do without it!) 6. Power blender 7. Good thermometer 8. French wood rolling pin 9. Stand mixer 10. And my decadent tool: a compressor-based ice cream maker (I can make ice cream, ready to eat, in under 20 minutes with it!) ALL of my trips are based on food, and my sweetie and I travel a lot. Coming up, I’m so excited to be heading to Budapest and later in the year, Vienna and Prague – to see the coffeehouses and eat the classic tortes will definitely be a highlight. But I also hope to visit Vietnam again, try Cambodian and Laotian cuisine and Peru has always been on my wishlist. How’s that for a diverse choice? What’s for dinner at your house tonight? I’m doing a lot of recipe testing these days, so I try and plan super-healthy dinners to balance the baking. I’ve planned Miso Ramen soup (homemade) with tofu and tons of braised greens. If you were planning a trip based on the foods you love, where would you go?
Your career is so big: Your shows, “Inspired with Anna Olson” and “Bake,” your “Oh Yum” YouTube channel, your guest appearances on a variety of TV shows, your personal appearances, AND your best-selling cookbooks! How do you manage to fit it all in? What’s your life like? I am definitely the type of person who thrives within variety. I love that no two days are the same in a year. In terms of managing it, some of the activities I do are singular – when I am in studio, taping a season of Bake, it takes all of my attention, so I don’t have to multi-task or juggle things. But when I’m on the road, I have to be the master of my own schedule, and balance public time with private time. So much of my work time is spent in my home office (and my test kitchen is my home kitchen), that it helps to not have to commute when the day is done! We love your motto, “What grows together, goes together.” Can you share more about this approach and philosophy? That notion is an easy way for a person to know how to cook without using a recipe. If you follow the seasons, and seek out what is available locally, then the flavours tend to match
KitchenAid Wooden Spoon and Turner SEARS and HUDSON’S BAY
Trudeau Measuring Cup Set SEARS
KitchenAid 7-Cup Food Processor SEARS and HUDSON’S BAY
Trudeau Whisk SEARS Kussi Whisk HOUSE OF KNIVES Trudeau Basting Brush SEARS
Chef’n Citrus Juicer HOUSE OF KNIVES
Kussi Silicone Water/Heat Proof Glove HOUSE OF KNIVES
24 BOWER PLACE
25
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs