TV chef Angela Hartnett on being yelled at by Gordan Ramsay and her Italian version of Christmas dinner.
With both you and your husband being chefs, is it cordon bleu cooking every night at yours?
We’re not having three-course meals every night! That’s the day job. Some nights we might just have a bit of cheese on toast and other nights we might just have a bowl of soup.
Most of the time we’re working in restaurants anyway but whoever is home first is generally the one who does the cooking.
Who are your personal favourite chefs?
I love Delia Smith, Nigel Slater, Nigella Lawson, Rick Stein and Keith Floyd but if I’m honest I don’t really watch many TV shows about cooking. It’s a bit of a busman’s holiday, isn’t it? I’d much rather go out or watch a good comedy. I love Ted Lasso.
Where did you train as a chef?
I didn’t. I never went to cookery college, I did a history degree. After that I learnt on jobs, working in kitchens. I worked for Gordon Ramsay for a long time.
What’s it like to be on the wrong side of one of his famous rollockings?
Nobody wants to be shouted at but you can understand why he’s doing it. He’s got a job to do and he wants to do it well. I worked with Gordon for 17 years. You wouldn’t work with someone for that long if they were an awful person. He just demands excellence!
Tell us about your podcast Dish…
It’s as if you’re inviting people round for food and a nice chat. I mainly do the cooking and Nick Grimshaw mainly does the chat and serves the drinks. Season two guests included Vernon Kay, Nadiya Hussain and Stanley Tucci. I did a wild mushroom tagliatelle for Martin Kemp, which was nice. I describe what I’m cooking for listeners and we send a link to the recipes.
Do you have any cooking traditions in your family?
Mum’s family are Italian… at Christmas we make a Sicilian pasta dish called anellini. At Easter we do a delicious tortelli of spinach and ricotta. I’m lucky that all my aunts and cousins are great cooks so we all help prepare them together. I make the broth and it’s become a tradition.
Do you still cook daily?
Yes. I’ve got four restaurants altogether, all in London, but I base myself at Murano. They’re basically self-sufficient and I just go when I need to.
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