The ChrissieCast: Foodie Alice Zaslavsky

Hello, Hello, Chris, This is Ross and I edit the Christy Cast. Now you're probably wondering why you aren't hearing the dulcet tones of Chrissy Swan while she has unfortunately forgotten to record an intro for her chat with Alice, and so I will do it in her instead. We have loved her for years, ever since she exploded into our living rooms on Master Chef with her groovy glasses and beaming smile. She loves food, and so does Chrissy.

Alice, it's the time to spin the wheel and find out what our first question is. And it's child's play. I love it when this one comes up. What sort of child will you?

I think you can probably imagine what sort of child I was? Yeah, I can curious, very curious, Yeah, very enthusiastic, Yeah, very precocious, very very drama.

Three wonderful adjectives. How great? Well do you think you were born that way?

Yeah? Mum said, I was born smiling. And I think, you know, for better or worse, you know, But I think what's really interesting is what a smile could that be worse? Well, because I'm the sort of person where if I get a piece of bad news, I laugh, and then I have to process it, so I don't know what that is.

Maybe I know exactly what that is. That's called the bad news laugh. Have you? I think I might have coined that phrase because every time I say it to people, they I've never heard of that. So it's the most embarrassing thing because I do it too. You just want to die if someone says you're talking that's very serious and they say, I'm so sorry, I'm distracted. My dog was run over this morning, and then you laugh the only thing you can say, and I give you this gift, Alice.

Christy Swan, you have changed my life a genuinely. I'm so relieved to know that there's something I can say, that it's an infliction and that it's something I can't control, because it has really stitched me up quite a few times, because then how do you explain to someone, you don't say, that's what I'm going to say, thank you.

And they people that don't have the affliction look at you like you are a monster, like they could like it's pure disgust. And then you are also disgusted with yourself, and then you're trying to dig up. Oh, and what about the feeling when it's coming out and you know that you can't stop it. Oh, it's the worst. But you've just got to own it. That's what you've got to do. You've got to say, this is what's happening right now. It is no indication of how I feel inside, but my face is laughing.

I think I can take something off my shoulders and walk out of here with just a real nugget.

It is the least I can do for you. It's given. I don't know which one to hold up because I love them so much. I'm going to go the joy of better cooking.

Thank you.

Oh, in praise of Bege is so good too. You rewired my brain when it came to vegetables. And is that what you were you'd set out to do.

That's exactly what I set out to do.

You don't need a big many meaty thing on the plate as well. You don't vegg forward, you and you miss steins both. In fact, it was around the same time. In fact, she might have she might have had your book. And this is where it came from. She said to me. She sent me a photograph because she loves food. I love food. We communicate almost exclusively in photographs of what we eat at any hiven time. And she just sent me this photograph of this magnificent, fresh green, lightly quickly

Just that I start every day with a breakfast salad and it's not the only thing on the table. It's just always there because I know colors, textures, vibrancy zing. I'm going to get it from that bowl. And it depends like seasonally. If tomatoes aren't amazing, then I'll keep them out, but red capsicum, cucumbers, like we live in a country where those things are available to us and pretty delicious Lebanese cucumbers. I should say I avoid the telegraph at all costs, haha. And that for me is

But that takes a complete mind shift because that's not what we eat for breakfast.

That's not what you eat for breads. Yeah, but you know, having been born in Georgia, you know at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, like that cuisine is very veged forward. And that's just the way that my parents have always

So when you came to Australia, had a sleepover or something, what did you make of cocoa pops?

Those foods were so exotic to me. I remember my first supermarket experience and just seeing things like dunk a.

Use and the snack my oh, a snack. Only the rich kids had snack.

Definitely that.

Yes, even things like Natella.

You know, all of these foods were so exotic, Continental pasta, alfredo from a box.

Oh my god. That was my favorite show.

It was like one of the first things I call.

And then it came in a family size. And by the way, what family needs that one bag? That's barely enough for one person?

Very true, very true. But that family bag was something that I was tasked with pouring in the boiling water, stirring it around. And that was you know, Italian food in the nineties for my family.

And I remember, actually I can see the instructions. It called for milk, hot water, and specifically margarine.

Hmm, yes, yeah, we had margarine. We had margarine in it.

Why would you ever eat margarine?

I blame the nineties, you know, and the eighties. People had this association that if you ate fat, then that was going to make you fat, make you make you gain weight. What we know now is that fat is flavor, and good fats are important for our well being. So, you know, eating things like avocado, extra virgin olive oil, even butter. You know, all those things are going to be butter.

Butter is the best.

And if you're looking like if you're listening to this and thinking, I could never think of asparagus as main character energy, Yeah, butter is one of the things that will completely revolutionize asparagus. That butter. Yes, and that's another flavor like explosion again.

Butter is like the the Michael Hutchins to the Kylie Minogue like asparagus very nice thing, but then with butter, it's a whole new situation, revolutionizes everything. What is something that butter? Okay said, butter is obviously good on asparagus. I love butter and cracked pepper on roasted pumpkin like that combo.

Anytime that you have a vegetable that you need top well, that you need to make sexy, make it sexy with some butter or even you know, think about making you know, let's say you've got a hard herb like rosemary or same.

He's just so you've got a heart on. You've got a hard herb. You got a heart on for hard. What's a hard herb?

Something like sage like rosemary, thyme? Oh okay, yes, right, those herbs that are woodier. Yes, yes, we're still in the same They're the ones that you add at the start of cooking rather than at the end. Hardier. They're kind of you can release the flavor slowly.

Yes, And you say butter butter, so make like.

A burnt butter sage sauce like that is as easy as putting butter in a pan, foaming it, adding some you know, sage leaves, letting that sage get crispy, letting the butter start to brown, chrissy swan, you know, cracks and pepper in there once the heats off. Oh my god.

Sometimes the one thing, the only thing that is going to scratch my itch is a roasted potato with the jacket on, rubbed with olive oil and sea salt, sliced open so hot your fingers are burning to do it. And then you squeeze it from the botto from like those number of things we used to have in primary school, and just a huge salivating, just a huge knob of butter. Please mind out of the gutter. That's it. That's dinner.

You know. I had Stephanie Alexander in my kitchen for two week, and she one of the dishes that.

She put, this is for your TV show. I saw it, Yes, thank you.

She brought as her dish, as her recipe, jacket potatoes, and she does them differently. I don't know if you've ever done this. I'd never done it. Change the game, split the potato length ways, so it's, you know, two halves on the rack in a hot oven, no foil, no oven tray, just on the rack. So it's almost like an air fryer.

Rubbed in oil or anything. Just what just the potato in the oven dry? Just it is raw.

Dogging that potatoes in the oven. Nothing right, And then she just bakes that till the outside is.

Like bubberly and brown.

Yeah, yeah, brown, and the inside is exactly as you say, and then you sort of open it up, she says, and then into.

The cash mash. I think it's been a while. It's either route Allen's what's going on, guys?

Just a number butter number butter bit of salt.

Well, what is the size of Stephanie Alexander's knob of butter? Oh? I really want to know.

Thumb, like a substantial thumb and like I would say two and a half centimeters thumb. What about you?

I would go double that on a potato that size, sure, and I would just sort of stab it gently with the knife and make sure that it all gets in there. Yeah, oh my god, I'm so hungry. I want to move on to salad for days because my two favorite food groups are salad and soup. And I know that that sounds so like weight Watchers and Scarsdale and Pritticken and depressing eighties. But a good salad with a whole lot

So, the one salad that I've been making from salad for Days on repeat, made it last night is the Greekish salad. I don't know if you've made that yet. I haven't made it, but I've seen it. Yeah, so it's a Greek salad. But there are a few things to twist it. Number one, adding right now because they're so delicious, Adding nectarine, so little wedges of nectarine in there, genius, I can't tell you. It's like fizzy sherbety tangy.

It's like winning the prize in past the past. It's like, what is this?

Because each little bit of nectarine that you find is just such a gift. And then the other thing you do is you get a slab of feta, so just like a whole slab.

I'm a girl through and through whatever, love it whatever, salty, salty, salty, delicious.

And then you chop up fine herbs, so soft herbs like deal. Yeah, so in this instance, parsley mint and some fresh Yeah it could be deal. My brain, my brain's going back to last night. What did I put in there? Oregano fresh, oregano fresh, exactly, oregano, parsley mint, finally chopped, and then you oil up your feta and press it into these green herbs. Can you imagine that on your Christmas spread? Like that looks beautiful?

Imagine it. I can see it now.

And then people break in and sort of move it around, or maybe they take like a little, you know, little bit of it like a piece of steak and put it onto their plates. That salad is my gift to you. You give me bad news. Laughter, I'm gonna be making that tonight. I think, Oh, you're in for a treat.

Because the great thing about your stuff is you can get everything from the supermarket. You can. But people I think probably similar to how I was with, well, that's a side dish, asparagus isn't the dish. We kind of go to the same spots to get our fruit and veg We get our potatoes, we get our brown onions,

Like Beethoven from that nineties movie you know, the Big State Bannad.

I've got the vision grilled peach salad with barrata. Barata's always a good idea, by the way, with barrata and green peppercorns, genius, genius because everybody loves pepper, but you forget about the green peppercorn.

Forget about them. They're probably in your side door, in your fridge, like.

Ah, in my side door. That's well, this is the thing. I'm looking through the book and I'm like, oh shit, I've got the barrata, and i think I've got some peaches. Yes, Leo didn't need all the peaches, don't have the green peppercorns. And then I went yes, I do, because my friend Tory told me about an old woman's weekly recipe cream and chicken and green peppercorns, and I bought the men and they were in my side door.

You remind me so much like in every way. Just look looking at you right now reminds me so much of my home economists, like my right handed Jane Grels, who helps me write recipes like that. You and she would get along like a house on fire. Well, and also the recipes named after her grilled piece.

Okay, so I've got a bookmark the Greekish. I also have not cooked, but will because if there's anything I I mean, there's nothing I love more than all little tiny, similar sized bits and bobs of different crunch and texture factor.

This is called the green vege mograbier.

I'm glad you said that, because I don't even know how to pronounce it. It's like the pearl coursecuse more grabier.

Yeah, and it's like a larger sized courscuss textural, beautiful grilled halloomy bits.

One thing about cell all that the big the big couscousei or Israeli cours course, that is.

Of course, yep, you can call it that toime.

Oh my mum bores me stupid with ideas, with Israeli coriscus. None of them have been as good as this, let me tell you.

And you know, I think what's really interesting is all three of those salads have similar elements. Number one, they've got some kind of cheese because you need creaminess. You need the fat because you know the other thing. You know I mentioned fat is flavor. Fat is also satiety. So to satisfy your craving to eat, you need some kind of fat cheese. Especially if you are serving a salad as the main event, or if you're serving a few different salads, that's going to really tip you over

Yes, you've got to invest in it.

You've got to commit to it the way that you do a really good steak.

Yes, I agree, God, I love salad. Let's get back to you.

But I digress.

I mean also hot pick, thank you? I mean yes.

And you know what's really funny is that a lot of people message me and say, why didn't you put yourself on the cover. Why have you just like gone to Google image search and found some photo. Look at your juicy boozies in your mustard sweater there like a sweater like a pin up girl.

I've been love it.

I've been hiding the busies, Christian.

Don't hide the boozies ever.

Those are milky boozies. They are the boozies of a lady, you know what I mean, Like, they're the boozies of someone that has raised a child.

They're they're the boozies of you know. Look, there's there's nursing pads in that bra. All right. Have you ever leaked out breast milk?

Thankfully?

Not have you?

Yeah? Really? Yeah? On the Telly, how's that gone for you?

Well? Look, it was interesting. It was on the circlemer that TV show, so I was surrounded by women. It was fine, but I'd literally had my second son ten minutes before I went back to work, and he was with me on set. By on set, I mean he was there while I was going and we welcome to the Circle. Anyway, The show, I Shit You Not was two or three hours long. Every day of live television, it was two or three hours. Alice Boobs aren't meant

Well. I remember I went back to news Brecky Live breakfast television. Yes, Hazy would have been maybe three months old, and I remember.

It too soon to be on Telly with Busy.

Really freaking soon. And I remember maybe even like two months old. Nick, my husband was like waiting for me. I feed her before I went on. I fed her as soon as I got off, because otherwise what were we doing? What were we doing?

I think we were afraid that, you know, do you know that? Did you ever play the chocolate game growing up with the chopping board and the block of dairy milk chocolate and a dice, and you would all, you know, sit around and roll the dice in turn every time it rolled a six you had at that chocolate block and nobody could stop you. But the key was you had to cut it with a knife and fork, so you're rolling it. You go on one, two, and then

But that's the industry, right mm hmm. And I'd like to think that it's changing. And one thing that I've learned is that actually when you say no, sometimes saying no to one thing opens up a whole new channel, and it means that you can say yes to something else. Like I've just stepped away from my breakfast radio show on a Saturday morning because Hazy is going to prep. She's in prep next year, So saying no to radio means I can say yes to sleeping in with her cuddles with her.

What did it feel like to say no? I'd like to, you know, can you do me a solid?

So I heard Benjamin Law describe no to him as it sounds like the beach to him, because when he says no to something, he imagines that he has more time to go to the beach. So no to me felt like a sleep in and a snug and maybe making pancakes. So I think that's what you need to induce.

I love I love working.

Oh, I know really hard, because I think it's not only it's not only that you know you're afraid that someone's going to take your knife and fork. It's also because motherhood like is such an identity her as well, and it's like, who am I hormones are going crazy? How do I define success? It's much easier to work and to you know, kick tangible goals than it is. Yes,

It's just fun. Work is fun?

Works really fun and saying no also, like I have to say, I was driving into the studio for another thing recently and I had that what have I done? But I've already got It's like extra bandwidth to think about what else I can do with that time. I'm definitely going to miss it, and I'm definitely going to feel like, you know, have I made the right decision every now and then, But I don't, because I just felt that I regret it a little bit, but I don't regret it enough. I know.

It's a funny feeling. It is a funny feeling, and it's weird because it's also you don't remember the positives like every time. I mean, I really haven't said know that. I've said no a few times, but they were they were easy. It was just like TV shows that I had no interest in or whatever. So that was fine. But the other times that I've you know, had stopped opportunities, I had no choice in it, you know, ripped out

That's it. You've got to be grainful and not green. I don't know if you've read there's a particular book that your toumu Ottolangi recommended to me. We toured Australia and New Zealand Lost together. He's the best. He's like cousin your tomb like he's so gentle. He's it beautiful gentleman. He's exactly as you'd imagine. You love sad like the things you love what is it? Soups and salads?

And you imagine, I know the funny and do you just talk about vegetables all day long?

All day? And so one thing that I noticed that we both did was sort of try and jazz up the breakfast buffet. So like, no matter what we like and we compete. We'd be like what did you do with the kanji?

Or like what have they got?

Like we try and it wasn't a one upman ship, but it was very collegiate.

Who gets kani from a kanji?

Is one of the best things that you can have for breakfast at a breakfast buffet, as long as they've got like extra stuff to put on it.

So what do you do with it?

So?

Is it sweet or savory?

Savory? Savory? So it's like a savory rice porridge. And then you can add things like pickles or you know, let's say they've got some roasted veg that's designed to be as part of like more of a continental breakfast. Oh, you go to the anti pasta. Oh, I loved you this, it's really good.

Oh, it's like a mystery box.

It's a mystery box challenge no matter where you go. And if there's one thing, especially you know, if you're traveling for work, go to the breakfast buffet, look for all the veg and then see how you can judge it up.

That is genius. I've bought three popular items that you would find in most Australian cupboards. They are processed whatever, but I just want to know if it was in your cupboard, what would you do with it? Alice, Oh, the iconic QP mayonnaise, which I lived in Tokyo got thirty years ago, and that was where I first came across QP maynais. I could not believe my mouth.

I could not get enough of it in and I would rave about it, rave about.

It, and then all of a sudden, you can get it any Coalsa wall.

Is Coopy is the best. Coopee is always in my pantry and or fridge, depending on whether it's open, and I would use that. So anytime you can use mayonnaise, use coopy because it's got the flavor in it. It's msg the flavor in it is just the level of umami. That's savoring us. That's satisfaction that you're getting coopy. So eg dipping sauce like a really quick tatar for let's say you're doing fish and chips or whatever.

Yes, what would you put in that?

Like? The simplest way to make a tatar would be maybe some pickle. We've got some pickle in the fridge. Maybe some soft turb you can add that as well through your cupie whah, delicious haha, simpler than that Chrissy swan CuPy plus garlic powder for the quickest aoli. So like, let's say you may.

Have never done that sweet potato chips. I'm an idiot. I hate myself here for you. I love garlic oli and I've always wondered how to do it.

And there's one garlic powder.

I love that.

This is not the ABC, so I can tell you exactly the bread. It's got a green lid. It's like I think it's called absolute organics or it's an organic garlic powder. It is the best flavor. It's always in my pantry. The two ingredient garlic a oli. You're welcome.

Potato salute organic.

Absolutely now, potato salad ah the best you can. You're picking up what I'm putting down.

I have done that, but I've undone a bit of the of it with sour cream and I recommend that too.

That's great, Yes, and you can loosen it. So whether it's thing or with oil as well, you know, go half keep.

Shit of oil. Do you do anything weird with it? Yes?

I do do something weird with it. Pregnant paws ha ha, I shmear it on my bread for cheese toasties. I've heard about this better than butter, better than butter on the you know, there's one thing better than butter in this instance, so shmeer it on the outside of the bread. Yeah, and that will give you such so great What is that about? What's the chemical like, what's the composition that makes that better than butter. It's a fat, so it's

And also ten points for the delivery nozzle that comes out in a little star.

And if you don't want to start, if you just want a little squiggle, then.

Keep the red take the red thing off and if you want to go all right, are you ready?

Oh yeah, I'm ready.

Oh Heine's big red tomato soup. Sometimes there is the reason you are looking at this is this is always in my pantry. Nobody likes it in my family apart from me. And sometimes there is a hankering a very specific Oh my god, I need a bowl of Big Red.

And that's why it's there that reminds me of the tomato soup that I used to have from the school canteen. That flavor, and it's because it's.

So sweet, right, it is so sweet.

It's probably too sweet in terms of our bliss point now, like where we experience sugar now is probably a little bit peered back. So maybe you might grate some parmesan over that, or you know, salt to taste. What I would do is grab your tin of beans, like let's say, white beans, cannellini beans, beans, whatever you got but a bing but a boom ha plus or you could do your five bean mix whatever plus Big Red together you've got homemade baked beans, and then you could like so

Do you know what I was looking for the other day, and you will know. So I wanted to recreate this amazing chicken smoked chicken tarragan bagel that I had once with a little quick pickled carrot. I had everything, but I couldn't find, you know, a super market, I couldn't find smoked chicken. So I thought, I'm sure, I've seen somewhere or heard in the ether, like a smoke flavor that you can add into something.

So what I would say is liquid smoke is what you're talking, Yes, what is that? I would avoid that that's a size product. But what you can do is use smoked salt. So if you don't have smoked salt in your pantry, that's something you need.

I've got I need to go to a fancy shop. Stratake you to.

A fancy shop. You and I I will restock your pantry with the best things that will change your life. So smoked salt. Next time you make your jacket potato with your salt, with you with your butter, smoke salt on top.

Who makes it Olson's or something?

I've smoked salt.

I've seen brown and white.

You get, that'd be the Olsen's one. There's different brands you can find, like different kinds of like apple wood smoked or cherrywood smoked salt. Get a little tub because depending on what brand you get, they have different levels of saltiness, and of.

I want the smokiest one possible.

Yeah, yeah, so you you really want to find one that hasn't you want one where they've naturally smoked the salt rather than one where they've stirred liquid smoke through. And Chrissy, that will give you smoked anything.

It's going to change my life.

Alawn sprinkle smoked salt over the top. It's like you've put it on the barbecue. It's onto steak. It's like it's been on charcoal. Game changer.

Oh god, I'm almost emotional.

I wish you could see Chrissy's face right now.

This list is growing. Okay, are you ready? I love these. My kids love them. Oh yeah, specifically Indome Me megoring noodles.

When I was a boarding house mistress at top tier school in Melbourn. It's interesting. When I was at Uni yeah, boarding house mistress, my students all had the Indo Me instant noodles.

You know what I would do with.

Them is a ramen soup that Marion Grasby made on a bite to eat. I love she made, like, just got some chicken stock, which you could probably just use chicken stock cubes, like take the take the ramen noodles, like take take those Yes, chicken soup soy milk crazy. It's like why because that makes it nutty creamy Natty broth ramen noodles.

Say do you cook the noodles in the stock and soy, yes you do?

Oh my god, maybe you don't. That's not how okay? Yeah, you pop the noodles in and then you could use some of that smoked chicken. Or let's say you've got some leftover hot chook in the fridge, shred that through. Or you could use chicken mince. So she fried off some chicken mince, put that on top. Got you jung like a little bit of that. It's a Korean chili paste, so it's a sweeter chili paste, right, and it's so funky, like you need some got your jung in your fridge if you don't already have.

Some bloody list.

The list does get epic. I've actually got like a photograph of my pantry that I used for salad for Day that I think is quite handy because trying to write it in a list is just overwhelming.

So what I'm going to do is, I'm going to take your book oh yeah, downstairs to the supermarket and I'm gonna I'm going to fill that first whatever's there, and then whatever's left over, I'm going to circle around and I'm going to go to a fancy market and fill it in and.

You can message me and say, hey, what brand of blah blah.

And you know I'll keep your phone on because I'm going to be messaging you very very soon. Thank you so much for coming in. If you want to rejuvenate and like rediscover the power of vegetables, there are three books that you must get. Is there one website where you can get them?

All?

Alis Dot Recipes, Alis Dot Recipes.

Put that into your browser. That's my website.

I'm going to put them in audit, but I just can't. I just can't. In praise of vege. It's fantastic, the joy of better cooking, amazing, life changing skills and thrills. You damn toot and this new one salad for days with your big juicy buzsies in your mustard sweater.

Thank you so much for coming in. It was so great to meet you. My God, look at all.

That capsicum right, Okay, I'm writing it on the list.

Christy Swan, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you so hungry. It's been a mutual appreciation Society