ALICE ZASLAVSKY is the star of the new ABC TV series, A Bite to Eat with Alice. We caught up with the food guru on the release of her new book, Salad For Days, to find out what influences her cooking and for some foodie tips.

How did where you grew up influence your cooking style as an adult?

I grew up in Georgia, at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, which is a culture that’s steeped in hospitality and food and wine. Coming to Australia as a child with my family, and settling in Melbourne, also helped to enrich my cooking style, as this city is such a melting pot of cuisines and cultures.

What’s your method to make a new recipe?

I’m a bit of a bowerbird – I’m often inspired by meals I’ll eat at restaurants, or when I’m around at friends’ places and eat something delicious. I’ll pop it away in my mind palace, and it’ll pop back out when I’m developing recipes. My family are my best testers – when I pop a dish down in front of our daughter and she asks: ‘Is this one of your recipes?’ I’ll know I’m onto a winner!

What ingredients have most surprised you that work together?

I’m very into adding fruits to salads at the moment! I can’t get enough! There’s a Greek-ish salad in my new book, where I’ve added nectarines, and it really makes that salad POP with freshness and texture! Very worth a whirl!

What would you encourage cooks to be brave about when making a salad? Don’t be afraid to try a substitution! As long as the textures are similar, I’m very happy for you to swap lettuces, or sub an apple out for a pear, or even switch strawberries in for tomatoes if you’re that way inclined!

Favourite quick salad dressing?

Extra virgin olive oil (always!), plus lemon juice (or chardonnay vinegar), plus seeded mustard, salt and pepper! It’s such a go-to for me, and I can whip it together by eye. If you make it in a jar, it’s 1 finger’s worth of vinegar to 3 of extra virgin olive oil, with a tablespoon of seeded mustard, add a bruised garlic clove for friction, then shake it all up!

Go to recipe to cook up for a ‘bring a plate’ party?

I’m really loving the Long & Short Beans with Very Sharp Vinaigrette from Salad for Days – it travels very well, and is such a crowd-pleaser!

Most underrated veggie/s for use in a salad?

Always add an allium! Whether it’s a shallot, a salad onion, a Spanish onion … I know it feels like a no-brainer, but if your salad’s lacking piquancy, it’s because you’ve backed away from the oniony stuff! Lean in! Who cares about onion breath when the salad tastes this good!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Growing up at the crossroads of Europe & Asia, in Tbilisi, Georgia, my family’s kitchen was always led by what we could grow and how we could make the most of what we had. Emigrating to Australia meant that a whole world of flavours and cuisines were added to my repertoire, but the principles of veg-forward/thrifty-thinking remains.

I’ve written four award-winning cookbooks: Alice’s Food A-Z to help kids get curious about food, In Praise of Veg to help households fall in love with vegetables and Better Cooking to help build cooking confidence. Cookbook number 4 – Salad for Days helps give every cook the tools to make friends with salad. So I guess you could say I love helping people!

I used to be a Middle School teacher, which is why you’ll always feel like you’re learning something from my recipes, and I’ve even created a free digital toolkit called Phenomenom that’s used by thousands of parents and teachers all across the world.

These days you’ll find me as the food guru for our national broadcaster here in Australia, writing for major publications, hosting live events and in-conversations with global culinary and cultural superstars, as well as helming a Saturday Breakfast program on the radio, waking up my fellow Melbournians with a spring in their step and a smile on their dial.

I’m always happy to field questions, and love to hear from you when you’re cooking my recipes – no matter whether you find them on my socials, in my books, or via my television and radio appearances.

Visit Alice Zaslavsky’s website