Like most of our fellow quarantiners, we too took to the kitchen as a way of filling our time and stomachs. But with so many foodie enthusiasts out there, it’s sometimes hard to know who to follow. A recent favorite of ours is a British cook, writer, and broadcaster, Rachel Khoo. Having her own BBC cooking series also helps.
Currently based in Stockholm, Khoo’s sixth cookbook, The Little Swedish Kitchen, explores the nation’s simple and balanced approach to cooking, sampling their best-loved ingredients, and discovers a must-try cuisine that is about far more than just meatballs, fika, and cinnamon buns.
“I’ve always struggled with confidence in my writing,” admitted Khoo in an interview with Khoollect. “It’s not something that comes particularly easy to me and I’ve always aspired to write more like Anthony Bourdain, Gabrielle Hamilton, Nigel Slater or Nigella Lawson – evocative and poetic. With this book, I finally feel that I’ve found my voice and I’ve accepted my style. I always take my time to explain why and how each recipe came about – the context of a recipe is very important for me, otherwise it could be any cookbook.”
“I didn’t want to just write a cookbook about Swedish food, but a book that is deeply practical and would solve any or all cookery ‘problems,’” she explains. Problems such as: what to cook if you’ve only got 30 minutes to spare; or if you’ve got a vegetarian/carnivore/gluten intolerant guest joining the dinner table; or if you want to make something, light or rich or really indulgent. “I basically thought of different scenarios that occur in everyday life and packed the book with distinctly Swedish recipes that could answer those calls (and more),” she notes, “and that also have a very strong personal connection to my life.”
