Cook and food writer Amber Guinness shares her life in food

What are your earliest memories of food?

In our house, food was often about conviviality, hosting and being with friends. My parents would do big Sunday lunches, either a barbecue cooked by my dad, which was always very Italian with long pieces of rosticciana (pork ribs), spatchcock chickens or Florentine steak and vegetables. Or it might be very British, when my mum would go all out on a Sunday roast with beef, horseradish and Yorkshire puddings. My mother was well known for being a fabulous cook. When she moved to Italy in the early ‘80s, food was how she learned about the language and culture, and she would ask Italians to teach her dishes or how to make pasta. The butcher in Greve in Chianti, where we lived 35 years ago, still remembers her as the English woman who would come in and talk about every cut of meat and how they would cook it.

How would you describe your relationship with food?

I love it, I’m greedy, so I love thinking about what I’ve eaten and planning what I am going to eat at my next meal. I love talking about it and menu planning. I think food, or pondering what I might have for lunch, has the power to bring joy and lightness to a mundane day, particularly if you’re planning a meal to share with friends.

What was the first meal you learned to cook?

My mother’s roast chicken with grapes, balsamic-glazed lentils, roast cherry tomatoes and potatoes. I was twelve and I’d been watching my mother make this meal for years, so I recreated it, half-supervised. I roasted chicken, put the cherry tomatoes in a roasting tray with olive oil and salt before putting it in the oven, and boiled the lentils before dressing them in balsamic and olive oil. I laid the table, lit the candles and made a meal for the people I loved most in the world. From that moment on, I’ve been hooked on the feeling of feeding people and making them feel looked after.

How did working with food become your career?

I always worked in food and hospitality when I was a student to make extra cash. I waitressed, I assisted chefs catering for photoshoots, and cooked simple meals for small groups renting my parents’ friends’ houses in Tuscany. When I worked as a waitress at the River Café in London, I realised that through my upbringing, I had so much of the knowledge which is very valued outside of Italy, and it made me feel confident that I could cook for groups of people. It was when I founded the Arniano Painting School in 2014 with William Roper-Curzon that I started doing it professionally and learnt on the job, sometimes with disastrous results, most of the time with delicious ones. Over the past twelve years, it’s become a career that has developed into my becoming a food writer.

What’s your go-to breakfast?

Lots of strong coffee, followed by boiled eggs with buttered toast and chopped cherry tomatoes doused in good olive oil and sea salt.

If you’re impressing friends and family at a dinner party, what are you serving up?

I love ‘aperitivo’ hour, which is basically drink o’clock with delicious tidbits to snack on, so I’d start with the coccoli from my new book, Winter in Tuscany. They are heavenly little fried dough balls that you eat with Parma ham and creamy stracchino cheese—super moreish and delicious but also deceptively easy to make. I never bother with a starter so as to minimise washing up, so for dinner we’d have lemony meatballs with garlicky rosemary cannellini beans and cavolo nero, a very fabulous combination. To finish, a creamy vinsanto and cantucci semifreddo, served alongside an ice-cold glass of vinsanto (a Tuscan sweet dessert wine, which translates literally as ‘holy wine’).

Who is your culinary inspiration?

My mum has always been the main source of inspiration, as most of the recipes in my repertoire are hers, as were most of the recipes that made up my first book. She’s always made one of the most comforting soups, which is homemade chicken broth with mini malfatti. Malfatti are little ricotta and spinach dumplings and they are delicious in the broth, it’s so yummy and warming on a cold night. It was such a hit when she started going out with her partner that he calls it her ‘seduction soup’.

What would your last meal on earth be?

To start, I’d have an aperitivo of artichokes and fried zucchini flowers with a Campari spritz. Then I would have fried eggs topped with gossamer-thin shavings of fresh white truffles and toast. To finish, I would have quince tarte tatin with a drizzle of cream. All washed down with an excellent Brunello di Montalcino from Tenuta Buon Tempo or Castiglione del Bosco.

What’s your go-to comfort food?

I love soups and broths. When I need comforting, I make chickpea and rosemary soup from my first book, or chicken broth with lots of vegetables and beans from Winter in Tuscany. It’s like a hug in a bowl. I also find a piece of toast with lots of butter and Marmite very soothing.

What’s the go-to quick meal you cook when you’re tired and hungry?

Pasta! It’s comforting, filling and makes me happy. If I’m really stuck, I turn to my ‘emergency rosemary spaghetti’ which is in Winter in Tuscany. It’s like an aglio olio e peperoncino with a little rosemary tossed through it to give it a lovely aromatic, earthy flavour. But pasta generally is such a fab vehicle for any sad veg you have knocking around the fridge. I usually have a pack of bacon, so if I have some Brussels sprouts, another favourite from Winter in Tuscany is frying those up with the bacon and then tossing it through pasta with lots of black pepper, parmesan and some butter.

What is one food or flavour you cannot stand?

Dill.

Hangover cure?

A crispy bacon sandwich in sliced white bread with salty butter and a Lucozade.

Sweet or savoury?

Savoury.

Fine dining or pub grub?

Somewhere in between. I love a trattoria with a white tablecloth and a good, simple plate of food. I’m not one for a tasting menu, I can’t bear foams, or when you think a dish is one thing but it’s in fact another. So if I really had to choose between fine dining and pub grub, I would say pub grub. I love a roast!

Favourite restaurant in Ireland?

Ballymaloe House. I had one of the best chickpea and chorizo soups there. I still dream about it. And JR Ryall’s dessert tray is the only thing that might turn me from a savoury to a sweet girl.

Best coffee in Ireland?

I once went on a food tour of Cork with Fab Food Trails and we had a very good coffee at Alchemy Coffee and Books.

What are your thoughts on the Irish foodie scene?

It’s incredible. I love how well Irish produce is showcased. I went to the Ballymaloe Festival of Food and tasted some amazing things—incredible beers, ice creams, kimchis, nut butters, chocolates—all made by small businesses in Ireland. I also met some fantastic growers and restaurateurs who are showcasing Irish produce in a really inspiring way.

What’s your favourite thing about cooking?

I love how therapeutic it is. I find it really soothing to go onto autopilot and for my hands to be busy chopping or stirring. The smells and sensations of bringing a tasty meal together are my happy place.

What does food — sitting down to a meal with friends, mindfully preparing a meal, nourishment, etc — mean to you?

It’s really at the centre of my life, of everything I do. It’s why I wasn’t destined to be a restaurant chef, I like being more closely involved in the human interaction part of a meal, of hearing the laughter of a jolly evening or the sounds of enjoyment if people like the food I’ve made for them. I’ve managed to orchestrate a life which is all about being around the table, sharing stories and connecting with other people—who I know well or who I’m meeting for the first time—over a delicious plate of food and a glass of wine, which is where the best conversations always take place.

Food for thought — What are some areas for improvement within the Irish food/restaurant/hospitality scene?

None needed as far as I can see.

Chef’s kiss — Tell us about one standout foodie experience you’ve had recently.

I had my birthday lunch at a restaurant in the UK called Bayte, which is in St Leonard’s on the south coast. The food is exceptional, and not just by UK standards. It’s seasonal, tasty and perfect in every way. My birthday cake was a beautiful and delicious pistachio frangipane tart covered in pitted black cherries, which I thought was great.

Compliments to the chef — Now’s your chance to sing the praises of a talented chef, beloved restaurant or particularly talented foodie family member.

Matilde Pettini in Florence is an amazing chef and the food she and her partner make at Dalla Lola on Via della Chiesa in Oltrarno is some of the best in town. The menu changes constantly based on what’s fresh at the market and includes extremely traditional Florentine dishes interspersed with ones that show a little youthful flair. Matilde comes from Florentine restaurant royalty—her mother, Chiara Masielo, owns Trattoria Cammillo, one of the city’s most delicious high-end spots, founded by her grandfather in 1942.

Secret ingredient — What, in your estimation, makes the perfect dining experience?

Good, friendly, competent service. When I was a waitress at the River Café, we were told to have a drink in a customer’s hand within five minutes of walking through the door. It’s a rule which I’ve carried with me through the years and it gets everyone off on the right foot, whether they’re eating in a restaurant or in your home.