Tales From My Kitchen Table with Claire Ptak
Make a cup of tea, take a breath and spend five minutes with baker, food journalist and Violet bakery owner Claire Ptak as she takes on a journey of her life through food.
Tell us about your favourite food memory from your childhood...
Pies, pies, pies. My mom made the best fruit pies and it was how I got started baking. We had apple trees and wild blackberries in one of the houses we lived in growing up. It was a rental and we eventually had to move and lost the access to those amazing trees and brambles. But where I’m from, everyone shares. People ask you to come by and help them out by taking away gluts of apples, quince, pears etc. It’s the best. I have lots of pie recipes in my book, Love is a Pink Cake.
What would your advice be to someone who is new to cooking and is looking to put more love into the ritual of preparing food at home?
My advice is to buy the best ingredients you can possibly afford and then make less. There is alway too much food so go for quality over quantity. It’s an environmental act and especially if you can find a farmers market, shop there. Buying directly from growers transforms your experience of cooking fresh food. And then just put all that good energy and positivity into the food while you cook. It 100% works. Trust me.
What’s your favourite thing about having friends and family round for dinner?
Oh my. I love to cram way too many people into my small flat. I always invite too many people, assuming people will drop out but they never do, haha. But it always works out and I get people involved to help. The good ones, who don’t have to ask what to do, they just start washing dishes or cracking open walnuts or peeling potatoes. That’s the vibe.
Tell us about one of the most memorable meals someone important in your life has cooked for you...
Alice Waters made me tacos and salad at her house a few summers ago and I remember thinking it was just such a casual meal, like a mother would fix for a child after school. The way she sliced the radishes with such delicate care and spoke to me with love while warming the tortillas. And she is notorious for her beautiful copper compost bucket in her beautiful copper sink. So we filled that right up with the trimmings and it was just a moment I’ll cherish because it was just us. Remember to cherish one on one time. Not to rush it. It stays with you.
QUICKFIRE
Taste that most makes you think of home: Apples and cinnamon
Favourite song to cook to: Anything by John Coltrane
You have friends coming round for an impromptu dinner, what do you cook?: Pasta e ceci — I always have a can or two of chickpeas and always garlic and Parmesan and good oil. I grow rosemary in a pot on my terrace, so that’s it! It’s so comforting.
What do you cook when you don’t have many ingredients in the house/you haven’t been shopping yet? See above haha. Or mozzarella cheese quesadillas. With sea salt.
Your most proud career moment to date: This year marks 18 years in business for Violet. I’m proud of that.
Best place for a tasty dinner in your local area: Oren. Always. Walking distance but I would drive across London for it.
Favourite lunch in London: Outside at the River Cafe. Obvs.
Best cocktail/mocktail: Margarita. Always. All through the year.