Donna Hay’s plea: stay with me

Australia’s queen of the kitchen, Donna Hay, is on a mission to keep us cooking as life begins to return to normal.

Doyenne of home cooking, paired-back styling and all things pale blue, Donna Hay has three words for the new wave of Covid-inspired home cooks: “stay with me”.

As cities open up and the pace of life accelerates, Hay hopes the nation’s most prolific lockdown hobby will segue into a lifetime love of cooking, and stand strong against the temptations of takeaway and convenience foods.

Zero to sourdough

“Lockdowns saw an incredible amount of people with previously no motivation to cook, embark on hectic projects like sourdough starters,” says Hay, describing these kombucha-brewing, bread-baking, meat-smoking culinary newcomers as the “zero to sourdough tribe”:

Donna Hay is encouraging the new breed of lockdown cooks to continue their home cooking journey. Photo: Supplied by HarperCollins

Now, with her release of a new cookbook, One Pan Perfect, Hay hopes to fill the gaps, helping people make the shift from cooking as an experimental hobby, to an enduring life skill. “There’s a lot of ground left in the middle – that’s where I felt like I needed to come in and help out,” she says.

Cooked up in the midst of the pandemic, the book embraces the world’s new-found penchant for QR codes. It’s peppered with links to videos of Hay making the published recipes in her own kitchen. “With everyone so used to using QR codes, it made it simple,” says the 26-cookbook veteran. “You scan, and I’m your cooking coach in the kitchen with you.”

A refreshed, one-dish version of the traditional zucchini slice is among the fuss-free recipes in Donna Hay’s new cookbook, One Pan Perfect.

Making hay out of lockdown

Living in Sydney with sons Tom 16, and Angus, 18, Hay’s lockdown experience involved being a non-stop home caterer. Batch cooking and freezing became key to managing their perpetually hungry, hovering presence. “My two boys eat like four normal people,” she remarks. “I had the same challenges as everyone – home school, home uni and boys that didn’t want to get out of bed. It was all about big breakfasts, healthy muffins and protein ball snacks on rotation. They are constantly starving.”

Returning to a life of social engagements, sports runs and after-school activities can be equally taxing, and Hay presents one-pan cooking as a coping strategy. “I’ve had friends say “I’m trying to take it easy” – it’s not excitement, it’s apprehension,” she says. “We’ve got to figure out how to do this all again. One pan dinners are saviours that you can throw in the oven while you run to do pick-up from sports training.”

Bubbly magic

Less washing up is a cherry that comes atop the likes of one-pan hainanese-inspired ginger chicken, rainbow chard-topped pies, and buttery miso pasta in One Pan Perfect. Cakes are conjured in frying pans, the traditional pavlova is literally turned upside-down, and flavour-bomb pastes are detonated with Hay’s signature simplicity. “When you get creative, one-pan cooking can be incredibly versatile,” she says.

Lockdown saw first-time chefs attempt ambitious cooking projects, what Donna Hay describes as the ‘zero to sourdough tribe’. Photo: iStock.

“All the flavours bubble and simmer. The way they lift together is quite magical. I want to see people continue to enjoy baking out of lockdown, but not to the level where you’re doing it all day. Making a cake can be as simple as melting butter in a frying pan, and stirring in the rest of the ingredients.”

Next course

In the wake of Freedom Day, Hay is eager to reinstate one of her great loves – cooking dinner for friends. Seeing her boys return to their normal teenage lives, and spend less time hovering around the kitchen, is another boon.

There are, however, aspects for which she’s deeply grateful. High among them is the proliferation of the home chef. Hay’s weekly kids cooking classes notched up over 11,000 registrations through the latest lockdown, and queries to her recipe team skyrocketed. “My social media was flooded and I was blown away by all the emails,” she says. “There have been so many positives – people are discovering cooking, people who didn’t think they liked it, never wanted to do it, or didn’t have time to do it. They’re buying fresh ingredients, finding joy and developing a life skill that I think is so important.”

Kitchen hacks

1: Your freezer is your second pantry

Whether it’s a stockpile of pepita-crumbed schnitzel, homemade falafel mix, or a ball of cookie dough, keep a few partially-prepared meals and snacks in the freezer. They’ll prove invaluable when hungry kids are circling.

2: Lean on flavour starters

Having a selection of pastes, and garlic confit in your fridge will turn a throw-together meal into a taste sensation. “Confit garlic makes a simple stir fry, grilled chicken or salmon exceptionally tasty,” says Hay. “Red chilli coconut paste, lime and lemongrass paste are secret flavour weapons.”

3: Batch cook

It only takes a little extra effort to double your quantity, and prepare a ready-made meal for the freezer. “Rather than making one ginormous batch, make them in separate bowls,” Hay advises. “It’s fool proof in case you get distracted when multiplying ingredients.”

4: Keep cans on hand

Adding canned beans is a quick way to give your meals a nutritional lift. “It’s always great to have things in the pantry that you can cheat with,” says Hay. “You can add black beans to a taco mix, or add chick peas to a simple falafel recipe.”