Interview: Cookery writer Skye McAlpine
THE WICK: What does a typical Monday look like for you?
Skye McAlpine: No two Mondays look the same for me which is part of what I love about my job! This Monday for example, looks like this: 5am call with my assistant to get ahead on the week (she works remotely from Australia and I’m an early riser so we work really well together); then get my boys up and off to school; 9am podcast recording to promote my new cookbook; 10am shoot a reel for a magazine; then dash to my pop up Christmas Shop on Elizabeth St (which just opened last week and is there until 21st December) and check in with the team there; set up for a lunch I’m hosting at the pub next door, Thomas Cubitt, to celebrate the launch of a collaboration we’ve been working on with a beautiful, small Italian pyjama company Manin Tailor Made; press lunch; then I’ll be in the shop for a few hours meeting with customers, catching up on emails where I can and doing whatever needs doing; then home for evening to do a Substack LIVE with Farrah Storr, as part of a series of lives I’m doing as a mini virtual book tour.
TW: Your journey started in London, then Venice. How have these two cities influenced your culinary style?
SM: I feel lucky to have both cities in my life and they’ve definitely influenced the way I cook and eat in different ways. I use a lot of classic Italian flavours in my cooking – mascarpone, Gorgonzola, saffron, panettone, and so on and so forth – but I also have a real soft spot for British nursery food. So, for example, I’ll make a trifle, but I’ll make it with zabaione instead of custard (one of my favourite recipes from the new book is for a gingerbread, cranberry and zabaione trifle – it’s really good!); or I make a grilled cheese sandwich using toasted panettone instead of plain white bread – it’s a un-canonical but utterly glorious combination!
TW: This year, you launched ‘The Christmas Companion’. What is your favourite recipe from the book?
SM: Well, the panettone grilled cheese sandwich above is a real favourite! Other favourites include the flourless chocolate orange cake, which is insanely rich and insanely yummy; the roasted cabbage with Gorgonzola, pancetta and chestnuts; and the baked gnocchi with pumpkin, sage, melted cheddar and a crumbling of toasted panettone on top – it’s proper comfort food and I could (and do) happily eat it on repeat through the winter.
TW: Your cookbooks celebrate the joy of home-cooking and entertaining. What is your philosophy when it comes to sharing food with others?
SM: The more the merrier! That’s the loveliest thing about food: it’s a simple, easy and generous way to bring people together. As much as I love to eat and eat well, ultimately, food for me is all about the people: there are few pleasures or privileges greater in life than to sit down to a good, cosy meal with people whose company you love.
“That’s the loveliest thing about food: it’s a simple, easy and generous way to bring people together. As much as I love to eat and eat well, ultimately, food for me is all about the people.”
