What We Ate

"This is why when people say to me, 'Why are you carrying on?' I just say, I don't want to miss out on an opportunity that could be incredible."

This episode marks the last of the first season of What We Ate and it’s going out with a festive BANG as my guest on today’s episode is the loud and proud London-based foodie influencer; Gabrielle Mir-Hoseeini, otherwise known to her thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram as "Cooking Mummi" @cookingmummi

Gabby shares the dish which in her words, “started it all” – by that she is referring to when she one day randomly posted a video of how to make mac 'n cheese and before she knew it, it had gone viral.  She now uses her every growing platform to post "easy to make", delicious recipes from her kitchen at home in Stratford. 

We chew the fat about Gabby’s food memories and also a bit about her day job at Europe’s leading climate innovative initiative, Climate Kic (also lol at how I first pronounce it "K-I-C" instead of "kick!") as well as a few other things. 

 As it’s the festive episode, expect a bit of cracker pulling and Christmas games – thank you Gabby for being such a good sport whilst we were recording this! 

If you enjoy this episode, please do check out the other amazing recipes shared by my guests on What We Ate podcast.  

Hope you enjoy, this is Cooking Mummi’s Mac & Cheese.

All recipes featured on What We Ate podcast can be found on whatweate.co.uk
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"Moving toward plant-based for me, it meant that I had to change my whole way of eating and I love dessert so I had to re learn how to make all of my favourite desserts which was a huge challenge."

On today’s episode I speak to a very special guest, Isabelle Dion Jones, who is a Health & Wellness Plant – Based Coach living in London.  Izzy describes herself as "a coach who helps women TRUST their bodies through mindful eating so they feel empowered in their bodies." She works with people on a 121 basis or through group classes and has so many amazing tips and recipes for leading a plant-based diet.  Definitely check out her Instagram account – it’s @izzysbites if you would like to get in touch with her or learn a little more about plant-based living. 

Izzy shares a recipe which is her kind of "go-to" favourite home comfort and it’s a dish she used to love making for her sisters growing up. Now as an adult, even though she is an avid health guru she still has a significant sweet tooth which means she's had to put a plant-based spin on a lot of her favourite treats and this recipe is one of her favourites. 

Hope you enjoy the episode – this is Izzy’s Plant-Based Chocolate Brownies.

All recipes featured on What We Ate podcast can be found on whatweate.co.uk
Follow @what_we_ate_podcast for more stories 

"She’s Italian New Yorker and she just makes so much food for the family. Food for them is all about really being with your family and connecting with people, it’s not just about eating it’s about this whole moment you have with your family. "

My guest on today’s episode, Meagan Bickerstaff, originally hails from San Francisco and now lives in another seaside town (perhaps not as sunny though).  She recorded this episode from her home in Brighton where she lives  with her partner Jukes and their two beautiful children – Hudson (whose nickname is "Bear") and Wilder.  Meagan shares a very special recipe that her Italian grandad and his sister brought with them when they immigrated to New York in the early 1930s and even though she will be the first to admit that she isn’t the best cook – the dish actually came out really good!   
Meagan is one of those people whom you just can’t comprehend how she fits in the time to do everything.  She heads up marketing for a start up company, launched her own influence platform a couple of years ago called Inkwave, is community lead of  the blog @happynewmum, the volunteer head of marketing for women in communications network Bloom and all of this whilst being a mum to two boys under five. 

Other than cooking her family’s wonderful dish, we discuss some more serious topics such as the fantastic initiatives for diversity and equality in the workplace that Bloom is doing – to the more colourful topics of Trolls World Tour the movie  and of course, Thanksgiving. 

Please rate, review and subscribe if you enjoy the podcast.

The recipe for “Aunt Shirley's Meatballs” can be found on whatweate.co.uk 

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"I remember the first spoon of it, this perfect balance of like, little bit sweet, very fragrant, very coconutty, very spicy…it made all of the parts of your palette just pop.  It was always good if you had a cold or a hangover, it's one of those dishes that just brings you joy.” 

If you could share just one dish – what would it be…and why? This podcast is a collection of treasured recipes and the memories they made. 

On this episode my guest Sam Binney, shares a recipe which takes him back to Melbourne, Australia where he lived with his then fiancé (now wife and close friend of mine) Kay for a couple of years as UK expats.  As this was recorded during lockdown, it has been done over Skype with Sam based in north London, me down in south London and both of us cooking his Laksa soup (with me following very close instructions).  In between chopping up chilli, cooking chicken broth and bashing lemon grass, we talk about his time in Australia (and why the Ozzies make such damn good coffee), his staging experience at St. John’s in London, tasting raw scallop and holding giant crabs at Billingsgate Market, Pinot parties and Santa Clause look-a-like potential kidnapper when hitchhiking around New Zealand with Kay.

The recipe for “Sam’s Laksa Chicken Soup” can be found on whatweate.co.uk 

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"I was eighteen I think when I had my first proper mountain and sea dish. I was at my boyfriend at the time's family Sunday lunch and they did this most amazing chicken with langoustines..." 

If you could share just one dish – what would it be…and why? This podcast is a collection of treasured recipes and the memories they made. 

I really enjoyed making this episode as it was a dish I had never heard of before. Plus the ingredients list just really confused me as it had pork mince, beef mince, squid, almonds and dark chocolate. So I had no idea what to expect.  My guest – Vanessa Riboloni  originally grew up in Catalonia to Italian and British parents and now lives in dreamy London Fields with her partner Alex.  She shared a dish on this episode  which reminds her of growing up in Catalonia – and other than this we talk about favourite London restaurants, cooking tips, cooking courses at Borough Market and she also shares a few funny anecdotes about having Christmas in Catalonia...let's just say there are some quite unusual characters who join the nativity scene!

If you’d like to make this dish you can find the recipe on whatweate.co.uk and you can follow the account on @what_we_ate_podcast

Hope you enjoy – this is Vanessa’s Mountain and Sea Stew. 

“It reminds me of growing up in Durban…the heat…not just from the curry but from those hot summer days.  We spent all of our childhood outside.” 

My guest on this episode is Lara Pringle (née Molony) – a friend of mine of known for years and years as we both grew up in Durban South Africa. We recorded this during lockdown 2020, with me down in London and Lara up in Edinburgh where she lives with her husband Charlie and their cavapoo puppy, Winston who gets a few mentions in this episode. The dish that Lara shares with me is one that her dad used to rustle up for her family of 6 when they needed something quick and easy and delicious for dinner BUT she also chose it because it really represents Durban where we grew up – there is a lot of rich heritage and connection to the Durban curry which we slightly touch on but could have its own episode entirely dedicated to it.  Lara is a Life Coach and Well Being expert so somewhere between me burning the onions and what we’ve been drinking during lockdown – we do get on to some poignant topics such as how all aspects of our lives are connected and we shouldn’t  treat diet or work or health separately – and we also discuss how western society’s relationship with food has become quite clinical and can we just get back to celebrating food through moments shared with loved ones and enjoy food for what it is?  Hope you enjoy – this is Lara’s Durban Curry – Molony Style!

“My Nanna used to make this for me when I visited her when I was at uni. She’d always wrap some up to send home with me and it got me through a lot of very skint weeks when I was at university.” 

My guest, Scott Johnson, shares Nanna Frances’ recipe for Corned Beef & Potato pie with me on a very hot Good Friday spent in lockdown 2020. The ingredients had a slight “war time” feel to them (corned beef, flour, butter, tomato ketchup, onion and potato) and the irony of having to queue up to buy these items wasn’t lost on me. Although instead of butter being scarce it was definitely the flour which was impossible to track down!

Find the recipe for Nanna's Corned Beef & Potato Pie at whatweate.co.uk 
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“On a Friday when I was younger, my dad would take me to see my gran, she was called Granny Mo but her name was Maureen. Her full name was Maureen Joyce and that was her dish. Probably the only person who ever made it how I liked it.” 

Kim Joyce, a Scottish native who flocked to London a decade ago shared a very cherished recipe with me; her “Granny Mo’s stovies.”  We recreate her Granny Mo’s heartwarming dish whilst quaffing back a bottle or two, lamenting about lockdown and pining after our favourite pastimes with a dish that really does remind you of, “a simpler time.”  

Caveat: Kim’s recommendation for her granny’s stovies? “Don’t forget to pour yourself a wee dram of whiskey.” 

Find the recipe for Granny Mo's stovies at whatweate.co.uk
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“She was our domestic worker in south Africa. She brought me up from when I was really young. I knew her all my life.”

Brandon shares Hilda’s Potatoes with us. Brandon grew up in south Africa on the east coast of Durban and came from a big family. Hilda was their housekeeper who lived with their family for many years and played a pivotal character in Brandon’s upbringing. Don’t be fooled by the basic ingredient; this recipe takes time and patience, but the reward is great. Hilda’s potatoes are SO damn good!

FYI: This episode was recorded right at the start of lockdown (you can hear how the novelty of working from home hasn’t worn thin on us yet) so I had to adapt the format of the podcast. This was recorded via Skype and instead of being cooked a delicious meal by my guests, I decided to cook along with them.

Find the recipe for "Hilda's Potatoes" at whatweate.co.uk
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It all started at Christmas.

Every 23rd of December I make my great-grandmother's Christmas pudding. We used to call her “Old Granny,” probably because as a four year old child who ate cake at her 100th birthday, to me she was “old” granny. The recipe has been made by my gran, my mother and now today, at every Christmas, I make this exact same recipe at my home in London - miles away from the home I grew up in South Africa. It’s made the exact same way she used to make it – and every time I cook it I get that familiar smell of mixed spice entering my kitchen – and it just takes me straight back to when I was young child filled with excitement in the lead up to Christmas.

We all have a dish that takes us back to a special someone or place or time in our lives. Nowadays it’s so easy to just turn to Google if you want to make a dish, we don’t really share and pass on recipes any longer and I think it’s important to remember them because it isn't just the dish we're remembering - it's the memories we're preserving.

The aim of this podcast is to capture just that – the recipes and memories that meant a lot to us.

On each episode my guest will share their dish by either cooking it for me or sometimes I’ll cook along with them.

A couple of characters who will often get mentioned are Sam my husband and our sausage dog Lucille

Please do rate, review and share if you enjoy What We Ate – and of course, if you have a food memory you’d like to share, please drop me a line through the website // whatweate.co.uk or DM the Instagram // @what_we_ate_podcast

These are our memories.

These are our meals.

This is what we ate.