In Conversation with: Anna Jones
Inspired by the natural green of Le Creuset’s new Bamboo colour, vegetarian chef and food writer Anna Jones has created deliciously easy recipes that will ‘rewild’ your plate with fresh, seasonal ingredients.
explore bambooRewilding your plate with fresh, seasonal produce is a chance to connect with nature and put sustainability at the heart of your cooking, says vegetarian chef and food writer, Anna Jones.
Anna Jones is known as the ‘voice of modern vegetarian cooking’ and her cookbooks, newspaper columns and recipes are raved over by devotees of her delicious, plant-based food. Here, Anna shares seasonal dishes that taste amazing and are good for us and the planet. But first, she tells us about the culinary journey to becoming the cook she is today.
You began eating a plant-based diet 12 years ago. What inspired that change?
I was working with Jamie Oliver in his test kitchen at the time. It was a fantastic adventure but I was cooking a lot, eating a lot, and I became a bit jaded with food – the thing I’d always been most excited about! I needed to reset my palate and my body, so I decided to eat a vegetarian diet for a couple of weeks. When I stopped building my meals around meat and fish, I found I was cooking in a more interesting way and I never looked back.
Did that change how you felt about the seasonality and sustainability of the food you eat?
As a chef I've always focused on seasonal ingredients, but you have only to think about the foods that are inherent to different parts of the year to know what produce is best to eat when. The shops will be filled with asparagus, peas and broad beans in spring, and winter is when you’ll find squashes, root vegetables and brassicas.
I think it’s important to be an active consumer, so I’ll talk to the greengrocer or the person stocking the veg aisles in the supermarket; I check labels to find out where food is grown; and I try to buy organic or biodynamic produce where possible. The past year has made us all more aware of how the fruit and vegetables we eat get from the field to our plate, and I think we’re appreciating food for the life-giving stuff it is.
Do you have a signature style to your cooking?
My food is always vibrant and colourful – I think it comes from my previous career in food styling. I’m also not scared to mix ideas and cuisines. I think it’s because my mum isn’t a fantastic cook, so I didn’t learn from her. I’ve developed my style by picking up ideas from different chefs, my friends and the countries I’ve travelled to. I’ve woven all those influences into my food. If there’s a theme to my recipes, it’s simply trying to make vegetarian food as joyful, delicious and connecting as possible.
How did you create these recipes for Le Creuset?
I wanted to design dishes with local ingredients, so they had seasonality and sustainability as a focus, then to accent the dishes with spices and herbs. Simplicity and ease was really important, too. The Green Pea & Coconut Soup, for example, is my ‘get out of a sticky spot’ dinner as it’s ready in 10 minutes and the simple ingredients end up tasting really delicious.
I was also thinking about what would work in Le Creuset pans. At home, I love to take my Le Creuset straight from the oven to the table; that’s how dinner is served at least three times a week. The Tomato and Cinnamon Koshari is one that looks fantastic in the pan. Cooking it in the 30cm Shallow Casserole means there’s lots of surface area top and bottom, so the rice slightly crisps up on on the top and bottom, then is just fluffy and pillowy in the middle.
The Pan Seared Cauliflower with Saffron Butter is a clever little dish. It’s a really good example of pan roasting, which is something that chefs rely on all the time but we don’t do much at home. It’s started off on the hob, so you get all the colour and caramelisation in the pan, then finished in the oven and served with pine nuts and a delicious saffron butter. I love the warmth and unique flavour the saffron brings to the dish.
Do you use foraged and wild ingredients in your cooking?
Rewilding the plate is a really nice way to think about eating, as that connection with nature is something we’ve lost. There are moments in the year when there are really easy foods to forage – sloes, blackberries, wild garlic, elderflower… Even if you’re not a gardener or a grower, picking something, cooking it and having it on your plate is wonderful.
What are your top three tips for being more sustainable in the kitchen?
#1. Fill your plate with plants. It’s widely agreed that the most impactful thing we can do for the planet is to base our diet around local, seasonal fruit and vegetables.
#2. Cut down on waste. The second most effective thing we can do is make sure we don't waste the food we buy. Before you go to the shops, do a quick check on what you have still to use up. Be confident to swap like-for-like ingredients in recipes – for example, sweet potato for potato – and use up what you have before you buy more.
#3. Think about the energy you use when you cook. Cooking in one pot or one pan is more efficient in energy use and will save you money.
#2. Cut down on waste. The second most effective thing we can do is make sure we don't waste the food we buy. Before you go to the shops, do a quick check on what you have still to use up. Be confident to swap like-for-like ingredients in recipes – for example, sweet potato for potato – and use up what you have before you buy more.
#3. Think about the energy you use when you cook. Cooking in one pot or one pan is more efficient in energy use and will save you money.
What is your favourite vegetable and why?
That really depends on the season. In spring, I love peas in their pods. For summer, it’s ripe tomatoes (I know they are technically a fruit). In autumn, I’m a huge fan of squash. And in winter, it’s cavolo nero.
What do you think of Le Creuset’s new Bamboo colour?
It’s really cheerful and a true ‘foodie’ green. In my past life as a food stylist, I’d often pair food with green as it works so well. There’s so much green in vegetarian food, in particular, and the Bamboo colour would work with peas, mint, broad beans and all those fresh greens so well. But it would also look terrific against the dark greens of kale and cabbage.
Read the Colour Conversation
How would you style the Bamboo cookware in your own kitchen?
I actually think the freshness of the Bamboo shade would work in virtually any decorating scheme. It’s a really natural green, and when you think of a garden filled with flowers, green is the backdrop to every colour under the sun.
My kitchen at home is quite neutral, with white, marble and brass accents. I have lots of plants everywhere, and Bamboo Le Creuset dishes would look amazing next to those to bring an even greater feeling of lush greenery. But Bamboo is a brilliant all-round colour that will suit most surroundings.
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What is your favourite Le Creuset product and why?
I have two Le Creuset pans that I use all the time. I use the 28cm casserole to sauté on the pan, to make rice dishes like the koshari, and to make bakes and crumbs – it’s a really versatile dish. The other one is my enormous classic round casserole dish. That is my forever pot for batch cooking; it’s so satisfying and sturdy. Once a week I’ll cook a big batch of something in that – say, a lemony dhal in spring and summer, or ribollita in winter. That pan feels like a friend.
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