A French Affair with Laura Calder

The first thing that came to my mind when I first saw Laura Calder this afternoon was, “Hey, she doesn’t look like how she looks like on TV!” And yes, she’s a lot taller than I expected and barely had make-up on. A natural beauty.

Laura has a great sense of humour and is a good storyteller. She shared a lot of stories; how she started learning to cook from the age of 5 by helping her mum in the kitchen. She is a big believer of home cooked food, that’s why she doesn’t feel right when people call her a chef, she prefers to be called a home cook coz it sounds fuzzier. She has no intention of opening her own restaurant, but she loves entertaining. When her schedule permits, she has at least 4 dinner parties every week! Of course she’s been serving French food in her dinner parties, and admitted that they were all simple recipes like the ones in her shows. She added that people get intimidated hearing about French food because the public has been bombarded with the images of how high end French food is but the truth is, like all home cooked food, French food is actually simple. It’s clear from the dishes that she prepared for us that she was right. Simple and hearty flavours are what she’s all about, and it is evident through her recipes.

Laura started with making, guess what? The apple tart, which recipe I shared with you guys few entries back. And yes, it was that simple and fast. After that she made asparagus with orange sauce and shallots and steak au poivre with potato gratin. Laura continued saying that she loves her steak rare, she normally leaves it for 10 minutes on the fire. She added that one of her friends loves it even ‘rarer’ coz she only cooks it for only 3 minutes. The room roared with laughter when she said “For her, if it ‘moos’, that’s perfect!”.

The good thing was that the chefs of Berjaya University College of Hospitality (where the demo was held i.e. 14^th floor of East Tower of Berjaya Times Square) had also helped to prepare the dishes back stage and we were told that they skipped the wine from the recipes ;) That’s very good, that shows AFC is sensitive towards their Muslim fans kan? Will share the recipes of the dishes she ‘demo’ed in coming entries.

The dishes were lovely. Again, hard to believe that French food is so simple to make, but Laura stressed that it is a cuisine that is evolving. French women work, and are increasingly leaning towards quick and easy ways to cook delicious dishes. I wouldn’t mind having these kinda food every week!

After the demo, she came forward and answered questions. Answering on how she keeps herself slim, she said “Ohhh..don’t come near me, I’m not that slim!” while trying to pinch an imaginary love handle on herself! She continued that the thing to do is try to keep your raw materials as fresh and as organic as possible and avoid processed food. “Basically cook your food yourself. That way, you know what goes into your food. Spend time cooking for your families. Don’t chase your kids away when they wanna play in the kitchen and cook with you. That’s how you spend time with them”. So true, huh?

The afternoon continued with autograph signing and photograph session. Laura is indeed a lovely person. Less sexier than how she is portrayed on TV, I would say. She told us she doesn’t like to watch herself on TV. Oh yeah, the kitchen where she shoots her shows from is not hers, it’s her producer’s. One more thing, Anis Nabilah (from Icip-Icip) arrived to meet Laura at the end of the session. Comel and friendly! I sempat tukar business cards with her lagi!

Well, it was a fun afternoon! Lets look forward for more no-hassle French food recipes on AFC. French Food at Home Season 3 shows on AFC Monday-Friday at 9pm. Happy cooking ladies!