Elizabeth Hewson, Saturday Night Pasta

"There is no greater meal than an egg"  - Elizabeth Hewson

On this eggcellent episode of Three Food Memories you meet Sydney's Elizabeth Hewson - cookbook author, and creator of the infamous Saturday Night Pasta. 

On the menu: the Snow Egg, egg with truffle in Italy, and home made pasta (of course). 

Lizzy's social cause is The Lachlan Kean Foundation - lachlankeanfoundation.org.

Lizzy's friend Lachie sadly died of bowel cancer at the age of just 37. The Lachlan Kean Foundation mission is to raise awareness and fund research in hope for a future where bowel disease can be cured. The earlier it's diagnosed, the higher the chance of survival.  

To find out more about the project and Savva - head to threefoodmemories.com
Insta - @savvasavas @threefoodmemories

Email us at threefoodmemories@plated.com.au, we'd love to hear from you! 

TFM is produced and edited by Lauren McWhirter with original music by Russell Torrance. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the ground we stand on and I thank them for allowing Papa to tell stories on these glorious lands we share.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

Our guest on this episode of Three Food Memories is what happens when a life in food moves from precision to presence. Trading perfection for something far more powerful, honesty. Through her work, she writes not just recipes but a way of living. One that makes space for mess, for feeling, and for real life at the table. Someone who reminds us that in making food we often remake ourselves. Elizabeth Lizzie Hewson, welcome to Three Food Memories.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

Thank you so much for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

Alright, Lizzie, let's roll our sleeves up and get straight into this. You're an accomplished food writer, you're a journalist, a cookbook writer, and before all that, you're also an accomplished wife, mother, daughter, and sister. Yet imposter syndrome permeates your being.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

It still pulls at your apron strings. Where does this come from, Lizzie? It's funny because when you say accomplished, I immediately want to say, well, I'm not quite a journalist and I'm not a chef, I'm a cook. And I have always had it. You know, no matter what role or part I'm playing, I often wonder if I'm good enough. And I just think that's within me. I and I can't pinpoint a moment in time, really, why I'm like that. But I always strive. I mean, I do my best all the time, but I think the anxiety in me or the inner voice sort of says, Oh, you could have done it better that way, or you should have, you know, approached it differently. And I can't, I I'm not sure why.

SPEAKER_02 2:01

Have you ever thought about that the inner voice is actually guiding you and probably giving you another option or a way of doing it differently?

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Maybe. I mean, you know, it's funny. There's this moment I have in the back of my mind where I don't know, maybe I was eight, ten. We were at a friend's kids party at a community hall. I can picture it. And the party was a talent quest party. And I had this great idea. I I don't know what the idea is, I can't remember. But um, so much so that I said to my friend, no, I'm gonna do get up on stage by myself. And, you know, we were everyone was joining up in groups and friends, and I just was confident with this idea. And I remember getting up, everyone sitting down on the floor, and it was just, you know, one of those wooden stages. I completely tanked. You know, I I said my joke or whatever it was, and not one person laughed. And I just remember the colour draining from my face, and I was so embarrassed. Um, and I can still feel that moment. And I don't know, you know, lately I was thinking, I wonder if that sort of pulled a lot of my confidence away, and it's just sat with me, you know, for it for never to be too sure of yourself or too, I don't know. I mean, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

Do you have do you still have colour draining moments in life?

SPEAKER_01 3:26

No, because I'm I think I think about things a lot more, probably. I kind of probably to my detriment will kind of spiral in ways or overthink. Um, you know, I think when you're an anxious person, you spend a lot of time in the future or the past, never present. So I think that gives me a lot of time to analyze: did I say enough? Did I say too much? You know, could I have done it better? That sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02 3:53

What are you saying now?

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Stop talking. No, no, I think, you know, in these situations where it's very intimate. And I think as I've got older and particularly as I have become a mother myself, you know, I try to be a bit kinder.

SPEAKER_02 4:10

Do you find that you talk to your I mean, I know I do this as a parent. I talk to myself as if I would talk to my children. So I am actually much kinder and the guidance is better. Do you do something?

SPEAKER_01 4:20

Do you know my therapist said that?

SPEAKER_02 4:22

Talk, you know, talk to your inner child.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Yeah, that's funny. And actually, all my friends are saying, I think that might be the way, you know, parent reparent yourself. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

But it's true, you know, if if your child came to you with, you know, some love advice, or this person wasn't treating me right, or you know, you'd kind of you'd give them a piece of advice that would empower them, wouldn't you?

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Oh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Strengthen them and allow them to walk through the porridge. So if we can do it to our kids, why can't we do it to ourselves?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah, it's true.

SPEAKER_02 4:54

So you follow in the footsteps of some of the most recognizable food voices in the world. So I'm gonna name some people, Maggie Beer, Karen Martini, Nigel Slade.

SPEAKER_04 5:03

I know you're giggling here and go, no, why me, I don't like them.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

But you are Nigella, Jamie Oliver, Martha Stewart, Samina Russat. What have you done with their groundwork?

SPEAKER_01 5:16

I mean, you know, Maggie Beer for me is just She, you know, she is been a huge inspiration and teacher through her books. I don't know her personally. I've met her a few times through, you know, connections, but it, you know, someone did it say to me, Oh, it's like a you're a young Maggie Beer, and I just I have never felt more that is the biggest compliment someone's ever paid to me. Um I think I've always, you know, again with this imposter syndrome, apologised for not having formal training or but I've seen she didn't either. No, no, and neither did Nigella and all these people that have taught me how to cook. You know, Nigel Slater is one of my favourite food writers, the way he writes about food, and Nigella, of course, and Jamie, and you know, then going back in time, Elizabeth David, Jane Grigson, you know, for me, their food and writing was never about spectacle or performance. And I really try to channel that with the way I cook and write. But yeah, I mean, they're the people that have guided me. And, you know, to be for you to say that's just the biggest compliment.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

What from them have you taken and moved forward with?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

I think the idea that, you know, dinner can just be dinner. It doesn't need to be performative, it can be grounded and it's nourishing as well, you know, not only for what you eat, but for your soul. That's probably one of the biggest things I've learned from them.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Your your latest book, Home Food, you say that the book harks back to a time when dinner was simply dinner. Food without farce. So hark, we're listening. What are your angels heralding in the book?

SPEAKER_01 7:02

You know, I think with social media, food and cooking has become really performative and, you know, trend focused and trying to get as many viral views. And whilst that's really entertaining, it's exhausting, you know, for a home cook living life. And I think it it moves the needle that dinner needs to be more than just dinner. It needs to be creative, it needs to be plated in a certain way. What pressure does that put on a lot, you know? And it's like the reality, if you really pair it back and you ask people what they cook midweek, it's going to be the same thing. And it's not, it's none of that. You know, it's comforting, it's plain, it's nostalgic, it's, you know, food that reminds them of home. And I think on social you view it and you go, wow, that looks great. But how many times do they cook or re-cook those dishes? And I really wanted to lean into that idea.

SPEAKER_02 8:02

Before we get into your food memories, Lizzie, uh, like you, I'm naturally curious. How did these three food memories that you're about to talk about find their way to this conversation?

SPEAKER_01 8:14

I am such a naturally curious person that sort of leans into obsessive. I get, you know, once I have an idea, I will go down a rabbit hole and I will try, you know, read, I'll listen to podcasts, I'll pick up books, I'll talk to people. And I think that's how I that's definitely paved the path I'm on and the direction I've taken. Because, you know, like Pasta, without going into it now, went so wholeheartedly headfirst into that and just wanted to learn more.

SPEAKER_02 8:47

So we're gonna come back to the the source of your three food memories a little later. Okay. So let's start with the first one. Tasting the snow egg for the very first time. Now tell us about this snow egg.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

So if anyone doesn't know, which I would be surprised if you don't, the snow egg is probably one of Australia's most iconic desserts by Peter Gilmour at Key Restaurant, which sadly is no longer with us. But Pete, not not Pete, but the restaurant, um, which closed earlier this year. Peter created this dessert back in I think 2010 or just before that. And it was just on the cusp before Key had hit the world stage of being in the top 50 restaurants, but he was winning a lot of accolades in Australia. Um, and this dessert is a meringue filled with custard and with a toffee shell nestled on a again a custard um fool with some granita, and it's nestled in this beautiful Riedel glass, and I had never seen anything like it when it came out. How did you come across the egg? So I was working, I had my first job, I was working in a PR agency, and they were representing Key. And my boss at the time brought me in to listen to a meeting, a work in hand, and we were sitting in this beautiful restaurant, Key situated in the dress circle of Circular Key. You know, so you've got the the stage of the opera house and the harbour bridge, the waters glistening, and you know, we're going through what's what activities are happening, and Peter comes out. It's the first time I've met Pete. He's holding this plate with this glass in the middle and brings it out, and he says to Naomi, um, my boss at the time, and her colleague Brookin, I was just sitting there absorbing.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

That's what she told you to do.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

She did her, you know, my there's the and it is the words of wisdom that I think about all the time: be a sponge. You know, you don't know anything, you're new, don't try and contribute, just sit there and absorb. And so I was sitting around the table, and Pete brought out this plate and he put it down and he said, you know, this is my latest dessert. Everyone have a try. And we cracked into this egg, and I had just never tasted anything like it. And it was in that moment that I thought, I want to know more. I want to be in restaurants, I want to absorb myself in this world. Um, yeah, and it was a real pivotal moment.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

You continued to work quite closely with Pete, didn't you, for the next one?

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Yes, almost 16 years. Wow. Um, so you know, during that time I worked at this PR agency for about six years. Um, and Pete and Key and John, um who owned Key Restaurant, they were my clients, and I absolutely loved working alongside them.

SPEAKER_02 11:39

What was it w like working alongside Peter?

SPEAKER_01 11:41

Amazing. I mean, he is extremely humble and talented, and he taught me a lot about food, you know, in terms particularly about texture in food and ingredients.

SPEAKER_02 11:54

This dessert was very textual, wasn't it, if you think about it. And temperature and different temperatures with inside it, huh?

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Mm-hmm. The poach meringue, you know, with the custard, and then the the hard shell of the toffee, uh, and then the ice cold granita. I mean, it was just, it is heaven. And it went on to be on Master Chef. And I, you know, I remember at the time when it aired, the website crashed. We had people lining up outside the restaurant wanting to get a takeaway snow hack. And of course, you know, that wasn't possible. During that time and working with with Key and the team and Peter, the restaurant got on to the world's 50 best um restaurants in the world. You know, I think at the end Key had had 24 years as three hat restaurant. Pete had been Chef of the Year numerous times, the restaurant had been restaurant of the year. So it was just an amazing ride and story to tell.

SPEAKER_02 12:46

So Pete was literally the goose that laid the golden egg for you, wasn't he? Um literally changed the course of your career and the way you approach and engage with food.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

I mean, being exposed to that um level of passion and that level of, you know, being restaurant experience. I knew though, and that was sort of six years in, that I definitely didn't want to be in the kitchen.

SPEAKER_02 13:13

What was the about the kitchen that turned you away?

SPEAKER_01 13:15

I could not handle that pressure and the stress and the the you know, to get everything perfect. That just wasn't and I wasn't a chef and I wasn't interested to go down that that route. But what it did show me is that I wanted to have a seat seat at the table in a way that I wanted to be able to hold my own and contribute in a meaningful way. And so I left that PR agency to go study my master's in Italy.

SPEAKER_02 13:43

Um how did that how's the um imposter syndrome going now for you?

SPEAKER_01 13:48

You know, it's funny because I went off and studied and did a yeah, master in food, culture and communication. In that course, we learn everything from food history to sustainable agriculture to exams in beer, chocolate, food photography. Um it was so broad. But yeah, I still come back and you can never, I you constantly keep learning.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

So have there been other people in your life like Peter who've presented you with those sliding door moments?

SPEAKER_01 14:16

Yeah, I mean Lennox Hasty was another chef I worked with. So after Italy, my time there, and I know we'll we'll go back, but I came home and opened Firedoor Restaurant with Lennox and went in-house with the Fink group. So we opened Key and Ben Along, and Lennox taught me a lot about simplicity and the quality of ingredients and not having when you work with a great ingredient, you don't have to do much. And I think that was a a point where I got confident in serving something really simply, like it didn't need all the layers and bells and whistles that you would serve necessarily at a restaurant at home.

SPEAKER_02 14:55

So the w so the actual work, the detail, the research goes into sourcing that ingredient or that that produce.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

And caring about it. Where did it come from? Who grew it? How did they how did they grow it? And you know, that based and also what I took away from my studies. Um and then just being a passionate, curious cook, you know, I think people that love food want to eat great food. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

So I'm also thinking about other influences, other people influences in your life, in particular your lo-fi profile husband, Tom.

SPEAKER_01 15:30

I've been so Tom and I met at university when I was 19. And he's the opposite of what I am in my. Oh, absolutely. You know, I will come round at home and just be chaotic, and he is very calm. He is very confident, and you know, he will give thought thought out advice. But yeah, we've been together married 10, together, gosh, what I'm 38 now and 19, so yeah, a long time.

SPEAKER_02 16:12

It's almost 20 years. It is almost 20 years. So, how much of home food is born from the life you and Tom have built together?

SPEAKER_01 16:20

A lot. Um, you know, it's funny testing out recipes, and because obviously I cook a lot, and sometimes during a really busy period, I will cook a lot of food. And he will come home and say, Oh, can't we just be like a normal family and have chops and green veg? You know, and again, having small kids. We cook simply, you know, and that's what we want to eat. And I think that you'll find that's what most people want to eat.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

And so what does the book show us about simple?

SPEAKER_01 16:51

It needs to be simple when you know everybody is living this relentless, writing this relentless rhythm of life. You know, life is complicated enough. Cooking does not need to be.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

Does your anxiety play a part in the way that you approach food? Do you use food to soothe yourself?

SPEAKER_01 17:09

Absolutely. I mean, that's sort of how I started with Saturday Night Pasta. What I've realized is cooking and you know, even going out and getting the ingredients, but then being in my kitchen, it's where I'm truly present. And as an anxious person, that just isn't an often state of being. So when I'm in my kitchen pottering and cooking by the stove, uh there is a real sense of calmness that I find, and that's why that's really important to me.

SPEAKER_02 17:38

Your second food memory is eating the perfectly poached egg with shaved truffles on top with a glass of Nebbiola in Alba.

SPEAKER_01 17:50

So I lived, as we were saying before, in Italy in a town called Bra to study my uh master's in food culture, and it was at the University of Gastronomic Science, which is where the slow food movement was born. And one day, maybe I don't know, a couple of weeks in, I was feeling particularly homesick. I had left Tom, he proposed to me two weeks before. I left for Italy. Had you said yes before? I said yes, yes, yes. So I went engaged and I was feeling really homesick. You know, I was living by myself and I'd made some great friends in my class. There were 19 students from 12 different countries. I was the only one from Australia. Everyone else was sort of Europe, so it was quite easy to get home. And this it was a long weekend. I think everybody sort of went back to their families. So I found myself alone for the first time. And, you know, I remember feeling really mopey around the house, and I thought, you know, I suddenly had this. You're an Italy girl. Get out, you're living your dream. You've always wanted to do this. And so I put, you know, the best a Aussie girl does an Italy dress on. It was a red dress with white polka dots.

SPEAKER_02 19:00

I So this is like a is it like Elizabeth in in in in Italy?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Yes. I like to lean into that. Um, and got the train to Alba, which was only 20 minutes away, and it was truffle season, and so the the whole city came alive.

SPEAKER_02 19:15

They did a truffle for the truffle, it's a truffle, it's all it's famous for its white truffles.

SPEAKER_01 19:19

It's famous for its white truffles, for all the truffles, really. And I, you know, arrived and Alba's famous for also for its bell towers, and it was quite an affluent area. So in the in the past, the bell towers were the taller the bell tower, the richer you were. So I was wandering around the streets and I found this beautiful little wine bar under, you know, under this gorgeous bell tower, and sat there and ordered this um poach deck with truffles and two ingredients, incredibly simple, but done to, you know, the absolute best. And he came out and he brought the truffle and he started shaving it over, and you know, it fell like a leaf falling from a tree, and poured the glass of wine that was from the hills behind me. And I just remember having this comp this moment of I cannot believe food tastes this good from two ingredients. And I think from then on it was again that pursuit of beautiful ingredients done simply.

SPEAKER_02 20:25

So the egg, the perfectly poed egg with truffle. In your world though, cooking doesn't need to impress, it needs to support, doesn't it? So if if cooking is less about getting it right, it's more about showing up for it. Where does the perfectly posted egg fit in your narrative?

SPEAKER_01 20:46

I mean, the simplicity of it all done well. There is no greater meal than an egg. And I think often you go, Oh, dinner needs, you know, to be something more. But coming home and having a beautiful egg, fried egg on toast, or, you know, poached egg or scrambled egg, I mean, that is a beautiful meal.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

What will you cook for dinner tonight?

SPEAKER_01 21:10

I uh do you know what I'm cooking tonight? I have a drawer of veggies that need to be used. So I'm throwing it. Oh, I do that too.

SPEAKER_02 21:17

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Yeah. Yeah. It's like tray bake, veggie tray bake.

SPEAKER_02 21:20

It's like shopping in your own wardrobe for a new outfit, isn't it?

SPEAKER_01 21:24

I mean, Tom doesn't think it's that exciting, but I do.

SPEAKER_02 21:28

It's like a mystery box. I mean, you know what's in there, but you're just gonna kind of you're so busy you get to it, you kind of go, I'm going to discover. So what will you serve with a tray bake?

SPEAKER_01 21:36

So I'm going to throw some chickpeas in there. I always put olives and capers in a bit of red wine vinegar to bring it all together. And I'll probably just serve with some really nice bread. And what will the kids think about this? Look, I'm gonna be honest, they're not gonna like it. I will probably I big batch make some bolognese and I'll probably serve that to them. Yeah, tray bake with olives and capers, probably not their jam. Well

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Will there be a glass of a bottle of wine with that tonight?

SPEAKER_01 22:03

No, we tend to stop drinking midweek, I have to say, unless I'm out at a restaurant or I kind of save that for the weekend pottering.

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Are you have you noticed that people have slowed down their drinking?

SPEAKER_01 22:13

Yeah, I have, and I've just noticed the way it as I've got older impacts my sleep. So I tend to, you know, avoid that at home midweek unless we have someone over for dinner and or, you know, there's some nights you just need a glass of wine.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Are you do you miss those nights of drinking? Do you remember? I mean, we didn't drink to get drunk, but we just drunk with gay abandon.

SPEAKER_01 22:35

Yeah, I mean, in Italy it was cooking there in my kitchen, and I had a really close Italian friend, and you know, it was just criminal to be cooking without a glass of wine. And I felt that for a long time. But yeah, little kids and early schedules and you just sort of now embrace doing nothing. I feel that Italian wines are made to be consumed with food, not just on their is that to you that's Yeah, I mean I l there is nothing more than I enjoy than pouring a glass of wine, having my music, and cooking and sipping and nibbling, and I I mean that experience to me is just pure pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Which brings us to s uh the start of Saturday Night Pasta.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

So and that probab you know, that is a big point in my I think. How old were you? I would have been early 30s, late no, late 20s, late 20s.

SPEAKER_05 23:33

So no kids.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

No kids. No kids. And I had at this stage had come back from Italy and walked straight into um head of communications and marketing for Fink. We opened Fire Door and then Ben Along three months later. Then, you know, we formed the restaurant group. At that stage, we were all operating, all the restaurants were operating separately. We opened a, you know, Otto Brisbane. It was a busy time. And I really struggled with the stress and the pressure on it. And I have to say, it was me that put the pressure on myself. No one else did. But I felt an enormous um I guess a privilege to be able to tell these stories from these chefs and people that I, you know, greatly admired. Um, and I wanted to do it right, I wanted to do it justice, and I really cared about them and what they were cooking and serving, and I treated it like they were my own restaurants.

SPEAKER_02 24:36

Were these chefs aware of the pressure you're putting on yourself?

SPEAKER_01 24:39

I would say so. I mean, I think both Pete and Lennox are very dear friends of mine, and we are really close, and I I loved it though, you know, and I I remember a time we were working on Lennox's book, and I was sitting at my desk at, you know, 1 a.m. in the morning reading recipes and not at all feeling uh bad about it or angry. I wanted to be there. I loved it. But, you know, I guess they called burnout for a reason. And I was extremely anxious and you know, we had an a new person come into the business, and we didn't see eye to eye on that, and I found it incredibly stressful because I had a lot of history in the business and I had a lot of great relationships in the business.

SPEAKER_02 25:30

You had you knew the DNA.

SPEAKER_01 25:31

I knew the DNA, and so a new person coming in and trying to run it, I think it was difficult for her to, you know, see where I was so it was family, and that business, you know, and still does it.

SPEAKER_02 25:44

And it needs to be businesses like this need to be family, don't they? So it kind of spills out into the dining room. Yeah, it does. Into the cookbook. So you feel like you're part of a community.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Yeah, and I loved it, but I was extremely burnt out. And Tom was traveling a lot for work. He was, you know, overseas. It was quite funny because one of his major clients is at the opposite end of the food spectrum, and that's McDonald's.

SPEAKER_00 26:10

Wow. High food, fast food.

SPEAKER_01 26:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Wow. Back to the memory.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:14

So Saturday night pasta.

SPEAKER_01 26:16

I was going through a really difficult time and I I was struggling. One day I thought I had the call to make something with my hands. And I have always loved, you know, eating pasta and obviously lived in Italy, so made a bit of pasta, but we made pasta before. Yeah, yeah, but wouldn't make it often. But I thought I want to absorb myself in something. So I turned on my favourite music and the soundtrack, which is important to Saturday Night Pasta, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra. I just loved that era. Poured myself a glass of red wine and I made a sauce that required very little of me. Tomato sauce that could just, you know, simmer on the stove in the back. And then I needed some dough. And I was, you know, channeling the frustrations and anger and sadness I felt, which is a good, good, good way to release. And then I better than hitting the wall. True. And then I started, you know, pulling the dough through the pasta machine and I made Taglatelli. And I realized for the first time in a really long time I was present. I hadn't been thinking about work or checking emails or, you know, picking up my phone. And it was completely addictive and soul restoring in a way that I hadn't experienced food to be. And I, you know, going back to this obsessive curious part, I repeated it again the following Saturday because you need time, right?

SPEAKER_02 27:47

You talk about the dough, the the the the colour of the dough, mixing the eggs with the flour, and all of a sudden it just goes yellow and it transforms. How what was that making you feel?

SPEAKER_01 27:59

I mean, happy. Just the brightness of it.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

That came from the yolk of the egg.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Yeah. But then even making, you know, semolina, which is just a different type of flour and water, and the kind of paleness of that. I just found the whole experience really calming. And I then continued it every Saturday night and slowly started sharing it on social media and then pe you know, and hashtag, because that's what you did back then. Hashtag Saturday nightpasta because I was literally making pasta on a Saturday night. Um, and then slowly people sort of asked, Oh, what's this? And, you know, because at the time social media was a very friendly place. Um, and you know, people then started making giving it a go. And slowly people were hashtagging Saturday night pasta, and I'd had friends over and taught them, and then they would go home and do it. And yeah, then the book deal came and Saturday night pasta the book was born. Self-care rituals for the home cook.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

But then there was another thing that came out of that the tomato pa the tomato sauce. Yes, the jar pasta sauce.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

Yes. So take yourself back to COVID lockdown.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Um, all the restaurants closed down, obviously, and I had a lot of time on my hands. And I thought, you know, the book was out. The book came out in October 2020. And I thought, oh, what am I gonna do with time? And also I had this access to these amazing ingredients through the restaurants. So I curated the self-care packs and for the restaurants. No, no, for just people that followed me. Right. And I sold them online just through social media, and I was selling 70 a week, very easy boxes of a ready-made pasta. One of my friends um is an amazing pasta maker. He was making fresh pasta for hotels and you know, restaurants, and that was all closed, so I would buy little, you know, 300 gram packs of fresh pasta and curate a very simple recipe. Selling about 70 a week, and they, you know, I couldn't keep up. And I thought to myself, wow, you know, there's people I find a lot of joy in slowing down and making something from scratch, but there's equal joy to be had from throwing something together in 10 minutes. And that's when I started walking the supermarket aisles and seeing that all pasta sauces were the same. They were all very traditional, very Italian, labels were black and white. Meanwhile, over in the condiment aisle, it's bursting with originality and personality and colour and brand. And I thought as a marketer, hmm, I wonder if you did that to pasta sauce. And then I thought, well, what would be the pasta sauce, you know, if I was to do one? And one of my self-care packs was a vodka pasta sauce, and it went completely nuts. Like it's sold out within an hour, which I thought was so strange because it was such a simple sauce recipe. So I thought, okay, well, I'll do a vodka sauce. There was nothing on the shelf like that. Um, but what was my spin on it? And I wanted to add a unique Australian flair, so I added lemon myrtle leaves, and actually, that was sitting with Lennox at fire door testing a whole lot, and he had some, and we threw that in there, and it was amazing how it changed the profile. I I cook a lot with olive brine, I think it's a magic ingredient, so added that, and that became more like a dirty martini. And so the dirty martini pasta sauce was born, and it it took me a year because I thought if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it proper. Um, and I found an amazing manufacturer who believed in me and what I wanted to do, and you know, there it was, and Tom, you know, the the the realist said to me, What are you gonna do with a ton of pasta sauce? You know, do you know how big a palette is? And of course I didn't, you know, I did not think of any of the operation logistics. I was a creative. And um, so I, you know, got my skates on and the restaurant started opening up, and I had a friend through the restaurants, gave me a warehouse space to store it. I started promoting it on social, and then I reached out to 50 of my favorite retailers, and I have to say, the source arrived, and you'll you'll appreciate this in December. Now no one wants to talk to you in December, but you know, I naively didn't know anything about that. So I reached out to my favorite stores, and to my surprise, a lot of them wrote back and said, Yeah, we'd we'll take a cardinal. And by January, I was sold out. So the end of January, early, yeah, early Feb, I had sold out. I had a pastor as well, and I was hand packing the coveralls. I was six months pregnant. I was selling a lot through social media as well, you know, packing till midnight, getting them out. And, you know, that's when I thought, hmm, maybe there is an idea here.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

So one of our previous guests, and that's what I reckon, has built his, I mean, what started off his explosion was his catch-cry, fuck the jar sauce. Like if you look at his very, very first video, he he throws the you know, the jar sauce in the bin. In the way he unjarred uh sugor, uh and and that became the foundation of his work, your jarring of sugor does the the exact opposite, but the same as him. Tell me about how jar sauce became your reason.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

So, you know, it's funny because I still take great pleasure from making my own pasta sauce. And I would say to anyone, yes, making jarred making a pasta sauce a sugo is very simple and it's a beautiful thing to do. Um, but the reality is, you know, where the idea and when why I continue to pursue it is I became a mother um of two and life was really full. And I don't like to compromise, ask Tom. And I wanted to have a dinner solution that I could feel really good about that would still taste quality. I mean, I didn't make any compromises in the sauces. It all uses Australian tomatoes, there's no preservatives. I work with amazing um producers, Tulunka Olives down in South Australia. You know, I wanted to feel good about a shortcut. And sometimes when you get home after a horrific day, you've got hungry children, you're hungry, you're tired, the thought of chopping up an onions, you know, cooking that down that properly, opening a can of tomatoes and cooking out that properly, you know, you just don't have the time. So creating the range felt like a great, you know, I guess, option for people to deliver and still celebrate what that is, but you know, giving people uh, you know, I guess a break.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

And and and still for me, I'm thinking about me with children and managing all of that and my anxiety and how I just have to put sometimes put a lid on it so that taking the lid off the jar of tomato sauce would have been the perfect.

SPEAKER_01 35:00

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

So how does your anxiety present itself?

SPEAKER_01 35:04

Um, I spiral. I get very worked up and I can feel it happening now, you know.

SPEAKER_02 35:11

Not now now. Not now now.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

You know, I'm very comfortable now. You know, it's normally when I've got way too much on the boil, on the go.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

And the monkey mind sort of steps in, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_01 35:21

Yeah, and one, because I'm rushing, there'll be a mistake, and then I think, well, of course that's why that's happened. And then I'll just keep spiralling. I I try very much to avoid that, but it is inevitable. Now you have a twin. I have a twin, yes. Brother or sister? Sister. And they're the complete opposite to you. Yes. You know, it's funny because I think I'm much more like my dad, and we are stressed, uh, you know, I mean, I don't want to talk for him, but I think very, you know, anxious people that overthink. Whereas my sister is very much more like my mother, who is um uh laid back, goes with the flow. You know, if something happens, you know, one of her famous sayings when we were growing up, there's no use crying over spilt milk. Whereas I would cry over spilt milk.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Would she spill the milk just to watch you?

SPEAKER_01 36:14

No, no, but it was, you know, she just moves on with things. It's like, okay, this has happened, let's get on. Whereas I will dwell and festival. Do you want to be like her?

SPEAKER_00 36:21

I would love to be like that.

SPEAKER_01 36:23

And Caroline's much more like that than I am, and it's like, eh, yeah, okay, yeah, let's just go with it. I would say I'm a high functioning, um, anxious person, and in a way that's pushed me and pushes me, and I work very, very hard. You know, this work it it absorbs me and um Why does it absorb you? I I want it to. I, you know, I I have I'm ambitious, um, you know, and that comes with with hard work and I enjoy it. You know, I think when you are so deeply passionate about it, it's a double-edged sword in a way, because you love doing it, but it uh you know it absorbs you in every aspect. And so cooking is my job and I love it, and it's a way for me to unwind, but it's also my job, you know?

SPEAKER_02 37:14

And so sitting down to eat what you've made, what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 37:20

Sometimes I'll kind of go, Oh, I need to do this and make mental notes how I want to change that recipe. But I don't uh you know, most of the time it is it is restoring and I find it comforting. For me, what I've realized it's very much a process of cooking. You know, it's what's that famous saying? It's not the it's not the destination, it's the journey.

SPEAKER_02 37:40

It's the journey. And so what um do you approach food in a different way now? Do you enjoy it?

SPEAKER_01 37:46

I remove the pressure. Right. You know, like sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

But it's taken a lot of work.

SPEAKER_01 37:51

Yeah, you know, for me, and this whole the the byline on my book is the perfect cookbook for imperfect cooks, because where I realized is that perfectionism, whilst I used to wear it as a badge of honour and I thought, you know, that's how you achieve greatness, it has to be perfect. What I have since realized, and I think having kids definitely, but as you get older and wiser and you have more experience, it's actually been the thing that's held me back. And where I realized that was in the thick of cooking dinner amongst the family. And I think I was, you know, wanting to, I had an idea I wanted to cook something, and I realized I'd forgotten a particular ingredient. And you know, I had my my daughter for a while had to be held. So I was had her on my hip and I was chopping the onion, and instead of it being finely chopped, it was hacked. And you know, I threw it in the pan. And because it was hacked, there was bits that were more burnt-ish than others. And, you know, there I realized in the thick of family life, like imperfection is where the magic happens, and it was a delicious meal, and you know, all those bits that I was worried about were the delicious bits anyway. And I just, you know, removing that pressure and that you are not, you know, I'm not sitting at in the key kitchen cooking for people. No, um, I am cooking for the people I love the most in the world that love me, and gathering around the table, eating something you've cooked with beautiful ingredients is a really, a really lovely thing.

SPEAKER_02 39:21

You've chosen the Lochland Keane Foundation as your social cause. What does the Lochlan Keane Foundation do?

SPEAKER_01 39:27

So it raises awareness in young adults about the rising rates of bowel cancer. My husband's best friend, who is a very dear friend of mine, um, he actually introduced Tom and I at uni. He died of bowel cancer at 36. And it was just shocking to us. I've been around bowel cancer. Mum actually had bowel cancer growing up, but for someone so young and he has a son the same age as um my son Louie and a beautiful wife, and it was it was just shocking because it came on and you know, I think it was a year it had taken him.

SPEAKER_02 40:03

And what was what was Loughlin like in life?

SPEAKER_01 40:06

I mean, full of energy and character, and I mean, we just adored him and he brought a lot. He was, you know, his laugh, I can still hear it. Um, and actually one of Locke's, you know, he got really sick and he had um surgery to remove parts, and we were hoping that would help. And one of his final meals, actually, he came over and I cooked for him. And he wanted, he requested one of his favourite meals was pesto. Um, so I made fresh pesto and uh wissles, chicken wissles. Made these chicken wissles and then a sticky date pudding. Then we realized later that he should not have had dates because he was didn't need extra fibre in his body. Um, but that was actually one of the last full meals he ate. He passed away maybe two or three weeks after that. So for me, that is just the most beautiful kind of experience and you know, memory that I'll cherish.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Um in Lochland's passing, what has his legacy opened up and and and what has it added to the foundation?

SPEAKER_01 41:17

So I think that real I mean it shocked all of us to be that young. And I think raising awareness that there is a growing rate of cancer, bowel cancer in young adults. Um, and so the whole mission is to raise that awareness, but also to educate. Prevention is key. You know, had Locke found that earlier, it could have been a different outcome. But it's alarming the rates. And I think, you know, what the foundation has done is help raise that awareness in, you know, all of us and young adults. But it's also, you know, Locke spent some time at the Chris O'Brien Center and through all the events that the LKF Foundation have done, they've raised money to dedicate a nurse, full-time nurse, just caring for bowel cancer patients. Um, so that's pretty special that he's left that as well.

SPEAKER_02 42:17

For more information, head to the website lochlandkeenfoundation.org for details on how you can contribute and preventative measures and screenings. Now, in the spirit of Martha Stewart, we have a tradition here at Three Food Memories where our previous guest passes their kitchen life guidance to you. Our previous guest, Captain Jason Chambers, says, if you eat it all and don't share it, no one's going to know. Why be that selfish greedy prick and eat it all and talk about what it was like?

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Are you that person who eats it all?

SPEAKER_02 42:52

I would imagine you're a sharer.

SPEAKER_01 42:54

I am a sharer. I'm a I am definitely a feeder. I love cooking for people and sharing that and wanting everybody to taste it and feel the immense joy that I get from food.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

He also, now I'm just thinking this one relates, this one's good for you too, because I'm thinking about the little child under the arm cutting the onions. He also said uh he said to make sure that fingertips are pulled under when cutting onions so you don't cut your fingers. What would you, Lizzie? Lizzie, from the beauty and the mess and the noise of life, what has the kitchen taught you that you'd like to pass on to our next guest?

SPEAKER_01 43:28

I think to slow down, be present, and enjoy it. You know, you are not dishing up for MasterChef. You are not in a restaurant, you are cooking for people that love you or for yourself. And, you know, I think cooking for yourself is one of the greatest pleasures and joys because there is no, there is no pressure. You know, what's the worst that's going to happen? Um, so I think it's very much to be in the moment. And, you know, if if dinner needs to be simple and egg on Toast, a you know, a a boiled potato, a roast potato, one of my favorites. That's fine.

SPEAKER_02 44:06

Now I've been probing you through this conversation about how you put how you got your three food memories together, and I'm not sure if you've noticed, but every one of your memories, every single one of your memories circles back to the egg. From the snow egg that cracks something open inside you to the perfectly post one in Alba when you were feeling untethered to the eggs in the flower that made the pasta that brought you together on a Saturday night to steady yourself. I mean, my parents are egg farmers. Oh no, I'm sorry. So yeah, yeah, yeah. So my parents are egg farmers, and I keep thinking about how fragile the egg is.

SPEAKER_00 44:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:51

And yet how much it can hold and how much it can become. I'm curious, Lizzie. Three food memories. I've never had this before. Three food memories that all revolve around eggs. What are eggs for you?

SPEAKER_00 45:06

I mean, full of possibility.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

Do you see yourself as a bit of an egg?

SPEAKER_01 45:10

I mean, yeah, I am, well, I'm a very highly sensitive person. Um Fragile shell. And fragile shell for sure. I don't think I and I have th you know, I don't have thick skin.

SPEAKER_02 45:23

I feel it all. But once the egg cracks open, I mean you think about what you can do with an egg, Pavlova, mayonnaise. I mean, it scrambled everything. I mean, and you think of its value v that of an oyster.

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Yeah. I mean, oysters though, don't look, you know, they are one of the most amazing animals. Are they an animal? No.

SPEAKER_02 45:44

A crustacean.

SPEAKER_01 45:45

Yeah. Um th the way they purify the water and everything. But yes, an egg, for sure. I mean, I think an egg is full of possibilities. Are you full of possibilities, Lizzie? I th you know, I think so, yes. And I think I've surprised people.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

Have you surprised yourself?

SPEAKER_01 46:02

Yes, because there are many times where I sit, particularly about building Saturday Night Pasta, that I think I can't do this. Like I I am not built for this. Um, it's I can't sleep. I'm, you know, literally on the floor. Because you have to give up a lot for, you know, running your own business and building your own business. Um, so I've surprised myself. I also surprised, you know, every I I think, I can't believe I've got a column in the national newspaper, and I can't believe I get to write cookbooks. But it's been a lot of hard work getting here, but I still think, oh gosh, I just yeah, I I can't believe I've I've made it here.

SPEAKER_02 46:41

Lizzie, thank you for the honesty in your eggs and for showing us that food only needs to be made and felt to truly matter. You're a really good egg, Charlie Brady.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

Thank you for being on Three Food Memories.

SPEAKER_02 46:59

That's it for this episode of Three Food Memories. Be sure to spread the plated love and check out our hundred-plus back episodes. You can catch them on YouTube as well. Just search for Three Food Memories. For all things TFM, head to the socials at Three Food Memories and at Savasavas. For more info, send us a message, head to threefoodmemories.com. Three Food Memories is produced and edited by Lauren McQuerta with original music by Russell Torrance. Nastika La Philly, and bye for now.

SPEAKER_04 47:29

Thank you for listening to Papa's podcast. Don't forget to like and subscribe and tell your friends. Bye. Bye.