A Quick Bite with Emma Reddington

It was a Schiaparelli pink ceiling that first drew me to Emma Reddington’s blog. I’ve since been back a hundred times, finding fresh inspiration every time I visit. Because I’m a bit of a decor addict (and a nosey parker) I love the Hello! Neighbour feature where we get to snoop around other people’s gorgeous homes. Her food shots are fabulous too; think homemade granola in vintage mason jars or pear tart sitting on French country linens. Reddington’s just taken on the role of home editor at Chatelaine, which gives us yet another reason to love the magazine. She lives in Parkdale  with her husband and two children, Henry and Orla.

Sweet Potato Chronicles: What is your earliest food memory?
Emma Reddington: My earliest food memory is probably something around one of my birthday parties. We always had lots of treats that my mum would pick up from Marks & Spencer’s and Woodward’s (that probably reminded her of growing up in England). Things like Cadbury chocolate fingers, jelly made from gelatin cubes, these cookies shaped like clocks and vanilla cake topped with icing and coconut. There were also these small quarter sized cookies topped with a tuft of colourful hard icing. I wish I could find those again!

SPC: When you have a family meal together who does the cooking?
ER: Usually me but my husband is a great help.

SPC: Your daughter is still small, but do you encourage your son to muck in with food prep?
ER: Henry is (almost) always happy to lend a hand particularly if there is a machine involved (food processor, stand mixer, etc.) I’ve been baking with him since we he was old enough to stand on a chair. Of course, these days it is all about licking the spoon!

SPC: What do family mealtimes look like in your household?
ER: Breakfast usually involves my husband and two kids and a whole pile of eggs, vegetables, blueberries and oatmeal. (I’m usually getting ready and skip out on breakfast…I know, I know not a good start to the day.) Lunch is a separate meal for all of us and dinner is always a sit down meal with the whole family in the dining room. Four nights a week we eat something that my husband or I has made and Friday nights we order in.

SPC: 

Is there a meal that you grew up eating and prepare for your family now?
ER: My mum is an amazing cook and always made us fresh food. One year for Christmas she gave my sisters and I each a cookbook she had made with her favorite recipes – the ones we grew up with. It has everything from her classic roast beef with Yorkshire puddings to chocolate silk pie to a delicious Indian chicken curry. I usually cook something out of it about once a month.

SPC: How do you respond if your children baulk at the sight of broccoli or refuse to eat runner beans?
ER: Orla, my little girl is a voracious eater! Anything we put in front of her she will eat – olives, shrimp coconut curry, blue cheese, you name it! Henry on the other hand doesn’t baulk at broccoli but does at a lot of other things. We ask him to try everything and we usually get him to eat at least one spoonful. I hope he grows out of his picky stage soon!

SPC: Are you strict about lollipops and cupcakes and other sticky treats?
ER: No, I can’t say I am. I love them too much myself to deny them to anyone else.

SPC: The food shots in your instagram feed are gorgeous. What inspires your cooking? Do you rely much on cookbooks or do you ad lib?
ER: Thank you! At the heart of it I really love food. It’s one of life’s great pleasures. I enjoy the whole process from grocery shopping (I could spend hours at farmer’s markets, small grocery stores, Whole Foods, etc.) to cooking the food (the smell, the chopping, the stirring, the sound) to the eating and enjoying with family and friends. I’m often inspired by all the beautiful cookbooks out there but happy to ad lib if I’m missing ingredients or in a rush. And I still absolutely love my stack of old Gourmet magazines. I constantly look through them for photo and recipe inspiration.

SPC: What meal is a winner with everyone in your family?
ER: Chickpea Chowder