IN Flavour- Anna Gare

By Ara Jansen

IN Flavour


Her life-long love affair with food has finally seen Anna Gare release a cook book and the results are delicious.

When she titled her first cook book Homemade, Anna Gare meant it in every sense of the word.

The recipes come from her kitchen and those people who taught her to cook. She tried and tested them on her family and friends in the kitchen of her Fremantle home and if she wasn’t plucking ingredients from her garden, she was sourcing them as locally as possible. Good friends helped her style and photograph the food and local company Fremantle Press have published the book.

“It’s very me,” confesses Anna. “The food is very simple. I like cooking quick and clever food. I feel completely satisfied and cleverer if I cook something in five minutes rather than taking an hour or two. It gives me real satisfaction to create something quickly. Less time in the kitchen and more time at the table and more time on the dance floor, I say!”

Released this month, Homemade is the realisation of a long-time dream from the one time Jam Tart singer and caterer turned television cooking judge. The book features recipes created for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, impromptu feasts and snacks.

They range from a mouth-watering deluxe lamb burger with blue cheese and rocket to veal saltimbocca and passionfruit tart. Rather than being divided into sections, the recipes are mixed in together, like an olive and leek tatin next to dukkah, encouraging constant browsing to see what tempts your tastebuds. Anna has kept the methods as simple as possible – each line starts with a verb clearly explaining what action you need to take next.

The cook says one of the things she loves the most about food is its ability to get people talking. She’s had some of her favourite moments with her children as they’ve chopped and cooked together.

“I have the best conversations with my kids over the kitchen bench. Someone is peeling potatoes and it’s a really nice time working alongside each other. Rather than going to the movies together, this is a really beautiful bonding opportunity.”

As well as being on bookshelves, Anna will also be back on television screens soon as she returns for season two of Junior MasterChef Australia.

Homemade is released through Fremantle Press ($49.95 hardback).