Cooking With Mum: Alice Zaslavsky & Mum Professor Frada Burstein

To celebrate Mother’s Day, we caught up with Alice Zaslavsky (Alice in Frames) to ask what it’s like to be in the kitchen with her Mum. Alice also shared with us her little kitchen tip to get a sauce out of leftover stock veggies. Keep reading to see what we found out!

What’s your favourite memory of yourself and your mum in the kitchen?

The kitchen’s where all the ‘living’ happens – the heart of both of our homes, so I can’t think of too many happy memories that aren’t in and around this space.

What’s the best cooking hack you’ve learnt from your mum?

Mum’s full of cooking hacks – she was ‘hacking’ before there was even such a thing. She’s a very frugal cook, using every last skerrick of an ingredient, and not letting a single slick of flavour go down the sink. She’ll use the water from boiling corn on the cob to bulk up a stock; she’ll leave a pan that something’s been sautéed in on the stove for reuse for the next thing to be sautéed (also enjoyable because that’s one less pan to wash up), or harvest the schmaltz (or drippings) for frying on later; she’ll add pickle brine to borsch with whatever’s left in the crisper, and then we’ll eat little bowls of that borsch as pre-dinner every day, so that we always get our veg in. Nothing goes to waste in Mum’s kitchen.

In what ways do you think you’re like your mum?

Mum is tenacious and resilient, and the ultimate multi-tasker. She wrote her PHD dissertation with my brother, a toddler at the time (not the 6’4 giant he is now!) on her lap, which always seemed impressive, but as I put the finishing touches on my new 500-page book with my daughter, The Nut, toddling about, I have even more of an appreciation of how much gumption and stick-with-it-ness this would’ve taken.

Are there any of your mum’s cooking habits that annoy you when you cook together?

Being Georgian, any time that I’ve managed to serve something up to Mum and she hasn’t suggested it needs more ground coriander is a win. Not that I have anything against coriander, mind you – it’s just her way of saying “it needs more flavour”.

Why have you chosen the recipe below in particular to share with us for Mother’s Day?

This recipe encapsulates the way Mum cooks, and the lessons she’s taught me. It’s also packed full of ground coriander.

Sauce from Leftover Stock Vegetables.

Prep time: approx. 10 minutes 

In honour of Mum’s ‘non-recipe’ style of cooking, this is more of an idea that a straight-up recipe.

1. Take the vegetables you’ve strained from a stock (onions, carrots, celery, fennel, leek – whatever you’ve got)
2. Blitz them up with crushed walnuts, plenty of garlic, ground and fresh coriander, curry powder, fenugreek, and a good squirt of kewpie mayo.
3. Loosen off with a little of the stock if need be
4. Then use as a sauce for shredded bits of roast chicken, or chunky roast veg.

Image features: Alice Zaslavsky & Mum Professor Frada Burstein

Image credit: Alice Zaslavsky

Read Other Cooking With Mum Features:

Click here to read Mark Best’s Cooking With Mum Mother’s Day feature.

Click here to read Seth James’ Cooking With Mum Mother’s Day feature.

Other Mother’s Day Ideas

Mother’s Day Gift Ideas – Support local businesses this Mother’s Day with our Mother’s Day edition of #takeawayforwa

Mother’s Day Brunch at Home Ideas and recipes for you to bring brunch to Mum!