Ayesha Curry is seen in Toronto on Oct. 17, following the release of her recent cookbook, The Seasoned Life: Food, Family, Faith, and the Joy of Eating Well. Curry grew up in Markham, which she says has shaped ‘the way I want to play with flavour.’
Mark Blinch for The Globe and Mail
Ayesha Curry wants to keep things simple. The mom of two (and wife of NBA all-star Stephen Curry) wants to put easy, healthy meals on the table, but she also knows that simple can often mean bland. Thankfully, the recipes in her new cookbook, The Seasoned Life: Food, Family, Faith and the Joy of Eating Well, are anything but. From the incredible game-day chili (which includes maple syrup, a tasty homage to her roots in the Great White North) to deep-fried Oreos, simplicity never sacrifices deliciousness. The Globe and Mail's Dave McGinn sat down with Curry to talk about the book's influences, her favourite recipe and how Canadian candy figured in to her and her husband's courtship.
How did growing up in the Greater Toronto Area influence your relationship with food?
It had a huge part. I was born here and lived here until I was 14. Here, we're so fortunate. It's such a big melting pot. That helped shape my food culture. You go down the street and on any given block you can have a Greek restaurant, an Ethiopian restaurant, a Chinese restaurant within steps of each other. For me, I grew up in Markham. There's a huge Caribbean population, a huge Indian population and Asian population. It shaped the way I approach food and the way I want to play with flavour.
Spice-rubbed chicken with parsley and mint sauce is one of Curry’s go-to recipes from The Seasoned Life: Food, Family, Faith, and the Joy of Eating Well.
Mark Blinch for The Globe and Mail
What were your parents like as cooks when you were growing up?
My mom did a lot of Jamaican cooking growing up. Her style was to cook for the masses. Huge stock pots of anything you could think of to feed a small army.
What are your kids like as eaters?
Our four-year-old, she's great. When she transitioned to solids, I made sure that whatever we were eating for dinner is what she was eating. She tries everything. Now with her phasing out of this toddler stage she's sassy and she's very independent. The best way to get her to try things now is to cook with her.
Curry likes to get her kids involved in cooking, which she says helps boost kitchen confidence.
Mark Blinch for The Globe and Mail
What kind of things will you get her to do?
It's everything from pressing the button on a blender to blending a sauce or pouring a cup of flour into a bowl or cracking an egg. It gives her kitchen confidence, and at the end of the day she thinks she's created this entire dinner.
I've made about five things from the book and the recipes really are approachable and delicious. When you step back and look at your cooking, do you see any principles at work?
When I'm at home I want it simple and fast. But I still want it to be delicious. I'm 27. We have two kids. Life has come at us fast, so if dinner can be a little less worrisome, that's the best thing for me. We eat the spice-rubbed chicken with parsley and mint sauce in our house at least once a week. It's super-simple. It takes 15, 20 minutes at the most. I serve it with rice and some sort of veggie. The sauce lasts in the fridge for the whole week, so we'll put it over shrimp or fish, whatever protein we have on hand.
Curry’s incredible game-day chili includes maple syrup.
Mark Blinch for The Globe and Mail
By the way, you and your husband both love Fuzzy Peaches? That's your favourite candy?
I feel like that's what brought us together. We were in high school and his brother Seth and one of my friends were talking on the phone. Somebody said something about Canadian candy. I grabbed the phone and was like, "Who said that?" It was Stephen. And I was like, "I'm Canadian. Do you like Fuzzy Peaches?" And he was like "Oh my God," because he once lived in Toronto for two years and he loved Fuzzy Peaches and Sour Cherry Blasters. I had family from Toronto visiting all the time. A month later I get the candy. I literally walked up to him at church and was like, "Here's your candy," and I walked away because I was so shy. Fast-forward a few years later and we went out on our first date. We had both candies at our wedding.
Does your husband have a nutritionist? How do you make food work at home?
No, his approach to food and his approach to sports are very, very similar. He just kind of goes with the flow. There's no set plan. There's no nutritionist.
What's his kitchen game like?
He's gotten so much better. I got the book in my hands about a month and a half ago. He and his best friend Brian were like, "We're going to cook for you ladies. The book is here. Let's put it to the test." They were very successful. Since then he's cooked three meals and he's been wildly successful. He even told me, "I have kitchen confidence now. I feel like I can do this." It wasn't perfect, but it was good.
This interview has been condensed and edited.