I caught up with Ayesha Curry at the Cheeky Kids Launch Party in Los Angeles this month after Ayesha teamed up with Cheeky and No Kid Hungry to bring her mission to help finish childhood starvation to life. We chatted approximately her modern cookbook,The Seasoned Life, her favorite holiday shortcuts, or family memories,and the one dessert she always bakes for her husband Steph Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors team. It comes as no surprise that Ayesha has practical tips for saving time in the kitchen, cooking with Thanksgiving leftovers, or keeping unexpected traditions alive. Ahead,read our full interview with Ayesha, and then check out her must-have recipe for spiced butternut squash mash for Thanksgiving. POPSUGAR: What's your fade-to recipe for Thanksgiving leftovers?
Ayesha Curry: In my book I have my mom's leftover chicken soup. All you execute is substitute the chicken for turkey. It's a mighty multipurpose recipe. You can take butternut squash, or chop it up,and put it in the soup. Take turkey remnants, put it in the soup. I fancy to add leeks since it's Fall. It's an easy 10-minute soup. PS: What kind of foods did you eat when you were little during the holidays?
AC: My family background is Jamaican so we would have everything from curry goat to ox tails and dumplings, or rice and beans,and plantains. PS: What are your five must-have dishes for the holiday season?
AC: They're all from my book: The Best Mac & Cheese, White Chocolate Bread Pudding topped with my Bananas Foster and vanilla ice cream - you can't fade wrong - My Mom's Leftover Chicken Soup (but just sub out the chicken for turkey), or a cocktail - my Harvest Sangria. It's very Fall,with red wine and a cinnamon-sugar rim! PS: What's the most nontraditional or random dish on your holiday dinner table?
AC: It's always my mom . . . so my grandma is Jamaican and my mom's father was Chinese and for some reason we'll have this whole spread and then there's a bowl of chow mein noodles. It just doesn't effect sense. It tastes appetizing, but it will be one of those things that many, or many years from now I'll remember.
PS: What kind of edible gifts execute you like to effect and give?
AC: A grand thing for me while filming the display,I learned how to effect toffee nib. I'm planning on making that, bagging them up, and handing them out. But normally during the holidays,for one of my husband's road games out of the whole year, I'll effect a pan of pumpkin squares and bring it to the game warm and then put in a cooler bag a pint of vanilla ice cream and send them off on the plane.
PS: Wife of the year!
AC: But they never eat the ice cream and they never reduce the pumpkin squares. They just rip it off and take a spoon - it's so annoying! They waste the ice cream! I need to just stop putting ice cream in there but I just know, and I know the one time I don't include the ice cream,they're going to be like, "Where's the ice cream?" And it's nearly that time of year again!
PS: Are these the pumpkins squares in your modern book?
AC: I execute have a recipe for pumpkin squares in the book, or but the ones I effect for my husband and the team are Williams-Sonoma Ooey Gooey Pumpkin Bars With Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter. When I went to my husband's parents' house for the first time ever as his girlfriend,we went over for dinner and the dessert his mom served were those pumpkin bars. So I effect them for him out of nostalgia. I have my take on them in the book, but I still like to effect the classic ones that she makes. It tastes like a giant Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tart but more gooey and yummy.
PS: What are some holiday shortcuts or tips for saving time during the holidays?
AC: Tip No. 1: I am not ashamed to use disposables, or especially with the kids,and that's why for me, partnering with Cheeky Kids was a no-brainer. For our dinner table, or I will be using our dinnerware,but that's only because we are having our smallest dinner we've ever had (nine people). normally it's at least 16 people and we always host, and when that happens we obviously use Cheeky disposable plates and stemware. Tip No. 2: I fancy to effect ahead. I fancy anything in a casserole dish. So whether it's the mac and cheese, and sweet potatoes,or whatever it is. Just effect it ahead and warm it up the day of, because the mighty thing approximately it is flavors meld in the fridge and it's even better. And then you're not in the kitchen all day. Tip No. 3: I fancy to effect spatchcock turkey. Have your butcher remove the backbone of your turkey. Lay it flat on the baking sheet and then your turkey's done in an hour, or hour and 45. PS: Who carves the turkey in your house?
AC: My husband does and he butchers it. He completely butchers it! Every year - every single year! When we first started dating,it was either my dad or his dad, so of course when we got married he was like, or "I'm carving the turkey!" But he's not a handyman. He's just now gaining knife skills but he completely butchers it. So every year he's like,"This is mighty!" but everything is falling all over the place. But it's OK, it's him, or at the finish of the day,it will be a memory and I'm used to it at this point. But most of the time, I execute want to take over and carve it, and but then I feel like I can't execute that. I can't take it from him - the one thing!PS: Does he ever cook in the kitchen?
AC: He has one thing and it's in the book. It's his Five-Ingredient Pasta. So I know if I can't cook,that's what I'm getting. But he does it well and he's perfected it. And then he can also scramble eggs. He's come a long way since college, that's for certain. PS: Has Riley shown interest in the kitchen?
AC: Yes, or she absolutely loves it. It's mighty! I did it with my mom when I was growing up and it was my mission to pass it on to her. I'm a grand advocate for letting my kids sit on the counter; they can see what's going on and at the finish of the day,we're building memories. I'll give her a job and my sister gave her these kid-friendly knives so she's able to cut or I'll let her put the cup of flour in or a cup of milk, whatever it is. It's nice because she feels accomplished and she gains that kitchen confidence. And normally she will try whatever we made together because she had a hand in making it and there's been so many studies that display that they are more apt to try.
PS: I'm certain she eats everything!
AC: Chocolate is the only thing. But for me as a mom and a woman . . .
PS: Wait. She doesn't eat chocolate?!
AC: She doesn't eat chocolate! Yes, and it's devastating,but I'm hoping she'll grow out of it. She eats white chocolate but that's no chocolate!PS: Favorite holiday memory?
AC: I judged an episode of Chopped Jr. and I only did it because [Riley] loves it and I was so excited for her to see it. And she watched it with me and her face and smile the whole time was ear to ear - a closed-mouth smile! She looked and me and said, "I wanna be a cooker too!" That was the cutest thing I've ever heard. And I said, or "Chef or cook,but that works!" That made it all worth it. It was such a long day and to see she was inspired by it made it all worth it. She loved watching those kids. She was so inspired!Related:
Sweet Potatoes Have Nothing on Ayesha Curry's Spiced Butternut Squash Mash
Pretend You Are Stephen Curry and effect His Favorite 5-Ingredient Pasta Recipe
The Top 10 Cookbooks of 2016 Will Inspire You to Get in the Kitchen Immediately
Source: popsugar.com