What’s In Your Basket: Maia Dunphy

There is nothing quite as thrilling (for us, anyway) as poking through the kitchens of the people we admire. In our latest series, we are ringing up celebrities who we think are deadly, and demanding what’s in your basket? Today we rifle through the kitchen habits of producer, broadcaster, writer and soon-to-be Mum Maia Dunphy.

Who looks after the weekly food shop in your house? 
Despite being married, I have lived on my own for the last number of years, so used to always shop every day for myself. Now that I’m finally living with my husband, we share the shopping duties depending on who’s cooking.

Online or In Store? Which works for you?
In store always, I like to see what I’m buying. You can’t fondle an avocado online!

What five items are always on your list?
Rice, salmon, onions, eggs and chocolate. Not all for the same recipe obviously.

How have your shopping habits changed over the last five years? 
They didn’t for years, but then changed dramatically 3 months ago when I moved in with my husband and his son. It’s very different shopping for a family and I still get things wrong! Also, I wasn’t used to cooking for a child and although I believe kids should eat the same food as their parents, some dishes have to be tailored to a child’s palate.

What’s your staple dinner dish, on the menu every week?
A salmon or chicken curry, always made from scratch of course!

What kind of food did you grow up with? 
My Mum is a brilliant cook, and from a Spanish background, so we grew up with a pretty wide array of foods. Lots of classic dishes, but not too much of the Irish style meat-and-two-veg (but always a roast on Sundays). She would make paellas, moussakas and amazing pasta dishes that would have been seen as slightly unusual at the time. I remember my sister and I walking home from school ravenous and tying to guess what dinner would be waiting for us. My poor Mum must have spent hours cooking every day.

Are you health conscious? How does this affect your store cupboard?
I think I naturally veer towards healthy choices – but not compared to some of the clean eating zealots around today! I try and include plenty of vegetables in my diet as I rarely eat fruit, and make curries with yoghurt instead of cream, so those sorts of things are my nod to health rather than juicing for 3 days a week! If I fancy a pizza, I’ll damn well have a pizza. And I often do. I always keep lots of spices in the store cupboard as I find they make it easy to make tasty, healthier dishes.

What’s in your fridge right now?
We are having friends for dinner so this isn’t a fair representation of my fridge! There is some herb-crusted cod I’ve prepped and some scallops. Also chorizo, eggs, olives and my permanent jar of gherkins! The duck fat is still there from Christmas. There are vegetables in the bottom drawer, I swear!

What did you have for breakfast, lunch and dinner today/last weekend? 
I’m pregnant at the moment so all bets are off!! I’m trying to have porridge for breakfast Mon-Fri but on Sunday I had poached eggs on buttery toast. Heaven! Lunch was Thai chicken noodle soup from Itsu, as my husband and I were out and about, and then he made roast chicken, dauphinoise potatoes and mixed vegetables for dinner. And I had more chocolate than I probably should have had afterwards. Hey, It was Sunday!

Follow Maia on twitter here

Need more of your celeb fridge fix? Check out our scurry through Alison Curtis’ presses here