MY KITCHEN
Nadia Sawalha British actress and TV presenter Nadia Sawalha has been looking around other people’s kitchens for her shows. Now she opens her own doors to Holly Brooke-Smith. Photographs GEOFF WILKINSON
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adia Sawalha made her name as Annie Palmer in EastEnders. In 2007, she won BBC’s Celebrity MasterChef, and has since presented TV series such as Eating in the Sun and Saturday Cookbook. She lives in London with her husband, producer Mark Adderley, and daughters, Maddie, nine, and Kiki-Bee, four. Nadia’s latest series, Kitchen SOS, co-presented with Kerr Drummond, is currently airing in the UK. What did you start with? I moved in eight years ago, having bought the house when I was in EastEnders. My parents live next door, and I bought it without seeing it. When I first walked in, everything felt old – there was orange paper and fake dark wooden doors everywhere. What did you change? We gutted the kitchen. It was originally two rooms with a lino floor, and there was no French door. What I wanted most was loads of cupboard space and lots of work surfaces, and 76 BBC Good Food Middle East January 2013
they had to be easy to clean – so that’s the granite. I’m so messy; I just hurl spices around. I really like wooden-topped kitchens, but I would strongly advise against them if you cook a lot with spices, as they leave marks. What’s your cooking style? When I’m in the kitchen, I am de-stressing. I love having lots of pans on the go at once – if I’ve got four or five different pots, then I’m focusing, stirring and concentrating. I’m not thinking about work. Gadgets or heirlooms? I used to be a real throwaway person, but as I get older I’m finding that I’d like to pass on more heirlooms, like the roasting tin that gets the best roast potatoes. My pots and pans are not particularly beautiful, but there’s something great about a pan that has been worn out by someone else. Having said that, after I saw the Neff SlideAway oven door while filming Kitchen SOS, I just had to buy one. It arrived on
The big, inviting table is the heart of the kitchen
Christmas Eve, and Mark managed to install it himself, after seeing it go into all the houses in the programme. Favourite thing? I love my table. I’d been looking for the right one and bought this a few years after I moved in. There’s been a whole life built up around it. When I was a child, we spent so much time around the kitchen table at home. Furniture holds those memories. Nothing makes me happier than having ten people around that table for a big Sunday lunch, all laughing and drinking wine together. Anything on your wish-list? So many things! If I had a blank canvas I would install a tap that has ready-to-go boiling water in the sink. I’d knock down the external wall to make sure I could fit in a pullout larder. I also recently discovered drawers that fit around the U-bend, under the kitchen sink. I’ve seen so many good ideas from helping people change their kitchens on the show.