Carolyn Robb Royal Chef Extrodinaire

 Royal chef Carolyn Robb , has cooked for the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall s well as as for William, Harry, and their mother , Diana. Her new cookbook, The Royal Touch Cookbook, (ACC Editions 2018) highlights some of the princes' favorite sweet and savory recipes along with her inspiration for the book, her mother's family ones, and ones she's made for her daughters. It is a fascinating recipe book, complete with royal notes, from Prince Charles and Diana, along with the recipe for the groom's cake Prince William and Catherine Middleton had at their 2011 wedding reception. Below is my exclusive interview with her.

·  Welcome to Foodie Pantry! My readers would like to know what inspired you to be a professional cook and a baker? · My mother was a fantastic cook and my father was amazingly green fingered, so there was always wonderful fresh produce growing in the garden. As a child I was fed delicious home-grown home-cooked food which had a big influence on me and I loved being at my mother's side in the kitchen - learning from her and helping her. The older I got the more I knew that I wanted to be a chef!

·  Who was your biggest culinary influence  growing up? Definitely my mother!

·  Did you attend any cooking academy and if so which one and where? Yes - I attended the Tante Marie School of Cookery in Surrey.

·  How did you get into the professional side of cooking and baking? Whilst I was at university I worked in a coffee shop and restaurant and then I spent a ski season working in a hotel in Switzerland - this experience reinforced to me that I wanted to. cook professionally.

·   What is the new cookbook about and what inspired you  to write about it? . It is a collection of 100 of my favourite recipes drawn from my childhood, my time as a royal chef and from the present when as a mother I love cooking for my daughters. It is a project that my mother and I discussed doing together, but sadly we never got around to it so it is written in her honour.

·  You’re famously associated with the House of Windsor. How did you become involved with them and when did HRH Prince Charles hire you? When I was at cookery school I was invited to go to Kensington Palace for an interview with TRH The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester - I worked for them for 2 years before being hired by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1989.

·  I see from your cookbook, you also knew Diana. Did you ever meet Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who is also famously known for her excellent meals? I cooked for Princess Diana for 4 years and yes, I did also meet and cook for The Duchess of Cornwall.

·  What were the prince’s favorite dishes and desserts? Prince Charles loved dishes made from his home grown vegetables, and in the winter he enjoyed game. Home-made ice cream and fruit from the garden was a favourite dessert. 

·  You also cooked for a young Prince William and a young Prince Harry. What were their favorites growing up? The young princes enjoyed traditional British food such as roast chicken , roast beef and Shepherds pie.

·  Have you cooked  and baked for the latest generation of royals, namely Prince George and Princess Charlotte? No.

·  And of course, the wives of Windsor, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Have you met them? No.

·  Did you ever cook or bake for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh? Yes I have.

·  I’m in the New York metropolitan area, where everything royal and British is adored and admired. Have you ever thought of opening up a restaurant or tea shop in Manhattan? I would love to open a tea shop, especially as baking is my great passion. I had not thought of Manhattan as a potential location, but I would never say never!

·  What is your advice to this upcoming generation of chefs? Choose your produce and ingredients carefully, use local products wherever possible and cook simply and in tune with the seasons .

·  And the last “I have to ask” question – what is your favorite savory recipe? Your favorite sweet one? There are so many things that I love, but the Pea and ham risotto in my book brings together my favourite Italian dish with a very traditional English combination - Peas with ham.  The sweet recipe that springs to mind is my 'Coffee caramel pecan streusel triangles'  whch I created as a way of combining vanilla, coffee, caramel and pecans my 'can't do without' sweet ingredients. Perfect served with coffee or as a dessert.

Sheet Pan Dinner Without The Star

Meat, whether, it's' beef, chicken, fish, or pork is the main course and main reason for a sheet pan dinner. Yet what happens when there is no meat. Then let veggies rule supreme. They can create a tasty dinner on their own.

Melissa Clark tackled this in yesterday's weeknight cooking issue in The New York Times Wednesday Food section.What is the protein in a meatless sheet pan dinner? Beans.  They can be crunchy and golden or soupy and soft like they are in chili.Cooking them in an oven is a snap be cause you don't have to worry about them browning.Ms. Clark gives a delicious recipe for tostadas with roasted black beans, These are cooked with canned sliced tomatoes and a chipotle chile in adobo sauce. This may a bit involved because you also have to roast yellow and red peppers. The two pans are put in 400 degree F oven for half an hour. Both have to be tended to often with the beans being stirred every ten minutes or so.The tortilla are added with a third sheet pan. This is just to crisp them and it only takes five to seven minutes. It's them piling the beans and peppers on the tortillas and topped with crumbled queso fresco along with cheddar For more flavor Ms. Clark suggests making cumin salt which is cumin salt and lime zest mixed together and sprinkling that on top. A squeeze of lime is optional but gives the tostadas a fresh zing.

Another protein Ms Clarks suggest is tofu or tempeh. Start with these, add vegetables, some kind of fat for browning and any seasonings you like. One of her favorites is tofu marinated in tamari - soy sauce without the wheat  added. She then coats the squares  in cornstarch and baked until they're crunchy  The veggies Ms. Clark suggests is sweet potatoes. They're cut into wedges  that turn velvety in texture however broccoli and mushrooms . She also recommends not spraying the pan to make it easier to flip them.It would take away the crunchiness and inhibit the browning. I would say use it because it makes it easier to turn and to wash the pan afterwards.Another idea is chickpeas  which is like a fun appetizer when they're roasted. Ms. Clark pairs them with cauliflower and roasted lemons. Again she uses two sheet pans to cook. The cauliflower, tomatoes and jalapenos are cooked on on pan with oil and salt while the chickpeas and fingerling potatoes have been roasted on another, after they've been doused with a spiced oil, rife with turmeric and cumin,

Sheet pan dinners are an easy cook after a busy day. What's great about them is that they can be veggie centric as opposed to meat. The veggies and beans can provide a tasty and simple, easy to make dinner.

The Week Night Issue

Cooking on a week night can be a chore.It's prepping and cooking food after a busy,hectic day that probably started at six or seven AM. High calorie, empty nutrition take out looks good around this point.Don't despair. There is a way to have easy home cooked food that both delicious and nutritious. Thankfully the New York Times Food section has come to the rescue.

The section's heavy hitters, such as Julia Moskin and Melissa Clark., offer suggestions and recipes to not only get you through the Monday through Friday slog but also deal with busy weekends.There's even an article by Rosie Schaap on minimalist drinks that can ease the sting of tiredness and a demanding family.One of the best recipes for a weeknight comes from Ms. Moskin in the form of chicken franchese.It's an easy recipe (that also can be made with tofu chicken as well) that's delicious without the stress of too much work. Chicken breasts are easy to cook. They can made made in  little time and please a hungry horde.They're also low fat, perfect for those watching their weight. However there is that chance that they  can also be dry, tough and tasteless. That's where chicken franchese comes in. This is an American classic, with no roots in Italy whatsoever.It was originally made with veal and might stem from similarly made classics such as piccata, Marsala and saltimboca. Basically,a thin cut of meat gets a thin coating of flour and then it's browned in oil with a drizzle of instant pan sauce. It can be a challenge because the chicken must be cooked in a flash or it will become scorched. The sauce must be quickly made or it can go cold really fast too.

Franchese is a lot more forgiving according to Ms. Moskin.It has an egg coating to keep it moist and a plentiful pan sauce to keep it comfortingly warm. This is a European custom seen famously in Wiener schnitzel and fritto misto. The sauce can be made a few hours ahead and the cutlets can be cooked at a more leisurely pace. Chicken cutlets are easy to whip up.It;'s first creating a batter composed of two eggs. milk, salt and pepper. The second coating, the flour is put in a separate bowl. The breasts are first dredged in the flour, shaken to get rid of any excess then dipped into the egg wash. They 're then fried in oil for about four minutes, until both sides are golden brown. Drain on paper towels. When finished, wipe the pan with paper towels and return to the stove.If you're adding the lemon slices  (and why not - they add color to the dish) fry them in oil until the edges are slightly brown,The sauce is made from butter and white wine along with  freshly squeezed lemon juice and chicken stock. The cutlets are then added and they'll add to the sauce thickening. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with a nest of plain linguine or  steamed vegetables such as green beans or broccoli. that go well with the lemon I would serve both the pasta and veggies , possibly asparagus.

Weeknight cooking needn't be extra work.It can be an easy and fun way to end a hard day. whip an easy drink, chicken franchese and enjoy the meal.

The Flavor Star

How do chefs get the flavors right? How do they balance sweet with sour? Or add a dash of unami in a dish? They may have help - not just from the spice rack but also from the flavor star. It's appropriately named because for many chefs and home chefs it's their guiding North Star.

The Flavor Star is a chart showing the five flavors - salty, sweet, bitter, sour and unami, that savory taste usually associated with meats. namely steak.Using the chart can help in leveling a recipe's complex array of flavors , along with improving a dish's taste.Flavors can enhance each other. For example add a dash of salty to sweet and you've got a sensation. Home bakers for centuries have known that a pinch of salt brings out a cake's sweetness, Ramp that up a notch - add a dash of sea salt to chocolate chip dough or caramel and their sweetness plus other flavors such as chocolate and butter intensify. Here's an experiment you can try that exemplifies it. Take a heaping teaspoon of a caramel, topping - Smuckers is the best - and sprinkle some small nuggets of sea salt on top. Now eat the whole dollop, Yes, you do taste the salt, it's the first thing that hits you  - but you also taste the sugar and cream as if for the first time. Another example is the addition of something sweet to a salty tomato sauce.Without sugar, honey, or even carrot slices, the salt might be too tangy and even unpalatable.With the sweeteners, the sauce  is mellowed, savory without any lingering harshness of flavor.

You can download and print out the chart if you want. It's easy to remember what to do. If a savory broth  is too blah or bland, then give the dish a dash of soy sauce or miso. Anchovy paste is both unami and salty It is wonderful on steak (as any Piedmontese chef will tell you) . It brings out the meat's rich mineral flavor. It also brings out the flavor of vegetables, such as Savoy cabbage and Swiss chard. For a tasty sauce for these and even London Broil, make bagna calda, a Piedmontese "hot bath" primarily made of anchovy fillets., butter, olive oil, and garlic. The food's flavor will be the best you've ever had and you'll wonder why you didn't try this sauce before. As for foods being too bitter, a dash of sweetness helps. Even vinegar such as balsamic and apple cider can cut a savory dish's sour taste. You can also stir in a drop of maple syrup or dark honey too. If you don't have those then ketchup or barbecue sauce will do. Sour balances out spice and sweetness. If a dish is just too hot them  flick a teaspoon of sour cream or yogurt on top of it. As we all know spicy also helps both sour bland and even sweet bland. A chocolate cake with a kick of chili pepper makes for an exciting dessert. It just using the flavor star for a memorable bite.

 Make the Flavor Star your North Star. Use it to create memorable meals, desserts, and treats.  They'll be remembered for their incredible tastes.

It's Apple Season

With fall comes apples along with the myriad of recipes. What is great about them is that they can be a snack , a side or a dessert. They're perfect for any meal from breakfast to lunch to dinner.Be creative and brave with autumn's gems!

What you pick decides what you make,If you bring home baskets of Golden Delicious apples, then realize that they're best for apple sauce while Honey Crisps are better for eating fresh and to put into salads.Most of the varieties are good for snacking. Think about pairing slices with peanut butter or even better pair it with slices or cubes of sharp Vermont cheddar. A fun snack or dessert is the tart Granny Smith slices with a caramel dip. You can buy it or make your own using brown sugar and sweet cream. Some recipes call for cream cheese for extra creaminess along with a dash of brown cinnamon for extra bite.You could also just microwave caramels such as Kraft' s with a spritz of water added in for smoothness.Fresh apple slices are also perfect added to any breakfast. Slip them in to hot oatmeal or cold rice puffs for more flavor and fiber.A fun weekend breakfast or brunch dish is a Dutch baby. This is a giant (think skillet size) pancake baked in the oven and then sprinkled with a dusting of powdered sugar. Apples can even be added to French toast as a topping or baked inside a French toast casserole.

Of course apples can also liven up a lunch too. A few crisp slices in any salad makes it special. Use two different types such as the sweet Golden Delicious and the crunchy Roma, Try one that just has apples and cherry tomatoes. Spike it up with chilis and peppery mesclun greens.  Think of adding slices to a chicken salad, whether it's made with greens and last night's leftover roaster or one with mayo and raisins. Apples can be used as a side dish for a dinner as they are in Germany. Many German pork dishes comes with a side of sauteed apples. The apples' sugars break down the complex proteins of the meat, making it easier to digest. It also is a great foil for the pork's distinct flavor. You can easily make an applesauce in your crock pot or pressure cooker and use it for roasted pork or pork chops. An easier spin is sauteed apples. This is just simply sauteing the slices with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. Add cornstarch to thicken it. Sauteed apples are even good reheated with the pork as the meat's savory juices mix with the apples. Of course , anything with apples is the perfect dessert. Think an untraditional one with a cheddar crust. This is a bit more flavorful than the average crust. Or go sweet with a caramel walnut loaded apple pie. Baked apples are another great dessert. Go elegant with ones poached in a sweet red wine or fun with ones stuffed with caramel, butter and chopped nuts.

This is apple season. Use them in any recipe or as a sweet , fiber filled snack. They 're delicious any way you serve them.

Fat Filled Fall Drinks

The temps dip and the first thing we reach for is --- a pumpkin latte. We down it like it's ice water on a hot day.The same goes for the peppermint mocha's which ride in on the pumpkin spice's coat tails.To be honest, all we're drinking is fat. Think of these quaffs as liquid cake and you might not be so quick to glug them down.

The average pumpkin spice coffee is anywhere from 300 to 400 calories. It's not much if you treat yourself to it once a week but have three or four times a week and then watch the weight gain. A better choice would be just a regular no bells and whistles cappuccino that comes in at only 120 calories. It's just as flavorful, especially when there's a dusting of cinnamon or nutmeg on the top.Another idea is a simple black coffee.It's actually better because you get to enjoy the rich flavor without the hindrance of chocolate or caramel syrup and whipped cream. Hot tea is another zero calorie choice. Starbucks subsidiary Teavana is also being offered in all their locations. Try a hot , fruity tea instead. If you're stressed a soothing cup of chamomile is a better beverage than a caffeine laden espresso shot. A real dilemma is hot cocoa. This is a comfort drink and fortifier after  a hard day at work on a busy Saturday and Sunday. It will be high in calories however they can be cut with the right choices. Skip the whipped cream and chocolate drizzle. Hot chocolate has a froth of its' own.Also  asked for two per cent milk instead of whole and keep the size down to a kid's mini cup.

Just as seductive and loaded with calories are the frappuccinos and frozen hot chocolates. These are basically liquid cake. They are tasty and refreshing , especially after a warm fall Saturday morning spent on the soccer field.One with all the works is close to five hundred calories!!! That's  one hero sandwich with the works.It can also be two lean pieces of steak too. Even just limiting these sweet coffees to the weekends, can cost one thousand calories. Is the flavor worth it? If you want an icy pick me up settle for a cold brew. Again, Starbucks has theirs , and one in particular the Nitro Foam
Cascara which has only eighty calories and gives a satisfying kick. A plain cold brew is even better with only five calories a glass.As for iced tea, just have a plain  unsweetened one with a slice of lemon.Many tea and coffee shops can turn their hot brews into iced ones. Think about having an iced peppermint or jasmine for a refreshing break. Some coffee shops, such as Dunkin Donuts, still sell their frozen hot chocolate. Stay away from these lethal sips.Some can reach up to nine hundred calories!!!!. If you want cold chocolate, opt for Silk's Chocolate Cashew Milk boxes at ninety calories a box. These can be brought anywhere and are even a great drink at home.

Don't fall into the pumpkin spice latte trap. Pick a sensible hot or cold drink that has zero to very little calories. Remember , they/'re just as refreshing and comforting as their high calorie counterparts.

Healthy Weekend Treats

Now that weekends are the only carefree, fun days , it's time to go wild with eating and snacking. Not too wild, though. There are some dishes and meals that are not only good to eat but good for you.It's easy to create a  fun, snacky meal or dessert loaded with vitamins, nutrition and flavor . It's just picking the right ingredients.

Pizza is always a weekend must.It's fun to make at home especially with toppings and a chewy crust. Make it healthier version using cauliflower as the crust. This is perfect for kids who have gluten and wheat allergies.It's just pulsing a cauliflower head and then steaming it for fifteen minutes.It's then stirring in an Italian cheese blend along with an egg for binding .You could also sub in coconut flour for the Italian cheese blend. As for toppings, think wholesome and fun. Sliced olives and onions are a great combo. Another fun idea is taking yellow, green, and red peppers and julienning them in a crisscross pattern.If your family does want meat , then think soy pepperoni for a more nourishing bite. You could also crumble fake or soy bacon  right before serving for crunch.If there's a party or team get together, then think about making mini or bite size pizzas.Serve these with another healthy nosh  portobello mushrooms. You'll have to get the smaller or baby ones. It's then rubbing them with a spicy dry rub before cooking . They can be grilled on an outdoor grill on an indoor one. If you have the time bake whole wheat slider buns along with having a fillings bar full of fun veggies such as avocado wedges and sliced cherry tomatoes.

Weekend treats always include some kind of sweet. Kids love a good sundae. Give them the same amount of excitement, without all the sugar and fat.Sub in banana "ice cream" for the real deal. This is just slicing bananas and then placing them in sandwich bags.These are then put in the freezer overnight and then the next day, they're pureed ,using a food processor. The result is a creamy , frozen dairy like treat that can blended with peanut butter or cocoa powder. Top with a healthy refined sugar free chocolate sauce using chopped dates, almond or cashew milk and cocoa powder. The sauce is made by blending the dates and milk together in a blender and cooking over a low flame til thickened. One and a half teaspoons of cocoa powder is added for the flavor. This sauce can also be used in sodas, malteds and milkshakes too.Another fun idea is an ice cream less sundae. Use a variety of different fruits, such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. Layer with the homemade chocolate sauce and a non dairy topping you can easily make with coconut milk and vanilla.You could also bake healthy versions of Oreos , chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies. It's just using unrefined sugar and spelt or whole wheat flour.Include the kids in this too to  acclimate them to healthy baking.

Weekends are meant for fun and eating. Yet it doesn';t mean to go hog wild with sugars , carbs and fats. Make healthy and fun treats. It's easy to give the kids something exciting and nourishing.