The One Chef Samin Nosrat Would Like To Cook With - Exclusive
When it comes to our favorite chefs, it seems we can never learn too much about the creative minds behind our favorite dishes. Be it the tools they always use, how they've optimized their kitchens, or the people they would like to have over for a dream dinner party, each chef has their own source of inspiration. That's why when Mashed spoke with chef and cookbook author Samin Nosrat in an exclusive interview, we had to know about her own culinary heroes.
After all, we know Ina Garten loves fellow celebrity chef Bobby Flay (via Instagram). The Barefoot Contessa also revealed that she would most want to host Julia Child, Michelle Obama, Taylor Swift, her husband Jeffrey, and her best friend Barbara Liberman for a dinner party (via Time). Chef J. Kenji López-Alt draws inspiration from classic culinary books, such as The Apprentice by Jaques Pépin (via The Week). When asked about her dream cooking partner, however, Samin Nosrat looked to the new and noteworthy chef Lara Lee.
Nosrat would like to cook with this up-and-coming cookbook author
Nosrat explained to Mashed that she would most like to cook with chef Lara Lee whose 2020 cookbook, Coconut & Sambal, received such good reception that it sold out worldwide (via Instagram). "I have to say, this is not a celebrity. It's the only person I can think of right now. I'm obsessed with her. She's on my mind all the time, because I love this book so much," Nosrat said of Lee and her groundbreaking cookbook. "I have been making all the food out of this book, it's Indonesian." Nosrat even dedicated an entire Instagram post to the cookbook and chef on February 17th.
Though lately Nosrat had been feeling a little burned out as a chef herself, she found the recipes inside Coconut & Sambal to be just what she needed. She said, "this cookbook is so delicious and so good and I have been so uninspired for so many months, I have to say, and it really has brought a whole new level of deliciousness to my life. So I would very much like to cook and eat with Lara Lee." So take a cue from Nosrat, and try ordering this cookbook when it is available again. You'll likely find the sambal-soaked, coconut-inspired recipes may make you want to cook along with Lee too.
You can see chef and author Samin Nosrat (along with former First Lady Michelle Obama and her puppet friends) on Waffles + Mochi, currently streaming on Netflix.