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You don't have to stick with these recipes. They're guides. As I say, they're a way in. Have fun with them. It's an easier way to cook in a busy life, once you get the hang of it.

Cooking at home is easier than cooking in the restaurant because you don't have to write a menu or try to please everybody.

Recipes are important but only to a point. What's more important than recipes is how we think about food, and a good cookbook should open up a new way of doing just that.

When I first started to cook, I would cook these elaborate meals, but I rarely cook at home now.

For me, whether it's in a book or on T.V., a recipe has to be simple. I have a short attention span, so to open a cookbook and see a recipe that goes on for three to four pages, well, I've lost interest.

I wanted to write a food book, but I'm not a chef or an expert on culinary matters, to put it mildly.

That being said, I often write into recipes techniques I learned in the restaurant kitchen. There are ways of organizing your prep and so on that are immensely useful. Those are woven into all the recipes I do.

I'm not sure I'd write a good cookbook, but I might make a good cooking show.

Even though I'm big on recipes, I love to make up my own dishes and when you take a risk in the kitchen, you learn a lot about food!