DINNER round at Rochelle Humes’ house sounds fun. The TV presenter and singer (32) is married to JLS star Marvin Humes (36), and together they are a kitchen dream team.
Humes – who has written her first cookbook, At Mama’s Table – tends to be on food, while Marvin is on drinks. “He is indeed master of drinks, he can make a mean cocktail,” says Humes proudly, partial to a Tommy’s Margarita herself.
When everyone arrives is “Marvin’s time to shine, because I’ve normally done the cooking and then he’s very good at making sure everyone’s got a drink,” she explains.
Sunday is the day you’d really wanted to be invited over. It’s Humes’ favourite time of the week to cook, when there’s “no rush” and she can take her time over a roast dinner – there are always Yorkshire puddings. “We’ll have people over for Sunday lunch, but it’s all very relaxed,” she says, “no rushing out to work or anything. And then I will have the tunes blaring out.”
Humes was born in Barking and got her first showbiz break with S Club Juniors. “My mum was quite that cook where, although we tried different things – she was very good at making us try different things and not say we didn’t like it until we’d tried it, which is exactly what I do to my kids – but my mum was quite regimented,” she says, recalling the food she ate growing up. “[Mum] was busy and she was on her own with us, working lots of different jobs, so it was very like: on a Wednesday, we had shepherd’s pie.”
It was when Humes left home that she really got into cooking. “I learned a lot of recipes when I moved out,” she remembers. “I realised the world’s your oyster and I just find cooking so therapeutic and it was nice. I think it’s the first thing that makes you feel like you can run a house, if you can cook a meal.”
Now a mum of three herself – to Alaia-Mai, eight, Valentina, 4four, and one-year-old Blake – as well as being forever on the telly (recently on BBC’s The Hit List and Channel 4 documentary The Black Maternity Scandal: Dispatches) Humes cooks to relax. “I love nothing more at the end of the day,” she says, “I do it to unwind.”
A combination of family life and her love of food motivated At Mama’s Table. “I just love flavour. I love food that’s well seasoned, well thought about,” she explains, with the idea behind the recipes being that they’re nutritious, family-friendly and not a time-drain either.
Her children are already very involved in the kitchen. “My eldest [Alaia] surprised me the other day. I’d cooked and I turned round, and she’d got a little stool and she’d started doing the washing up! I was like, ‘This is everything’, so if that’s what the future looks like, I’m buzzing,” says Humes. “I love the cooking process; less [so] washing up. We’re lucky we’ve got a dishwasher, so that’s normally how it goes down.”
The Saturdays singer believes involving children from a young age helps discourage fussy eating. “My middle one [Valentina] is probably my fussiest,” says Humes. “She’s very particular in what she likes. But the minute I involve her in the cooking process, she’s a lot more likely to eat her meal.”
Recently, Humes cooked salmon for dinner and “it was so funny because Valentina ate it all and was like, ‘Mummy, this is so yummy’. And then after, she walked in the kitchen and said, ‘Oh my goodness, it smells of fish in here’. And I was like, ‘Yeah, that’s because you just had salmon’. She’s like, ‘But it smells. I don’t know if I like salmon’, and I said, ‘Well you do, because you just ate the whole bowl’.
“You have to constantly keep up with kids – literally she just ate the whole thing and then decided it smelt.”
Humes was never a fussy eater herself. “Still not now – there’s not really much I won’t eat to be honest,” she says.
Her latest snack of choice is chocolate covered rice cakes. “They sound really healthy and like they’re not going to be all that, [but] they’re so tasty. I demolished the bag the other day.”
She’ll happily order a takeaway (wasabi prawns from her local Chinese restaurant, and a Rogan josh and sag aloo from the curry house, if you’re wondering), there’s always room for pudding in her – even if it’s just a piece of fruit or a yoghurt. And working on ITV’s This Morning, she often has lunch cooked for her by world-class chefs (“Ainsley Harriott cooked an incredible meal the other day,” she says. “He’s so fun and I feel like he’s one of [those chefs] that makes things with love.”)
Food is the “heart of the family”, she says, “everything I do, socially, even work related, I always just do it around food.”
Humes even enjoys weaning. At Mama’s Table is filled with tips for making meals work for adults as well as tiny babies. “It’s my favourite part,” she says. “It just always feels like such a fun process and a fun time. I really miss it when it’s over. Introducing them to flavours and different things they’ve never had before always just feels so special.”
Admittedly it can get messy, and can feel like a pain when you think you’re getting somewhere, only for your child to decide they actually don’t like something, but “it’s just such an exciting time introducing them to the world of food,” says Humes. And the funny faces make it particularly worthwhile: “The first taste of solid food in the little one’s mouth, they’re always just a little bit baffled as to what on earth’s going on.”
And while she makes dishes adaptable, she doesn’t go in for making three different meals to suit each of her kids (“I’m not setting it up like that”). She also has short shrift with people who say about a meal: “’This is a little bit grown up’, or, ‘This is mummy’s food’” – especially when it comes to spice. “I think that can actually sometimes put [children] off trying [something],” she says. “[They might say] ‘Oh no, I don’t want to eat that, is it spicy?’ And it’s not spicy, it’s just flavoursome – I think there’s a real difference.”
At Mama’s Table by Rochelle Humes is published by Vermilion, priced £20. Food photography by Yuki Sugiura, photos of Rochelle by Karis Kennedy. Available now. Below are three recipes for you to try at home...
TERIYAKI SALMON
(Serves 4)
6tbsp teriyaki sauce (check label for allergens)
Juice of 1 lime
4 x 100g/3½ oz skin-on salmon fillets
250g/9oz brown rice
200g/7oz fresh or frozen edamame beans
200g/7oz tenderstem broccoli
5tsp sesame oil
¼ garlic clove, grated
For first-stage weaning: Leave some of the salmon unmarinated, but cook in the same way, then mash the salmon into the cooked rice and serve with plain veg on the side.
For older children: Older children should be fine with this as it is, though those with sensitive palates may prefer the veg served without the zingy dressing.
Method:
Put the teriyaki sauce and half of the lime juice in a wide, shallow bowl and mix to combine. Add the salmon fillets, skin-side up and set aside to marinate while you prepare the rice and veg. Cook the rice in a pan of boiling water, according to packet instructions, until tender. When the rice is almost ready, bring a pan of water to the boil over a high heat, the add the edamame beans and tenderstem broccoli, reduce to a simmer and leave to cook for five minutes until tender. Heat one teaspoon of the sesame oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, then add the salmon, skin-side down, and half of the marinade. Cook for five minutes until the skin is crisp, then turn the salmon fillets and add the remaining marinade to the pan. Cook for another three to five minutes until the salmon is cooked through. Meanwhile, combine the remaining lime juice, sesame oil and garlic in a small bowl and set aside. Drain the rice and vegetables and divide between four serving bowls, then top each with a fillet of the salmon. Spoon the lime and sesame dressing over the vegetables in each bowl, then serve.
LEFTOVER ROAST CHICKEN AND VEGGIE SOUP
(Serves 4)
1tbsp olive oil
2 onions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
1.4L/2¼ pints chicken stock
200g/7oz frozen peas
300g/10oz leftover greens, roughly chopped (broccoli, cabbage, spinach and brussels sprouts all work well)
200g/7oz leftover roast chicken, shredded
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Crusty buttered bread, for dunking
For first-stage weaning: Substitute the stock for water or low-sodium chicken stock. Remove and blend some of the soup before you add the seasoning. You could also blend any leftover cooked veggies from the roast to make a purée.
For older children: Older children will enjoy this as it is, just leave any seasoning until the end and pass it round to the adults only so that they can season their own food.
Method:
Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, carrots and thyme, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes until the carrots are soft and onions are golden. Add the chicken stock to the pan and stir to combine. Bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and leave to cook for 15 minutes. Add the peas, leftover green veg and shredded, cooked chicken to the pan and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then leave to cook for five minutes. If you like a chunky soup, ladle half of the soup into a blender and blend until smooth, then return to the pan with the unblended soup. If you like your soup smoother, blend all of the soup in batches to your preferred consistency. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with buttered crusty bread alongside for dunking.
SALTED CARAMEL PAVLOVA
(Serves 12)
6 large eggs
300g/10½ oz golden caster sugar
200ml/7 fl oz double cream
400g/14 oz Greek yoghurt
1tsp vanilla paste
40g/1½ oz 70% dark chocolate
400g/14 oz strawberries, raspberries and blueberries
For the salted caramel sauce:
100g/3½ oz golden caster sugar
50g/1¾ oz unsalted butter, cubed
5tbsp double cream
Good pinch of sea salt flakes
For first-stage weaning: This is too sweet for little tummies, so simply serve very young children some of the fruit mashed up with a little Greek yoghurt.
For older children: As an occasional treat, older children can enjoy a slice of the pavlova without the caramel sauce. If they really want to try the caramel, make it without using salt and serve sparingly.
Method:
Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/gas mark 2 and line a large baking sheet with greaseproof paper. Crack the eggs and separate the whites from the yolks. Using a stand mixer or electric whisk, whisk the egg whites at high speed until they form stiff peaks. With the whisk still running, start adding the sugar a spoonful at a time, leaving a few seconds between each addition to allow the sugar to incorporate. Once all of the sugar has been added, keep whisking on full speed for another eight minutes until the meringue is stiff and glossy, and no grains of sugar can be felt when you rub the meringue between your fingers. Tip the meringue onto your prepared baking sheet and form into a 23cm/9inch circle. For an extra flourish, swirl the meringue with the back of a spatula for a decorative effect, if you like. Transfer to the oven and bake for one and a half hours until lightly golden, then turn off the oven and leave the pavlova inside to cool and firm up for at least two hours. I like to cook the pavlova the night before I want to serve it and leave it in the oven to cool down slowly overnight. About an hour before you want to serve your meringue, make the salted caramel sauce. Put the sugar in a heavy-based pan over a medium heat and leave to melt, swirling the pan from time to time, but not touching with a spoon. Once the sugar has all melted and is nice and golden, add the butter and whisk to combine. (Be careful here as the hot sugar will bubble up when you add the butter.) Once the butter has melted, add the cream and whisk again to combine. Leave to cook for another two to three minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, add a generous pinch of sea salt to the caramel and stir to combine. Set aside until you are ready to serve the pavlova. Whisk the double cream with an electric whisk or in a stand mixer until it forms soft peaks, then fold in the yoghurt and vanilla paste. Put the pavlova on a serving plate, then spoon the cream and yoghurt mixture over the top. Chop the fruit and spoon that over also, then drizzle over the caramel sauce. Drag the blade of a sharp knife over the chocolate to create shavings, then sprinkle over the pavlova. Slice and serve.
