Eating in Sabrina’s kitchen

I like to think of Sabrina Artadi as our very own Nigella Lawson. As the home cook on TV’s Sabrina’s Kitchen, Sabrina is bringing glamour, romance and ease back into the kitchen, not to mention a rather large dose of eye candy. The Spanish-looking Artadi is every bit as attractive and stylish as the British chef, and maybe even more fashionista: she thinks nothing of cooking in bling and heels — “After all, I have guests. I entertain,” she explains.

Like Nigella, one of Sabrina’s missions is to take the intimidation factor out of the kitchen. She loves using accessible ingredients, especially local produce, and there’s no fancy-schmancy, high-tech equipment in her kitchen. An Elba electric stove, oven and microwave are about it. Oh, and some Cuisinart pots and pans that were gifts from her family.

There’s also no pretension in Sabrina’s Kitchen, just helpful, down-home tips and sage advice. “The point of my show is ‘easy, doable, sweat-free but professional.’ Life is complicated, so everything I do has to be on the practical side. Food becomes gourmet with little touches, how you serve it.”

It’s apparent that Sabrina lives what she preaches on her show. She welcomes me into her beautiful home in Alabang — one that she designed and interior-decorated herself using ukay-ukay finds. At 46 she’s the ultimate yummy mummy: vibrant and sexy in a one-shoulder top and skinny jeans, over which she wraps a kimono top that she designed herself to come up with today’s cooking outfit.

“I paint silks. I have a hand-painted silk line, called Marrakesh Collection, that’s sold at Punta Fuego,” Sabrina says. “I lived in the Middle East for two years, and got influenced by Middle Eastern food, interiors, architecture. I speak fluent Arabic.”

She holds up a cocktail dress fashioned from banana silk. “These are made to order. I make tops for a resort line, scarves, and swimwear. Everything’s one of a kind so they’re like works of art.” She also designs shirts for men that are like barongs except wash-and-wear. There’s that trademark Sabrina practicality again.

Today she’s making crepes for us. Crepes are one of those misunderstood dishes that everyone thinks is hard to make but is actually easy, she informs us. “What I like about crepes is you use your leftovers. So this was yesterday’s baked chicken, and I had half a can of chorizo, but you can do crab flakes or leftover shrimp.”

But before she gets down to cooking she serves us tea, and this is no ordinary tea. We have to choose from among ginger, cinnamon and turmeric.

“I’ve been pushing turmeric,” she says. “It’s so amazing for you. In Ayurvedic medicine turmeric is like the golden goddess of all the spices. It’s basically a staple in Indian food, but we also use it in Bicolano food with gata. It has so many benefits: it fights Alzheimer’s, it’s an anti-depressant, it’s liver detox, it melts tumors, fights acidity and urinary tract infections. Us multitasking moms, we need it. It’s my best friend. So put it in your food.”

Instead of having caffeine, we sit and have turmeric tea. Later I try the cinnamon with hot water, and instantly become addicted.

“Cinnamon doesn’t melt easily, so use half a teaspoon to a teaspoon honey, make a paste and pour. It’s great for arthritis and joint pains,” Sabrina notes. “We’ve got all these beautiful, healthy spices that we can use. The reason I love them more than anything else is they make me seem like a professional cook. I don’t have time to marinate meat and wait for it, you know? So all these spices — paprika, cumin, turmeric, cinnamon … the Middle East made me more brave, like who would think of putting cinnamon into meats? We use it for duck but it’s not very common in the Philippines. In osso bucco, put a little bit of red wine and cinnamon. Don’t scrimp. Put a teaspoon-and-a-half to two, it tastes amazing. It’s also wonderful with lamb.”

Apart from cooking for her two kids, now aged 24 and 22, Artadi had no prior culinary experience. Raised in an artistic family — her brother is Basti Artadi of the rock band Wolfgang — at 19 she was a beauty queen who won the Bb. Pilipinas-International title. Soon after she found herself married to a Saudi Arabian, had two children in quick succession, but the marriage ended badly and she’s been single ever since.

“I woke up one day at 44 and said, ‘Okay, things have settled. My kids are in college, what am I going to do?’ I had all these hidden passions.”

So she asked her friend Lexi Schulze, who set up a meeting with someone from the Lifestyle Network. “That got the ball rolling. I met people from the industry, and I had this idea: it’s got to be easy, doable and fast. You lose the attention of the audience — especially the non-chef, non-culinary audience — when it’s too complicated. So I want to keep it short — three, four ingredients. We’ve stuck to that and so far it has worked.”

They also don’t edit out the bloopers. “You’ll see all the mistakes and ‘oops’! Sometimes I’ll be holding lettuce and say it’s cabbage. I want to keep it real so people are not intimidated; they know that I am flawed. If I can do it, you can do it.”

The formula must be working because Sabrina’s Kitchen aired for two years on the Lifestyle Network before the more regional Asian Food Channel bought it. The third season will start airing tomorrow on AFC.

There are 12 episodes in a season, so Sabrina shoots three episodes a day for four days. “I’m dead by the evening: nine dishes, three episodes, change outfits, change hairdos. But it’s all part of the eye candy, and becomes entertaining as well,” she laughs.

She serves us the savory crepes, and I wolf down three of them: the savory chicken and chorizo crepes, and a dessert one that Sabrina creates from sliced bananas (“though you can also use mango”), crumbled Choc-Nut, a capful of rum, and vanilla ice cream.

It felt like being in a super-special episode of Sabrina’s Kitchen.

***

Starting tomorrow, April 19, Sabrina’s Kitchen airs every Friday on the Asian Food Channel at 8 p.m., with repeats on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday at 8:30 p.m. For more info, visit www.sabrinaartadi.com, Facebook: Sabrina’s Kitchen, Twitter: @SabrinaArtadi.

Sabrina’s ‘Idiot-Proof’ Crepes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs (Magnolia fresh brown eggs)

1 1/2 tbsp melted butter

3/4 cup milk, any type

1/2 cup water

Savory filling:

Leftover chicken bits or chorizo

Cream or yogurt

Chopped onion

Grated cheese

Olive oil

Butter

Paprika

Salt and pepper

Dessert filling:

Bananas, sliced (can substitute mango)

Choc-Nut, crumbled

Rum, one capful per crepe

Butter

Ice cream

Procedure:

Put all the batter ingredients in bowl in no particular order, then whisk together until all the solids melt. Let rest for 15 minutes to an hour in fridge.

For savory filling, lightly sauté chicken or chorizo and onions in olive oil and butter. Add cream or yogurt. Season with salt, pepper, and paprika. Top with grated cheese.

For dessert filling, melt butter in pan, add rum and toss in bananas. Crumble Choc-Nut over mixture.

Pour 1/4 cup of the batter into a hot nonstick pan, covering any holes with more batter.  Put your filling of choice on one half of the crepe, then fold the other half over it. Serve immediately, topping the dessert crepe with a scoop of ice cream.