Cooking & Recipes

Ask me if I love good food. Oh yeah. But I also love to experiment with cooking and baking and share my inventions with others. I like to read cookbooks and swap recipes, especially the healthy ones. I don't claim to be a chef or diet expert, I just think that there are never enough recipes which provide a tasty alternative to processed, heavy or overly sweet foods.

My Favorite Cuisines

You will not find a “classic Czech cuisine” among my recipes at all. In my view, there is no such thing as “classic Czech cuisine”. What you find in restaurants and homes today, has nothing to do with what our ancestors ate. Largely, the ingredients are not available anymore – there are no more crawfish or clams in our streams and no more quails and grouse in the woods. Game, which used to be a major part of the diet, is virtually gone. The modern Czechs also don’t eat whole grains and porridges anymore. The pork and dumpling dishes you find today are a small portion of what Czechs used to eat. They are tasty, but heavy and utterly unhealthy.

Luckily, I’ve picked up a lot of inspiration during my travels. From Europe, I absolutely love Italian food (and coffee and ice-cream and chocolate and opera and art and boys and fashion and … these guys got all the important things right, who cares about corrupted governments). The amazing thing in Italy is that all food, including snacks at gas stations, tastes great and looks like a work of art.

I enjoyed Thai food a lot when we visited Thailand in 1997. But I’ve since learned, that not every stir-fry one makes is the real thing. Ingredients such as coconut milk and Nampla fish sauce are a necessity and finding them here was a challenge. But nowadays, I can get them in the local Vietnamese markets. Still, there is lightness and grace to Asian cooking and somehow I can't seem to master that.

I fell in love with American cuisine in 1999, having had the opportunity to travel through the country and taste the local specialties – from apple-cranberry cider in Pennsylvania, to peanut brittle in Florida, catfish in New Orleans, Texas pit BBQ, California’s vegetable delights to the fish in Maine (altought I couldn’t eat the lobster, sorry Noah, it’s got too many legs for me).

I’m not even mentioning the international cuisines ever present in the US. I think that despite all this blending, America has a very specific and unique cuisine, which has nothing to do with McDonald's. Given that wonders such as tomatoes, corn and potatoes come from America, I think it has a lot to offer. Literally. American food actually tends to be quite healthy, but the portions are out of proportion – gigantic. I gained a lot of weight in those 3 months as a result. Everything in moderation, right?

Cooking Up My Story

As most people, I started to cook out of pure necessity, but unlike many, I've grown to love cooking and now consider it another channel for my creativity. I completely avoided helping in the kitchen as a kid, so I’ve learned to cook from my American husband. He opened my eyes to a cuisine which is light, colorful, healthy and … oh yes, tasty! I took it from there and did a lot of research and practicing

I spent 10 years living (rather isolated) in the mountains, in a small village with a grocery store where the idea of vegetables meant of carrots and potatoes. I had to limit my shopping to once-a-week trip to the supermarket. You just can't afford to be out of anything, so I kept lists of ingredients, a big array of spices and learned to use canned and frozen foods as a backup. In those years, I practically cooked every meal we ate and it was the best possible training.

We had a regular supply of weekend guests and big groups for the holidays, so cooking for others became my passion. I remember one particular New Year's Eve when I made a 15-dish Arabian dinner. It took two full days to prepare, but it was worth it. I learned a lot about people's tastes. There were a few obvious hits, but then each person seemed to fall for one or two particular dishes. One kept coming back for the beetroot salad, another one raved about the stuffed onions ... there didn't seem to be any particular pattern. We're simply all unique and like different things.

My cooking changed dramatically when we moved back to Prague, where fresh ingredients are available 24 hours a day. It made me realize how spoiled city people are with this convenience and how it often keeps them from thinking about their food seriously - it's always available and if not for cooking, then there is always a restaurant or pizza delivery. There is no connection to seasonal food, no way to walk into the garden for fresh herbs, but there is ethnic food of every conceivable kind and restaurants on every corner. And still, nothing replaces the well thought-out dinner at home.

I'm rather spoiled about vegetables. When I was little, my parents kept a big vegetable garden. We grew our own potatoes, tomatoes, onions and garlic, zucchini, cucumbers, beans, lettuce, radishes - you name it. In the season, it all came fresh and ripe from the garden. We made our own pickles and barrels of sauerkraut, jars of jams and fruit compotes for winter. Today, I often cook vegetarian dishes simply because I like vegetables better than meat. They’re easier for my digestion and faster to cook. On the other hand, I find some meat products "indispensable", such as prosciutto, bacon or spicy sausages. I mostly use them in small amounts as an ingredient. And then there are some exceptions to my mostly vegetarian cuisine, like pork ribs or BBQ.

In 2009 I met chef Michael Corkery who shifted my interest in cooking to yet another level. Michael and I share the space where I have my studio and he does his magic in the kitchen. He teaches lessons and organizes events for foodies. Oddly enough, because I'm around without being a participant, I don't get the full lessons. But I get to critique his experiments and taste the results. He's so passionate about quality food that just being around is an experience. Home-made pasta, stock from scratch or balsamic reduction are as natural for him as creme brulee or fancy steaks. His fearless step-to-it attitude is encouraging and I hope to bring some home with me and get to the next stage - utilizing what I learned so far in cooking for my husband and friends.