Food
Trish Magwood Shows Off Her Renovated Kitchen & Shares 7 New Recipes!
Published on October 21, 2020
Trish Magwood was an influencer before it was even a thing. From running her own cooking school to hosting a Food Network Canada TV show to helping brands such as Indigo and Mama Earth Organics grow their business, she’s done it all, plus raised three kids and won a James Beard Award along the way. She invited us for a tour of her new kitchen, a taste of the recipes from her latest cookbook and a chat about her story so far. Scroll down!
“I got my start at 21, working on Toronto Life magazine’s food supplements, where I met Lucy Waverman,” she says. “One day, she looked at me and said, ‘You should go to chef school.’ I ended up training at Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School, did a lot of catering and then started my own cooking school called Dish. I was 29 and had just returned from France, where I had worked for a travel company. Then Dish morphed into something more, with a cookbook and TV show. We were doing classes and catering, and had a kitchen store and café. I never thought of Dish as a food business; it was a creative business and a gathering place; food was just the output.”
“My latest cookbook, My New Table, is a reflection of the more simple way we eat and live now,” she says. “It’s not out until fall 2021, so these recipes are a sneak peek. They reflect how we’ve changed our eating to be vegetables first. It’s not a vegetarian cookbook, but many of the recipes are vegetable-based. The book is also a reflection of my life — this new phase where my kids aren’t babies anymore. Our family is big and blended, I’m turning 50, and this is the next chapter!”
Mamma Mia Chicken
“My sister-in-law Amy shared a family favorite, ‘Pizza Chicken’ from Melissa Clark’s cookbook, Dinner: Changing the Game,” says Trish. “It looked like a lot of work, so I created my own version, which turned into a Margherita pizza on chicken. If I was running that fabulous inn in Greece in the movie Mamma Mia! (which I would love to do one day), this would be my signature dish.”
Get the recipe for Mamma Mia Chicken.
Fried Broccolini With Chilis & Shallots
“Broccoli’s younger sibling is broccolini; it has longer stems and curled leaves but doesn’t have florets like regular broccoli,” says Trish. “Broccoli rabe, or rapini, is more bitter, and it’s actually part of the turnip family. Spigarello is heirloom and the parent of rabe. Restaurant chefs love spigarello for its earthiness, bitterness and beauty — it’s the new stand-in for kale. Try them and love them all!”
Get the recipe for Fried Broccolini With Chilis & Shallots.
Simple Toasts
“The idea behind the toasts is that we’ve morphed away from big sandwiches, but we’re still looking for things to nosh on,” she says. “We don’t want to fuss, so it’s what we have on hand: these can be made with a day-old loaf or some bread in the freezer. The base is a crostini, then you top it with whatever you’d make as a main or a side.”
Get the recipe for three Simple Toasts: Whipped Ricotta With Figs, Pistachio & Honey Toasts, Lemon Goat Cheese Toasts & Creamy Forest Mushroom Toasts.
Grilled Romaine With Fried Capers, Radishes & Creamy Vinaigrette
“This is a sexy stand-in for Caesar salad but I wouldn’t recommend it for a first date,” she says. “Grilled romaine has such an unbelievable flavor.”
Get the recipe for Grilled Romaine With Fried Capers, Radishes & Creamy Vinaigrette.
Lemon Angel Cake
“We’re a huge chocolate family, but once you find something really good that’s lemon, it’s hard to beat,” says Trish. “It’s an airy angel cake with my grandmother’s lemon glaze, and then fresh or cooked fruit on top. In the fall, I don’t love eating raw plums, blackberries and currants, but once you quickly cook them, they’re so delicious. Then you have leftovers to put on ice cream.”
Get the recipe for Lemon Angel Cake.
Trish gave designer Veronica Martin of Two Fold Interiors various references for the kitchen look, including “that Paris or New York apartment I dreamed about but never had, with floor-to-ceiling doors and industrial black accents.”
The floating shelves and light palette nod to Scandi style, says Trish, “but everything was really anchored in the heritage of the house. Overall, it has a contemporary feel with an industrial European mix, which we love.”
Stacey Brandford
House & Home October 2020
Veronica Martin, Two Fold Interiors