Chef Daisy Martinez kindly carved out some time to chat with ThisNext.com after landing in Toledo, Ohio for a lecture and promotion for PBS;  to discuss family, memories, and most importantly…What’s cookin!

TN: What do you think of ThisNext?
DM: As a mom with a really busy schedule I don’t have the time to keep up to date with the stuff that make your life easier. I just don’t have time to research products. ThisNext is like a years worth of magazines in one place.

TN: Being a pro chef, do you spend a lot of time in your own kitchen?
DM: I definitely do. Whenever I am home I cook, the kitchen is the soul of my home.

TN: What is one of your most popular recipes?
DM: Noodle Paella or Mexican flan.

TN: What is your can’t-live-without kitchen product?
DM: If I could meet the inventor of the Microplane I would have his children. It grates everything, and makes mincemeat out of anything. It’s a wonderful little gadget and you can find it at any housewares store.

TN: What is your favorite kitchen product discovery?
DM: I love using atomizers that you can fill with whatever flavored oil you want. My son bought it for me for mother’s day one year. It’s a little canister with a lid that screws on and off with a little spray pump so you can really limit the amount of dressings on your salads. I also use it for cooking in pans. Instead of Pam you use this. It’s great for muffins. You can use a nice oil so your muffin bottoms come out perfect. I’ve seen them in housewares catalogues and places like Sur La Table.

TN: What is on your Mother’s Day wishlist?
DM: A spice grinder. The same kid that gave me a atomizer likes to spend time in the kitchen with me. Last year for Christmas he gave me two spice grinders, a black one for coffee and a white one for spices so they don’t get mixed up. He enjoys the mechanics of the kitchen and knows enough to think of products like that.

TN: I hear you live in Brooklyn…
DM: Yes, Brooklyn is close enough but far enough [from Manhattan]. When you’re raising a family you want room for your kids to run around. There is a organic co-op food market on Park South [near Prospect Park] I go to but when I lived in park slope 18 years ago I went to the co-op on 5^th at Union.

TN: You have four children, what are some of their favorite meals?
DM: The night before my oldest son left to go traveling around the world I asked him what he wanted and he requested white rice with red bens and abuelo’s (grandma’s) pork chops that are marinated with citrus and rubbed with a garlic dry rub.

TN: Do you have a most memorable dish story you can share?
DM: One of the really funny food stories that come to mind was being fourteen and spending Christmas in Puerto Rico at my grandmother’s house. When she wanted poultry she would just go out to her yard and get it, that’s how she did chicken. We were having a big dinner party and she had a big tom turkey she had been fattening up. She told my mother to go get it. Let me tell you this was a big bird and this turkey was not having it. It made my mother work up a big sweat trying to catch it. She had to get other people involved. At the dinner table all of us were wetting our pants laughing so hard at the sight of it. No turkey every tasted as good as after that.

TN: What is your favorite spice?

DM: The important thing about spices is to experiment and you will find witha little research (like the thyme, lemon and garlic combo) that combos you wouldn’t think of together ordinarily really pop when put together. Examples are dark pepper and black chocolate, or chilies and hot chocolate. The only way to figure out what suits you is by experimenting. Contrary to anything your mother told you, play with your food.

Epazote is very prevalent in Mexican cooking and is usually paired with tomatillos and onions but you won’t find it in a supermarket. After much trial in the kitchen and approximating I discovered that one part mint and four parts cilantro was a close substitute. The only way you can do that is to get into the kitchen, don’t be shy and experiment. Dish for one of the recipes, one of the herbs that is prevalent in Mexican cooking.

DM: Cheese. I love all kinds of cheese. I always have a piece of parmesan reggiano, zamarano cheese and cabrales cheeses from Spain. I also love blue cheeses from Spain. Mexican cheese, or queso fresco, is a mild soft farmers cheese. If you slice guava paste with it it’s amazing, a little bit salty and a little sweet. It’s also great in an omelet. I also like to keep stove-roasted red peppers in olive oil in my fridge.

TN: How do you keep up with culture? Where do you get inspiration?
DM: I like to go and experience the country thought it’s food and ask a million questions and then come back home and try to re-create that experience in my kitchen. I am lucky enough I am able to travel a lot and I travel with my family and we experience a lot of different ethnic foods. When Santa Clause stopped visiting my house when my daughter was 8 we put an end to Christmas presents that cost a lot of money and ended up broken or not played with after two weeks. We decided that instead of toys we were going to give our children memories by traveling someplace we’ve never been before. You can imagine how that went over when first announced. The first year we took them to Madrid and Barcelona. The second year we went to Cuzco and Lima in Peru and the third year went to Oaxaca and Yucatan in Mexico. This year I hope to go to Buenos Aires.

What was the most challenging part about learning to be a chef?
DM: I always loved to cook so there was never anything I had to overcome to learn to cook since it’s something I looked to for pleasure. It’s therapeutic and I find myself centered. Cooking is what I would do when I needed to find my zone. For me cooking is something that is security, is love of home, closeness of mother and grandmother, it was my happy place. Even if it was making mud pies it was my happy place and what I looked to do for comfort.