Five minutes in a layby with Antony Worrall Thompson

It's hard to catch AWT but after several failed phone liaisons, we managed to coax his mobile number out of his PR team and caught him in his car one morning. He pulled over and did some fast talking with Carol Muskoron...

Q: So, Antony, what are you up to at the moment - what's the big project?
A:  I've got Daily Cook's Challenge starting on ITV everyday at three. I've opened The Windsor Larder - a good convenience food shop with good food to reheat and eat

Q: Is it your shop?
A: Yes.

Q: And is the food all made using your recipes?
A: Yes. And I've got a new book out called 101 indulgent recipes with less sugar. It uses Splenda - that's the only sweetener you can cook with, you see. Kids' lifestyles these days mean they need to eat less sugar. The book's got eight recipes from Melinda Messenger...

Q: Why Melinda Messenger?
A; I'm  always teaming up with celebrities. It was Jerry Hall a couple of years ago. Cilla Black before that...

Q: Let's talk ‘food'. Allaboutyou.com users are forever after the perfect easy midweek supper. Got a recommendation?
A: If I see a fillet of fish, I see supper on the table in 10 minutes. Brush the skin with seasoned flour and cook it skin-side down in a pan with a mixture of oil and butter. Let the skin get crispy. Then flip it, turn the heat off and let the heat from the pan finish cooking the top of the fish.

Q: And serve it with?
A: Pak choi with a bit of soy sauce.

Q: And carbohydrate?
A: Brown rice. I'm a chef, so I'd normally cook it myself but these two-minute rice packets are pretty good. I give them to my kids if I'm in a hurry.

Q: I spoke to Raymond Blanc recently. He was of the opnion that British people don't really cook. Do you think that maybe we're a nation in love with chefs and foodie TV rather than actually being in love with making food?
A: There is an element of truth in that. There are probably only a small amount of people, maybe 3 million, who actually love cooking. And we do live in a voyeuristic society with all these magazines and reality shows. But a recent survey did show that the number of people who really cook is on the increase so maybe things are taking a turn. The way I see it, cooking from scratch is one way of knowing what's in your food. But you can't always do it. I wouldn't leave the babysitter to cook from scratch - she wouldn't know where to start. Some convenience food is good. Some is grim.

Q: Who does the cooking in your house?
A: It's a balance. My wife's a good cook. I don't cook in the restaurant so much now but I need to keep my hand in. I'm writing in the Observer every week so I have to keep up. The family know I test things out on them. But I'm an old-fashioned man. I like being looked after and cooked for from time to time.

Q: Who's your favourite celebrity chef?
A: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. And Rick Stein. They're natural cooks. They give you cooking as it's meant to be.

Q: Who's your least favourite?
A: I think we all know it's Gordon [Ramsay]. He hates me and I hate him.

Q: Can you handle it when you meet up, professionally?
A: Yes. If he would join our brotherhood of chefs we'd love to have him but I think he's got a screw loose. He attacked TV chefs when he started out and now look at him!

Q: Is being a chef still a pleasure to you, or is it just work?
A: It's a pleasure but it is hard work. I haven't had a day off for five weeks and I work seven days a week. And I won't have another day off for another three weeks.

Q: Do you find there's a difference between how men and women cook? Is one sex better than the other?
A: Women are neater. They use less pots and pans. Some women are inspirational cooks[he seems surprised at the notion]. Historically women had to cook, so there was a drudgery about it for them. Once supermarkets started making their cooking life easier that changed and now I think more women are cooking because they want to cook. Cooking is an art and a science that you need to be passionate about. It's a vocation, like nursing. You have to care.

Q: Has your style of cooking and focus on food changed very much over the years?
A: It's gone from being very innovative, with 100 different ingredients on a plate, to being all about good produce. I'm very concerned with cooking using local produce and about eating in season and I'm also concerned about the health of the nation. It really is best to eat what's grown in the soil around you. I think the increase in cancer and asthma and Alzheimers could be down to us eating too much produce from other countries. I do think eating local produce helps keep you healthy. And eating organic definitely helps you build up your immunity. Intensive farming kills off all the vital minerals in the soil.

Q: We're running a Bring back afternoon tea campaign. Do you have afternoon tea?
A: My gran had afternoon tea on the dot everyday come rain or shine... It was Earl Grey. You had to bring the teapot to the kettle not the kettle to the pot. China cups. Sarnies. Fruit bread. A couple of cakes. She'd have a light supper after that at about seven o'clock. I just grab afternoon tea if I can. But it's a great tradition. These days, you have to make sure you burn it off, instead of just eating an extra meal and then sitting in front of the telly.

Q: So if you burn off the calories, what would be your ideal treat to have with an afternoon cuppa?
A: Lardy cake! It's northern. Delicious. Fondant icing. So fattening it's unbelievable. And I'd have thin sandwiches too, with lightly salted cucumber inside. Yeah, I love thin sandwiches...