Jamie Oliver is his favourite among contemporary popular chefs. 'Like 100 million others, I emulate him because, apart from the fact that Doreen thinks he's drop-dead gorgeous, his food always bursts with flavour, looks pretty, and is easy to prepare!'
To match his new Hercùles van Loon Cabernet Sauvignon, he'll opt for something like baked lamb with aubergine, tomato, olives, garlic, and mint oil.
'But usually, if I decide to do duck, for example, I'll read 10 different duck recipes, close the books and then be creative because I understand the underlying basics. The way I mostly cook, though, is to go out shopping with something in mind, but if I find other, fresh ingredients I like, then I come home with that and make a different dish.'
Teddy Hall talks like the unapologetic foodie he is; it’s salivating stuff, whether it's complicated or simple. He confesses to cooking on a budget these days. He makes his own pasta. 'I do linguine, put it through the pasta machine, sprinkle some herbs over it and that’s it, simple and delicious.'
Hanging his homemade tagliatelle over a kitchen cupboard door to dry, he estimates: 'What's that, a couple of Rand? These two meals: tagliatelle with roasted tomato and anchovy; mixed herb, pecorino, and crouton salad with a poached egg: R150 [$20] for five? Not bad.'
It's always fresh herbs. They're either from his home-grown selection in a sunny little courtyard outside the 'galley', which is how he refers to his compact kitchen, or carefully snipped with a special pair of scissors from a few trays of micro-herbs and shoots growing fresh on his kitchen counter. These are from local supplier The Leaf Lab: pea, sunflower, mustard, beetroot ... fresh and fragrant.
'The A-grade leaves for the restaurateurs cost about RSO ($7] a punnet. I buy the Bgrade leaves; much cheaper, just as good. I'll get about two meals a day for four days out of a punnet.'
His delicate touch with everything from feeding paper-thin tagliatelle through the pasta machine to trimming his micro-leaves to carefully poaching eggs in clingfilm parcels in boiling water belies the utterly macho source of unbridled delight in the garage off the kitchen: the massive, gleaming Harley Davidson Ultra Classic Electra Glide. 'I’m sounding a bit pretentious here, aren't I?'
But not that macho; right beside it is Doreen's not-so-little 'lady Harley', complete with a music system. Teddy the antihero prefers not to ride with a Harley club; he and his biker lady rather head off on spontaneous trips, as the mood takes them. We have fun!'
Mixed herb, pecorino cheese, and crouton salad with poached egg recipe by Teddy Hall....
Tagliatelle with roasted tomato and anchovy recipe by Teddy Hall paired with Teddy Hall Hercules van Loon Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve wine....