— Watch season 3 of Mary Makes It Easy 6.30pm weekdays until 15 March, with episodes also after they air. —
Mary Berg likes a laugh. She’s often seen laughing at herself in her TV shows, and as the episode titles in the latest season of Mary Makes It Easy show, she also likes a good pun: ‘The Plot Chickens’. ‘Doughn’t Go Bakin My Heart’. ‘Sandwich Bored’. And one we especially loved, ‘Mare of Cheesetown’.
That last one prompted us to ask her some cheesy questions, and she came back with some fun, and helpful, answers (if you’re after ideas for using up those last stray bits of cheese, or those hardened parmesan rinds, read on). But along with her upbeat vibe, what we love about Mary is that she understands that not everyone enjoys cooking the way she does.
Mary Berg films Mary Makes It Easy in her own kitchen. Credit: Mary Makes It Easy / Geoff George
In her newest cookbook, I, released in Australia late last year, she writes: “The kitchen is truly my favourite place in the world. It’s the one place where my relatively busy mind calms, where the stresses of life melt away, and time seems to slow down. As I slice shallots, stir a pot of simmering sauce, knead the dough into a soft and stretchy pillow, or watch bubbling butter begin to brown, everything that felt so big before I started cooking just seems to become more manageable. … But according to the scuttlebutt on the street, not everyone feels this (admittedly over-the-top) poetic love for their daily trips to the stove … some people even loathe their kitchens.
Life is stressful enough – cooking shouldn’t have to be.
“With pretty much every single recipe I write, my goal is to show you that cooking for yourself, your friends, and your family doesn’t have to be boring, difficult, or stressful … Life is stressful enough – cooking shouldn’t have to be.”
And the answer isn’t just making a recipe faster, or with few ingredients. It’s about a payoff that’s worth it, to you.
“A lot of people assume that straightforward cooking requires five ingredients or fewer, a quick method, or little to no effort, but I don’t think that those things alone make for an easy time in the kitchen and delicious results… When working on any recipe I’m going to put out into the world for you lovely people to make, I have a hard and fast rule: a recipe needs to taste better than the effort put in would suggest. I call this my 30:70 rule — a recipe should at most require 30 per cent effort leaving you with a delicious 70 per cent payoff.” So a cheesecake gets a yes, but for a croissant, she’ll take a stroll to her favourite bakery.
Orange cinnamon Basque cheesecake. Credit: Mary Makes It Easy / Geoff George
In her popular TV series, Mary Makes It Easy, now in its third season, the Canada-based cook likewise aims to help viewers cook low-stress food, whether it’s recipes for a road trip, ways to get more veg in your dishes or budget-friendly dishes. Or a raft of great cheesy recipes, including , a , a and , all featured in the ‘Mare of Cheesetown’ episode. “I love cheese. Crumbly, creamy, soft, hard, funky, salty, cheese is amazing,” she says in the show.
Cheddar butternut galette. Credit: Mary Makes It Easy / Geoff George
And good news for those of us who agree, and feel the chance of achieving that 30:70 payoff ratio goes up with a cheesy recipe – it features in two of the recipes Mary has shared with us from her new cookbook, too: a , topped with cream cheese spread; and a .
Apple cinnamon biscuit buns. Credit: Lauren Vandenbrook / Penguin Random House Canada
Inspired by the cheese episode of the new season (which is the second time she’s dedicated an ep to this delicious dairy – in season one of the show, the ‘Cheese Please’ episode included recipes for and ), we asked about her favourite cheese (and her fave vampire show!), how to use up leftovers and why she hopes her recipes will help people find happiness in the kitchen:
The punny titles of your episodes are always fun and this time we have ‘Mare of Cheesetown’! We Aussies rather like shortening names so it’s entirely likely that a Mary might get called ‘Mare’ here. Have you ever had Mare as a nickname?
I love a good nickname and ‘Mare’ has been a go-to for so many family and friends throughout my life!
In theory the ‘Mare of Cheesetown’ is probably supposed to be impartial, but would you say you lean more toward more ‘sweet cheese’ or the ‘savoury cheese’ recipes?
Haha while I agree mayors should be impartial, who can be when it comes to cheese! I’m definitely more of a savoury gal in general so I lean towards savoury cheese recipes for sure!
Filo-wrapped fried feta. Credit: Mary Makes It Easy / Geoff George
And do you have a favourite cheese?
My favourite cheese changes throughout the year. In the summer, I lean towards salty, fresher cheeses like feta, halloumi, ricotta, and fresh mozzarella. But as the seasons change, that’s when punchier, nuttier cheese like Pecorino Romano, gruyere, and extra old cheddar take centre stage!
In that cheese episode of the new season, you say “Here’s a list of a few things I love. My mom, Aaron, and my cat Egg. The way pavement smells after it rains, a certain vampire series, and cheese.” So which vampire series would that be??
Oh gosh, it’s embarrassingly Twilight! The books and movies are total comfort reads/watches for me!
Croque monsieur mac and cheese. Credit: Mary Makes It Easy / Geoff George
You mention in that episode that your croque monsieur mac and cheese is a combination of two of your favourite cheesy dishes - croque monsieur, the classic French sandwich that’s made with a bechamel sauce and a ton of cheese, and mac and cheese. If you had to choose just one favourite – your desert island cheese recipe! – would it be one of those? Or something else entirely?
Oh, this is such a hard question! If I did have to choose my desert-island cheese recipe, I think I’d have to pick mac & cheese mainly because that still leaves the door open to so many different options (Cheddar! Gruyere! Fontina with basil and cherry tomatoes! I could go on!)! But just thinking about a croque monsieur (I make a classic one for my husband and swap out the ham with sauteed mushrooms for me) has me craving one so I’d better be stranded on an island with cows!
Mary Berg with her butternut galette. Credit: Mary Makes It Easy / Geoff George
If you’re like me, you end up with parmesan rinds or dried leftover bits of cheese in the fridge. Does the ‘Mare of Cheesetown’ have any ideas for using those up?
Yes! I have this issue all the time but I like to look at it as an opportunity! One of my favourite things to do with little random nubs of cheese is make what I like to call my “any cheese dip”. Simply beat together a cup of cream cheese with a few tablespoons of mayonnaise, a spoon of Dijon mustard, a minced garlic clove or two, some spices or herbs, and about 2 cups of any grated cheese. From there, you can add in a splash of wine, some pesto, a bit of hot sauce, whatever you’d like, then pop it into a baking dish and bake at any temp until hot and golden brown.
When it comes to the rinds of hard cheeses like Parmigiano Reggiano or Pecorino Romano, I add them whole to soups or sauces to simmer away. The flavour of the cheese steeps into the sauce making it all the more delicious – just be sure to discard the rind before serving.
In Mary's Kitchen includes recipes such as her creamy harissa lamb meatballs. Credit: Penguin Random House Canada
Your latest book In Mary’s Kitchen was released here in Australia recently – thank you for sharing a few recipes from it with us, including your and chicken bake. We love the encouraging tone of your introduction in this book, it’s lovely to see you recognise that not everyone loves cooking and that sometimes even for those who do, it can be stressful.
You write in the introduction that “Within this book and in the kitchen in general, there is no such thing as cheating, just as there is no such thing as failure. Nothing should make you feel down, defeated, or bad, whether you nail a recipe the first time or the seventh, or take every grocery store shortcut you can think of. Everything about food, from the recipes in this book and beyond, should make you feel happy, full, and comforted (other than the dirty dishes, of course). What prompted you to focus on a ‘lift you up’ approach for this book?
I am so thrilled that In Mary’s Kitchen is available in Australia! I just feel like life can be really hard and busy and complicated and the simple act of cooking and feeding yourself and your family doesn’t have to be! It’s something we all have to do every single day and if I can help make it even just a little bit easier, then I’m happy!
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