With a name like Pretty, you’d expect gorgeous things from celebrated chef Ruth Pretty. She’s known for her decadent food and prestigious catering service, but while her culinary skills are the key to her recipe for her success, Ruth’s pièce de résistance is her beautiful home just outside of Wellington.
When the Weekly visits, it doesn’t take long to see why this is the only place Ruth feels she can unwind after a hectic day – it’s a rural paradise and, as you’d expect, full of very pretty things. “This is my favourite place in the world,” smiles Ruth as she looks around her vast kitchen.
The 11ha property in Te Horo which Ruth shares with husband Paul and their three dogs served as the inspiration for her latest cookbook, Ruth Pretty Cooks At Home, as well as being the base for her catering business. It’s even been used for some of the weddings she caters.
“Everything for the book was shot here,” she says. “In the house, in the garden, wherever we could find.”
As well as providing a much-needed haven for Ruth and Paul, their home also gives the couple, who are due to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary next year, a stunning canvas to display their highly prized collections.
Ruth and Paul share their home with pugs Ellie, Emma and Esther
“I am a bit of a collector,” she says with a grin. Ruth’s acquisitions include collections of crystal vases, Tony Sly pottery, a “small but ever growing” set of rolling pins, wooden hand beaters and a huge collection of silver-plated tableware she and Paul have amassed over the years.
While having so many different collections in one house could drive some husbands mad, Paul’s very much in on the game and has amassed his own set of Imari plates from Japan.
“Our house could almost be a museum, but everything is used,” she explains. “The things I collect tend to be usable things. I have a collection of odd retro things in the garage, mostly things for food styling, all of which pop up in the book.”
Now on her sixth cookbook, Ruth, who has catered for events such as the world premiere of Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, has gone back to the type of food that made her famous – “simple food with one or two extra touches. It’s a very personal book, I guess because it’s me at home and because it’s very much me on a page.
“I’ve tried to make it an extension of myself. I think cookbooks by New Zealand writers and chefs tend to be like that though, the country is so small and chefs often put themselves out there like that.”
Finishing the book caps off a busy year for Ruth. Juggling the couple’s business, Ruth Pretty Catering, Ruth’s popular cooking school and writing newspaper columns as well as finishing her book has left her exhausted – but the hard work has been worth it. “I do love to keep busy. Cooking is my way of relaxing – luckily!”
There’s no slowing down for veteran chef Ruth, who’s busy planning her Christmas cooking classes
Nothing makes Ruth happier than cooking for friends and family, but she’s found that people are hesitant to have her over for dinner. “Oh, people get nervous, they get wound up when you come for dinner and they’ll start making excuses straightaway. But I’ll always love whatever someone else cooks for me, because they’ve cooked it.”
While she’s the culinary brains behind the whole operation, Ruth’s not the only cook in the Pretty household. “Paul loves cooking too, I’d say he’d do it 25% of the time. It’s nice actually, having someone cook for you when you get home at 11 at night.”
Despite being in the business for almost 40 years, Ruth’s not slowing down – in fact, she’s full-steam ahead and is busy planning her Christmas cooking classes, which are so popular she’s holding the same class 17 times.
“It’s going to be, ‘The discreet charm of a country Christmas’, but I’m not giving away more than that, it’s top secret!” she laughs. No doubt whatever the legendary caterer’s surprises are, they’re sure to be stunningly pretty.
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