WHEN Steven Spielberg dropped in on mate Gwyneth Paltrow, it was love at first bite, and he promptly hired her private chef Kate McAloon.

It wasn’t long before McAloon was running between both of their Hollywood homes and cooking up a storm.

“When I was super busy I’d do brunch in the morning and the Spielberg’s in the afternoon,” she says.

McAloon has whipped up breakfast, lunch and dinner for a bunch of famous stars, including Miranda Kerr and Orlando Bloom, and was Courtney Cox’s chef for four years.

• Chef Kate McAloon and Courtney Cox. Photos supplied

McAloon’s in Australia to spruik her cookbook The Flavour of Joy, and is giving a series of talks on cooking with oil, in this case Young Living essential oils.

Born with a mixing spoon in her mouth and a natural talent for amazing flavours, McAloon uses a range of 35 oils, including cinnamon, celery, lime and ginger, in a swag of her own recipes.

“I like to finish with an oil—you can put it in ahead of time but at the end it adds vibrancy,” she says.

• Cooking oils

“I spray it on, drop it on, and with a roast chicken I put some in the oil, and at the end spray or brush with more.”

Cardamon, and all the citrus flavours are McAloon’s favourite. “Cardamon is amazing—I love it in a latte.”

McAloon fell into cooking, has no formal chef training, and only worked in one restaurant in France.

Her cooking career took off in Hawaii, when McAloon dropped into a real estate office to promote her feng shui services.

A casual conversation about her cooking was overhead and before she knew it, McAloon was hired by TV stars Nick Offerman and wife Megan Mullally who were filming there.

“I cooked for them for three weeks,” McAloon says.

Word spread in celebrity circles about her amazing food and pretty soon she was cooking for the who’s who of Hollywood.

Preparing food for finicky stars isn’t as tricky as it sounds, McAloon says.

“I can make everything flavoursome,” she says.

“And I understand how to make flavoursome vegetarian and vegan.”

McAloon is passing on her years of experience at a workshop at the Stirling Community Centre, 12–2pm on December 3. For more info go to flavourofjoy.com. Tix $55 trybooking.com/KMcAloon.

by JENNY D’ANGER