Kitchen spy: Marta Dusseldorp

Marta Dusseldorp and her family - actor/director husband Ben Winspear, and daughters Grace, 7, and Maggie, 4 - sold their Leichhardt property last year and moved into a gracious Paddington terrace with a kitchen that's ripe for renovation. The roomy gas stove is a plus but she loathes the awkward corner sink. Recently nominated for the Silver Logie for most popular actress, Dusseldorp stars in several TV series, including A Place to Call Home, which airs Sundays at 8.30pm on Channel 7.

The staples

My pantry I always have fresh nutmeg. My dad's from Holland and it's a Dutch thing. I put it in spaghetti bolognese to give it a nutty flavour. I also love having slivered almonds, pinenuts and currants - things I can add to meals to lift a flavour. We're meat-and-three-veg people, so those things keep it interesting. Kurrajong Kitchen Lavosh Bites are our favourite for dips and the kids eat them straight. And I love a wasabi pea.

My fridge I'm a bit of a butter obsessive, for slathering on bread or for baking. At the moment we have Western Star but I'd rather get organic - it depends on the budget. Kalamata olives are really good for pizza - we make our own pizzas every Friday. And we have pancakes every weekend, so there's always organic maple syrup. I also love a good parmesan, a proper bitey one for sprinkling on bolognese, pizza and for salads.

Secret vice

Hershey's Kisses. They say chocolate is an aphrodisiac, so it's like getting a little kiss.

Celebration drink

Perrier-Jouet champagne when you buy a house, when you sell a house, when you have a baby … On opening nights of any of my TV shows I'll be sipping that in bed.

Inspiration

Marcella Hazan is a huge influence on me. All her recipes work, although I always add more onion and tomato than she does. Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion is always out and I have my own notebook of recipes I've collected.

I'm cooking

Last dinner at home Chicken schnitzel that we made ourselves, steamed broccoli, potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts steamed then pan-fried with slivered almonds, and mushrooms cooked with black Tassie garlic. I do small quantities of lots of things so we get flavour, flavour, flavour. The kids ate the lot.

I'm drinking

Several cups of coffee every morning are essential. I don't need anything fancy, just a flat white. I stock up on Campos coffee if I'm in the area but I really like the organic coffee at Aldi. It works in the Atomic coffee machine and not everything does. That machine has an emotional connection to coffee; it's like a character in our kitchen. I just gave it a good clean and it's pleased with me at the moment. In the afternoon I move on to English Breakfast tea, strong and white. I'm not really a herbal tea person because I love the caffeine buzz. That said, when I'm on stage I drink buckets of lemon and ginger tea to keep the vocal cords lubricated.

Food discovery

Recently I've been buying kale like spinach, chopping it into salads, throwing it in stir-fries and it's delicious. The kids eat it, too.

Saturday night tipple

Chivas Regal 18-year-old scotch with a bit of water. My husband usually ends up drinking most of it.

Favourite

I can't do without my grandmother's scales.

Most memorable meal

Probably the fish my brother-in-law caught off the wharf at Pittwater on the morning after I got married. We just grilled it with a bit of lemon. It was part of a big feast and everyone had stayed over from the wedding.

My toolkit

Tupperware boxes make vegies last an amazingly long time. I'm mad about my little nutmeg grater and also my wasabi grater, with its own cleaning brush, from Japan. Copper pots I love because they're fast, instant and it feels like they're cooking with you, instead of against you. These Japanese knives are fabulous, you can see in the surface pattern how many layers of steel have been forged into them. I bought this cedar Chinook plank in LA; you heat it, put chicken or fish on it and it smokes it. I inherited the blue Le Creuset pots from my aunt, so they're pretty special. I use them every day. My Tassie Huon pine rolling pin is indispensable. For me, tea is more about the cup you drink from than the tea itself and I love this cup and saucer I was given recently for my 41st birthday.