Anthony Warlow shares his favourite recipe

Musical theatre great Anthony Warlow is deep in rehearsal for a return to the stage in Sweeney Todd: A Musical Thriller next month but he harbours another extraordinary talent - cooking.

He is brimming with excitement to be working with Gina Riley in the show and waxes lyrical about his research into the role, revealing a focused desire to nail the grim, vengeful, murderous character in the production.

And yet, it's with an enhanced exuberance he speaks about his skills in the kitchen, whilst maintaining a measured humility.

"I enjoy the alchemy of cooking and it's my stress release. After rehearsal, I'll make a risotto or gnocchi or a marinara. I come home and stir for 20 minutes."

Warlow admits "there's always room for improvement" but happily shares his signature dish, pork in milk, that he fondly describes as his favourite "big dinner-party dish".

The quantities and method may be rough and ready, but what they lack in precision they make up for in flavour.

Pork in milk

INGREDIENTS

Pork loin

Garlic

Carrots

Onions

One litre of milk

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to about 160 degrees.

Pierce the meat with a sharp knife in several places and press the garlic into the openings. Sear the pork in a cocotte (a cast-iron pot in which food can be cooked and served). Add carrots and onion to the pot, then pour milk over the meat.

Place the pot in the oven for one hour. Turn the loin and cook for another hour.

When you take the pork out of the oven, the milk is curdled and "gooey". And the vegetables may have fallen apart. Take the vegetables that are "in good nick" out to serve and slice the pork (which according to Warlow is "tender as all get out").

Grab the stick blender and blitz what's left, including the meat juice.

Drizzle the gravy onto the sliced pork and vegetables.

And as for an Anthony Warlow cookbook? "Wouldn't that be lovely," he says.