Matlock, the Magic of Food & Lentil Salad with Yael Grobglas

On this episode of Taste Buds with Deb, host Debra Eckerling speaks with actress Yael Grobglas. Grobglas, who played the series regular dual-roles of ‘Petra’ and ‘Anezka’ on “Jane the Virgin;” Hallmark Channel’s “Hanukkah on Rye;” and recently started an arc on the new “Matlock,” believes food is magical.    “It can heal you, it can make you happy, it can bring people together,” she says.     Grobglas was born in France and grew up in Israel, and loves the cuisines from both. Some of her happiest memories involve holidays and food.    “You all sit at the table together, you sing songs and you eat,” she explains. “And the kids run around under the table and between everybody's legs, [while] the parents try to keep some sort of adult conversation going.”   Grobglas, whose mother and father are wonderful cooks, was destined to love food. When she moved out on her own, Grobglas knew she had to learn how to cook, so she could continue to eat good food.   “Luckily I'm pretty creative,” she says. “I cannot follow a recipe to save my life [but] I have so many cookbooks … I'll look through them for inspiration. I feel like I'm making art.”     When asked how her training as an actor influenced her creativity in the kitchen, Grobglas said it made her trust herself, and the creative process, more.    “If you botch a take, it's fine; you do another one,” she explains. “You make mistakes, that's how you learn. It's okay, you get better.”   On “Matlock,” Grobglas plays a jury consultant aka human lie detector. She previously worked with “Matlock” showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman on “Jane the Virgin,” which Urman created.  “It was incredible to work together again,” she says.    Yael Grobglas talks about her earliest food memories, how she creates in the kitchen, and the amazing craft (food) services on Matlock. She also shares the recipe for her mom's signature dish: lentil salad with apples and red onion, which you can get at JewishJournal.com/podcasts.   Follow @YaelGrobglas  on Instagram and watch her arc on “Matlock” on CBS; her character arrives on episode three.   For more from Taste Buds, subscribe on iTunes and YouTube, and follow @TheDEBMethod on social media.