Posted on May 30, 2005 in Bake, Lovely Lunches | 4 comments

Brown Soda Bread: the Irish connection

Brown Soda Bread: the Irish connection
One of the birthday presents that came from a thoughtful friend in Ireland was a very welcome book of Irish Cooking by Clare Connery. While this was a book that I might not have ever noticed in bookshops in Ireland, having several Irish cookery books already, here in New Zealand it is a pure treasure. With...
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Posted on May 28, 2005 in Read | 0 comments

Savour New Zealand: Greg Malouf

Savour New Zealand: Greg Malouf
One of the chefs that I talked to during Savour New Zealand was the innovative and influential Greg Malouf. An Australian of Lebanese descent, Greg has taken Lebanese food out of the souvlaki take-away shops and moved it into the world of fine dining with his acclaimed Melbourne restaurant MoMo. He has also...
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Posted on May 26, 2005 in Bake | 2 comments

Queencake central

Queencake central
I’ve been temping lately and Friday was my last day of work in a lovely office so I decided to make some queencakes aka buns aka muffins aka cupcakes aka fairycakes (take your pick!) to bring in for morning tea. The cookbook that I would normally turn to in this kind of situation would be...
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Posted on May 24, 2005 in Read | 2 comments

The Restaurant: Food and Wine from the TV Series ***

The Restaurant: Food and Wine from the TV Series ***
While I was still in Ireland when The Restaurant programme started, the lack of a television set precluded me from actually seeing the stars in action but the recently published book of the series gives a good picture of how it worked. Each week The Restaurant played host to a celebrity chef who planned the...
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Posted on May 23, 2005 in Bake | 0 comments

Donna Hay and Anzac Biscuit alternatives

The name Donna Hay is not an unfamiliar one on the Irish side of the world but in Australia and New Zealand she’s more than just a writer of minimalist cookery books, she’s a cooking brand in herself. The Donna Hay Magazine, like Cuisine, comes out every two months and it truly is a lavish...
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Posted on May 20, 2005 in Lovely Lunches | 2 comments

Vegetable soup – take two

Vegetable soup – take two
A weekend by the sea in autumn is the perfect time for soups. What better lunch, especially eaten by the fire as you gaze out the window at the rolling grey sea. Although it’s not especially cold, you feel like wrapping up warmly and doing the winter thing – and all the things you need for soup...
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Posted on May 18, 2005 in Cook | 0 comments

One-pan dinners: Pan Couscous with Chorizo and Green Beans

One-pan dinners: Pan Couscous with Chorizo and Green Beans
Heading away for a long weekend to a bach (Kiwi for holiday home) by the sea tends to concentrate the mind when it comes to cooking. You know you’ll have to bring all your supplies with you, the local shop will probably be five miles down the road and that you’ll be having to cook on an...
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Posted on May 17, 2005 in Do, Living in New Zealand | 2 comments

A mushroom hunt

A mushroom hunt
One of my fondest autumn memories from childhood is of my siblings, my cousins and myself as small children, bundled up in warm coats and wellies (aka gumboots in NZ), being handed a couple of buckets by the adults and sent down my grandparents’ farm in Oldcastletown to go mushroom picking. After...
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Posted on May 16, 2005 in Bake, Living in New Zealand | 0 comments

Anzac Biscuits revisited

Since the day itself I’ve cooked Anzac Biscuits a couple of times. They seem to be the kind of biscuit that doesn’t really know how to go off, getting slightly more chewy after the first day they’re baked but none the less tasty for that. Quick and easy to put together, involving no...
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Posted on May 12, 2005 in Do, Living in New Zealand | 0 comments

Savour New Zealand: News stories

A few more news stories from Savour NZ… Scoop.co.nz: They Came, They Saw, They Savoured New Zealand Christchurch Star: Bon Appetit with Mavis Airey Salient: CLASS,...
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Posted on May 11, 2005 in Bake, Living in New Zealand | 0 comments

Wonderful walnuts: Walnut Maple Tart

Wonderful walnuts: Walnut Maple Tart
Walnuts in New Zealand are fantastic. Not only can you buy the boutique, high-quality nuts that are widely grown in this country – there’s even a Christchurch-based grower and processor that glories in the name A Cracker of a Nut – but even the imports are of a far better quality than we...
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Posted on May 9, 2005 in Cook | 0 comments

Winter warmers: Beef and Orange Stew

Winter warmers: Beef and Orange Stew
In New Zealand supermarkets I’ve been interested to see that there are stickers on all the pre-packed meat, saying whether that particular cut is good for grilling or stewing. I have always loved stews and casseroles – ways of getting the best from the cheap cuts – but never been very...
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Posted on May 8, 2005 in Do, Living in New Zealand | 0 comments

Day two: Savour New Zealand

Another four Savour New Zealand classes down and we’re now at the end of what was truly a magnificent weekend. Today I started with A Well Seasoned Appetite (Darryl Maffey and Simon Gault), afterwards wandering into Cooking the Catch with Al Brown of Wellington’s Logan Brown restaurant. We broke...
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Posted on May 8, 2005 in Do, Living in New Zealand | 2 comments

Day one: Savour New Zealand – the story so far

Day one: Savour New Zealand – the story so far
One day down but one more to go – will I be still standing at the end of it? Yesterday was the first day of Savour New Zealand and it had to be experienced to be believed. I took four from a choice of sixteen masterclasses. The sessions may only have been an hour long but the chefs and cooks managed...
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Posted on May 5, 2005 in Cook, Food for Friends | 0 comments

An Indian Feast, finished: Cauliflower with Roasted Cumin

An Indian Feast, finished: Cauliflower with Roasted Cumin
Cauliflower with Roasted Cumin Adapted from a recipe in Tamasin Day-Lewis’ evocative West of Ireland Summers. Very good served with Mughali Chicken and Chickpea and Tomato Curry. Vegetable oil – 2 tablespoons Cumin seeds – 1 tablespoon Black or yellow mustard seeds – 1...
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