*Best In Season is a new category where I’ll take a look at something in season, and why you should eat it. This week’s offering is the humble, ever-generous grapefruit. Zebras, monkeys and grapefruit were among the things Sir George Grey, then governor of New Zealand, introduced to our shores in the mid 1800s. This citrus variety grew well here and crops were abundant, leading … Continue reading Best In Season – Grapefruit
Tangelos and grapefruit – especially when squeezed and gulped down first thing in the morning – help make winter a more bearable condition to live through. Although I don’t have a grapefruit tree in my yard, and haven’t done in the last few houses I’ve lived, I still bitterly resent buying them, and rely instead on bulging bags of them being donated. At my … Continue reading Tangelove
Pappardelle with meatballs in red sauce and Big Fat Gypsy Weddings on the tube – I can’t think of a more satisfying way to blob out on a wintry weeknight. The Italian parsley has gone feral in my back garden – taking over everything in its path (my poor mint), but I’m making good use of it in dishes like this (nothing like a herb-heavy meatball), and in … Continue reading Pappardelle, Meatballs & Red Sauce
Every August our friends invite us to join their celebration of Swiss National Day with a fondue dinner. This year’s fondue was as cheesy as ever, with four kinds of Swiss Cheese (along with a good whack of Bruno’s schnapps) simmering away on the table-top burner. Along with cubes of good crusty bread, we dipped chunks of potato and succulent Great Barrier Island scallops … Continue reading So Cheesy!
Took the fam down to the recently unveiled Wynyard Quarter redevelopment on the weekend, and for the first time in so, so long, I felt a little swell of civic pride. At long last, some of the city’s commercial waterfront is able to be utilised as a public space. The old silo towers have been kept, and light up at night to create a striking … Continue reading Wynyard Quarter and North Wharf
My friend Sue (whose garden, recipes and kindly donated foodstuffs from her piece of paradise on Great Barrier Island feature often on this blog) gave me a batch of her sourdough starter a few weeks back. I’d been hankering after it since Christmas at her place, when she was baking a couple of loaves every day to feed the masses. Following Sue’s scrawled instructions, I’ve … Continue reading Starter Up
It was a wee while in between visits to Elliott St inner-city ‘epicurean village’ Elliott Stables for me, and my what a difference. It used to strike me as a place that hadn’t quite got there, and now, thankfully, it’s there. Last time I visited it was bustling with city workers tucking in to some seriously good-looking lunch options. With a selection of eateries … Continue reading Elliott Stables
Ah the behemoth that is the annual Food Show in Auckland. Paying to rub shoulders – I mean barge shoulders – with like-minded hungry souls reaching determinedly for a teensy sliver of pan-fried haloumi atop a wisp of stale ciabatta. Nah, that’s mean. But kind of true. You definitely don’t go to the Food Show for a relaxing tour of this county’s best and newest … Continue reading The Food Show
The other night I made a buckwheat soba noodle salad with prawns, tofu and greens, and – me being a notorious over-estimator of the required amount of carbs most times – was left with a good whack of soba noodles in the fridge needing to be used the following day. So I came up with this really easy broth of miso paste with seaweed, and … Continue reading Simple Soba in Soup
