Having a jar of tahini dressing in your fridge is something to feel pretty smug about. This dressing can elevate roasted root vegetables and blanched greens to an Ottolenghi-esque salad that you’ll want to eat again and again. Preparing the dressing is a matter of finding a jar with a lid, a couple of ingredients…
Category: vegetables
Fish larb with vermicelli & mint salad in cos lettuce leaves
There’s nothing that grinds my gloof gears more than ordering a bao/slider/taco thinking I’m getting a gluten-free version of the original, when instead those unimaginative buggers have just wrapped the filling in a lettuce leaf. Lettuce is not and will never be a delicious carb. When there’s full disclosure that my dinner involves a lettuce leaf carrier then…
Beetroot & orange loaf cake with cream cheese icing
‘Are you sure you didn’t forget and just use normal flour?’ my sister asked with a mouthful of beetroot & orange loaf cake. And that my friends, is what every gluten-free baker wants to hear: I can’t believe it’s not gluten! Believe it. Beetroot & orange loaf cake gets better with age: this particular one lived…
Chorizo & fish summer stew
Summer holidays in Wellington: sunny one moment, southerly storming the next. A plan of a summer supper of zucchini fritters, tomato and corn salsa, and potato salad was blown away (almost quite literally) when what was a beautiful blue sky day turned into sideways rain and gales. Summer plans were scrapped: I wanted something substantial, soothing…
Asparagus in browned butter with shallots, capers & parsley
Another contribution to the ongoing seasonal series of, ‘It’s spring, so asparagus with everything until I never want to eat it again (until next spring)’. Asparagus in browned butter with shallots, capers & parsley is spring-time dinner perfection with pan-fried fish, some roasted kumara, and a mound of wilted greens. Asparagus in browned butter with shallots, capers &…
Polenta, silverbeet & feta bake
Yotam Ottolenghi: I love the guy but his recipes can be exhausting. So many ingredients! So many herbs to wash and chop! So many spices to toast and grind! This sort of bullsh*t usually results in cookbooks becoming consigned to the bedtime reading pile, never again to make it back to the kitchen. But Ottolenghi…
Herbed fish cakes, charred pineapple salsa & slaw
A bowl comprised of individually prepared delicious things is one of my favourite ways to eat, as evidenced by the fact that my Katherine Smyth ceramic bowls are pretty much never sitting unused in the cupboard. Herbed fish cakes, charred pineapple salsa & slaw is currently one of my favourite things to eat from a bowl. It’s fresh, light and…
Taco beef, pickled slaw, kimchi & gochujang
In the 1990s this recipe would have been named ‘fusion beef’, as it deliciously fuses together Mexican spices with Japanese miso and tamari and Korean condiments kimchi and gochujang. As it’s not the 1990s I won’t call it that, except maybe quietly in my head. I like to serve taco beef, pickled slaw, kimchi & gochujang by setting out bowls of…
Fennel broth with peas & baked ricotta
Fennel broth with peas & baked ricotta is the perfect thing to eat in spring. Asparagus would be a wonderful addition to this – once it gets down off its new season $26 per kilogram high horse. Time for a small boast: I made the ricotta for this from scratch; a process that’s actually pretty simple but…
Baked hoisin pork meatballs with greens & brown rice
Baked meatballs are bloody basic to make. Roasting the meatballs at a high temperature means you still get browned and crispy outsides without having to faff about with hot oil. Baked hoisin pork meatballs with greens & brown rice is midweek dinner perfection and any leftovers will make for a lunch that will be envy of your workmates the…
Miso coconut broth with crispy-skinned salmon & vegetables
Miso coconut broth features on my weeknight menu at least once a week. I serve it with oven-baked crispy-skinned salmon or steamed or grilled white fish, and always with plenty of steamed green vegetables and kumara. This recipe requires a small amount of coconut cream and as I make it on a regular basis, I freeze leftover coconut cream in an ice cube…
Peanut sauce, tofu, brown rice & all the vegetables you can eat
Most of my weeknight dinners are answers to the question of ‘how can I shove as many vegetables into my face in the most delicious manner?’ Miso coconut broth (coming to Cake for Breakfast soon!) is one answer and my version of Gado Gado is another. It also fits my ideal meal format of having a…
cake for breakfast 