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…
Black bean, chargrilled corn & feta tacos
A couple of months after I was diagnosed as a Coeliac I woke up from a nightmare. I was in hospital and two nurses had brought me a tray of plastic-wrapped cabin bread (presumably gloof), ‘We’ve got bad news for you’ they said. ‘As well as being Coeliac, we’ve discovered that you’re also vegan’. I jolted awake, sweating and heart…
Almond cakes topped with summer fruit
Lois Daish is my original food hero. For a year and a half I wrote a blog called Lois & Me as I cooked my way through Lois’ extensive recipe archive, à la Julie & Julia. Through writing Lois & Me I became friends with dear Lois and discovered some truly wonderful recipes, including her almond cake which I made…
Venison, cherry & asparagus salad
This salad instinctively came together as a response to the contents of my pre-Christmas holiday fridge: a gift of some venison, spinach leaves needing to be eaten, a handful of exorbitantly-priced new season cherries, and a bunch of asparagus bought because at any moment it will disappear from the vegetable aisle never to be seen again (until…
Fruity Christmas mince
The ridiculousness of eating heavy and rich Christmas food in the midst of a *fingers crossed* balmy New Zealand summer is just one of the those odd little incongruities that we have grown to love as Kiwis. Though we’ve adopted our own approach to Christmas, lightening and freshening things up by using our plentiful summer…
Roasted rhubarb & strawberry crème fraîche fool with pistachio florentine crumb
Up until recently I lived in an inner city apartment in Wellington. Minutes from Moore Wilson’s, it actually took longer to make coffee at home than it did to walk to Customs and have infinitely better one made for me. The convenience and thrill of inner city living was shattered by the November earthquake. Our apartment was…
Fried sage leaves with gurnard
Barely a recipe this one, to be honest with you. But fried sage leaves are something that I love to eat and make often. If you grow sage, you probably have a metric shit tonne of the stuff, or if you buy some sage for a recipe, you’re bound to be left with some to…
Nigella’s steak with lemon, thyme & garlic
I love Nigella. But let me qualify that by saying that I love old Nigella; I’m ignoring every cook book from Nigellisima onwards. Old Nigella is good Nigella. How to Eat, Nigella’s first cook book, lives beside my bed and whenever I feel the need to gently soothed to sleep by Nigella’s distinctively descriptive assertive tone,…
Fish tacos with mango salsa, smoky aioli & slaw
I bloody love tacos. Effortlessly gluten free, they’re the perfect thing to make to feed a crowd or just a couple of humans on a Tuesday night. If you don’t have a tortilla press and like me, you consider tacos to be a bloody exceptional time, I highly recommend investing in a tortilla press. Yes, they are a ‘single-use…
Eggplant parmigiana
Making up for a lack of gluten with cheese is pretty much my approach to life these days. My version of eggplant parmigiana skips out the step of coating the eggplant in breadcrumbs which reeks of effort anyway. Instead the eggplant is baked until browned and tender, then sandwiched between layers of chilli and lemon infused tomato sauce,…
Crunchy ginger crunch
“My Coeliac sister said she tried your crunchy ginger crunch and that it was life changing.” So there you have it: cake that may change your life (or maybe just your afternoon). Better try it and see. Crunchy ginger crunch For the base: 160g butter 150g brown sugar 160g fine polenta 160g gluten-free flour 1 teaspoon…
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 &…
cake for breakfast 