Ingredients: Method: About this recipe This cake is a riff from a delicious Annabel Langbein number…it’s a hard one to track down, but it is this Coconut and Lemon cake. I’ve changed it up in this recipe to switch the lemon to lime and to …
Ingredients: 1 cup brown sugar 200 grams butter, cubed 4 eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla essence or extract 200 grams chopped dark chocolate 1/2 cup flour 1/2 cup cocoa 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 salt 300 grams caramel condensed milk 1 tablespoon hot water …
The last time I wrote, I happened to mention a roast chicken was potentially in my future. That came true, which makes me happy because there are few things less satisfying than putting a nice roast in the oven and pottering about your Sunday while the house fills with savoury and herb-tinged scents. I have two go-tos for my roast chicken, both of which I can heartily recommend – Nigel Slater’s classic from his book Appetite, and Recipe Tin Eats’ lemon and herb roast chicken.
Monday night was therefore blessed with a generous amount of roast chicken leftovers and I always like to do my favourite simple salad of greens, potatoes and leftover roast chicken with this. Only one pot, one bowl and it takes less than 20 minutes from stove to table – a welcome change after the many dishes from a roast the night before! My roast chicken salad serves two and it’s very simple to make (after all, you’ve done all the hard work earlier, roasting the chicken).
To make this, first bring a pan of water to the boil and cook 8-10 small, halved gourmet or baby potatoes until fork-tender (about 15 minutes, but check). 12 minutes into cooking, add one cup of sliced green beans to the pot. While the potatoes and beans cook, add half a cup of plain yoghurt, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise, 1 teaspoon of both Dijon mustard and olive oil to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Once the potatoes and beans are cooked, tip them out into a colander to drain. While they drain, add one cup of chopped spinach and 2 cups of leftover roast chicken to the bowl and coat in the dressing (I prefer to reheat my chicken before adding, but this is also nice if the chicken is cold, it’s up to you). Add the beans and potatoes to the bowl and stir to combine and coat all ingredients in the dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste and eat immediately.
Other deliciousness from my week included a visit to the House of Good Fortune cafe and coffee roastery in Petone, Lower Hutt. How I have never discovered this delight before, I don’t know. Set it a beautifully restored villa, there are hearty eats (with a lot of vegetarian and vegan offerings), delicious coffee and plenty of sunny comfy spots to sit back and enjoy the atmosphere. This savoury scone with spices, sunflower seeds and olives was spectacular.
Shared weekend morning tea with friends was a delight, with two types of beautiful smoked fish, including the Bay Smokehouse’s Kahawai. I am a big fan of Kahawai, which I feel is sometimes overlooked in favour of more delicate varieties – as a meaty, substantial fish, it stands up brilliantly to smoking and lends itself very pleasantly to dips and pates – including my very own.
Finally, I have been busy doing Autumny-type activities with my plants, including harvesting my chillies and clearing out the last of my tomatoes, rescuing a few green (and spotting this amazing, tiny red mushroom!). So look out for some recipes featuring some of these fellas (chillies and tomatoes – not the mushroom) soon.
WOAH! Well I have not written for quite some time….the rest of last year and the start of this one have been dominated by work-related matters, namely, restructuring and a new job. This sucked out a lot of my brain energy for some time – …
Ingredients (for one small tart to feed 3-4 people) Method: At this cold and dark time of year, I like to keep my fruit and vitamin consumption up, including through warming, spiced apple tart like this one. A request to bring pudding to a shared …
It’s the time of year where you may well find yourself in possession of the last, sad dregs of the tomato season. And I say ‘sad’ because in my experience, the crop that lingers on into Autumn is usually past its best. It is of course an even sadder feeling to waste any remainders of the Summer’s bounty and this is where tomato chutney comes in. Simmered with sugar and spices, any substandard dreg of a tomato cannot help but be improved, and if you jar it up and slam the lid on and leave it well alone for a few months, the flavour only gets better. If you find that your crop-dregs include a fair few green tomatoes, don’t let this worry you – I wrap green tomatoes in a paper bag with an apple and leave them in a sunny spot for a week or two until they become a little more ripe-looking. This method mightn’t make for the tastiest tomatoes for eating raw, but it really doesn’t matter if you’re using them for chutney. This is quite a sweet chutney, including an apple, whole mustard seeds to sharpen up the flavour a little. It goes very nicely with some sharp cheese, makes your sandwiches that little bit better and best of all, means the last of your crop can leave on and treat you during winter.
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Don’t mistake this for me purporting to be any kind of expert on masala chai. I’m not – my making of masala chai is purely a result of my greediness and nosiness about all things food. A work colleague and I are often in the …
Ingredients Method When is a mouldering banana a welcome sight? When you need to bake something, that’s when. Banana-based baking is the ultimate transformation from yuck to yum. Very ripe, very brown bananas might be a bit nasty to look at but think of the …
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About this recipe
You know those grey rainy Sunday days in winter that feel a bit blah and uninspiring? Yes, me too. Perhaps today is even one of them. This chickpea concoction can help somewhat with zippy lemon and warm spices. It fits in well with many of the thing you might be craving on such a day…popped on top of some hot buttered toast or stirred in with some fluffy rice. I particularly like it stuffed into a toasted pita bread and munched in front of telly, followed by a hot cup of tea. Even better, it makes 2-3 serves, so you’ve already got yourself out of a Sunday task….leftovers for working Monday lunch, sorted. Enjoy 💚
Ingredients: Method: About this recipe I know gluten free baking can seem like a faff but honestly, if you can bear to fork out for some gluten-free flour then you have a lot of options without much effort. Many ingredients that are simply superb in …