Foodie Blogs

Plantains
May 2011

Plantains are a close relative to the banana and are sold at varying degrees of ripeness. Usually they are green when you see them in the shops and banana shaped. These green bananas are not at all sweet, and are quite firm in texture. Their skins need to be worked off with your thumb before being cooked and are a similar texture to a raw potato.

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Kedgeree
March 2011

Anglo-Indian cuisine came about in the Victorian era. As British colonialists began to populate India, their culinary minds were opened by the local full-flavoured and spicy cuisine. Inevitably, cross-culture cooking brought about dishes like traditional roasted lamb marinated in spices, recipes using red chillies, chutneys, piquant breads and rice dishes.

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Perfect Choux Pastry
February 2011

Éclairs are made from choux pastry which is a recipe simple in theory but difficult in application. The reason is the varying weight of eggs. Too much or too little egg and choux pastry flops horribly in the oven looking more like a baked puddle or a solid brick cake. Another problem is cooking time. Éclairs should be baked until very dry and evenly dark brown in colour.

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Pavlova
November 2010

It’s November 2010 and that means I am launching my next cookbook pavlova, the worlds first recipe book dedicated to New Zealand’s iconic national dish. Some recipe books write themselves but I tell ya… this one was hard work and though at times I was frustrated I learned to work within the bounds of the original recipe.

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Longrain
September 2010

My good friend and fellow chef Justin purchased a cookbook some years ago from Sydney restaurant Longrain. I believe there is another branch in Melbourne these days. So when I had the chance to go to Sydney this month to spend time with family, the first place I wanted to book into was Justin’s favourite. Longrain is a modern Thai food restaurant in Surrey Hills. As it happens, they don’t take bookings, so we endeavoured to turn up 10 minutes before opening time of 6pm to secure a table.

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Cooking Oils
July 2010

The goddess Athena gifted the olive tree to the people of Athens, a dove carried the olive branch to Noah, and olive oil is credited with the unusually low rates of heart disease found throughout the Mediterranean. It even tastes great.

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Jersey Bennes
March 2009

The season for Jersey benne gourmet potatoes starts in November and finishes in February making it a favourite in New Zealand for Christmas celebrations. Its texture is waxy and they need to be consumed quite quickly after harvest as they have a tendency to turn green reasonably quickly.

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Cape Gooseberries
November 2008

You know how it is when you taste something and it feels like you are transported back in time to your childhood. That is how I feel about cape gooseberries. My grandparents used to have a small bush in their backyards that had grown from a wandering seed as if by accident.

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Black Doris Plums
February 2007

I always hang out for February when my very biggest favourite of summer fruits the Black Doris plum comes to the party. If I haven’t seen them for sale in supermarkets so I head to K.C. Loo in Mount Eden Road, who never let me down with supply. Black Doris plums hit the stores around February and while you are there, pick up some Australian mangos. GOOD GRIEF they are amazing and certainly worth a few extra dollars!

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NZ Littleneck Clams
January 2007

I asked Roger Belton of Dunedin based Southern Rainbow, and his reply was that Captain Cook was to blame for the misunderstanding. He goes onto explain that when Cook arrived in New Zealand and saw our littleneck clams, they reminded him of the cockles back home in England. He named them so and the nickname stuck. REALLY stuck! Even today in fish shops around New Zealand you can find Littleneck Clams by looking for the label of cockles.

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Hollandaise
December 2007

Hollandaise sauce originated from 19th century French cuisine, it means Holland-style or from Holland. Most historians agree that it was originally called Sauce Isigny after a town in Normandy known for its butter. During World War I, butter production came to a halt in France and was imported from Holland to supply the demand. The name was changed to hollandaise to indicate the source of the butter and was never changed back.

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