Tagged: kiwi

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Simply Irresistible French Desserts by Christelle Le Ru

Mouthwatering treats Why is it that recipe names look so much more evocative when written in French? Gâteau au chocolate et à l’abricot seems so much more sophisticated than just plain Chocolate apricot cake. Still, from the look of this slice of this moist dark cake pictured in Christelle Le Ru‘s Simply Irresistible French Desserts I don’t think that anyone will complain if you set it in front of them, no matter which name you use. But Carrés à la noix de pécan and Crèmes chaudes aux myrtilles (Pecan squares and Hot blueberry creams, respectively) certainly do have much more of a ring to them en Français and that’s a great deal to do with the charm of this Christchurch-based Frenchwoman’s self-published cookbook.

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Peter Gordon's Tomato and Chilli Jam

A couple of my jars of Tomato and Chilli Jam Before I came to New Zealand I had only vaguely heard of Kiwi chef Peter Gordon. From articles that popped up every so often in the English newspapers that I read, I knew that he cooked at The Sugar Club (still, I think, a truly brilliant name for a restaurant) and that he was designated king of what became known as fusion cuisine. That all changed when I made my first batch of his Tomato and Chilli Jam. Now he is known as the person responsible for coming up with the recipe of this addictive addition to sandwiches, sausages, noodles, patés, cheese, cold meats or just about anything that needs a little zip. I discovered it through an article in Cuisine magazine and you’ll find the recipe right here.

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Peter Gordon’s Tomato and Chilli Jam

A couple of my jars of Tomato and Chilli Jam Before I came to New Zealand I had only vaguely heard of Kiwi chef Peter Gordon. From articles that popped up every so often in the English newspapers that I read, I knew that he cooked at The Sugar Club (still, I think, a truly brilliant name for a restaurant) and that he was designated king of what became known as fusion cuisine. That all changed when I made my first batch of his Tomato and Chilli Jam. Now he is known as the person responsible for coming up with the recipe of this addictive addition to sandwiches, sausages, noodles, patés, cheese, cold meats or just about anything that needs a little zip. I discovered it through an article in Cuisine magazine and you’ll find the recipe right here.

Starbucks Challenge 3

Starbucks Challenge

After some discussion about Fair Trade goods, green LA girl challenged me to take the Starbucks Challenge. In their policy document – Starbucks, Fair Trade, and Coffee Social Responsibility – they say that “Fair Trade Certified coffee has been promoted by Starbucks as a brewed “Coffee of the Week” and can be brewed by coffee press during store hours upon customer request.” The challenge was to ask for a cup of Fair Trade coffee in Starbucks and see how easy it was to get served.

A tale of camping food and missing sleeping bags: Sloppy Joes for Campsite Cooking 2

A tale of camping food and missing sleeping bags: Sloppy Joes for Campsite Cooking

Last weekend being a long weekend, the Boyfriend and I decided to abandon Christchurch and open our personal camping season with a trip to the small town of Geraldine. For me, camping is a challenge to see what I can cook with limited ingredients and resources and this, the first camping trip of the year, was an opportunity not to be passed up. The night before we took off, I dug out Nigel Slater‘s Real Fast Food – the perfect camping cookbook – and started studying the recipes. So intent was I on packing the bag of food and so concentrated was the Boyfriend on getting us out the door on Saturday morning that no one thought to pack those camping essentials – the sleeping bags.

Cup conversion issues 7

Cup conversion issues

Although I’m not a huge fan of her bare basics books, Delia Smith’s website is a very useful reference point. She has a helpful table of conversions here that are especially good when you’re trying to convert a recipe using American cup measurements to metric but, alas, there are no references to the New Zealand or Australian cup. I didn’t initially realise that these measurements were different – a cup is a cup is a cup, right? – but apparently not.

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Brilliant But Basic by Genevieve McGough ***

Formulas for useful cooking basics It’s not often that chefs can manage to simplify techniques so that they are both intelligible and useful to those of us who confine our cooking to the home kitchen but Auckland-based Genevieve McGough has managed it in Brilliant But Basic. In this slim publication she deals with a total of 19 different techniques, teaching formulas for useful cooking basics such as meringue, risotto, slow-cooked meats and cheesecake.

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A self-sufficient lunch: Simple Goats’ Cheese

Last year, while still in Ireland, the Boyfriend and I attended a cheese-making weekend workshop at Rossinver Organic Farm in County Leitrim. My knowledge of cheese-making had previously been limited to a school outing during primary school. A schoolmate’s father, Glenroe’s Matt O’Brien, used to make a wonderful farmhouse cheddar called Glenosheen in the eighties. Sadly, Glenosheen Cheddar no longer exists but that was my first taste of a real cheese and, even to a pre-teen palate, it was quality stuff. I was no less fascinated by the workings of Matt’s little cheese factory and, years later, all I had observed there made sense when I attended the cheese-making course at Rossinver.