This week I have another recipe from fellow foodie Jen Pomeroy (www.themodernmess.com). This is a simple but beautiful recipe for a Roast Carrot Salad with Labne & Sumac. It’s just the dish for those summer BBQ’s, or a light lunch. The labne could be replaced with soft goats cheese, just give the dish a sprinkle with sumac at the end. You can serve the salad warm or at room temperature, so perfect for Christmas day as you can prep ahead.
Enjoy!
Read MoreI don't know about you but I'm all about comfort food when the weather is doing it's best to freeze & drown you all at the same time! I tried this recipe for Beef Cheeks recently when friends braved the elements to visit me. During dinner there were lots of oohs, ahhhhh, & yummms so I guess it hit the spot. Unfortunately it's not the type of recipe to whip up quickly, but with a little pre planning and slow cooking the beef for 5 - 6 hours you will end up with a tasty and very tender meal.
Enjoy!
Read MoreWhy don't you give these zucchini fritters with hot smoked salmon a test drive for brunch this weekend? Well worth the effort & a good way to get your greens. Enjoy!
Read MoreI was doing some recipe testing for a client recently, and thought I should really do something with the left over fish fillets. So after fighting off my two cats, who thought they would shimmy up my leg to bench level for a lightening raid, I threw together some fish sliders with a spicy vegetable pickle to share with a couple of friends.
After a few vino's they lasted all of 2 mins, and barely touched the sides going down. Make sure you make plenty of these bad boys, coz they won't last long.
It's September so you would think spring is on its way with blossom and spring flowers? But no winter this week has to have a last blast with gales, hail & freezing temps. So here was me thinking I'll do something spring like for the blog. Arrgghhhhh - change of plan and back to the hearty winter food.
Soup & bread, or toast, or bagel or flatbread feature quite a lot in my winter repertoire, so I had to crank out a loaf to go with my winter soup while the weather misbehaved outside. Yeah I know this Pumpkin, Fennel & Olive bread looks like it's had a bad spray tan at the beauty salon, but beneath it's dodgy looks lies a scrumptious bread with heaps of flavour.
Give it a go you won't be disappointed!
Apologies - yes I know it's been a long between posts from the Food Union, but life has been a tad chaotic of late what with cookbooks and advertising clients all vying for my attention.
To rectify this lapse and appease the masses I've thrown together a scrumptious dish for you all from Emma Knowles at Gourmet Traveller using lamb racks and spices. I think its one of those trans seasonal dishes that could be good at any time of the year, and hits the spot in my book for flavour.
Enjoy!
Autumn is definitely here - so my garden was well overdue for a bit of a clean up and final harvest. Last weekend, before the cold nights took hold, I managed to pick the last courgettes before consigning the plants to the compost heap for another year.
This year the courgette plants produced a bumper crop - which probably had something to do with all the compost and feeding the plants got throughout the summer. I could have sworn that the courgettes were growing heaps every time I turned my back! Ended up with a few marrows, but mostly managed to pick them early enough to keep to a manageable size.
This yummy recipe comes from Lou & Ant Bentley at the Akaroa Cooking School, just over the Banks Peninsula hills an hour from my place. It's great for using up the courgette glut and has a lovely herby flavour with the addition of the tarragon and basil at the end of cooking the soup. I make big batches of this soup, and freeze portions when I need something quick & tasty.
Give it a try - you won't be disappointed!
Need a speedy lunch or dinner for 4 - you gotta check out this Mexican Chicken recipe. Packed with flavour - it's spicy with plenty of zing from the limes plus the salty feta.
It's really easy to prepare ahead, and you can just throw it in the oven when your guests are banging on your front door. After you've had the odd compulsory margarita (or two), the chicken will be ready to serve with a simple green salad.
Que aproveche!
Yay for a long weekend in New Zealand for Waitangi Day. It's timed perfectly for those of us out there fighting the return to work blues and wishing we were still in the middle of their christmas holidays!
To make the most of the warm evenings over Waitangi weekend we cranked up the barbecue and gave our new outdoor table & chairs a test drive. The results were table & chairs = big tick, lamb/salad = yummmm, plus a few vinos to wash it all down. So good night had by all!
This moroccan inspired lamb recipe is equally good cooked on a barbecue or the stove. It takes a bit of prep, but you can do the dukkah in advance so it doesn't take too long to pull together.
Enjoy!
I have to say that summer has been a real disappointment this year, particularly with the last week being wet & miserable in Christchurch. Over the weekend to combat the bad weather blues I've was craving a bit of comfort food.
So after a bit of umming and ahhhing and several sessions of looking in the pantry and fridge for inspiration, I settled on throwing together some gnocchi with extras from the garden.
I love this Summer Pesto recipe as it uses lots of things from my garden, and is quick & easy to make. Even with lots of overcast wet days my kale crop has done well, with the plants now turning into triffids. I could be eating kale every day and I'm sure the plants would still keep up - downside I'd probably develop a greenish appearance!
You'll have to excuse the rather rustic appearance of my gnocchi as I was in a bit of a rush and didn't roll them properly - never mind they still tasted good even if they left someting to be desired in the beauty stakes.
Bon appetit!