After a career spanning 25 years cooking in the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand, I wanted to create a food ‘bible’ to celebrate some of the world’s great classic dishes; to share what I have learned working with incredible chefs, creating truly outstanding recipes.
HARBOUR MASTER
Marc’s own education started on Réunion Island, from where his family hail, a small French overseas department east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.
CRUNCH TIME
Citrus is definitely one of my favourite flavours, if not the favourite; a squeeze of lemon or lime can transform a dish.
MOOD ENHANCERS
Back in the first century, spices made up more than half of the goods imported to the Mediterranean from Asia surpassing the need for parrots, palm oil, cooks and eunuchs.
A WARM EMBRACE
Trading of spices has been practised since antiquity through overland and maritime routes. It has built and destroyed economies and has come to represent both luxury and the everyday.
ISLAND SPICE
I’m not long home from my second trip to Sri Lanka so, with the memories still lingering in my mind of fragrant curries, sambol and appum (hoppers), it seems only natural that my recipes for this issue give a convincing nod towards the vibrant flavours of this island nation.
Soul Kitchens – Monsoon Poon
I’m a big believer in lunch. It is the reward for work well done in the morning and should set you up for the afternoon. Which is why at least once a week I step inside the dining room of Monsoon Poon.
MAKE IT SNAPPY
Snappy, pickled, punchy, salty, crispy, sharp – some of our favourite food descriptors, especially when paired with our favourite of all: spicy.
SUGAR FLOUR
With these cakes and desserts I wanted to give you a twist on classic Kiwi pastries, but also go a bit deeper and explore the concept of New Zealand, the land and sea around us.
THE GOOD WEED
I grew up in a family of kelp fiends. Mostly I remember the thick layer of dried kelp granules my younger brother would apply to his bowls of soup, a seaweed crust if you will.
ON A GO-SLOW
Slow seafood is a new one for us. Up until now, kaimoana has been more of a fast food – a quick fry in butter, a moment over the coals, a swift steam.
STAR MAN
Did he just say curried pineapple ice cream? Yes he did. Ryan Henley, chef de cuisine at Pescatore, explains that it’s one of the innovative dishes that make up his new menu at Christchurch’s longstanding fine-dining restaurant at The George.
HOME
It is from where we come and those who have come before us that we truly gain our strength and place.
STRANDED IN PARADISE
Does the thought of a recipe for Spam horrify you? Until I suggested using it in the musubi here I had never tasted it.
Soul Kitchens – Boulcott Street
Sometimes, when I feel I have had endured the chef’s philosophy and eaten a tweezer-tortured plate of food one too many times, I close my eyes and imagine my happy place, one where all the food makes sense. Boulcott Street Bistro is just that restaurant.
UNDER WRAPS
A little parcel of food is like a gift on your plate. You find examples of food wrapped in leaves in many cultures; the leaves can impart flavour, retain moisture and protect from vigorous heat sources, such as fire. Wrapping individual parcels is a bit time consuming, so best kept for a weekend or when you have a bit of time.
Cutting it fine
I have a fascination for, and healthy addiction to, noodles. In their many guises they provide endless opportunities for discovery, as well as a tasty textural vehicle for whatever ingredients the season and your location permit.
Less is More
‘Eat less meat’ Is a common message nowadays, both for health and for the environment and I have been cutting down on meat in home cooking for a long time now. I always hover somewhere around wanting to be a vegetarian because of animal welfare issues, but also really enjoying, say, a bloody good steak.
Would you like fries with that?
Bring on summer – lazy afternoons at the beach or pottering in the garden with the sound of cicadas and the warmth of the sun – I cannot wait! For me, summer entertaining is all about making life easy so that I can get out and make the most of the longer days.
Seafood… and eat it
Easy cooking is what summer-holiday meals are all about for me. Seafood in particular makes for fast, flavour-forward dishes. Mostly I’m happy with a piece of grilled fish and a simple salad, especially if the fish has been freshly caught, but there’s also a time when I hanker for a kick of heat in the food and sharp, clean and fresh flavours from plenty of Asian herbs.
Cold as Ice
Iced desserts are kinda my thing – I love the simplicity of the ice-block- making process, the gratification one gets from scraping frozen syrup to form granita and the instant joy from blitzing up frozen fruit to form quick, healthy, instant sorbets.
House Party
When I was growing up my parents often had friends over for dinner. The vegetarian 80s classics always came into play: there would be brown rice salad with curry-powder dressing, a big green salad using vegetables from our garden, if I was lucky Mum’s famous kumara and carrot slice would also be on the menu and dessert was often crumble or cake with whipped cream.
Stick It
The barbecue has been the centrepiece of the Kiwi summer routine for decades – and for good reason. Every country has their own version of barbecue, where smoke and fire are the transformative elements and, traditionally at least, these cooking methods have been accompanied by a strong social element. There’s something about the sound and smell of something cooking over fire that draws people in.
Soul Kitchens – Ortega Fish Shack
In a nation sorrounded by waters full of fish, it’s good to have a restaurant where seafood is front of mind. Wellington’s Ortega is such a place and it’s a much-loved institution. The look is authentic Portuguese bistro – a mosaic- tiled floor, marine-blue walls complete with mounted fish and an eclectic mix of fishing portraits, glass fish floats, subdued and clever lighting.
Natural Selection
My cooking is understated and old fashioned. I like to present a hero ingredient in a way that adds to its natural beauty and doesn’t distract from it. I don’t use foams or gels and I like to use herbs and edible flowers as part of the dish, which is easy when you have a kitchen garden but also when you have a planter of herbs under the window.
Bloomin’ Heck
When the test came from The Sugar Club executive chef Josh Barlow at 2am, “Does Heston have any dietary requirements?” I realised, that in the mad panic to get my mitts on Heston, I’d forgotten to ask. Surely not? How hard can this be?
Love Bites
I love the lead up to Christmas and summer. As the weather improves and the days lengthen, everything seems somehow easier and more festive. I often like to gather 10-12 people together for relaxed drinks followed by a help-yourself dinner like this one.
Whey to go
A perfect piece of cheese is a simple pleasure and NZ cheesemakers work tremendously hard, with passion and dedication, to give us that.
Heart Felt
With today’s culture of rock-star chefs (and sometimes super-sized egos to match), and in an industry which can be tough on junior staff, it’s refreshing to meet a chef who spends much of her working life hidden behind the scenes, who cares about developing and mentoring those under her charge and who uses her skills to help in the community.
Soul Kitchens – Prego
Let’s be honest, Prego is an institution as much as it is a restaurant. For 32 years it has not only been a stalwart of Auckland’s restaurant scene, but an integral part of the cultural landscape of Ponsonby Road. Amongst the ‘boom- and-bust’ cycle of the hospitality industry, it’s a forever restaurant, reassuring you by its mere presence as if nothing could ever happen to it.
Super Natural
Spring is a difficult time of year when cooking seasonally. Nothing is quite ready, yet after a cold winter of heavy, rich flavours everyone is craving the green, white and incredibly peppery and fresh flavours and colours of early spring. You can call on a few bits preserved from seasons before, but when trying to reflect time and place through food, it can be challenging.
Love Street
Tracy Whitmey talks to a young chef bringing fine-dining techniques to traditional Lebanese food. The menu note sums up entirely what Gemmayze Street is all about: A large part of Lebanese heritage and culture is conveyed through our food and the way we share a meal with our loved ones. Gemmayze Street symbolises the pillars of any Lebanese gathering: food, hospitality, love and family.
SHINE ON
Of the current buzzwords, ‘passion’ is tossed around with abandon these days, but when Simon Levy describes his dish of clams as food that “hugs you, just embraces you” it shows that his heart and soul are poured into INATI, the Christchurch restaurant he owns along with his wife, Lisa.
Han Solo
Alice Neville meets the chef bringing a modern take on Korean cuisine to Auckland
It's been discovered as a mystery of the soul, a complex sadness, a sense of collective injustice mingled with a feeling of hope and the ability to silently and stoically endure hardship.
