dark chocolate brownies with white chocolate & sea salt

Don’t you love old faithful recipes? This is a guaranteed moist, fudgy extra rich and dark chocolate brownie with white chocolate chunks and a (newly added to the recipe) sprinkling of sea salt – phwaor. They are also ridiculously easy and quick to make. These would be great to make for a chocolate loving mother […]

novice yogi’s kitchari – basmati & split peas with Indian spices, vegetables & fresh herbs

OK now don’t worry, I’m not veering off completely into total vegan territory (with apologies to any vegans who would like me to…), but as I have been yoga-ing my ass off lately I have been interested to find out more about what those glowing, lithe yoga-instructors eat – et voila! And as you can […]

pumpkin, pea & chorizo frittata with feta & red onion

Having your Mum for over for a meal is a lovely way to celebrate Mother’s Day, and this is the perfect easy but delicious little number to whip up. The frittata is surprisingly light but rich in flavour with the earthy pumpkin, sweet peas and red onion, spicy chorizo and salty feta – ideal for […]

birthday chocolate layer cake & raspberry champagne cocktail

You might remember a few weeks ago I did the big kick ass Easter/Birthday chocolate cake for my friend Netty – layered with mousse and slathered in ganache…? Well this is a slightly simplified version of that same recipe – an absolute doddle to make and so incredibly good, with super moist cake (which easily lasts 3-4 […]

pizza with braised lentils, hot smoked salmon & pea puree

Hi all – this bloody delicious creation was inspired by the very clever and talented people at La Cigale in Auckland who do a puff pastry tart using lentils, salmon and pea puree – and this is kind of my tribute to it in a pizza form. Seeing as Rich has been in Shanghai with […]

hear me raw vege salad

Hi there, and welcome back from Easter – I hope you had a good one! It has been such a wonderful treat to have Henry and Josh up from Wellington, and while they’ve been here I have lavished them  (and of course Rich and Nick) with love in my usual fashion – with food. So far […]

Mr McGregor’s mini carrot loaves

Hello and hurrah – my final blog recipe for Easter! (Now just two more shots to do for Fairfax tomorrow and then I am DONE for a week!!!) Oh dear I just saw a lovely reader had suggested a definite ‘yes’ to icing these little carrot loaves with cream cheese icing, but I was already […]

meatballs on brown rice with peanut sauce & Asian slaw

Just when you thought there was no other way to serve meatballs, here is my final recipe! (Actually, I could probably think of quite a few more ways, but I’m thinking we should probably leave it here…) This recipe combines the earthy meatballs with a zingy Asian slaw, spicy peanut sauce and some lovely nubbly […]

meatballs with Indian spiced eggplant & minty yoghurt

Feeling like a bit of a frantic old (grr) mad woman at the moment (nothing new) trying to get recipe testing done for Dish and Fairfax before Easter, as well as get a few over-due recipes on the blog…like this one! Number four in the meatball line-up uses the same base meatball recipe again, this […]

lamb cutlets with lentil, fig & beetroot salad & herb dressing

I love my job – especially on days when I get to photograph (and eat) things like this! This is a recipe I developed for Fairfax and it is exactly the kind of thing I love to cook at home – the combination of earthy lentils, sweet onions, figs and beetroot with salty feta, cumin-spiced […]

the ultimate Easter chocolate cake (for Netty)

I have been in two minds about posting this uber-chocolatey cake recipe. I made it this week for my dear friend whose birthday had slipped by without a blip – so silently that it seemed outrageous for such a darling woman to be unacknowledged. Sooooo – I wanted to do a chokky cake as an […]

the ultimate hot smoked salmon sandwich with roast garlic aioli

With one ‘almost vegetarian’, one ‘meat and three veg’, one ‘eat anything’ and me (!), there is one food which unites our family (weirdly) – smoked salmon. This is a sandwich with home made roast garlic aioli I wrote and photographed for Fairfax media, happily knowing that it would go down a treat at home […]