A little over a year ago I ended my northern hemisphere trip with 2 nights in Brussels. I had been hoping to return north next year but the current situation puts a pretty big question mark over that. On my first night in Brussels I visted the wonderful if challenging to pronounce restaurant Nuetnigenough where…

Back in my cheesemonger days I used deal with expat Englishman Joe Whalley who with his partner Jill runs Mount Eliza Cheese. Since then they have led the campaign to allow NZ cheesemakers to make unpasteurized cheese. Back when I sold their cheese selling English style cheese beyond cheddar was a hard road. I hope…

This owes more to the pubs of Melbourne than to anything in Italy. Chicken Parma is an Aussie pub classic, chicken schnitzel breaded, fried and served with ham , tomato sauce and cheese. This baked version avoids having to egg and bread . Every recipe you find says to use breast. However Im with Chinese…

When my chilli plants start to yield fruit I tend to start making fermented sauces based on tobasco or sriracha. I make both green and red versions. The use of capsicum means you can control the heat. The ferment slowly transforms the raw heat of the chili and garlic and produces lactic acid. They are…

Woody’s Farm has been fighting the good fight for ethical meat up the road longer than we have been brewing in Waikanae. They have transitioned from farm to butchery and charcuterie and are producing delicious things from truly free range pigs, cows, alpacas and goats. I do the odd web order and fill the freezer….

The smell of this slowcooked Indonesian beef curry is one of my favourite things, up there with the smell of Pho. I first had proper Rendang at a now closed Malasian Restaurant in Cuba St where we dined once and allowed the chef to choose the menu. I have been trying to make mine as…

For me this is the taste and smell of summer. Growing up in South Wellington these chops were always present at summer BBQ’s. This is not dainty or tidy food. You eat them with your hands, you will need a wet towel or a finger bowl afterwards. Real food, real mess, real yum. Ingredients –…

I havent posted a recipe in a while. To be honest I often struggle to get excited about cooking in the summer. I end up having steak and salad or whatever and its not really anything to write about. I do however break out the BBQ more often which is always fun. A common recipe…

Out the front of my house is a sizable cherry tree. Its a wilding having sprouted up from a cherry stone no doubt dropped by a bird. The tree wasnt there 5 years ago but is now taller than the house! It fruits little sour cherries which have little flesh on their stones. Not much…

Like most people who travel to Brussels in search of Lambic and its surrounding culture I came back very much taken by the cheeses served alongside the beer . Most interesting to me was the pottekaas, a dip or spread that combines the tangy fresh cheese of the region with garlic, chives and lambic. Upon…