We had a similar salad to this at a cafe when we lived in Auckland and then re-created it at home about 300 times afterwards.
Rocket
Halloumi cheese, fried
Roasted almonds
Cooked tabbouleh – mix with diced tomatoes, finely chopped onion, lemon juice, olive oil, parsley + mint
Plate rocket and tabbouleh, top with cheese and almonds and drizzle with golden syrup
Happiness is a table full of interesting-looking salads. Here’s my current faves.
Potato
Option 1 – Smoked fish OR chirozo + boiled egg + potato + red onion + lemon mayo
Option 2 – Potato + boiled egg + capers + thyme + mayo
Tomato
Tomatoes + ricotta + pinenuts. Dress with orange + lemon zest + parsley + mint + garlic + olive oil
Asparagus
Asparagus + egg + lettuce + lemon mayo + dukkah
Cauli
Cauliflower (roasted) + parsley + mint + currants + almonds
Slaws
Rocket slaw – Rocket + cos + shredded carrot + avo + 50:50 mayo/apple cider vinegar
Seedy slaw – Finely sliced green and red cabbage, carrot, roasted seeds (LOADS! – a mix of pumpkin, sunflower, sesame), olive oil + lemon
Zucchini
Zucchini (finley shaved) + mint + lemon zest + lemon juice + pinenuts (roasted)
Carrot
Roasted carrot w cumin + smoked paprika + lentils + feta + diced red onion + lemon juice + olive oil
Smoked fish
Smoked fish + white bean + finely diced red onion + lemon mayo
Pea
Chili + feta + peas (cooked), optional – charred zucchini + mint
Roasted cauli
Roasted cauliflower, semi-dried tomato and roasted almond (w rosemary) salad with garlic yogurt dressing (lemon, oil, S&P, garlic, tom juice oil + mint)
Roast vege
Rocket, pumpkin, halloumi, pepper, tom, walnut + lemon mayo
Everyone should know how to whip up a pav. For the sheer fact that creating a pavlova makes you feel like the most domestic goddess of all domestic goddesses. This recipe has never failed me. (But if it does, it’s nothing that can’t be hidden beneath 300g of whipped cream and piles of fruit. If things go really sideways, you’ve got yourself an Eton Mess.)
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
225 gm caster sugar (1 C) – smooth out any lumps with a spoon
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp white vinegar
½ tsp vanilla extract
250ml cream, lightly whipped
Pre-heat the oven to 120°C
Put egg whites and salt in a grease-free bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until very stiff. Note; it’s very important there is no grease on the bowl, a good way to ensure this is to ‘scorch’ it by tipping boiling water into the bowl, then drying it.
Continue beating the egg whites while adding a Tbspn of caster sugar at a time. Whisk for several minutes after it has all been added and then turn off the machine.
Sprinkle over the cornflour, vinegar, and vanilla extract. Use a large metal spoon to carefully mix ingredients together without deflating the whipped whites.
Line a baking tray with baking paper, and transfer the mixture in dollops into a rough circle of about 20cm diameter.
Bake in the oven for one hour, by which time the meringue should be crisp on top, although you may see it slightly sunken under the crisp shell (this is normal). Turn the oven off and leave pavlova in the oven for at least one hour but preferably until the oven is cool (overnight is a good idea too).
Just before serving, carefully peel away the baking paper and transfer to a serving plate. Pile on the cream and fruit.
So many special memories of eating profiteroles in Bali for (sister) Danz’s wedding. Writing wedding speeches over a quiet profiterole, with (sister) Nix, Profiterole-gate when only one profiterole was ordered to share between far too many greedy Sanders’s (and Sanders’s partners).
They’re actually pretty easy to make and I think you’d always be a popular guest if you turn up with these little beauties.
Makes about 15
100gm butter
150gm plain flour
4 eggs
100 gm dark chocolate
200 gm cream
fancy ice-cream
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.
Bring butter and 250ml water to the boil in a saucepan over high heat. Add flour, beat with a wooden spoon until combined. Remove from heat. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Spoon out into 3½ cm diameter rounds onto a baking paper-lined tray. I highly recommend baking paper for the reduction in dishes later.
Bake until golden (15 mins), remove from the oven, pierce the bases with a knife, then return to the oven to dry out (about 45 mins to 1 hour) (Oven still going). Cool on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, stir the cream and chocolate together over a very low heat until it’s smooth.
To serve, cut the pastries horizontally, scoop in a scoop of your fancy ice-cream and then drizzle the top with chocolate sauce.
This recipe is from a friend, Ben, whom we used to do an annual Tapas event with – which involved everyone creating a tapa each. Round by round, everyone served up their tapa to the group. Some very good eating went down.
This is the recipe to pull out when you want to go to town or having a glamour meal at home – everyone I’ve served it to raves about it.
Here is verbatim how I received the recipe.
Boil the potatoes. Put bucket loads of butter in your dish and melt in the oven. Slightly crush the potatoes in the dish and roll generously in the butter. Grate parmesan cheese over everything and pepper and salt.
Cook in the over for a least an hour. Consume, then die instantly of heart disease.
Whenever I felt homesick in San Francisco, I’d bake up a batch of these 🥰❤
1 C grated cheese
1 C liquid – ½ cream + ½ lemonade
2 C flour
2 heaped tsp baking powder
Salt + pepper + 1/2 tsp smoked paprika + dry mustard
Knead together lightly
Bake 12 mins @ 220C
This recipe is a classic. Whenever we went to visit Nanny, she would always have a tin of baking, and this was a staple.
You want it a bit chewy and a bit crunchy.
¼ lb butter
½ C sugar
1 dsp golden syrup
Add ¼ tsp vanilla essence
1 C rolled oats
1 C coconut
Bake at 180 c 20 mins
I have fluffed around with all sorts of hummus recipes, and this is where I’ve landed.
1 drained can of chickpeas (or drained 1/2 C soaked)
A *good* tablespoon of tahini
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt. Don’t be shy here.
1 -2 cloves garlic
The zest + juice of a lemon
Approx 1/4 cup of ice-cold water
Put this all in the whizzer until your family complains about the racket. The hummus should now be nice and creamy, like a smooth peanut butter consistency. If it’s not, add a bit more water. Ideally, you now leave it in the fridge to thicken and the flavours to merge together for 30 mins. But it’s also ready to go now if you can’t wait. Drizzle some olive oil, sesame seeds, and sumac for extra pizazz.
We had some delicious poke on our family holiday in Southern California. The whole holiday was just a really cool trip with the little team – road-trippin’ in the middle of the night from SF to LA, arriving (and surprising the kids) at Lego Land. A crazy day of rides and carpets that fart (yep) followed by a relaxing few days surfing on longboards at Dana Point beach.
Last year the highlight of hanging at the beach was the tacos and beer we ate at the beachside diner at lunchtime. Like, what holiday doesn’t need tacos and beer (and swiping more than a few of the kids’ fries) on the beach? Our own personal heaven.
But, it was not to be this year. A narrowly avoided tantrum (hint: not the kids) walked us over the road to our introduction to poke. We’ve only really had supermarket stuff before, and just hadn’t really got on the poke train. But hello, hello. A saucier, dog’s breakfast of sushi would be one way to describe it. Our new fave way to have fish would be another.
Here’s what we’ve been reconstructing at home with the kingfish we bought back frozen from New Zealand…
Brown rice – lay this down on the bottom of your bowl.
Avocado slices + seaweed salad – pop these on the side of the bowl. TJ’s 99 cent avocados mean I’m never short of an avo, and I pick up some seaweed salad at the supermarket sushi bar on the day, feeling good that I’m getting my serving of seaweed? (I’m just sure this is somehow good for me).
In a bowl put chopped spring onions, cucumber, jalapeno and coriander. And your fish. Sliced raw finely is how I prefer it rather than the usual poke chunks.
Now it’s time for sauces. Add some soy sauce (a good splosh), and some chilli mayo (I mix a ratio of 2/3 Vegenaise : 1/3 Gochujang – that’s the Korean fermented pepper paste.) Mix up all the goodness.
And the flourish…sprinkle over some sesame seeds and fukakakme (or sliced seaweed). Enjoy.
Kid’s riff. The kids aren’t so in love, so their version is like the deconstructed, battered version. Crumbed fish, rice, avo slices, cucumber slices. Still a great meal, and no extra faff for Mum. Result.
Emma Sanders-Edwards 