Black garlic chocolate mousse

If I was the sort of person who did things by the book, I’d be planting my garlic today. But after the failure of last year’s crop – I’ll never know if it was too much rain at the wrong time, the wrong sort of compost, or just bad luck – I’m a bit reluctant. Serves me right for being so smug and getting it in on time last year, I suppose. Traditional garden lore says it should be planted on the Shortest Day, but apparently it can be planted any time from May until the end of July. That’s especially useful information for people like me, who don’t fancy going out in the dark tonight to get the job done.

In the meantime, I’m indulging in some extremely moreish black garlic grown and cured in Marlborough. Black garlic, or ‘garlic noir’ as it’s sometimes called, is fermented for a month to create a kind of super garlic that has double the antioxidants of the ordinary stuff. The fermentation process also changes the texture and flavour profile – black garlic is soft and almost chewy, with a sweet and smoky flavour that reminds me of molasses or fresh dates. It’s extremely moreish and I often find I have eaten a couple of cloves while slicing it up for something else.

 The clever people who make it at Marlborough Garlic suggest using it as part of an antipasto platter, but I’ve also been adding it to vinaigrettes, or adding it as a last-minute flavour boost to risotto, as it doesn't need to be cooked. They also suggest dipping in in dark chocolate, which I was unsure about until a recent lunch at the sublime Wharekauhau Lodge where pastry chef Yannick Beaurienne devised a gorgeous black garlic chocolate mousse with kumara and pear brunoise, kumara ice cream and garlic caramel, as seen below.

Yannick's version was beautiful, elegant (and extremely labour-intensive). Here’s my much-simplified version for the home cook.

Black garlic chocolate mousse with black garlic toffee
Don’t be afraid – the black garlic just deepens and enriches the chocolate flavours. This was a huge hit in my household, to the point that there was barely any left to photograph.

For the mousse:
200g dark chocolate
2 cloves black garlic (about 8g)
400ml cream
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the black garlic toffee:
3-4 cloves black garlic, finely sliced
4 Tbsp caster sugar
20ml (4 tsp) water

A little extra cream, for drizzling

Break the chocolate into pieces and put into a heatproof bowl. Put half the cream into a small pot and heat to nearly boiling point. Pour over the chocolate and set aside for five minutes.
Mash the garlic to a paste and stir through the chocolate and cream until the mixture is smooth.
Whip the cream and vanilla to soft peaks. Fold through the cooled chocolate mixture,  then pour into a large bowl or divide between six small serving dishes (I use Great Aunt Shirley’s whisky glasses). Cover and put in the fridge to set for at least two hours.

For the toffee, spread the sliced garlic on a piece of non-stick foil or baking paper. Put the sugar and water in a small pot and set over medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar, then let it bubble away for five to 10 minutes, until it turns a dark golden colour (don’t wander off, this will happen sooner than you think!) Pour the toffee over the garlic and leave to set.

To serve, remove the mousses from the fridge at least 20 minutes before serving. Break the toffee into pieces and use to decorate each one. Drizzle a little cream over the top and serve.

Are you planting garlic this winter? Do you have any top tips for failed growers?

Lemon verbena syrup + an elegant fruit salad

Four years ago, not long after my mother died, someone I didn't know very well left a lemon verbena tree on our doorstep. I found this gesture incredibly touching and kind, not least because my parents' garden had a huge lemon verbena tree and Mum often made tea from the leaves. I'm not sure if I ever properly thanked her - but Kate, if you're reading this, I often think of that kindness when I walk past the tree.

The tree has thrived, despite my neglect, but I seldom do anything with the leaves except for the occasional cup of tea. Then, while pottering around in the kitchen a week or so ago, I made this syrup and the whole house smelled like lemon verbena. It was gorgeous.

If you've got a lemon verbena tree, make this syrup now to get a dose of that intense lemony sherbet flavour in the depths of winter (or scent your house with it in summer). You can use it in drinks (nice with soda, or with very cold vodka as a kind of martini-ish number), or pour it over vanilla ice cream, or use it in this simple and elegant fruit salad (recipe follows). I'm thinking a lemon verbena sorbet could be next...

Lemon Verbena Syrup

1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 packed cup lemon verbena leaves

Put the water and sugar in a small pot and set over medium heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then lower the heat and add the lemon verbena. Let bubble gently for five minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.
When the syrup has cooled completely, strain it through a fine sieve into a sterilised bottle or jar. Discard the lemon verbena leaves or use them as a garnish (they will be almost candied). Makes about 1/2 cup.

Simple fruit salad with lemon verbena syrup
2 white-flesh peaches
2 apricots
2 dark-fleshed plums
1 1/2 cups blueberries (or boysenberries)
1/4 cup lemon verbena syrup

Cut all the stonefruit into slim wedges - about eight slices - and put in a bowl. Pour over the syrup and stir gently, then add the berries. This can be done in advance, but I think it's nicest at room temperature rather than fridge-cold. Serves 4-6.

Be my guest: Homegrown Kitchen

It takes a special sort of person to make chocolate and chickpeas sound like natural partners. Nicola Galloway - chef, author, gardener, mother and general all-round good egg - is that person.

Nicola's lovely blog, Homegrown Kitchen, has just turned two. Here's how - and why - she manages to fit writing it into a very full life.

What's Homegrown Kitchen about?
Seasonal & wholesome recipes and the occasional homemade craft. I think the word 'homegrown' encompasses many things, partly it is about cooking with food we grow in our garden, but it is also about keeping things simple, eating local where possible, making food from scratch, getting back to the basics.

When did you start it? Why?
Almost exactly two years ago. I already had a website with recipes from my cookbook, Feeding Little Tummies, and other seasonal recipes but it didn't have much energy or rhythm to it. I was wondering how to make it more interactive and around the same time was introduced to food blogging. It was quite a new thing in New Zealand at the time and it has taken a while for people to catch on. However, I really like the interaction and regularity blogging adds to my week and my writing and photography skills have improved immensely.

What's your day job? What else do you do?
I am a food writer for several magazines, and author, and I run cooking workshops in Nelson and around New Zealand. I am also a Mum to two young children so most days I am juggling work and family life.

30-minute pad thai (photo: Nicola Galloway/Homegrown Kitchen)

Do you have any culinary training or professional experience?
I am a trained chef [dip, professional cookery 1999]. I travelled and worked as a chef for about five years before changing direction into food writing and running cooking workshops.

Who's your food hero?
My Nana taught me to cook and will always be my no.1 food hero. I also love Nigel Slater's rustic cooking style, and Sandor Elli Katz and Sally Fallon give me regular inspiration from their exceptionally researched and thorough cookbooks.

Describe your kitchen in three words.
Rustic, wooden, the heart of our home.

Salted caramel coconut flan (Photo: Nicola Galloway/Homegrown Kitchen)

Who do you cook for? 
My family of four (husband and two young children) and anyone who visits, there is always food going on around here. As I said, our kitchen is the heart of our home, it is a large open plan kitchen / dining room that spills out into a sunny conservatory. I am often recipe testing and have extra food that needs to be eaten if friends drop around.

Masterchef and TV food shows - hot or not?
Not for me, I don't have a lot of spare time to watch TV. But if they increase the interest of home cooking it has to be a good thing for those who do watch them.

What's the last cookbook you bought?
The Unbakery Cookbook by Megan May - absolutely brilliant if you want to learn more about raw food.

Cauliflower crust pizza (Photo: Nicola Galloway)

What has been the best meal you've ever eaten?
Oh gosh that is a hard one... let me think. We had some pretty memorable meals on our trip to Cuba last year. I remember one cooked by 'the Aunties' - my Mum is married to a Cuban and lives in Havana - it was very simple, beans and rice with a special goat curry [although not spicy], and large platter of the creamiest avocados I have ever eaten dressed with lime and olive oil.

What are your three favourite posts on your blog?
Of course just talking about Cuba one of them would have to be from our trip - Salted Caramel Coconut Flan, also 30-Minute Pad Thai + Behind the Scenes and Yogurt & Honey Panna Cotta w/ Roasted Strawberries.

Tell us about another blog you love.
My Darling Lemon Thyme by Emma Galloway - one of the first food blogs I started reading. I am asked often if we are related and recently found out we are distant cousins but have never met (yet!)

Roasted strawberries with yoghurt and honey panna cotta (Photo: Nicola Galloway)

What's for dinner tonight?
Lentil dahl with yogurt sesame flatbreads - I learned the recipe from a Pakistani woman about 12 years ago and it is still my favourite dahl recipe. I must share it on the blog one day.

Would you like to be my guest? Drop me a line...

Five easy spring meals

It's spring! Proper spring - with balmy temperatures, early rising birds and new buds appearing in the garden. Well, it was like that a few days ago. Now we're back to tempestuous winds, lashing rain and that horrible greyness, but I've got high hopes.

It's too soon for asparagus and the little lambs arriving in paddocks near you are too small for the cooking pot, but there are lots of other spring-y things to eat. Here are five easy spring dinners to add to your repertoire...

1. Superfood Salad: It's got quinoa, broccoli and other spring-y, crunchy things to make you feel like frolicking in the sun. What more do you need?

2. Tray-baked Lamb and Potatoes: This is really good for those 'I can't think what to have for dinner' evenings, which occur in our house at least once a week. Everything goes in the oven in one dish and there's minimal cleaning up (even the non-cooks can make this one).

3. Spring Cauliflower Soup: Cauliflower has had a bit of a renaissance of late, thanks to the craze for turning it into a pizza crust, but I think it's unbeatable in this simple and healthy cauliflower soup.

4. Simple Smoked Fish And Rice: This is another one-pot wonder, handy when you've been out in the garden tackling six months' worth of weeding.

5. Little lamb burgers: If you're blessed with a beautiful spring day, cook these outside on your (long-neglected) barbecue. If it's 'sit inside by the heater weather', they can be baked or pan-fried indoors.

What are your plans for this spring? 

Good Things: March 2014

It is inky-dark outside and the hail is lashing the windows. It's not late, but it feels like the middle of the night. Suddenly, a quarter of 2014 has disappeared already. I feel like it won't be long before I'm panicking about the approach of Christmas. Is this happening to you too?

If you feel stressed by the pace of life, then you need to sit down with a calming cup of camomile tea. In fact, you need to sit in the sun for an hour and harvest some camomile for best results. This is a very relaxing task, even if you spend it in the company of a child who thinks it gives her carte blanche to decapitate every flower in the garden.

Then (if you're me) you need to come inside and admire your lovely new Owen Bartlett bowl. Isn't it lovely?

I found it at the Martinborough Fair, along with a vintage duvet and various other gems. It was a biting cold day and I had an appalling head cold, which was improved greatly by a hot cup of this cider vinegar and honey concoction (nicer than it sounds) and a steaming plate of masala dosa, eaten sitting in the gutter outside a pub (also nicer than it sounds).

When I wasn't in the garden, snipping at camomile or treasure hunting, I spent a lot of time with my nose in a series of books. One was The Luminaries, the other was Fuchsia Dunlop's Every Grain Of Rice, which is a no-less brilliant exploration of Chinese home cooking. It's not particularly new, but it's brilliant. The day I carried it home from the library I made this very elegant spinach in a soy-ginger sauce and made a mental note of about 20 other recipes (including chao fan, a sort of fried rice that was my number one favourite when I was a child). I'm dreading having to return it to the library.

I've also spent a lot of time eagerly awaiting Emma Galloway's first book - My Darling Lemon Thyme: Recipes From My Real Food Kitchen - which is officially released on April 1 (no joke!). I've been a fan of Emma's for ages and her book is completely gorgeous. All but a tiny handful of the recipes are brand-new (so I still have to keep that bookmark to her excellent sushi instructions) and they look amazing. A lot of so-called 'wholesome' cookbooks (and food, for that matter) are so preachy and disconnected from real life - this one is totally on the money. Even if you don't have food intolerance issues, you should get this book, it's a game-changer.

I must have achieved other things this month, but I can't recall them for the life of me. But a little gardening, a little cooking and a lot of reading isn't a bad way to pass the time, is it?
What have you been up to?

Good things: February 2014

Ice creams. Fish and chips. Sand castles. Sand in everything. February has turned out to be the month that January should have been. And boy, am I glad about it.

Very early readers of this blog might recall the summer holiday we took three (THREE!) years ago. We had such rose-tinted memories of that stay (despite the fact that it rained a lot) that we went back for a few days at the beginning of the month.

We shopped at New Zealand's best Farmer's Market, ate New Zealand's best fish and chips, went for swims and made a lot of sandcastles. It was a proper, old-fashioned summer holiday.

Even better, my sister came to stay and brought with her a shiny new ice cream machine and a batch of this ice cream. I've thought about it often ever since.

Back home, we harvested our own tomatoes, which have thrived despite inclement weather and neglect. I listened to this completely charming interview with Wellington's best French patissier and made a mental note to visit his little shop more often.

The pantry is in - and filled - but I've decided to wait for the big reveal until the painters have finished, because the rest of the kitchen is such a tip I can't bear to show it. I'm sure you can wait a little longer.
In the meantime I have more cupboards to clean, more dust to vacuum, and an urgent appointment with a glass of wine in my garden while the cicadas chorus around me.

What have you been up to this month?

Good things - January 2014

I'm not sure how it happened, but someone has stolen my January. I can't believe the first month of 2014 has disappeared so fast. This afternoon, as I rushed to the hardware store to buy window hinges (don't ask), I tried to recall what we have done and drew a complete blank.

From looking at my diary I can work out there was one bout of tonsilitis, 10 flights up and down the country and one funeral. I have met approximately a dozen tradesmen, one of whom I have seen more of in the last two weeks than my husband. In fact, one of the other tradies thought he WAS my husband. I have spent more time in hardware stores than I have in food shops. I've only read two books (this one and this one) and become hooked on this show. I have worried about paint and carpet and too many other things to mention.

It is mid-summer and I have still not eaten an ice cream.

But I have become absolutely addicted to this insanely good and easy to make miso caramel sauce, which goes with absolutely everything.

I loved listening to this podcast with Colonel Chris Hadfield about eating in space. Surely he must be a contender for Person Of The Year?



I have made quite a few things from this book, aided by vegetables I've been growing in my own garden (please note high levels of SPF - Smug Person Factor - in that statement).

And I was utterly transfixed by this video - though I can see the point in this argument against it (it's still mesmerising though, don't you think?



So maybe January wasn't all bad after all. What have you been up to?

Treat me: Rhubarb Coconut Fool

They say there's no fool like an old fool - but in this case, they're wrong. Because this new too cool for school fool is something else. I'd planned to make a classic rhubarb fool with the first stalks I'd harvested from my garden, but didn't feel like ordinary cream and Greek yoghurt seemed too tart. Then I remembered this coconut cream ice cream and a new plan was born...

Rhubarb Coconut Fool
The hype over coconut water and coconut oil drives me to distraction, but I am a bit of a sucker for coconut cream. Here it's chilled and whipped into fluffy clouds before being folded though honey-sweetened rhubarb for a new take on the classic fool. If you've got a dairy-free diner coming for dinner, this is what you should make them for pudding. It's also a sumptuous breakfast, whether you're dairy-free or not. The rhubarb can be made well in advance and kept, covered, in the fridge
One tip: Make sure you buy coconut cream rather than coconut milk (in New Zealand, the Samoan brand Fia Fia is good) and remember to chill it thoroughly by leaving it in the fridge for at least five hours before you whip it. Longer doesn't hurt.

400g rhubarb, washed, trimmed and cut into 2.5cm pieces
1 generous tablespoon of honey
2 tablespoons water
1 400ml can of coconut cream, well chilled
more honey, to taste
toasted nuts - hazelnuts, almonds - to sprinkle on top

Put the rhubarb, tablespoon of honey and water in a small saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until the rhubarb is soft but still holds its shape. Scrape into a bowl and let cool before covering and putting in the fridge.
Open the coconut cream and scoop out the thick, almost solid material from the tin (if you've got good coconut cream, this will be nearly all of it). Put into a bowl, add a teaspoon or two of honey and beat until fluffy with electric beaters (or rotary beaters and a lot of muscle).
To serve, put a dollop of coconut cream and a scoop of rhubarb in each bowl. Either leave as is, in a yin and yang sort of style, or gently stir through to get a marbled effect. Some chopped, toasted nuts on the top are good for crunch. Serves four, with leftovers for breakfast.

Because the rhubarb came from my own garden - and was grown from a cutting donated from a garden three streets away - and you can't get much more local than that, I think it's a good fit for Shop Local - a blogging event run by the lovely Elizabeth of Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. Even if you're not into shopping
(or growing) local, you should check out her lovely blog header.

Have a great weekend, everyone! x

Kitchen DIY: Homemade capers

Do you want your neighbours to think you have gone mad? Here's how.

1. Venture out to the council-managed garden areas (that is to say, those that are overgrown with weeds) on your street, preferably while wearing your gardening hat, gumboots and various other items of misshapen, mismatching clothing.

2. For best results, do this when your neighbours are walking up the street, preferably with their most glamorous friends and perfectly behaved children, in their best clothes.

3. Climb into one of the gardens and start pinching off nasturtium buds and flowers, putting them in the small bowl you have brought with you for this purpose.

4. Wave cheerily as the neighbours pass by. Tell them, when they enquire as to what you are doing, that you are picking the nasturtium buds to make into homemade capers and the flowers are going in tonight's salad. Watch as the smiles become a bit more fixed and the stares become more glassy.

5. Scramble out of the garden and go to your house, while the net curtains across the street twitch frantically.

Well, that's not completely accurate - our neighbours are all lovely and very few of them have net curtains. Actually, only the really weird ones have net curtains and we think it's because they are Up To No Good In There. I do feel a bit of a dork to be sprung essentially harvesting weeds in front of them, but they should be used to it by now. In any case, I love nasturtiums and a bit of embarrassment is worth it.

Pickled Nasturtium Buds - aka Homemade Capers
Nasturtium flowers are great in salads and the leaves add a peppery bite to cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches - just pick the smaller ones as the big ones are really fiery. When the flowers have wilted (or been picked by someone like me), pick the little brain-like growths at the base of the flowers and use them in this homegrown version of capers.

At least 1/2 a cup of nasturtium buds, washed and dried
250ml rice wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 clove garlic
10 peppercorns

Put the vinegar, salt, garlic and peppercorns into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for two minutes, then remove from the heat and let cool. Pour into a small sterilised jar, then add the nasturtium buds. Put a lid on the jar and leave for a couple of weeks in a cool place. The buds will be ready to eat when they have sunk to the bottom of the jar. You can keep adding new buds to the liquid.

Are you a forager? What's your best tip?

Five food goals for 2014

While we farewelled 2013 in the style to which we have become accustomed, (lots of champagne, whitebait fritters, lamb stuffed with cherries, goats cheese and cherries, Nigella's chocolate truffle cake, a huge slab of panforte and an incredibly tangy cheese called 'Sea Breeze'), I spent the first week of 2014 with a nasty bout of tonsillitis and a vast supply of drugs.

Before that happened, I thought I was going to spring into the new year with all manner of new plans and schemes, not to mention a gleaming clean kitchen and freshly weeded vegetable garden. Instead, I have developed an addiction to Breaking Bad and a fondness for lying down after meals, neither of which are conducive to returning to work this week or achieving much at all at home. In a bid to shake off this inertia, I've turned my mind instead to my food-related goals for this year (I just have to get off the sofa to start achieving them). As nice as it is, we can't live on wine, cheese and olives all year....

1. Eat more: By which I mean, eat a more diverse range of foods. I hate those depressing statistics that claim most people only have five or 10 dishes in their repertoire, but they do reflect a sorry truth. It takes work to stop from falling into the same old routine every night, but it's so worth it. Why else do I have so many bookmarked recipes and folders of torn-out magazine supplements?

2. Grow more: No, not in a Gwyneth Paltrow sense, but grow more of what we eat. In in my dream life this would include chickens, but for the sake of my marriage, my sanity and continued good relations with our neighbours, I'm going to stick to flora rather than fauna. I figure that since we have this massive garden, we may as well use it to its full potential. New crops underway for 2014 include cucumbers, kale, pears, feijoas, cranberries and currants, not to mention an as-yet unidentified curcubit currently colonising the wildflower meadow we planted in a nondescript bit of lawn in late spring. I'm particularly inspired by Julie and her amazing garden - and Sue's little city garden - and hope to harness a bit of family muscle in the coming months (Jenny, Goff, are you reading this?)

3. Learn more. In 2013 I conquered doughnuts, cronuts and puff pastry (at least this version). I'm yet to decide on my tasks for this year, but I'd like dumpling making to be among them. What else shall I tackle?

4. Read more: It's just occurred to me that I didn't get any new cookbooks for Christmas - unless you count the excellent Mastering The Art Of Soviet Cooking by Anya von Bremzen. Obviously I need to take steps to remedy this (even if via my excellent local library), though I should probably undertake a strict audit of my existing collection first.

5. Be more organised: The arrival of our much-awaited new pantry later this month will play a key part in this, or at least I hope it will. I have a secret fear that even with the new pantry, I will discover that I am really a slatternly housekeeper and that's the real reason for the disarray in my cupboards (not to mention the rest of my life) Oh well. Worse things happen at sea. Being more organised is a key part in another little project I have planned for this year, but I'll share more on that when it's underway.

What are your foodie goals for 2014?

Treat me: Mega muesli bars

On Wednesday night, mindful of the fact that we had a crack team coming to cut down trees and generally sort out the horror of the path to our house, I thought I should make them something for morning tea. I thought some muesli bars would do it, something they could eat in between swinging axes and chainsaws.
I merrily tipped some rice bubbles into a bowl and turned around to find a spoon. When I turned back, there was something crawling out of the bowl.
Now, I know these people are not scared of creepy crawlies, but this was surely a bridge too far. I tipped the lot into the bin and wondered if they did cleanups of pantries as well.
After a cup of tea and a sit down, I conducted a thorough clean/search and destroy mission and gathered all the safe ingredients on the bench. Then I conducted a thorough search of the internet until I found something that I could use them in. When that didn't work I adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I bet Deb never has mysterious crawling things in her cupboards.

Mega muesli bars
These are big, thick, chewy slabs of nutritious deliciousness, filled with lots of good things and not too sweet. If you don't have coconut oil, try another neutral oil or - gasp! - butter. Mix and match the nuts, seeds and fruit to suit your (clean, ordered) pantry too.

100g coconut oil
6 Tbsp honey
80ml (1/3 cup) tahini
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup whole oats
1/2 cup oatmeal (if you can't find oatmeal, whizz 1/2 cup rolled oats in a food processor until fine)
 cups quick rolled oats
a good pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup linseeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup roasted almonds, roughly chopped
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Heat the oven to 175C and line a brownie pan with baking paper, leaving enough to overhang the tin.
Put the coconut oil, tahini and honey in a small saucepan and heat gently until the oil and honey have melted. Stir well and set aside.
Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir well, then pour in the oil mixture and stir until everything is well combined. Press into the prepared tin, smoothing the top with a spatula, then bake for 35 minutes, until golden.
Let cool completely before cutting into bars. If it seems very crumbly, put the tin in the fridge for an hour or so before cutting. If there are lots of crumbs, gather them up and sprinkle them on your yoghurt tomorrow morning.

Have a great weekend everyone x

What price do you put on good food?

I've spent a bit of my work time this week discussing the merits of budget beauty products versus expensive ones (I know, I get paid to think deep thoughts about this stuff. Crazy, huh?)

There's one school of thought that claims expensive products are a complete con - at best, a rip-off, at worst, nothing more than snake oil. Then there are those that see the budget brands as even worse, because they'll ruin your precious skin.

Personally, I have a foot in both camps - except for when you're talking about posh scented candles, which have to be the most ridiculous thing ever invented. I mean, why don't you just burn the money and be done with it?

I think there are parallels with how people view spending on food. Of course, in both cases economics have a lot to do with it, but it's also a matter of priorities.

During our holiday I fulfilled a long-held ambition to go to Ottolenghi. The Small Girl and I shared this lunch box, which - along with a small bag of meringues, two exquisite cheese straws and a bottle of water - cost nearly 25 quid (about NZ$55). I nearly died! It was delicious, but crumbs, we couldn't do that every day. Or even every week. Could you?

In our household, we spend a lot of our income on food, both because we are in a position to do so and because we choose to. Other people spend money on - well, what do they spend it on? Scented candles? Fancy cars? - we spend it on feeding ourselves and our friends.

I do most of the food shopping, which in a week might include a weekly trip to a cheap supermarket and sometimes a posh one, plus the weekend vegetable market. I prioritise buying good (that is, organic and free range) eggs and meat where I can. I grow most of our salad vegetables, even though I am rubbish at gardening. I still make most of our bread, yoghurt and muesli, partly for financial reasons but mostly because I like doing it. Some weeks I feel like I spend a lot of money, some weeks I don't.

We don't eat TV dinners and rarely have takeaways, unless it's the occasional pizza with our neighbours. It's not like we are having foie gras and champagne suppers every night - I write this having made crunchy omelets for dinner with eggs donated from a friend's hens - but I know we are lucky. We are a small family and we don't have to choose between paying the power bill and eating.

I know people in reasonably straitened circumstances who put a lot of emphasis on eating well, just like I know some well-off people who couldn't care less what they eat.  #Firstworldproblems, you might say. But then, as the storm over Jamie Oliver's new book has shown, food poverty is everyone's problem.

What I want to know is, what do you prioritise in your household when it comes to food shopping? Do you spend more on eating out or eating in? Do you angst over organic vs ordinary veges, or do you grow your own? What would you spend more on if money was no object? What would you spend more time making if time was no object?

Spinach and garlic hummus

On Friday a master gardener is coming to visit. I have asked her not to be shocked and horrified by the state of my garden, but I've since realised that I am constantly shocked and horrified by it, so it's unfair to expect her not to be. At least the landslide in the back garden is a talking point; the less said about the neglected state of what we call 'the allotment' the better. But, as I discovered in the weekend, there are things growing down there where the wild things are. I have terraces of parsley, proud rows of rainbow chard and a transplanted bay tree (which would not have survived the slip if it hadn't been moved). But before I discovered these things I found a big bag of baby spinach in the fridge that needed to be used before I could harvest our greens in good conscience. This is what I did with it.

Spinach and garlic hummus
If your children - or other members of your household - are resistant to eating their greens, this may convert them. If it doesn't, then there's all the more for you. I ended up throwing in some parsley, because we have it in such abundance at the moment we could start selling it at the market. Actually, there's an idea...

2 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
7-8 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
a pinch of chilli flakes (optional)
1 tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
100g baby spinach (most of one of those bags you get from the supermarket)
salt and pepper
a couple of juicy lemons
a couple of handfuls of fresh parsley, roughly chopped

Put two tablespoons of the olive oil in a high-sided frying pan and place it over medium heat. Add the garlic and saute until just beginning to turn golden. Tip in the chilli flakes, the spinach and the chickpeas and saute for a couple of minutes, until the spinach wilts and the chickpeas colour slightly. Transfer the mixture to a food processor, along with the juice of one lemon, five tablespoons of olive oil, a good pinch of salt, some black pepper and the parsley. Whiz, stopping to scrape down the sides of the processor as necessary. Taste and add more oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper if needed. Scrape into a bowl and drizzle with oil before serving. Store any leftover in the fridge, well covered, for a couple of days.

Throwing in the parsley also means this hummus makes the cut for Lavender and Lovage's Cooking With Herbs challenge (you can read more about that here). If your garden is looking a little bare and you need any encouragement to get out in it, watch this. I can't wait to see it.

Tomatoes fit for Simon Gault

Yesterday afternoon I hung out with chef and Masterchef NZ judge Simon Gault. Yep, it was just me and him. And his publicist. And a sound guy. And, oh, about 85 other people who had queued up to listen to him talk. Of course, it was work for him - he's on a tour spruiking his new book - and it was work for me (I guess I was helping him spruik his new book) but it was really good fun.

If you think I'm being a terrible namedropper by throwing his name into conversation, you should have heard him. He's swum with some pretty big culinary fish and made some big cheese connections as a result. And he has some incredible stories to tell about all of them. He reckons he's not into celebrity chef culture but he's definitely got a tell-all book in him. Or at least a film.

But my favourite bit was when he was talking about tomatoes, and bemoaning the horrible ones on sale in supermarkets. It was all I could do not to go up to him afterwards and say, 'check out my tomatoes'. But I can say that to you, can't I?

This is yesterday's harvest: nine fleshy heirloom tomatoes, two rather stunted ears of sweetcorn and one juicy strawberry. I planted the tomatoes in November - which is pretty late - but our endless summer has been kind to them. It's supposed to rain hard today (with water restrictions looming we are all keeping our fingers crossed) so I thought I better pick them just in case. We ate most of them last night, fried in olive oil and drizzled with red wine vinegar. Tomato heaven.

How is your garden growing at the moment?

Chocolate for your garden

In the week before Christmas I realised I had become hugely dependent on chocolate. Like an alcoholic who needs to keep topped up throughout the day to stay functioning, I was at the point where I was reaching for the 72 % proof almost as soon as I got out of bed (and I was getting up seriously early). So on Christmas Eve I gave myself a stern talking-to and since then, apart from accidentally eating a choc-dipped ice cream, I've been chocolate-free.

For the most part it's been extremely easy and it wasn't until I was watering the garden last night that I realised why. Just before Christmas we spread sackfuls of cocoa bean husks over large sections of our garden and for most of the ensuing month it has smelled like Willy Wonka's place.

The cocoa mulch was the idea of this clever gardener and it comes from the Whittaker's chocolate factory 20 minutes away (though we buy it from here, if you are keen to get some). As well as smelling amazing - for a while everyone who walked up our path arrived at the house expecting some sort of chocolate extravaganza) - it's very good nutrition for the soil and it's good for the gardener because it suppresses weeds. You can use the sacks it comes in as weed mat too! The fact that it totally nullifies any desire on the part of the gardener to eat chocolate for breakfast has been an unexpected bonus.

Have you been doing anything creative with chocolate this month? This month's We Should Cocoa is all about using chocolate in recipes that don't contain any cane sugar - I'm looking forward to see what people have come up with. In the meantime I'm going to content myself with deep sniffs of the chocolate in my garden (and making miniature wine glasses from the chocolate wrappers discarded by everyone else in my house).

Treat me: Date and lemon cake

We have a little lemon tree

Nothing does it bear

Not a silver nutmeg, nor a golden pear

Our lovely neighbour Jacqui came to visit me

And said, if you want some of our lemons, do feel free!

Our neighbours have the most fantastic lemon tree across the fence and they are very generous with its fruit, which is just as well because our tiny specimen is taking a while to get going. I'm hoping we'll be able to reciprocate in due course. In the meantime, I'm planning to make them a cake that uses every last bit of the lemon except the pips.

Date and lemon cake
When we were going through my mother's recipes this was the one I was most desperate to find. During my 'between food processors' phase I developed a terrible craving for this cake, because it's really hard to make without one. It's not impossible, but it's much easier with Mr Magimix or whoever doing the heavy lifting.
There's a chance this could be an Elisabeth Pedersen recipe, based on the newspaper font and age of the clipping, but in Mum's book it's just called 'Mary's Date and Lemon Cake'. Mary, wherever you are, I salute you. I've also rewritten your recipe to make it easier to follow and I'm making this my entry in January's citrus-themed Tea Time Treats, a bit o' blogging fun organised by Kate of What Kate Baked and Karen of Lavender and Lovage.

1 lemon, quartered, pips removed
1 cup dates, roughly chopped
100g soft butter
100g caster sugar
75g brown sugar
2 eggs
200g plain flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup sour cream

Heat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 24cm tin.
Put the dates and lemon in a food processor and whizz until they form a finely chopped mushy mass. Warning: this will be noisy. Scrape into a bowl and set aside.
Sift the flour and baking soda together and set aside.
Put the butter and sugars into the processor and whizz until light and fluffy. With the motor running, crack an egg through the feed tube and whizz until well combined. Stop the machine, scrape down the sides, and repeat the procedure with the second egg. Add the sour cream in the same way, then add the date and lemon mixture. Lastly, add the sifted flour and baking soda and pulse until mixed.
Scrape the batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 35 minutes, until a skewer plunged into the middle comes out clean. Let it sit in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on a rack to cook. Ice with Lemon Sour Cream Icing (recipe follows).

Lemon sour cream icing
This is absolutely addictive. I've scaled back the original amount, but this is still enough for a generous coating (which is to say, you can eat a few spoonfuls and the cake won't suffer).

2 Tbsp soft butter
1 2/3 cups icing sugar
2 Tbsp sour cream
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp lemon juice (or more, according to taste)

Put all icing ingredients in the (rinsed out) processor and whizz until smooth and fluffy.

Have a great weekend, everyone x

A berry good day

Yesterday was brilliant. The sun came out, the gala was a huge hit (not least because I came home with empty tins, a pair of Zambesi trousers and some heirloom tomato plants),  and we had barbecued Murellen pork chops a la Bill Granger for dinner. Even better, the first of our strawberries were ripe enough to pick...

 

It's hard to say who was more excited about this, me or the owner of the little hand in the photo. Slightly shamefully though I must admit that they don't taste as good as the ones I bought last week. I might have to try the trick an old workmate once told me about, whereupon you line a bowl with cabbage leaves and put the strawberries in it for 30 minutes. Some chemical reaction apparently makes them taste sweeter. I'll be sure to give it a go when the next berries are ripe.

 

How was your weekend?

The 24-carrot weekend

It has been a long weekend here thanks to Labour Day today - in which we are supposed to have the day off in honour of our forebears who fought for the eight-hour working day. Instead we worked our iPad-tapping fingers to the bone outside.

In between various other achievements over the weekend we dug out hundreds of flax roots, ripped up metres of weed mat, rehomed the ailing lemon tree, dug in compost and scattered coffee sacks of mulch. Then I planted eight sweetcorn seedlings, six strawberry bushes (I know, I should have planted them weeks ago), one patty pan squash and one unidentified curcubit - my little helper took the label off the punnet and I'm not sure if it's a cucumber or watermelon. There's a lot more planting to be done but I ran out of steam (and Zoodoo).
Oh and the Boy Wonder harvested 24 carrots planted by our house's former owners, a little bonus that wasn't in the real estate advert. We're going to roast them with cumin seeds and garlic, though the carrot in the far right of the picture above looks like it is ready to get up and run away before that happens.

How did you spend Labour Day? And how is your spring/autumn garden looking?

Treat me: Golden Kiwi Cake

If you think you've had a bad week, spare a thought for New Zealand's kiwifruit growers. A bacterial disease is slowly, insidiously, infecting crops across the country like something out of a horror movie. Every week at the supermarket I think about those growers and how devastating it must be to discover your livelihood is at risk. Then I put a lot of kiwifruit into the trolley. It's the least I can do.

Golden Kiwi Cake
I've used golden kiwifruit in this upside down cake because the green variety go a bit khaki when cooked. The mellow flavour of the golden ones are also more suited to cooking, I think, so save the green ones for eating from the shell like a boiled egg.

8 golden kiwifruit, peeled and sliced into 1cm rounds
2 Tbsp butter, melted
2 Tbsp brown sugar
150g soft butter
250g caster sugar
3 eggs
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
100g ground almonds
150g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Heat the oven to 170C. Grease and line a 23cm cake tin - I used a ring tin, but a round tin is fine. If you're using a springform tin, be sure to have a lined tray underneath it in case anything leaks out.
Pour the melted butter into the prepared tin and sprinkle over the brown sugar, then cover with a single layer of sliced kiwifruit. Set aside.
Beat the butter and caster sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the lemon zest. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the ground almonds, then sift over the flour and baking powder. Stir to mix. Pour half of the mixture into the tin, then cover with another layer of kiwifruit. Carefully spread the remainder of the mixture on top.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cake springs back when pressed and a skewer comes out cleanly when plunged into the cake. Let cool for five minutes, then carefully turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

Have a good weekend, everyone x

Be My Guest: My Darling Lemon Thyme

New Zealanders will be familiar with Australians claiming some of our most successful compatriots as their own. They've done it with Neil Finn, with Russell Crowe (actually, they can keep him) and they're even trying it on with today's guest, Emma Galloway of My Darling Lemon Thyme. Well, hands off, cobbers, she's ours.

What's your blog about?
Healthy gluten-free and mostly lactose-free vegetarian eating.

When did you start it? Why?
I first pushed publish on my daughters 4th birthday, July 2010. To begin with it started out as a place for me to share recipes that I had come up with since becoming gluten and lactose-free. I've always wanted to write a cookbook too, so thought it would be a great way for me to practice recipe writing as well as getting my name out there in the food world. Nowadays it's more like a visual diary of my life, filled with recipes, stories, photos and vege gardening tips.

Vegetarian sushi Image: Emma Galloway

Do you have any culinary training or professional experience?
Yes. I started working in the kitchen when I was 16 years old at one of the very first cafes in Raglan, back when cafes were a new thing in New Zealand (god that makes me feel old!). I worked weekends and full-time over the holidays and loved every second of it. After completing year 13 I went on to train professionally as a chef and then spent the next seven years working in the industry, mostly in the pastry section, flitting between NZ and Australia before leaving the kitchen to start a family six years ago.

Who's your food hero?
Jamie Oliver, hands down. What that guy has done for this world in terms of inspiring people through food is unmatchable. I also have to mention Heidi Swanson as it was her book Supernatural Cooking and her blog, 101cookbooks, that inspired me to start my own blog. She has single-handedly made vegetarian food cool.

Creamy coconut rice pudding with date compote Image: Emma Galloway

Masterchef and TV food shows - hot or not?
Both. I think anything that encourages people to get out there and cook real food is a good thing. But it makes me jealous when the winner of MasterChef gets a cookbook deal at the end of it without even really knowing that much about food!

What are your three favourite posts on your blog?
I'm a major perfectionist so as much as I love loads of the first recipes I shared, it's the newer posts with my improved photography skills that I am most proud of. My gluten + dairy-free Mexican chocolate almond cookies, creamy coconut rice pudding with date compote and my sushi post where I shared every tip I've ever learnt about making Maki rolls are a few of my most favourite posts.

Gluten and dairy-free Mexican chocolate cookies Image: Emma Galloway

Tell us about another blog you love.
I read a LOT of food blogs. But there are only a handful of blogs that I read every new post of. Amazing photography gets me every time and it's the photos as much as the recipe itself that draws me in and has me coming back for more.
101cookbooks always inspires and I don't think there is a post I haven't read in the nearly three years that I have been following. Heidi's food style is very similar to mine, but it's her photos and sense of design that leave me gob-smacked. Wholepromise delivers stunning photographs and healthy food that makes me really hungry. And Green Kitchen Stories has the most amazing photos and a story that I can wholeheartedly relate to.

What's for dinner tonight?
Gluten-free spaghetti with homemade lentil tomato sauce and winter slaw. I've been making this nearly every week since I left home, one of my mama's famous recipes.

Lentil tomato sauce Image: Emma Galloway

What's your day job? What else do you do?
I'm a full-time stay at home mum to my two kiddies. My youngest started kindy a few days a week this year. Next year he's at school, so I suppose if I can't get a book deal by then I'll be on the hunt for a job! What kind? I have no idea. Being a chef is not the easiest job to fit around kids...

Who do you cook for?
My hubby works away for two weeks at a time, then home for one. So mostly I just cook for the kids and myself. We eat very simply when he's away and strictly vegetarian, but when he's home I bake a lot more often and cook chicken and seafood for him and the kids. While I eat eggs and rice :-/