If travelling overseas restores your mind and body, it also reminds you of the quality of our produce and the passion, creativity and skill of our food producers, chefs and writers.
Last month at the Eat New Zealand Symposium (part of the programme during Wellington on a Plate), we heard from some of our best local food thinkers as well as Ben Shewry, our most famous cooking New Zealander and owner/chef of Attica restaurant in Melbourne, number 32 in the World’s Top 100 Restaurants.
In their words “Eat New Zealand” is all about creating a strong community around food: what we grow, what we know, what we eat, and what we create or plate, to push ourselves to the next level.
To take our food to the world — New Zealand as a food destination. Restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times, Jonathan Gold, was also on the programme. I met Jonathan a few days earlier, at a showing of City of Gold, a film that follows Jonathan as he explores the culinary culture of Los Angeles. A deep thinker, Jonathan is famed for championing small restaurants in little communities and his no-froufrou writing, which I find refreshing.
Sponge cake with dried apricot puree, whipped cream and edible flowers
A successful sponge is all about the folding in of the dry ingredients and melted butter. After you have beaten as much air as possible into your egg and sugar mixture, gently and carefully fold in the dry ingredients, trying to keep as much air in the mixture as possible. Get the recipe
Beef thin skirt with black garlic butter, warm lentils and roasted cauliflower
Skirt steak needs cooking quickly over high heat or slowly for two to three hours. There is no in-between. Skirt steak has a wonderful mineral flavour that is deeply satisfying. A nice touch is to chargrill two lemon halves to serve on the side of this dish. Get the recipe
Our chopped salad
According to legend, chopped salad originated from a customer at the Beverly Hills institution, La Scala, requesting that his salad, a blend of iceberg lettuce, salami, mozzarella and marinated chickpeas be chopped into bite-sized bits to make it less messy to eat.
I have taken a simple idea from the salad town, Los Angeles, and made one using some of our locally grown and produced ingredients. Get the recipe
