This week's Bite is brought to you by the number two. The magazine is two-years old and we're celebrating with two cakes. This chocolate pop smash cake is designed for younger readers who I am obviously a little out of touch with because I had to stop Geoff Scott, as he was telling me how his cakes would come together, and ask what a smash cake is. I had never heard of these cakes you smash into to get the treats inside. His originals were a little more refined with a thin chocolate shell (like a giant hollow Easter egg but this recipe using Coco Pops for the shell is way more forgiving. Any two-year-old would be delighted with this version, it certainly brought delight to the 40-pluses in Jo's kitchen on the day of the shoot as did his elegant Neapolitan layer cake.
To drink, we've got a rather boozy version of sparkling duet, Monday night dinner is spice blackened fish that you can make over a couple of days and Laurie Black serves a (in her words!) trashy dinner for two made up of spicy prawn cocktail, fried chicken with mash and onion gravy and blueberry lemon cheesecake sundaes. Are you getting where we are going with this two thing?
When thinking twos Warren knew instantly that he wanted to reference Hudson and Halls - the original bon vivants of New Zealand television who encouraged us to experiment and make mistakes. Warren has a few treasured H&H cookbooks in his collection and has noted their fondness for the exclamation mark! And garlic! There's a good measure of both in his recipes for pork chops with apricots and mushrooms in mustard sauce.
Today we welcome Aaron Brunet to the Bite team. I've persuaded him to look after the healthy habits column, while Nadia Lim is on leave, and share some of that idyllic Raglan life he has been living since winning Masterchef. I cook regularly from Aaron's book Cook with Me; he's very clever with flavours and likes to pack plenty of goodness into everything he makes. I know you're going to love him - write and let us know how much! Post some comments on his recipes on bite.co.nz for us! Post some Happy Birthday comments too! We love hearing from you, you're all part of our team and without you we wouldn't celebrating today. Here's to the terrible twos!!!!
