Listen: Red meat cookbook celebrates iconic Kiwi farms

Kathy Paterson. Photo / Supplied

Beef, lamb and the land are celebrated in a new cookbook from cook and food writer Kathy Paterson.

The author has teamed up with Beef + Lamb New Zealand Inc. to create a cookbook dedicated to red meat and the Kiwi farmers who produce it.

Paterson spoke to The Country Early Edition's Rowena Duncum about Meat & Three, a cookbook which not only boasts over 80 delicious recipes, but also celebrates some of New Zealand's most stunning and iconic farms.

The book is set out by season, as Paterson is "fanatical" about cooking this way.

"I really like cooking in seasons ... I think it's having grown up on a farm, because seasons meant everything ... and I'd just like people to realise ... how important it is to use produce when it's at the peak of its ripeness."

Listen below:

Surprisingly Paterson says she agrees, "to a certain extent," with the "big message out there" encouraging people to eat less meat.

"I think eat less meat at each meal. I think we've got into the habit of just having far too much on our plate, because really you only need 125 grams ... then the rest of your plate is just full of vegetables, which is a beautiful way to eat."

There are four farms featured in Meat & Three, and the book includes the history behind each property. Paterson says choosing the farms was "difficult," as New Zealand has so much to offer, but the four chosen have "historical significance."

Meat & Three is available in bookstores now.