Table of contents for Issue 95 March/April 2021 in Dish

Is it too late to say happy new year? Quite possibly, so perhaps instead I’ll welcome you to 2021 with dish! The team have been back in the office since early January, working hard to get this beautiful first issue of the year ready for you. The weather has been so fabulous we have kept our eyes averted from the windows to escape temptation… but I know that with long weekends coming up, and the potential for a few extra days holiday here and there, we too will be nipping away from the big smoke to rest and relax. If you haven’t yet seen Monique Fiso’s book Hiakai: Modern Māori Cuisine, I highly recommend you get your hands on a copy. In the meantime check out Maria Hoyle’s feature on…

NORTHLAND The Canopy Night Market: February 19, March 19. Head to Whāngārei Town Basin for this vibrant street food event with a focus on multicultural cuisine cooked fresh on-site. eventfinda.co.nz Tutukaka Twilight Market: March 6 (and every Saturday). Browse the stalls of Northland’s artisans, producers, artists and curators, all against the beautiful backdrop of Tutukaka Marina. eventfinda.co.nz AUCKLAND Auckland Vegan Food Festival: March 7. Food trucks, stalls, an eco marketplace, family entertainment, wellness talks – plenty on the menu to suit all ages and tastes. eventfinda.co.nz Kai Moana Seafood Week: March 8-14. Kai Moana week is prime bait for seafood lovers everywhere! Take friends and family along to Takapuna beach for this celebration of our love of all the wonders the ocean produces. eventfinda.co.nz Auckland Craft Beer and Food Festival:…

“Why are there no Māori restaurants?” That was among the many questions I had when I first arrived in Auckland from the UK, some 20 years ago. It was the first time I had travelled to a country where the ‘local’ cuisine was conspicuously absent. Indian, Thai, Mexican, Italian and a raft of other nationalities were cheerily plying their trade, yet I was given to understand New Zealand’s indigenous fare was, well, problematic. The cooking methods were labour-intensive (“you need to dig a fire pit”), the ingredients were hard to get, it wasn’t suited to fine dining, there wasn’t much variety. I shrugged my shoulders and tried a lamington. While there’s been a surge of interest in Māori language and culture in recent years – with classes in tikanga and…

Luscious Baklava and Pistachio Ice Cream A fun summer spin on a Mediterranean favourite! Delicious nuggets of sticky-sweet-crisp baklava and vibrant crunchy pistachios are folded through rich, creamy vanilla bean ice cream for a super-easy and totally delicious dessert. 1 litre good-quality vanilla bean ice cream⅓ cup chopped pistachios4-6 pieces of baklava, roughly chopped (see Cook’s note) EQUIPMENT: 1.5 litre-capacity freezer-safe container. Remove the ice cream from the freezer to soften a little. Transfer half the ice cream to the container and drop half of the baklava and half of the pistachios over the top. Cover with the remaining ice cream, baklava and pistachios (don’t press the topping down). Cover with plastic wrap and re-freeze for several hours. Scoop into bowls to serve. MAKES 1 LITRE COOK’S NOTE: Baklava can…

Chicken with White Beans, Chorizo and Rosemary (gf) The sunny flavours of Spain shine through in this dish of spicy chorizo, smoky paprika and creamy cannellini beans. I’d definitely serve it with a loaf of crusty bread for mopping up the juices. 6 boneless, skin-off chicken thighssea salt and ground pepper2 small mandarins, quartered2 sprigs rosemary BASE 2 tablespoons olive oil250 grams soft cured chorizo sausage, diced400-gram tin cannellini beans, drained and rinsed2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary2 cloves garlic, crushed1 teaspoon each sea salt and smoked paprika¼ teaspoon chilli flakes½ cup chicken stock EQUIPMENT: 26cm ovenproof sauté pan. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan bake. Combine all the base ingredients in a large bowl. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and turn to coat. Tip into the sauté…

Booked out! Beyond the Vines: The Changing Landscape of Wine in Aotearoa New Zealand ($40) is the third book by drinks writer and wine retailer Jules van Costello. It’s a compact romp through New Zealand’s wine history and modern stats, personal yarns involving his life in wine, and Jules’ take on the future of the industry financially and stylistically. He dives into the impacts of climate disruption, the domestic and international wine markets and reveals some nuggets of knowledge on 65 innovative, exciting producers in chapters dubbed ‘The Terroirists’, ‘The Naturalists’, ‘The Rule Breakers’ and ‘The Immigrants and Investors’. Don’t expect any pretty pictures; it’s all text, but it’s a thoughtprovoking, entertaining read. Available now via beyondthevines.co.nz FEELIN’ FLEXI Sick of all that polystyrene, plastic and bubble wrap arriving with…

Claire Aldous Food editor @clairealdous Claire is the mastermind behind recipes enjoyed by thousands of readers for more than 15 years, having been with dish since the very first issue. With a vast knowledge of ingredients and techniques, her constant innovation and imagination are an invaluable source of inspiration. Always generous and welcoming, she focuses on creating recipes that are neither fussy nor overly fancy, producing delicious dishes that delight her guests and fill the kitchen with gorgeous aromas. “My favourite night of the week? Sunday. Having family and friends over for a casual, delicious dinner, usually followed by an indulgent dessert, encapsulates everything I love about cooking.” Olivia Galletly Food contributor @thehungrycooknz Olivia is a passionate and uber-talented home cook based north of Auckland, with a penchant for seasonal,…

SAM NEILL Actor National icon and global star Sam Neill is one of those actors who is like a litmus test for viewing quality. Enter Sam on-screen and you sink comfortably into your seat, thinking: ‘ah it’s him; must be a good movie’. Over a career spanning almost 50 years, he’s brought his trademark gruff charm to a raft of landmark film and TV productions – from Hollywood blockbusters to independent (many Kiwi) gems. The Piano, Jurassic Park, The Dish, Gallipoli, Peaky Blinders, Thor Ragnarok, Rams, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Ride Like a Girl, Dead Calm… the list is endless. And yet he comes across as a regular Kiwi bloke, the sort you could easily imagine shooting the breeze with over a glass of red (perhaps a delicious pinot noir…

Excerpted from The Kinfolk Garden by John Burns (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2020. Photographs by Sarah Blais. Words by Pip Usher. Distributed by www.bookreps.co.nz Kamal Mouzawak could never have anticipated how his mission to put homegrown food on the plates of Beirutis would expand: first a market, then farm-to-table restaurants and now a guesthouse set amid mountainous produce gardens. Kamal Mouzawak, the Beirut-based sophisticate behind some of Lebanon’s most celebrated community initiatives, felt ashamed of the traditional tannour that enclosed his sandwiches as a child. “Everyone else had this modern Arabic bread,” he recalls of the convenience food that had recently come into fashion among his classmates. Mouzawak, raised in a village 20km from the capital, was given old-fashioned flatbread and meals that revolved around seasonal produce: grapes picked in the summer,…

Twenty minutes from Wanaka, nestled among a sprawling 55,000 hectares of mountain ridges, green hills, lush valleys, native bush, forests and rivers, you’ll find an oasis of world-class luxury in which to unwind and reboot. When one of the world’s most famous (and successful) record producers and songwriters decides to create the ultimate escape haven on the planet, you know it’s going to be magnificent. And magnificent it is. Mutt Lange’s vision was to regenerate the land across four adjoining high-country sheep stations, introducing sustainable farming practices, and implementing an extensive plant regeneration and native bird breeding programme, which has been a huge success. The name Mahu Whenua aptly translates to “healing the land”. But the land also provides a place for people to heal – to escape the frenetic…

Notes for cooks To ensure successful results in cooking, we recommend you invest in accurate measuring tools – measuring cups and spoons and a measuring jug are essential and electronic scales are particularly useful as they weigh accurately in both imperial and metric. Always follow one set of measures in a recipe. Do not mix them up. DISH USES: Large eggs (size 7). Level spoons and cup measurements. Liquids are always measured in a jug and dry ingredients in measuring cups. NB: One tablespoon is 15ml (the Australian tablespoon is 20ml). Oven temperatures Cool oven . . . . . . . . . . . 225°F . . . . . . . . . . . 110°C Very low oven . . . . . . . 300°F…

If you love dish, you’ll love dish.co.nz. We have all the recipe collections, videos and exclusive online articles and interviews you need to keep you going be tween issues, plus twice-weekly newsletters with a few words from Sarah and Alex… Plus check out our Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest for all the inspiration you can handle. What we’re giving away Enter our competitions to be in to win the products we’re loving at the moment, from sauces to sweet treats to homewares and cookbooks… even the occasional dining experience or weekend getaway is up for grabs. There’s something to be won in nearly every e-newsletter, so sign up and get entering to win! What you’re loving online In the Christmas madness, party season and summer heat, our online readers were loving…

Here’s my pick of soft-leaf herbs from the summer garden. No sooner had I chosen them when I thought of tarragon, which I adore with fish and chicken, and thyme, so often overlooked in summer but delicious with beans, tomatoes, corn and more. And I thought of parsley and mint and chives and chervil… then I thought I better get on with the job of writing about the herbs I had chosen! BASIL Basil is a crowd-pleaser. A big fat flirt that scents the air with the gentlest breeze or touch. And what a scent! It’s like sticking your nose in a perfumed carnation with high notes of clove, a touch of musk, a pinch of cinnamon and a sprinkle of camphor, and when the sun hits the plant, the…

Blistered Tomato, Grilled Capsicum and Pita Salad (v) The juicy, sweet tomatoes and capsicum pair perfectly with the crunchy torn pita. This salad works so well alongside grilled meats or fish. 8 vine tomatoes250 grams mixed cherry tomatoes1 bulb garlic, cut in half lengthways10 grams fresh oregano leaves, plus extra to garnish1 teaspoon brown sugar¼ cup olive oil1 tablespoon apple cider vinegarsea salt and cracked pepper2 red capsicums3 pita breads, torn into bite-sized pieces¼ red onion, thinly sliced150 grams feta, cut into cubes EQUIPMENT: Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 160°C. Preheat the barbecue. Place the tomatoes, garlic, oregano, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the vinegar on one prepared tray. Season with salt and pepper and gently toss to combine. Bake…

WITH THANKS TO: Janet Blackman from the Professional Wine Studies Department and the AUT School of Hospitality and Tourism. For more on the programmes in hospitality, food and beverage, and hotel management, visit aut.ac.nz. Water kindly supplied by Antipodes. The great Sir Winston Churchill once said, “The gin and tonic has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire”. It’s also fact that if ever asked about my gin consumption at parties, I’ll casually state “In dog gins, I’ve only had one.” So it’s fair to say we love our gin here at dish – and we’ve been observing the local gindustry explode in recent years to the point where we couldn’t just sit by and stare into our glass any longer. We had to…

1 cup each flour and rolled oats1½ cups cornflakes2/3 packed cup brown sugar¼ cup good-quality cocoa powder½ teaspoon each baking powder and sea salt150 grams butter, diced2 tablespoons golden syrup1 teaspoon vanilla extract½ teaspoon baking soda200 grams dark chocolate, melted EQUIPMENT: Grease a large flat baking tray and line with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C regular bake. Combine all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Melt the butter, golden syrup and vanilla together in a small saucepan until it comes to the boil. Add the baking soda and keep whisking until it fluffs up and becomes light and airy. Immediately pour into the dry ingredients and stir together until everything is damp and coated in the butter mixture. Firmly press tablespoons of the mixture together in…