Lou Davey “It’s a naive domestic Burgundy without any breeding, but I think you’ll be amused by its presumption.” As wine opinions go, I have never found a pronouncement more indicative of the hoo-hah surrounding a bottle of plonk than … Read more
Virgil Evetts My garden is awash with the heartening signs of spring right now. One peach tree is already covered in tiny, fuzzy peach-letts, another is bursting into blousy pink bloom. My plum tree is a froth of honey-scented … Read more
Virgil Evetts I don’t know about you, but I just can’t go anywhere near the supermarket on an empty stomach. I’ve done it a few times and ended up stumbling around the isles in a starved stupor, eventually getting home … Read more
Virgil Evetts Fromage fort- meaning strong, or possibly fortified cheese- is an exercise in frugality that only the French could have dreamt-up. Conceived, no doubt as way of using left-over cheese scraps and wine-dregs this ancient Gallic delight is sadly … Read more
Virgil Evetts One of the topics that bounced around the table at our very convivial Foodlovers get-together last week, was how hopelessly smitten we Aucklanders are with the cuisines of Asia. I have a bad habit of forgetting that not everyone shares this very regional … Read more
Virgil Evetts Since my recent foray into deep-frying, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the many oils we use in the kitchen. At any one time I have at least 4 or 5 different types of oil in … Read more
Virgil Evetts These rather ropey-looking fungi are widely available in most supermarkets, but are the sort of thing that, unless you’ve tried them before, you will probably instinctively ignore. I can’t say I blame you either – they look like … Read more
Virgil Evetts Since researching and writing about the whole free-range issue a while back I’ve been taking my stance in regards to free-range pork very seriously indeed (I haven’t touched conventionally farmed chicken for years). But as assured as I … Read more
Winter Canapés By Michal Haines Winter entertaining can be a drag. The colder weather seems to makes everyone ravenous. It can be hard to concentrate on your cooking when your guests turn up at your door looking like they may … Read more
Virgil Evetts As much as I might convince myself that I have sophisticated, urbane tastes, embarrassing, childish regression keeps bubbling to the surface. Perhaps I should explain… I just can’t help it, I really can’t but I’ve developed a serious … Read more
Virgil Evetts The thought of deep, earthy slow cooked food is so very appealing amidst the miserable chill of winter. Tough but tasty cuts of meat cooked until meltingly soft, swimming in rich complex gravies along with sweet nuggets of … Read more
Virgil Evetts For one reason or another- but mostly because of the criminally high prices of dairy in recent years, good old macaroni-cheese- that most kiwi-fied of dishes had completely dropped off my cooking radar. In fact I’d pretty much … Read more
Slices are a great favourite of mine, they are generally quick and easy to make and are fairly quick to cook. While most of mine don’t get a chance to make it to the freezer many of them are easily … Read more
Virgil Evetts I am so in love with Churros right now. As promised in my posting on cannolli, I set about making them on the weekend, and I gotta say- OH MY GOD. I used the recipe from the excellent … Read more
