I ambitiously declared, at the end of a boozy January, that I might go sober for February. Give my liver a break and what not. "But what will you write about?" was my supportive Dad's response. Evidently, nothing! An extreme drought of blog posts wasn't intentional, and it turns out the sober stint didn't require willpower at all; I was unglamourously struck by a summer flu involving, but not limited to, a loud hacking cough (date me!) and for the majority of the month I've been health-wise miserable. However! Things are on the up and up. I've moved into a lovely new home for good, and although I was recently accused of burning the candle at both ends, I have been relaxing and resting and trying hard to get well. I've had plenty of eating to do amongst it all though. And so, some delicious things of late.
1. Depot
This consistently excellent establishment serves shared plates (something now emulated at lesser-places around town) and I love most things about it. The service, the delicious food, the complimentary flatbreads, right down to the beautiful Havana coffee. It's always a hit with out of towners (I took my sister's American colleague and his wife here before Christmas and they loved it), and for catch ups (with visitors from London especially lately!) Depot is my central city go-to.
I can't go past the skirt steak with habanero mustard - it's served with soft onions and a ranch-dressing-drenched iceberg wedge, and all together in a mouthful it tastes exactly like a fancy Big Mac, aka awesome. Yesterday I met my friend Hannah and her lovely English boyfriend there, and they loved it too. As well as mussels with chorizo, and the hapuka sliders, we reminisced about law school over the potato skins, which are served with truffle and parmesan. They were ridiculous. In a good way.
2. The Hamptons
I work in the city, and over a couple of weeks in January we watched in awe as a bar
literally popped up right across from our building. I'm always bemoaning Auckland's lack of good bars, ones which don't try and become nightclubs and which serve craft beer on tap. Add sunshine and delicious food and you have The Hamptons. It's a beachy haven in the middle of suits and buildings, and although probably best avoided on a Friday after work (unless swarms of blue-checked-shirted lawyers are your thing), I had a beautiful lunch there last week. I had an inspiring food-filled yarn with Tom the chef after my workmate and I were treated to the crayfish roll, the very impressive green gazpacho, and the kingfish ceviche, before both devouring a delicious main meal as well (me the barbecue brisket, her the hapuka).
3. Stone fruit tart
I've had lots of family time lately, and my food-loving aunty Robyn was recently up in Auckland for a few days. I do miss
jaunting up the Kapiti Coast for visits, so it was a treat to have her do brunch for us and a heap of my cousins with their ever-increasing broods of beautiful babies. A stone fruit tart for brunch-dessert (the best!) was a highlight, and one which I've since made three of.
The recipe, very loosely, involves making a food processor dough of 125g butter, 1 level cup plain flour, 1/2 level cup icing sugar. You process it, roll into a ball, and refrigerate for at least half an hour (and can go overnight). You knead it a bit, then roll it out, and sprinkle over a mixture of 2 tbsp ground almonds, a little flour, and a little white sugar. Then, a whole lot of stone fruit. Apricot halves or nectarine slices work well, as do peaches or plums. 'Rustically' fold up the edges, on a tray with baking paper, and bake for about 25 minutes at 180C fan bake. It such a good and easy dessert, or morning tea, and takes about 5 minutes to prepare.
4. Jimmy the Fish
The current issue of Metro has my latest column featuring a round up of calamari joints around Auckland (of which there are many). I ate a
heap of calamari, but only ended up writing about a smidgen of them. One worth a mention here though is
Jimmy the Fish in Ponsonby Central. He's a fish-monger who does little tubs of tentacles with herbs and mayo, and they're such a good little snack. The squid is cooked fresh and tastes bloody good, plus I
hear excellent things about the beer battered tarakihi.
5. Pop up dining
My workmate cringes at the term 'pop-up' being thrown around, and it can mean a number of things. 'Temporary' maybe, or 'one-off' can work. Semantics aside, the
pop up dining guys are a posse of serious chefs who hold events in closed cafes at night time. The having a five-course French one in Newmarket next week (come along!
tickets here!) and they also do cheap-eats inspired by food trucks overseas at Doc bar every couple of weeks. Last night it was Korean style scallion pancakes with braised pork and beef and fresh kim chi. Through drippingly saucy fingers Sarah interviewed me for her
cute new blog, about doing things in Auckland. Their blog features
a write up of
Eat Here Now's meat fest on Sunday which I'm very sorry I couldn't make it to. Pop up dining, it's totally a thing. Watch this space.
6. Mozzarella pizza
I'm still writing for
Fishhead magazine in Wellington; look out for a holiday-inspired
mozzarella salad recipe hitting shelves shortly. With the leftover ingredients from the salad photo shoot, including Mum's homegrown tomatoes and basil, my parents and I had a pizza feast one sunny evening last week. We used
this recipe for the food-processor dough, and used a supermarket tomato base sauce, fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and a sprinkle of bog-standard cheese, for a classic margherita. Unbeatable. (Hot tip! If you are without a food processor I got a cheap small one off trade me recently for $26. Treat yo self.)
7. Dessert for lunch at Kermadec
How is that one finds themselves at a dessert lunch in Auckland's viaduct with the head of a PR company, the editor of the National Business Review, and a high-up member of the NZ Food Writers Guild? I don't know, but that was my life the other day.
Kermadec was showcasing us their desserts, and it is next-level dessert stuff: liquid nitrogen, texture mash ups, intense flavours, and beautiful execution. The strawberry frozen espuma had banana and Jaina white chocolate purée, shortbread,
strawberry fizzy rocks, and banana sorbet. It's beautiful to eat, and it looks like art. Dessert aficionados will be impressed.
8. Cakes
I had a baking frenzy last weekend thanks to my lack of drinking and my friend buying a house. She warmed her lawn on Saturday with Pimms and friends, and I baked some cakes for the occasion. I was reminded of a) how much I love baking, and b) how good these three recipes are. The
hummingbird cake is pictured (decorated with blueberries, coconut and fresh flowers), the
plum and yoghurt cake, and
orange and cardamon cakes, aren't (although I did go cake crazy
on instagram).
9. Shao Lin Kung Fu
After the first week of summer-unwellness, I ambitiously thought I was getting better, only to then get much worse. In that brief period of optimism, I had a dinner date with my little sister and her best friend and we went to
Shao Lin. After drinking some tea we gorged on delicious hand-pulled noodles, the cleaver beef ones being absolutely off the chain. I've never paid more than 10 bucks when sharing with a group there, and even though I had a coughing fit thanks to a rogue piece of chilli, it was worth it. More bargain amazingness on Dominion Road.
10. I scream you scream
We had some frozen strawberries in the freezer (hot tip: hull them pre freeze) and like magic one night, they were food-processored with a little balsamic, a little icing sugar, and some cream. Into the freezer they went thanks to my aunty, and in next to no time at all you have an intensely-flavoured, luscious dessert. I'm wondering if this freezer stash will be perfect for when the winter blues kick in, but I'll probably be perfectly happy with crumble and cobbler by then. In the meantime, serve with some slices of white-fleshed nectarine and enjoy this dreamy Summer while you can.