The Confident Cook
Apricot and Baked Custard Tart
When I was at pupil at Mt Eden Primary School, the tuck shop used to sell a range of fare for hungry appetites. I guess some kids ordered their lunch each day, but my conscientious mother packed interesting fresh lunches with beautiful sanwiches, cakes and fruit. If I was ever permitted to buy my lunch it was an agonising toss up between the meaty pies or the baked custard tarts with mock cream around the edges.
This custard tart is far more sophisticated, combining the...
Apricot and Lemon Crepe Cake
I have often been haunted by memories of Stephanie Alexander’s crepe cake with lemon curd, which I ate in Melbourne at her restaurant, Stephanie’s, in the late 1980s. So I created my own version with a lovely velvety filling of apricot and lemon, layered with whipped cream. Be sure to make the crepes as thin as you possibly can, or the dessert may become rather stodgy.
Apricot and Thyme Chicken
This would make a great dish to take on a picnic as there will be no left-over bones. It is also a good recipe when you want to serve cold chicken, as it slices beautifully when chilled. Get the butcher to bone your chicken so it is easy to slice and even easier to eat. The stuffing is sweet and tasty, and the chicken can be served hot or cold. A little note of caution here: always let stuffing cool completely before filling the chicken and rolling it up, as adding warm stuffing to chilled raw chicken creates a serious...
Aromatic Baked Fillets of Fish with Potatoes
A terrific recipe to prepare ahead. You can get it to the stage where you bake it in the oven. Use thick fillets of my favourite fish, hapuku (or groper as it is called in the south), and bake them on a bed of sliced potatoes, topped with tomatoes, currants, saffron and spinach.
Asian-flavoured Meatloaf with Coconut and Coriander Cabbage
The meatloaf recipe has hints of Asian flavourings to bring an unusual twist to this traditional family recipe. The combination of cabbage, sweet coconut and mint to accompany the meatloaf is something I dreamed up a few years ago. At the time I thought I was highly original, but then I was in Sydney Phillips Searle served a very similar version in his restaurant. This showed me that with food, there’s nothing new under the sun.