Fish and Seafood

Last week Jason had American blood oranges for sale. I don’t usually buy imported oranges but I love blood oranges so bought a few. Years ago we used to stay in a small hotel on the hill above Prato in Italy. Every morning as soon as we sat down for breakfast we were served a […]

Mussels make such a quick, easy and delicious meal. Sometimes I go through patches of forgetting how good they are. This is my current favourite mussel recipe with simple Asian flavours – lemongrass, lime, chilli and coriander. Jason always has fresh lemongrass stalks, coriander and chillis. He doesn’t always have kaffir lime leaves but he […]

I love asparagus and we have it nearly every day while it’s in season. I might even try pickling some!! From now on Jason will have plenty of medium sized asparagus and every week or two the girls at Fresh Gardens will have their skinny asparagus. I always buy both. It’s so easy to make […]

Last week on a shelf in my office tucked in a corner I found a bottle of Pineau de Charentes an aperitif made from Cognac and sweet unfermented grape juice from the Cognac region in France. It was on our wine list for a while but because it was unfamiliar we didn’t sell it well […]

Normally I’d think of ceviche as a summer dish but really felt like it a few days ago. The scallop season started recently and we’d already eaten them a few times very simply pan-fried and we felt like something different. As well, we had some very fresh hapuku available. So rather than cook both, I […]

I don’t know why but I’ve never got round to making a pasta paella. Since the Middle Ages along Spain’s Mediterranean coast thin fideo noodles have been instead of short grain rice and combined with local seafood to create pasta paella. I was finally prompted into action after watching David Chang of Momofuku online. He […]