Welcome to the
Waikato
Food Basket
This is a blog that celebrates the delicious abundance of the Waikato region.
Eat your Greens
I’ve always loved green salads. My definition of an abundant life includes a garden with an apple tree, a lemon tree – and salad greens and herbs. My absolute essential greens are flat-leaf parsley, curly endive and land cress.
A cabbage of many names
Last weekend at the farmers’ market, Richard Cato handed me a couple of big, pale green and white, cylinder-shaped wong bok cabbages.
“What are your favourite recipes for these?” he asked.
This kind of Asian cabbage makes great salads. And kimchi. It’s also good in stir-fries and soups.
A cabbage of many names
Last weekend at Hamilton Farmers’ Market, Richard Cato of Pirongia Mountain Vegetables handed me a couple of big, pale green and white, cylinder-shaped Asian cabbages. “What are your favourite recipes for these?” he asked. This kind of Asian cabbage makes great...
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Writing about eating
Easy beets
Beetroot is in season pretty much all year round in the Waikato. I love the amazing purple colour of beets, which some people unkindly call “lurid”. I love that beets can be used both cooked and raw.
And it’s such a thrifty plant. You can make two different vegetable courses out of one bunch of beets.
But, beetroot isn’t “fast food”.
You have to think ahead, to get the best out of beets.
The casimiroa quest
As regular readers will know, I love strange and unusual fruit. This week I’m in love with casimiroas. Casimiroa edulis, also known as white sapote, is oval and green, about the size and shape of an avocado. It doesn’t look anything special – but the flavour is amazing.
Tomatillo time
Tomatillos are very popular in Mexican cuisine, but they’re not common in New Zealand. So I was happy to find Harvey Till of Vegetills selling tomatillos on Sunday at the farmers’ market.