Welcome to the
Waikato
Food Basket
This is a blog about celebrating and showcasing 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.
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.
Easy beets
We have a plethora of beetroot in our kitchen. Our regular vege box delivery includes beets every single week. They are most excellent beets: freshly picked, with huge fresh leaves still attached. The other cooks in my household don’t tend to use beets, but they eat...
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Writing about eating
Parsley and her cousins
I have a favourite plant family. Apiaceae or Umbelliferae – both names are commonly used.
So many plants I love to grow and eat belong to this family.
Free fruit – foraging ethics
I’ve just come home with a bag of superbly ripe mandarins. And they were free! Foraging isn’t a normal thing in New Zealand. We think of food as something we buy, if we haven’t grown it ourselves.
Black garlic magic
One of my favourite treats is black garlic. The grey, slightly soft garlic heads don’t look appetizing. But inside, the bulbs are dark and soft and deliciously sweet.