In today's Bite: Cooking with New Zealand's award-winning produce

Zoya Sahrawat picks mint in the garden for the Balinese chicken recipe. Photos / Bite magazine

Find all your favourite bits from today's Bite magazine online. Follow the hyperlinks in Jo Elwin's editor's letter and lose yourself in bite.co.nz

The New Zealand Food Awards means there are a lot of exciting dishes being created in the Bite kitchen.

Cooks love discovering new ingredients or getting confirmation that an ingredient they particularly enjoy is also liked by others. Ray McVinnie is on the judging panel for the awards and he has chosen a few of the many outstanding finalists' products to create recipes with.

In this week's Bite: Keewai (freshwater crayfish) and Mamia Wat's chicken and potatoes. Photo / Bite magazine

Chicken and potatoes have been braised in Mamia's Wat Traditional Ethiopian Cooking Sauce. Keewai (freshwater crayfish) have been dressed with a simple Goulters Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, cucumber, radish and apple dressing. Slow cooked pork shank salad is served with ghost cjilli ciabatta. See the full list of award winners here.

If you've been avoiding the vege garden, Jenny Maidment is motivating us all to get out there and do it, and yes, that's Zoya Sahrawat picking the mint in the feature. Our Hospobaby was back in the kitchen with dad Sid, cooking chicken with Balinese flavours for dinner.

Slow cooked pork shank salad. Photo / Bite magazine

Also in Bite this week:

• Rick Stein's recipes for long weekends

• The 2016 Top sausages have been announced and we've made our own sausages for a toad-in-the-hole

• Louise Thompson's life envy part two

- nzherald.co.nz