Courgette and chickpea fritters. Photo / Bite magazine
Courgette and chickpea fritters. Photo / 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.
Around this time of year there are a lot of cooks settling in to new kitchens - those off to Uni and Tech or flatting for the first time - and they need a set of recipes that make it easy for them to cook good food for, in mostcases, very little money. They should all buy a copy of the Edmonds Cookbook because all the basics are there and they will cook from it for life as Warren found when he asked Mum for her plum sauce recipe, she pointed him to her well-used first edition. Warren is sharing a slightly revised version that you will want to make and giveaway to all your friends immediately, turning it in to "your" plum sauce and making you the legend.
Plum sauce. Photo / Bite magazine
Achieving nutritionally balanced meals on a budget when you are a novice cook is incredibly difficult, so Kathy Paterson is helping with three recipes that can be made for under $10 a pop. Courgette and chickpea fritters are good value when courgettes are at their peak and maybe even free from family and friends' gardens. Trusty eggs and potatoes come together in these crispy potato cakes with scrambled eggs and wilted spinach and these nourishing lentils with barbecued sausages speak for themselves. Kathy also has a Monday night dinner made up of pasta (that all-time flattie favourite) and stewed peppers and tomatoes that are so well-priced at this time of year.
Even veteran cooks need to tighten the belt from time to time so we may all find ourselves dipping in and out of this collection.
For those nights that you fancy an Indian takeaway but want something a little less rich and creamy than the favourite curry, Aaron Brunet says buy a tandoori chicken and serve it with a poppadom salad. For those with gas hobs, he's also got a great tip on cooking those poppadoms.
Poppadom salad. Photo / Bite magazine
From the Ask Peter files, Earle and Belinda asked Peter Gordon if they could freeze panna cotta. Turns out you can, but his delicious recipe for panna cotta with balsamic blackberries will probably be eaten before it makes it to the freezer in most homes
Panna cotta with balsamic blackberries - in Peter Gordon's cookbook. Photo / Bite magazine
It was rather shocking to see Ben Macdonald eliminated from MasterChef Australia last week - he had winner written all over him - but as he says in his final Bite column, he achieved a lot. Thanks for sharing your experience with us Ben, we look forward to following your career ahead.
Ben Macdonald on Masterchef Australia.
But back to those bags of plums that need eating. Warren is also poaching them and using them in a tipsy rum plum shake and our bake of the week is a simple plum cake.
