It's Easier than you Think
by Jo Seagar, Random House, $49.99
What good is a kiss if you can't give it away? No good at all, says Jo Seagar. And that's exactly how she feels about her recipes.
"They are made to be shared," Jo says as we share a platter of
delicious food at the Milk and Honey cafe in Ahuriri.
In Hawke's Bay to promote her latest cookbook, It's Easier than you Think, this Kiwi legend spoke passionately about her love of cooking, teaching and sharing.
Famous for her catchcry of "It's easy peasy", her latest book continues the trend with tried and true recipes that are "easier than you think".
The gorgeous photos, taken by Jae Frew, make the dishes look spectacular and may have home cooks thinking: "I'll never be able to do that."
They would be wrong. The recipes call for ingredients 90 per cent of people would have in the cupboard, are easy to follow and lovely to eat.
"I can't stand it when a recipe goes over the page," Jo says, "so I make sure my recipes are short and sharp."
And off course tasty. I can vouch for this.
Try the chicken cottage pie, 10 ingredients, counting the salt and pepper - delicious and easy peasy.
Asked what makes a good cook, Jo says: "We all have to eat and good cooks love feeding people.
"The satisfaction you get from seeing people enjoy something you have created is thrilling."
And her favourite food to cook? "Because I'm large people tend to think I love to cook puds. In fact I love making cocktail food, simple seafood dishes and traditional dishes like bangers and mash."
She says that's what Seagar's Cooking School in Canterbury is all about. "We teach people how to fling two or three ingredients in a bowl and produce something delicious. It's about practising what we preach. Easy stuff."
In her spare time Jo likes to garden, read, ski and visit the opera.
"I work hard and play hard."
She is a patron of Hospice New Zealand and is often involved in fundraising events for the organisation.
In February she is off on a Pacific work history tour, Fate of the Empires, with Hawke's Bay's Guy Wellwood.
She is also planning a tour to Italy with her cooking school.
Closer to home she is planning one-day cheese-making classes and overnight stays at the cook school.
Jo Seagar is a woman with loads of personality and a smile that lights up the room.
It's no wonder her books are so popular, she just makes you smile.
It's Easier than you Think
by Jo Seagar, Random House, $49.99
What good is a kiss if you can't give it away? No good at all, says Jo Seagar. And that's exactly how she feels about her recipes.
"They are made to be shared," Jo says as we share a platter of
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