CONTRIBUTORS Denise Irvine, Emma Galloway, Liz French, Lynda Hallinan, Kathy Paterson, Julie Le Clerc, Rachel Hart, Fiona Hugues, Vicki Ravlich-Horan
COVER IMAGE Ashlee DeCaires
PHOTOGRAPHERS Brydie Thompson, Ashlee DeCaires, Emma Galloway, Amber Bremner, Kathy Paterson, Fiona Hugues, Vicki Ravlich-Horan, Julie Le Clerc.
2324-4356 (Print) | ISSN 2324-4364 (Online)
A MASTERPIECE OF SCALE, STYLE & SERENITY
7 Davren Way, Tamahere
This soon to be completed design is instantly impressive for its remarkable scale and commanding presence, set within an exceptional lifestyle environment. A façade defined by symmetry and balanced proportions introduces a home of rare magnitude, where an enchanting interior unfolds across an extraordinary 708 sqm (more or less). This unrivalled gated estate stands in a class of its own.
Spanning an expansive footprint, the floor plan has been crafted for decadent relaxation and effortless entertaining on a grand scale. Multiple sun‑drenched living zones flow through oversize sliding doors, each framing the peaceful landscape that surrounds the home. Every detail has been considered, from the soaring ceiling heights to the generous room dimensions, barn doors, and bespoke finishes that elevate the home’s architectural presence.
The kitchen is a showpiece in both size and specification — a true entertainer’s domain. A central stone island anchors the space, complemented by premium appliances, dual sinks, and extensive soft‑close cabinetry. The adjoining scullery is equally substantial, offering a sink, second dishwasher and a second fridge. and abundant storage and preparation space.
Three expansive living areas provide flexibility for formal hosting or relaxed family living, each connecting seamlessly to the 2 Logias with extensive timber
ANGELA FINNIGAN
BAYLEYS REAL ESTATE AGENT
3
4 3 4
5,000sqm
decking for refined outdoor enjoyment. Two fireplaces and ducted heating/cooling ensure year‑round comfort throughout this vast residence.
Accommodation is equally generous. Four generous bedrooms include two ensuites and a powder room, with the family bathroom servicing two of the rooms. The guest suite enjoys its own ensuite and fitted dressing room, while the primary suite is a private sanctuary of impressive scale — light filled, luxurious, and complete with custom his‑and‑her vanities, a freestanding bath, large shower, underfloor heating, and an expansive dressing room.
Above the four‑car garaging, is a further generous space offering scope for an additional living area, art studio, or gym, depending on your need adding further versatility to this already substantial home.
Positioned on 5000 sqm (more or less) of established lawns, this property delivers an exceptional blend of size, luxury, and lifestyle. Hamilton and Cambridge are within a 20‑minute radius, with zoning for Tamahere Model School, Berkley Intermediate, Hillcrest High, and convenient access to St Peter’s School and Hamilton airport.
Please phone for an appointment to view.
Here's to Autumn
The autumn edition is always one of my favourites. It shouldn’t be, because it’s the hardest one to put together. Christmas chaos is followed by holiday mode, add to this February being a short month and the result is always a frantic rush to get this issue to the printer.
But I love this time of year, weather wise as well as the anticipation and excitement of the year ahead it represents. And this year is going to be a big one! Yes, I have more travel planned. In June I host our Taste of Emilia Romagna and Taste of Croatia tours. We have a few spots available on these, so if you are looking for a culinary adventure, join me!
Talking of culinary adventures, on page 52 read about my trip to Malta – another magical destination we are adding to the Taste of Tours line up in 2027 (along with Tasmania).
A little closer to home, on page 8 we discover some of the highlights in this year’s Flavours of Plenty line up.
Autumn is about abundance, so this issue reflects this. Emma Galloway makes the most of her garden’s harvest on page 19. Kathy Paterson has some fun with our national fruit on page 28, and I share my love of eggplants on page 42.
Julie Le Clerc whips up some super cute Easter treats on page 22, and on page 15 Fiona Hugues says bugger brunch.
On page 10 we join Hayes Common in celebrating 10 years in business, and on page 12 we highlight more amazing Hamilton hospo personalities doing a great job.
One of the perks of being the editor is I get to read everyone’s stories and in doing so I am continually adding to my food knowledge. For instance, Lynda Hallinan has me no longer nuking our broccoli in the microwave – apparently it kills most of its nutrients. And on page 48 we get an insight into when your favourite foodies are happy to fake it. You can also listen to us discuss this on The Sauce NZ podcast which we have brought back for 2026. I told you it was a big year ahead!
Vicki Ravlich-Horan Editor
LEADERS IN BESPOKE CABINETRY
With over 60 years of experience, Treetown Designer Kitchens is a trusted expert in creating custom kitchen and interior joinery solutions for homes and commercial spaces in Cambridge, Hamilton, and the greater Waikato region.
W: www.treetownkitchens.co.nz
P: 07 827 7309 E: info@treetownkitchens.co.nz
Image thanks to Jason Tregurtha
1.
IT’S THE PERFECT TIME TO GET IN A PICKLE
Autumn serves us up an abundance of fruit and produce, making it the perfect time to get preserving.
Easy to clean, durable and dishwasher safe, the range of preserving glassware available at Forage will have you enjoying your harvest for many months to come.
Preserving glassware is also excellent for storing everyday food items.
For all the preserving essentials, including seals, sieves, funnels, pans and glassware, check out the range at Forage.
readbros.co.nz/forage
308 Pollen Street, Thames
2.
IN SEASON AND AVAILABLE AT BARE – QUINCE
Quince is an old-fashioned fruit making a bit of a comeback. Inedible raw they require some effort to bring out their aromatic flavours. This often means poaching them, turning into a jelly (perfect with cheese) or slow cooking in a tagine or similar dish.
The problem is if you are keen to give them a go you normally have to know someone with a tree. These often old and neglected specimens mean the fruit is damaged and full of black spots and insect damage.
Luckily, Bridie at Bare will have quinces in store this autumn sitting alongside her range of other great fresh produce.
barerefillgrocery.co.nz
401 Grey Street, Hamilton East
Autumn Birthstones
People who have a birthday in autumn enjoy these dazzling gemstones, aquamarine (March), diamond (April) and emerald (May).
True to its name, aquamarine ranges in colour from pale sky-blue to deep oceanic tones.
From the Latin aqua marina, meaning ‘water of the sea’, Roman fishermen used aquamarine as protection, for safe travel by boat, and for luck in catching fish.
For those fortunate to be born in April, their birthstone is the most prized gemstone of all – diamonds. Made simply from carbon, diamonds are the hardest gemstone, 58 times harder than anything in nature.
The emerald is prized for its captivating and beautiful green colour. It is the gem of youth, love, and new beginnings and is believed to grant the owner foresight, good fortune, and youth.
Discover these beautiful gemstones and others at Midas Diamond Jewellers in Casabella Lane, Hamilton.
WITH MIDAS
THE COCKTAIL BAR OPENS
After eight years serving cocktails at events and weddings Waikato wide, Dorothy Whitham has found a permanent spot at the bottom of Wintec House on Nisbett Street.
Dorothy's famous cocktail blends have ingeniously been put on tap, delivering premium cocktails in moments. The vibrant, flower-filled space and welcoming team create the perfect setting for memorable nights out –from after-work drinks to weekend celebrations.
Open Wednesday–Saturday thecocktailcart.co.nz
NEIGHBOURHOOD EATS – TASTE OF SICILY
After the sell-out success of last year, Hayes Common’s Sicilian Night is back – and this time, there’s an extra reason to book early.
Join me and the Hayes crew for a vibrant evening celebrating the flavours, warmth and generosity of Sicily, brought to life through a three-course shared feast inspired by classic Sicilian dishes, seasonal produce, finished with the unmistakable Hayes Common spin. Think bold Mediterranean flavours, relaxed hospitality and plates made for sharing.
If you’re keen to discover why I love Sicily and why our Taste of Sicily tour sells out each year, make sure you book your spot.
After an 18-month break, Tash and I have decided to bring The Sauce podcast back. This is the dinner party you never want to leave. We’re serving up interviews, hot takes, food trends, and irresistible libations.
We're not here to reheat press releases or parrot marketing spin. We're pouring out the truth about what (and who) makes this country taste bloody good. Pour yourself something good and listen up!
Thesaucenz.com
FLAVOURS OF PLENTY FESTIVAL
The fifth edition of the Flavours of Plenty Festival returns from 16 April to 3 May with the theme ‘Pushing the Palate’ – a bold celebration of fearless flavour, creative flair and culinary innovation that’s sure to surprise and delight.
This annual celebration of the Coastal Bay of Plenty’s vibrant food scene showcases the people, places and produce that make this bountiful region so special, with events ranging from coastal dining and long-table lunches to hands-on workshops and tastings.
Here’s a taster of what’s on the menu.
The festival will open again with the Battle of the Snack (16 April), now in its fourth year. This thrilling event brings local chefs and rising talent together to compete as they create the most mouth-watering canapés.
Join the team at Florence for Firenze Spettacolare (Spectacular Florence), an evening that captures the flavours of the city and the charm of Tuscany. Inspired by travels through the region, the menu showcases authentic Italian dishes with a playful twist.
For the first time ever, Tauranga will host the 2026 New Zealand National Chilli Eating Challenge on Wharf Street. Top competitors, including local chilli legend Shannon Leigh and 2025 New Zealand champion Jesse Painter, will face escalating heat in a fiery battle for the national champion title. Come along to watch the action, browse stalls from local and national hot sauce makers, and enjoy restaurants and bars serving their own spicy specials. Think you can take the heat? Sign up to compete against the region’s fiercest chilli eaters.
Five Go Wild is back! A five-course degustation menu created by five of the region’s best culinary talents.
Melting Point at Solera is a five-course savoury dinner where ice cream takes the spotlight in every dish.
The Big Bay Brunch at Pāpāmoa Surf Life Saving Club will have you enjoying a hyper-local Sunday brunch featuring the Bay’s top producers.
Smoke on the Water at Fisherman’s Wharf in Ōhope includes an open-fire cooking demo and a smoky four-course dinner.
Get off grid with a campfire feast under the stars at Smoke, Fire & BBQ.
This one-night-only farm adventure has guests head beyond the gardens to a secluded spot, where fire and smoke lead the menu.
A BBQ including dessert and s’mores is followed by a small whiskey tasting, along with BBQ tips, tricks and optional hands-on moments, all enjoyed by the fireside beneath brilliant, star-filled skies.
Learn the art of making croissants and hand-stretched pizza with the team from Chez Louis at L'Atelier in Whakatāne. Apprendre Croissant + Pizza is a workshop that blends skill, creativity and plenty of laughs.
Gnam (Yum) Cha at The Trading Post – An eight-dish yum chastyle lunch fusing Asian and European flavours.
Get the younger generation involved with the Kids Kai Trail at Jubilee Park in Te Puke. This is a fun, family-friendly food trail filled with tasty treats and hands-on garden activities.
Hikoi & Hākari at Otawhiwhi Marae in Bowentown is a cultural experience of traditional stories and kai.
Experience a cultural journey with Te Whānau a Tauwhao and the Echo Walking Festival at Otawhiwhi Marae. Begin with a guided hīkoi, learning about traditional Māori foraging practices and connections to the land.
Plates of Plenty Challenge 1 April – 3 May 2026
Local eateries across the Coastal Bay of Plenty are stepping up to create one-off festival dishes that celebrate the very best of regional ingredients. Participating eateries must use at least three of the ingredients from the box of local products to create a unique dish that showcases their creativity and the richness of the local
food scene. Expert judges will crown the Judges’ Choice Award. You can vote in the People’s Choice Award after eating your way around the region.
The producers taking part in this year’s challenge are: Waitoa Fresh Chicken, Lady Alchemy, Curds First Cheese, Aroha Kai, Native Tree Farm, Lumberjack Brewery (with their Festival beer Fork’n Good), The Flavorsmith, and Kaimai Eggs.
flavoursofplentyfestival.com
www.neatdrinks.co.nz
A Decade of Hayes
WORDS DENISE IRVINE | IMAGES ASHLEE DECAIRES
When you head down Wellington Street to Hayes Paddock in Hamilton East, a big green building stretches out before you. It’s set back from the street on a corner site, and there are typically people sitting at outdoor tables in the sun, amid kids, dogs, bikes and gardens. The Waikato River is opposite and you always can count on being well watered and fed here.
This is Hayes Common Neighbourhood Eatery, opened in 2016 by hospitality couple Lisa and Brent Quarrie, on the premise that every community needs a common hub.
Lisa and Brent are both trained chefs, and when they took on Hayes Common the ex-Aucklanders owned a cafe in Hamilton’s CBD. They were living in Hayes Paddock when the building down their street became available. They loved its unique location and they knew exactly what they wanted to do with it: create a local eatery with great food and a warm-hearted, unpretentious style.
Ten years on, just ahead of their anniversary celebrations on March 18, they’re telling Hayes Common’s story at lunch this Wednesday. The place is busy with customers and staff, Brent’s ordered the beef and lamb burger, Lisa’s having smoked fish pate, and there is a bowl of fries for Ruth (14) and Lucy (11). Their daughters were preschoolers when Lisa and Brent developed Hayes Common and nowadays Ruth works in the cafe on weekends. Brent jokes that they’re breeding their own staff.
Their maître d’, Hayden Brandt, has been with them since opening day and he’s meeting and greeting on the floor today. Head chef Dan Lawrence is at the helm in the kitchen, and other staff are taking orders, ferrying food, coffee and drinks. Brent and Lisa say they have worked with many exceptional people who have contributed to the eatery. Their own role nowadays is to be the glue that holds everything together, and let their staff shine.
On a trip to France with their children last year, they could comfortably step away knowing they’d left their restaurant in capable hands. This, they say, is a measure of success. Perhaps another one is that Hayes Common is a regular in the nationwide Cuisine Good Food Guide, and there are loyal Hamilton East customers who drop in each day for coffee, along with those who drive across town for a seat at the table.
“Our ambition was always this,” says Brent. “A space that was a good fit for locals, families, and our staff, everyone, informal but polished.”
“We felt like we were the custodians of this building, the kaitiaki,” says Lisa. “It was important that we didn’t mess it up. We wanted to do something holistic, use the space well by providing good local food, service, lighting, music – the right mix.”
Hayes Common has a long history: built in 1945, it was previously home to a butcher, grocer and dairy. Since then it has been a studio for Waikato potter Tony Sly, and its first hospitality incarnation was as Hydro Majestic Café.
The premises sit at the heart of Hayes Paddock, which was developed as a bold new garden suburb between 1939 and 1945. More than 200 state houses were built in the area and it is now protected on Hamilton’s district plan as a heritage precinct.
Brent and Lisa’s customers frequently share stories of living in the neighbourhood and have fond memories of the former shops. “The building has always been something to somebody,” says Brent.
It was looking tired when Lisa and Brent bought the lease in 2015, and it was a much bigger undertaking to refurbish it and get new compliance than they’d envisaged. They spent months creating the interior design with Auckland company Material Creative, and working on graphics and branding with Hamilton’s Allan Deare, of Area Design.
“We wanted it to look like it had always been here, with a patina of its own and colours taken from the immediate environment,” says Lisa.
For the menu, the plan was always to use as many local food suppliers as possible and to develop dishes that reflected this, with robust, flavourful, textural ingredients. Familiar but with a twist, Lisa says. Hayes Common crowd favourites, such as bao buns, miso potatoes and duck wings, will be a must-do on celebration menus planned for this month.
Sustainability has been at the core of Lisa and Brent’s business, from eating seasonally and using regional suppliers, to practices such as growing some of their own vegetables, recycling packaging, using rescued fruit, and reducing food waste through their well-researched onsite hot composting system.
Crucially, Hayes Common is currently diverting around four tonnes of food waste from landfill every year and the business is part of the Kai Keepers pilot programme, aimed at measuring and reducing food waste nationally.
Lisa is now looking to share her knowledge on waste reduction with hospitality businesses who want to do similar work. She is also involved with hospitality initiatives at Tourism Waikato, and is the Restaurant Association’s Waikato branch president.
“Our key mantras are sustainability, community and team work,” she says. “We’ve kept innovating and we’re proud of being part of the Hamilton food scene since 2007. We’ve watched it grow and diversify and we think we’ve added to it. We really feel like we belong here.”
While Lisa and Brent may make hospo look seamless, they’re quick to say they’ve made every mistake possible. They’ve also navigated the challenging years of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as two rounds of disruptive road-works outside their restaurant, and more recently the country’s cost-of-living crisis.
These things have all had an impact on customer numbers and staffing, and at times they’ve adapted their opening hours to better ride the changes.
They made a hard decision to pull their night-time service post-Covid but say it is important to keep reviewing things. “We understand the work and we can see things that need fixing, and do it quickly,” says Lisa.
But if they take something out, what do they replace it with, and maintain their reputation for consistency? Nowadays they are focusing on some great special events; they’re open daytimes, Wednesday to Sunday, and doing Friday and Saturday dinners during daylight saving months.
Lisa and Brent say they’re proud that after 19 years of working together, they’re still in hospo, still enjoying it, and they still love each other, and their solidarity as a couple has got them through some tough circumstances. “We can both do everything,” says Lisa. “We can back ourselves. It was always our goal to be our own bosses, have something with our own signature.”
Hayes Common
33 Jellicoe Drive, Hamilton East, Hamilton hayescommon.co.nz
Denise Irvine
Denise Irvine is a born-and-bred Waikato journalist and foodwriter. Her work frequently showcases the region's talented chefs and food producers; she says we have the best of the best here.
Hamilton Central Hospo Heroes
Hospo has had it hard over the last few years, so we thought we’d highlight some of our Hamilton Central Hospo Heroes
Like the Glens at Rocket who have been fuelling Hamiltonians since 1995 (I’ll do the math for you, that’s 31 years!), close behind Rocket is Scotts Epicurean, an institution in the Tron and clocking up 26 years this year. While Scotts have had several owners over their quarter of a century, they have all stayed true to the vision and remained a firm favourite of locals.
In this camp has to be the city’s most awarded restaurant, Palate, and chef Mat McLean, who just celebrated their 21st year in business in Hamilton Central.
Also in the longstanding excellence category is Suzanna Rislund Fullana and the team at Gothenburg who this year mark 17 years of serving great food in Hamilton.
And if we are celebrating longstanding members of the hospo scene we have to mention Dave Tourelle from Kopi. Dave has coached, congratulated and fuelled so many of us over many decades.
With caffeine levels sorted, let’s focus on evening libations. John Lawrenson, the King of the Southend, has kept Hamilton Central’s reputation as a great place to party, while Alex Hudson brought the cool when he opened Wonderhorse in 2012.
Wonderhorse recently moved inside the BNZ Waikato Theatre to form part of the Hamilton Hotel, a huge asset to Hamilton and the wider region. The team behind Hamilton Hotel includes Mat Pedley, the creative brain behind Mr Pickles, which has been providing cool vibes and drinks to the central city since 2018.
Going back just a decade and there was no Vietnamese offering in Hamilton Central, that was until Pat and Ann Chaimontree opened a very modest Vietnamese eatery on Victoria Street. Hamiltonians took to it and it grew into the beautiful eatery Banh Mi is today on Riverbank Lane.
In more recent times other eateries have arrived in town offering locals an alternative and proving there is an appetite for it. Hello Rosie is a totally vegan bakery in Casabella Lane run by Renae Josephs and Dan Johnstone. In London Street, Hannah Alley’s cafe The Wooden Spoon whips up gluten free options.
The above are just a snippet of the hard-working hospo people that keep our city fuelled, provide a place to party, celebrate or simply know your name and greet you with that much needed smile.
I know there are hundreds more, like Clara and Krishna at Plus 91 Cafe on Victoria Street, Laura and Mike from Dot & Winnies and of course Chrissy and Luke from Cream Eatery.
I used to quite like brunch, but now I’m of the age where I’m considering how many actual years I have left on this earth to do things and brunching ain’t really it.
With the clock silently ticking, I’m up early and it’s either clearly breakfast or lunch. The weird midmorning love child meal of them both I now find rather annoying. It’s a slothful event that slows you down for the day and buggers up dinner because your morning was abducted, so by 5pm you’re ravenous and ready to devour anything that gets in one’s way.
Disgruntlements aside, these two recipes, even though they’re reluctantly branded brunch, are fit for all day affairs. Designed to devour whenever one needs a little pick me up, whether it’s mid-morning and one is lately risen and awfully dusty from the night before, or you’re just famished and it’s embarrassingly too early for lunch or dinner – fret not, these tasty treats will definitely do.
Gâteau Invisible
(RIDICULOUSLY FANTASTIC FANCY APPLE CAKE)
This cake is exactly as described – it looks and tastes as fancy as f-ck, so much so that your guests will think you’ve snuck off to some pompous pâtisserie course in Paris while their backs were turned. Ridiculously simple in manufacture, delicate layers of thinly sliced apple are suspended in sweet spongy custard cake. What’s not to love? Even if you bugger it up and its presentation is questionable, it’s still going to taste good.
It is a good idea to use a mandoline for this recipe, but by all means feel free to torture yourself by thinly slicing the apples by hand.
about 5 medium apples (I’m not pedantic about what variety to use here – I think the joy is in the varied results across different apple types)
3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
²⁄³ cup milk, slightly warmed
50g butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla paste
½ cup high grade flour
½ cup icing sugar
1 heaped tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
squeeze of lemon juice
vanilla ice cream or Tatua crème fraîche to serve
Line a 23cm springform cake tin with a large piece of baking paper to contain the cake batter. The mix is very liquid, so use a solid cake tin or loaf tin if you don’t have baking paper big enough, lining them with over hang
to make lifting the cake out easy.
Pre-heat oven to 170°C fan bake.
Whisk the eggs, milk, melted butter and vanilla paste together.
Add the flour, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and mix until smooth.
Core and thinly slice all the apples. (I don’t bother to peel my apples as I like the added texture, but go for your life. The thinner the slices the more fancy she will look.) Squeeze over a bit of lemon juice to stop the apple slices browning as you go.
Place the slices in a large bowl and pour over the batter to coat.
Layer the battery apple slices into your lined cake tin, pouring over any remaining batter.
Bake for around an hour until soft when tested.
Cool complety before slicing.
Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Fiona Hugues | Born in Hamilton, multiinternational award winning food stylist & creative multi-hyphenate Fiona Hugues spent her childhood gallivanting around the Waikato countryside on horseback. After Hillcrest High School, Elam School of fine Arts took her to Auckland where she now resides on a rural property with her French husband, teenage children & a plethora of animals. From photographing food, art directing commercial campaigns to designing restaurants, her creative skills have encompassed a multitude of genres. Named one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s TOP 50 Women in Food and Drink to watch in 2024 she brings the beauty of food, the joy of eating and art of making things look good to her many clients, and these pages.
2 courses $60
3 courses $75
5 course chefs’ menu $95
Skycity Hamilton
346 Victoria Street, Hamilton palaterestaurant.co.nz
We
call this a
Picky Plate or Piccoli Piaceri
(ITALIAN FOR LITTLE PLEASURES)
Here I’ve layered soft jammy eggs with a decent wad of garlicky herb butter (but herby mayonnaise would be fab too)
Sauerkraut and a few Guindilla peppers
Finely sliced red onion rings and capers
The best hot smoked salmon you can afford
An oozy wedge of washed rind brie
For an alternative, swap the jammy boiled eggs for a couple of sunny sides with a little chilli oil. Add a few endive leaves for bitterness with a wee knob of creamy chevre, pickled vegetables, olives, dates or prunes, slices of cheddar with some decent chutney.
You’re welcome.
Autumn Harvest
RECIPES & IMAGES EMMA GALLOWAY
Now’s the time to get in the kitchen and preserve the last of summer’s bounty, ready to savour over the cooler months when pickings grow a little thin.
Tomatoes are full of flavour, and if you don’t grow your own, they are often cheap and plentiful at this time of the year. If you have access to fresh boysenberries, make use of them in this delicious jam recipe, but if you don’t, New Zealand-grown frozen berries (find them at Vetro) work just as well too.
Spiced Tomato + Apple Chutney
This lovely sweet spiced chutney is perfect to serve with cheese and crackers, cheese toasties or spread onto burger buns or sandwiches.
MAKES APPROX. 6 X 280ML JARS
1 kg ripe tomatoes, cored and finely diced
500g (approx. 4–5) cooking apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored and finely diced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
4 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp black mustard seeds
500g onions, finely diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tsp ginger, finely grated
1 long red chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp fine sea salt
500g brown sugar
300ml apple cider vinegar
Dice tomatoes and apple and set aside. Toast cumin, fennel and coriander seeds in a dry pan, then grind. Heat oil in a large heavybased saucepan over medium heat, add mustard seeds and cook until they just start to pop. Add diced onion and cook 4–5 minutes, until tender. Add garlic, ginger and chilli and cook for a further 30 seconds. Add ground spices, curry powder and salt. Stir well, then add diced tomatoes, apple, brown sugar and vinegar. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer approx. 1 hour, until thick. Take care towards the end of cooking, and stir more often, as it can easily catch on the bottom. Ladle into sterilised jars (see jam recipe), screw on lids tight, but not overly so, and set aside until cool. The lids should suck down as the jars cool, forming a tight seal. Any jars that don’t seal, store in the fridge and use within a month. Sealed jars will store in a cool, dark place for up to a year.
Boysenberry, Apple + Vanilla Jam
Bulking this jam out with apples not only gives it a lovely soft texture, but also helps to set the jam faster, thanks to their high pectin levels.
MAKES APPROX. 7 X 200ML JARS
500g boysenberries, fresh or frozen
500g (approx. 4–5) cooking apples (such as Granny Smiths), peeled, cored and finely diced juice of 1 lemon
1kg caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
Pop a small side plate into the freezer. Place boysenberries in a large heavy-based saucepan, along with the diced apples, lemon juice and 100ml water. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until fruit is soft. Add sugar to the pan, and mix until dissolved. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer 20–30 minutes or until setting point is reached. To check this, 15–20 minutes into cooking, remove side plate from the freezer, drop a spoonful of jam onto it, run your finger through the centre, if the line remains without the jam seeping back into the centre, you’ve reached setting point, if not, cook for another 5 minutes before checking again. I think it’s best to undercook slightly and have a soft jam, then to overcook and have a super firm jam. When setting point is reached, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour hot jam into sterilised jars (see note), screw on lids, tight, but not overly so, and set aside until cool. The lids should suck down as the jars cool, forming a tight seal. Any jars that don’t seal, store in the fridge and use within a month. Sealed jars will store in a cool, dark place for up to a year.
NOTE: If the foam that forms on the top of your jam is something that stresses you out, a little trick I learnt off my nana is to add a tiny pat of butter to the pan towards the end to dissipate the foam.
NOTE: To sterilise jars, place freshly washed and rinsed jars in a preheated oven at 120°C for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven carefully with a dry tea towel. To sterilise lids, immerse in boiling water for 5 minutes.
Emma Galloway | mydarlinglemonthyme.com
@mydarlinglemonthyme | @tahu.ceramics
Best-selling author of three cookbooks and award-winning blogger, Emma Galloway is also a chef, photographer and budding potter. After years of living overseas, she has settled back in her hometown of Raglan, where she is inspired by the seasons and her extensive veggie garden.
Made Market | 7 days 401 Grey Street, Hamilton East
Easter Sweet Treats
Funfetti Easter Bunny Biscuits
As cheerful as they are delicious, these sprinklestudded sandwich biscuits are fun to bake and make a lovely homemade Easter gift.
MAKES ABOUT 30 PAIRS, DEPENDING ON SIZE
FUNFETTI BISCUITS
3 cups plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of fine salt
250g butter, softened
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract cup 100s & 1000s
ICING
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp lemon juice
FUNFETTI BISCUITS: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Put the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add the combined flour mixture one cup at a time and mix until just incorporated. Mix in the 100s & 1000s. Divide the dough into two discs and wrap each one in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes.
When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-bake). Roll out one portion of dough at a time on a lightly floured surface to a thickness of 3-4mm. Use cookie cutters* to cut out shapes and place on baking trays lined with baking paper. Any scraps of dough can be pressed together and re-rolled to make more biscuits.
Bake for 8–10 minutes, until lightly golden. Cool on the baking trays for a few minutes until firm, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
ICING: Sift icing sugar into a bowl, add lemon juice and mix well until smooth. Add a little more icing sugar or lemon juice, as needed, until the icing is fairly stiff. Sandwich pairs of biscuits together with a thin layer of icing. Spoon remaining icing into a piping bag and pipe small bunny tails onto biscuits to decorate, if desired. Leave to set. Store in an airtight container.
* A great range of options available at sweetpeaparties.co.nz
Salted Caramel Chocolate Eggs
These handmade delights make a nice alternative to store bought Easter chocolates.
MAKES ABOUT 20–30, DEPENDING ON SIZE
250g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
¼ cup cream
½ can (200g) caramel condensed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp fine salt
cocoa powder, to coat
Place chocolate and cream in a bowl set over a saucepan one-quarter full of simmering water until chocolate melts. Or microwave in short bursts to melt. Stir until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and stir in the caramel condensed milk, vanilla and salt. Cool, then cover bowl and refrigerate overnight, to set.
Once firm, roll into balls and then mould into egg-shapes. Roll in cocoa powder to coat. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Hot Cross Brownies
You only need one bowl to make these fudgy chocolate brownies with shiny crackly tops. Biscoff spread is a creamy spread with a unique caramelised, spiced biscuit flavour. It melts easily and smoothly so makes a great alternative to traditional icing.
MAKES 10
125g butter, melted and slightly cooled
½ cup caster sugar
½ cup packed soft brown sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¼ tsp fine salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cup plain flour
½ cup cocoa powder
200g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped cup Biscoff spread, to decorate
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-bake). Spray 10 individual 100ml capacity cake tins – or use 10 holes of a standard muffin tin.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the melted butter and both sugars until the sugar has dissolved. Stir in the eggs, salt and vanilla to combine. Sift in the flour and cocoa and stir until just combined. Gently stir in the chopped chocolate.
Spoon the mixture into the cake tins, dividing it evenly. Bake for 20–25 minutes on the middle rack in the oven until just set to the touch – this will give the brownies a fudgy texture. Allow to cool in the tins for 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Melt the Biscoff spread only briefly so that it’s a spreadable consistency (you don’t want it to be runny or it will be hard to pipe) then put it in a piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle and use to pipe crosses on top of the brownies.
Le Clerc
Julie Le Clerc is a former cafe owner and chef turned food writer, stylist and photographer. She loves creating doable, flavour-driven recipes inspired by seasonal local produce and assorted world cuisines. Julie has written a bunch of best-selling cookbooks that reflect her cafe background, love of baking, and culinary travels. When she’s not in her own kitchen, you’ll find her dreaming about inspiring destinations, near and far, or off on an eating adventure.
Julie
IS IT PERIMENOPAUSE … OR SOMETHING ELSE?
WORDS NATALIE JACQUES
Many women in their late 30s and 40s begin to notice subtle (or not so subtle) changes in their bodies.
Sleep becomes lighter, moods feel less predictable, energy dips mid afternoon, weight shifts despite unchanged habits, and anxiety can feel unfamiliar or heightened. The question often asked is: Is this perimenopause, or is something else going on?
Perimenopause is the transitional phase leading up to menopause and can begin up to 10 years before periods stop altogether. During this time, ovarian hormone production becomes less consistent. Oestrogen and progesterone may fluctuate month to month, or even day to day, which can contribute to symptoms such as hot flushes, night sweats, irritability, low mood, headaches, and disrupted sleep.
However, hormones do not exist in isolation. Two of the most influential (and often overlooked) factors affecting hormonal balance during this life stage are stress and blood sugar regulation.
STRESS, CORTISOL AND THE HORMONE CASCADE
When the body is under ongoing stress, whether emotional, mental, physical, or even dietary, the adrenal glands increase production of cortisol. In the short term this is helpful. Long term, it can be disruptive.
Chronically elevated cortisol can interfere with progesterone production, worsen anxiety and sleep disturbances, and exaggerate the highs and lows of fluctuating oestrogen. Many women experiencing perimenopausal symptoms are also juggling demanding careers, caring roles, and busy lives, often while running on depleted reserves.
The adrenals play a particularly important role during the perimenopausal transition. As ovarian hormone output becomes less reliable, the body increasingly relies on the adrenal glands to support hormone balance. If adrenal function is already under strain, symptoms tend to feel more intense and less manageable.
BLOOD SUGAR BALANCE AND HORMONAL STABILITY
Unstable blood sugars can quietly drive hormonal symptoms. Skipping meals, relying on caffeine, or eating refined carbohydrates without adequate protein can cause repeated spikes and crashes in blood glucose. These fluctuations trigger cortisol release, placing further pressure on the adrenal glands.
Blood sugar imbalance can present as fatigue, irritability, shakiness, brain fog, cravings, and disrupted sleep – symptoms that are frequently attributed solely to perimenopause. In reality, blood sugar dysregulation often amplifies hormonal symptoms and can make perimenopause feel far more challenging than it needs to be.
SUPPORTING YOUR BODY BEFORE AND DURING PERIMENOPAUSE
Looking after your adrenals and blood sugar regulation before and
during perimenopause can significantly influence how smoothly this transition unfolds.
Foundational support includes:
• Eating regular meals with adequate protein, healthy fats, and fibre
• Reducing reliance on sugar and stimulants
Prioritising sleep and nervous system regulation
• Allowing space for rest and recovery, not just productivity
Herbal and nutritional support can also play a valuable role when tailored to the individual, particularly when addressing stress resilience, energy, mood, and hormonal regulation.
Perimenopause is not a diagnosis of decline. When understood and supported correctly, it can be a powerful reset point for long term health. Often, the question is not simply is it perimenopause? but rather what does my body need right now to feel supported through this change?
Education, awareness, and early support can make all the difference.
NATALIE’S
NATUROPATHIC TIP
What follows is not prescriptive. It is simply what I personally use to keep myself well supported through a busy life and the perimenopause transition.
Sleep is non-negotiable for me. To support quality, restorative sleep, I regularly use magnesium and glycine, which help calm the nervous system and support deeper sleep cycles.
For nervous system resilience and liver support, I include B vitamins, particularly during times of higher stress.
Herbal support is foundational. I use a personalised herbal formula that includes adaptogenic herbs such as Rhodiola, Rehmannia and licorice to support stress resilience and adrenal function, alongside herbs for liver and mood support such as St John’s Wort, ginkgo and, at times, milk thistle
I also prioritise fish oils for essential fatty acids and brain health.
From a dietary perspective, I aim for three balanced meals daily, built around good quality protein, plenty of vegetables, and some fruit to keep blood sugars stable.
And because balance matters, I limit myself to two coffees a day and enjoy wine two nights a week.
We are not aiming for perfection. Just consistency, awareness, and support.
By Natalie Jacques Naturopath & Medical Herbalist BHSc, AdvDip Herb Med, AdvDip Naturopathy
You may not know this but other countries simply call kiwifruit … kiwis. Blasphemy, I know! You’d never get away with that here. Kiwis are people; kiwis are flightless birds that live in the forest and come out at night; kiwis are not small, green (or gold), fuzzy fruits.
Which brings me to two slightly contradictory facts. First, this article is all about kiwifruit. Second, while I am a Kiwi … I haven’t always been one. I moved here in my early twenties, and now find myself trying to do justice to your national fruit.
Here’s the truth: I didn’t grow up eating the fruit. I didn’t indulge in kiwifruit-topped pavlovas every Christmas as a child. And I never saw a kiwifruit growing on the vine until I moved here as an adult. So please keep that in mind while I try my very best to tell you something you don’t already know about these magical little gems.
Kiwifruit (as I have learnt to call them) are not from New Zealand. Not originally. They date back to the 12th century where they grew wild in China and were used not for food, but as medicine. They reached our shores in the early 1900s and, back then, we called them Chinese gooseberries.
During the Second World War, they gained popularity among servicemen stationed here, and by the 1950s this led to a booming export industry. The fruit took so well to our Bay of Plenty sunshine, climate, and rich volcanic soil that they are now synonymous with New Zealand. We renamed them kiwifruit and have been sending them far and wide ever since.
But the name and history are only half the story. These palm-sized treasures are absolutely packed with nutrition. I’m not one to throw the term ‘superfood’ around lightly, but kiwifruit truly deserve the title. They have three times more vitamin C than oranges. As much potassium as a banana. Tiny black seeds filled with omega-3s.
And the fibre! A sluggish digestive system is no match for kiwifruit, which boast an impressive blend of both soluble and insoluble fibre. If you want to get the most bang for your buck, eat the whole fruit: flesh, seeds, and skin. By eating the skin, you’ll increase the fibre content by 50 percent, while also adding an extra dose of folate and vitamin E. And if, like me, you don’t like the fuzz, the smoother skin of the golden variety is much more palatable.
Kiwifruit is a great addition to marinades, with an enzyme called actinidin helping to break down protein, making tougher cuts of meat much more tender. Whether you prefer tangy green or sweet gold, tossing kiwifruit into an autumnal fruit salad adds a pop of colour and a hit of tastebud-tingling acidity.
As if all this wasn’t enough, kiwifruit is also one of few foods that contain serotonin, a natural compound that helps send us off to sleep. Not bad for a national fruit – Kiwis should be pretty proud of our kiwi … fruit!
Rachel Hart
Hailing from Canada, Rachel has fallen in love with life in the beautiful Bay of Plenty where she is a freelance writer with a passion for healthy food. She splits her time between telling people’s stories, creating web content and experimenting in the kitchen.
Kiwifruit
Harvested in Aotearoa New Zealand, March –May, kiwifruit can be enjoyed in more ways than you might think. We love them on a pav, sliced, arranged in neat circles and perhaps some summer berries as well to add to the deliciousness and colour palate.
The enzyme, actinidin, in green kiwifruit has always been known to aid tenderising and marinating meat.
Now we look to using kiwifruit in smoothies and chia puddings, we dehydrate slices for snacking and making jam. Have you made a kiwifruit jam Louise slice? Swap out the raspberry jam for kiwifruit jam.
The tartness of green kiwifruit appeals to me the most and when you hit on the perfectly ripe one, it’s truly divine to eat.
GREEN KIWIFRUIT CARPACCIO
Tiny sprigs of fresh and raw chervil taste like delicate anise with a hint of black pepper and give a pleasant, if somewhat surprising flavour match to kiwifruit. Chervil, a French herb most commonly known for adding to Béarnaise sauce, is well worth growing.
SERVES 4
4 ripe but firm green kiwifruit zest of 1 lime
a few tiny sprigs of chervil or very finely shredded mint leaves
TO SERVE
Raglan Food Co vanilla bean coconut yoghurt 425ml tub Kiwi Sorbet, optional
Peel the kiwifruit, put into a covered container and freeze for 30 minutes and up to an hour. This will help with the slicing.
Use a mandolin to slice the kiwifruit into very thin slices (promise me to use the guard, as kiwifruit without their skins are slippery to handle). Or you can slice with a sharp knife.
Arrange each kiwifruit on their own plate. Finely grate over the zest of the lime and scatter over a few tiny sprigs of chervil. Serve with yoghurt and a good scoop of Kiwi Sorbet, if wished.
KIWIFRUIT GRANITA
A Sicilian icy dessert made using frozen fruit juice, our kiwifruit are perfect for this.
SERVES 4
3 large ripe green kiwifruit, peeled 25g sugar ½ tbsp lemon juice
Roughly dice the kiwifruit and put in a shallow dish, one that is suitable for the freezer and non-metallic. Put in the freezer while you make the simple syrup.
Put the sugar, lemon juice and 80ml water in a small saucepan. Gently bring to a simmer, ensuring the sugar has dissolved, then set aside to cool.
Remove kiwifruit from the freezer and put into a food processor and process until pureed. Pour in the cold syrup and process to combine. Pour back into the freezer dish and freeze for 1½ hours. Remove and use a fork to bring the ice crystals around the edge into the middle. Return to the freezer. Repeat at half hour intervals for up to four hours until you have beautifully shaped ice crystals and a granita that doesn’t melt the moment you take it out of the freezer.
Serve with yoghurt and a bowl of sliced kiwifruit. Granita is also great served alongside a scoop of ice cream or pass around a bowl of whipped vanilla-spiked cream.
TIP – Use the fork to gently scratch/drag the ice crystals.
TREVALLY WITH KIWIFRUIT AND PRESERVED LEMON MUDDLE
Trevally is an oily fish that stands up to the tart and punchy flavours of green kiwifruit and preserved lemon.
SERVES 4
2 kiwifruit, peeled and finely diced
½-1 tbsp preserved lemon, finely chopped (see tip) extra virgin olive oil
4 fillets trevally zest of 1 small lemon a few sprigs of fresh dill
16–20 small olives
Put the kiwifruit and preserved lemon in a bowl. Splash over a little olive oil and mix by very lightly crushing the kiwifruit to muddle with the preserved lemon.
Heat a large frying pan or hot plate over medium heat.
Lightly rub the trevally fillets with olive oil to prevent them sticking to your pan. Add to the pan and cook for about two minutes on each side, but this will depend on the size and thickness of the fillets. Be careful not to overcook to prevent dry fish and remember fish does cook a little more once removed from the heat.
Put a fillet of trevally on each dinner plate and top with some of the kiwifruit muddle. Finely grate over the lemon zest and drizzle with a little extra olive oil. Finish by picking off the delicate feathery green leaves from the dill or use your kitchen scissors to snip the dill over the fish fillets. Scatter each plate with 4–5 olives.
Serve with crusty bread and a simple green leaf salad.
TIPS – Remove and discard the white pith and any pips from the preserved lemon pieces. Wash the skins well and dry. Now they are ready for chopping.
Use olives that have had their stones removed if you want to add them to the kiwifruit muddle.
No dill? Use roughly chopped flat leaf parsley leaves or snipped chives. Late summer/autumn basil would work well too.
A plentiful herb garden, citrus trees and a trial and error vegetable garden give Kathy the starting place for her recipes along with her love of the classics with a modern twist. Named one of Aotearoa NZ’s Top 50 Most Influential & Inspiring Women in Food and Drink 2024, Kathy is a food writer, recipe developer, food stylist and photographer. www.kathypaterson.co.nz
Kathy Paterson
Totally Troppo
Tropical herbs are an easy-to-grow addition to your summer garden, and so worth it for their unique flavour. Vietnamese mint and Thai basil pack a punch in these two easy recipes.
RECIPES + IMAGES AMBER BREMNER
PINEAPPLE AND VIETNAMESE MINT SALAD
Give me a hot day and a pineapple and I’m happy. I have a deep love for tropical fruits and herbs (and chilli of course), so this salad ticks all the boxes. Chilled pineapple and cucumber are sweet and refreshing, and the salad has a low hum of chilli heat, lime and spring onion to keep it bright; texture from bamboo shoots, peanuts and fried shallots; and pungency from the Vietnamese mint. If you haven’t tried Vietnamese mint before, understand that it doesn’t taste like regular mint at all. It has an intense, sharp, peppery flavour and a sort of fruity funk that perfectly complements pineapple. I could happily eat this salad all summer long.
SERVES 4
SALAD
½ a pineapple, skin and core removed, thinly sliced ½ a telegraph cucumber, thinly sliced
1 cup bamboo shoot strips (about half a 540g can)
1 spring onion, thinly sliced about 30 Vietnamese mint leaves, finely chopped (keep a few aside for garnish)
½ cup salted roasted peanuts, roughly chopped ¼ cup fried shallots
DRESSING
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp freshly ground white pepper
½ tsp salt
Mix dressing ingredients and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, use your hands to gently mix together pineapple, cucumber, bamboo shoots, spring onion and finely chopped Vietnamese mint. Pour over the dressing and combine, ensuring everything is coated. Chill until ready to serve.
Just before serving, spread about half of the salad on a serving platter. Scatter with half of the peanuts and fried shallots, then add the rest of the salad, and the remaining peanuts and fried shallots. Garnish with a few Vietnamese mint leaves and serve straight away while the peanuts and shallots are still crisp.
Add tofu or protein of your choice to make it a complete meal, or serve alongside the mushroom pad kra pao for a real feast.
This recipe serves four as a side, or double the recipe to serve bigger portions or more people.
MUSHROOM PAD KRA PAO
Pad kra pao is a very popular Thai stir-fry dish that uses generous amounts of chilli and Thai basil, and a blend of sauces for a spicy, sweet and umami finish. It’s often made with pork or chicken but can easily be made plant-based using tofu, or in this case a mix of fresh oyster and shiitake mushrooms. This dish is quick and easy to make (it’ll be done in the time it takes to cook rice) and it takes me straight to memories of Thailand, where I’ve eaten many versions of this dish with tropical waters in front of me and white sand between my toes. You can use Thai holy basil, which has a peppery, clove flavour, or regular Thai basil, which has stronger anise notes. Both are delicious here.
SERVES 4
¼ cup cooking oil
3–4 shallots, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped (about 2 tbsp)
2–5 fresh red chillies, finely chopped (see notes)
500g fresh mushrooms, finely chopped (I used about ¾ oyster mushrooms and ¼ shiitake mushrooms)
100g green beans, thinly sliced in rounds
1 cup Thai basil leaves, whole
2 tbsp oyster sauce (vegetarian if required)
1 tbsp dark, sweet soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp soft brown sugar
TO SERVE
Cooked jasmine rice
Cut limes to squeeze
Heat cooking oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add shallots, garlic and chillies, and cook for a few minutes until sizzling and fragrant.
Add mushrooms and green beans, and continue cooking, stirring often, until the mushrooms have browned and cooked down a fair bit.
Add the Thai basil, sauces and sugar, and cook for a few more minutes, stirring often, until glossy and fragrant.
Serve straight away with jasmine rice and a squeeze of lime juice.
Try using any leftover mushroom mixture chilled and wrapped in crunchy iceberg or baby cos lettuce leaves. Simply delicious.
NOTES
You can dial the chilli up or down as much as you like, by adjusting the quantity of chillies, or adding in a few small bird’s eye chillies if you really want it hot. I used three long red chillies for a medium level of heat that my children were comfortable with.
I used mushroom-based vegetarian oyster sauce, Thai black soy sauce and light soy sauce, which are easily found at Asian grocers. Alternatively you can use ABC sauce for the dark sauce, and regular soy sauce for the light soy sauce. The combination gives the right balance of umami, sweet and salt.
Amber Bremner | Quite Good Food www.quitegoodfood.co.nz
Amber Bremner is a Hamilton-based food writer and photographer, author of cookbook Simply Veg and popular plant-based food blog Quite Good Food A champion for food that’s good for both people and planet, Amber’s recipes are globally inspired, family-friendly and full of flavour.
ARRAY OF ANTIQUES
Bro ccoli
WORDS LYNDA HALLINAN
When I was a teenager, I didn’t know much about American politics – oh, for a return to those halcyon days! – but I was aware that President George H. W. Bush shared my adolescent antipathy for boiled broccoli.
“I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it,” he famously quipped. “And now I'm President of the United States and I'm not gonna eat any more broccoli!"
My mother, of course, wasn’t having a bar my dinner plate protests. She boiled up broccoli, in rotation with silverbeet, cauliflower and cabbage, until its green florets sagged soddenly. Later, Mum attended microwave cookery night classes and started serving funereal wreaths of broccoli, the wretched stuff having been steamed in a plastic ring mould until it was relieved of not just all taste and texture, but most of its nutritional goodness too. (A peer-reviewed study by Spanish food scientists in the early 2000s, published in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, found up to 97 per cent of health-giving flavonoids are zapped out of existence when broccoli is microwaved.)
Eaten raw or ever-so-briefly blanched, broccoli is a nutritional powerhouse, packed with vitamins A, C and K, plus fibre, calcium, potassium, iron, folate and antioxidants. Not that my teenagers would know; in a perverse twist of genetics, both my boys actually prefer overcooked broccoli and would willingly eat it every night of the week. Indeed, some weeks they do, because once broccoli is ready to harvest, there’s no stopping it. Those tightly permed heads soon loosen their curls and bolt to seed if left unpicked.
If you can’t keep up, slice and freeze the florets for winter soup making, leaving most of the stalk still attached to the rosette of leaves. Almost all broccoli varieties will reward you with a secondary crop of smaller side sprouts, doubling their harvest season.
As the weather cools, broccoli does best when planted in a sheltered, sunny spot. To promote quick growth heading into winter, dig in granular fertiliser then drench weekly with liquid seaweed to encourage big leaves and, consequently, big heads. If you’re growing broccoli in a glasshouse, opt for a fish-based foliar fertiliser to deter whitefly at the same time.
If sowing seeds in trays to transplant, don’t let the soil mix dry out, as stressed seedlings have a habit of ‘buttoning’ (producing a tiny,
premature head) prematurely. Cover your seedlings with fine grade insect mesh to protect your plants from white cabbage butterflies until Jack Frost sends the last lingering caterpillars packing.
Once your broccoli plants have developed fat stalks, you can also safely mulch around the stems with lawn clippings. Not only are these rich in nitrogen, as the grass breaks down it suppresses weed growth while warming the soil like a biodegradable electric blanket.
BEST BROCCOLI VARIETIES:
• For autumn sowing and winter growing, opt for cooltolerant hybrids such as ‘Shogun Winter Harvest’ (Yates Seeds), ‘Winter Green’ (Kings Seeds) or ‘Marathon’ (McGregor’s Seeds). Organic growers can choose from ‘Belstar’ (Kings Seeds) or the heirloom ‘Waltham’ (Kings Seeds), which has a noticeably stronger flavour and a reliable side sprouting habit once the medium-sized head is cut.
• If you’d prefer to transplant store-bought seedlings every fornight, ‘Green Dragon’ (in Zealandia GrowFresh punnets in garden centres) is my no-fail favourite. It can be grown in small gardens or large pots and, after the central head is cut, produces a secondary crop of up to half a dozen miniature heads about a month later.
• In winter, sprouting varieties such as ‘Sticcoli' (Yates Seeds), ’Tender Stems’ (Kings Seeds) and ‘Side Sprouter’ (in punnets) are quicker to crop and provide a long harvest season. Sow ‘Sprouting Winter Rudolph’ (Kings Seeds) for purple-pink florets to liven up your salads.
Lynda Hallinan
Waikato born-and-raised gardening journalist Lynda Hallinan lives a mostly self-sufficient life in the foothills of the Hunua Ranges, where she has turned a former sheep paddock into an organic no-dig vegetable garden at Sweetgum Cottage. Her garden is open to the public by appointment.
A Shared Harvest at Awatere Village
“There is nothing in the world more miraculous than what appears from a tiny, wee seed,” Joy says, holding her fingers close together to show the size of it. “Some seeds are like a pinprick. And then suddenly there are all these leaves. It’s just beautiful.”
It’s the kind of comment that doesn’t need a response. It simply lands, familiar and true, and a few people around the table nod in agreement.
The original plan had been for some of Awatere’s gardening enthusiasts to gather in the community garden itself, surrounded by raised beds and fresh produce, but the weather had other ideas. Instead, we settle into a cosy nook inside the village, cups of tea in hand, with a view across the gardens outside. Rain taps gently at the windows, and beyond them the beds look lush and full of promise.
“It doesn’t matter if the weather’s bad,” someone says with a grin. “Gardening doesn’t stop just because of that, does it?”
It’s a line that neatly captures the tone of the room – practical, warm and quietly optimistic.
Around the group are residents with all kinds of relationships to the community garden. Some are hands-on growers. Some are passionate cooks. Others simply enjoy wandering past, seeing what’s coming along, and stopping for a chat. There are people who plant, people who pick, and people who are very happy to be the ones doing the tasting.
As introductions begin, the conversation loosens quickly. There’s laughter early on, a few familiar jokes, and the easy sense that not everyone here has known each other forever – but they don’t need to. You arrive, you sit down and you’re part of it.
April speaks about arriving at Awatere with a lifelong love of gardening and wondering if she might miss it. Like many others, she’d come from a place where gardening meant large sections, long days and tending things on her own. The idea of that changing felt uncertain at first.
But the resident garden offered a starting point.
What began as a small idea slowly took shape. A bit of compost
here. Some encouragement there. A willingness to try things, see what worked, and keep showing up. The garden didn’t become what it is overnight – it unfolded the same way gardens always do, one season at a time.
Listening to April, it’s clear that what’s grown here isn’t just produce. It’s confidence. Routine. A sense of purpose that’s shared rather than carried alone.
For many in the room, gardening has been part of life for decades. Lifestyle blocks. Long walks to the back fence. Fruit trees, vegetable beds, and the quiet satisfaction of knowing what’s growing where.
Bev talks about how much she enjoys walking through the garden now, even if she’s not gardening in the way she once did.
“It makes you feel like you’re still involved,” she says. “Even if you’re not doing it physically.”
Others nod. There’s comfort in knowing the garden is there, whether you’re planting, harvesting, or simply enjoying the view as you pass by. It’s not about doing everything yourself anymore. It’s about staying close to the things you’ve always loved.
As the conversation settles, attention drifts to the centre of the room.
Laid out on the table is the harvest – beans, herbs, tomatoes, greens – gathered earlier and arranged with a kind of quiet pride. It’s generous and colourful, the sort of spread that makes people lean forward in their chairs. Someone comments on how good it looks. Someone else laughs and says it almost seems too nice to touch.
It doesn’t stay untouched for long.
Joy’s tomato relish sits among it all, made from fruits of an earlier harvest, it quickly becomes a talking point.
She talks about making batch after batch for her family, filling jars that get handed on, expected, relied upon. There’s something grounding in the way she describes it – not as a tradition she’s carefully preserving, but as one she’s simply continuing.
As she speaks, it’s easy to imagine the journey of the ingredients. Tomatoes grown, picked, cooked down slowly. Time allowed to do its work.
When the platter is finally passed around, everyone tucks in. The relish disappears quickly, spooned onto bread, paired with fresh produce, enjoyed with appreciative murmurs and knowing smiles.
It isn’t presented as anything fancy. Just good food, made well, and shared.
As the conversation continues, it becomes clear that while many people enjoy the garden, a few take care to keep it running smoothly.
These days, much of that care sits with April and Laurie.
They talk about the garden the same way others in the room do – practically, warmly, without fuss. They’re always happy to chat, answer questions, or hear ideas. At the same time, they’re mindful that someone needs to keep an eye on the bigger picture, so the
garden stays welcoming, shared, and well cared for.
Alongside them is Glennis, whose quiet generosity is felt throughout the garden. She’s one of those people who simply notices what’s needed and steps in – donating supplies, helping things stay organised, and supporting the garden because she loves seeing it thrive. Her contribution may not always be visible at first glance, but it’s deeply woven into how the garden works.
Once the conversation wraps up, April heads outside for photos among the beds she’s helped bring to life – rain or shine. The garden is still evolving, still learning, still growing. But it already feels deeply loved.
Back inside, the room fills again with easy chatter – recipe ideas, memories, laughter. Someone talks about cooking for family without it feeling like a big effort. Someone else mentions how nice it is to have somewhere to wander to each morning.
Rex sums it up simply. If something’s missing while cooking, it’s easy enough to pop down to the garden and pick what’s needed. It’s said casually, as though that kind of ease has already become part of everyday life.
It’s a reminder that the community garden isn’t just about what’s grown in the soil. It’s about what grows between people.
And at Awatere Village, what begins as something small – a seed, an idea, a conversation – is given the time and care to become something genuinely shared.
Awatere Retirement Village 1340 Victoria Street, Beerescourt, Hamilton awaterevillage.co.nz
Tomato Relish Joy’s
This recipe was Joy’s mum’s and a family favourite for 100 years!
1.5kg tomatoes
2 tbsp salt
6 onions, peeled and chopped
1½ cups malt vinegar
1kg sugar
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tbsp curry powder
4 tbsp flour
Remove the skin from the tomatoes. Place in a bowl with chopped onions and sprinkle with the salt. Leave overnight.
The next day, strain tomato mixture into a pot. Add just enough malt vinegar to cover the mixture.
Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the sugar. Mix the dry ingredients with some malt vinegar to form a smooth paste. Slowly add this to the tomatoes and cook until the relish thickens.
Autumn indulgence served with style
Tatua Specialty Creams add elegance to every creation
Tatua Mascarpone brings a touch of style to autumn cooking. Perfect for favourites like tiramisu, cheesecakes, tarts and cakes, it’s a luxurious alternative to cream. Enjoy straight from the pack or paired with sweet, seasonal flavours. It also adds depth to savoury dishes such as pasta, risotto and soup, turning simple meals into true indulgence.
Proudly New Zealand made | Available in supermarkets nationwide
Egging You On TO TRY EGGPLANT
Many Kiwis, unless of Asian or Mediterranean descent, have yet to learn to appreciate eggplants. I know I was in the camp for many years. But when you taste an eggplant dish that understands what eggplant brings to the table, you too will be a convert.
In Sicily it is hard to go a day without eggplant. It is the main ingredient in their staple dish, caponata. In our spring (Waikato) issue, I went to Dumpling House in Hamilton to find out how they make my all-time favourite veggie dish, crispy eggplant.
What I have deduced is you need to cook eggplant until it is unctuous. This veg is all about texture but not the undercooked chewy texture from the 80s.
EGGPLANT SCHNITZEL
This dish can do two things – it can convince hard core carnivores that vegetables can sometimes be ‘meaty’ and it will win over any eggplant hater.
SERVES 2
2 eggplants cup flour
1 tsp salt
¾ cup water
1½ cups breadcrumbs
½ cup parmesan
TO SERVE
Labneh
Cherry tomatoes
Basil
Extra virgin olive oil
Parmesan
Flaky sea salt
Place the eggplants on a baking tray and bake at 180°C for approx. 1 hour or until the eggplant is completely soft. Place in a bowl and cover.
When the eggplants are completely cool, carefully peel off the skin, leaving the stalk in place. Flatten the eggplant a little, keeping the flesh attached.
In a shallow bowl, whisk together the flour and salt with the water to make a smooth batter.
On a plate mix together the breadcrumbs and parmesan.
Dip each eggplant into the batter and then the breadcrumbs. Heat some oil in a pan and shallow fry over a medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Baking also works!
I love to serve mine on a smear of labneh. You can make your own by straining some good quality Greek yoghurt overnight and then mixing with a pinch of salt and a little lemon zest. Or I love the Fernglen Sheep Labneh available from Vetro.
Then top with a quick salsa of chopped cherry tomatoes that have been tossed with a little extra virgin olive oil and torn basil.
Finish with a final sprinkle of freshly grated parmesan and/or flaky salt.
EGGPLANT & RICOTTA PASTA
You can make this dish vegetarian simply by removing the anchovies.
SERVES 5
2–3 eggplants (the dark purple variety)
extra virgin olive oil
salt
500g packet pasta (like penne or rigatoni)
250g chip of cherry tomatoes
2–3 garlic cloves
1–2 anchovies
1 cup ricotta*
8–10 basil leaves
Chop the eggplants into approx. 1 cm cubes. Drizzle generously with olive oil and season with salt and place on a baking tray. Bake at 180°C for 25–30 minutes until the eggplant is soft.
Put a large pot of water on to boil. When boiling, add a generous amount of salt and the pasta.
While the pasta is cooking, place a little olive oil in a pan along with the cherry tomatoes (sliced in half if large), garlic and anchovies. Once the tomatoes are soft,
place the contents of the pan, along with half the eggplant, ricotta and basil into a blender and blend until smooth.
Place the sauce back into the pan along with the remaining roasted eggplants. Drain the pasta, reserving 3–4 tablespoons of the water, adding this to the sauce along with the cooked pasta.
Toss and serve with grated parmesan.
*I sometimes replace the ricotta with Tatua mascarpone or crème fraîche
HASSELBACK EGGPLANT
Looking for a delicious meat free meal?
PER SERVE
1 eggplant
1 mozzarella ball, sliced or 1 cup of grated mozzarella
1 cup tomato pasta sauce * basil
Slice horizontally (without going all the way through) across the eggplant from top to bottom, with each slice being around 1 cm thick.
Between each slice spoon in some pasta sauce and a slice of, or grated, mozarella along with a basil leaf.
Bake at 180°C for around an hour or until the eggplant is thoroughly cooked.
Serve with some additional warmed pasta sauce.
*Your favourite pasta sauce will work for this. I used my Roast Tomato Sauce from page 46.
Every spring I plant way too many tomato plants, especially considering I’m the only person in the family that eats tomatoes.
The family do love pizza night every Saturday and pasta though, so a few years back I started roasting up my tomato crop and turning it into this versatile sauce.
The recipe below is just a guide. Add more garlic if you love it. Use brown onions if you don’t have red … If space permits, and you have the tomatoes, double or quadruple the recipe.
2kg tomatoes
1–2 red onions, peeled and quartered
1 red capsicum, chopped into 4–6 large pieces, seeds removed 2–3 cloves garlic, peeled slosh of extra virgin olive oil
salt fresh basil or oregano
Depending on the size of the tomatoes, i.e. if they are big beefsteak ones, cut them in half or quarters; if cherry, leave whole.
Place the tomatoes on an oven tray on top of the onions, capsicum and garlic.
Drizzle over some olive oil and sprinkle with salt.
Roast in the oven at 175°C for 1–2 hours. You want the onion and capsicum to be soft.
The longer you roast them the more intense the sauce will be, as more of the liquid will have evaporated. For instance, I roast longer if I’m making pizza sauce than I do if wanting a light pasta sauce.
Allow to cool, then place in a blender with herbs and puree until smooth.
If I’m not using in the next few days I freeze the sauce in Ziploc bags. This means I can stack them in my freezer. Last year I made enough to last us nearly all year.
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FAKING IT
This story idea began with a simple question, when is it okay to fake it? I only use vanilla extract, shunning the essence I grew up with, yet I am happy to slosh some truffle oil (basically synthesised truffle flavour) over my rocket or pizza.
Maple syrup is our family go-to for the traditional Sunday morning pancakes, and I would rather golden syrup (the Kiwi alternative in the 80s) to the cheaper maple flavoured versions on our supermarket shelves and often served in cafes.
I posed this question to a wide range of chefs, food writers and foodies in my life and they all came back with completely different takes on my question. With such a skewed sample audience, I naturally got the message: quality counts. But I also got where they were willing to ‘cheat’ or take the faster track.
Authenticity is an interesting conversation in the world of food today. I prefer real Parmigiano freshly grated over my pasta, but happily broke this rule when Meyer Cheese released their Old Master cheese. In my opinion it was just as good as the imported DOP Parmigiano cheese I was buying, with the bonus of being local.
Liz from Vetro says they have a couple of “New Zealand bries which to me are just as good, if not better, than the French and a much better price”. Her advice, if going for the French ones go for
If going for a French brie, go for a really amazing one.
Similarly with blue cheese. If the recipe calls for blue cheese, Liz believes you need to use a true blue cheese with some grunt, like Gorgonzola or even stilton.
Debate over cheese, their authenticity and their names is one that will continue for some time, especially in New Zealand, as our cheesemakers grapple with new free trade laws coming banning them from using terms like ‘feta’.
An industry that has already grappled with this is the wine industry with the likes of Champagne. And our panel overwhelmingly thought there were many Methode Traditionnelles better than many Champagnes.
Quartz Reef Methode Traditionnelle is a favourite!
Both food writer Amber Bremner and Lisa Quarrie from Hayes Common in Hamilton thought the Quartz Reef Methode Traditionnelle was excellent. Liz from Vetro said there were also many great French bubbles, like Louis Perdrier and Ackerman Crémant de Loire Brut, that aren’t technically Champagne but just as good and better value. But if you were only wanting the real deal, forget the brands you know like Moët and Veuve, Vetro stock Charles Orban Champagne which Liz says “is cheaper than the more traditional well-known ones but in our opinion much nicer”.
Another product many agreed on was pastry. Food writer Julie Le Clerc said, “I love making pastry and find homemade shortcrust pastry far superior to bought. However, I draw the line at making puff pastry on a regular basis, due to the time it takes and because Paneton’s* [made with real butter] is so brilliant.”
I have to agree with Julie and always have a ready supply of their flaky pastry in my freezer. But I would never buy sweet premade pastry. Annabelle White disagrees with me here and loves Paneton's sweet pastry, saying, “Yes, I can make great pastry but Paneton's all butter sweet pastry is already rolled out ready to be
rolled thinner and perfect for fruit pies.”
The theme here is all these foodies read the labels of the pre packaged food they might use as a shortcut. In pastry you are looking for butter, the same ingredient you would use if making pastry at home. In the same vein, Amber says her go to supermarket convenience food is Tonzu vegetarian sausages. “They’re high in protein and actually have very clean ingredients, basically tofu, herbs, spices and natural setting agents.”
Lisa’s quick convenience meal in her family is frozen falafel. And here I have to agree! Who can be faffed making falafel on a Tuesday night? Although she qualifies this admission by saying, “I always make my own garlicky yoghurt dressing and tabouleh to serve with it!”
Julie says, “Charred capsicums* in jars are great and they save a lot of fluffing about roasting and peeling fresh ones. I also love the added flavour the brine gives the jarred versions.”
When after that charred or smoked flavour our panel were quite happy to use a shortcut. Gus Tissink from Fed Foods is happy to pull out the blowtorch and “in small doses” use liquid smoke*. Amber was also a fan of smoke in a bottle, saying, “I love my liquid smoke as a shortcut, and actually it’s hardly even fake. It’s made from capturing and condensing the steam vapours from burning wood.”
Annabelle White loves a good quality supermarket dip – think hummus, pesto and tapenades. “Yes, of course you can make your
Pesto from the supermarket and good olive oil can work where you would need a salsa verde.
own hummus,” says Annabelle, “but equally you are busy. Pesto from the supermarket and good olive oil can work where you would need a salsa verde.”
Annabelle, a realist, advises, “Get savvy with your purchases, and when it’s good there is no problem or guilt using it. It’s about eating well, maintaining your sanity and being honest. Have the confidence to say – no, its not made in my kitchen but it’s really good.”
Warning – if something says ‘flavoured’, think beef flavoured sausages, maple flavoured syrup, fruit flavoured drink … steer clear or read that label. Food manufacturers are always trying to pull the wool over your eyes and the word flavoured is a red flag.
*Find these products at Vetro.
Listen to the full conversation on when it’s okay to fake it on our podcast, The Sauce NZ, available on Spotify, Rova and Apple.
Waikato Innovation Park, Ruakura admin@weaveeatery.co.nz 021 108 8072 weaveeatery.co.nz
Take Two
We’ve all heard it – building a home is stressful! Not so, according to Jenni and Jason Hare and Katrina and Shaun Hewald, both of whom loved the process and results so much they have done it twice. And impressively both times with Downey Designer Homes.
Jason and Jenni are not moving far, just next door in fact. Having built with Downey 11 years ago, their family and needs have grown.
“Jason needs a bigger shed,” Jenni says laughing.
So they are doing it again. Jason says Downey were definitely front runners to get the job the second time around. After all, their current home, built by Downey, won Gold in their category in the Waikato Master Builders Awards. But it wasn’t a forgone conclusion. He still needed to talk with the team and ascertain the same people and processes were in place.
This is what had drawn the couple to Downey in the first instance.
Jason wanted to meet the people planning and building their home and be confident they would complete the job on time and on budget. “As a project manager [for a job], you get a bit of a feel for people.”
Jenni says quality was important too, with Jason confessing he is reasonably fussy.
An initial meeting with Kirsty Johnson, Downey’s Sales Consultant, impressed the Hares, who were then reassured when they discovered Pat Burke was still at the helm. Next, Jason presented the dream, and developed their plan with Dylan, Downey’s Architectural Designer, who incidentally drew up their first house plans too.
A few meetings and Zooms later and the Hare’s had the plans for their new home. When we spoke, they were just about to break ground.
Trust in the Downey process was key to Katrina and Shaun Hewald’s decision to build with them the second time too. That trust extended to the Downey team knowing the couple were expecting twins before their families did!
WORDS VICKI RAVLICH-HORAN | IMAGES BRYDIE THOMPSON
The young couple built one of Downey’s designs in Ōtorohanga after a friend had recommended them. Katrina says, “We went to the Downey show home and were ‘wow!’ We had been to heaps of show homes and none were like Downey’s.”
“Being upfront about what your money gets you”, Shaun says, helped the couple know they were making the right decision. “We liked they were so transparent,” adds Katrina.
The second time around, the Hewald’s started with a plan they liked – The Riverside, and began tweaking this to their needs, including adding an extra bedroom when news their family was about to expand from five to seven.
With four boys, a guest toilet was non-negotiable for Katrina. They also added a guest suite, future proofing the house for possible Airbnb income or coming in handy for a future nanny or grandparents.
Adding much needed square metreage meant some trimming of budgets was necessary, which the couple agree was not a problem, especially with small touches that meant they still got the family home they love.
The kitchen is gorgeous, with little details like the tiles that change direction and include a detail strip between, matching the cabinetry handles. Katrina says the added bonus of having interior designer Bronwyn Turton’s advice “gave me the confidence to do these things I wouldn’t normally”.
Staying in the kitchen, the square island is perfect for a large family, with all five kids being able to fit around, plus plenty of workspace. And ingeniously tucked away in the island is the robo vac, which can come and go.
The laundry is Shaun’s domain, as he’s in charge of the family’s washing, so he was in charge of the benchtop and tile choices in here, leaving the rest of the house in the capable hands of Katrina and Bronwyn, including the snug movie room.
“I’d build again. I love it!” enthuses Katrina.
Shaun agrees the process and results have been great. “This time we knew what was happening, knew everyone and it was just so easy.”
Downey Designer Homes downey.co.nz
MALTA
WORDS & IMAGES VICKI RAVLICH-HORAN
I went for the Caravaggio, Mr Horan for the knights – we both fell in love with Malta.
Sitting in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea yet so close to Africa that the cars are constantly covered in dust blown over from the Sahara Desert, Malta is a magical spot.
As a lover of Sicily and its chaotic charms, I was dubious about Malta, expecting an anglicised version of the island I love. And it’s true, Malta is less chaotic than Sicily. It’s also cleaner! They drive on the left-hand side of the road and English is an official language and thus widely spoken.
For many this makes this 316 sq km island the perfect summer destination, especially the English, for who Malta has long been a favourite spot.
This is also why many online blogs recommend staying outside the old city. The bays of Silema and St Julian are filled with large hotels catering to the crowds of English, here to get some sun,
sea and party. Carry on further around the island and all-inclusive resorts dominate the many beautiful bays.
Next time we visit (and there will definitely be a next time), we will stay in Valetta. This time it was Silema, with the hotel pool and close proximity of the beach swaying me.
We had five nights in Malta before heading to Sicily, which is just a 20-minute flight away. Each day was spent exploring something new: Mdina, Marsaxlokk, Gozo and finally Valetta.
After just a few hours in Valetta, I found myself seeing if we could change our flights and stay a few extra days.
Valetta is the capital of Malta. Named a UNESCO World heritage site in 1980, it is hard to believe it was devastated in World War Two*.
The very reason many tourists stay outside Valetta is what I believe is part of its charm. The city was built from local limestone after the siege of Malta in 1565. These historic buildings with
their colourful enclosed balconies are protected and make Malta postcard perfect. But they lack modern conveniences like parking and lifts to help you get your luggage to the fourth floor.
And I get that, as well as the attraction of a pool in such a hot place. But I’d rather be immersed in the history, wandering the narrow streets in the early morning, stopping to enjoy a coffee and cake at local treasure Caffe Cordina, or to take a stroll in the evening, stopping for a drink on a rickety table precariously perched on the cobbled streets or steps while taking in the view.
Malta is fairly small so, with the exception of the islands like Gozo, you can get to each town in little more than 20 minutes. And because they drive on the left-hand side, renting a car and driving is a great option. Parking will be your only problem.
VALETTA
Malta has a long history. From the Phoenicians to the Romans, the Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Knights of St. John, French, and the British. There’s a lot to unpack, and Valetta is a great place to start.
We split up and still didn’t get to see everything Valetta has to offer. While Mr Horan headed to the Archaeological Museum, I joined the queues at St John’s Co-Cathedral & Museum. Entry, at 15 euros, is not cheap for a church, but it is worth it!
Churches in Europe are like castles in the UK or temples in Asia –they’re everywhere, which is why it is easy to dismiss yet another church. I had come to see Caravaggio’s Beheading of St John, so wasn’t really fussed on learning much about the church until I stepped inside and was bowled over by possibly the most lavish baroque church I had even seen.
Thankfully the entry fee comes with a free audio guide to help explain what you are seeing. Built in the 1570s by the Knights of St John, it initially had a very modest interior. But in the 1700s it was redecorated in the Baroque style that now makes it one of the finest examples of high Baroque architecture in Europe.
But as impressive as the church is, the Caravaggio is more so. The icing on the cake being the display of this masterpiece where you can learn more about the man as well as his artwork.
Digital projections allow you to come 'face-to-face' with the artwork and the opportunity to understand Caravaggio’s creative process via scientific studies showcasing his brushwork and use of light.
We regrouped at the Upper Barrakka Gardens. Here you get a gorgeous view of Valletta’s Grand Harbour and each day at noon and 4pm the cannon fires. It’s also from here you can head down
and learn more about Malta’s most recent history in the Lascaris War Rooms.
This underground tunnel complex housed Britain's top-secret command in Malta during World War Two and is now a fascinating museum. Well worth the visit, but allow plenty of time.
MARSAXLOKK
If in Malta on a Sunday, head out early to Marsaxlokk. Here the harbour is filled with fishing boats, including the iconic Maltese luzzu. On Sundays the harbourside comes alive with a fresh fish market. With tourism now being a bigger economic contributor to the Maltese economy than fishing, the market inevitably also contains more and more souvenirs. But what can you do? Just know that the pistachio crème they are giving free samples of is likely to come from Sicily. And don’t be tempted by the cookies and baked goods charged by the gram. Mr Horan had the heaviest and most expensive scone in his life here!
If seafood is your thing, Marsaxlokk is a great place for lunch and to get your fresh seafood fill. Otherwise grab lunch from a bakery and drive east and enjoy lunch and a swim at the natural rock formation, St Peter’s Pool.
MDINA AND RABAT
Mdina is a must visit. Set aside a full day to discover this historic fortified city and nearby Rabat.
Set up on a hill, Mdina was first settled by the Phoenicians and was the capital of Malta until the Knights of St John arrived. There are a number of musuems to visit or 3D experiences that give you an insight into the history of Mdina along with the Knights of St
John, but you could easily spend the day just exploring the streets, stopping for lunch and enjoying the atmosphere.
Speaking of lunch, there are many options. If you are looking to splurge, The de Mondion is a 1 Michelien star restaurant inside The Xara Palace Relais and Chateaux where the food and view are spectacular.
Or settle for the hotel’s slightly more casual restaurant in the square, Trattoria AD1530. A local favourite since 1975 is Fontanella Tea Garden. What started as a hobby for owner Louisette, is now one of the most popular cafes in Mdina. Famed for its chocolate cake and strawberry meringue, make sure you get a table with a view.
A visit to Rabat, just a few hundred metres away is a must! While Mdina has few actual residents, Rabat is a living, breathing town. And as you make your way from Mdina to Rabat, make sure you stop at Is-Serkin (Crystal Palace), Malta's most iconic pastizzi shop. This 24-hour, ‘no-frills’ shop will guarantee your first bite of a pastizzi is the real deal.
Pastizzi are super flaky pastry traditionally filled with ricotta or peas.
Like much of Malta, what lies under Rabat’s streets is almost as interesting as what’s above. In Rabat you can head underground and visit the Catacombs of St Paul and St Agatha; and St Paul’s Grotto and the labyrinth of underground passages under the Wignacourt Museum, which were once ancient burial sites, but were repurposed as air raid shelters during World War Two, and even includes a historic bread oven that once served hundreds of locals during the war.
GOZO
Gozo is an easy day trip from Malta, reachable by ferry, water taxi or the many day trip tour providers. We opted for the latter, hoping to pack in as much as possible in the one day. My advice would be to stay longer and enjoy the slower pace and beautiful countryside and beaches.
On Gozo you can discover ancient salt pans, enjoy traditional bakeries, and taste the local sheep cheese, honey and sun ripened tomatoes. This is simple food from the land that has sustained and been enjoyed for millennia and should be experienced in an unhurried way.
MALTESE DISHES TO TRY
Rabbit was once a peasant dish but is now considered the national dish. Versions of rabbit stew (stuffat tal-fenek) and roasted rabbit with potatoes can be found in Michelin star restaurants and local trattoria alike.
Timpana is the Maltese mash up of an Italian lasagne and a British pie. Macaroni pasta is mixed with meat ragù, onion, egg, grated cheese, and tomato, then encased in a pastry shell.
Ftira, not to be confused with the gozitan ftira (a kind of pizza with a unique dough, found in the traditional bakeries around Gozo), in Malta is a hearty sandwich made with a crusty sourdough filled with tomatoes, fragrant olive oil, tuna, capers, and olives and creates a flavour explosion that connects you to Malta’s Mediterranean roots.
We enjoyed a great one at Museum Café on Melita Street, Valletta. This is one of Valetta’s oldest cafes and you know it’s good because it’s always packed with locals.
Wash your ftira down with a Kinnie. Malta’s signature soft drink is made from bitter oranges and aromatic herbs.
Or if it is aperitivo hour, the Maltese have you sorted with an array of foods perfect for an antipasti platter. Zalzett is a coriander-flavoured sausage. Galletti are crispy water crackers. Hobs biz-zej, is a bruschetta-like bread with tomato and olive oil. Ġbejna is the local sheep milk cheese.
Looking for a sweet treat? Imqaret is a date-filled pastry, deepfried and often infused with aniseed.
*Malta was the most bombed place on earth during World War Two. Malta endured over 3,000 air raids and 15,000 tonnes of bombs between 1940 and 1942. The intense bombardment caused over 10,700 buildings to be destroyed or damaged, with over 1,500 civilian deaths, and earned the island the George Cross for bravery.
Keen to discover more of Malta with me? Bookings for our inaugural Taste of Malta tour in June 2027 open soon. Email hello@tasteoftours.com for more details. www.tasteoftours.com
Taste of Tours are small group tours giving you a real taste of place. For more details on any of these tours please visit
4SPACESLEFT 2SPACESLEFT
This is a truly intimate tour. Our base is a gorgeous villa just outside Bologna, perfect for us to explore the nearby towns of Parma, Modena and Ravena, discovering the true heart of Italian cuisine.
$6550 pp twin share
“Another fabulous adventure completed. If you wish to adventure beyond the predictable, see a country behind the scenes, get to know the people and their past with an equally adventurous group of people, superbly organised and down-to-earth host and local guides - Taste of Tours will take you there.”
MANDY AND GREG JARVIS
$11,9750 pp twin share
“I was apprehensive about joining a group tour as I have never been in a group before, but it was a perfect size and really enjoyable. It was so great to not have to think about any planning and just enjoy the range of experiences.”
SHARON WHITAKER, TASTE OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA 2024
“Vicki’s local knowledge was great and her expertise in all matters food and wine related added another level. This is a tour that opens up experiences not normally available due to the knowledge of the local guide. So many wonderful experiences.”
KAY SCHULDA, TASTE OF SICILY 2023
Book now for 2027 tours to Malta, Tasmania, Croatia, Emilia Romagna, Sicily, Puglia and Sri Lanka
11 - 16 JUNE 2026
Join your hosts Vicki and Julie Le Clerc travelling down the stunning coast of Croatia. Discover the rich history and stunning beauty of this nation while enjoying their wonderful food and wine.
19 JUNE – 1 JULY 2026
Tea Talks
WITH NATIVE TREE FARM & WEBSTER’S
WORDS VICKI RAVLICH-HORAN | IMAGES ERIN CAVE
Mark Webster from Webster Tea says right from the beginning he had wanted to include New Zealand ingredients in their teas.
Their Kawakawa tea was first. Mark explains: “I was aware of its medicinal benefits, which led me to research it further. Then I started noticing kawakawa everywhere! Around the base track of the Mount, growing wild wherever I looked. It felt like a no-brainer to incorporate it into a tea, and I thought it might pair nicely with green tea.”
“Kawakawa,” Mark explains, “is quite peppery, so we added spearmint to balance that out on a base of green tea.” Enthused by the response to this tea, Mark set his sights on mānuka, first blended with a Rooibos base and more recently their Kiwi Breakfast Tea.
Mark says the Kiwi Breakfast tea “came about because we’re big fans of black tea. We wanted to create something in the style of an English breakfast, but with a distinct Kiwi twist. The mānuka adds a subtle, unique aftertaste and some added benefits – mānuka can support immunity and has antibacterial properties while keeping it a hearty breakfast tea. I love that it’s still very much an English breakfast style, just with that local lift.”
Proving these teas would work and people would enjoy them turned out to be easier than sourcing the New Zealand native ingredients, which is why we have wound our way deep into the hills behind Whakatāne.
Our destination is Native Tree Farm, who now grow, harvest and process the kawakawa and mānuka Webster’s use in their teas.
Mark says previous to discovering Native Tree Farm, supply of both kawakawa and mānuka was inconsistent both in quantity and quality. He had almost given up when he saw Native Tree Farm kawakawa powder in a local shop and sent them an email.
Dan Andrews laughs as he explains kawakawa is slow to process. “We were ceasing additional supply of kawakawa when we got Mark’s email, and it was so nice we couldn’t say no.”
Dan and wife Laureen began Native Tree Farm a decade ago. Their fourteen acres was an old airstrip and as Dan describes it “a blank canvas”. The pair, with a young family at the time, both had professional careers, Laureen a teacher, Dan in management.
But the land was calling. One summer they dreamed of selling flavoured corn at the market so tilled their entire suburban backyard to plant a corn crop. The corn was a disaster, but the pair were not deterred. Puha was next and more successful.
Then the opportunity arose to buy the land they now call home and they jumped at it, not really knowing what they would grow.
What did grow was their love of New Zealand natives and the power these plants have.
Laureen’s koro was the seed, an expert in native plants and their medicinal benefits. And with the gift of some special mānuka seeds from whānau, their first plantation was lovingly hand planted following organic guidelines.
Native Tree Farm is BioGro certified and now, along with mānuka, grows kānuka, kawakawa, horopito and kūmarahou. Along with selling some wholesale to Webster’s Tea, these are grown for their own teas, powders and essential oils and for sale on their website.
The old airstrip has slowly been transformed as the Andrews discover better ways to grow, harvest and preserve their growing range of natives.
As we sit chatting, Dan points out the rows of plants behind me. They are kūmarahou, a plant I had never seen or heard of before. Its yellow flowers create a naturally velvety lather, hence its nickname ‘gum diggers soap’.
But Dan says before the gum diggers arrived “it was one of the most esteemed plant for Māori”.
Because of its healing properties as a remedy for skin complaints, bronchial illnesses, cold and flu as well as digestive issues and that there is not much around, Laureen says “it is highly sought after”.
The fact that there is not much around, the pair discovered, could be that it is not easy to grow as a plantation (from seed). “We are starting to get our heads around it now,” admits Dan. This is the case for many of the crops they grow, which have been a case of trial and error.
Back to kawakawa and the difficulties plantation growing this plant that, as Mark witnesses, seems to flourish in the bush. Their current plantation growing under shade cloth are seedlings that have appeared in the mānuka rows, spread there by birds. This successful approach has Dan planning to expand the area under shade and a number of kawakawa plants.
There are plans afoot to replant the mānuka to make it more manageable to harvest, which is all done by hand. As we wander the rows to see how this is done, Dan points out the kānuka, a plant that research is proving could match mānuka in many ways.
While mānuka is spikey, kānuka is soft and its leaves have a gorgeous, almost citrusy bouquet. I’d certainly buy some essential oil of that!
It’s clear Dan and Laureen have found a beautiful balance here as they marry science with traditional medicine, creating a business with a simpler way of life.
Discover more of Webster’s Tea at their Tea Shop (7 Clarke Road Te Puna, Tauranga) or online at websterstea.co.nz
Mānuka Madeleines
Madeleines are dainty, light and fluffy French cakes baked in a distinctly shell shaped tin. They are delicious warm out of the oven with a cup of tea!
This is by no means an authentic recipe. I have simply taken inspiration from a dainty cake that pairs well with a good cuppa.
My version uses Webster’s Mānuka tea, a mix of rooibos and mānuka leaves, but they would also work well with Kiwi Breakfast tea or for that matter their amazing Earl Grey.
2 tsp Webster’s M nuka tea
½ cup milk
50g butter
2 tbsp honey (preferably m nuka)
cup sugar
1 egg
1½ cups self-raising flour
Heat the milk and add the tea. Allow the milk to cool and tea infuse then strain off the tea leaves.
In a small saucepan melt the butter with the honey. Take off the heat and whisk in the sugar.
Add the tea infused milk and egg and whisk well before adding in the flour. Mix until you have a smooth batter.
Grease your madeleine tin and half fill each hole. Bake at 180°C for 8–10 minutes.
House, Nisbett Street, Hamilton www.thecocktailbar.co.nz
WED & THURS 4-9PM | FRI 3-11 30PM | SAT 1-11 30PM
EVENTS
WELLATHLON AT HAMILTON GARDENS
Discover a new way to move, connect and unwind at Wellathlon, a feel good evening and morning of mindful walking, music and gentle yoga set among the transportive scenery of the Enclosed Gardens at Hamilton Gardens.
21–22 March | $55pp with 10% off for healthcare professionals Hamilton Gardens hamiltongardens.co.nz
ARKANDA WORKSHOPS
Join Wayne in the kitchen for a fun day of food, learning something new.
Portuguese Tarts Workshop – March 28 or 29, 10am
Favourite Dishes From My Travels – The Last 30 Years – April 18 or 19, 9.30am
The Flavours of Rajasthan – Fabulous Food From My Travels – May 3, 9.30am
Classes $100
128A Whitikahu Road, Gordonton email wayne@arkanda.co.nz to book
FALLS RETREAT WORKSHOPS
Kombucha Brewing Workshop
Learn how to make your own kombucha drinks at home to enjoy great gut health. Workshop includes nibbles and coffee on arrival and lunch.
Sunday 22 March | $95pp
Full Monty Organic Gardening Workshop
Join Nicki, Falls’ resident gardener, to learn the fundamentals of growing your own organic, nutrient-dense produce. Includes morning tea on arrival, interactive garden session, take-home notes and a delicious lunch.
Sunday 15 March | $165pp
To book go to fallsretreat.co.nz
LIVE MUSIC
Grab your lunch and head down to Garden Place for live music by great local musicians! 12, 19 & 26 March
Garden Place, Hamilton lovethecentre.co.nz
STORIES IN THE GARDEN
Come on a magical adventure under the trees in Garden Place. Enjoy an hour of storytelling and games with characters from Enchanted Entertainment.
Free Event 14 & 28 March
Garden Place, Hamilton lovethecentre.co.nz
CIRCUS IN THE CENTRE
Family-friendly sessions where tamariki, rangatahi, and whānau can explore circus skills in a relaxed and welcoming environment.
Free Event | 14 March, 1.30pm–3.30pm 21 March & 4 April, 10am–12pm Garden Place, Hamilton lovethecentre.co.nz
LOVE THE CENTRE WALK-THRU BALLOON
Head into the heart of the city and step inside a real hot air balloon at Garden Place.
Free Event 28 March 2026
Garden Place, Hamilton balloonsoverwaikato.co.nz
FLAVOURS OF PLENTY
The fifth edition of the festival returns this year with the theme ‘Pushing the Palate’ – a bold celebration of fearless flavour, creative flair, and culinary innovation that’s sure to surprise and delight.
16 April – 3 May flavoursofplentyfestival.com
NEIGHBOURHOOD EATS – TASTE OF SICILY
After the sell-out success of last year, Sicilian Night is back – and this time, there’s an extra reason to book early.Join Vicki and Hayes
Common for a vibrant evening celebrating the flavours, warmth and generosity of Sicily, brought to life through a three-course shared feast inspired by classic Sicilian dishes.
Thursday 30 April, 6.00pm $95pp | $130pp wine matched hayescommon.co.nz/events
RAGLAN VINE FESTIVAL
Wine, Craft Beer & Spirits Tasting covering all levels of interest
$45 (Earlybird)
Saturday 16th May, 1pm–7pm Raglan Town Hall, 41 Bow St, Raglan raglanvine.com
WAIKATO FOOD SHOW
Take your tastebuds on a culinary journey and experience a fantastic day out with family and friends, sampling the latest foods, wines and delicious products.
Saturday 11 July 9am-4pm, Sunday 12 July 9am-3pm Claudelands Events Centre waikatofoodshow.co.nz
TASTE OF TOURS
Award winning small group, bespoke tours giving you a real taste of place.
Taste of South Australia
Five fabulous nights of foodie fun in South Australia.
1–6 April 2026 (Easter weekend) with Julia Clarke | $3850pp twin share
Taste of Emilia Romagna
Discover the heart of Italian food on this small group tour with Vicki Ravlich-Horan. 11–16 June 2026 – just 2 spaces left $6550pp twin share
Taste of Croatia
Explore everything the beautiful coastline of Croatia has to offer with Vicki Ravlich-Horan and Julie Le Clerc.
19 June–1 July 2026 | $119750pp twin share www.tasteoftours.com
BAKE. Create. CHECK OUT OUR HOMEWARE RANGE ONLINE AND INSTORE.
7 Clarke Road, Te Puna, Tauranga Open 9 -3, Tuesday - Saturday www.websterstea.co.nz SATURDAY 16 MAY 2026
Experience real French village life with me in the medieval town of Chauvigny. Shop at local markets, soak up the history, explore the nearby villages, brocantes, galleries and chateaux. Enjoy the laid-back French country lifestyle as a local. jo@linenandstone.co.nz www.linenandstone.co.nz
