Easter feasting

It’s a bit miserable around our way and with that in mind I thought a bit of colour and crunch could cheer us up this week. Cheesy toastie sandwiches for lunch? Yeah! Go on! Forget about the diet or whatever it is you worry about (too much salt, too much animal fat, frying …) and just make something hot, tasty, crunchy and salty and sit down and enjoy it with a pot of gumboot tea. Ha! If you’re not familiar with the term gumboot tea, don’t think too literally … it’s not boiled down gumboots, just basic black tea we all used to drink before things got fancy.

If you are a home gardener you might be lucky to have some tomatoes still hanging in on your plants. I’ve got three, so no sharing. But farmers’ markets are still offering up outdoor tomatoes so get on the hunt. The thing about roasting BIG tomatoes is that they are fleshy and juicy but not watery, and unlike small tomatoes that evaporate to practically little else but a leathery skin, these are meaty and make a great plate mate to roasts or vegetable dishes. Think an Easter brunch, a roast chicken, a Middle Eastern feast … there’s always a way to include them.

I’ve also made a colourful salad with some of my favourite things: walnuts, pears, edible flowers, baby leaves and herbs, and it makes me feel happy just looking at it, and even happier after eating it. Funny that. It’s a fab light lunch for 4, or divvy it up between 8 as a pretty little plate before an Easter feast.

What would Easter be without chocolate? Miserable. You can check out my recipe for Chelsea Buns here if you are up to fiddling around with yeast, or whip up a batch of chocolatey butter-crisp biccies to share with everyone. Great with a cuppa, and they’ll keep for several days.

The next cooking class is Sunday 30^th April. I also run lots of private classes for groups of friends or corporates. Just flick me an email at Julie@sharedkitchen.co.nz if you want the details.

Meanwhile, I’m off for a cuppa and a biscuit.

And if it rains on one more Wednesday in the near future, well, I’ll most likely screech! Just saying …