Phew!

Phew! Big week. But a great one. The annual charity event Ladies Lunch for Totara Hospice South Auckland was held last Friday and it was amazing fun! There was so much good will in the room, you could really feel it, and there was Will, too! I mean singer Will Martin. Hospice staff clear out the carpark and transform it into a setting for a long lunch. With food and wine, raffles, silent auctions, a cooking demonstration and performance by Will Martin it was a pretty full on day. See the pics here Totara Hospice South Auckland

https://www.hospice.co.nz It might inspire you to give your time to a good cause in your neck of the woods.

This week I’ve put up some homespun recipes – a handy vegetable and barley soup that is great for mid-week, Saturday after sport or weekday lunch. I’ve included bacon in the base, but you can replace this with a few shiitake mushrooms if you want to make it an all vegetable soup. Vegetable & Barley Soup

Pork Pizzaiola is a version of snitzel, or schnitzel if that’s the spelling you prefer. Now I am going to say it loud and clear CRISPY is a word, according to The New Oxford English Dictionary, and that’s good enough for me, so don’t ‘tut-tut’ under your breath when you read it on these pages. I love it! Crispy this, crispy that, golden and crispy … yep, you will see it appearing more and more. Crunchy is good. But crispy is better. Okay, I’ll get off the hobby horse …

These pork snitzels are served with an onion, tomato and olive salsa which raises the game, and I’ve added marjoram to the crumb for flavour. Pork Pizzaiola

Removing stones from olives is fiddly and if it is something you find yourself doing often (or not doing because you don’t know how, or can’t be bothered to), get yourself an olive pitter. The nifty little tool also removes stones from cherries. Olive Pitter

Ilaria has whipped up an easy orzo salad that can be served warm with a main course, or at room temperature. She adds a few extras to leftovers for a work lunch. Ilaria’s Quick Orzo Salad. We also put together a big platter of salad greens and stuffed them into brioche buns ­ – lovely and fresh for an easy lunch. Brioche Salad Rolls

Just a quick bit of housework – if you have [email protected] as a current email address for me or Shared Kitchen, please delete it because it is disappearing into the ether anytime soon. You can contact me on [email protected]

Have a good week doing whatever it is you do.

Julie