Bubble of one

We are still in a bubble in Auckland. It might pop sometime soon, with a bit of luck. But I got tired of waiting so I popped the cork on a bottle of bubbles. Then I had lots of bubbles bubbling around me. Very nice. I only meant to have a glass, to toast the end of a sunny spring day, but it tasted so good, I had another, and well, you know, you can’t keep bubbles, they go flat. I cooked myself a little feast to go with it: Lamb Racks with Parmesan Crust, Roasted Potatoes & Peppers and a Radicchio & Witloof Salad. A good time was had by all in my bubble (that’s just me as even the hedgehog has buggered off). Sunset was quite hazy.

GOLDEN LAMB NUGGETS

I didn’t want to be at the coalface cooking, I wanted something quick so I could enjoy the end of the day. I was lucky to have a pack of lamb rumps. They’re dead easy to prepare, just a smear of mustard, a little seasoning and some thyme, then you top up your bubbles and enjoy while the lamb comes to room temperature. Oh, you can get some potatoes on to cook with a yellow pepper if you feel so inclined. Lamb Rumps with parmesan Crust

GOLDEN & FUDGY

Something magic happens when you cook a yellow pepper with a dish of spuds this way. The pepper caramelises, forming a sticky sort of residue with butter and the potatoes take up the flavour. Once I smell them cooking I’m straight in my sister-in-law Isanna’s kitchen in Reggio Emilia. It just smells like Italy. Oil AND butter? Yep. That’s the trick. Roasted Potatoes & Yellow Pepper

MY FAVE SALAD

Radicchio is not to everyone’s taste, which is good, because that means I will always find some when I want it as it won’t be sold out. I’ll tell you a story. I was shopping in RAW recently, my go-to vege store on Waiheke, and I noticed the guy ahead of me had radicchio and witloof. I was intrigued because it’s my all-time favourite salad combination, and there I was just getting my fix of radicchio and witloof for the days ahead. I couldn’t help myself, bunted in and asked him what he was going to be making. ‘I’m doing Julie Biuso’s salad’, he said without averting his eyes. ‘Oh, good’, I said, and that was that. So I have to be careful what I put out there because if we run out of radicchio I’ll be most upset. Radicchio & Witloof Salad

Back to the radicchio, it’s quite sturdy – by that I mean it won’t collapse as quickly as soft salad leaves like rocket do the minute you dress them with salt and acid – and it has a definite bitter kick. And it’s that bitterness that appeals. Team it up with something crunchy and juicy like witloof, add a whack of garlic to the dressing and BINGO salad magic is created. But keep it’s deliciousness all to yourself!

CLAUDIA RODEN GENIUS

For those who don’t know – so enamoured has everyone become with Ottolenghi – Claudia Roden is an expert on Middle Eastern cuisines. And Mediterranean cuisines. And she wrote the definitive book on Jewish cuisine and history (The Book of Jewish Food, 1996). She’s a legend. A font of knowledge (font or fount, both are correct, let’s not fight now!). Her new book Med: A Cookbook has just been released in the UK and will wend its way here by pigeon post … Back to Claudia. We cooked together in my little house in Northcote Point, which she loved, then cooked together in her home in Hampstead, London, a memory to treasure. We cooked eggplant. I put her North African eggplant recipe in my cookbook Take A Vine-ripened Tomato (published 1999). And here it is now, as delicious as it was way back then. But, EEK! I put way too much chilli powder in it when I made it this week and it nearly blew my head off, so I had to temper it with yoghurt. (I’m eating my way through it, a spoonful at a time with equal quantity of yoghurt.) Add just a pinch of chilli powder the first time you make it, but do make it: It is simply SENSATIONAL! Claudia Roden’s North African Eggplant

BTW Ottolenghi has given a lovely quote on the cover of Claudia’s new book:

‘To read Claudia is to sit at her table, with everything, simply, as it should be. Pull up a chair for the food; stay at the table for the stories.’ Seriously, for all of you who have wondered where the fantastic recipe for orange and almond cake made by boiling an orange for hours came from: Claudia Roden. And that’s a fact.