Shared Kitchen

Real food from scratch

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About us

A few things about Julie

I love candles, pens, pencils, stationery, flowers, cats and chocolate cake. Not necessarily in that order.

I passed my motorbike license at 15 but failed my first car test a few years later because I reversed into a letterbox. Mowed it flat.

I don’t really drink coffee, though I love it, ‘cause it makes me manic. You’ll always get great coffee at our house though – but I’m only allowed to sniff it!

I loathe slimy things like sea cucumbers.

I couldn’t live without lemons and mint. They always cheer me up.

I can’t cook when I’m full – hunger is the best motivation to cook, I think. But it’s wiser to go shopping on a full stomach because it stops you buying so much, well, in theory at least!

My end of day ritual – a glass of sauvignon blanc, and a small ramekin of salted toasted peanuts. I eat them one by one off a tiny silver teaspoon. My son and daughter have picked up the peanut eating habit. Sometimes we fight over the teaspoon. OMG what have I created!

I sometimes open the pantry and just sniff, not looking for anything in particular.

For a professional bio email julie@sharedkitchen.co.nz

My first book

Where it all started – my first book

Julie with books

Julie, 2016, with a shelf of her own books and with translations in Dutch, German, French, Polish and Danish, and USA versions, and other books she has contributed to.

 

Julie and Ilaria

Julie and Ilaria 2013

Ilaria 2017

New year, new projects, or something like that …
Over the past few months my life has seemingly been turned on its ear as I’ve not only moved back to New Zealand from London after a year and a half living there, but to a small island, Waiheke, a 35-minute ferry ride from the city of Auckland. It’s summertime here and the sky is blue, speckled with salt, and it’s got nothing on what seemed like an eternal grey blanket that becomes a UK winter.

What these changes in season have brought me is a profound sense of comfort in food. Food makes me happy, I can’t lie, though it’s not the only thing that does: music has just as tight a hold of my heart. But cooking and creating with seasonal produce that reflects the morning dew or blistering sun is pleasing. It’s about being in sync with nature, and I’m liking that. In a world that is as much growing as at times devolving, producing tasty delights in the kitchen is wholesome and reminds us of the simple pleasures in life that are often overlooked in the hustle and bustle of weekly life. My recipes are not the most complicated things you’ll come across but what they offer is something yummy, easy, and fairly stress-free, which in an ideal place is what life is about!

Feta dip with Ilaria

Ilaria with Feta & roasted pepper dip

Ilaria with zucchini fritters 1

Ilaria with zucchini fritters

Guacamole

Ilaria’s 5-min Guac!

A few things about Aaron

Aaron McLean photographer

Aaron Mclean

I love to shoot people, places and food.

Born in Queenstown New Zealand, it wasn’t until I moved to Auckland in 2001 in pursuit of a photography career that I discovered my grandfather and great grandfather had both been professional photographers. I think it’s in the blood.

I was 11 when I first started scrubbing pots and chopping onions in the restaurant of a family friend and I worked in and managed many restaurants in various parts of the world once I left school.

Food has been the central passion in my life, so it was an inevitable progression when I also fell in love with photography that my lens found itself frequently aimed at a plate, or at the people and places that revolve around good food and wine.

I work regularly with New Zealand’s leading Food and Lifestyle magazines and have now illustrated more than 20 books with Random House, Penguin, New Holland and a variety of international publishers.

In 2010 I was recognized as one of the Best Food Photographers in the world, being awarded a Golden Ladle at the Le Cordon Bleu World Food Media Awards. In the 2009 Travcom Travel Media Awards, I was the winner of the Best Series of Travel Images and was Highly Commended in the Photographer of The Year category. I have also been the photographer in many award winning covers and features for a variety of magazines and this year (2015) I’m a finalist for Best Photographer in the New Zealand Magazine Publishers Association awards.

Julie Biuso and I have worked together for more than a decade now, we’ve produced hundreds of magazine features and advertisements together and I’ve illustrated four of her books. When Julie evolved towards the digital sphere I was quick to jump on board for the journey with her into this exciting space. Secretly I just didn’t want to forfeit days spent drinking Remo’s coffee and sampling Julie’s delicious food and hospitality.

 

Good people

Julie here again – I’ve always believed in surrounding myself with people that I like, people I admire, people that I love, clever people, kind people, people with good hearts and good intentions. Anyone who has worked with me on this blog site falls into this category.

Photography (main images and other credited images) by Aaron McLean

www.aaronmclean.com

 

Creative Direction by Charlie McKay

www.charliemckay.com

 

Site build Elspeth Dick

 

Communications Advisor  Belinda Cooke

nz.linkedin.com/in/belindacooke

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. eugenio biuso says

    February 1, 2015 at 1:54 pm

    grande bel blog. un abbraccio dallìitalia.

    Reply
    • Julie Biuso says

      February 6, 2015 at 4:29 am

      Grazie bello!

      Reply
  2. Vikky says

    February 12, 2015 at 6:52 am

    Lovely ladies – look forward to seeing more recipes posted from both of you 🙂

    Reply
  3. Neill clarke says

    December 1, 2015 at 10:13 pm

    Inspirational blog, makes me want to cook, grow and experiment , can’t find the classes though

    Reply
  4. Karen Chisholm says

    December 21, 2015 at 9:30 pm

    Love your Blog Julie and of course all recipes.
    Have a Very Merry Xmas and continue all your good work and well wishes for 2016
    Love Karen and Haggis x

    Reply
    • Julie Biuso says

      December 22, 2015 at 4:25 am

      Thanks Karen. You have a great Christmas too!

      Reply
  5. Patricia Dewar says

    January 25, 2016 at 3:34 am

    Nice to see you are now living here on Waiheke Island and looking forward to catching up at upcoming events on the island

    Reply
  6. Greig Buckley says

    February 26, 2016 at 3:48 am

    Nice site Julie and Ilaria. But one comment on recipes – the printer format is terrible. It turns a recipe into 4 pages – the title, a photo, and the body of the recipe. I resorted to copying and pasting into Word. I don’t usually need the image for a recipe. Could you look at this and make to a little more user friendly?

    Thanks, Greig
    PS many food sites seem to have this problem – I think users want recipe on one page to print out or save.

    Reply
    • Julie Biuso says

      February 29, 2016 at 8:28 am

      Hi Greig,
      yep, unfortunately, it comes down to budget. We started this on the smell of an oily rag, so had to do the best we could with our resources. There is no printer facility for recipes on Shared Kitchen, it was prohibitively expensive, though it is planned for the second stage of development once we get there! For now, it is copy and paste, old-school style. But, HEY, one thing is sure, when you really want a recipe, copy and paste just takes a second, and you don’t mind waiting.

      Reply
  7. Margaret says

    June 14, 2018 at 7:21 am

    Hi and thank you. I am in my seventies and my cooking had become uninspired and a chore. Your postings had inspired me and I am now enjoying cooking again. I try out at least two of the recipes on each posting. Much appreciated.
    Thanks
    Margaret

    Reply
    • Julie Biuso says

      June 19, 2018 at 8:08 pm

      That’s wonderful to hear Margaret! I am so pleased that you have regained an interest in cooking. Not only is it pleasurable but cooking from scratch ensures we know what we are eating … and with my recipes, that means plenty of vegetables!

      Reply
  8. Debbie Dunsford says

    November 28, 2019 at 11:47 pm

    Hi Julie
    Thanks for your wonderful salad ideas the past few weeks. Are you going to be offering any specials on Furi knives in the lead up to Christmas?
    Best wishes
    Debbie

    Reply
    • Julie Biuso says

      December 26, 2019 at 8:47 am

      Hi Debbie,
      no didn’t do knives this year (as you will have guessed!). Glad you have been enjoying the recipes.

      Reply
  9. Sonya says

    March 24, 2020 at 11:21 pm

    Hi- love your website. It inspires life! Am in isolation at a farm with mushrooms popping up – can you remind me where your recipes using mushrooms are?

    Reply
    • Julie Biuso says

      March 25, 2020 at 12:42 am

      Thanks Sonya, that’s lovely to hear. Mushroom time – lucky you. If you go to the Home page of Shared Kitchen and type in Mushrooms in the SEARCH field on the right and press enter, they will pop up. Here you go https://sharedkitchen.co.nz/?s=mushrooms

      Reply
  10. Wendy Donaldson says

    May 14, 2020 at 9:15 pm

    I am so happy to have found this site! Lordy, I can’t believe that I didn’t think of googling you, Julie! My (still) favourite cookbooks on my shelf are “Take a Vine Ripened Tomato”, “Fresh”, & Hot nights cool days” – Yep, they have been so well-thumbed through and have splatters all through them too. They are loved as much now, as when I first purchased them all those years ago. Cookbooks have come and gone from my collection, but those remain. Oh and also “Viva L’Italia”
    I learned to make awesome risotto – that is a super sexy dish to cook. I love the calmness of stirring it constantly, it contains so much love.
    I always always get compliments about it, guess where the recipe and technique came from?
    xx

    Reply
    • Julie Biuso says

      May 15, 2020 at 1:54 am

      That’s so amazing to hear Wendy. Thank you for sharing, and I am delighted to hear that you have gained so much pleasure from cooking. I will have a new book out in October this year and will keep everyone posted through my weekly newsletters. Have you signed up for them?

      Reply
  11. carol dagg says

    May 18, 2020 at 5:38 pm

    found this on rnz

    Reply
  12. carol dagg says

    May 18, 2020 at 5:39 pm

    was wanting to get your update emails……….

    Reply
    • Julie Biuso says

      May 18, 2020 at 10:22 pm

      Hi Carol, that’s great, I will add you to the mailing list and you will receive the next one some time this week.
      Hope you enjoy Shared Kitchen. Cheers.

      Reply

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Julie Biuso

Shared Kitchen is an ongoing collaboration between longtime New Zealand food personality Julie Biuso and upstart food blogger Ilaria Biuso.

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