Boo hoo!

BooHoo! It rained heavily and drowned my seedlings. The cat screeched in the night and woke me up. I burnt my toast. I ran out of my favourite tea. Help! It’s midday and I’m still in my dressing gown!

Do you have days like that? Anyone who knows me well knows I am NEVER still in my dressing gown at midday, (well, unless I am very very cold).

Whatever little grizzlies we have, I think it fair to say in this country we are all ready for spring and summer to unfold and warm our bones. But when that south westerly blows around these traps it makes you think winter is just starting, so before it’s all sunshine, sand and early afternoon snifters, a few warming dishes. That’s the theme of today. Keep ‘em cosy. Keep ‘em well fed. Keep ‘em coming back for more.

You know, if I could build my own food pyramid, it would be pretty unconventional. There might not be much sugar, but it would be top-heavy with my fave vegetable. Read the good news about spuds here. And eat them up! All that fibre! All that Vitamin C! All those B Vitamins! And potassium, too!!!

Spud Addict – read how to store potatoes, which type to use for what, and why you should eat potatoes.

Oh, and then make a potato gratin. This is one of the most divine potato dishes ever. Yep, swimming in cream, laden with calories, all of that, but OMG so worth every spoonful. It’s not an easy dish to get right. Mostly because people fret about the amount of cream they are adding. BUT you can use cream + water and get a very good result. There are plenty of tips on getting this as good as it looks in the photo. Read here Potato & Gruyere Cheese Gratin

Still into soups? Here’s a good one using kumara that is easy to make. Curry powder is the secret ingredients, adding a layer of flavour that keeps the sweetness of kumara in check. A handful of blanched vegetable florets adds colour, a rasher of sizzled bacon a salty kick (although this is optional), and a basket of golden cheesy croutes adds crunch and flavour. Nice. Kumara Soup with Cheesy Croûtes And make the cheesy croutes to go with other soups too – they’re fab with a tomato-based one. Cheesy Croûtes

And learn all about kumara here. I’ve given heaps of ideas on how to use kumara (sweet potato), so check them out. Kumara – heaps of ideas

I made an adobe lime and crushed roasted peanut dip for the poetry event we had on Waiheke on Saturday (a roaring success, the event I mean!). It was reasonably bitey, but not head-blowing. I made it again yesterday for this week’s column and it nearly blew my head off! All I can deduce is that the can of chipotle peppers I used yesterday had a gazillion more seeds in the chillies than in the chillies I used on Saturday. It’s a bit of a lottery, using chilli. So be armed with a few coolants (no, not a fire hydrant), but some yoghurt, fresh mint, that sort of thing, so you can lower the fire if necessary. It’s very addictive I might add, so if you like hot stuff, give it a whirl. Adobo, Peanut & Lime Salsa

Enjoy your week. It’s nearly time to put the soup pot away, just not this week.

Cheerio

Julie