Quick tricks for summer dishes

It’s so hot here on Waiheke you might melt if you stay in the sun too long. You need a beach. Preferably at your back door. Or a pool to hop into. When I was a kid, a squirt with a hose did the trick. If you are in New Zealand, or Australia or another country enjoying (or suffering) a heatwave, feeding everyone without having a breakdown has suddenly become quite a mission. Quick dishes, take-it-outside dishes, cook-it-outside dishes. Easy food. But you need colour, brightness, crunch and plenty of taste. Easy. Check out this week’s round up.

Ilaria’s got a new kitchen to work in at last and has made a stonkingly good dip with roasted red peppers and onion. Make heaps, take it to work, have it after work then cook a meal once the sun has gone down, or turn it into a meal with other bits and bobs.

Roasted Red Pepper & Chickpea Diphttps://sharedkitchen.co.nz/2019/02/ilarias-back/

I love a good tomato salad and can easily turn it into a meal. Here’s my favourite summer bowl of the moment, bursting with goodness and colour. Summer Salad

Eggs ‘n avo have figured in my life for a wee while now, but I’ve upped my game by adding hazelnut dukkah. OMG what have I created? I ate it two nights in a row and again later in the week (yep, I didn’t feel like cooking, and I kept on hungering for the taste and texture of this combo). Try it and see if you get addicted, too. Eggs ‘n Avo

For a quick fling-it-in-the-oven meal, especially handy if it’s just for 2-3 people, try chicken thighs and potatoes with thyme. The only trick is watching the chicken. It must be cooked through, and you want good golden colour, but don’t let it sizzle to boot leather. If it is done but you still want more colour on the spuds, remove the chicken to a side plate and carry on cooking the potatoes. Chicken Thighs with Thyme

Zucchini. If you grow them you’ll most likely be sick of them by now. I like mixing green and yellow, but whatever type you have they will respond to a good fry-up. Zucchini & Mint salad

Just one grizzle this week … I used to buy Borges olive oil because it was produced, bottled and packed in Spain and Italian equivalents were not. On Waiheke at my local supermarket I spied Borges for the first time, and pounced on it, feeling smug that finally I had olive oil that I could trace, packed in glass, etc, (and I am not talking about Waiheke’s wickedly brilliant extra virgin olive oil – I am referring to frying oil, which we don’t produce here, and that most of us use for basic frying). To satisfy myself, I checked the label looking for the familiar produced, bottled packed in Spain, and do you know what? It wasn’t there. Nope. Borges olive oil comes from who knows where.

So I checked out Olivani, which I have been using, mistakenly thinking it was a mish-mash of cheap olives, and blow me down, ‘Picked, pressed and bottled in Italy’. I’ll be sticking to Olivani for my frying oil from now on.

Cheerio chin chin

Julie