Recipes

Debra Oswald’s scrumptious Peach Melba Eton mess

2020-02-24T21:30:37+11:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , , , |

Portrait of a recipe
Given Debra Oswald's novel The Whole Bright Year is set on a peach farm in Australia, and given Dame Nellie Melba was such an Australian icon, we settled on a Peach Melba Eton mess as our dessert. After all, what could be more peachy, or Australian, than a Peach Melba, right? As it turns out, the Peach Melba was actually invented by a French chef in the 1890s named Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, in honour of Australia's great soprano; and Eton mess, is a traditional English dessert - but there was a method to our madness!

Christine Wells’ perfect picnic quiche

2019-07-05T14:44:08+10:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , , , , , , |

Portrait of a recipe
Christine Wells' novel The Juliet Code is set in wartime France, a period when everyone was on rations and food was hard to come by. It also features a picnic. That made your standard lavish meal a tad unsuitable. So after cracking our heads we settled upon a quiche because you can make quiche out of just about any leftovers in the fridge (which is great when you are short of food), it's French, it's easy, and it's perfect for a picnic. Enjoy!

ANZAC biscuits – the commemorative cookie

2019-04-24T09:18:08+10:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , , , , |

History of a humble cookie
ANZAC Day is nearly upon us and we couldn't resist just popping up a quick ANZAC biscuit recipe. The idea of lounging around with a cup of tea, reading Pamela Hart's The Desert Nurse and nibbling on freshly baked ANZAC cookies was impossible to resist. My paternal grandmother was a magnificent cook and worked in Brisbane's iconic Breakfast Creek Hotel back in its hey day. She would bake ANZAC cookies all year around and they were a family favourite. So I did a bit of research on the birth of the ANZAC cookie and it appears those upstart Kiwis are trying to claim it as their own.

Pamela Hart’s lovely slow-cooked Egyptian lamb

2019-05-21T10:53:41+10:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Portrait of a recipe
To celebrate Pamela Hart's fabulous war-time setting in North Africa, we settled upon this absolutely delicious roast lamb in pomegranate molasses with flatbread. Lamb is, of course, typical Mediterranean fare in both Europe and Africa, which made it the perfect meal over which to discuss The Desert Nurse. This dish was surprisingly simple and really packed some bang for buck. It's great for crowds and family weekends and would be perfect fare for an ANZAC weekend.

Josephine Moon’s terrifically tasty Tuscan bean soup

2018-11-17T15:34:00+11:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |

Portrait of a recipe
Josephine Moon prefers gluten-free and dairy free dining - which is a bit of a challenge when dining Italian. So we settled on this simple, elegant and oh-so satisfying Tuscan Bean Soup, with Parmesan cheese on the side. This is perfect dining in warm Autumnal weather. Pair it with a delicious glass of wine, good company and a beautiful table-setting and you will be transported to the golden, rolling hills of Italy. It's so easy to prepare, it's become a staple on our repertoire of soups.

Jaclyn Moriarty’s favourite chocolate brownies

2018-09-08T16:12:41+10:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , , , , , |

Portrait of a recipe
Jaclyn Moriarty loves chocolate and she wrote much of The Extremely Inconvenient Adventures of Bronte Mettlesome while sitting in her gorgeous local chocolate shop. So it is not surprising that chocolate features heavily in the book and there is special mention of chocolate brownies. Jaclyn says she switches chocolate brownie recipes all the time, always looking for the ultimate one.

Lauren Chater’s Estonian lamb, mash and root veg

2018-08-27T17:15:04+10:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , , , |

Portrait of a recipe
The Lace Weaver, the novel by our guest Lauren Chater, is set in Estonia during World War II so I thought I’d cook a feast inspired by that country’s Slavic cuisine. The recipe for Estonian Lamb Shanks is based on one I found on the BBC website, from ‘The Hairy Bikers – Northern Exposure’ show". The Hairy Bikers are David Myers and Simon King, who first met while working behind the scenes on a TV show and soon discovered they shared a passion for cooking and food.

Raymond E. Feist’s fave? Cajun steak

2018-08-07T17:08:46+10:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , , , |

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Fantasy master Raymond E. Feist uses food when writing fantasy in many ways, one of the most common of which is to build his characters: "It's the common things," he says. "The things that we all share." In real life, he proclaims himself a "steak and potatoes" kind of guy, and he is something of a grilling aficionado. His favourite meal is Cajun steak. It must, he insists, be served with sauce.

Joanne Harris’s Chocolat

2018-07-03T17:10:42+10:00Categories: News|Tags: , , , , , |

Iconic literary food moments
This week, we’re barreling forward in time to contemporary literature and the year 1999 to recognise the book that to many proved the definitive and final word on the relationship between food and literature. Chocolat is so laden with food quotes it is difficult to pick just one, so we narrowed it down to three. Joanne Harris’s Chocolat not only contains a slather of iconic literary food moments, it is the iconic literary food moment.

Our take on Jennifer Egan’s cherry pie

2018-06-17T10:16:28+10:00Categories: Recipes|Tags: , , , |

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Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Egan's husband is a brilliant cook, so she rarely enters the kitchen. That is, except, to bake. Jennifer has a soft-spot for baking, having inherited a very special pie pastry recipe from her grandmother.  We didn't press her to divulge her heirloom recipe and instead went straight to Jamie Oliver for inspiration for the pie crust, then scanned the web for a magnificent cherry filling, cherry being a favourite of Jennifer's.