Well here it is if you missed getting yourself a copy of the magazine. The team at NZ House & garden did a fabulous job.
Recipes & Text - Ashia Ismail-Singer
Food Styling - Bernadette Hogg
Photographs - Manja Wachsmuth
Who doesn't salivate at the word chocolate brownie, that gooey warm chocolate on the inside and chewy on the outside, perfect warm with ice cream as dessert on a cold evening ( oranytime for that matter) don't let me stop you from indulging, our brownies do not survive in the tins for very long!
I love baking brownies, they are easy and require no fuss, a perfect delight, cold, for a picnic or equally moreish warmed and served with cream or ice cream. Definately a one pot wonder. There are so many versions out there, this is divine!
This is a great meal to do when you have a large number to feed, or simply don't have the time to cook, just chuck everything in a tray and you will have a lovely heart warming meal.
It is adapted from Delia's sausage, thyme and apple bake. The sausages she uses are pork andthen she compliments it with thyme and apple. I don't eat pork so have often made it with beef or lamb sausages. And used rosemary, but i still use the apple. And this time I also added chunks of carrot, I don't usually, but it actually tasted great.
Well what a busy and exciting month it's been. With the food feature in NZ House and Garden - June issue and then an interview with the Breeze radio as a follow up!
If you have missed the radio interview, it is on their website now, so if you go on to Auckland Breeze Radio website it's there on the homepage, they have called it "Ashia's Dream" . They have done a fabulous job with it, it's great! here is the link too :
http://www.thebreeze.co.nz/Regions/Auckland/Home/tabid/76/Default.aspx
I feel I have really neglected my blog since my last entry. Life has been pretty hectic, with the children back at school and the days getting shorter it seems there are never enough hours in the day! I have been cooking, I promise, scrumptious, slow cooked meals and warm hearty dinners and pies and casseroles. All from my range of cookbooks and magazines that I collect and plenty from my own cookbook that is waiting very patiently to get published. Although I am very excited because this month NZ House & Garden has published a food feature, with some of my recipes. It's called "Spice of Life" and it looks (and tastes) divine! Thank you so much to Sally Butters and her team for a fabulous job! Go out and get a copy its on sale now in the shops.
Well Mothers Day (In NZ, Australia and USA) is actually this Sunday. I am still trying to get used to all the different dates for all the different celebrations now that we are living in New Zealand. But I think dates aside, I don't really need any excuse to bake. I will do this quite happily in any hemishpere on any date!
What a perfect way to say thank you to your mum, by giving her something home baked. (By all means indulge her with store bought presents too...we all like getting spoilt!)
Red velvet cupcakes is the epitome of indulgence in cupcakes, I feel. That luxurious deep red (I know they don't quite look that gorgeous deep red yet, more like a dark pink that cant quite decide which colour it really is). The secret is in the baking, then the colour morphs into the deep red velvet.
In the school holidays, I get a phone call, from Sticky TV, to say, Adam had applied to go on the show. I knew nothing about this! Kids! So after having a chat to him he replied," oh yeah I applied last year... he had completely forgotten about it!
Anyway they were looking to see if he was interested in taking part in "StickyDiner", he ummed and aahed and then decided he would give it a go for a laugh.
So him and a friend (Ethan) were going to work as a team. The camera man arrives at home on the first day of the school holidays. The boys are a little unsure, bit of trepidation, and the cameraman is filming a segment for the profiles for each team. they wanted the boys to be cooking/baking something while they asked questions ect.
The boys did really well, they were great with their answers and very tidy as the baked some Anzac biscuits (as it was Anzac Day on the Thursday)
This was their result! They talked about their tactics on Friday (which was when Sticky diner was being filmed) and eased into their roles as TV chefs. Adam laughed and said " I beat you to it mum"!
On the Friday, we dropped them off at the studios in Kumeau, and unbeknown to them, they were up against two girls from their school! They cooked their dishes using limited ingredients. They had to make a starter, main and a dessert. They made toasted pita bread and their own hummus!, Honey glazed chicken breast with tomatoes and a chocolate sponge pudding. Unfortunately they didn't win, but came away with an Edmonds Cookbook each. I was so proud of Adam taking part, and what a great fun thing to do in the school holidays. It will be aired last week of May and 1st week of June.
Till next time.
Ashia
With the colder weather coming I like nothing more than to have gorgeous comfort food, pies, pastries, soups, casseroles and slow cooked dinners.
These pies are great as you can prepare them and freeze them. When you are stuck for what to cook, just pop them into the oven straight from the freezer!
You can use any filling you like, I make a spicy vegetarian filling using, potatoes, peas and carrots or this meat version.
This year Easter is not in the school holidays and it's a welcome mini break for the children. It's been a hot start to the year and with lots of changes happening, we are in definite need of some r & r.
My son Adam is playing basketball in the Easter Tournament, and in between that we will be out spending time with friends at the beach and paddling on a SUP and our kayak. And of course the kids will be indulging in an Easter egg or two!
I enjoy planning my meals for the week, but sometimes, I run out of ideas, after school I want to feed the children reasonably early ( dependent on what school activity is going on that particular day) and I don't really want to be cooking two different meals for them and then us. And meals around the family table are not always possible.... I do try....but some days it is just an impossibility.
I have neglected my blog, and feel awful for not posting. It's been a busy summer with lots of picnics and trips to some amazing beaches. We are a real beachy family, the kids are water babies, and love spending time together, just chilling! This summer, in NewZealand has been fabulous, but sometimes when it's very hot, you just don't feel like cooking. Salads are a great way to enjoy fresh ingredients and are quick and easy to prepare.
This gorgeous salad, adapted from Annabel Langein, is a lovely fresh sensation of textures and tastes. It requires paw paw, which I love, brings back memories of my childhood in Malawi, where it was abundant. But if you don't have it or you don't like it you can replace it with mangoes.
Zara had wanted a butterfly birthday cake, so that is what she got! I love baking but Icing is not my forte. I would love to learn some new techniques, but in the meantime I found this amazing blog by a Canadian woman. Its called Sweetapolita! fabulous! Some great ideas, I got the 3 tone colour idea from her blog. I really enjoyed baking and icing Zara's cake, it wasn't exactly how I had planned it, but Zara was happy with it, and that was fine by me. I think sometimes as parents we try too hard, to make everything perfect, but actually, it really doesn't matter, as long as everyone is happy.
Jam is a great way to preserve the taste of summer, and then you can use it in different aspects of cooking and baking.
This strawberry jam has to be the simplest way to preserve your summer strawberries.
It's been a few weeks since I last blogged, winter bugs, school holidays, and then my son's first school camp in NZ. Now with the childrenback into school routine I can get back to doing what I love doing, cooking and writing.
10 days away in the beautiful Pacific island of Rarotonga seems a distant memory ( it was only 3 weeks ago!)
We dont have a huge tradition of Indian Desserts in our family. We have a small number of family favourites. My sister Nish makes this gorgeous chocolate mousse, which I have adapted to include a cardamom flavour. You would'nt normally think of putting chocolate and cardamom together, but this works and then with a topping of mascarpone and pistachios, these are little chocolate gems!
We are off to Waiheke Island to see friends. I decided to make some cakes. I needed them to be moist and travel well. I also had blueberries in the freezer, so it's the same recipe as the strawberry bundts but using blueberries instead. There are so many offers around for blueberries, I just buy them and pop them in the freezer. You can use fresh or frozen, if you are using frozen berries don't let them thaw.
So my last strawberry inspired recipe, I promise! These are gorgeously moist, perfect to take as part of your picnic or as thank you for a favour. Food makes a great present, as people appreciate the time and effort you have put in to say thanks, or get well or well done.
These are great with blueberries too or raspberries.
This was a firm family favourite back in the UK. When ever there was a family get together, and there were many, it was always requested as one of the desserts I took along.
So this is it, my semi freddo adapted from good old Jamie Oliver.
I love summer... and I love strawberries, in fact I love all berries. But blueberries, raspberries and strawberries are my favourite . They are so versatile, you can cook them, bake them, freeze them and use them in all sorts of lovely summer recipes.
We decided to go strawberry picking at the weekend, it reminded me of summer back in England and Wimbledon and strawberries and cream (I know what you are going to say....what summer in England!) We have been known to have some lovely summers there....and strawberry picking was one of the things I loved doing with my family.
We headed to Kumeu and it was a gorgeous sunny afternoon, and I had strawberry jam in mind amongst other things, so off we went with our buckets, although a little late in the season, the strawberries were still sweet and juic
We headed into the City again yesterday. My children love going to the Wynyard Quarter in Auckland. We go for a long walk (me...walking... the kids ...on their scooters) and we walk along the Viaduct and admire the yachts, and then head back to the silos and have a picnic that I have packed or sometimes stop at a cafe for a treat.