Summer's Bounty - Tomatoes

From now until the end of summer tomatoes will be at their very best. Right now at my local farmers’ market and I am sure at every other one all around the country there are wonderful heirloom tomatoes, ranging from big red convoluted masterpieces that fill my hand to tiny black cherries. Last weekend I bought a selection of beautiful fruit from Miranda Orchards stand at The Parnell Farmer’s Market. With romantic names like Brandywine Pink, Amish Gold and Peron and some not so romantic ones like Oxheart, they all have one thing in common, and that is flavour. They all taste so good! And they are meaty and when cooked don’t collapse into nothing.

Of course to be full of flavour they need to be perfectly ripe and they need to be at room temperature. Please don’t store tomatoes, even the common supermarket varieties, in the fridge. Even commercially grown tomatoes can taste good if left to ripen especially when they are left on the vine.

If you want to grow your own, Kings Seeds have about 50 varieties listed on their website. Or save the seeds from some that you buy – squeeze onto paper towels, dry and store until the next year when you can just plant the paper straight in the ground.

Late summer, when tomatoes are most plentiful and therefore cheap to buy, is the time to be making sauce, chutneys, passata etc to use over the winter. Right now enjoy lots of raw and cooked dishes that allow tomatoes to shine.

• Dice a selection of ripe tomatoes and make a simple pasta sauce, warmed or not, with excellent olive oil, fresh basil and lots of salt and pepper. To that basic sauce you could add a few chilli flakes, some baby rocket leaves, or maybe some capers. Whatever takes your imagination works. It’s the ultimate quick dinner.
• Take sweet cherry tomatoes and toss them in a hot pan until they just start to burst. Season and add a handful of torn basil leaves. Serve alongside grilled fish or meats or cool and add to salads of roasted vegetables for a hint of colour.
• Make Catalan Tomato Bread as a pre-dinner snack. Grill slices of good bread, rub lightly with a cut clove of garlic, drizzle with your best olive oil and then rub over a cut, very ripe tomato, squishing it on but discarding the skin. Devour straight away.
• And the simplest way of all to intensify the flavour of tomatoes is to roast trusses at high heat. 

Here a couple of favourite recipes. In this first one the tomatoes are the hero of the dish so use the best ones you can find.

Vine-Ripened Tomatoes with Fresh Ricotta

Tomatoes and ricotta are a match made in heaven and even better when teamed with toasted sourdough. It’s a favourite for breakfast or brunch in our house. 

8 large and 12 small tomatoes, variety of colours and shapes

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 sourdough baguette

300 grams fresh firm ricotta ( my favourites are Zany Zeus or Clevedon Buffalo)

basil leaves to garnish

Slice the large tomatoes thickly and cut the smaller ones in half.

Combine the olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season with the salt and pepper.  Pour over the tomatoes, toss gently to coat and leave for 15 minutes to half an hour.

Cut 4 diagonal slices from the baguette and toast or grill them. Generously spread them with ricotta, season with salt and pepper and place each one on a plate.

Spoon the tomatoes over the ricotta toasts and drizzle a little dressing over each. Garnish with basil and serve immediately. Serves 4

Niçoise Tart

This tasty tart is reminiscent of the Mediterranean and really should only be made at the height of summer when tomatoes and capsicums are at their best. If in a hurry you can of course use ready rolled short pastry although the flavour of the thyme and mustard in this pastry adds to the overall deliciousness. However you could always spread a little mustard and sprinkle some thyme over the base of the tart before you fill it. This pastry though is very short and utterly delicious. By way of variation I sometimes use 50/50 onions and capsicum and capers instead of olives on the top.

Pastry

1¼ cups flour

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

½ teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper

120 grams cold, unsalted butter

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons iced water

Filling

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 red capsicums, seeded and sliced 1cm

1 onion, sliced

Topping

5 ripe fleshy tomatoes such as Roma

10 anchovy fillets, rinsed and drained (I like the Ortiz brand)

15 black olives, halved and pitted ( Always Fresh do a good pitted kalamata which is so easy to use)

1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil

Pastry: Place the flour, thyme, salt, pepper and butter in a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.  Add the mustard and enough iced water for the mixture to hold together.  Tip out on the bench and bring together quickly into a disc with your hands. Wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Filling: Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Add the capsicum and onion to the pan. Season and cook until soft and thick, about 30 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl and cool.

Preheat the oven to 190°C and place a flat baking sheet in the oven to heat.

Assembly: Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and line a tart tin with a removable base (24cm round or 21x29cm rectangular).  Using a slotted spoon spread the filling over the base.

Halve the tomatoes through the core, scoop out and discard the seeds.  Cut the tomatoes in half again and arrange in rows alternating with the anchovies. Scatter with the olives and thyme leaves.  Combine the garlic and oil and spoon over the tart. 

  

Give the top a good grind of pepper and bake until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden, about 35 minutes.  Rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serves 8

Italian Salumi with New Zealand style

Two Italians, equally passionate about their homeland as they are of their adopted country of New Zealand have created a range of unique salumi based on age-old Italian traditions but with a distinct NZ flavour.

Owners Luca and Paolo both hail from the same region of Lombardia, south of Milano and use the knowledge and traditions handed down through generation in both their families to prepare their Otello’s range of fresh sausages and cured meats, using prime organic NZ products – even the salt and pepper used is organic

A few nights ago I was privileged to be Luca and Paolo’s guest at a special Giro d’Italia (Tour of Italy) dinner at Toto’s Restaurant. Chef Sergio prepared a series of dishes using Otello’s products and matched with Italian wines.

After a glass of Prosecco – the very best precursor to any Italian meal, we enjoyed an beautifully presented antipasti of their cured meats including bresaola, coppa, pancetta and a wild boar salami, served with marinated vegetables, a young pecorino and a scattering of young broad beans. Each of the meats was unique in it's texture and flavour - I particularly liked the pancetta - it was sweet and almost melted on my tongue.

 photo by Geoff Dale

Guanciale is Italian style bacon made using the pig’s cheek cured with salt and pepper and hung to dry for several months. Thick sliced, diced and fried until crisp and utterly delicious, it was used to garnish a fragrant dish of goat’s cheese ravioli with truffle and a red wine sauce. With this we drank a 2009 Vensevo Falanghina DOC Campania – a grape that only grows north of Naples.

photo by Geoff Dale

Confit duck – the leg stuffed with fresh wild boar sausage and served on soft polenta with morello cherries came next. The recipe for this dish follows. The matched wine here was a wonderful Barbera D’Asti from Fiulot in Piemonte

photo by Geoff Dale

Dessert was also described on the menu as an antipasti and was in fact a lovely collection of lovely Italian specialties such as Sicilian cannoli and cassata with a little glass of a luscious Marsala Superiore from Pellegrino.

You can find Otello’s sausages and salumi at farmers’ markets around Auckland and at selected gourmet stores or you can order on-line.  Watch out for new products, including Prosciutto, which will be available soon

Confit Duck Leg filled with Otello's Wild Boar Sausage

4 duck legs with the thigh deboned

4 Otello's fresh wild boar sausages

duck fat, enough to half cover the duck legs

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

300 grams cherries, fresh or tinned

2 cloves

500 mls chicken stock

1 litre water

750 mls good red wine

Preheat the oven to 150°C.

Remove any excess fat from the duck and open out the boned thigh, skin down. Remove the sausage meat from the casing and divide it between the duck legs.

Fold the duck tightly around the stuffing to enclose it.

Wrap each leg in tin foil lined with baking paper and secure tightly.

Place enough duck fat in a deep oven try and warm it until it is liquid before placing the duck legs into the fat. Cover the dish and cook for 2 hours or until the meat is very tender. Remove the legs from the duck fat, unwrap and place in an ovenproof frying pan.

Increase the oven to 180°C. Season the duck and roast until the skin is golden and crisp.

While the duck is slow cooking, combine the stock and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 1 hour then add the wine. Continue simmering for another hour then add the cherries and cloves. Reduce further until the sauce is the right consistency.

Serve the duck on top of soft polenta (made according to the instructions on the packet) with the red wine, cherry sauce and a final drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil.

And as Luca and Paolo would say - Buon Appetito!

Another Spring Favorite

A big thrill at my local farmers' market this weekend – new season's garlic - which I just love! Following on from asparagus, broad beans and globe artichokes this is another of my most favorite spring things.

Just dug, the rosy hued outer covering of each head is still velvety soft and when peeled back reveals a cluster of pearly white garlic cloves – mild and sweet in flavour and juicy and crunchy like a carrot.

I’ve been a fan ever since I first ate new garlic at Chez Panisse in San Francisco many years ago, so I bought plenty – some to hang up to dry and the rest to use now.

Last night I cooked the first of my whole heads with some young Swiss chard leaves from my garden to have with slow roasted pork. I removed the outer skin, separated the cloves and gently peeled off the soft white skin from each. This is very much easier than peeling a dried clove.

I then ‘poached’ them whole in a little water to which I added a good splash of olive oil, a bay leaf and some salt until just softened then added the chopped stems from the  chard. Once they were tender I added the leaves, roughly chopped, and wilted them down. By this time the water had evaporated and the olive oil provided a lovely gloss and flavour to the leaves. A grind of pepper and a little extra salt and it was done – and quite delicious I must say.

You can also roast the bulbs whole – just like you would regular garlic – slice off the top to reveal the cloves and drizzle them with a little olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and add a couple of fresh thyme sprigs.  Place in a covered dish or wrap in aluminium foil and roast at 200°C until soft when you give it a gentle squeeze.

Once cool it is delicious spread on toasted sourdough with a sprinkle of salt and a drizzle of good olive oil. It is wonderful used like this under toppings for bruschetta   or you can use it to make roasted garlic aioli.

The flavour is very subtle in comparison to regular garlic that has been allowed to dry and become pungent.

It’s delicious with lamb ( just serve it as a condiment) and I also like to add the whole new cloves to a dish of spring vegetables (artichokes, broad beans, tiny carrots and turnips etc) that I poach in a little chicken stock with a bay leaf, some thyme sprigs and olive oil.

Ode to Asparagus

For me there is no better way to eat asparagus than with my fingers, dripping with butter and lemon juice and seasoned generously with sea salt and freshly ground pepper! And with the growing season for this most unusual of vegetables being a short one – mid/late September to just after Christmas -we make the most of it while we can.

For the last few weeks I’ve had to be at my local farmers market extra early to be sure not to miss out on the first of the season’s crop. The vendor there has new beds so the spears are thin and spindly. These are what I enjoy the most although I know others prefer the fattest spears they can find. Each week though the supply has gradually increased and I can now have an extra half hour in bed.

Other than butter and lemon, asparagus goes with many other wonderful flavours which include but are not limited to:

anchovies ▪ avocado ▪ bacon, prosciutto and pancetta ▪ eggs ▪ fennel ▪ garlic ▪ hollandaise sauce ▪ mushrooms ▪ mustard ▪ olive oil ▪ olives ▪ Parmesan, gruyere and goats cheeses ▪ potatoes ▪ smoked salmon, scallops ▪ tarragon, parsley, rosemary ▪ toast ▪ tomatoes ▪ walnuts, pinenuts.

Use asparagus as soon as possible after it is picked or purchased. The best way to store it until you need it is to stand it upright in a container with a little water in the bottom and cover the whole with a plastic bag. If the spears get wet they will spoil rapidly. 

When you are ready to cook it, snap off the woody ends (each spear will break at the right point between the tough end and tender part) or, if you prefer them all the same length, trim with a knife and even peel the end with a vegetable peeler. Personally I leave this to the restaurants.

Finally wash the spears well in cold water to remove any grit or sand.

Blanch asparagus using one of two methods:

1/ Stand upright in an asparagus basket so only the thick ends are in salted, simmering water. Cover and steam.

2/ Bring a shallow, wide pan of salted water, about an inch deep, to the boil and lay the asparagus spears flat in a single layer. Simmer gently until the asparagus is just tender.

Whichever method you choose drain and serve the asparagus immediately or if you wish to use it cold, refresh it in iced water to halt the cooking process. Once cool, remove from the water and lay on kitchen towels. If you leave it in the water too long the asparagus may start to break down.

This salad is an easy way to ‘dress’ asparagus up. Prepared this way it is delicious with barbecued lamb and baby new potatoes just like we had for dinner last night

Grilled Asparagus Salad

500 grams asparagus

olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Dressing

50 ml extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tablespoons chardonnay vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

lemon juice

1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed

1 egg, hard boiled and chopped

1 red onion, sliced

150 grams firm feta cheese, crumbled

a small handful Italian parsley, chopped

Blanch the asparagus quickly in boiling water to set the colour, remove and refresh under cold water. Transfer to paper kitchen towels to drain.

Preheat a barbecue or ridged grill.

Toss the asparagus gently with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill on the barbecue until nicely coloured and tender. Remove to a platter.

Toss the sliced onion with a little olive oil and salt and grill until golden and tender. Make a vinaigrette from the olive oil, vinegar and mustard and salt. Add a squeeze of lemon juice if more acid is required. Season with pepper and add the other ingredients. Combine gently and spoon on top of the asparagus.  Serve at room temperature.

Time to bake - Christmas is coming!

It’s the end of October and the other day my thoughts suddenly turned to Christmas. I was wandering through my local cookware store and spied the gorgeous wooden cake boxes that I used to sell hundreds of at The Epicurean Workshop all those years ago.

Time to bake the Christmas cake!

It’s been a few years since I baked a Christmas cake, as I’m the only one in the family that enjoys it, but this year I’ll bake a big one, cut it into four squares, keep one for myself and give the other three away as gifts.

My favorite recipe calls for lots of glace fruits so it’s not the cheapest cake to make. For several years in the earlier days of the Epicurean I used to make mini versions of this cake to sell - using large tuna tins that were about 12cm in diameter. We decorated the tops with more glace fruits, glued on with apricot jam. They looked sensational.

Sadly the recipe for this cake is not to be found anywhere so instead I will bake the family recipe. This is a great cake too but more traditional in its ingredients and result. You’ll find the recipe at the end.  My mother always decorated the cake very simply with whole blanched almonds, pushed into the cake batter just as it went in the oven so that they toasted to a golden hue as the cake baked. And that is exactly what I shall do.

One curious aspect to the recipe is the caramelised sugar and butter that is called for. I can only assume this has the effect of darkening the cake slightly. These days Parisienne essence (gravy browning) is often called for.

Getting back to the wooden cake boxes though; these are quite unique in that the wood (kahikatea) insulates the cake mixture as it bakes which means you don’t have to go to all the trouble of lining it with brown paper as you do with a tin. Anthea Dunning, who produces the range, took a family tradition and now has a successful business selling them in four sizes. Each comes with her own family recipe and her website  has a great explanation on how to use them and produce a perfect cake. Over the years, with each consecutive use, the boxes darken and age and become quite beautiful.

I should add that these boxes are square for obvious reasons and to me a Christmas cake should always be square. I wonder what others think about this – round or square? 

The metal bake ware of today no longer has the quality of yesteryear. You need to look hard to find something that looks like it will last. I am lucky enough still have my mother’s heavy Christmas cake tin which is also dark and with a lovely worn patina. But if you are looking to buy one avoid all the lightweight tins out there and seek out one with some weight. Don’t bother about non-stick coatings – you’ll be lining it anyway.

One great brand from the UK that I have found is Silverwood – sold in New Zealand by F.L.Bone – the AGA oven people. The range is extensive but what I like is that it still offers traditional things like pie plates and square Christmas cake tins as well as all the clever new inventions. I love the oblong tart tin with the option of a fluted insert so you can have either a straight sided tart case or a fluted one.

At F.L.Bone they also have a range of Bake-O-Glide Teflon liners for the bases and sides of square and round cake tins - already cut to size. So clever!

So to make my mother Robin’s ( which was originally her mother Ines’) Christmas cake you will need:

450 grams butter, softened

450 grams brown sugar

10 eggs

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup brandy or whisky

450 grams raisins

450 grams sultanas

900 grams other mixed dried fruits and nuts such as dates, currants, cherries, glace peel and almonds

675 grams plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

whole blanched almonds to decorate

24cm square x 12cm (approximately) deep cake tin

 

Preheat the oven to 150°C, no fan. Line the base and sides of the cake tin with several layers of brown paper with a top layer of baking paper. Weigh or measure all the ingredients. Combine the fruits well and sift the dry ingredients.

Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer until pale and smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter with the sugar in a small pot and cook until the sugar has caramelised to a nut brown. Remove from the heat and add the brandy. Simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add this immediately to the butter and egg mixture, pouring it in, in a steady stream, while beating fast. (Don’t worry if it looks like it is curdling)

At this point you will need to transfer the mixture to a larger bowl, especially if you are using a stand mixer.

Add the fruit and flour alternately to the mixture, mixing gently with each addition. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and tap the tin gently on the bench once or twice to disburse any air pockets. Decorate the top with the blanched almonds, pushing each one slightly into the cake. Bake for 5 hours.  If the cake starts to brown too much cover it with a piece of foil.

Remove from the oven and pour over a little more brandy or whisky while still warm. Cool, remove from the tin and store airtight until Christmas, or earlier if you can't wait.

Culinary Highs

Some months I hardly dine out at all and then all of a sudden there is a flurry of invitations or new places to try. Here are a few recent highlights .

Firstly I was one of about eighty very lucky people to enjoy a superb three course dinner of Canterbury produce, including freshly smoked Akaroa Salmon and bush honey and Mt Cass Waipara Spring Lamb. The event, a fund-raiser by The New Zealand School of Food and Wine was largely cooked by owner Celia Hay with the help of Masterchef winner Nadia Lim and some generous volunteers. The dishes were paired with Waipara wines including the luscious Greystone Pinot Noir.

Celia’s school has relocated to Auckland in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes.  This event raised funds to bus children from schools in the east of the city (the most damaged area) out to Duvauchelle on Banks Peninsular for a day’s cooking and some fun where Celia’s other business, a café and store there, is still standing and operating as usual.

I find it heartwarming, that in spite of the fact Celia has lost her home and her business, has had to move herself and her family to a new city and completely re-establish both, she finds the time and the energy to do something to help others affected by the same disaster. If you’d like to help too contact Celia.

A few nights later I found myself at the unique and rather sumptuous Mollies hotel for a special dinner to celebrate the hotel’s recent change of ownership. Chef Lance Tripp’s classical background and his ability to innovate was evident in the exceptional degustation menu he prepared for a raft of celebrities from the fashion, food and media worlds, all matched with carefully selected wines. Five finely honed dishes included his confit duck tortellini on butternut pumpkin with a poached quail egg and a visually beautiful dish of Raukumara venison with beetroot, crumbed ricotta, macadamia and white chocolate. Auckland isn’t exactly awash with elegant dining spaces such as Mollies. I love the effect achieved by massed white orchids and candles. Luckily Mollies dining room is open to the public. 

In August it was off down to the capital for a long weekend of wining and dining during Wellington on a Plate. I am always looking for an excuse to get to Wellington. I find the dining culture there very ‘outside the box’ compared to Auckland.

First up were some excellent demonstrations at the inaugural Fisher & Paykel Masterclass. A host of Wellington’s best shared their knowledge and skills in all things ranging from smoking yoghurt (Des Harris) to roasting snapper heads (Martin Bosley) and making old fashioned blancmange (Alexa Johnston).

We enjoyed a gorgeous high tea at Hippopotamus in the Museum Hotel with a showing of Alexandra Owen’s summer collection, a terrific children’s market held as part of the Hill Street farmer’s market and to top it all off a Malaysian Night Market held in a lantern strung Opera Lane by the Malaysian Kitchen Programme and which featured some of the city’s best Malaysian restaurants and their fragrant dishes.

Dining highlights came from two exceptional kitchens. Mark Limacher’s Ortega Fish Shack literally hummed with the who’s who of the current film scene. They obviously know where to find some of the best plates and service in town. Primarily fish focussed, as the restaurant’s name suggests, the menu is punchy and inviting, the flavours big and rewarding.

The newest hot spot is Ancestral – a stylish Shanghai-esque establishment on Courtney Place serving modern but at the same time seriously authentically based dishes from Sichuan and Guangzhou (Canton). I love the Eastern inspired cocktails, the extensive list of whiskeys and the yakitori garden bar out back. Although we experienced it at lunch this is very much a night time place, when, I am told, the bar becomes very lively.

Back in Auckland we have been witnessing the birth of a whole raft of new eateries over the last month. Wynyard Wharf has sprung up across from the Viaduct bringing new life to that part of downtown. And now, under the Sky Tower, we have our own mini version of Southbank in Melbourne with three new drinking and dining options in Federal Street.

One of them, Al Brown’s Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar, brings a touch of New York (finally!, I want to say) to the big little city. It’s slick and the food is so simple and the locals love it already. On offer is an oyster bar and sharing plates such as turbot sliders, a great version of the fish taco, kingfish belly and a to-die-for crisp pork hock - all washed down with wine on tap. What a breath of fresh air! 

And to finish, a brickbat and a bouquet. After all what would my column be without an issue or two? Briefly though;

The bouquet goes to RNZSPCA Blue Tick for their inaugural Good Egg Awards – championing those who produce, use or sell cage-free eggs.

The brickbat is for Fonterra - for canceling the contracts for organic milk in Northland.

I will say no more.

Unwrapped - pondering a world without plastic wrap

Have you ever wondered what you would do without plastic wrap? I can easily see how we could survive without plastic shopping bags, or without the copious quantities of plastic packing in use today, but how would we successfully cover food so that it is safe from contaminants, would stay fresh and not spill if we didn’t have plastic wrap?

The question arose the other day when I and my neighbours were ticked off by a council inspector who took it upon himself to nosey through our recycle bins and discovered the someone was disposing of both plastic bags and plastic wrap in theirs. My first thought was, “Who would think that plastic wrap can be recycled?”

But beyond that it got me thinking, and actually not for the first time, about these two scourges of the modern world and about plastic packaging in general.

We are all aware of the environmental disaster caused by the plastic shopping bag. The mind boggles at the stats regarding usage and wastage, with the one I ‘like’ most being that the energy used to make one plastic bag would drive a car for a kilometer or something along those lines. I, as do a growing numbers of other shoppers, dutifully go off to both the farmers’ market and the supermarket with my French market baskets and feel awfully guilty if ever I forget them. The lovely young man on my favorite vegetable stall at the market however, still insists on offering me a plastic bag, which sadly is not a biodegradable one. I have been shopping at his stall for several years yet he persists. And the organic meat is, rather sadly I feel, tray packed and plastic wrapped – not the vendor’s choice I might add, but if she wants to sell meat at the market this is the requirement.

I’ve recently travelled in India, Malaysia and Thailand and was fascinated to learn that some towns in India are plastic bag free. This act alone has not necessarily reduced the mountains of other refuse that pile up everywhere but it is a positive start and shows a growing awareness. Goods are wrapped in recycled paper or a hand-made cloth drawstring bag, which apart from being reusable undoubtedly provides employment for someone.

Malaysia also has plastic carry-bag free policies, although they love to prepare takeaway food in small plastic bags – one for the broth for instance and one for the meat, vegetables or noodles to go in it. It is fun to watch as they skillfully fill them and tie them at the top with a small loop to carry them by. However I dislike the idea of hot food being stored in plastic and I can’t help but wonder what it is doing, long term, to their health.

Thailand, on the other hand, seems to have embraced non-biodegradable disposable with gusto to the point that even a cup of iced coffee or a soft drink comes in a plastic bag with a straw. Even worse is that pre-prepared market food is packaged in polystyrene clams where once they might have been artfully wrapped in a banana leaf. This does rather spoil the visual beauty of their wonderful night markets.

But getting back to plastic wrap, there simply is not the same level of concern over it. There has been the odd health report over the years proclaiming its dangers when heated, which I for one have taken serious note of, even though I have always been highly suspicious of the stuff anyway. It therefore alarms me to see professional chefs tightly wrapping food in plastic then poaching it in liquid that may often be at boiling point. As far as I can determine it’s all about the shape. A chicken breast or a fish mousse becomes a round perfectly formed log that apparently looks so much more beautiful when plated.

More importantly, I worry about the public perception of this new concept and have seen evidence of its unwise use. There is a popular method buzzing around homes where you line a small cup with plastic wrap, break in an egg and twist and knot the plastic to form a small parcel which is then lowered into boiling water. A perfectly shaped poached egg results, but what has happened to all the chemicals in the plastic when heated? There are few ways for home cooks to safely regulate the water temperature and ensure it is kept low enough to keep the plastic safe (if indeed that is possible). What’s wrong or difficult about a pan of salted simmering water with a teaspoon of vinegar in it to help set the egg white? Use a fresh egg and you’ll have a beautiful poached one in no time. The same issue exists with its use to cover food in the microwave. How often have you had the plastic melt onto the plate, or even on the food itself?

Then, the other day, on a TV show, I watched a cooking contestant wrap a perfect, freshly caught piece of fish in plastic and poach it in water, then serve it plain on the plate. Why would you do that? What’s wrong with a fry pan and a bit of butter that will give the fish both colour and good flavour?

Chef techniques such as this one are all very well, but belong (just) in the professional kitchen not the home. At home I reluctantly use plastic wrap, restricting it to its intended purpose of covering cold food to keep it fresh in the fridge. I prefer however to use reusable containers with clip on lids that last for years. Personally I don’t want to eat food that has come into contact with plastic during cooking.

I attended the Auckland launch of a really inspired initiative recently. Aptly called Conscious Consumers, the programme has been successfully happening in Wellington for a year and is now spreading its wings. Designed for cafés, it allows them to earn ‘brownie’ style badges for nine different aspects of sustainability and environmental awareness, such as recycling, organics, composting etc. These are prominently displayed so customers know exactly what practices the café supports. I wonder if they could introduce one relating to non-use of plastic wrap.

In the days before plastic wrap or plastic anything much, my mother used to have a supply of little elasticated cloth covers to stretch over dishes of food. She’d wash and reuse them over and over. They eventually came made of quite sturdy plastic and disappeared completely with the advent of plastic wrap. I remember how she struggled with the concept of using it only once before throwing it away, experimenting with washing it and hanging it to dry. Needless to say that was not very successful.

Without a doubt we need to find a better way though I don’t suggest for a minute we return to dinky little cloth bonnets. But where are the stats around plastic wrap usage and wastage and when, I wonder, will a bio-degradable version be available?

This column first appeared in Dish Magazine - Issue 37