Curry leaf Abundance

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

Having bought a packet of fresh curry leaves from my local Indian supermarket, I was determined not to waste any. You can’t get fresh ones all the time (usually only dried) so I wanted to make the most of them. Fresh Curry Leaves Curry leaves do not taste like curry. They are called curry leaves...

Tomato Blush Salt

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

I was given a box of tomatoes by my friendly herb dealer. They were the last of the season (in the middle of winter mind you) and as such were a bit mushy. A friend lent me her tomato press so that I could make passata with them. This machine takes the whole tomato in through a funnel and spits out...

Using Whey

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

I make my own cheese, which produces a lot of whey. But rather than tip it out, there is so much that can be done with this “by-product”. When you make cheese, enzymes added to the milk causing it to separate into solids and liquid. The solids, or curds, are strained and become the cheese. The rem...

Eggs for Easter

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

Are you looking for something a little different, but traditional that you can do with eggs for Easter with the kids I have been cooking Sephardic eggs (sometimes known as Brown Eggs), since finding this recipe in the mid 1980’s, and being fascinated by the colour and flavour of the eggs. The...

Nutritious and Delicious, but a dog's breakfast!

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

I started feeding my Border-Collie/Labrador cross home-made food a year ago. The lab in her wins out too often and she gets too fat on commercial food. I wanted food that wasn’t full of fillers and additives, or suspect ingredients. She is not allergic to any foods that I know of, but I wanted to...

Green Tomato Goodness

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

I was given a box of green tomatoes recently, so got busy in the kitchen inventing new ways to use them. We do love fried green tomatoes, but can't eat that crispy, tangy, spicy goodness every day! What a versatile vegetable it is: Turkish, Burmese, Southern U.S, or Kiwi. We have been playing with...

Wag's Coconut, Mango & Avocado Salad

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

I am not keen on mixing fruit with savoury. No chicken stuffed with apricots, or couscous full of sultanas. It just doesn't work for me. So when my good friend Vicki in Bangalow, Northern New South Wales, prepared this dish for us on arrival at her home, I was not filled with anticipation. I love ma...

Kamo kamo - a New Zealand treasure

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

[Recipe: Gokpinar Kabak - a Turkish take on a NZ treasure] The long, hot summer in Lyttelton this year has meant that our garden is going gang-busters! One crop that is doing particularly well in the dry, sunny conditions is our kamo kamo (sometimes called kumi kumi). It is taking over the garden...

Dealing in Herbs

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

[Recipe: Chilled lettuce, pea & basil soup] He told me to meet him by the big gum tree, just across the road from the pony school. Although he didn’t say so, it was clear he wanted me to come alone – not to tell anyone. I’d been waiting for 5 minutes before he finally showed up. His van drew up be...

Cucumber Soup with Smoked Salmon

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

Impress your guests with this refreshing summer soup that has a touch of elegance. I can’t eat cucumber. It's not that I don’t like it, but rather that it doesn’t like me. Eating raw cucumber inevitably gives me reflux. However, I remember one Christmas as a teenager when, despite my protestations...

Roasted Bay Leaf Tomatoes

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

Sweet, juicy caramelised roasted tomatoes with that lovely aromatic flavour of bay. My fresh herb supplier, Paran, gave me a box of beautiful, ripe summer tomatoes recently. I’m not sure what variety they were, but they bigger than cherry tomatoes and smaller than the standard variety you find in...

Seared Scallops and Bacon Crumble Brunch

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

Something for everyone: crunchy toast, smooth avocado mash, salty bacon crumble, fragrant coriander and caramelised scallops. Yum! This year’s Christmas brunch had something for everyone around our table. My Dad loves scallops (although he insists on taking the deliciously sweet roe off them to fe...

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Jenny Garing

Founder of Lyttelton's Ground Culinary Centre and Ground Gourmet Essentials

Jenny Garing

Founder of Lyttelton's Ground Culinary Centre and Ground Gourmet Essentials

Blog posts

Exciting and Exotic Recipes

Curry leaf Abundance

Tomato Blush Salt

Using Whey

Eggs for Easter

Nutritious and Delicious, but a dog's breakfast!

Green Tomato Goodness

Wag's Coconut, Mango & Avocado Salad

Kamo kamo - a New Zealand treasure

Dealing in Herbs

Cucumber Soup with Smoked Salmon

Roasted Bay Leaf Tomatoes

Seared Scallops and Bacon Crumble Brunch