What I’m reading: A Spool of Blue Thread, by Anne Tyler. I loved this - Anne Tyler’s writing is both solemn and funny, and she manages to keep the reader engaged across multiple generations of the Whitshank family’s saga
What I’m listening to: Alain de Botton on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast. A very wholesome and positive podcast to end the year
What I’m eating: bagels at Best Ugly Bagels, Auckland (below). A very decent bagel, and you can’t go wrong with Lox - my one caveat is that the toppings were slightly stingy
Firstly, happy Christmas! I hope you had a peaceful, joyful holiday, and are enjoying some well-deserved time off. I spent my Christmas Day in the Bay of Islands, a few hours north of Auckland - Christmas dinner was a barbecue, but we did make sure to have stuffing and 2 types of potatoes, plus a plum and almond crumble (as a nod to plum pudding, of course). It was somewhat bizarre being in a warm climate for Christmas Day, but the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables in season is definitely a big perk.
We also enjoyed a range of cocktails made with pōhutukawa syrup - made from the stamen of the pōhutukawa flower. It tastes like strawberries, and the syrup turns an incredible pink colour which is perfect for gin and tonics (at Mor with the team), and vodka cocktails (on Christmas Day, with the girls). We actually ended up finding a pōhutukawa tree on the property of the house we rented, so I made a little batch of syrup to bring back to Auckland.
Secondly, I made this feta rosti for breakfast the other day, and I can’t stop thinking about it - so here’s the recipe. It is, in my opinion, the perfect breakfast for this week between Christmas and the New Year, when you don’t know your arse from your elbow (let alone what day of the week it is). It’s also a very respectable lunch or dinner, but I kind of fancy it as a lazy-morning-long-lie-in breakfast. Serve it with whatever you like - here I went all out and had some soft-boiled eggs (see below), streaky smoked bacon, avocado, blistered tomatoes (adorably called jellybean tomatoes) and salsa macha.
Soft-boiled eggs
I wouldn’t necessarily call this a recipe, but if you want to achieve the perfect soft-boiled (with the white cooked through, but the yolk still runny), here’s what I do: put some boiling water in a medium saucepan. It doesn’t need to cover the eggs; you only need a few inches, as we’re going to be kind of steaming them. Bring to a rolling boil, pop in the eggs, and put a lid on top. Maintain at a rolling boil for exactly 6 minutes, then remove from the heat, drain the hot water, and refill with ice water. Allow them to cool for a couple of minutes, then gently peel and cut in half to serve.
recipe: feta potato rosti
Ingredients
(serves 2-3 people)
500g red-skinned potato, scrubbed but not peeled
2 spring onions
Big bunch assorted herbs - I used basil, parsley and dill
2 tbsp flour
1 tsp chilli flakes
Salt and pepper
150g feta
Big knob of butter, for frying
Method
Grate the potato with the coarse side of a box grater. Place in a sieve, and run water through it until the water runs clear. Squeeze as much liquid out of the potato as you can, then tip into a large mixing bowl.
Finely chop the spring onions (green and white parts) and the herbs, and add to the bowl. Add the flour and chilli flakes, and season with salt and pepper. Mix with your hand to combine, and finally break the feta into chunks and mix this through gently.
Place a frying pan over a medium heat for 2-3 minutes, and add the butter. It should sizzle and foam when you drop it in. Add 2 large spoonfuls of the rosti mixture to the pan, and shape into little patties. Flatten down and compress slightly with the back of a spatula, and tidy up the edges. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes, until the potato has started to turn opaque, and you can see golden crispy bits forming around the edges. Use a spatula to carefully flip them over, and cook for another 5 minutes on the other side, until crispy.
Repeat with the remaining mixture.
You can also cook this as one large rosti, and slice it up like a pizza to serve, but it’s a bit more tricky to flip without breaking it.
Serve with eggs/bacon/avo/tomatoes/salsa macha/smoked fish/leftover turkey and ham/whatever takes your fancy.
Thank you so much for your support this year! If you haven’t already, there’s a link to subscribe below, and this post is free, so feel free to share with a friend. Happy new year x