Grace & Flavour is a celebration of traditional Anglo-Kiwi food. Presenting 90 classic recipes from vintage New Zealand cookbooks, Barbara Keen takes us on a nostalgic culinary journey, rediscovering the delicious, economical food that our grandmothers and great-grandmothers really used to make.

Presented in both original and easy-to-follow modern versions, these recipes are worth making and worth remembering. We can now be proud of our food heritage.

This stunning compilation will appeal to anyone as an antidote to expensive and complicated modern cuisine. The recipes are simple, and their reliance on seasonal and local New Zealand produce will appeal to those who strive for ‘green’ shopping. As well as being economical and healthy, this cookbook is a fascinating insight into our culinary history.

Weights and measures are converted to metric, and instructions, which are often sketchy in old cookbooks, have been expanded and clarified. But the spirit and style of the original dish is always kept intact – no sundried tomatoes or lemongrass here! For some, these long forgotten recipes will bring back fond memories of years past. For others, it will be a unique insight into the dishes their parents and grandparents enjoyed. The recipes are complemented with images of the dishes and styled with nostalgic table and kitchenware.

SAMPLE RECIPES
Kedgeree (pictured left)
A dish from another British colony, India, and once a traditional part of the English country house breakfast, but more commonly eaten at lunch or tea in this part of the world. Hardboiled eggs are standard in kedgeree, but this version also includes a beaten egg stirred into the mixture, which gives it a creamier texture than usual. Curry spices are often added, but not in this one, though ‘seasoning to taste’ could accommodate at least some cumin seeds, cooked in the butter before adding the rice and the fish.

250–350 g smoked fish fillets
1 cup long-grain rice, preferably basmati
2 eggs
40 g butter
2 teaspoons cumin seeds (optional)
salt, white pepper and grated nutmeg
chopped parsley to garnish

Barely cover the fish fillets with water and simmer for 2–3 minutes in a wide shallow pan. Flake the fish, or cut into bite-sized pieces.
Cook the rice according to instructions on the bag, using the fish cooking water.
Boil one of the eggs just hard enough to peel and cut easily.
Melt the butter in a sauté or frying pan large enough for all the ingredients. Add the cumin seeds, if using, and fry gently for a minute or two. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with butter.
Add the fish, stir it into the rice and heat through.
Beat up the remaining egg with a pinch of salt, stir into the kedgeree and cook gently.
Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Garnish with quarters of boiled egg, sprinkle with parsley and serve.

Kedgeree
1/2 lb smoked fish 1 cupful rice
2 eggs 11/2 ozs butter
seasoning to taste
Boil one egg hard, cut the white into dice. Boil the rice till tender. Break the fish into flakes. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the rice, fish and cut up white of egg and the other egg well beaten. Make very hot. Season to taste. Dish up in a pyramid shape and sprinkle over the hard-boiled yolk rubbed through a strainer and some chopped parsley.

Walnut bread
Margaret Mollison was the first matron of Knox College in Dunedin, from 1900–1915. Her walnut loaf is very nice for afternoon tea, as she says, and it's pretty good for breakfast and brunch too. Simple loaves like this were designed to be thinly sliced and buttered, but they are also good with sharp cheeses, or spread with sour cream.

2 cups flour
1½ tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 cup walnuts, preferably halves and large pieces

Preheat the oven to 180degC.
Prepare a medium-sized loaf tin by brushing the inside with oil or melted butter, or lining with baking paper. (I use a tin that holds about 1200ml.)
Mix the flour, baking powder and sugar together in a bowl.
Add the walnut pieces and distribute evenly. (Check for stray bits of tooth-breaking shell before adding.)
Whisk egg and milk together. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, pour in the liquid and mix well.
Spoon into the loaf tin, pushing into the corners and smoothing the top. Put on a rack in the bottom half of the oven and bake for about 50 minutes. When done, the top will be firm but springy.

Author Biography

Barbara Keen has been a freelance food and travel writer, restaurant and book reviewer since 1980. Since 1999, she's been writing the newsletter for Bespoke France, a travel business she started with her partner in 1990. In 2003 she curated the exhibition ‘Lost food: a colonial culinary past’ at the Otago Settlers Museum.