Cook Book Club August – Peter Gordon

Thistles and Kiwis

When I saw the theme of August’s Cook Book Club – the country where you live – I got out my pile of New Zealand cook books to see what I could come up with. Should I pluck up courage and bake something from Maxine Schekter’s beautiful book Pâtisserie Made Simple or browse one of Kylee Newton, The Modern Preserver’s books? Or shall I go to the library?

In the end I decided on 1997 Peter Gordon book The Sugar Club Cookbook which, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, I found in a local charity shop. I return to his Savour again and again and I have eaten in his former restaurant in Auckland, and also at a special pop up here in Wellington, and can testify that his food is delicious. I considered the beef pesto we had eaten at the Wellington event, but instead went for the red lamb and pumpkin coconut curry since partly as there was a butternut squash to use up in the fridge.

The recipe calls for lamb (I bought mine at our local butcher, already diced), red onion, carrots, leeks, ginger, garlic, coconut cream, lime leaves chicken stick and of course, chopped and peeled pumpkin, and of course the ingredients for the red curry paste. Dear reader, I will confess that I bought a good red curry paste. I wasn’t sure where to buy a couple of the ingredients, like galangal, without going to a specialist oriental grocer, and as I had to cook the dish on one particular weekend, I just didn’t have time. Plus my little food processor isn’t that great.

Anyway, brown the lamb, remove the meat, then cook the veggies apart from the pumpkin. Add red curry paste, fry until aromatic, return the meat to the pan and add the coconut cream and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 3/4 hours, then add the pumpkin and cook until tender. I added some coriander and a swirl of coconut cream at the end, and served it with rice and spinach.

Verdict? Very good. Do again? Yes definitely – but will remember not to add the pumpkin too early as I did as it kind of disintegrated.

Entered in the cook book club hosted by Jo of Brookford Kitchen Diaries. Next month – holiday memories – has there been a cookbook or recipe that has brought back memories of holidays? As she says, perhaps it’s a book you picked up at a local market, something regional to a place you’ve stayed, or maybe even a dish that takes you back to your happy place. Date – 10th September. This is going to be a hard one…especially as it will be early spring here and all my best holiday food memories are summer ones…

Thistles and Kiwis is a Wellington, New Zealand based blog written by Barbara, who likes cats, summer, good food and pretends to garden.

You can find Thistles and Kiwis on Facebook, and also on Instagram @thistlesandkiwis.

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Published by Thistles and Kiwis

Loves summer, sunshine and cats. Beginner gardener, likes eating, cooking and reading about food

30 Comments

  1. Such a classic book – and still so relevant. I’ve made a couple of veg recipes from Savour over the last couple of weeks, but need to drag Sugar Club back out. Thanks for linking up.

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  2. I used to teach with a New Zealand lady and her food was always so delicious. She was from Invercargill and always talked about the oysters. Great books – will look out for some here, across the ditch. 😄

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    1. Bluff oysters are considered the best, though I love the ones from around Waiheke Island – I never thought I could ever become an oyster snob before I moved to NZ 🙂

      The books are good if you can find them.

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    1. The food I remember from holidays can’t always be re-created at home eg the wonderful fish cooked on a hibachi in Japan, a simple dish of hot smoked salmon and new potatoes that was perfection…you know what I mean?

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  9. When I visit our local second hand shop (there are several but only one BIG) I always visit the aisle with used cookbooks. They are inspiring and often very different from the new, modern ones.

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  11. Well, that looks delicious. I haven’t come across Peter Gordon before so I’ll look him up. When we were in Wales last year we had Welsh Cakes twice and they were so yummy. Then I found a dear little recipe book for them at St Davids, brought it home and made some myself. And just last week I made a batch for afternoon tea with a friend. They were delicious and brought back happy memories of our time in Wales – bonus!

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