My first-ever newsletter... let's get cooking!
New beginnings, whānau and Summer stone fruit hits.
Kia ora friends,
It’s been a long time coming, but I can finally say… welcome to my newsletter!
Firstly, thank you for signing up to receive my fortnightly musings on food in your inbox. I’ve been blown away by the support I’ve received in the past week for this new venture, so thank you for being a part of this.
Not only do I love eating food and making food, but I love talking food with others, and I hope that this newsletter can provide a way for us to connect through deliciousness, while being a source of inspiration for you in your own kitchen.
Most of you will have seen that I’ve recently launched a new website, which I’ve had so much fun creating. My aim was for it to be fun, modern and accessible – particularly the recipe pages, as it can sometimes be challenging as a home cook to navigate through different platforms and weave through to find the recipes you’re looking for. If you have any feedback I’d love to hear it.
For those of you who are new to my cooking, welcome! My food places emphasis on flavour-forward, fun and creative recipes, with wholefoods and seasonal produce at the heart. My philosophy is that if you are preparing your own food (so you know what goes into it) and sharing this with friends and whānau, that is healthy eating. It’s all about balance!! You can find out more on the about page of the website.
Food and whānau
This past week has been a memorable one for me. It started with celebrating a good friend’s upcoming wedding, then led to the sudden passing of my paternal grandmother Maureen – a remarkable woman who gave so much to her family (11 children and over 50 grandchildren!!). It’s been an emotional week with highs and lows, but importantly time spent with people I love and celebrating the life of an irreplaceable force of a grandmother. I hope that all of you have had an opportunity over the Christmas and New Year period to spend time with those you love.
Naturally, with large family gatherings there’s always a lot of kai to be shared, so I’ve been busy in the kitchen this week baking for the masses. My grandma always had the biscuit tins full of delectable home baking, so it seemed only fitting. Alongside the classics (Louise slice, Belgium biscuits, caramel slice), I also made a few of my own creations, including these Apricot, thyme + black pepper friands which are the perfect tea-time treat, made using ripe Central Otago apricots. If you can’t find apricots you can use plums or peaches instead, but I encourage you to give them a whirl – you won’t regret it.
Stone fruit – a love like no other.
Summer is my absolute favourite time of year, not least in part to the arrival of the stone fruit season – juicy apricots, nectarines, peaches and the like. It’s often a mad scramble to maximise the season, as it feels like you blink and it’s already over. A great thing to do is to buy in bulk when on special and poach, roast, stew or jam the fruit and jar or freeze it – this will mean you have stone fruit on hand throughout the year. We often think of stone fruit as lending themselves best to sweet recipes, but they’re equally versatile in savoury cooking, giving a sweet and tangy punch to stews, curries or salads. My recipe for Sweet + sour soba salad with peach, peanuts + tamarind is a perfect example of this, using grilled peaches to add a flavour punch – this salad has been featuring regularly over my Summer.
The next few days are seeing further changes for me – my partner Alex, greyhound Beau and I are moving into our new flat in Dunedin, having lived mostly in the North Island for the past 7 years. I’ll have to christen the kitchen with lots of cooking in the coming weeks – I can’t wait to share new recipes with you as the year progresses.
A final note, if you have any recipe requests, questions, or just want to chat food, you can reach me through Instagram @albyhailes , the website/email, or through the newsletter platform (Substack). And if you feel like spreading the word to friends and whānau, I’d love to share my food with them too.
Happy cooking,
Alby xx
this week’s MOOD BOOSTER:
Apricot, fennel + macadamia overnight bircher
I love making birchers - there’s something so satisfying about waking up in the morning and starting the day by giving yourself a pat on the back for the little bit of effort you put in the night before. It’s also so easy to make your bircher a little bit special without much faff. This bircher is an absolute taste of summer, bursting with ripe apricots, sweet citrusy fennel and creamy crunchy macadamias.
Best of the season this fortnight (NZ):
Stone fruit – apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, cherries
Zucchinis
Rock melon
Sweetcorn (last of the Summer crop)
Green beans
Capsicums
Aubergines
Tomatoes
Kitchen music of the moment:
After being super into her song ‘Apple Pie’ for some time, I’ve finally dived deeper into the catalogue of Lizzy McAlpine, and have been loving the vibe of her latest album five seconds flat, particularly the track All My Ghosts- I’m still waiting for my free slurpy Lizzy.
Last week I was lucky enough to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Dunedin stadium (absolute epicness), so I’ve been reminiscing with some of their classics this past week, as well as some of their lesser known stuff. I once worked with a RHCP superfan in a Wellington kitchen back in 2016, who got me onto their latest album at the time, The Getaway, and the song Go Robot off the album is an absolute tune.
Interesting reads:
Most countries have national dishes, what about a national ‘aroma’? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/feb/01/new-mexico-official-aroma-chile-peppers
If you’ve got a glut of plums that need a home, here’s a great link with jamming tips https://sharedkitchen.co.nz/2018/03/jamming-best-ever-plum-jam/
A Waikato farmer’s perspective on the methane crisis in Aotearoa https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/interactive/2023/new-zealand-cows-burps-methane-tax/
Important evidence around the links between nutrition and mental health https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-017-0791-y?mod=article_inline