Sunday, April 17, 2011

Gran’s Family Table

by Natalie Oldfield
Harper Collins - RRP: $60.00

In Mount Eden, away from the busy centre, is a little food store buzzing with customers. The shelves are filled with freshly baked savouries, sweets and home-made preserves. Natalie, her sister, mother and father work side by side. Dulcie May Booker, the inspiration for this legacy, is in a photo above them on the wall cooking in her own kitchen.

Food, family and love are the very essence of who Natalie Oldfield is and where she comes from. Inspired by her grandmother, Natalie opened Dulcie May Kitchen to coincide with the release of her first self-published book Gran’s Kitchen.

Gran’s Kitchen sold over 15,000 copies in New Zealand alone, won The Gourmand Book Award in Europe for best local cuisine in New Zealand, and Natalie is now published in Australia and Great Britain.

Dulcie May Kitchen won 'Best Cake Shop' (Metro magazine 2009), was voted one of the 'Top 50 Cafés' (Metro magazine 2010), as well as an award for 'Best Pressed Sandwiches’ (Metro magazine 2010).

Although Dulcie passed away in 2009, Natalie and her family will always admire the way she lived her life. So it is with Dulcie in mind that Natalie has written Gran’s Family Table.

One of the many things Natalie admired about her Gran was her ability to be adventurous with food. She never lost this vibrancy of spirit, and, even at the age of 96, she maintained an interest in trying new things.

Most of the recipes you’ll find in this book are Dulcie’s tried-and-true personal versions of much-loved New Zealand classics. Others are more modern, as Dulcie could certainly move with the times.

Natalie and her sister Michelle have also included their own family favourites — some with their own personal touches and variations as well as additional recipes from their mother Heather.

As Dulcie’s style of cooking is all centred around simple, fresh and flavoursome food, Natalie has provided meal options that are delicious, rich in flavour and colour, and easy to cook.
Gran’s Family Table is a sumptuous cookbook that will evoke memories of past family meals and picnics.

The publishers have kindly agreed to me reproducing here two recipes I have made from the book and both of which I commend to you:

Grilled Snapper with Baked Onions

16 pickling onions
salt and pepper
600 ml cream
250 g Gruyère, grated
¼ cup flour
¼ cup milk
4 snapper fillets
6 tbsp olive oil
lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 160°C.
Peel onions and boil in a saucepan of water for 20–25 minutes, or until soft.
Drain onions, then place in a casserole dish and season with salt and pepper. Add cream to dish and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 25–30 minutes.
Season flour with salt and pepper and sprinkle over a work surface.
Place milk in a wide, shallow bowl. Dip snapper fillets into milk,then transfer to seasoned flour and coat each fillet.
When baked onions are almost ready, pan-fry snapper fillets in olive
oil for 5 minutes on each side (depending on thickness of fillets).
Serve snapper fillets on a bed of baked onions with a lemon wedge on
the side.
Serves 4–6

MARINATED LAMB

10 lamb shoulder chops

Marinade
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup dark rum
1 onion, grated
2 tbsp mustard powder
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground nutmeg
zest and juice of 1 lemon
zest and juice of 1 orange
salt and pepper

Mix marinade ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil,stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 4–5 minutes. Cool.

Place lamb in dish, pour over marinade and coat well. Cover and
leave in the fridge for 24 hours.
Grill or barbecue to your liking. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Serves 6–8

About the author:
Natalie Oldfield’s love for food and people meant she spent her formative years in the hospitality industry. It was during this time that her entrepreneurial endeavours led her to establish several corporate cafés and function venues, and, eventually, as a tribute to her grandmother, she opened Dulcie May Kitchen in 2009 and self-published Gran’s Kitchen, later adding a Recipe Notebook to her self-published collection. In Dulcie May Kitchen Natalie is joined by her sister Michelle Burrell, as well as her mother and father Ashley and Heather Burrell.

For more information about Dulcie May Kitchen go to : http://www.dulciemaykitchen.com/

And two invitations for you:

1.Meet bestselling author and award winning owner of Dulcie May Kitchen,
 Natalie Oldfield, and taste some of her delicious food.

Monday, 2 May, 6.00pm

Cook the Books, 81 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby
$5 entry, fully refundable if you purchase any book from Cook the Books on the night.
To book visit http://www.cookthebooks.co.nz/,
ph: 09 360 6513 or email: books@cookthebooks.co.nz

2.Have a delicious morning tea with bestselling author and owner of Dulcie May Kitchen, Natalie Oldfield, and taste some treats from her stunning new book Gran's Family Table.

Wednesday, 4 May, 10am

Dymocks, 476Mount Eden Road
Please RSVP by Monday 2 May to Dymocks Mt Eden
ph: 09 638 9345 or email: mteden@dymocks.co.nz

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