
Panzanella: Tuscan Tomato and Bread Salad
I realise that this is well out of season, but as a couple of weeks ago I was home in New Zealand, happily eating this in my parents front yard I had to share it. Panzanella is a classic Mediterranean salad, and so has all the classic Mediterranean flavours: basil, garlic, olives etc. But tomatoes […]

Rocky Road
Rocky road is a bit of a classic from the Antipodes. If I’m honestly, probably more Australian than Kiwi, but when you’re this far from home there’s not really so much difference. And when you’re that far from home I guess no one would know – unless of course you were to tell them I […]

Ravintolapäivä / Restaurant Day
So last Sunday was Restaurant Day again. And after years of thinking it would be funny to join in, this year I did. Restaurant Day from Cocoa on Vimeo. Firstly, I suppose I should tell you what it is. In short: for one day everyone is encouraged to open their own restaurant. It’s been running […]

Shaved Fennel Salad
Today has been the example of what a great summer day can be in Helsinki. Went for a long walk in the morning, had an awesome gluten-free breaky (apologies, Finnish only, but I recommend if you’re in the area), stopped at the local farmers market and bought a bunch of fresh veges. Then some friends […]
Caramellised Bananas
This is another one of those things where is a way it’s soo simple that it perhaps doesn’t warrant the description “recipe”. And yet, on the flip side, it’s exactly that simplicity and the time it takes compared to the result that makes it awesome. It the perfect kind desert for unexpected guests – you’ll likely have all the ingredients […]

Mushroom Soup
The winter in Finland can be rough. Especially if you, like me, come from a temperate country and the concept of the real, hard winter is completely foreign to you. Foreign to the point of never having seen it snow before let alone experience the ankle-deep snow, biting cold and 18h hours a day of […]

Chachouka: North African Capsicum Stew with Eggs
Last week I stumbled upon the English cooking series the River Cottage. In particular, upon the season in which the protagonist goes vegetarian for the summer. I immediately felt a great deal of affinity for this. As a former voracious meat-eater (from a country of voracious meat-eaters) and current not-quite-vegetarian but appreciator of the vegetarianism, I couldn’t agree more […]

South Pacific Christmas Cake
As a kid, I pretty much hated this cake. Which was somewhat of a tragedy as this is the most traditional and most common NZ “celebration cake” – at Christmas time and a at wedding in NZ you can be almost sure to get something like this. The funny thing is that as the years […]

Glutenfree Travelling in Dublin
Some weeks ago we were in Ireland to see some friends get married. So here’s my (fast becoming customary) glu-tard’s guide to travelling in the Emerald Isle. I’m not sure whether Celiac’s disease has become more commonplace and so we are better catered for or whether it was always like that, but I just never […]

Goats Cheese and Caramelised Red Onion Salad
As we have laughed many times with another meat-eating food-nerd friend of mine, goats cheese is the steak of the vegetarian world. Which would make this “steak and salad”. For vegos. The sweet onion jam and the salty goats cheese balance each other wonderfully here. one 1-2cm thick goats cheese (cherve) “round” per person i.e […]