April 5, 2026 • 40 mins
Many of us change our diets as with the seasons, thanks to availability and pricing.
But are there health benefits to adopting a seasonal diet? And what should we pick up now before it's gone out of season?
Chef Allyson Gofton joins to discuss seasonal diets, and some recipes to keep you warm as we head into winter.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'd be wait, that's that's the latest, and we will
keep you up to dat as soon as we have
news to hand on our further confirmation of that story.
But right now it is the Health Hub and this
is the time what we want your calls and your
participation on eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. You can
text on nine two nine two. By the way, before
we get into this hour after five for Smart Money,
we've got Martin Hawes talking about what do you do
(00:30):
when everything's gone wrong? And when do you actually call
it quits and rebuild yourselves when you know, when do
you go bankrupt? Maybe when do you actually acknowledge that hell,
things have got too much? And how do you go
about rebuilding your life? But right now this is the
Health Hub, and what we're going to kick off with
is well, I would have thought eating seasonally is what
(00:51):
we do naturally throughout the throughout the year, not just
because of what's available, but of course as price would
pay a part in that, play a part in that decision,
I would have thought, and perhaps most of us change
what we eat really without thinking about it, because it's
just the changes. What we see in the fresh produce
is different. But here's the thing, Well, every creature on
the planet eats seasonally or doesn't need of course when
(01:14):
we're thinking of hibernation, which we don't do. But how
much do the seasons really change what's in our food?
And with you know, the ability to refrigerate things, frozen foods,
they've made a huge difference in what we're able to
eat throughout the year. And what are some of the
foods that are useful to stockpile. Those are some of
the questions we're going to look at and to deal
(01:34):
with all that. Deal with all that. We are joined
by someone who almost needs no introduction apart from her name.
She is Alison Gofton. Hello Allison, how are you hey?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I'm good tim Happy Easter.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Happy Easter. Now I'll ask you the I'll ask you
the cliche question, what did you what did you have
for Easter? Did do you do the hot cross buns?
Have you got Allison's hot cross buns? Or do you
do you get stuck into the chockey? Or do you think? Oh,
I can't be bothered this year by the heads.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Of grown up and left home I'm beginning to feel
like I'm on the other stage of life. And so
there's no hot cross. There's no Easter egg hunts at
our house for eggs. There are beautiful hot cross buns
and no, I didn't make them this year because we
are fortunate enough in the White Catto to have the
lovely Bolaro Bakery and they make brilliant hot cross buns,
(02:27):
as to another a couple of other bakeries in an
around the place, so there's only two of us here.
You know, five hundred grams of flower makes an awful
lot of hot cross buns. It takes a long time
for Warrick can I to get through, so.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
We bought them. Takes a while. It takes a while
to make them too, and I've got a recipe that
I that I follow from Riverstone Kitchen down in Amuru,
and they are quite big hot cross buns. But I
surprised our Longliptok takes well.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Of course, one of the lovely things about yeast and
working with yeast is that there's a trick to getting
good flavor out of your yeast bakery if you're going
to cook with yeast, and that is the longer it
takes to prove the better the flavor. So where we
always write in a book, you know, knead until the
dough is soft, and then cover it in a bowl
and let it sit for an hour. Well, the word
(03:13):
an hour has come in because it's about as much
patience as most of our readers have to leave something
sitting on their kitchen bench. And while we've all in
our time tried to speed that up by popping it
in the microwave for five seconds every five minutes, that
was one trick, or putting it in a warmer place,
(03:33):
the reality is that yeast brings out the flavor and
bread if it's allowed to work naturally and slowly, so
not a cold kitchen, but not as hot summer's day
kitchen either, and so yes, it does take a while
for that flavor to work, and in doing so in
something like your hot cross buns, it allows the spices
to come to life. And one of the tricks, also
(03:56):
with your Easter bunds, is to make your own spice
blend if you can be bothered, because if the blend
is sitting on the you know, the shelf in the
oven and then in the supermarket, and then it sits
on your shelf at home. You could be using stuff
that's long over due. So fresh spices make a difference
because when we dry spices, we take away the water,
(04:17):
but we leave the oils in that tiny little powder.
It's all full of essential oils. The idea is to
try to bring that to life. Well, if they've gone stale,
they'll be kind of rancid and flavor soy, check out
the fresh spices and leave them to rise.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
The whole time thing is there's a cafe I quite
like to go to which and they do some their
fantastic bakery. But the one thing I follow the Chad
Robertson Tartane school of thought when it comes to sourdough
and things. But I today it's a little bit of
a humble brad because I'm quite proud of it. I
haven't made them for a while, but instead of hot
cross buns, I actually made crossong for I've.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Seen your Yeah, said magnific, magnific.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And the point is, he says, don't you know, don't
have them proving at two warm a temperature. You give
it a bit of time, and can I just say, God?
They were good? I wish I could I wish I
could pass one through the through the zoom to you and.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Made with butter. And so often when we take something
that has been made at home or made in a
small bakery and made for us, like in our French bakeries,
when you're if you get the good fortune to go there,
or you have a small bakery in your town, you're
not making it in bulk, and so therefore the products
that you use don't have to do a manufacturing process
(05:41):
that is grand. You know, it's really en mass and
so you're able to use beautiful ingredients like butter, like
fresh ingredients, whereas once you get into the you know,
the big mass production that becomes some kind of fat
that's not necessarily butter. There is something very beautiful about
making your own cross on. I'm taking my hat off
(06:02):
to you because I have to tell you it's a
long time since I've made that.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's a good day and a half. And that's when
you really, you know, you do leave them sitting for
a while. But I think I actually might see if
I've got the password to our Facebook page for the
week and collect it, because I might have to stick
a phew.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Only one of the things I love to do with
a croissant dough is and for people listening, it's like
making puff pastry, but with yeast. And so you make
a dough and then you have to roll it out.
You have to layer in the butter and roll and
fold and roll and fold, and that takes a while.
If you roll out two portions, one a little bit
bigger than the other into a circle and to pop
(06:37):
it on a baking tray and then put into that
some gruyere cheese and ham, and then you roll the
other piece out and you put it on top like
this oversized, Yes, beautiful ham and cheese, cross on, pinch
the edges down, put a market into wedges and bake it. Gosh,
it's delicious.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Actually, you know, the big journey and I know we
haven't even got on to the topic yet, which is
very naughty of me. But it's seasonal cooking. It's got
a bit cooler so that everything's not going to send
a fall apartner in the summer sun. But the biggest
journey I undertook. And if anyone is out there and
they want to have a crack, if they're masochistic and
they want to have a crack at croissong because it's
not the hardest thing was to find a recipe and
(07:20):
it was the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. The Tartine
literally the book is called Tartin, not tartin bread, but tartine.
And their recipe for croissong not only did it make
more than a stingy six or eight croissong, it makes
about sixteen. And it is a it's a fine recipe.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
They're beautiful to make. And the smell that comes out
of an oven in a kitchen and a home when
you are baking bread is like nothing else. There's something
beautiful about the smell of baking yeast. I make a
bit of a good croissant. This is really going to
upset you in the food processor, in a food processor
(08:02):
and you make this is back in the days when
process that we're first coming in, so I am going
back a few decades now. I know it sounds awful.
And we made a dough and then we would freeze
the butter, oh yeah, and in small pieces, and then
you put the dough into the food processor and maybe
in depending on how much dough you had, maybe in
four lots and four lots of butter and you use
(08:23):
your pulse button to chop the butter into the dough
and then you roll and fold. It worked like a treat.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Just so you know, that does sound mildly sacrilegious, but
I'm sure it's Alison. It has to be good. Now, look,
seasonal we wanted to have a bit of a chat
about seasonal eating. I mean, to be honest, I just
would have thought seasonal eating is what we all do.
But technology does allow us to, you know, freeze things.
(08:52):
And how important is seasonal eating to you, because I'm
going to guess that it's an essential part of being
a sort of someone who's fond of cuisine, is it.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Well? I enjoy the flavors and the tastes that the
different seasons give us. And so like all things that
we grow, there is an ultimate season of that they
where they will taste the best strawberries, raspberries, asparagus, all
of those things. And so for me, I enjoy it
(09:23):
when I see swede come into the market that has
been in the ground and has had a frost on it. Well,
it's there at the moment, but it certainly isn't as
sweet as it will be come August July August when
the swede needs to be kissed by the frost. Otherwise
it is just not sweet. And so it's those kind
(09:46):
of things that I really enjoy. However, the manufacturing of
our food today has moved so much from the days
of maybe even when I first started as an apprentice,
that you can buy so many more things. They're imported,
they're available. The one thing I would suggest is that
you will find things go out of price because keeping
(10:09):
the hothouses warm to produce them makes the costs a
bit more, and they're there. The tomatoes, the zucchinis, the
kind of vine grown foods that we tend to eat.
Lettuce will become expensive. They've had shocking with it down
on our East coast. That's really going to upset the prices.
And so I think more than anything to suggest to
(10:30):
people to look for the best bargains of the season.
That's good because.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Are as you were chatting there, I was thinking there
are sort of exceptions to the seasons, because, for instance,
I learned to make some quite nice salads over the
course of the summer courtesy of AI. I hate to say,
but man, I've got some quite good suggestions. But there
comes a time, where I think, in fact, maybe it's
(10:58):
even daylight saving time. But when it gets a bit cooler,
that the idea of having a salad just feels bizarre.
Whereas berries are a summer fruit generally, and yet you
can freeze them. And I say that there'll be plenty
of people who had some lovely winter desserts which have
some sort of berry involved there some here, wouldn't They
somehow would because.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
You can buy them so readily in the supermarkets have
frozen berries where I live. I bought them by the
box load, and I mean boxes for ten dollars down
here the second and I froze them all down. But
I'm able to do that. But certainly I think that
with the cooler weather comes a hibernation that we all feel,
(11:38):
and it's a time to relax into something that's a
little bit more and the word is not nourishing, but
it's kind of more bowl food and heart warming and
soul warming as opposed to the freshness and the lightness
that we feel when we see the sunshine come again
with daylight savings. And I strongly believe that it's a
great way to eat because you get such joy for going. Oh,
(12:02):
I'd forgotten what mash carrots and parsner light together, and
it's so key were delivered. We called it chocolate mashes children,
because my mother said it tasted better than chocolate with
the carrot in good live I'm gonna like mum. And
so there is joy in being able to indulge in
those winter foods, and there is joy in bringing summer
(12:24):
to life on your plate as well. So you know,
for winter, why not have a roasted carrot salad, which
is absolutely delicious. You can roast it with maple syrup.
You could roast it with Middle Eastern spices. You could
roast it with almost anything. You could throw in some
cheer seeds, you could have bulga wheat, and you could
have plenty of herbs which are often available carrot.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You mentioned carrot. Now, I think carrot is totally underrated
because you know, if you chop up a few bits
of carrots and shoved in your kids lunchbox, it'll be
there at the end of the day because it's just
you know, but if you mean.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Roast them slowly, isn't it absolutely?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
And it's so that's that they're pretty generally pretty cheap,
aren't they carrots.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yeah, carrots are one of our most inexpensive food choices,
and they're also really good for us. You know, they're
just fabulous. Carrot soup, roasted carrot and pumpkin soup. There's
a great one for winter. And I do think that
we believe we can indulge in winter foods where we
feel in summer as if we should be less indulgent
(13:26):
in terms of what we are eating. And I believe
that that is a great way to keep our soul happy,
you know, just don't make sure you overdo it. She says.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
That's the question. I mean, when you head to winter.
I mean, we do. I think we are naturally Have
we evolved? Do you find that people's appetites have evolved
that we crave energy rich foods? You know, I mean
sticky date pudding? Hello? Sorry, I'm almost godless glaze over
when I say it, because I love it, but I
couldn't have it. I don't think I could have it
in summer.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
No, I think I think we crave the warmth and
the soul of winter. It comes to us in those
kind of bowld nutribhishing foods that we can eat, whereas
in summer it's certainly about grab and go, wrap it up,
put it in a salad, running out the door. You
cannot sit down and watch the Rugby easily with a
(14:17):
lovely lettuce salad, but you do it with a bowl
of sticky date pudding.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Let's be honest, it's just salads. To watch the All Blacks.
It's like, oh jeez, I would look how important we
want to know? I would love you to join us
as well if you've got any questions for Allison Gofton.
But how important is it to you to eat with
the seasons? Is it just something? Is it something you
even think about? Or do you just go with well?
I walked into the soupermarket and all of a sudden
(14:43):
the lettuce wasn't there, but there were lots of broccoli
and cauliflower, and I went mad, Not mad, I mean
you know you went crazy with let's buy lots of it.
I eight one hundred and eighty ten eighty. But also,
what foods would you actually try and eat cross seasonally
simply because they're so damn good? I w eight one
hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number, and with
Allison Gofton it is twenty two and a half past
(15:04):
four and used to said, b Yes, news talks wid be.
This is the health habit with Allison at gofton. Who
do you prefer being called a chef or a cook
(15:26):
or a gourmet or a maestro or what do we
call you? Alison?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
I'm just a food writer. I don't like being called
a chef because I'm not one, because I was trained
classically and a chef as a chef de cuisine, like
the chef de mission when you go to the Olympics,
they have the chef de mission. So the chief of
the kitchen is what a chef is. So when I
was a young apprentice in a kitchen, let me tell
(15:51):
you there was only one chef who it was.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Okay, look now we're talking about seasonal foods. By the way,
can I throw a really hot take out there? Because
it's not really that take?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Isn't your cost? Once again?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No, No, I've banged on about them enough. There was
a time I remember, especially if you had a holiday
in the South Island, that every pub you went into
a restaurant, you know, there'd be a pumpkin soup. And
it was in a pub or a cafe or whatever,
and pumpkin soup was went through a phase of just
being the sort of thing with an nice bit of
(16:27):
buttered toast or bread. I don't know what's happened. Is
it the pumpkin whatever? Because my wife makes a killer soup.
I found pumpkin soup so boring? Is it yesterday's news? Please?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
It just I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
What's happened to me.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I think it was it was deragur very much like
brand muffins would day regour way back, and you know
when all of a sudden muffins became the thing in
the eighties, you know, because it's going to us and
keep us alive forever and today, and then there were
blueberry muffins. And there's always a time for everything. So
I think there was a time when pumpkins and pumpkin
(17:07):
soap was it. But the concept of taking something like
a pumpkin or a root vegetable and turning it into
a soup is something that we can all do, and
we can all kind of taste the goodness before we
get it out of the pot, like even potato and
leak soap.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yes, yes, no, no, that's I'm still there with you.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Still there. I just made a lovely I'm doing a
book which is out next year, and one of the
things I've just done is parsnip soap and passnips are
so sweet. We could do sometimes is cut that core
part out of the center, because that can be quite tough.
But roasted parsnips either tossed with you know, a tabuli salad,
or taken and mashed them with mashed potatoes instead of
(17:53):
just having potato mash put in some parsnips. Oh my
gosh it they're just divine. And it's sad to see that.
You know, we don't often think of them as being
a trendy vegetable, but they're absolutely delicious.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
And for some reason, as you say that, can you
hear me? All right, I just want to check we
had our technical side all sort of oh good. For
some reason, I've just suddenly spontaneously thought that somehow parsing
up and cauliflower would work.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Would they Yes they would, Yes they would. And I've
got a friend who's a farmer of vegetables, and here's
thousands of acres of vegetables. Then I didn't realize that
one of the biggest key to growing cauliflowers and cabbages
and broccoli. Excuse my total ignorance here. Everybody was that
(18:37):
you can grow them in winter. It's about not having frost.
So if you're in an area where that isn't frost,
you can grow these vegetables in winter most successfully. I
thought it had something to do with the terrible cold
and then not a lot of sun and the brain.
But apparently the big key thing is to not have frosts.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Well, I've always sort of winter of broccoli as the
sort of wintersh vegetable anyway, But of course they'd be
growing them in Pokakoe all the time, wouldn't they.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Oh yeah, they're They're the vegetable of choice. And one
of the things that I've always wondered is why this
week they're ninety nine cents and then next week they're
two dollars forty nine. Well, I am told it is
truly a ratio of product to market. When there's not
a lot of broccoli, the supermarket's put the price up.
When there's lots of broccoli, the price comes down. And
(19:25):
I think that's said that we can't even it out
over the period of a year for people so that
they could better afford it.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
He's one of those vegetables. Actually, you know they say
look in fact often the frozen vegetables. I've heard that
they are actually even more healthy because they're snap frozen
at the time they're picked. But I do't can't quite
go to frozen broccoli or parsnips because they don't it's
something there's a big difference with the fresh in terms
of the crunch, and they're sloppy, yes, And.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
So what happens with our frozen vegetables is that when
they freeze, and they are snap frozen, some vegetables freeze
better than others, and that is because of the amount
of starch and the vegetable and if they're fiber us vegetable,
when they defrost, the fibers separate out more and so
you get a watery, stringy end product. And that's what
(20:16):
happens when when they're frozen. So to avoid that, what
the trick is is that you get your frozen vegetables
from your packet, your frozen broccoli or your cauliflower. You
put it in a plate and you only have it
at one thickness, right, so you don't put it in
a bowl and try to defrost it in your microwave,
put it in one layer, cover it with gladrap, maybe
(20:38):
a little pinch salt, glad wrap, and microwave it. Or
you can steam it in a frying pan with just
a smidge of water just to create some steam. Do
not put it into more water because it just soaks
it and it becomes very heavy with water and soggy.
So that's the trick to frozen vegetables to kind of
cook them to their best.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Okay, what I've got a few texts here and question
around what you can and can't freeze, because that obviously
affects you know, you seasonally and what you can keep
from one season. And obviously we quite comfortable we can
freeze berries and things like that. Somebody said, can you
freeze hot cross buns and bread?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Absolutely? And one of the things I really dislike is that,
especially for people and a two person household, you buy
a loaf of bread and at seven hundred and fifty grams,
when are you going to make it into half that size?
For the vast majority of New Zealand's eleven two people
households or older people who do not want to buy
a large loaf of bread, so yes, buy it, slice,
put it in your freezer, take it out, cook it
(21:35):
from frozen, or let it to frost. Yes, you can
freeze baked foods very well.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
It doesn't dehydrate them the process of it.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Not unless they're unpacked, and not they're not well packed.
What will make them dry out is that if you
leave them open to the air, the dry air of
the freezer. So you need to have everything well secured
in a package.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Okay, here's another text saying we haven't eaten hot Cross buns,
but this is interesting. They've really been put off for
thirty five years plus. Now this is as about it.
This time the spices stopped tasting so nice. We believed
commercial bakers used chemical flavors rather than natural spices. Can
(22:21):
you ask Allison about this? Sounds like Tony wants to
have a hot Cross bun at some stage, but he
was put off thirty plus years ago.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Well that's a long time. There are long time hey,
So what happens with the flavors and the bakeries. You
do get a set, you do get oil, the oil
of clove or the oil of cinnamon, and I suspect
that there's an awful lot of passes that would use
oils or flavors other than the spices. Also, it's the
(22:49):
rising time that they allow for their baking. They haven't
got the time for the spices to work through. Spices
en mass are not inexpensive, as we all know, so
depending on the price point that you're selling at, might
also mean that they don't have the blend spices that
they used to have. I find that there's some great
(23:10):
brands around now. One of the tricks with your hot
Cross buns I have to tell you is to use
cassia as opposed to cinnamon. So cassia is often called
baker's spice. It's a it's a bark of a tree
that comes from a more temperate zone than tropical cinnamon.
And so in Europe they flavor their baking with cassia
(23:32):
not cinnamon, and they're very interchangeable. But they're quite a
different flavor profile when it comes to using your hot
Cross buns, and so that might have been a change
as well.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
The quantity interchangeable. So if it says a couple of
taste burons of cinnamon, would you.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Or would you do it by cassia? You can buy
cassia easily now the Spice Trader has it, and I'm
sure you can buy it from other brands as well,
But it's darker and it's quite as sweeter flavor. It's
quite different, but it is what they used in Europe
as a baker cinnamon, and often I can go into
a bakery shop and I'll tell you whether they're using
(24:09):
cinnamon or cassier. It was often considered cheaper and less expensive.
But it's a different plate flavor profile, so that might
be one thing that's changed as well. But otherwise I
think you need to get out and find a decent bakery. Yeah,
out there are.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Fabulous sounds like someone just got Yeah, some have bad experience,
I mean thirty five years ago. I mean, I don't
know how they were making hot Cross buns. But there
are so many bespoke bakeries around that are making things
their own special way that you can't go wrong. You've
got to get back under them, Tony. Absolutely, what can't
you freeze?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
What can't you freeze? Well, I'm sure there's stuff you
can't freeze. I'm trying to think out loud.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Okay, I'll tell you what well you can dwell on
that in the break I'm going to ask you another question. Okay,
somebody suggested this just looks interesting. Somebody suggested use your
parsnips as a trivet when roasting chicken, and absolutely, and
then put does it mean there's a tripper? Does it mean?
Stack up the parsnips and stick the chicken on top,
(25:09):
roast it and let it sort of drip through, and then.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
The flavors would drip through. We used to do that always.
We would put a milnge mix of root vegetables chopped
up underneath the chicken, or we'd just cut onions in
half and put put the chicken on top of it
so that it didn't burn, and you've got the flavors
coming through. And of course the flavor was then used
to go into the gravy that mother would make to
(25:33):
go with the roast chicken. But certainly you can. In fact,
I often do it. I often put lots of vegetables
in the pan, throw the chicken in because they cook
so quickly these days, and then you've got a roast
whendn't taken. It's all done in no time.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
By the way, with the soups. Now, I don't watch
my wife makes ups because she's doing while I'm at work.
But she does make some killer soups. And I haven't
asked her this, but I'll ask you because she says
it's actually not rocket science, it's not that hard. But
are there certain what's the starting point for a soup?
In terms of are there certain things, like you know,
(26:07):
with if you're making a stock, you do onions and
leaks and carrots and stuff. Is there a certain starting
point for any soup, no matter whether you shove broccoli, cauliflower, parsnt, pumpkin, carrot, whatever,
Is there a starting point that you should start with
that's going to get you a good start towards a
delicious soup.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
A good start would be a good stock. That's kind
of like a chef's essential. But understand also today that
that's something that a lot of people haven't got the
time to make or do. What I do find interesting
these days is that you can buy broth in a
tetra pack with a nice kind of like twisty lid
on it, which is a very trendy word for stock,
(26:48):
and I think that it's gaining favor. It's got called
beef bone broth or something. I think it's gaining favor
because you know, for the last thirty or forty years,
we've been ever so delighted to be able to buy
stock cubes because it's saved so much time and you
didn't have to make it. Now you can by the
liquid bone broth. But to start with a good stock
(27:10):
is to you know, get a good building block for
your soap.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Because I use them, I mean, there'll be a lot
of people who do. There's a product called massil stock cubes,
which are nothing. I mean you have the chicken stock
and there's no chicken anywhere near it, but it actually
is really tasty. And I feel guilty because I'm like, well,
I should be really creating my own stock.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
But this is too easy, you know, you know, unless
you've got a lot of free time. A good stock
takes three to four hours to simmer on a stove.
Chicken stock would be two to three hours. Beef stocks
when I was an apprentice, were a whole day in
the making, and then you had to clarify them often,
and so we don't have that time, and it is
(27:49):
a reality check to have a good basis that I
think all I can say to people is not to
use too much fake stock cubes or the stock liquid.
And often when you buy the liquid and the containers
and the tetra packs, a good idea is to mix
that half and half with water, and for the stock
cubes is to use one and a half to two
(28:10):
times as much water as they suggest, and then it's
not too salty and over flavored for you. Onions, of course,
I don't know where you go without a good onion
in your stock, and not always garlic. You don't always
need garlic, but a good onion and a bouquet garney.
Those couple of things is all you need. And from
there on in your vegetables.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
And the where you go the leaks and the potato
I mean, and the carrots not potatoes, carrots, well.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
You would have made the mirrpois, which would have been leaks, onions,
carrots and celery, and that would have been the basis
from which you would have made your stock. Often it's
a basis from your soup as well, but not always
that you need to have good flavored seasonal vegetables, a
good stock, bit of an onion, a few herbs, and
(28:56):
then a good whiz and some cream I think a cream,
and I can't imagine a souper bit a bit of
cream that I'm sure a lot of people are going
to go, Oh, no, I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I love it. That book that somebody referred to me
about learning the Basis of Cooking, which was Entitle I
think it's called Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Oh, I've got
that one, and it tells you wise food tasty. Well,
it's it's got salt, it's got a bit of acid,
and it's fat, which is why restaurant bake cooked steaks
(29:27):
are so delicious because they don't mess around with the
salt or the fat.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
No exactly. And the other thing to think about is
if you're buying a jolly good pasta sauce and a
jar from an important one from Italy, a really good one,
it will have ten to thirteen percent olive oil in it.
And so it is the oil that gives it the
unctuousness and fat carries flavor, and so it is really
(29:51):
important not to bemoan fat, but we use it to
bring the best flavor out of our food. And a
tip I want to pass on to listeners at the
moment is they did a demonstration during the week here
in Cambridge, and one of the things is as we ate,
we often find parents or grandparents using more salt. The
reason for that is is that you lose your taste
buds as you age. What salt does is it makes
(30:15):
you produce saliva in your mouth to taste the food.
So the salt doesn't alter the taste of the food,
it alters the way your taste buds taste the food.
And so we tend to put more salt into our
food as we get older. So if you don't put
the salt in, your taste buds don't always pick up
all the nuances of the flavors. So salt is important
as well.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Gosh, I didn't actually ever think of it that way.
Always though it was about the flavor anyway. Hey, look
we've got to take a break because time is flying.
You are welcome to join the conversation. We've got quite
a few text to pass by. Alison Gofton, who's my guest.
We started off talking about the importance of eating seasonally.
But look, you know, we get on to all sorts
of things around food because we love it, don't we.
(30:57):
And we'll be back in just a moment. Oh eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty it's eighteen minutes to five
News Talks that Be with Allison Gofton talking about easing seasonally. Allison,
(31:18):
I've worked out what you can't put in the freezer.
You wouldn't put eggs in the freezer, would you.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
No, But you can put them in after you've cooked them.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Oh, just eat them now.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Actually, I was just going to say, don't forget at
this time of the year. If you make too much
meshed potatoes. They can be frozen and easily reheated. There's
very little pasta rise, there's very little that you can't
freeze to save it. That's important thing, and especially as
we're looking down the barrel of maybe food prices going
(31:49):
up in the next few months, we need to make
sure that what might normally be Oh, that's a right,
I'll just throw that bit out. Is kind of like,
given a second thought.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
What's the key to good mashed spud butter? Do you
put the milk in it at all? Or just butter?
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:06):
A little bit of a little bit of milk to
me the good kiyas to get you good, you need
a mashing potato, that's one thing. Yep, you need to
cook it in a little bit in water. But you
don't need to boil them underneath a swimming pool of water.
It's going to make them soggy, and you need to
drain it well, and you need to make sure you
(32:27):
get rid of any extra water that might be in
the bottom of the pa. Yeah, it's being a bit fussy,
but yes, let it steam. Mash them well, mash them
really really well. Season with salt, good amounts of butter,
she says, and mash that all in and then just
add some milk to go with it. Now, as an apprentice,
we would have had to have made that milk hot
(32:48):
to put into the potatoes, because otherwise you lower the
temperature down. But milk and then the idea too, is
that often when the potatoes sit, even if it's for
a couple of minutes while you're getting the next part
of your meal ready, they soak up that liquid and
they go from being soft and fluffy to be oh
that they've got a bit harder. How did that happen?
And that's because they do. The starch absorbs at moisture
(33:10):
and it becomes a little bit more firmer. So it's
okay to kind of go little bit more on the
milk side than so much?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Okay, just quickly. So if I was doing mashed potatoes
for four or something, so I've got maybe five or
six agrea potatoes, how.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Much for person? Yeah? Well sorry? And potato?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And how much butter?
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Fifty grams per person? Oh? No, I put in a
good fifty grams for four people. Okay, if I got
to one hundred, you'd be having fondant. In fact, one
of the restaurants it's famous in Paras, I forgotten its
name is Fame for Fonda. I think it's the same
weight as the potatoes as it is for butter.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
And of course all starch needs salt, so potatoes are
starch and potatoes. Can I just give them a plug? Please?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Potatoes? Potatoes are awesome.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Potatoes provide New Zealand with most of our vitamin C
because we eat so many of them, and potatoes are
a third protein. So when we look at we go, oh,
potatoes they're fattening or potatoes are full of starch. Potatoes
are a valuable source of protein and nutrients for us
here in this country. They are really an important part
of our diet.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
And apparently once you've cooked them and they call they
have a different characteristic to them in terms of the
nutrition once they've been cooled and then you eat them.
Even if you re eat them, something happens to them
in terms of protein or something content I can't remember.
Do you know anything about that?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
No, that's getting far too complicated. I quite like them
turned into fritters the next day. You've got a bit
of left over mashed potato. Add in a little bit
of corn. I don't know if you could use corn,
or you could use some frozen spinach. I don't know anything.
Couple of eggs but a cheese take them into fritters. Yum.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Okay, now we've got infects. We've had a tech about
this as well. When it comes to eggs, Should I
take the advantage of buying farmer's eggs from the side
of the road or not? Because you know, actually I've
got that in my neighborhood, just along the waterfront.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
They're a local person. I'd buy them.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, I mean in terms of how old are they
when you get them from the supermarket? How old will
those eggs be compared to.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
It a very good shelf life? Look off. Now there
you've got me off the top of my head. I
cannot recall the shelf life of an egg, but it's
very good. Put it in the fridge. It lasts for
ages and ages. The way to tell, of course, is
you put it in a jug of water. If it floats,
it's past its use by date. Unlikely for that to happen.
Pick up the egg, hold it in your hand, give
(35:50):
it a bit, don't squash it, and just give it
a bit of a But is that a shake that
I'm doing in front of you?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, I mean just me, but the rest of the
country can't.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Thank you with my hands, and I'm pretending I've got
an egg in it. And so what happens is that
the egg on the inside moves around in the shell. Now,
if it flies around the inside of the shell and
you can feel it going all over the place, it's old.
But if it's quite firm, then it's fresh.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
There we go, good, good, good advice. We almost about
to get on how do you boil an egg? But
let's not go there yet. We're going to take a
quick moment do it.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Don't forget to stir it to boil an egg, Yes,
must stir your eggs, because then you send to the
egg yolk oh.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I mean while they're in the pot, what you give you.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Put your eggs in the shell and stir it and
you will send to the egg yolk in the center.
So if you're going to stuff your eggs afterwards, you know,
like that classic that they used to do in the
seventies stuffed eggs, which are just wonderful with capers sent
to your egg yolk to give them a ster.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
There's a moment of humility for mekas I was thinking, look,
there's nothing that Allison can tell me about boiling an
egg that I don't already know, and bingo, there we are.
We can just moment it's nine minutes to five. Yes,
News Talk said b Look, we've only had a couple
(37:18):
of minutes with the left with Alison Gofton. And of course, Alison,
if people want to catch up with all the recipes
and suggestions and ideas, of course, you've got your own website,
Alison Gofton dot coded in Z with two l's and
a Y for Alison.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
That's me.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Do I get this now? We did on that thing.
I mean, I look at your website and there's a
huge number of recipes there. Do you do you sometimes
trawl through and have a look at your website and go,
oh gosh, that's a really good dish. Should go and
check that one out. Do you use it as a
resource for yourself sometimes or I.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Use it as a library. It's got my life of
work on it, which is why I just leave it there.
So some of the photos are quite old, but then
they were from Next magazine when it launched in nineteen
ninety one and from the beginnings of Food in a Minute.
But I leave it there because people like to put
in something that they remember, or they can just scrawl
up any idea. So there's thousands of recipes there and
(38:16):
they literally are my library. Then if I want to
remember something, I go to my website to hunt it up. So, yes,
sorry photos, but it's true.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
People just go to the front page or is there
a particular recipe that's worth typing in? To check out
what muttins get someone inspired this evening at this time.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
They just put in potatoes or broccoli or pass naps
and just and then you just see pages of those
recipes coming up for the seasonal time of eating. If
you're not too sure what to do, you know, I
know you can ai potatoes, but you can also go
in and it will be very much, you know, in
tune with the things that we love to eat here
in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
And just one last thing I did bag pumpkin soup.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Can you've been in trouble on the text machine?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
No?
Speaker 2 (39:02):
No, somebody said, well try a bit of lemon peas
in it, but that's still you know? Is it the
type of pumpkins? What makes what gives you pumpkin soup
the best chance of success? Okay, so all forty seconds
to go.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
All squashes or pumpkins are squashes, but not all squashes
of pumpkin. It's something like that. What you need is
a firm, fleshed pumpkin, a good old crown pumpkin, something
like a Queensland blue. It needs to have a very
dense flesh. You need to steam it, not boil it
in lots of water. Garlic is essential, butter, little onion pincher,
carry powder, good stock, pure potato will keep it nice
(39:39):
and thick together. And don't forget sour cream.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Then go, Hey, Allison, I love chatting about food with you,
no exception today, look forward to next time.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Thank you, and I hope everyone's having a happy Christmas.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Closed, so Alison Gooft dot co, dot n Z. We'll
be back with smart Money next.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
For more from the weekend collective, Listen live to News
Talk zed BI weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Collective podcast from News Talks.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I'd be wait, that's that's the latest, and we will
keep you up to dat as soon as we have
news to hand on our further confirmation of that story.
But right now it is the Health Hub and this
is the time what we want your calls and your
participation on eight hundred and eighty ten eighty. You can
text on nine two nine two. By the way, before
we get into this hour after five for Smart Money,
we've got Martin Hawes talking about what do you do
(00:30):
when everything's gone wrong? And when do you actually call
it quits and rebuild yourselves when you know, when do
you go bankrupt? Maybe when do you actually acknowledge that hell,
things have got too much? And how do you go
about rebuilding your life? But right now this is the
Health Hub, and what we're going to kick off with
is well, I would have thought eating seasonally is what
(00:51):
we do naturally throughout the throughout the year, not just
because of what's available, but of course as price would
pay a part in that, play a part in that decision,
I would have thought, and perhaps most of us change
what we eat really without thinking about it, because it's
just the changes. What we see in the fresh produce
is different. But here's the thing, Well, every creature on
the planet eats seasonally or doesn't need of course when
(01:14):
we're thinking of hibernation, which we don't do. But how
much do the seasons really change what's in our food?
And with you know, the ability to refrigerate things, frozen foods,
they've made a huge difference in what we're able to
eat throughout the year. And what are some of the
foods that are useful to stockpile. Those are some of
the questions we're going to look at and to deal
(01:34):
with all that. Deal with all that. We are joined
by someone who almost needs no introduction apart from her name.
She is Alison Gofton. Hello Allison, how are you hey?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I'm good tim Happy Easter.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Happy Easter. Now I'll ask you the I'll ask you
the cliche question, what did you what did you have
for Easter? Did do you do the hot cross buns?
Have you got Allison's hot cross buns? Or do you
do you get stuck into the chockey? Or do you think? Oh,
I can't be bothered this year by the heads.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Of grown up and left home I'm beginning to feel
like I'm on the other stage of life. And so
there's no hot cross. There's no Easter egg hunts at
our house for eggs. There are beautiful hot cross buns
and no, I didn't make them this year because we
are fortunate enough in the White Catto to have the
lovely Bolaro Bakery and they make brilliant hot cross buns,
(02:27):
as to another a couple of other bakeries in an
around the place, so there's only two of us here.
You know, five hundred grams of flower makes an awful
lot of hot cross buns. It takes a long time
for Warrick can I to get through, so.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
We bought them. Takes a while. It takes a while
to make them too, and I've got a recipe that
I that I follow from Riverstone Kitchen down in Amuru,
and they are quite big hot cross buns. But I
surprised our Longliptok takes well.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Of course, one of the lovely things about yeast and
working with yeast is that there's a trick to getting
good flavor out of your yeast bakery if you're going
to cook with yeast, and that is the longer it
takes to prove the better the flavor. So where we
always write in a book, you know, knead until the
dough is soft, and then cover it in a bowl
and let it sit for an hour. Well, the word
(03:13):
an hour has come in because it's about as much
patience as most of our readers have to leave something
sitting on their kitchen bench. And while we've all in
our time tried to speed that up by popping it
in the microwave for five seconds every five minutes, that
was one trick, or putting it in a warmer place,
(03:33):
the reality is that yeast brings out the flavor and
bread if it's allowed to work naturally and slowly, so
not a cold kitchen, but not as hot summer's day
kitchen either, and so yes, it does take a while
for that flavor to work, and in doing so in
something like your hot cross buns, it allows the spices
to come to life. And one of the tricks, also
(03:56):
with your Easter bunds, is to make your own spice
blend if you can be bothered, because if the blend
is sitting on the you know, the shelf in the
oven and then in the supermarket, and then it sits
on your shelf at home. You could be using stuff
that's long over due. So fresh spices make a difference
because when we dry spices, we take away the water,
(04:17):
but we leave the oils in that tiny little powder.
It's all full of essential oils. The idea is to
try to bring that to life. Well, if they've gone stale,
they'll be kind of rancid and flavor soy, check out
the fresh spices and leave them to rise.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
The whole time thing is there's a cafe I quite
like to go to which and they do some their
fantastic bakery. But the one thing I follow the Chad
Robertson Tartane school of thought when it comes to sourdough
and things. But I today it's a little bit of
a humble brad because I'm quite proud of it. I
haven't made them for a while, but instead of hot
cross buns, I actually made crossong for I've.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Seen your Yeah, said magnific, magnific.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
And the point is, he says, don't you know, don't
have them proving at two warm a temperature. You give
it a bit of time, and can I just say, God?
They were good? I wish I could I wish I
could pass one through the through the zoom to you and.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Made with butter. And so often when we take something
that has been made at home or made in a
small bakery and made for us, like in our French bakeries,
when you're if you get the good fortune to go there,
or you have a small bakery in your town, you're
not making it in bulk, and so therefore the products
that you use don't have to do a manufacturing process
(05:41):
that is grand. You know, it's really en mass and
so you're able to use beautiful ingredients like butter, like
fresh ingredients, whereas once you get into the you know,
the big mass production that becomes some kind of fat
that's not necessarily butter. There is something very beautiful about
making your own cross on. I'm taking my hat off
(06:02):
to you because I have to tell you it's a
long time since I've made that.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
It's a good day and a half. And that's when
you really, you know, you do leave them sitting for
a while. But I think I actually might see if
I've got the password to our Facebook page for the
week and collect it, because I might have to stick
a phew.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
Only one of the things I love to do with
a croissant dough is and for people listening, it's like
making puff pastry, but with yeast. And so you make
a dough and then you have to roll it out.
You have to layer in the butter and roll and
fold and roll and fold, and that takes a while.
If you roll out two portions, one a little bit
bigger than the other into a circle and to pop
(06:37):
it on a baking tray and then put into that
some gruyere cheese and ham, and then you roll the
other piece out and you put it on top like
this oversized, Yes, beautiful ham and cheese, cross on, pinch
the edges down, put a market into wedges and bake it. Gosh,
it's delicious.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Actually, you know, the big journey and I know we
haven't even got on to the topic yet, which is
very naughty of me. But it's seasonal cooking. It's got
a bit cooler so that everything's not going to send
a fall apartner in the summer sun. But the biggest
journey I undertook. And if anyone is out there and
they want to have a crack, if they're masochistic and
they want to have a crack at croissong because it's
not the hardest thing was to find a recipe and
(07:20):
it was the Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. The Tartine
literally the book is called Tartin, not tartin bread, but tartine.
And their recipe for croissong not only did it make
more than a stingy six or eight croissong, it makes
about sixteen. And it is a it's a fine recipe.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
They're beautiful to make. And the smell that comes out
of an oven in a kitchen and a home when
you are baking bread is like nothing else. There's something
beautiful about the smell of baking yeast. I make a
bit of a good croissant. This is really going to
upset you in the food processor, in a food processor
(08:02):
and you make this is back in the days when
process that we're first coming in, so I am going
back a few decades now. I know it sounds awful.
And we made a dough and then we would freeze
the butter, oh yeah, and in small pieces, and then
you put the dough into the food processor and maybe
in depending on how much dough you had, maybe in
four lots and four lots of butter and you use
(08:23):
your pulse button to chop the butter into the dough
and then you roll and fold. It worked like a treat.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Just so you know, that does sound mildly sacrilegious, but
I'm sure it's Alison. It has to be good. Now, look,
seasonal we wanted to have a bit of a chat
about seasonal eating. I mean, to be honest, I just
would have thought seasonal eating is what we all do.
But technology does allow us to, you know, freeze things.
(08:52):
And how important is seasonal eating to you, because I'm
going to guess that it's an essential part of being
a sort of someone who's fond of cuisine, is it.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
Well? I enjoy the flavors and the tastes that the
different seasons give us. And so like all things that
we grow, there is an ultimate season of that they
where they will taste the best strawberries, raspberries, asparagus, all
of those things. And so for me, I enjoy it
(09:23):
when I see swede come into the market that has
been in the ground and has had a frost on it. Well,
it's there at the moment, but it certainly isn't as
sweet as it will be come August July August when
the swede needs to be kissed by the frost. Otherwise
it is just not sweet. And so it's those kind
(09:46):
of things that I really enjoy. However, the manufacturing of
our food today has moved so much from the days
of maybe even when I first started as an apprentice,
that you can buy so many more things. They're imported,
they're available. The one thing I would suggest is that
you will find things go out of price because keeping
(10:09):
the hothouses warm to produce them makes the costs a
bit more, and they're there. The tomatoes, the zucchinis, the
kind of vine grown foods that we tend to eat.
Lettuce will become expensive. They've had shocking with it down
on our East coast. That's really going to upset the prices.
And so I think more than anything to suggest to
(10:30):
people to look for the best bargains of the season.
That's good because.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Are as you were chatting there, I was thinking there
are sort of exceptions to the seasons, because, for instance,
I learned to make some quite nice salads over the
course of the summer courtesy of AI. I hate to say,
but man, I've got some quite good suggestions. But there
comes a time, where I think, in fact, maybe it's
(10:58):
even daylight saving time. But when it gets a bit cooler,
that the idea of having a salad just feels bizarre.
Whereas berries are a summer fruit generally, and yet you
can freeze them. And I say that there'll be plenty
of people who had some lovely winter desserts which have
some sort of berry involved there some here, wouldn't They
somehow would because.
Speaker 3 (11:17):
You can buy them so readily in the supermarkets have
frozen berries where I live. I bought them by the
box load, and I mean boxes for ten dollars down
here the second and I froze them all down. But
I'm able to do that. But certainly I think that
with the cooler weather comes a hibernation that we all feel,
(11:38):
and it's a time to relax into something that's a
little bit more and the word is not nourishing, but
it's kind of more bowl food and heart warming and
soul warming as opposed to the freshness and the lightness
that we feel when we see the sunshine come again
with daylight savings. And I strongly believe that it's a
great way to eat because you get such joy for going. Oh,
(12:02):
I'd forgotten what mash carrots and parsner light together, and
it's so key were delivered. We called it chocolate mashes children,
because my mother said it tasted better than chocolate with
the carrot in good live I'm gonna like mum. And
so there is joy in being able to indulge in
those winter foods, and there is joy in bringing summer
(12:24):
to life on your plate as well. So you know,
for winter, why not have a roasted carrot salad, which
is absolutely delicious. You can roast it with maple syrup.
You could roast it with Middle Eastern spices. You could
roast it with almost anything. You could throw in some
cheer seeds, you could have bulga wheat, and you could
have plenty of herbs which are often available carrot.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You mentioned carrot. Now, I think carrot is totally underrated
because you know, if you chop up a few bits
of carrots and shoved in your kids lunchbox, it'll be
there at the end of the day because it's just
you know, but if you mean.
Speaker 3 (12:57):
Roast them slowly, isn't it absolutely?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
And it's so that's that they're pretty generally pretty cheap,
aren't they carrots.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Yeah, carrots are one of our most inexpensive food choices,
and they're also really good for us. You know, they're
just fabulous. Carrot soup, roasted carrot and pumpkin soup. There's
a great one for winter. And I do think that
we believe we can indulge in winter foods where we
feel in summer as if we should be less indulgent
(13:26):
in terms of what we are eating. And I believe
that that is a great way to keep our soul happy,
you know, just don't make sure you overdo it. She says.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
That's the question. I mean, when you head to winter.
I mean, we do. I think we are naturally Have
we evolved? Do you find that people's appetites have evolved
that we crave energy rich foods? You know, I mean
sticky date pudding? Hello? Sorry, I'm almost godless glaze over
when I say it, because I love it, but I
couldn't have it. I don't think I could have it
in summer.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
No, I think I think we crave the warmth and
the soul of winter. It comes to us in those
kind of bowld nutribhishing foods that we can eat, whereas
in summer it's certainly about grab and go, wrap it up,
put it in a salad, running out the door. You
cannot sit down and watch the Rugby easily with a
(14:17):
lovely lettuce salad, but you do it with a bowl
of sticky date pudding.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Let's be honest, it's just salads. To watch the All Blacks.
It's like, oh jeez, I would look how important we
want to know? I would love you to join us
as well if you've got any questions for Allison Gofton.
But how important is it to you to eat with
the seasons? Is it just something? Is it something you
even think about? Or do you just go with well?
I walked into the soupermarket and all of a sudden
(14:43):
the lettuce wasn't there, but there were lots of broccoli
and cauliflower, and I went mad, Not mad, I mean
you know you went crazy with let's buy lots of it.
I eight one hundred and eighty ten eighty. But also,
what foods would you actually try and eat cross seasonally
simply because they're so damn good? I w eight one
hundred and eighty ten eighty is the number, and with
Allison Gofton it is twenty two and a half past
(15:04):
four and used to said, b Yes, news talks wid be.
This is the health habit with Allison at gofton. Who
do you prefer being called a chef or a cook
(15:26):
or a gourmet or a maestro or what do we
call you? Alison?
Speaker 3 (15:30):
I'm just a food writer. I don't like being called
a chef because I'm not one, because I was trained
classically and a chef as a chef de cuisine, like
the chef de mission when you go to the Olympics,
they have the chef de mission. So the chief of
the kitchen is what a chef is. So when I
was a young apprentice in a kitchen, let me tell
(15:51):
you there was only one chef who it was.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Okay, look now we're talking about seasonal foods. By the way,
can I throw a really hot take out there? Because
it's not really that take?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Isn't your cost? Once again?
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No, No, I've banged on about them enough. There was
a time I remember, especially if you had a holiday
in the South Island, that every pub you went into
a restaurant, you know, there'd be a pumpkin soup. And
it was in a pub or a cafe or whatever,
and pumpkin soup was went through a phase of just
being the sort of thing with an nice bit of
(16:27):
buttered toast or bread. I don't know what's happened. Is
it the pumpkin whatever? Because my wife makes a killer soup.
I found pumpkin soup so boring? Is it yesterday's news? Please?
Speaker 3 (16:41):
It just I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
What's happened to me.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
I think it was it was deragur very much like
brand muffins would day regour way back, and you know
when all of a sudden muffins became the thing in
the eighties, you know, because it's going to us and
keep us alive forever and today, and then there were
blueberry muffins. And there's always a time for everything. So
I think there was a time when pumpkins and pumpkin
(17:07):
soap was it. But the concept of taking something like
a pumpkin or a root vegetable and turning it into
a soup is something that we can all do, and
we can all kind of taste the goodness before we
get it out of the pot, like even potato and
leak soap.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yes, yes, no, no, that's I'm still there with you.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Still there. I just made a lovely I'm doing a
book which is out next year, and one of the
things I've just done is parsnip soap and passnips are
so sweet. We could do sometimes is cut that core
part out of the center, because that can be quite tough.
But roasted parsnips either tossed with you know, a tabuli salad,
or taken and mashed them with mashed potatoes instead of
(17:53):
just having potato mash put in some parsnips. Oh my
gosh it they're just divine. And it's sad to see that.
You know, we don't often think of them as being
a trendy vegetable, but they're absolutely delicious.
Speaker 2 (18:05):
And for some reason, as you say that, can you
hear me? All right, I just want to check we
had our technical side all sort of oh good. For
some reason, I've just suddenly spontaneously thought that somehow parsing
up and cauliflower would work.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
Would they Yes they would, Yes they would. And I've
got a friend who's a farmer of vegetables, and here's
thousands of acres of vegetables. Then I didn't realize that
one of the biggest key to growing cauliflowers and cabbages
and broccoli. Excuse my total ignorance here. Everybody was that
(18:37):
you can grow them in winter. It's about not having frost.
So if you're in an area where that isn't frost,
you can grow these vegetables in winter most successfully. I
thought it had something to do with the terrible cold
and then not a lot of sun and the brain.
But apparently the big key thing is to not have frosts.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
Well, I've always sort of winter of broccoli as the
sort of wintersh vegetable anyway, But of course they'd be
growing them in Pokakoe all the time, wouldn't they.
Speaker 3 (19:03):
Oh yeah, they're They're the vegetable of choice. And one
of the things that I've always wondered is why this
week they're ninety nine cents and then next week they're
two dollars forty nine. Well, I am told it is
truly a ratio of product to market. When there's not
a lot of broccoli, the supermarket's put the price up.
When there's lots of broccoli, the price comes down. And
(19:25):
I think that's said that we can't even it out
over the period of a year for people so that
they could better afford it.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
He's one of those vegetables. Actually, you know they say
look in fact often the frozen vegetables. I've heard that
they are actually even more healthy because they're snap frozen
at the time they're picked. But I do't can't quite
go to frozen broccoli or parsnips because they don't it's
something there's a big difference with the fresh in terms
of the crunch, and they're sloppy, yes, And.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
So what happens with our frozen vegetables is that when
they freeze, and they are snap frozen, some vegetables freeze
better than others, and that is because of the amount
of starch and the vegetable and if they're fiber us vegetable,
when they defrost, the fibers separate out more and so
you get a watery, stringy end product. And that's what
(20:16):
happens when when they're frozen. So to avoid that, what
the trick is is that you get your frozen vegetables
from your packet, your frozen broccoli or your cauliflower. You
put it in a plate and you only have it
at one thickness, right, so you don't put it in
a bowl and try to defrost it in your microwave,
put it in one layer, cover it with gladrap, maybe
(20:38):
a little pinch salt, glad wrap, and microwave it. Or
you can steam it in a frying pan with just
a smidge of water just to create some steam. Do
not put it into more water because it just soaks
it and it becomes very heavy with water and soggy.
So that's the trick to frozen vegetables to kind of
cook them to their best.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
Okay, what I've got a few texts here and question
around what you can and can't freeze, because that obviously
affects you know, you seasonally and what you can keep
from one season. And obviously we quite comfortable we can
freeze berries and things like that. Somebody said, can you
freeze hot cross buns and bread?
Speaker 3 (21:14):
Absolutely? And one of the things I really dislike is that,
especially for people and a two person household, you buy
a loaf of bread and at seven hundred and fifty grams,
when are you going to make it into half that size?
For the vast majority of New Zealand's eleven two people
households or older people who do not want to buy
a large loaf of bread, so yes, buy it, slice,
put it in your freezer, take it out, cook it
(21:35):
from frozen, or let it to frost. Yes, you can
freeze baked foods very well.
Speaker 2 (21:41):
It doesn't dehydrate them the process of it.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Not unless they're unpacked, and not they're not well packed.
What will make them dry out is that if you
leave them open to the air, the dry air of
the freezer. So you need to have everything well secured
in a package.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Okay, here's another text saying we haven't eaten hot Cross buns,
but this is interesting. They've really been put off for
thirty five years plus. Now this is as about it.
This time the spices stopped tasting so nice. We believed
commercial bakers used chemical flavors rather than natural spices. Can
(22:21):
you ask Allison about this? Sounds like Tony wants to
have a hot Cross bun at some stage, but he
was put off thirty plus years ago.
Speaker 3 (22:29):
Well that's a long time. There are long time hey,
So what happens with the flavors and the bakeries. You
do get a set, you do get oil, the oil
of clove or the oil of cinnamon, and I suspect
that there's an awful lot of passes that would use
oils or flavors other than the spices. Also, it's the
(22:49):
rising time that they allow for their baking. They haven't
got the time for the spices to work through. Spices
en mass are not inexpensive, as we all know, so
depending on the price point that you're selling at, might
also mean that they don't have the blend spices that
they used to have. I find that there's some great
(23:10):
brands around now. One of the tricks with your hot
Cross buns I have to tell you is to use
cassia as opposed to cinnamon. So cassia is often called
baker's spice. It's a it's a bark of a tree
that comes from a more temperate zone than tropical cinnamon.
And so in Europe they flavor their baking with cassia
(23:32):
not cinnamon, and they're very interchangeable. But they're quite a
different flavor profile when it comes to using your hot
Cross buns, and so that might have been a change
as well.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
The quantity interchangeable. So if it says a couple of
taste burons of cinnamon, would you.
Speaker 3 (23:49):
Or would you do it by cassia? You can buy
cassia easily now the Spice Trader has it, and I'm
sure you can buy it from other brands as well,
But it's darker and it's quite as sweeter flavor. It's
quite different, but it is what they used in Europe
as a baker cinnamon, and often I can go into
a bakery shop and I'll tell you whether they're using
(24:09):
cinnamon or cassier. It was often considered cheaper and less expensive.
But it's a different plate flavor profile, so that might
be one thing that's changed as well. But otherwise I
think you need to get out and find a decent bakery. Yeah,
out there are.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Fabulous sounds like someone just got Yeah, some have bad experience,
I mean thirty five years ago. I mean, I don't
know how they were making hot Cross buns. But there
are so many bespoke bakeries around that are making things
their own special way that you can't go wrong. You've
got to get back under them, Tony. Absolutely, what can't
you freeze?
Speaker 3 (24:43):
What can't you freeze? Well, I'm sure there's stuff you
can't freeze. I'm trying to think out loud.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Okay, I'll tell you what well you can dwell on
that in the break I'm going to ask you another question. Okay,
somebody suggested this just looks interesting. Somebody suggested use your
parsnips as a trivet when roasting chicken, and absolutely, and
then put does it mean there's a tripper? Does it mean?
Stack up the parsnips and stick the chicken on top,
(25:09):
roast it and let it sort of drip through, and then.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
The flavors would drip through. We used to do that always.
We would put a milnge mix of root vegetables chopped
up underneath the chicken, or we'd just cut onions in
half and put put the chicken on top of it
so that it didn't burn, and you've got the flavors
coming through. And of course the flavor was then used
to go into the gravy that mother would make to
(25:33):
go with the roast chicken. But certainly you can. In fact,
I often do it. I often put lots of vegetables
in the pan, throw the chicken in because they cook
so quickly these days, and then you've got a roast
whendn't taken. It's all done in no time.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
By the way, with the soups. Now, I don't watch
my wife makes ups because she's doing while I'm at work.
But she does make some killer soups. And I haven't
asked her this, but I'll ask you because she says
it's actually not rocket science, it's not that hard. But
are there certain what's the starting point for a soup?
In terms of are there certain things, like you know,
(26:07):
with if you're making a stock, you do onions and
leaks and carrots and stuff. Is there a certain starting
point for any soup, no matter whether you shove broccoli, cauliflower, parsnt, pumpkin, carrot, whatever,
Is there a starting point that you should start with
that's going to get you a good start towards a
delicious soup.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
A good start would be a good stock. That's kind
of like a chef's essential. But understand also today that
that's something that a lot of people haven't got the
time to make or do. What I do find interesting
these days is that you can buy broth in a
tetra pack with a nice kind of like twisty lid
on it, which is a very trendy word for stock,
(26:48):
and I think that it's gaining favor. It's got called
beef bone broth or something. I think it's gaining favor
because you know, for the last thirty or forty years,
we've been ever so delighted to be able to buy
stock cubes because it's saved so much time and you
didn't have to make it. Now you can by the
liquid bone broth. But to start with a good stock
(27:10):
is to you know, get a good building block for
your soap.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Because I use them, I mean, there'll be a lot
of people who do. There's a product called massil stock cubes,
which are nothing. I mean you have the chicken stock
and there's no chicken anywhere near it, but it actually
is really tasty. And I feel guilty because I'm like, well,
I should be really creating my own stock.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
But this is too easy, you know, you know, unless
you've got a lot of free time. A good stock
takes three to four hours to simmer on a stove.
Chicken stock would be two to three hours. Beef stocks
when I was an apprentice, were a whole day in
the making, and then you had to clarify them often,
and so we don't have that time, and it is
(27:49):
a reality check to have a good basis that I
think all I can say to people is not to
use too much fake stock cubes or the stock liquid.
And often when you buy the liquid and the containers
and the tetra packs, a good idea is to mix
that half and half with water, and for the stock
cubes is to use one and a half to two
(28:10):
times as much water as they suggest, and then it's
not too salty and over flavored for you. Onions, of course,
I don't know where you go without a good onion
in your stock, and not always garlic. You don't always
need garlic, but a good onion and a bouquet garney.
Those couple of things is all you need. And from
there on in your vegetables.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
And the where you go the leaks and the potato
I mean, and the carrots not potatoes, carrots, well.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
You would have made the mirrpois, which would have been leaks, onions,
carrots and celery, and that would have been the basis
from which you would have made your stock. Often it's
a basis from your soup as well, but not always
that you need to have good flavored seasonal vegetables, a
good stock, bit of an onion, a few herbs, and
(28:56):
then a good whiz and some cream I think a cream,
and I can't imagine a souper bit a bit of
cream that I'm sure a lot of people are going
to go, Oh, no, I'm with you.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I love it. That book that somebody referred to me
about learning the Basis of Cooking, which was Entitle I
think it's called Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. Oh, I've got
that one, and it tells you wise food tasty. Well,
it's it's got salt, it's got a bit of acid,
and it's fat, which is why restaurant bake cooked steaks
(29:27):
are so delicious because they don't mess around with the
salt or the fat.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
No exactly. And the other thing to think about is
if you're buying a jolly good pasta sauce and a
jar from an important one from Italy, a really good one,
it will have ten to thirteen percent olive oil in it.
And so it is the oil that gives it the
unctuousness and fat carries flavor, and so it is really
(29:51):
important not to bemoan fat, but we use it to
bring the best flavor out of our food. And a
tip I want to pass on to listeners at the
moment is they did a demonstration during the week here
in Cambridge, and one of the things is as we ate,
we often find parents or grandparents using more salt. The
reason for that is is that you lose your taste
buds as you age. What salt does is it makes
(30:15):
you produce saliva in your mouth to taste the food.
So the salt doesn't alter the taste of the food,
it alters the way your taste buds taste the food.
And so we tend to put more salt into our
food as we get older. So if you don't put
the salt in, your taste buds don't always pick up
all the nuances of the flavors. So salt is important
as well.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Gosh, I didn't actually ever think of it that way.
Always though it was about the flavor anyway. Hey, look
we've got to take a break because time is flying.
You are welcome to join the conversation. We've got quite
a few text to pass by. Alison Gofton, who's my guest.
We started off talking about the importance of eating seasonally.
But look, you know, we get on to all sorts
of things around food because we love it, don't we.
(30:57):
And we'll be back in just a moment. Oh eight
hundred and eighty ten eighty it's eighteen minutes to five
News Talks that Be with Allison Gofton talking about easing seasonally. Allison,
(31:18):
I've worked out what you can't put in the freezer.
You wouldn't put eggs in the freezer, would you.
Speaker 3 (31:22):
No, But you can put them in after you've cooked them.
Speaker 2 (31:25):
Oh, just eat them now.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
Actually, I was just going to say, don't forget at
this time of the year. If you make too much
meshed potatoes. They can be frozen and easily reheated. There's
very little pasta rise, there's very little that you can't
freeze to save it. That's important thing, and especially as
we're looking down the barrel of maybe food prices going
(31:49):
up in the next few months, we need to make
sure that what might normally be Oh, that's a right,
I'll just throw that bit out. Is kind of like,
given a second thought.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
What's the key to good mashed spud butter? Do you
put the milk in it at all? Or just butter?
Speaker 1 (32:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (32:06):
A little bit of a little bit of milk to
me the good kiyas to get you good, you need
a mashing potato, that's one thing. Yep, you need to
cook it in a little bit in water. But you
don't need to boil them underneath a swimming pool of water.
It's going to make them soggy, and you need to
drain it well, and you need to make sure you
(32:27):
get rid of any extra water that might be in
the bottom of the pa. Yeah, it's being a bit fussy,
but yes, let it steam. Mash them well, mash them
really really well. Season with salt, good amounts of butter,
she says, and mash that all in and then just
add some milk to go with it. Now, as an apprentice,
we would have had to have made that milk hot
(32:48):
to put into the potatoes, because otherwise you lower the
temperature down. But milk and then the idea too, is
that often when the potatoes sit, even if it's for
a couple of minutes while you're getting the next part
of your meal ready, they soak up that liquid and
they go from being soft and fluffy to be oh
that they've got a bit harder. How did that happen?
And that's because they do. The starch absorbs at moisture
(33:10):
and it becomes a little bit more firmer. So it's
okay to kind of go little bit more on the
milk side than so much?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
Okay, just quickly. So if I was doing mashed potatoes
for four or something, so I've got maybe five or
six agrea potatoes, how.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Much for person? Yeah? Well sorry? And potato?
Speaker 2 (33:32):
And how much butter?
Speaker 3 (33:35):
Fifty grams per person? Oh? No, I put in a
good fifty grams for four people. Okay, if I got
to one hundred, you'd be having fondant. In fact, one
of the restaurants it's famous in Paras, I forgotten its
name is Fame for Fonda. I think it's the same
weight as the potatoes as it is for butter.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (33:57):
And of course all starch needs salt, so potatoes are
starch and potatoes. Can I just give them a plug? Please?
Speaker 2 (34:05):
Potatoes? Potatoes are awesome.
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Potatoes provide New Zealand with most of our vitamin C
because we eat so many of them, and potatoes are
a third protein. So when we look at we go, oh,
potatoes they're fattening or potatoes are full of starch. Potatoes
are a valuable source of protein and nutrients for us
here in this country. They are really an important part
of our diet.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
And apparently once you've cooked them and they call they
have a different characteristic to them in terms of the
nutrition once they've been cooled and then you eat them.
Even if you re eat them, something happens to them
in terms of protein or something content I can't remember.
Do you know anything about that?
Speaker 3 (34:42):
No, that's getting far too complicated. I quite like them
turned into fritters the next day. You've got a bit
of left over mashed potato. Add in a little bit
of corn. I don't know if you could use corn,
or you could use some frozen spinach. I don't know anything.
Couple of eggs but a cheese take them into fritters. Yum.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Okay, now we've got infects. We've had a tech about
this as well. When it comes to eggs, Should I
take the advantage of buying farmer's eggs from the side
of the road or not? Because you know, actually I've
got that in my neighborhood, just along the waterfront.
Speaker 3 (35:20):
They're a local person. I'd buy them.
Speaker 2 (35:22):
Yeah, I mean in terms of how old are they
when you get them from the supermarket? How old will
those eggs be compared to.
Speaker 3 (35:28):
It a very good shelf life? Look off. Now there
you've got me off the top of my head. I
cannot recall the shelf life of an egg, but it's
very good. Put it in the fridge. It lasts for
ages and ages. The way to tell, of course, is
you put it in a jug of water. If it floats,
it's past its use by date. Unlikely for that to happen.
Pick up the egg, hold it in your hand, give
(35:50):
it a bit, don't squash it, and just give it
a bit of a But is that a shake that
I'm doing in front of you?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, I mean just me, but the rest of the
country can't.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
Thank you with my hands, and I'm pretending I've got
an egg in it. And so what happens is that
the egg on the inside moves around in the shell. Now,
if it flies around the inside of the shell and
you can feel it going all over the place, it's old.
But if it's quite firm, then it's fresh.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
There we go, good, good, good advice. We almost about
to get on how do you boil an egg? But
let's not go there yet. We're going to take a
quick moment do it.
Speaker 3 (36:29):
Don't forget to stir it to boil an egg, Yes,
must stir your eggs, because then you send to the
egg yolk oh.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I mean while they're in the pot, what you give you.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Put your eggs in the shell and stir it and
you will send to the egg yolk in the center.
So if you're going to stuff your eggs afterwards, you know,
like that classic that they used to do in the
seventies stuffed eggs, which are just wonderful with capers sent
to your egg yolk to give them a ster.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
There's a moment of humility for mekas I was thinking, look,
there's nothing that Allison can tell me about boiling an
egg that I don't already know, and bingo, there we are.
We can just moment it's nine minutes to five. Yes,
News Talk said b Look, we've only had a couple
(37:18):
of minutes with the left with Alison Gofton. And of course, Alison,
if people want to catch up with all the recipes
and suggestions and ideas, of course, you've got your own website,
Alison Gofton dot coded in Z with two l's and
a Y for Alison.
Speaker 3 (37:34):
That's me.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Do I get this now? We did on that thing.
I mean, I look at your website and there's a
huge number of recipes there. Do you do you sometimes
trawl through and have a look at your website and go,
oh gosh, that's a really good dish. Should go and
check that one out. Do you use it as a
resource for yourself sometimes or I.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Use it as a library. It's got my life of
work on it, which is why I just leave it there.
So some of the photos are quite old, but then
they were from Next magazine when it launched in nineteen
ninety one and from the beginnings of Food in a Minute.
But I leave it there because people like to put
in something that they remember, or they can just scrawl
up any idea. So there's thousands of recipes there and
(38:16):
they literally are my library. Then if I want to
remember something, I go to my website to hunt it up. So, yes,
sorry photos, but it's true.
Speaker 2 (38:25):
People just go to the front page or is there
a particular recipe that's worth typing in? To check out
what muttins get someone inspired this evening at this time.
Speaker 3 (38:34):
They just put in potatoes or broccoli or pass naps
and just and then you just see pages of those
recipes coming up for the seasonal time of eating. If
you're not too sure what to do, you know, I
know you can ai potatoes, but you can also go
in and it will be very much, you know, in
tune with the things that we love to eat here
in New Zealand.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
And just one last thing I did bag pumpkin soup.
Speaker 3 (38:59):
Can you've been in trouble on the text machine?
Speaker 1 (39:01):
No?
Speaker 2 (39:02):
No, somebody said, well try a bit of lemon peas
in it, but that's still you know? Is it the
type of pumpkins? What makes what gives you pumpkin soup
the best chance of success? Okay, so all forty seconds
to go.
Speaker 3 (39:15):
All squashes or pumpkins are squashes, but not all squashes
of pumpkin. It's something like that. What you need is
a firm, fleshed pumpkin, a good old crown pumpkin, something
like a Queensland blue. It needs to have a very
dense flesh. You need to steam it, not boil it
in lots of water. Garlic is essential, butter, little onion pincher,
carry powder, good stock, pure potato will keep it nice
(39:39):
and thick together. And don't forget sour cream.
Speaker 2 (39:41):
Then go, Hey, Allison, I love chatting about food with you,
no exception today, look forward to next time.
Speaker 3 (39:48):
Thank you, and I hope everyone's having a happy Christmas.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Closed, so Alison Gooft dot co, dot n Z. We'll
be back with smart Money next.
Speaker 1 (40:25):
For more from the weekend collective, Listen live to News
Talk zed BI weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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