Every week for about 15 years Alison Lambert has contributed a recipe featuring Otago produce to the Fresh pages of the Otago Daily Times.
This week, she celebrates the launch of her very first cookbook Seasons. She talks to Rebecca Fox about her food journey.
Despite the popular misconception, Alison Lambert is not vegetarian, nor is she vegan.
Not that there is anything wrong with either diet choice, but Lambert is horrified by the thought of any restriction on what she can eat. To her, being able to choose from nature’s bounty - whatever is in season and tasty, whether plant or animal - is what drives her.
"That would take the joy out of life, wouldn’t it?"
But she understands how people might have got the impression. For the past 15 years she has contributed vegetable and fruit-forward recipes to the Otago Daily Times’ Fresh section under the title "In Season".
The idea came from what she was creating in the Otago Farmers Market caravan every week to celebrate the market’s producers and products.
At the time the job was perfect. She was just back from Europe with a young family and trying to re-establish herself. While away, she had been exposed to many different cuisines and a bounty of vegetables - some of which she had never seen or heard of.
She remembers as a young chef being sent to do a stocktake in the fridges of the famous River Cafe, which served Italian food in London, and realising she did not know what half the vegetables and fruits were.
"I stood in there and cried. It was so overwhelming. I didn’t know where to start."
But it was there, alongside a young Jamie Oliver, that she got her first taste of keeping things simple and letting the "fantastic" ingredients shine - something she still follows to this day.
It also became a team effort with husband Simon Lambert, also a chef, developing his food photography skills to showcase the recipes and her three children acting as taste-testers for her latest dishes.
This year she decided to take a break from full-time work which gave her the luxury of time - time she used to write her first cookbook, aptly named Seasons.
"It’s very exciting."
The book pulls together recipes from her "In Seasons" column into seasonal groups - spring, summer, autumn and winter - which she hopes people will find handy when they get their chosen protein out - whether it be beef, fish or tofu - and wonder what to have with it.
"That’s what most people’s challenges are - I don’t know what to do with the vegetables or I don’t know what to put with that.
"You can have your main bit, your protein and then you can open the book and go voila, I’ll do that to accompany it."
Putting the book together also highlighted her passion for food and cooking has not waned.
"I’ll never lose that. I love it more and more, actually. I just go through different phases and I think I’ve always been on that mission to make good food for everybody and make it affordable. That’s a really big thing."
Her time in Europe living in places like Spain and Greece (where she met Simon), where it seemed everyone could eat well without paying a lot of money, reinforced to her that people should be able to do that in New Zealand too.
Yet her childhood experiences growing up as the youngest of seven fed by a large vegetable garden no longer seemed so common.
"My mother did all the cooking. She taught me how to cook and that whole enjoyment of cooking food to share."
There was never any question that Lambert was going to be a chef. Ever since she could read, cookbooks were her first choice. When video recorders came in, she recorded every episode of Alison Holst’s cooking show.
"I’d think, one day I’m going to be her. I used to play it and then go back to get the recipe."
Her mother, now 85 and still baking for the family, recognised how much she loved food so spent hours teaching her how to preserve and make scones and Victoria sponges.
"Everything had to be perfect though; if it wasn’t perfect the chickens got it. Which has probably paid off. Everything had to be neat and tidy."
When she left school she got a job with Jan Tomlin at Dunedin’s Blades restaurant, who trained her in all the "old-school classical chef techniques".
"She worked around New Zealand and I followed her. She’s still my mentor really."
As soon as he finished her polytechnic training, she "hit the road", which had always been her goal.
"I just didn’t expect to be away for so long. Once I saw how fantastic the world was and the food, I just kept going."
And she has not stopped even now. Having taken time off she is helping friends out with a small cafe and looking forward to the launch of her book.
To see
Seasons launch with Alison Lambert, November 21 at 5pm at The Shelter by Taylor in Dunedin. All welcome.
Peperonata
This is a slow-cooked sweet stew of summer capsicums and tomatoes. You cannot rush this dish, simple as it might be. It is all about cooking the onions and capsicums until they are sweet and juicy, then layering them with tomatoes.
I like to add a little burst with some capers and finish it with bundles of basil. Peperonata can be spooned over bruschetta and served alongside grilled fish or meats. It is fantastic with cheesy polenta or simply add it to your summer platters.
Prep time 15 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour
Skill Easy
Serves 4
Ingredients
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 onions, sliced thinly
4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
500g capsicums (peppers),deseeded
100g cherry tomatoes
250ml tomato passata
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp capers (optional)
Handful fresh basil
Method
Add the oil to a large pan.
Over medium heat, add the onions and cook very gently for 10 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Slice the capsicum into 1cm lengths and add to the pan.
Continue cooking for a further 10minutes.Add the tomatoes and passata.
Add the vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper.
Stir to combine.
Cover with a lid and continue cooking for 20 minutes.
Remove the lid, add the capers and basil and cook until sauce has thickened a little and the capsicum and tomatoes have softened.
Best enjoyed warm or at room temperature.
Plum and apple galette
Prep time 40 minutes
Cooking time 35minutes
Skill Moderate
Serves 8
Galette is just a fancy word for a free-form pie. The secret to these impressive yet simple pies is the pastry. You need a good crust to contain the delicious fruit inside.
Use whatever fruit suits you or is in season. This type of pie can easily be made throughout the year.
Ingredients
Pastry:
1 cup flour, plus extra for rolling
¼ cup fine cornmeal
1 Tbsp sugar
¼ tsp fine salt
100g butter, cold and cubed
2 Tbsp sour cream
2 Tbsp ice-cold water
Filling:
4 apples, peeled, cored, thinly sliced
8 plums, stoned removed, sliced
4 Tbsp sugar, plus 1 Tbsp for finishing
1 Tbsp cornflour
Glaze:
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp milk
Method
Begin by making the pastry. Add the dry ingredients to a bowl of a food processor (or mix by hand). Blitz to combine.
Add the butter gradually, pulsing to combine until crumbly.
Mix the sour cream with the water and pour into the dry ingredients.
Pulse again until the dough just comes together in a ball.
Remove the dough to your work bench and bring together into a flat ball. Cover in plastic wrap and place into the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan bake (180°C bake).
To make the filling, put all the prepared fruit in a bowl, toss together with the sugar and cornflour and set aside.
Place the dough on a lightly floured bench and roll the pastry to about 33cm round and about 3mm thick. Transfer to a baking tray.
Place the fruit in the centre of the pastry, leaving about 5cm around the edge.
Fold up the sides of the pastry to partially cover the fruit, pleating the dough as needed.
Beat the egg with the milk and glaze the pastry. Sprinkle over the remaining sugar.
Bake for 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbling.
Cool on the tray before transferring to a serving plate.
Pea risotto
For me, a warming bowl of risotto is a great one-pan dinner. So many wonderful variations can be made with a few simple ingredients.
I have always enjoyed peas, whether fresh or frozen. They are just so good. If you can get the peas from the pods into the pot, and not into your mouth like I do, then by all means use fresh.
This risotto is light, fresh and vibrantly pea green. What’s not to love?
Serves 4
Prep time 15 min
Cook time 30 min
Skill moderate
Ingredients
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock, plus 100ml
400g peas (fresh or frozen)
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 (60g) shallots, finely diced
1 (120g) stick celery, finely diced
200g arborio rice
30g spring onions, cut into 2cm lengths
1 lemon, zest and juice
Salt and cracked black pepper
80g freshly grated parmesan, plus extra for serving
Method
Begin by making sure your stock is warm.
Measure out 200g of peas and cover with 100ml warm stock. Blend with a hand wand until it reaches a thick puree consistency. Set aside.
Add the butter and oil to a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add the shallots and celery and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes to soften.
Add the rice and stir well to coat in the butter and oil. Lightly toast the grains for 3 minutes.
Ladle in the warm stock, one ladle at a time, stirring well between each addition. You want the liquid to be absorbed into the rice before adding more.
Halfway through, add the pea puree and stir well to combine.
Continue ladling in the stock until the rice is tender.
Add the remaining peas, spring onions and lemon zest and season with salt and plenty of cracked pepper.
Add a handful of grated parmesan. Stir well. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes.
Remove the lid, add a squeeze of fresh lemon and the remaining cheese.
