Only Recipes, by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Today I just want to show you the kiwi berries. They are quite common in New Zealand now, but maybe if you live overseas you don't know them. They are miniature kiwis (look at them near a 50p coin) and look and taste like kiwi fruit. The best thing is that they don't need to be peeled, and they are really cute. I just served them with some Greek yogurt. And just to let you know, these kiwi berries are not from my garden, but I wouldn't mind planting them! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

From my garden This is what I got from my garden: yellow and green beans (a few of the yellow beans where overgrown so I collected the big purple beans inside), celery, tomatoes and my first mini pumpkin. All in the pot, with some rain water and rock salt. Yep, rain water, our water comes from the sky and we collect it in a big tank. Can't stop thinking that a soup like this is almost self-sufficient, a part from the salt! Since my leeks are not ready and I don't have any onions or garlic in the garden, I thought of adding some chives at the end, for that ' oniony'  kick. But you know what? When I lifted the lid it smelled like I had just entered a huge veggie garden. The aroma was so strong and perfect that I didn't add anything else. It was a filling and satisfying garden soup (I called it  zuppa dell'orto ), you can add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and/or some freshly ground black pepper in the end, or some pasta for a

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  © Until 5 or 6 years ago I only had Indian food in restaurants or at friends', except for  Dahl  and Naan bread, that is. In the last few years I started to cook more and more Indian food (or at least, try to!) by myself, and now, with so many good Indian blogs around, I can really say that I am becoming more 'adventurous' with my use of spices. At home we love to have Indian dinners, and the kids are starting to request them more and more often. Usually I also have rice, but sometimes I find some nice flat bread in the Indian shop. I tend to make two different curries for an informal family dinner, and one is either with panir, or with pulses, for protein. This was our dinner table the other night, to drink we had mango lassi ( recipe here ), on the right palak panir ( same recipe as my silverbeet panir , but this time I used spinach) and in the jar some mango chutney made by our friend Mike. The colurful curry is  Potato

A few weeks ago my little boy started wearing dental plates, and since it is still hard for him to chew I have been making lots of creamy soups. Soups are nice, and quick, but not necessarily photogenic. To make it more fun I have been using the Camera+ iPhone application that  Arfi  showed me. Roasted leek and Potato Soup with Leek Broth Generally I sauté the potatoes and leeks in the pot to make this soup, but I wanted to try something different. So I cut the potatoes (Agria) and leek in big chunks, placed them in a roasting dish lined with baking paper, added olive oil and salt and roasted everything for about 30 minutes. I didn't want the potatoes to become brown, just lightly roasted on the outside, and soaking up the flavour from the leeks. I washed the green leaves from the leek (the ones that are too hard to be eaten) and place them in a pot of  water with some rock salt. I cooked the leaves until I got a fragrant and light leek broth. I removed the leaves an

I had some green and yellow beans in the garden, a piece of organic tofu in the fridge, and some leftover green curry paste in the freezer. When I make green curry I usually have too much for one meal so I freeze the rest (it freezes really well). My paste is really simple, some fresh ginger (peeled) some shallot (also peeled), fresh coriander (with stalks), green chilli (not too much for me, maybe one or two), and fresh lemon grass (one stick). If you have kaffir lime leaves or rind, the are good too, apparently, but I didn't have any. You should use a mortar and pestle, but I just added a little salt and blended everything in the food mixer. For the curry 1 tbsp of green curry paste 2 tbsp oil Green and yellow beans Tofu, cut in big pieces 1 can coconut cream Water Fresh Vietnamese mint Chilli (optional) accompany with a blend of long and wild rice. Sizzle the curry paste with the oil, add the beans and tofu, and then the coconut cream. Fill up the empty can of coconut

Plenty of tomatoes in the garden, not as big as I hoped, but they taste good. I made a simple salad with just tomatoes, basil leaves, olive oil and salt, and some borage flowers for colour. It looked and tasted like a very happy salad :-).  Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

I don't plant much corn, but usually I get a beautiful photogenic crop... this year instead... just look at it! I laughed aloud thinking that I could have told you that this was a heirloom variety of some sort of ancient Maya corn, but I will be honest: this is dreadful! Still, I never get discouraged, and I hate wasting food. Not pretty? Never mind, it still tastes ok, and I could always match it with a good crop :-), like my broccolini! So I made this salad: I boiled the corn, cut off the kernels that were pretty, added some steamed broccolini and dressed the lot with a miso dressing (just white miso paste thinned down with a little hot water). It was super yummy! Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini  ©

This is Vegan, gluten free, fat free, light, and yet fully balanced and filling (or at least, it is for me :-)). Best consumed with beer, or with a glass of chilled Cracroft Chase Pinot Gris (please scroll to the end of this post for another Christchurch earthquake update). Vegan Thai Salad Rolls On Saturday I went to the Oratia Farmers Market and bought some smoked salt and garlic. The smoked salt is really nice and mixed with a few spices and herbs, so I thought of using it to marinate some organic tofu to put inside my Thai salad rolls. I cut the tofu into thin strips and then I sprinkled the salt on. After 30 minutes I turned the tofu slices over and sprinkled the smoked salt on the other side too. After other 30 minutes I lightly fried the tofu slices with rice bran oil. I put it on some kitchen paper to remove the excess oil, and set aside. I used Thai rice paper wrap, which are gluten free. You need to soak the rice pape