It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas 🎄
/Meri Kirihimete Gastronomads
Finally Summer is here, Christmas parties are falling out of the trees and the pohutukawa are blooming, spreading their crimson joy everywhere. The Auckland Supper Club is also blooming with vaguely red and green themed recipes like pintxos (tapas) with roasted red peppers and parsley; taboulé with tomatoes and mint and Christmas mince sunshine tart sprinkled with pistachios and rose petals. I will be teaching and hosting the Supper Club on Wednesdays and Saturdays till I return to France for the European Summer in May. More info on the Supper Club is HERE. It will be on hold for the first 2 weeks of March when I head to India for my tour – Can't wait to get back to the land of the hot pink spice saga... there's one room left if you feel like doing something wild and crazy. India tour info is HERE.
Tours in 2026
We've got a new experience on the beautiful Puglia tour. For the second half of the tour we move to a restored masseria (farm house) on an organic property – they grow their own food, wine, olive oil and children – I don't really know if the children are organic or not, but they are gorgeous. This year at the masseria we are doing 'green shopping' (forraging for our lunch) then a double cooking class where one team will make pasta, foccacia and salads and the other will make veal braciola (stuffed rolled veal) and meatballs. The great advantage of being there at the end of May is you get the sunshine and warmth (good for swimming) and you also get the arrival of the wild flowers and blossoming trees... all without the stifling heat of high Summer. Puglia has unctuous wine, luscious olive oil and seafood jumping all over the place – how can that be wrong? The cuisine is honest and charming just like the people. Find out more HERE.
India fashion and textile tour 1– 10 March 2026 – 1 room left– full details HERE
Puglia gastronomic tour 20 – 26 May 2026 – full details HERE
Uzès gastronomic tour 5 – 11 June 2026 – full details HERE
Basque Country gastronomic tour 20 – 26 June 2026 – 1 room left – full details HERE
Book News
My latest book of life essays 'It's Been Six Weeks Since My Last Confession' seems to be doing well and it's the perfect Christmas gift and Summer read – full of sauciness, life hacks and indiscreet disclosures. It's even on the Whitcoulls Christmas list. Available now at all good booksellers and online through Whitcoulls, Paperplus, Mighty Ape, The Nile and Fishpond.
Christmas Recipe – Tuna, White Anchovy & Piquillo Pepper Toasts
Serves 8
1 ripe tomato
8 slices baguette toasted (or rectangle crackers)
160g tuna in olive oil
4 roasted piquillo peppers (bottled)
8 white anchovies ( boquerones )
Finely chopped parsley
Method:
Slice the tomato in half and grate the flesh. The skin will fold back.
Grill or toast slices of bread and spread with tomato pulp.
Lay slices of tuna on each piece of bread. Lay half of a piquillo pepper on top of the tuna.
Top the pepper with a white anchovy ( boqueron ) and sprinkle with parsley.
I wish you all a very Happy Christmas with your family and friends. I intend to do more of the same next year (well maybe slow down a little). I've been travelling, teaching, cooking and writing all my life... (if you count the script I wrote for the Christmas play when I was ten) so why stop now? My childhood Christmas productions were serious, holy and dramatic so why did my grandmother laugh so much that she cried and had to lie down in a dark room? Try and be kind and adorable to everyone, if only for Christmas – a time of love, forgiveness and tolerance.
Peta