I got these fresh this morning and have just finished photographing them on my balcony which is bathed in NZ’s springtime sunshine – it’s a splendid  day!

My favourite Saturday morning treat is freshly brewed coffee with frothy milk (reduced fat of course) and a croissant from the fabulous Boulangerie L’epi in Ellerslie, Auckland. Outside of France these are some of the best bread and croissants I’ve tasted. They use organic flour and make a range of healthy sour dough breads. But on an indulgent Saturday morning I by-pass the walnut, rye and grain loaves and head straight for the croissants.

“Why don’t you write about quinoa,” one of my friends suggested. Great idea, I thought, but I have no idea how to cook the stuff. So about a month ago I bought a pack of white quinoa (there’s red, white and brown to choose from) and it languished in my pantry until two days ago. This is the story of how not to cook it…

Follow the instructions on the pack – that’s a good start, I thought. So I mixed a cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water, according to the instructions, and simmered it until the water was absorbed – similar to cooking rice. I ended up with a gluggy beige mess! Then I tossed it, rather heavily, with roast pumpkin, roast beetroot, feta cheese, cucumber and tomato and served it to my family.  It was certainly not a good food combination but they gallantly tried it. Needless to say they didn’t ask for seconds – and we all had Weetbix for dessert!

The next day I went out to lunch at Richmond Road Cafe – a fantastic cafe in Grey Lynn, Auckland. On the menu was Chicken Quinoa Salad. I later found out that it’s one of the most popular dishes on the menu. Here was my chance to experience quinoa as it should be – and it was great! Red and white quinoa mixed with just a few almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and cranberries, and served with slices of delicately cooked chicken. It was subtle, delicious and not a hint of glugginess!

I just had to ask the head chef how she did it. The lunch rush was over and Sharna Pito, head chef at the cafe, kindly chatted to me about how to cook quinoa. “Cook it like pasta,” she explained. “Lots of boiling water, lightly salted. A cup should take about 4-5 minutes. Drain it well and it’s ready to use.” So that explains why mine hadn’t worked. And what about flavours to put with it? “I think nuts, seeds and dried fruit work really well with quinoa,” Sharna told me. “And a light vinaigrette dressing using citrus juice or white wine vinegar. Balsamic is far too strong for it.”

Fantastic! A five-minute chat with an obliging expert has saved me hours of quinoa cooking disasters. I can’t wait to try it out in some summer salads… or perhaps I’ll just pop back to Richmond Road Cafe for Sharna’s latest quinoa creation, and a glass of their ginger, lemon and elderflower tea – heaven!

Related:

Quinoa: A Healthful Alternative to Rice – Ingredient swap – Revolution Health

Breakfast quinoa with clementines, sour cherries and pecans

Black quinoa salad — Salade de quinoa noir

Quinoa Bananna Bread recipe

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: making your own jam or marmalade is a real eye-opener to how much sugar it contains. Whenever I visit my parents I love to pick grapefruit fresh off the tree. It’s fun to shake the tree and duck out of the way of the falling fruit. A grapefruit dropping on your head is not a pleasant experience! Fresh grapefruit are rich in vitamin C making them ideal to eat for breakfast as they enhance iron absorption from your breakfast cereal.

Not everyone can handle such a stringent attack on their taste-buds first thing in the morning. Some prefer to eat their grapefruit toned down with lots of sugar, that is, as marmalade. I have just made my second batch of marmalade this year. I lined up all the jars after I had filled them and worked out that each jar contains approximately one grapefruit and one cup of sugar. Oh dear, at least it makes a great gift for friends.

Are the following words types of cheese, pasta, grapes or olives: frantoio, koroneiki, leccino, pendolino, picholine, picual?

If you answered olives, you would be right. But even more interesting than their unusual names is that they are grown in the Waikato. Believe it or not, the Waikato, New Zealand’s premier farming region, produces more than great meat, milk and cheese. A group of around forty olive growers, including retired farmers, an accountant, a marketer, a builder, and a debt collector are now producing extra virgin olive oil – this year about 1500 litres of it – and it tastes yummy. I know because my uncle Richard is one of them. A born and bred sheep and cattle farmer, he now makes delicious, nutritious extra virgin olive oil. He has just sent me three bottles and I can’t wait to try it.

What I like about this oil is that each bottle is made from pressing just one type of olive. The Olive Estate (that’s the brand name of the oil this group produces) doesn’t blend varieties. Not that there’s anything wrong with blending but it is fun to taste the difference between a koroneiki and a frantoio. From a nutritional view point the most important thing is that this oil is extra virgin. ‘Extra virgin’ is the best quality oil made from the first press of the olives. It is the richest in antioxidants and other nutrients. Virgin olive oil is made from a second pressing so it’s not quite as good as extra virgin. Lower down the quality scale you have ‘pure’ and ‘light’ olive oil. ‘Light’ olive oil is simply a lighter flavour and colour – it’s no lighter in kilojoules or fat!

If you want to try a little extra virgin pendolino, visit the farmers markets at Pirongia, Morrinsville and Tamahere, or e-mail: theoliveestate at yahoo.co.nz  –  As for me, I’m looking forward to drizzling some of the koroneiki olive oil over a classic Italian salad of fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil. Thanks, Uncle Richard!