Lucy Corry’s Foodie Favourites
What’s your Favourite Recipe Book?
What an impossible question! I have lots of favourites, but there are two I return to often: Nigella Lawson's How To Eat (her first book, which she reputedly wrote in six weeks). There are very few pictures (and certainly none of her in red satin dressing gowns looking coquettish), just great writing and lots of useful recipes. It's her best book by far.
Niki Segnit's Flavour Thesaurus isn't a cookbook per se, but a guidebook to flavour combinations. It's endlessly fascinating and such a delight to read. Segnit's Lateral Cooking is similarly wonderful but it's a bit unwieldy to read in bed.
What’s Favourite Kitchen Utensil?
My German bread knife, which was one of a set of wonderful knives that a couple of my siblings gave my husband and I as a wedding present. A good bread knife is a joy to use (my husband persists in using it for everything, which does not bring me joy!) and this one has sliced up thousands of loaves in the last 18 years. It's also great for tomatoes.
What’s your ‘Go To’ Recipe?
My weeknight dinner saviour is frequently pasta and some kind of un-sauce - maybe a finely chopped red onion marinated in red wine vinegar, some olives, capers or anchovies, lots of finely chopped fresh parsley, a handful of currants and perhaps some toasted pinenuts, all bound together with a generous slosh of extra virgin olive oil.
What’s your Favourite NZ ingredient?
It's hard to go past the feijoa, which manages to be humble and exotic all at the same time. I adore feijoas and can't get enough of them in season, even when everyone else can't stand even looking at another one.
What’s your most memorable meal?
I'm very fortunate to have eaten many, many memorable meals in my lifetime, all of them special for different reasons. A truly memorable meal has a number of important ingredients - the food plays a role, but the company and the location are also crucial. I've eaten incredible meals in exotic foreign locales, but lots of great meals around my family table too.