Vegan delights

On Sunday Richard cooks a special 4 course set menu especially for our local customers so they can come week after week and have something new and different every time. This week we had some vegan guests....

Now if you were to tell me I had to cook 4 vegan courses I'd be running for the vegan cookbook that I own somewhere in an unpacked box. But not Richard he whipped up some tasty treats for these lucky guests.

An amuse bouche of braised fennel with salsa verde and a red pepper salad. I thought I caught him grating parmesan on top but no it was grated hazelnut.

The entree was a gorgeous cous cous & tomato salad, the main a chickpea Ragout with baby veg.

But dessert really topped it off. Delicate mandarin segments, passion fruit pulp, green apple sorbet and mango puree.

All of this accompanied by wines which were probably made using animal products....Odd that, don't you think?

The World according to Lanaway

It's Winter 2010, I'm in Ohakune at Harakeke House, cooking Spag Bol without Richard. It's not my best work but Mr Lanaway's thinks it'll go down nicely with his glass of Aussie Red. He also thinks it's about time I started a blog called "Cooking with Richard". He'll read it, share it with his friends, it'll go viral and we'll make some money off it.

So here we are a year later, Richard and I have just been up Te Mata Peak, The snow covers the hills around the Hawkes Bay and the roads are closed cutting us off from the 180cm snow base at Turoa. It reminds me of that cold night in Ohakune and now that I cook with Richard everyday at The Old Church I do believe I have enough material to start writing this blog.

So thanks Perry Lanaway, tonight we're drinking a 2008 Riesling from Black barn, Hawkes Bay and tucking into a nice piece of home kill eye fillet. I'm cooking but I'm sure Rich will step in and help at some point.

Next time a story about Vegan delights....