Charmian Smith

There are many cookbooks aimed at people with little time or expertise, some better than others.

Flavours of home is a series of recipes from around the world cooked by people at home in Otago. They are accompanied by a video on the ODT website so you can see how the dish is made. This week Soomi and Soohee Moon, from Korea, show us how to make Galbi Tchim (short-rib stew).

Sometimes a few bottles sit around waiting for similar ones to arrive to make up a tasting.

Some of Hawkes Bay's finest reds, including a number of top flight syrahs come from the Gimblett Gravels sub region.

Venture into the bush and most people would be hard pushed to find anything to eat, but chef Charles Royal demonstrated many traditional food and medicinal plants on a recent walk through the Orokonui Ecosanctuary. Charmian Smith reports.

Winemakers often say they find gewurztraminer hard to sell but those of us who appreciate the fragrance and power of the variety can't understand why, especially when it's so versatile with food, and particularly Asian food.

Some fine pinots turned up for this tasting, ranging from graceful and charming to big and concentrated but also charming. Most will develop with another few months or a year in bottle.

This week Rosie Victor-Hoogland from India shows us how to make chicken biryani.

This batch of pinot gris demonstrates how the variety has developed in the past few years from sweetish, fruity wines often hot with unbalanced alcohol to more interesting, textural wines with complexity from ageing on spent yeast lees or in oak.

This batch of pinot gris demonstrates how the variety has developed in the past few years from sweetish, fruity wines often hot with unbalanced alcohol to more interesting, textural wines with complexity from ageing on spent yeast lees or in oak.

Sauvignon blanc, with its vibrant fruit and crisp acidity, is a good aperitif. It sharpens the appetite and goes particularly well with nibbles such as seafood, cheese, and vegetable dips and spreads like hummus or pesto.

Soups can be thin, creamy or chunky verging on a stew.

Marcella Donati, from Italy, shows how to make Garbanzos con acelgas (chickpeas with silverbeet).

The traditional New Zealand family Sunday roast, which has almost disappeared from our tables, is staging a comeback with Selak's New Zealand Roast Day on Sunday, August 7. Charmian Smith remembers long-gone Sunday roast lunches and makes a few suggestions for new ones.

That inveterate traveller and television cook, Rick Stein has a new book out - Rick Stein's Spain (Ebury) which ties in with a new four-part television series.

Besides some superb cabernets, merlots and blends, the interesting thing about this tasting was the varying bottle weight.

Janine obsessed with beautiful skin, but from the inside rather than the outside.

Some good value pinot noir turned up in this tasting, easy to drink, lively but not green or unripe, and often with red fruits and a hint of spicy oak - not bad for $20-25.

Michael Cooper's latest book, 100 Must-try New Zealand Wines (Hodder Moa) is partly updated from his Classic Wines of New Zealand (2005).

There's more to Africa than war and famine, says Hudu Alhassan. The visiting African chef talks to Charmian Smith about African cuisine and reveals a couple of recipes.