Classic recipes made ‘own way'

Otago Daily Times

15-07-2025

Many of her Wendy Morgan's recipes have been developed using a combination of seasonal vegetables from her own garden. Photo: supplied
Chef and Cordon bleu cook Wendy Morgan is sharing some of the food she likes to cook at home in her new book Comfort Cooking.
The author of Who Made All the Pies? has worked in the food industry for more than 35 years, owning the successful Citron restaurant with her husband, fellow chef Rex Morgan, and deli Plentifull.
Having stepped out of the day-to-day of hospitality, Morgan, who lives in Christchurch, has had time to spend in her home kitchen once again and to enjoy cooking everyday food.
With parents who were bakers and caterers, she spent a lot of time around kitchens growing up so many of her early food memories involve her mother — especially her silky, flavoursome porridge.
"There was nothing more important to my mother than feeding people: it was her way of expressing her love for not only her family but for everyone who walked through our door."
She says her latest book is a nod to her mother who passed on those skills to herself and her siblings.
Another important influence was her first employer Felice Mannucci, owner of El Felice restaurant in Christchurch.
"I went on to learn some amazing skills from Felice, skills that have stuck with me for my whole career."
Decades in the busy hospitality trade, did not leave time for gardening, something Morgan has discovered the joy of now she has the time.
It is her garden that centres her as it is about nurturing, providing, sharing and nourishing.
"Everything tastes better straight from the garden. My garden is also my go-to place to relax, as it not only nourishes my body, but also my soul and my mental wellbeing."
Many of her recipes have been developed using a combination of seasonal vegetables from her own garden topped up with produce from the local farmers' market and supermarket.
"These days I cook a lot of classic recipes. But I cook them my own way and I have no guilt whatsoever in changing them to suit myself."
The book includes retro recipes such as crumbed mushrooms with sherry cream sauce and prawn toasts (see below) to classics such as brown butter sage sauce with gnocchi and apricot and blackberry cobbler.
Morgan also admits to being an over-caterer — "it's the way I was brought up" — so there is always food in the fridge.
"I'm also big on preparing for rainy days: the days when you don't feel well, the days when you are too busy or too tired to cook. Being able to pull a nutritious soup or stew or pie from the freezer makes me pretty happy."
There is plenty of inspiration to do the same in the book with chapters on feeding friends, comfort meals for family, as well as sides, preserves, sweets, salads, breads and snacks.
THE BOOK
This is an extract from Comfort Cooking: Enough for leftovers and lazy days in Kiwi homes, by Wendy Morgan, published by Bateman Books, RRP $45.
This is a classic ginger biscuit recipe that I've tweaked a little bit here and there over the years to suit myself. It is an oldie but a goodie.
Makes 16*
Ginger biscuits
150g butter, softened
225g brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
185g plain flour
1½ tbsp ground ginger
¼ tsp baking soda
Salted caramel
175g caster sugar
cup cold water
2 tbsp honey
½ tsp vanilla essence
100ml cream
60g butter
1½ tsp flaky salt
Vanilla ice cream
Method
Preheat the oven to 180˚C fan bake.
To make the ginger biscuits, in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter, sugar and vanilla for 5 minutes.
Add the egg and beat for another 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
Sieve the flour, ginger and baking soda and add to the bowl, mixing on a gentle speed until all combined.
Set a bowl of cold water beside you and use wet fingertips to roll the dough into walnut-size balls. Place the balls on to a baking tray lined with baking paper, leaving a good-sized gap between each ball. Wet your fingertips again and press the balls down to make them about 1cm thick.
Bake for 10 minutes until golden brown.
Transfer the biscuits to a cooling rack.
To make the salted caramel, combine the sugar and water in a heavy-based saucepan and place over a low heat. Allow it to boil without stirring until it turns a deep golden colour.
Add the honey, vanilla, cream and butter to the pan and stir to combine. Keep stirring until the caramel is smooth.
Turn off the heat and stir in the flaky salt.
To assemble, place the required number of the cooled biscuits on the bench and spoon a teaspoon of caramel on each, followed by a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Top with another biscuit and gently push down on each sandwich to ensure the ice cream spreads to the edges of the biscuits. Place the sandwiches in the freezer until ready to eat.
*If I am planning to divert some of the biscuits to the cookie tin, I press them down a little more before baking so they become nice and thin and crispy.
*Microwave the ice cream for 10 seconds to make it easier to scoop.
*Makes about 16 sandwiches with maybe a few biscuits left for the cookie tin
A word (or two) about crumbing: I like to crumb things for a few reasons. Firstly for texture; they add crunch, and crunch is an important part of the psychological response to food. Next, crumbs provide a protective coating and can keep things juicy. And finally, crumbing food can in some cases make it go further, which can make more expensive main ingredients such as lamb cutlets and fish a bit more accessible.
Serves 4
This relish goes well with pork, fish or chicken or simply with cheese and crackers. Best served at room temperature.
Curry apple relish
1 heaped tsp butter
1 apple, peeled and grated
1 onion, grated
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp curry powder
¼ cup white wine
½ cup chicken stock
¼ cup cream
1 tsp honey
Pinch salt
Method
To make the relish, in a saucepan melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the apple, onion and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in the curry powder then add the wine. Gently simmer to reduce until all the liquid is gone.
Add the stock, cream, honey and salt. Continue simmering the mixture until it thickens. Set aside until required.
Season the flour with the salt, pepper and cumin, then place in a dish or shallow bowl large enough to accommodate one cutlet at a time. Place the egg mixture in a similar-size dish. Put the panko crumbs in a third dish also large enough to fit a cutlet.
Lamb cutlets
½ cup flour
Salt and pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
2 eggs, whisked with a pinch
of salt
1 cup panko crumbs
12 lamb cutlets
½ cup olive oil
Method
Toss the cutlets, one at a time, in the seasoned flour. Transfer the cutlet to the egg and coat well before tossing in the panko crumbs, making sure to press as many crumbs on as you can.
Heat the oil in a frypan over a medium heat and cook the lamb cutlets in batches until golden on each side, about 34 minutes each side. As they are cooked, transfer them on to a paper towel to rest for a couple of minutes before serving with the relish.
I think that prawn toasts are too easily forgotten by most of us. But when they are offered my first thought is that I really must make them more often.
Makes 18
Sweet and sour chilli
dipping sauce
100ml white wine vinegar
50ml water
100g caster sugar
3 fresh chillies, finely chopped
1 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 Tbsp chopped fresh
coriander
1 spring onion, sliced
Toast topping
400g raw prawns, tails
removed, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
1 makrut lime leaf, finely
chopped
1 fresh chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
Small bunch coriander, roughly chopped
1cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp coconut cream
Pinch salt
½ cup sesame seeds
6 slices white sandwich bread, crusts removed
Method
To make the dipping sauce, place the vinegar, water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Add the chilli and set aside to cool. When you are ready to serve the toasts, add the chopped herbs and spring onion to the sauce.
To make the toast topping, place all of the ingredients except for one-third of the prawns into a food processor and whizz until well combined. Add the rest of the prawns and pulse a couple of times just to combine. Refrigerate the mixture until well chilled.
Heat a deep fryer or a saucepan of oil to 175˚C.
Spread the sesame seeds on to a plate.
Spread the prawn mixture evenly over each slice of bread then gently flip them upside down on to the sesame seeds to coat. Cut each slice into three portions.
Fry the prawn toasts in batches for 3 minutes, flipping over halfway. Serve nice and hot with the dipping sauce.
*This dipping sauce is great to have on hand in the fridge for spring rolls, poached prawns or even as a salad dressing. Have the base on hand and add the fresh herbs at the time of serving.
Remove all the seeds from the chillies for a mild version or leave some or all of them in, depending on how hot you like it.