Pies & Tarts – Cooking Blog – Find the best recipes, cooking and food tips at Our Kitchen.

Spiced pumpkin tarte tatin

October 25, 2017 4 Comments

Rosie McLean is a final year student studying for a Bachelor of Culinary Arts at Otago Polytechnic. Rosie has her own blog where she indulges us in her weakness for all things sweet. As a special Halloween treat, Rosie popped in and cooked this amazing dish. I must admit that I personally ate four of the six servings….how very selfish of me. Check out Rosie’s blog www.aspaceforpudding.com and definitely give this dessert a try – I gave it a big double thumbs up! Thanks Rosie!

Tiny Apple and Elderflower tarts

May 4, 2017 5 Comments

With summer finally gracing us with her presence, I am eagerly anticipating spending several afternoons, when the sun is shining, gathering elderflowers to make cordial and hopefully elderflower champagne, which our colleague Simon (of Simons lemoncello cake ) has very kindly given us a recipe for.

Sausage Rolls

December 8, 2014 No Comments

What a marvelous year it has been in the culinary triumphs of my eldest daughter, Ada. Her four years of culinary training in my kitchen have given her the confidence to be in my eyes certified to prepare some beautifully simple dishes without (much) assistance. Getting there has included many moments of hair-raising anguish, resulting in some Gordon Ramsay style reaction on my behalf to her techniques.

Saag Aloo pie

September 9, 2014 No Comments

Becky works alongside me as one of our cooking product evaluators and she never fails to come up with new and inventive ways to test our cooking products. Her passion for cooking equates to a lot of delicious ‘engineer feed’ coming out of the lab so we asked her to whip up a favourite for Our Kitchen.

Spicy lamb & eggplant pies

September 2, 2013 7 Comments

Yesterday was a special day, it was the day we celebrated our first Father’s Day as a new family. It was filled with sunshine and sea air and a walk under a cool green canopy of cabbage and punga trees in the hills out west of our fair city. And if this wasn’t enough, it was jam-packed with more than our fair share of cuddles and kisses given freely

Fish pie

May 16, 2013 2 Comments

Every family has their own version of the fish pie and boy I’ve tasted some good ones (I’m talking to you Lou). This one’s perfect for making small bite-sized pies. Now all I need to do is plan a fishing trip.

Spaghetti, pine nut and basil parcels

April 15, 2013 No Comments

You may have missed what a huge fan of leftovers I am but just to fill you in – there is something I just adore about yesterday’s food. I also HATE to waste food (it makes me feel sad and guilty) so even if the end result is a disaster I try to resurrect it into something worth eating…if only once

Pierogies

February 26, 2013 No Comments

Jordan is the new kid on the block here in the Dunedin Industrial Design team. Having spent the last couple of years travelling he has returned to New Zealand to learn the ropes on cooking products. “Visiting my Babcia could almost be completely described through taste and smell.

Yoghurt tart with strawberries

January 25, 2013 No Comments

With all the sugar I consumed over the Christmas holidays I should probably be giving up desserts for January altogether. However it seems a shame to quit cold-turkey when there are so many delicious varieties of fruit in abundance at this time of year

Custard fruit tarts

February 28, 2012 2 Comments

One of my fondest memories as a child is when my mum, sister and I would catch the bus to town and spend the day exploring the city. Usually we would take a packed lunch, but occasionally we were treated to lunch at the tea rooms, where we were allowed to pick a club sandwich and a treat from the cabinet

Pecan Pie with Medjool Dates

November 23, 2011 7 Comments

Having spent a good portion of my twenties living and working in the USA I was lucky enough to be a guest at many family gatherings. The most memorable of which was in Salinas, California. My dear friend Eric, whom I met whilst working at the Ski School in Steamboat Colorado, invited my friend Anne and I along to spend Thanksgiving with his Family.

Brekkie Slice

September 7, 2011 6 Comments

Every week, twice a week Lauren (fellow blogger) and I bake for the Dunedin office; the population of which is predominantly male, which worked out perfectly for this months’ theme of ‘blokes’ food. In the past our efforts to create beautiful cupcakes, and slightly adventurous spinach and feta parcels, didn’t go down too well. The men in our office like meat, pastry and cheese.

Simone’s beef and pickled walnut pies

August 29, 2011 2 Comments

Outside of the blog team I think that Simone is one of our most regular guest bloggers. It has been a while since she last shared a recipe with us, due mostly in part to the arrival of a beautiful baby girl into this world, and also because she now works remotely from all the way down in Christchurch. We miss Simone around the office but are fortunate that she comes and pays us a special visit once a month or so. Simone has a great little story attached to this recipe so I will let her share it with