Magazine

Simply good

Eleanor Ozich shares everyday wholefood recipes from her new cookbook, My Family Table.

Between running Mondays Wholefoods, writing the popular food blog Petite Kitchen, contributing recipes to magazines and raising a family, many would find Eleanor Ozich’s weekly To Do list a bit overwhelming. But somehow she manages to fit it all in – and does so with a radiant smile on her face. It’s an impressive schedule for someone who emerged onto our local foodie scene just three years ago. And behind the scenes over the last year, Eleanor has made the time for another impressive feat. She has just published her second cookbook, My Family Table – excerpts from which you can see on the following pages.

“This book is centred around simple family recipes – the food I make every day,” she says. “I often plan recipes, or ideas about ingredients that I think will work well together. Then I’ll go out and buy all the ingredients, only to sometimes find that those recipes don’t work as well as expected. Whereas, I often find the throw-together dishes I come up with on weeknights at the last minute turn out to be the real winners.”
Because Eleanor took all the (gorgeous) photos in My Family Table herself, she found that after she had stumbled across one of these accidental winners she could just whip out her camera and take down notes then and there. “If it worked, it worked and if it didn’t I moved on,” she says.
As for the namesake table featured throughout the book, yes, that’s authentic too. The beautiful vintage butcher’s block is the kids’ breakfast table and is photographed complete with their pen markings. “I think it really tells part of the story,” says Eleanor.

A spectacular platter

Serves 6-8 as a tasting platter,
or 4 as a light meal
GF, DF, Veg (if no anchovies used),
V (if no egg used)

For the spice & seed mix:
40g sesame seeds
30g crushed hazelnuts
3 Tbsp fennel seeds
3 Tbsp cumin seeds
2 Tbsp poppy seeds

To dip:
8 baby carrots
8 baby beets
4 kale leaves, stems removed,
leaves roughly chopped
Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
4 free-range eggs, at room temperature
2 small radicchio or cos (romaine) lettuces, stem ends removed
1 red capsicum, cut into sticks about 1 cm thick
6 celery stalks, cut into small sticks

For the dipping oil:
125ml extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 3 lemons
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

For the creamy cashew aïoli:
235g cashew nuts
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
60ml olive oil
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 anchovies

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C. Combine spice and seed mix ingredients in a small bowl.
Arrange the carrots, beetroot and kale in a large roasting tin. Drizzle generously with olive oil, then sprinkle with the seed mix. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the carrots and beetroot are cooked through and the kale is crispy.
Meanwhile, bring a small saucepan of water to the boil, then carefully add the eggs. Simmer for 7 minutes. Drain, then run under cold water to cool. Carefully peel the eggs, then slice each egg in half.
Combine all the dipping oil ingredients in a small bowl. Season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Add all the aïoli ingredients to a blender, pour in 250ml of water and whiz until smooth; you may need to add a little more water to achieve a lovely creamy consistency. Add a pinch of freshly ground black pepper, then check the seasoning.
Arrange the roasted vegetables, raw vegetables and boiled eggs on a large platter. Serve with the aïoli and dipping oil.

Apricot frangipane tart with ginger, orange & hazelnuts

Serves 8
GF, VEG

100g butter
2 free-range eggs
175g honey
55g rice flour, or 45g buckwheat flour,
or 40g quinoa flour
100g almond meal
Zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp baking powder
5 fresh apricots, halved and pitted, or 10-12 dried apricots, soaked in water until soft and plump

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 25cm tart tin.
Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a bowl until pale. Gradually beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then the honey.
Gently fold in the flour, almond meal, lemon zest and baking powder. Pour the batter into the tart tin, then arrange the apricots around the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave in the tin until completely cool, before carefully turning out onto a plate. Cut into slices to serve.
The tart will keep for 2-3 days in an air-tight container.

Edited extract from My Family Table, by Eleanor Ozich. Published by Murdoch Books, $45.

Recipes & food photography Eleanor Ozich
Lifestyle photography Greta Kenyon

Filed under:

error: Copyright The Pluto Group Ltd 2022 - contact us for usage licence

Homestyle shares
modern ways
to make a home
in New Zealand


Sign up to receive the latest in your inbox

Thanks for subscribing to Homestyle's newsletter - we'll be in touch soon.