Cooking up a storm from a bare national cupboard

Neil Hodgson is a food and wine writer based in Nelson

COLUMN: Recent adverse weather events have caused me to pause and consider the fragile state of our food supply chain.

Looking back over the last three years we were a very lucky country to be pretty much self-sufficient during the peak of the covid pandemic and subsequent supply chain shortages but the incredibly destructive weather events of the last couple of weeks has underlined just how reliant we are on the rural sector.

The rural sector was one of our food heroes during covid lockdowns, and remains a critical part of our food supply chain, but what happens when the base of that food supply chain is decimated by cyclones?

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The most obvious thing we will see is a shortage of some fresh food items and a corresponding increase in the cost of those items.

Northland is basically the sole region for the production of kumara and the crops of this very versatile root vegetable have been decimated this year, in fact, the damage in the region has been so bad it may take more than one season for growers to recover and start producing this and other vegetables again.

Hawke’s Bay is this country’s largest grower of stone fruit and apples.

In many cases it isn’t just the current crop that has been lost, orchards have been destroyed by damaging winds and rain, those that have had extreme damage will need to be replanted and will take several years to return to productivity.

Add the ever-increasing cost of shopping to the expected shortage of many fruits and vegetables grown in these areas and it is the perfect recipe for families to run out of food.

If you are able to, now is the time to buy produce that is plentiful and preserve or freeze it for use during winter. In other words – stock up your pantry and freezer.

Something else that happened during the covid pandemic was people turning back to growing more food at home, we had time to spend in the garden so either expanded exiting gardens or, in many cases, started growing food at home for the first time. That’s something to keep doing.

“I look at what I have been able to harvest or buy, decide what I’m cooking and what spices and herbs will go with that,” cookbook author Nicola Galloway recently told me. “I tell people to have a real focus on seasonal produce then focus on what you enjoy”.

She also says the key thing to remember is to cook and eat seasonal fruit and vegetables.

‘“When they are in plentiful supply they are cheaper, fresher and packed with goodness.”

At the moment things like tomatoes are plentiful and not too expensive if you buy from farmers markets and farm shops, so we have been buying quite a few and turning them into base ingredients to use during the winter.

Simple things like making a tomato passata to use in a pasta dish, or, as we prefer, semi-dry halved tomatoes in the oven, air fryer or dehydrator if you have one and freeze them to add to casseroles and risottos during the winter. Semi-drying them intensifies the flavours.

There are so many things you can make now for use later in the year and I think it is more important now than ever to increase our home-grown fruit and vegetable plantings to become more self-sufficient.

With ever-increasing costs being added to our supply chains everything is likely to become more expensive in the next two years plus so being more self-sufficient at home and stocking up your pantry and freezer if you are able to do so will help you save money in the long term.

Increasing food costs doesn’t mean you need to go without, you will just need to be smart with your buying choices and find tasty recipes you can make that suit both your tastes and wallet using produce you have bought when they’re plentiful or staples you have in the pantry or freezer.

During the covid lockdowns I asked some local chefs for recipes we can all cook at home using things people generally have in their cupboards and freezers.

One of the recipes I had the most feedback from was from Kevin Hopgood for oven baked meatballs, so I thought it is worth repeating here as a reminder of just how tasty cost-effective homemade food can be.

“This is a very simple recipe and a family favourite that yields a very tasty, moist meatball result and never fails to please,” Hopgood says. “There are heaps of variations you can try, so you can personalise them to your own taste using whatever mince meat you have on hand. For instance, try lamb and mint, beef on its own or add 100g of cheese to the mix. Try adding Asian spices for a different twist.

“You can even take a risk, have fun and get the kids to choose the flavour and help you make them, they will love getting their hands on the meatball mix. These are great with pasta, buttered noodles, mash or a simple green salad.”

Oven Baked Meatballs with Smoky Tomato Sauce

Serves 6 (depending how hungry you are)

Meatball ingredients:

350g Minced Beef

350g Minced Pork

½ Red pepper finely chopped

1 Onion finely chopped

1 Garlic clove crushed

2 Tablespoons of chopped seasonal herbs

50g Breadcrumbs (The breadcrumbs are a top tip as they make for soft, melt-in-the-mouth meatballs)

1 Egg beaten

Tsp Smoked Paprika

Method for the meatballs:

Mix all ingredients well in a large bowl, add a good seasoning of salt and black pepper. Take a tablespoon of the mixture, squeeze and roll into equal sized balls. Roll in seasoned flour.

Brown the balls in a non-stick pan and place in a casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid, set aside.

Ingredients for the sauce:

1 tbs Smoked paprika

1 Level teaspoon chilli flakes

1/2 Red pepper finally chopped

1 Garlic glove crushed

400g Tin of chopped tomatoes

100g Sour cream

Method for the sauce:

Make the sauce by gently frying the pepper, onion and garlic in olive oil. Add the spices and tomatoes, season and bring to a simmer while stirring. Pour the sauce over the meatballs and fit the lid.

Cook for 1.5hrs at 140 in a pre-heated oven – turn the meat balls halfway through.

To serve removed lid and gently mix in the sour cream – grate parmesan cheese over the dish and serve.