Lauraine Jacobs

Food Writer and Author of Delicious Books

Lauraine’s blog

16 August 2014

IMPROMPTU PART ONE

Open the fridge, scour the pantry, twenty minutes later; lunch!

I love cooking at the beach, even if it is winter and there's slim pickings in the farmer's market until the weather get warmer (and drier.)

This was our lunch today. A riff on the Genoese classic, cappon magro. Traditionally this is a cold seafood dish, cooked as a Christmas treat. Italy is weathering winter around late December so this is appropriate for mid winter in New Zealand.

Carrots and cauliflower star in the dish. So that's where I started. There's no need for exact quantities. I included a small cauliflower, chopped and blanched and about half a dozen baby carrots, halved and blanched. I layered these with an assortment of lettuce and mesclun leaves plucked from my pot plants, one large acid free tomato chopped, two hard boiled fresh free range eggs from Jenny Quayle at Matakana Farmers market, a chardonnay vinaigrette with freshly chopped mint.

The piece de resistance? A tin of ALBO pulpo - delicious octopus in a salty olive oil which I always keep in my pantry. (Sabato import). YUM!