Brunch Bread

May 8, 2001

I met up with a lot of fellow food writers at the opening night cocktail session of the Savour New Zealand master class weekend here in Christchurch last Friday night.

We sipped on our gin and Midori cocktails and caught up with one another's endeavours. And we swapped the usual tales of our kids' exploits.

It was my privilege a few years back to work as publishing manager for a couple of cookbooks and food calendars written by Alison Holst, a household name here when it comes to good food and recipes that work. Alison has written many successful cookbooks spanning some 30 years. She's spent countless hours doing fundraising cooking demonstrations that have helped many schools and organisations.

We met up again on Friday as we were leaving the reception. Time only for a quick chat but she was asking what my lads were doing. I was delighted to tell her Ben had returned from the UK with some culinary skills.

"Oh, yes," she said. "But you can take credit for the time you put in when they were small."

I suspect kids pick up cooking skills by osmosis. Mine used to hang round the kitchen lifting lids, peering in ovens, sitting on the other side of the bench watching as I chopped, sauteed, simmered and sampled.

When they had friends sleeping over, they'd wield the spatula and make pancakes. Son James' specialty was a particularly vile looking dish of microwaved green scrambled eggs.

A phone call late afternoon these days is often a culinary inquiry from James - "How long does it take to cook roast chicken and when do you put the potatoes in?" And so on.

He cooked a couple of very respectable dishes with packets of this and that during his summer break at home. Now it was big brother's turn to cook brunch for the parents.

Father and son returned from the supermarket with the requisite fresh bread. Ben says he usually chooses baguettes, but on this occasion they bought a herbed focaccia. I might choose a chewy ciabatta so I recommend you select the bread that you fancy most.

Ben and I had a discussion about the mozzarella. He is used to dealing with a white mozzarella in England. I suggested the milk here from our grass-fed cows produces a more yellow mozzarella.

I have an Italian friend in Wellington whose mother makes her own mozzarella. He says she can plunge her hands into seemingly boiling water to mould the cheese. I will have to inquire what colour her mozzarella is. I visited a cheese factory during the week and hoped to find an answer but they said they don't make mozzarella. But I am used to the stuff being a light yellow colour. I'd welcome feedback on the subject!

Brunch Bread

Fresh bread of choice
olive oil
1 large aubergine
4 large fleshy tomatoes
1 mozzarella cheese
fresh basil
Maldon salt and freshly ground pepper

Slice the aubergine thinly. Core and slice the tomatoes. Slice the mozzarella thinly (you may need only half) and tear the basil leaves.

Preheat your oven to 150C.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and saute the aubergine slices and place them in dish in the oven as you go (on paper towels if you wish).

Slice or split the bread and toast it under a grill when you get towards the end of cooking the aubergine.

Put a little more oil in the pan and quickly fry the tomato slices. Keep them firm. Just heat them through.

Arrange the toasted bread on a tray and spread the aubergine over the top, then the tomatoe slices. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Top with the mozzarella and sprinkle over the ripped basil leaves.

Serve immediately.

If the bread and toppings are good and hot, the mozzarella will melt over them. But you can give the bread a couple of minutes in the oven if you wish - in which case put it on an oven tray.