Chelsea & Me: Spiced Pumpkin Muffins

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of three cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious and now her new book, Homemade Happiness, are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe.
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I’m not a huge muffin fan, but I do love pumpkin and something about this recipe really caught my eye. I think it was the idea of pumpkin and brown sugar dancing together in the mixture, creating a magical caramel batter with hints of ginger, nutmeg and cloves.

The recipe is very simple and quick, like all good muffin recipes should be. The only lengthy part of the process was chopping and cooking the pumpkin, but once it was simmering away on the stove I was able to get all the other ingredients together and clear up as I went.

But what you really want to know is, “What did they taste like??”, right?

Amazing. Delicious. Sweet. Spicy. Fluffy.

I didn’t tell my kids that they contained pumpkin, and they both scoffed them down; knowing it was the main ingredient, I could taste it, but if I didn’t know….well…I wouldn’t have known. The flavour was subtle, and the cinnamon and Demerara topping was a lovely addition; the soft, fluffy muffin combined with the sweet, crunchy topping was really, really good.

(This recipe can be found in Everyday Delicious.)

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Chelsea & Me: Eggplant Parmigiana

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of three cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious and now her new book, Homemade Happiness, are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe.
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If you’ve been following this blog for a while, you’ll know how much I love eggplant. When I saw that At My Table featured a recipe for one of my favourite dishes, Eggplant Parmigiana, I might have danced around the kitchen with the book clasped to my chest.

I had high expectations, and was prepared for disappointment, but Chelsea’s recipe is a definite winner. The first time I made it, Tall was out for a schmoozy work dinner, and I think I ate the portion that would have been his, as well as my own. The next day, friends came for a play date, and I cringe a little now as I recall that I actually forced them to try it (sorry ladies!).

The chunky, crunchy breadcrumbs on top were in delicious textural contrast to the soft eggplant, and the pinch of chilli flakes lifted an otherwise-ordinary tomato sauce to a soul-soaringly high level. The combination of flavours and textures all works so well to make a really tasty dish that is quite delightful to eat.

The recipe serves four, but as my kids don’t like eggplant (“It’s too mushy!” they cry), I serve this with a big green salad and some crusty bread, and there are enough leftovers for Tall’s lunch the next day, and dinner the next night.

Chelsea & Me: Pasta

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of three cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe. And of course, her new book, Homemade Happiness, is on my Christmas wish-list!
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Prawn, Lemon, Pea and Chilli Spaghetti
This is a really light, fresh pasta dish, perfect for those summer nights when you can’t be bothered firing up the barbecue. It’s super-quick too.

Creamy Spinach and Salmon Pasta
Another quick, light and delicate pasta offering, one that we all enjoyed. It definitely needs the fresh herbs to lift the sauce.

Seafood Fettucine
For a while, I was making this dish every week – we all LOVE it. It’s so easy, can be made with any variety of seafood, and is full of flavour. My little ones clamour for thirds, while my husband desperately tries to ensure there are leftovers for lunch the next day. This is definite Chelsea Winter favourite.

Best-Ever Spaghetti and Meatballs
I make a pretty good spaghetti and meatballs myself, but wanted to try Chelsea’s version in case it was better…it’s okay, nothing outstanding, and my husband reckons my usual concoction is better. The meatballs were a bit bland; the sauce was good, but that wasn’t quite enough to carry this dish over the line for us, sadly.

A Beautiful Bolognese
As above, I make a mean spag bol, but this was definitely worth a try. The addition of anchovies and brown sugar to the ragu is delightful, and adds a real depth of flavour.

The Boss Lasagna
Ha, at the risk of repeating myself….well, I’m a bit of a lasagna pro, and my husband will tell you that when I try to mess with my original version, it’s just not quite as good. Chelsea’s version was really tasty though; the addition of Dijon mustard to the white sauce was magical. It takes a while, but any lasagna does. As per usual, this was better the day after it had been made.

Lemony Chicken and Bacon Carbonara
I enjoyed this carbonara, but my boys were all a bit “meh” about it. The combination of chicken, bacon and lemon was fresh and zingy, but they just didn’t like it. Huh.

Hapuku on Italian Tomato Linguine
Yum. This was a great dish. The tomatoey pasta was delicious but subtle enough not to overpower the fish (I used monk, due to lack of hapuku), and it was a tasty combination.

Good Green Spaghetti
When I first made this, my boys would have told you they don’t like spinach, but that they looooooooove pesto. So it will come as no surprise that I didn’t tell them that the sauce for this dish was made using 400g of the good green stuff, until after they’d each had second helpings. This recipe is an ingenious way of getting a whole lot of goodness into your kids without them knowing.

The Ultimate Macaroni Cheese
I shouldn’t have made this dish…butter, cream, milk, cheddar, creme fraiche, mozzarella, parmesan…not the best list of ingredients for someone who shouldn’t eat dairy! However, I did because my family loves mac cheese, and this was a nice version. There was almost too much going on though, and the flavour was a bit subdued for our liking.

Chelsea & Me: Pies

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of three cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe. And of course, her new book, Homemade Happiness, is on my Christmas wish-list!

If you offer me a mince pie from the local bakery, I’ll wrinkle my nose and politely decline the offer. If you offer me a Chelsea Winter pie, I’ll launch myself at you and cover you in kisses.

Ms Winter knows her pies, that’s for sure.

Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Pie
Chelsea promotes this pie as being the one to make someone fall in love with you, and having made it a few times, I think she might be onto something. The combination of chicken, mushroom and spinach is delicious on its own, but when you add that wholegrain mustard…wow. The great thing about this pie is that you can use any vegetables you like, and it’ll still be awesome.

Smoked Fish Pie
I like a bit of fish pie, me – it’s a bit retro, and reminds me of my mum. Chelsea’s version is nice (I like the addition of capers and gherkins), but it takes a while to make, and I’m not convinced that it was worth the effort. It’s tasty, but I’ve tried quicker versions which are just as good.

Slow-cooked Steak, Guinness and Cheese Pie
This is a real pie, according to my husband. Meaty and heavily-flavoured, it ticks all the boxes for a great winter’s meal, especially because the oven keeps the kitchen nice and warm for over three hours! I like that it takes a cheaper cut of meat and turns it into something quite special, however I would suggest using less meat than the recipe says.

Little Chicken Pies
This recipe is very similar to the chicken pie above, but takes much less time to prepare. It’s not as tasty, in our opinion, but my boys loved having little pies instead of a wedge of a bigger one. I did find I needed more than 400g pastry, but maybe I didn’t roll it out thinly enough.

Beef and Red Wine Potato-Top Bake
This was another slow-cooked ugly cut of meat pie, but didn’t hit the mark the same as the above steak pie. It was okay, but nothing special.

Moroccan Lamb Pie
This one is a goody! Great flavours, and although the ingredient list is long, most of the items are spices so it’s not as daunting as you think. However, there is a bit of planning ahead required, so it might not be a mid-week pie.

Chelsea & Me: Burgers

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of three cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe. And of course, her new book, Homemade Happiness, is on my Christmas wish-list!
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When I was growing up, hamburgers were a treat meal that dad cooked on the barbecue, while mum filled dish after dish with every possible topping imaginable. The burger was always a pattie made from mince, and there was never any deviation from this.

Fast-forward to burgers in our house, and so much has changed. The pattie might be made of any minced meat, or it might not be a pattie – or meat – at all. It might be a piece of pan-fried blue cod, or a mixture of chicken mince and Thai-style flavours, or a crunchy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside falafel. The extras are just as varied, although I must say that a beef burger without beetroot just isn’t worth the effort.

Chelsea has a number of burger recipes that will take you out of any burger rut you might be in – and with the barbecue season upon us here in the southern hemisphere, what better time to get you inspired??

Cajun Chicken Burgers with Avocado and Mayo
Made with boneless chicken thighs, these burgers are slightly spicy and highly delicious, especially if they are charred a little on the barbecue. The homemade Cajun seasoning is so easy, made with ingredients you’re likely to have in your pantry already, and while it was spicy, the avocado and mayonnaise helped to cool the palate down. My children don’t like mayonnaise (whaaaaaaaaat??), but they still gobbled down the chicken and didn’t complain about the heat at all.

Barbecued Chicken Burgers
These burgers were very Greek in flavour, and the herby feta mayonnaise was delicious. To avoid over-dosing on dairy, I left out the cheese that Chelsea melts onto the buns, and to be honest, I don’t think it was missed. The rest of the ingredients were simple and full of flavour and crunch.

Fresh Salmon Burgers
The first time I made these, my patties fell apart because I hadn’t diced the salmon finely enough. The second time, I was much more vicious, and the patties held together beautifully. The flavour of these burgers is divine, and keeping the extras to a minimum ensures that the salmon is the (excuse the Masterchef-esque speak) hero of the dish. All three of my males loved these and fought over the extra patties.

Steak and Bacon Sandwiches with Smoky Mayo and Crispy Onion Rings
These burgers are not for the faint-hearted…they are what an old work colleague would have called a “heart-attack sandwich”. Despite the heaviness and manliness of the recipe, the combination of flavours was delicious. The smoky mayo (mayo + smoked paprika) was genius, and cut through a bit of the fattiness. The onion rings were a bit moreish, and I had to stop myself from sampling too many; they were super-easy (if a bit messy) to make.

Tandoori-Style Chicken Burgers
Yum. Another interesting option for a chicken burger, but one that my entire family loved. I have noted in the margin of the recipe to use less chilli powder next time, which probably means they were a bit spicy for my bublettes.

Chelsea’s Cheeseburgers with Secret Sauce
Apparently this is one of the public’s favourite Chelsea recipes, but I’m afraid I’m going to buck the trend and say we found them just okay. The burger patties were okay, and the secret sauce was okay, but I’m not rushing to make them again. I don’t know what it was, but none of us were big fans…you’ll have to try them for yourselves and see!

Lamb Burgers with Fresh Beetroot Relish
These delicious burgers got the big thumbs up from my beetroot-hating husband – he even took aaaaall the leftovers for his lunch the following day. The patties were full of flavour and really tender without being sloppy, and the beetroot relish…I could have eaten it by the spoonful!

Pulled Pork Burgers
From the moment I discovered pulled pork, I was hooked, and these wee beauties appealed from the moment I received Everyday Delicious. When I finally made them, I was not disappointed – they were awesome. They take a lot more effort than your average burger, but the effort is worth it. The tender pork combined with the zesty dressing was a mixture made in heaven; the crackling was a great textural element too.

Chelsea & Me: Salads

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of three cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe. And of course, her new book, Homemade Happiness, is on my Christmas wish-list!
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Like soup, salads are one of my favourite dinner options. As the weather gets warmer, I crave the freshness and lightness of salads, and Chelsea’s offerings have all come up trumps.

Bacon, Pumpkin & Chickpea Salad with Feta Dressing
Pumpkin and bacon in a salad can never be wrong, right (unless you’re vegetarian)? This was a really tasty dish, although I noticed all three of my boys picked out the chickpeas! I’ve written in the margin of this recipe that the dressing was very garlicky, but I also remember it being quite nice, so if I make this one again, maybe I’ll omit the raw garlic in the dressing.

Chicken Caesar Salad
I’ve never been a huge caesar salad fan, always finding them very salty and bit too rich, but this recipe was different, fresher and lighter somehow. The homemade dressing still had that rich, anchovy flavour but without the heaviness, and I think the chunkiness of the chicken and croutons especially made it better (I didn’t feel like every inch of bread was soaked in dressing; some mouthfuls had only the tiniest amount of dressing). I’ll be making this one again! You can find the recipe here.

Haloumi & Vege Salad with Capsicum Dressing
I’ve made this salad countless times and it remains a firm favourite. It features some of my favourite things: Portobello mushrooms, courgette, red onion, haloumi (squeaky cheese!!) and red capsicum. The herby capsicum dressing is wonderfully sweet and piquant and works so well with the cheese. I’m actually drooling a little as I think about it…

Kumara & Asparagus Salad
I really liked this recipe, but none of the boys were all that fussed. It was possibly because I made it towards the end of summer when we were feeling a bit asparagussed-out, but I thought the flavour combo was lovely and the textures were deliciously contrasting.

Summer Chicken Salad
One of the most-made recipes from either of Chelsea’s books, this salad is so easy and super-tasty. Actually, the salad itself is pretty standard, but the herb and feta dressing is out-of-this-world-amazing. The combination of salad ingredients can be mixed up to suit your family, but the addition of the sweetcorn and crispy noodles are quite enlightened. And the dressing…have I mentioned the dressing? Tall and I fight over the last dregs, it’s that good. This is a great dish for fussy little people too, as you can serve all the components separately before mixing the rest together for non-fussy big people.

Tricolore Salad
The combination of fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil is one that takes me right back to our time in Italy, and I think Chelsea’s recipe is a fitting replica. I made this for myself one evening when Tall was away for work, and ate the whole lot after thinking I’d save some for the following night. It’s fresh, light and delicious, and pretty as well.

Steak Salad with Crispy Onions & Herby Garlic Ciabatta
I’m only including this with the rest of these salads because Chelsea has called it a “salad”, however it’s much heartier than that might imply. The salad merely provides a bed for the steak to relax on; it’s a lighter backdrop for the crispy fried onions which aren’t particularly healthy that I could’ve eaten on their own which are a lovely textural topping. Flavourwise – yum, although Tall thought the dressing was a bit creamy (“This must be a Chelsea Winter dressing”).

Roast Chicken Salad with Super-Dressing
I’d never used Israeli couscous before, and my children were a little suspicious of this dish at first. They love couscous, and pasta, but took some convincing that this was a delightful mash-up of them both. I really liked the flavour and texture combos (pumpkin in salads = winner), but left out the grapes simply because I forgot to get them. Apparently the dressing for this salad is from Ray McVinnie – it was full of flavour and worked really well with the chicken and couscous.

Smoked Salmon Salad
Such a classic combination of ingredients, all serving to complement the smoked salmon to perfection. Cornichons, capers and red onion are all smoked salmon’s BFF, and they are definitely harmonious in this recipe. The dressing had a nice tang with the inclusion of natural yoghurt.

Asparagus & Chorizo Salad
Yum yum yum. I love asparagus, and chorizo, so this was one of the first recipes from Everyday Delicious that I made. It was such a simple salad to make, and the while the flavours were all quite simple, together they had a real punch. I’ve also made this using courgette instead of asparagus, and while it’s still good, using asparagus is definitely tastier.

Chelsea & Me: Soups

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of three cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe. And of course, her new book, Homemade Happiness, is on my Christmas wish-list!
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On a cold winter or autumn night, there’s nothing more warming than sitting down for a bowl of soup served with bread hot from the oven. We all like soup, and as long as there’s enough buttery bread to go with it, no one in this household complains that soup isn’t a meal.

We’ve tried all of the soups in At My Table and Everyday Delicious, and all have been hearty, warming and delicious.

My Chicken Laksa
I don’t quite know what to say about this one…it was bloody marvellous! Making the curry paste from scratch added so much depth of flavour; I finally found shrimp paste and what a difference it made to that depth! I hoped this wasn’t going to be too spicy for my boys, but I needn’t have worried – they ate it all, and asked for seconds (in fact, Pickle ended up finishing mine, cheeky monkey). I only used two fresh chillies, but garnished mine and Tall’s with another, which added a great amount of extra zing.

Leek & Potato Soup with Gruyere Crust
Yum. I’ve never been too fond of leek & potato soup, but this was a winning recipe. I over-cooked the spuds slightly so we ended up with a thicker soup than expected, but the taste was definitely up there. I pureed it for the boys and they really liked it. I didn’t have any gruyere, but made the wee cheesy toasts using my favourite Mainland Noble cheddar, and they were a great accompaniment. You can find the recipe here.

Mushroom Soup with Buttery Garlic Mushroom Toppers
As the boys don’t like mushrooms, I’ve made this as a date night in dinner a few times. The recipe says it serves 3-4, but…..it doesn’t. It’s such a gorgeous soup, and the crunchy, garlicky mushroom toppers are so delightful, that hubs and I finish the whole pot between us. The combination of flavours is so simple but so magical…I’d go so far as to say that this is one of my favourite soups everrrrrrrrr.

Pea & Ham Soup
Hearty, filling and tasty, this soup (Chelsea’s Oma’s recipe) reminds me of my nana. It’s a bit old-fashioned, but with every spoonful, you feel like you’re eating good health. It’s a great way to use up the that leftover ham hock from Christmas, too!

Tomato & Meatball Soup
The idea of this might seem a little strange, and to be honest, this is my least favourite of Chelsea’s soup recipes. It felt like we were eating spaghetti and meatballs but without the spaghetti and with way too much sauce. The flavour of the soup was good; the meatballs were quite plain. This is one I’ve only made once, and I doubt I’ll make it again given my husband’s lukewarm response.

Soul Chicken & Vegetable Soup
Any soup recipe that starts with making your own stock is going to be pretty tasty, and this definitely was. I mixed up the vegetables to suit my little men’s taste, and used alphabet soup pasta, and it went down a treat. It has that taste of goodness about it; I can imagine eating a big bowlful if I wasn’t feeling very well, and instantly feeling better.

Chicken, Corn & Kumara Soup
This recipe is very similar to the chicken soup above, but the flavour is lighter and reminds me more of autumn and spring than winter. It was quick and easy to make, but still very tasty.

Easy Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup
Tiny has asked me to make this soup several times – both boys love it, which surprised me a little given they profess not to like half the vegetables in it! I loved that the mushroom stalks were used to flavour the broth, and how clean the flavours were (typically South-East Asian), and that Chelsea gives us the power to adjust the flavours of hot, sweet, salty and sour to suit our own palates.

Perfect Creamy Seafood Chowder
Seafood chowder is one of those dishes that everyone thinks they can make, but only certain recipes are actually any good. This is one of those – the seafood is the hero of the chowder, with the creamy base hanging subtly back in the shadows. Tall is a big seafood chowder fan and critic, and this recipe got his approval from the first taste. Delicious.

Chelsea & Me: Chicken, Chorizo & Butternut Bake

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of three cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe. And of course, her new book, Homemade Happiness, is on my Christmas wish-list!
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Everything about this recipe appealed to me from the first time I flicked through At My Table. The thought of sweet pumpkin, soft roasted chicken and spicy chorizo set my tastebuds a-tingling. The flavours are very Spanish, and the addition of creamy cannellini beans means this is essentially a one-pan dinner. A marvellously-delicious one-pan dinner.

The chicken was soft and tender; the flavoured oil had permeated nicely into the meat. The pumpkin was super-sweet, and combined with the chorizo and lemony onions…heaven on a fork.

My boys (all three) aren’t big bean fans, and the littlest ones don’t like pumpkin, but they enjoyed the rest of the dish. I thought the flavour and texture combinations were sublime, and this has quickly become one of my favourite Chelsea recipes.

It’s a great dish to prepare as a meal for someone else – lay everything in an aluminium tray and it can be easily transported and cooked (or vice versa) in the same dish.

And the best news is that you can find the recipe for Chicken, Chorizo & Butternut Bake online.

Chelsea & Me: Afghans

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of two (nearly three, eeeeeek!) cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe.

I’m usually an Edmonds afghan purist, so it was with a little trepidation that I decided to try making Chelsea’s coconut version.

Aside from the raw mixture being slightly crumblier than usual, the end result was a deliciously fudgy, nutty cookie that still tasted and looked just like an afghan. My boys “apparently” don’t like coconut (so they tell me), but they loved these treats, and they went down well with adults too.

The recipe features in At My Table.

Chelsea & Me: Fresh Mint & Chocolate Slice

Chelsea Winter. Winner of Masterchef NZ in 2012, author of two (nearly three, eeeeeek!) cookbooks, and my go-to gal when I’m in a recipe funk. At My Table and Everyday Delicious are the most-used and most-recommended cookbooks in my kitchen, so I’m making it my mission to try every recipe.

When we moved into our new house two years ago, I was excited about having a bigger vegetable garden. The previous owners were keen gardeners, but as with most people who put their houses on the market, they’d let the vege patch go a little. As a result, the mint was flourishing. And by flourishing, I mean it was starting to take over like a scene from The Day of the Triffids.

Over the past two summers, we spent a lot of time eradicating it from the vege garden, and suddenly…we had no mint. No mint AT ALL. My mum gave me a mint root to plant in a pot (“Contain it!” she said. “Contain it goooood.”), aaaaand I forgot about it for a few weeks. When I found that dry, shrivelled root outside one day, I decided to shove it in some potting mix anyway, and wouldn’t you know, we now have a lovely pot of fresh mint in the front yard.

We’ve been making mojitos, adding it to fizzy water with slices of lemon and lime, and making Fresh Mint & Chocolate Slice.

Oh my. This slice is amazing. The biscuity base is chocolately but not too sweet. The mint cream is rather sweet, but offset by the inclusion of chopped fresh mint leaves. The dark chocolate icing…well…I don’t think you need me to wax lyrical about that, do you??

This recipe can be found in Everyday Delicious, but it’s also online here. If you have mint taking over your garden or politely keeping to itself in a pot, you should make this slice. It’s supposed to keep for up to a week in the fridge, but I doubt it will last that long!

(Chopping board from Needle and Nail)