Can a recipe be considered witty? The answer
is yes, if it's created by Peter Gordon and the use of ingredients is
imaginative and unexpected.
Gordon is a chef and an adventurer. A New
Zealander by birth, he has traveled far afield, opening a restaurant
in London while serving as advisor to restaurants in Istanbul and New
York. Combining professional culinary knowledge, a global shopping list
of ingredients discovered while traveling and a spirit of adventure,
Gordon creates recipes that are wildly inventive and that freely mix
ingredients. Peter Gordon's World Kitchen shares the recipes
that have earned raves from fellow professionals such as Charlie Trotter
and Jamie Oliver.
Gordon's approach to food is global in the
best sense of the word: he cooks whatever excites him, wherever he may
be. Gordon states, "I love to eat (regional food), but I don't
want to cook it. I cook what excites me, and the world as a whole excites
me more than a region defined by political boundaries."
And so for breakfast he might serve a poached
egg with feta cheese, but place it on top of butternut squash. He stuffs
nectarines with pistachios and honey, marinates New Zealand lamb in
a mix of Thai chili and Japanese mirin and serves it on grilled Spanish
artichokes. The result of this is food that tastes delicious, but winks
at us in amusement over our staid -and maybe boring- concepts of which
foods belong together.
Though Gordon's shopping list is global,
he gives clear substitutes for any unique ingredient. The recipes are
easy to follow - their success does not lie in complication but in innovation.
The photographs by Jean Cazals are mouth-watering and show Gordon's
inventiveness in presentation as well.
Whether you're doing a back yard grill, serving
a special breakfast, or making the most exciting dessert, you'll find
a recipe here that will excite and bring comments from any who enjoy
them.
Peter Gordon
stepped into the limelight after setting up the award-winning
Sugar Club kitchens in Wellington, New Zealand and London. He is co-owner
of the Providores and Tapa Room in London. He is the author of The
Sugar Club Cookbook and Cook at Home.
Peter has kindly shared these recipes:
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