Zarbo - Recipes From a New Zealand Deli
Cookery
Mark McDonough is the owner of leading Auckland deli and café Zarbo so, in a way, this cookbook is like a shop window for his own store. But, to McDonough’s credit, there’s little direct plugging of Zarbo merchandise although the logo does appear occasionally in the moody black and white pictures scattered throughout the book.
Sometimes, however, it feels as if McDonough was overcome with all the fabulous ingredients at his disposal. Invention can go too far when, for example, long-grain basmati rice is used in place of the shorter grain Arborio rice to cook risotto.
Despite these occasional quibbles, there are more than enough tempting recipes in this book to earn it a useful place in your kitchen. When he’s not getting carried away with his own inventiveness, McDonough’s recipes are simple and workable, using the best of New Zealand ingredients – green-lipped mussels, for example, in a spaghetti, slow-roasted tomatoes and basil dish – alongside food imports from all over the world.
It’s easy to see which of these imports had caught his attention during the writing of this book. Zarbo – Recipes From a New Zealand Deli is littered with references to kecap manis (a sweet soy sauce from Indonesia), Spanish smoked paprika and Limoncello (an Italian lemon liqueur).
McDonough has also included recipes for those with wheat or dairy intolerances (Orange Almond Cake, Gluten-, Wheat- and Dairy-Free Muffins) all of which look more than appetising to those who tolerate all the above. In New Zealand, consideration for such dietary issues is more commonplace than in Ireland but it’s always good to have some such recipes on hand.
I’ll keep this book nearby for the Harissa-Crusted Eye Fillet Steak with Gremolata, Israeli Couscous with Cherry Tomatoes and Spanish Smoked Paprika and the fantastic looking Raspberry and Almond Brownies. All that remains to be done is a series of taste testing in the café. Auckland, here I come… 
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