Sometimes, of a drab, sink-coloured Tuesday or glooming Sunday evening with Monday sitting on its chest like a sleep paralysis demon, I want something stupid for dinner that reclaims a sense of whimsy from what’s left of the day. Food that in its odd vividness jolts you awake and reminds you that you’re alive and—somewhat—living in the moment. The sort of dish, like this ricotta, peas and greens on toast with black garlic that is potentially non-scalable because the more people you have to explain it to, the less likely you are to gain a consensus. But for yourself, as a droll supper, sidestepping the prosaic meat and three veg? Spectacular. The next night after this I had pasta, then noodles the night after that, but the day after that? I had this again and it felt as giddy as the first time.

A thick slice of toast, spread with an equally thick duvet of nacreous ricotta, sweetly grassy peas, a wilted pile of greens daubed on top like a swipe of green paint, and an enlivening swish of mint. It tastes exceptional, so much so that you quite forget you’ve just piled frozen peas onto a slice of bread and called it dinner. However, in case the greens feel too austere and stalwart, in comes the black garlic, pungent and smoky—though you could just gently fry some regular garlic and still have a great time. The ricotta makes it feel immensely luscious and treat-like; and you don’t need a ton of anything else pricey, including the parmesan which I don’t always include (though don’t, by any means, hold back on making yourself two pieces of this for one serving.)

The pearl-burst of the peas against the milky ricotta and softly crisp toast is stunning; and the whole operation only takes about as long as toasting that bread to make. Which means that it doesn’t take long, but after waiting for water to boil, waiting for toast to pop is one of the more psychologically lengthy lengths of time, so I appreciate that this might not be a point in its favour.

For more whimsical goofy dinners, I recommend—first and foremost—this recipe for Green Oats, Fried Egg, Bloomed Paprika Butter, and Salt and Vinegar Chips; and then perhaps Pappardelle with Calamari, Corn, and Mascarpone; these Prawns, Rocket, Gruyere and Lemon; and this Chilli Corn Macaroni.

And if I may, a reminder that you can sign up here to hear irregular and unobtrusive updates and details about my forthcoming 2025 debut novel, Hoods Landing. Find out more, which you probably already know, at my official author website.

Ricotta, peas and greens on toast with black garlic

A droll little dinner, though you don’t need me to tell you that it’s also nice for lunch. Furthermore, it’s quick and snappy, with a charming blend of grassy, fresh green flavours against the delicateness of the ricotta and the rambunctious smokiness of the black garlic. (Though—if you don’t have black garlic, you can still proceed.) I don’t actually use weights and measurements while making this for myself but in the interests of not being annoying, have attempted to quantify it for you—in almost all cases, the actual measurement is “some”, but I hope the following is helpful. Recipe by myself.

• 1 thick slice of bread—your choice, but something robust and delicious
• 20g butter
• 50g (about 1/3 cup) frozen peas
• 4-5 leaves of bok choi; or a handful of spinach leaves
• 2 cloves black garlic
• 100g ricotta
• 4-5 fresh mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan (optional)

1: Toast your piece of bread—presumably in the usual way, but if, like me, you don’t have a toaster, just gently heat it on both sides in a frying pan till nicely browned, then set aside on a plate. If you are using a toaster, however, you can get on with everything else while you’re waiting for it to pop.

2: Melt the 20g butter in a frying pan over medium heat and clatter in the 50g frozen peas, letting them warm through. Meanwhile, roughly chop the bok choi leaves and add to the pan; if using the handful of spinach, simply throw it in with the peas, pushing the two green components apart so they’re cooking on separate sides of the same pan—not unlike bashful youths clinging to the walls at a school disco. This entire process will only take around five minutes for the peas to cook and the greens to wilt and melt; remove the pan from the heat once they have.

3: Roughly chop the two cloves of black garlic—they’re so soft that it’s more a mashing job than proper knifework—and stir them into the green leaves in the pan.

4: Gently spread the 100g ricotta across the slice of toast. Spoon the peas from the pan onto the ricotta, pressing down a little with the back of your spoon to embed them. Then, drape the garlicky greens over the peas.

5: Briskly chop or tear up the 4-5 mint leaves and flutter them over the top of the peas and greens, followed by the two tablespoons of grated parmesan.

Serves 1, delightfully and surprisingly filling-ly. You could make this for two people quite easily by doubling everything; scaling up beyond that might be a pain unless you have a four-slot toaster.

Notes:

• Black garlic isn’t always super easy to get hold of—case in point, I found mine at Sabato (same place where I found the exquisite Zany Zeus ricotta) but you can use a regular garlic clove, finely chopped and instead sauteed in at the same time as the greens, as opposed to being added at the end, and it will still taste wonderful.
• I’ve often made a kind of vegan cottage cheese by mixing plain non-dairy yoghurt with salt, lemon juice, and crumbled firm tofu, it tastes incredible and would be a good substitute here (and you can either leave off the parmesan or use your preferred substitute; I don’t always use it myself).
• To that end, if you can’t get hold of ricotta and—importantly—already like the taste of cottage cheese, you could try that instead in this recipe.

music lately:

7 and 7 Is by Love. Oh, that punch-kicking Dick Dale-esque guitar! This is somehow quaint surf-rock and menacing punk and—in that outro specifically—one of the mothers of nu-metal, whether or not it wants to be—all at once.

Subway by Ghost Quartet from the song cycle of the same name. I love song cycles! What are they? What aren’t they? Not linear, that’s for sure! This song is poundingly urgent, even more so when you know that the vocalists are also playing their own musical instruments, and as the heartbeat drum and sprinting keys keep heartbeating and sprinting, all need for a narrative that you can follow falls out the window.

Playstar Vista by Supercar, the kind of ecstatically optimistic, heedlessly fuzzy yet glossily pearlescent music that could only have been released in mid to late 2000 and not a moment later; I admit, the dial tone sample starts off annoying but you do acclimatise, and perhaps even want it to come back. This whole album is equally stunning and makes you feel like butter costs $2 again.

Hammer by Lorde. The tremolo effect? The icicle twinkles? THERE she is!

PS: As we enjoy our food we can’t forget those going violently without it. Words fail me when it comes to Gaza but—NZ-based humanitarian org ReliefAid’s Gaza Appeal continues to work to deliver water sourced and treated from within Gaza so give it if you’ve got it. Feeling hopeless is kind of a luxury but as a response to the world, hardly a surprise. If you want to feel in control of something remember that the absence of your dollars can have power. Boycott Zine Aotearoa has helpfully put together two comprehensive free zines so you can quickly see who to studiously avoid when buying food, drinks, household items and beauty products. You should also check out the Made in Palestine exhibition collection—coincidentally, my cool artist pal Pinky is involved with both this and the zine—and if you can’t afford one of the stunning prints or the perfume oil, try your hand at the raffle —I had the chance to inhale the perfume and it is hauntingly beautiful and worth taking your chances on.