Hi! I am delighted to be the new Foodie at Large for Discover Out Loud.
My name is Gill and I live in Zürich with my gorgeous husband and 3 lovely but bossy daughters! I also own a boutique catering company called Mac + Broek. Ariane filmed us a year and a half ago for this very site and we have been friends ever since.
Ariane and I were chewing the fat over a delicious coffee at the Kornsilo Café last week, discussing my business partner’s imminent move to Tokyo and what that means for me and Mac+ Broek, when out of that conversation grew the idea to contribute to DOL. I love this e-zine. Ariane has an ability to discover lesser known but relevant places, topics, angles, people and ideas and share that experience.
I would like to continue her ethos. I want to share with you tricks I have learned in the catering profession, restaurants I love, dishes you must try and how our approach to food is and will change with attitudes, technology and environmental changes. Some articles may end up slightly frivolous and some more serious! We’ll see where the wind takes me!
I’m an Irish girl, who grew up in Dublin and Frankfurt and then lived most of my life in London. Since 2011, my family and I are based just outside Zürich. I only really developed a passion for food when I went to University and had to start cooking for myself. My grandmother was a fabulous cook. She made amazing rhubarb crumbles and was an advocate of the pressure cooker. A scary device for a 7 year old!
I am lucky to have eaten very well and in many different settings. I love food, how it makes people feel and particularly, the whole process of creating something delicious out simple ingredients. I am not a complex cook. For me the ingredients have to shine. I will also always veer towards healthier options. I do not want heavy creams and butter. I want zing, freshness and to feel replete.
I am always looking for ways of improving flavour with minimal impact on ingredients. My new sous-vide stick is currently teaching me how to cook vegetables perfectly. That means minimum loss of vitamins, perfect tenderness, no loss of colour and maximum flavour. More on handy kitchen gadgets to come!
I, like you, read articles, look at trends, new restaurants, Instagram and what is being eaten in foodie meccas like London, NY, California and Melbourne. Trending is eating more plant-base diets, a topic I will explore in a future article. I, myself, am mostly vegan with the odd bit of salmon, eggs and good quality meat thrown in.
I am looking forward to sharing and listening to your thoughts. Below is a delicious seasonal recipe to try in the meantime.
Seasonal Recipe
Blood Orange Sorbet / Serves 4-6
- 250g golden caster sugar
- 6 blood oranges
- 1 lemon
- Heat the sugar with 250ml water, boil and then simmer until all the sugar is dissolved. This will take approximately 5 minutes. Cool.
- Squeeze the juices from the oranges and lemon through a sieve to remove the pips.
- Mix into the cooled sugar syrup.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours and then freeze or churn in an ice cream machine. If you freeze the sorbet in a tupperware, please give it a good mix through after two hours.
This dessert is simply delicious , gluten and dairy free and a nice little treat after dinner!
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