The New Zealand Woman's Weekly food pages have been the byword for easy-to-achieve yet stylish recipes for 80 years. Two years ago Helen Jackson succeeded Tui Flower, Robin Martin and Julie Le Clerc at the helm of the food pages of this venerable publication.

Now, in her first book, she shares how she cooks at home. Her 100 recipes are divided into occasions, including recipes for breakfast, easy entertaining, afternoon tea, family dinners, catering for crowds, children's birthday parties and lunch.

With appealing photography and helpful hints, Helen Jackson's Kitchen is perfectly pitched to its target market: busy families who still cook and love to share terrific food. With everything from tried-and-true baking to fabulous winter cassoulets, it's stylish, aspirational, practical, achievable and inspirational.

SAMPLE RECIPES

Duck and Pork Cassoulet (pictured left)
“Please don’t be put off by the ingredient list or the time involved, as this dish really is simple. It is often difficult to find dried cannellini beans so I use canned instead. This cassoulet is easily extended to cater for extras by adding more ingredients such as chopped sausage and beans. Traditionally, the duck legs are cooked confit style — immersed in duck fat and cooked slowly. Duck fat isn’t the easiest thing to purchase and so for this dish it is fine just to gently roast them. They can be done a day in advance.”

8 duck legs
sea salt
1/2 cup (125ml) olive oil
400g pork slices, finely chopped
8 Toulouse sausages, chopped into 2cm thick slices
6 chorizo sausages, chopped into 2cm thick slices
2 large onions, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, finely sliced
3 sprigs thyme
2×400g can crushed tomatoes
2 cups (500ml) red wine
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
2 cups water
4×400g cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup roughly chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 130°C.

Rub duck legs with salt and arrange in a single layer in a large roasting dish. Pour over oil and cook for 1–1 1/2 hours until tender. Leave duck to cool in oil and fat from the dish, and refrigerate until required.

Heat a large frying pan over a high heat and cook pork slices, sausages and chorizo until golden brown. Reduce heat and add onions, garlic, carrots, celery and thyme. Allow to cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes. Transfer vegetables and meat to a large casserole and add tomatoes, wine, tomato paste and bay leaf, along with 2 cups of water. Cover and cook in oven for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add cannellini beans and cook for a further 30 minutes.

Ten minutes prior to serving, remove duck from oil and place on a chopping board. Using a sharp knife, separate the legs and thighs so you have 16 pieces. Heat a frying pan and brown the duck pieces on both sides until the skin is crisp and golden. Transfer duck pieces to the casserole dish and continue to cook for 10–15 minutes.

Serve cassoulet scattered with parsley in bowls with plenty of crusty bread.
Serves 8–10

Chocolate Croissants
These are cheat's chocolate croissants. Although I don't pretend they are anywhere near as good as what you buy in a French bakery, they are perfectly acceptable, especially if you make sure you use butter puff pastry and good chocolate.
Makes 9

3 sheets (525g) butter puff pastry
100g good-quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1 egg, lightly whisked
Icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 220C. Cut each sheet of pastry into three triangles the length of the pastry.
2. Taking one triangle, place the long side of the triangle nearest to you and the narrow point furthest away. Scatter a few chocolate pieces 2cm in from the long edge of the pastry.
3. Roll pastry over chocolate towards the narrow point. Press edges to seal and fold into a crescent shape. Place on a cold baking tray and brush with egg. Continue with remaining chocolate and pastry. Bake for 15 minutes until golden. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Author Biography

Helen Jackson is the food editor of the New Zealand Woman's Weekly and also runs the very popular website foodlover.co.nz. She also co-hosts the Saturday Morning lifestyle show on Radio Live. She lives in Auckland with her husband and three young children.