Cosmic Culinaire
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| Paolo's temporary garden in pots at his current abode in Albert Town. |
Editor's note - Originally this story was titled 'Hāwea Flat's Multi Ethnic Food Hideaway'. Paolo has now moved from his oasis at Hāwea Flat and this story remains just as relevant - those who know him know that wherever he goes, there he is meticulously growing produce and creating culinary abundance. The Hāwea Flat hideaway that Paolo created from scratch, remains for the current lucky owners.
Tucked away at the back of Hāwea Flat, is a one acre lifestyle block that a travelling chef has turned into a multi-ethnic food haven. Far from lifestyle blocks of the district with expansive manicured lawns achieved via ride-on mowers and glyphosate controlled edges, Paolo's land is a relative badass verdant permaculture haven teeming with life and exemplifying his lifelong natural interest and connection to food.
Local to Wānaka for 20+ years, Paolo has worked a number of different hospitality jobs and businesses and he can claim the OG of boutique food vans of Wānaka title with 'Off Your Noodle' that he established in 2000. 'Off Your Noodle' evolved into Paolo's travelling 'Froufrou lounge' and many will have fond memories of this and his delectable organic offerings until its relatively recent retirement.
Cleaning windows these days, and cooking and growing internationally inspired plants outside of that, Paolo has been to 57 countries so far and was preparing to dial that up with a journey to Madagascar before Covid-19 unfolded. He has spent his life working in order to travel and on those travels he is devoted to seeking out local foods and recipes to bring home. It all adds to his ever expanding collection of recipes, cooking practices and wherever possible, to his garden.
Paolo won't be found on any social media platforms, this stance contributing to the inconspicuous breadth and depth of the man who embodies a treasure trove of culinary culture that his friends and people lucky enough to know him might experience. We have been treated to his unique expertise and skill set in the form of his inspired food offerings he likes to share nowadays from his off-grid home kitchen. Sometimes we have been privileged to partake in what are informal varietal pasta masterclasses connected to Paolo's homeland and upbringing.
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| Paolo's Hāwea Flat hideaway with Grandview in the background. |
Long time friend of Paolo's, John Heighes of Wellington, Paolo and I agreed one day that it would be a good idea to write about, ask questions of and document our local Cosmic Culinaire:
How did you get started on your impressive culinary mission?
“My father was a chef, he was Italian so I have been surrounded by food and cooking for as long as I can remember. We lived in Italy until I was five, when we moved to the UK after my British mother became homesick. My father opened a restaurant in Worthing and he was part of the restaurant community so we would eat out most weekends. It was an Xmas tradition that the whole family would make ravioli together every year and from about aged 11 onwards I spent many school holidays helping out in the kitchen along with my brother; we worked hard – sometimes doing 10 hour days! My job was making the cannelloni, lasagne, sorbets and tomato sauce, as well as doing the dishes! ”
“We also travelled to Cremona in North Italy for a month every summer to visit our six uncles & aunties who all wanted to show off by feeding us local dishes and homemade treats until we almost burst. We would always end up staying with the one who was the best cook! Food and socialising are very connected in Italy and this is something that has really influenced my life. On our journeys we would take our time driving through France and over the Alps to Cremona and of course my Dad would stop along the way to eat at a local restaurant, so many days of our journey offered new culinary experiences”.
“When I was 17 I found an old leather bound notebook that had belonged to my great grandmother. She had used it to collect recipes. It was only half full so I kept it and started doing the same. I can remember the first recipe I ever wrote in it was after I had eaten prawns cooked in cream and brandy sauce in a place in Provence. I was so impressed that I managed to get the recipe from the chef and from then on that book became my repository for new recipes”.
“When I was 18 I started to travel without my parents and began to spend regular time in Germany, France and Italy. Now, many years later I have visited and/or worked in 57 different countries to my reckoning”.
What cuisines have influenced your cooking the most?
“That's a hard one, but I would say probably Italian, French, Moroccan and Polish initially then Indian, Mexican, Spanish and Ethiopian. However, I loved the food in Sri Lanka, Georgia & Belize. I should mention that I am predominantly vegetarian so the recipes I collect are pretty much all meat free, some may include fish but no red meat or poultry”.
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| Paolo's "huge range of culinary & medicinal herbs like lovage, blue fenugreek, summer savory, greek oregano, tarragon, echinacea, elecampanens, pennyroyal and calamint". |
What do you grow?
“I grow my own ingredients as much as I can to make different ethnic foods. I use Permaculture techniques, don't use any chemicals or artificial fertilizers at all and have been surprised by how much food just one acre of land can produce – it keeps me very busy! Apart from what you would find in any vege garden such as potatoes, spinach, parsley, basil, carrots etc. I also grow stonefruit, hazelnuts, a wide range of currants & berries (including worcester berries, marion berries, goji berries & maqui berries), perennial vegetables such as sorrel (specifically for Polish recipes), violetti artichokes, asparagus, Egyptian onions and heaps of garlic. A huge range of culinary & medicinal herbs like lovage, blue fenugreek, summer savory, greek oregano, tarragon, echinacea, elecampanens, pennyroyal and calamint. And being half Italian dozens of types of heritage tomatoes. I could go on....”
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| Paolo with Wwoofer to help. |
“I make a range of fruit cordials, syrups and shrubs (from the arabic 'sharab' meaning beverage) from the fruits & tinctures or herbal remedies from various roots. I make a large variety of veg or nut-based pates and dips, herb salts, herb & spice mixes; one being the classic Georgian khmeli suneli which includes at least 12 dried green herbs mixed into a powder, and quite a few chilli sauces & pastes.
I also make sauces, relishes, pickles, lots of pestos and other preserves - one of my favourites is tomato kasundi, an Indian spicy pickle. Some of my signature products are salted and fermented Polish gherkins (Ogorkowi), hazelnut butter, Belizean carrot & orange cayenne chilli sauce, quince syrup, feijoa kompot and blackcurrant shrub. With excess fruit I dehydrate if at all possible. It changes every season due to successes and failures. I just find interesting and delicious ways to preserve things that grows here – and it could easily take up all of my time, which is why I like to have the help of woofers nowadays!”
“I also like to revive forgotten foods such as calamint, summer savory, banana shallots, lovage – which has such a strong flavour - it is used in Germany often to flavour soups or stocks but you don't see it very often here for some reason. Gooseberries are another traditional food that have fallen from favour – you often find them growing wild in Central Otago where the early settlers planted them. I have a bush here from a wild cutting and the berries are delicious. I have also found a few very tasty traditional recipes such as lemon ketchup and black sauce which is just like worcester sauce but made from molasses!”
When it is possible, Paolo also brings back some special foods from his travels.
“From Guatamala I brought some very good raw cacao, panela and ramon which is a jungle nut used as a staple in times of duress; kithul from Sri Lanka; from Georgia - Svaneti salt, marigold petals, blue fenugreek and churchkela which are strings of walnuts set in fruit syrup; pomegranate wine from Azerbaijan; chilli & honey vodka from the Ukraine and also amazing herbal teas made from wild Carpathian flowers and finally from Armenia a bottle of the Cognac that Stalin used to send crates of to Winston Churchill!”
Do you have any particular personal favourite recipes?
“I love the Indian tomato kasundi – I could eat it every day! The sorrel and walnut pate is another favourite as is the feijoa kompot and probably tarkhuna which is a very refreshing yet bizarre cordial made from tarragon that is ubiquitous in Georgia.”
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At the time of writing we were in the time of zucchini proliferation and Paolo shared this recipe:
Mücver - Turkish Zucchini Fritters
4 Cups Grated Zucchini
3 Eggs
1/3 Cup Chopped Parsley
1/3 Cup Chopped Dill
1/4 Cup Chopped Mint
4 Spring Onions Chopped
1 Cup Feta Crumbled
1T Paprika
1 Cup flour
1. Salt zucchini, leave for 30 mins then squeeze out all water using a strong tea towel.
2. Add ingredients then finally mix in flour.
3. Serve with garlicky yoghurt sauce. Mash garlic with rock salt and add yoghurt and drizzle of olive oil.
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| Mücver with garlicky yoghurt sauce |
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