Haylee-Chanel Simeon — Hayz — at The Anchorage, Bluff, named one of the 2024 top 50 most influential women in New Zealand food and drink by Cuisine magazine.
What influence did your mother have on your interest in food?
My mother has been a huge influence on my interest in food. Growing up, she made most of our meals and snacks from scratch, which always fascinated me. I loved seeing how she could take one ingredient and transform it into various delicious dishes. Our family outings such as whitebaiting off the Aparima River, gathering toheroas off Ōreti Beach, working holidays at aunty and uncle’s farm in Tokanui, exposed me to different food resources and sparked my curiosity about where our food comes from. Even now, my mother’s dedication to growing her own herbs and vegetables inspires me to appreciate fresh, homegrown ingredients in cooking.
How would you describe your mum’s cooking style?
My mum’s cooking style can be described as humble yet wholesome, with dishes that are rich in flavour. She has a knack for creating hearty meals that are both satisfying and comforting. Her cooking embraces old family recipes and her belief in using simple, quality ingredients to bring out the best flavours. Whether it’s a classic family recipe or something new she’s experimenting with, her dishes always leave a lasting impression
What is your favourite food memory involving your mother?
Mum’s seafood chowder holds fond memories. Her seafood chowder was always requested when we had guests come stay and/or for whanau gatherings where everyone would bring their star dish. I would sit back and watch everyone’s reaction and how every person in the room would compliment Mum on how delicious it was, whilst savouring each mouthful. Mum taught me that the key to a great seafood chowder was the stock and the depth of flavours that came from utilising the frames and heads of the fish used in the chowder. Mum would always utilise all her resources, nothing going to waste.
This is also a key concept used in my restaurant today. Mum’s chowder is on our restaurant menu and is one of our most popular dishes to date.
What food lessons did you learn from your mum?
Waste nothing! From my mum, I learned the invaluable lesson of resourcefulness in the kitchen. She always emphasised not wasting anything and taught me how to create delicious meals from simple ingredients, showing that with creativity and care, you can feed many mouths on a budget. It’s not about having extravagant ingredients but how you utilise what you have.
How has being a mum influenced your cooking?
Being a mum has deeply influenced how I approach cooking. I’ve always made sure to involve my tamariki (children) in every step, teaching them about the origins of our food, and the importance of responsible harvesting and how to make dishes from scratch. Whether it’s gathering seaweed, identifying different species, or picking fruits and indigenous ingredients together, I prioritise instilling in them resourcefulness and self-sufficiency. Activities like harvesting titi not only teach them about food but also about cultural significance and appreciation for our history, but also a level of respect for our resources. “Only take what you need, to ensure viability and sustainability of our resources for our future generations to also enjoy”. For me, cooking isn’t just about preparing meals; it’s about passing down knowledge just as my mum did with me. This intergenerational aspect underscores the continuity of tradition and the profound importance of family teachings.
What will you cook for your mother this Mother’s Day?
Taua’s oyster soup is a nostalgic dish. With each mouthful taking me back to cold winters at home during oyster season, watching Mum prepare and cook the soup, whilst the house filled with the smell of oysters and onions. Mum would tell me and my brothers stories about how our grandfather Hotea Dick Simeon would bring home sacks of oysters back in the day, which became a staple diet of theirs during the wild Bluff oysters season.
Great Taua’s (Gran’s) Bluff oyster soup recipe
This Bluff Oyster Soup recipe has been cherished and passed down through generations in my whānau. In the past, oysters were so abundant that we would often give them away or barter with them. If oysters were left for a few days, Great taua, Dorry Wilks, would repurpose them for garden fertiliser or incorporate them into dishes like oyster soup and oyster balls.
My grandfather used to send oysters to our cousins in Feilding and Palmerston North, where they had a different approach, preferring to let their fresh oysters age for a week before enjoying them because they found them too rich. Looking back, those were the days when oysters were plentiful and cheap. Nothing compared to the satisfaction of enjoying freshly shucked oysters straight from Foveaux Strait to your plate on the same day.
My mum and Taua seldom measured ingredients when cooking, so I have portioned the recipe for simplicity. Oyster soup is easy to prepare, and pretty quick too. I have found that using fresh oysters in the soup can sometimes be bland, as they can lack the true, distinct oyster flavour. Therefore, I suggest using oysters that are at least four days old or have been frozen.
Serves 2-3
Ingredients
1 doz Bluff oysters, drained (minimum), reserve 1 cup of oyster liquid
⅓ cup white onion finely chopped
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1½ tsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1 ½ cup of milk
White pepper for seasoning
Optional: Dash of cream
Instructions
Heat butter over medium heat in pot, add chopped onion, and saute until tender. Add parsley and continue to saute.
Blend oyster juice and 2 oysters and put aside
Remove pot off heat, add flour and stir. Place back on med heat for a couple of seconds before adding milk. Whisk to allow the mixture to slightly thicken then add blended oyster juice, and stir again.
Cut oysters into quarters or half-long ways — this allows the oyster flavour to strengthen. Add the oysters to the mixture before it begins to steam and bubble around the edges.
Add pepper to taste, and continue stirring until small air bubbles start to form. Do NOT allow it to come to a boil.
Notes:
– Do not use fresh oysters. They need to be at least four days old to enhance the flavour.
– Oyster juice normally will have natural salt. Use a dash of cream to reduce the salt to taste.
– Be watchful to not allow the milk to come to a simmer, and not overcooking the oysters is about as difficult as it gets.
– Variations: lemon pepper, sprinkle of smoked paprika or Vegeta.
Hannes Bareiter, Titi, Dunedin, a Cuisine Good Food Awards “one hat” restaurant
What influence did your mother have on your interest in food?
Both my mother and grandmother are great cooks. My mother would be more modern and experimental, creating simple and quick meals, “cheating” by incorporating some pre-made sauces, dressings and seasonings, while my grandmother would spend the whole day stuck in the kitchen, cooking fantastic comfort food with complex and very time-consuming techniques, doing everything from scratch.
How would you describe your mum’s cooking style?
My mom, patient, hard-working, supportive, kind … a genuine wonderful and caring human. Her cooking style, fresh, simple, flavourful.
What is your favourite food memory involving your grandparents?
The endless hours I spent exploring my grandparents’ massive underground cellar full of preserves, wine and dried goods, with some of them being 20 years old.
What food lessons did you learn from your mum?
It might sound funny, but if it tastes good why not, in regards to some of the ingredients she would mix together.
What would you have cooked for your mother this Mother’s Day?
I would have cooked fish and risotto, as my mother loves seafood and used to hate risotto until I could change her mind by cooking a risotto properly using quality ingredients, good stock, great wine and proper parmesan. The radicchio, lemon and beetroot add texture, depth and big flavours.
Seafood risotto
Serves 4
Ingredients
250g risotto rice
50ml olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 fennel bulb, diced fine
100ml good quality white wine
700ml chicken or vegetable stock
1 pinch of saffron (about 0.2g)
100g Parmesan grated
1 lemon, zested
600g sole fillets
250g butter unsalted
200g cooked beetroot, diced
1 Tbsp Extra Virigin Olive Oil
Half a radicchio lettuce, washed and white stalks removed
Chervil, picked leaves
1 lemon juiced
1 Tbsp honey
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C; if possible add 20-30% steam.
Start by dressing the beetroot and the radicchio in oil and salt and pepper and set aside.
Separate sole into 4 portions and season with salt and pepper. Rest on paper towel.
Place butter in a wide pan that can hold your 4 portions of sole and melt on low heat.
In a medium pot, heat stock to gentle boil.
In a large pot heat olive oil add onions, garlic, fennel and cook on a gentle heat until softened for about 8 minutes.
Stir in rice, add wine and let cook for about 2 minutes while stirring.
Add one ladle of stock and stir to loosen any grains that might be stuck.
Continue to add stock ladle by ladle as needed, always wait for the stock to be absorbed before adding the next ladle.
After 10 minutes add the saffron and cook for a further 5 minutes.
While the risotto is in its last 5 minutes cooking time place the fish portions into- the pan, basting them with the warm butter before placing it into the oven for about 8 minutes.
Taste the risotto, the grain should have a little bite left in them.
Take the risotto of the heat and season with parmesan, salt, pepper and lemon zest.
Mix half of the cooking butter into the risotto for a creamy, rich risotto full of flavour.
Arrange risotto and sole filets on 4 plates and garnish with radicchio, beetroot and chervil
Cameron Davies, Fat Duck, Te Anau, Beef + Lamb New Zealand ambassador chef
What influence did your mother have on your interest in food?
Both my nana and mum have been huge influences with my interest in food. I was lucky that both Nana and Mum were very good home cooks, great bakers and loved being in the kitchen. We were pretty spoiled as kids. We lived on a lifestyle block so the freezer was full of great beef and lamb and our lunchboxes were always filled with amazing slices. Mum would always ask to see if I would like to help cook dinner or do some baking at the weekends. Nana got me into preserving and entering in the local A&P shows.
How would you describe your mum and her cooking style?
Mum is a great cook and always loved trying new recipes and every time they were delicious. I never remember a failed new recipe.
What is your favourite food memory involving your mother?
I remember just spending one-on-one time with the both of them (Mum and Nana). At the time it was lots of fun and learning. Looking back now I’m just so grateful for the time I could spend with the both of them sharing a passion we all love.
What lessons did you learn from your mum in relation to food that you have never forgotten?
The biggest leason I learnt was how powerful creating and sharing food with the people can be. My most memorable times as a family when I was young were spent creating and sharing food together.
What will you or would you like to have cooked for your mother/grandmother etc this Mother’s Day?
If I had the chance to cook for my late nana I would love to make a roasted lamb leg with new potatoes, carrots, peas and gravy, just like she used to cook.
The ultimate leg of lamb by Kathy Paterson
A roast leg of lamb has long been hailed as the ultimate Kiwi favourite, and this recipe requires zero fuss as the oven does the hard work. Infused with flavours of garlic and thyme and topped with a creamy meat sauce, you won’t be disappointed. We served the lamb on a thick bed of thyme for that perfect festive touch.
Serves 8-10
Prep time 10 mins
Cook time 2 hrs 45 mins
Ingredients
Lamb
2-2.5kg Quality Mark lamb leg
50g butter softened
3 garlic cloves crushed
1-2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 onions sliced
½ cup olive oil
Meat sauce
1 cup beef stock
¾ cup creme fraiche
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 bay leaf
To serve
New potatoes
Baby carrots
Snow peas
Method
Use a sharp knife to make shallow slits in the lamb flesh (four or five).
Mix together the butter, garlic and chopped thyme.
Push butter mixture into the slits and sprinkle lamb with flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Place the thyme and sliced onion in the base of a roasting tin and sit lamb on top.
Drizzle over the olive oil.
Place in the oven and roast for 2¾ hours at 160°C.
Sauce
Remove the lamb from the oven half an hour before the end of cooking time.
Place lamb on a board, then tip all the juices into a saucepan.
Replace lamb back into the roasting tin and return to the oven to finish roasting.
Remove from the oven and leave to rest, covered loosely with foil and a tea towel for at least 10 minutes before carving.
Skim the fat off the roasting juices in the saucepan.
Add the beef stock to the remaining juices and bring to the boil.
Reduce heat and add the creme fraiche or sour cream, lemon zest, vinegar and bay leaf.
Simmer until the sauce reduces a little (it will be a thin sauce).
Season with salt to counteract acidity.
Strain sauce into a jug or gravy boat and serve hot with the lamb and vegetables.