share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie

My flatmate is an actual sweetheart, and has done you all a favour. She used her professional photographer skills to be like "have you tried changing the white balance in the settings" and now I can finally, after starting this blog seven years ago, take pretty decent and decently pretty photos inside at night. See?

This recipe is from Katrina Meynink's really gorgeous book Kitchen Coquette. It's from a chapter that lists ideal recipes for the first time you cook dinner for someone you'd like to pash exclusively on a regular basis. I really can't speak to how effective it is in that regard...but if you ignore the brief and make it for yourself you (a) can't get your heart broken and (b) get to eat both pies.

chorizo wellingtons 

(I find the name particularly cute since I live in a place called Wellington. Also cute because these are not nearly as much of a horrifying undertaking as the traditional Beef Wellington.) 

a recipe from Kitchen Coquette by Katrina Meynink

100g frozen peas
60ml (1/4 cup) cream
2 chorizo sausages 
zest of a lemon

1 sheet of puff pastry

Set your oven to 180 C/350 F. Cook the peas in boiling water till very tender, then drain them and throw into a food processor with the cream, and blitz it into a smooth-ish puree. 

If you've got fresh/proper chorizo, squeeze the filling out of the casing into a hot pan, which is incredibly disgusting but in an undeniably rewarding way. If you've got the type that's more like salami, just slice it into 1cm rings. Either way, fry till it's crisply cooked through and then stir in the lemon zest.

Slice the pastry sheet in half down the middle. Put a generous spoonful of the pea puree about an inch and a half from one end, then put some chorizo on top of that, then fold over the other end - turning your rectangle into a square, essentially - and press down on the edges, using a fork to flatten and seal them and also to make cute forky indents that will look nice once it's cooked.

If you have any extra cream left it's nice to brush some over the pastries, but it's not essential that you glaze them with anything. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is evenly golden. 

If you're feeling resourceful, or if you see the word resourceful that I've said just now and think "hey that could be me" then make double the pea puree and stir the rest through pasta sometime. These pies are dinner perfection - they feel special, but they're incredibly un-taxing to make, the juicy spicy chorizo against the soft creamy peas is wonderful, and flaky pastry makes everything more fun. If you're not sausagely-inclined, this would be great made with some kind of vegetarian substitute with plenty of smoked paprika added, I daresay.

Speaking of things that I dare say, I'd like to introduce my super cool sponsors (there are some more to come, also, I'm just impatient) over in the sidebar on the right. They are all gorgeous wonderful businesses that I love, but also many of them have an online shopping component in case - for once - not living in New Zealand means you feel left out. And in case you're feeling all concerned and betrayed because I'm talking about commerce and profit, I cannot possibly care, for the following reasons: I think I'm a good writer whatever it is I'm talking about so just keep reading, silly; I'm a grown woman generating money out of something I love; and Swonderful Boutique only went and made a dress named after me. Truly, you can buy the Laura Dress yourself, isn't that the most? To say the least? 

My friend Kim, who was one of the photographers for my cookbook and who I trust with my frozen if-it-ain't-a-selfie-I'm-terrified photo face, came over to take some snaps of the dress upon me. 

The Laura Dress. I am that Laura. 

*plays the theme song from New Girl*

so many accessorising possibilities: with hat or hatless, repeat, hatless

why the smug smirk, Laura? Because the exquisite cut of this dress celebrates how stacked I am and sometimes my eyes disappear when I smile too broadly.

Bonus outtake: me recreating Blair Waldorf's awkward photoshoot where her best friend Serena helps loosen her up. "Give me more tiger, give me more tiger!"

So thanks Swonderful for this blessing of a dress and thanks to the rest of my sponsors for being rad.

And thanks above all, to pie: always there for me.

________________________________________________________________________
title from: Pink Floyd's thematically on-point song Money. I used to be into Pink Floyd in an incredibly co-dependant kind of way, which is why it's probably advisable to not get tattoos too early in life otherwise I'd be covered in, I don't know, the lyrics to Shine On You Crazy Diamond or something. These days I'm more just nostalgically fond of Pink Floyd, because they wrote some ridiculously catchy tunes and took themselves SO seriously, to an almost adorable level. 
________________________________________________________________________
music lately:

Tim Paris featuring Coco Solid, Rain. Moody and 80s and unsettling and excellent.

Miley Cyrus, Wrecking Ball. Just can't stop listening, it's so full of feelings and emotion and references to building construction, two out of three of which I am really into.

Jennifer Lopez, Baby I <3 U! One of her most cruelly undercelebrated songs in my unhumble opinion.
________________________________________________________________________
next time: Unfortunately for you, probably not another elaborate photoshoot of me, but who knows, I mean, life, huh?