Allyson Gofton on her new cookbook Give and giving back

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and beloved New Zealand food writer, cook and author Allyson Gofton has spent the past couple of years working on Give, a celebration of food, generosity and hope. It features Allyson’s most-treasured seasonal recipes with contributions from Breast Cancer Cure ambassadors such as Dame Trelise Cooper, Petra Bagust, Michele A’Court and Kathryn Wilson.

What are some of your favourite moments of working on Give?

Joyous moments came after 18 months of trying to get the book off the ground. Talented photographer Lottie Hedley brought sunshine in the door on every shoot day, giving me days of her time to create a catalogue of photos when my garden was at its best with food and flowers, and believing in me long before I had a publisher.

Bateman Books agreed to take my book, even though I had not won the support of a charity, and then tears of joy when I made a random phone call to the CEO of Breast Cancer Cure, Sonja de Mari, asking her if she’d like to work with me on Give – and she cried with joy. This project was about not giving up, believing that you can make a difference and that if you try hard enough, you will make it happen.

What are your garden must-haves to grow?

Ah, well. My garden is a rag-tag humble thing, really. I’m much better in the kitchen than I am in the garden. Some years there are broad beans and other years there is corn, or beans or peas. I plant what I think I’d like to give a go at growing. This year I have given space to an asparagus plot and there will be broad beans, which I adore blanched and peeled. I grow my own borlotti beans, as they are almost impossible to buy dried.

I have lots of rhubarb, all citrus fruits – mandarins, oranges – both sweet and bitter, lemons, Buddha’s hand, Thai lime and more. Lots of herbs, especially tarragon, along with basil, which are favourites. Tomatoes and capsicums, which I grow in bucket loads. Then I grow spring bulbs, roses and dahlias. I love dahlias.

What recipes would highlight spring/summer produce?

The recipes are geared towards being put in a jar or tin and given as a foodie gift, so I’d try the pickled asparagus. The spears are great on an antipasto platter, especially with feta cheese. My daughter’s favourite is a salad in a jar, which is grilled capsicums, cooked with onion and basil in a sweet mustard sauce. I take spoonfuls of this and toss with lettuce – so easy. For something sweet, try Biddie Cooksley’s Strawberry and white chocolate shortcake, which my son likes made with dark chocolate. And you cannot go past baked rhubarb, which if you toss with sugar and leave overnight, will stay in whole pieces when slow baked.

What are some of your favourite foodie gifts to give someone who isn’t feeling well? Gosh, how to choose?

I always think about who the recipient is and make something they will love. For a chocoholic, I’d make a chocolate brownie; for a health nut, I’d put a jar of coconut muesli together; for lemon lovers, my lemon brownie or even a bottle of limoncello, and maybe for a man who loves a beer, I’d whip up some coffee-roasted cashews.

I’d hoped to raise some money, but I never thought that I would be able to raise as much as $30 per book. This has only happened because of the generosity of the people who worked on the book with me and that of the publisher – in particular, Paul Bateman, who put all his publishing might behind me, and the retailers who have taken a reduced margin to support me.