Uptown’s own haven of good taste, Sabato, welcomed a familiar face earlier this year. We caught up with Kate Fay to get some insider tips on summer entertaining.

Chef Kate Fay is back in Uptown and our taste buds are thankful. After first dipping her toes in cooking on a kibbutz in Israel, a young Kate cut her teeth at The French Cafe under founding co-owner and head chef Annie Mantell. For the following 23 years, Kate explored her art at Cibo in Parnell, and a cascade of accolades, thousands of happy diners, menus that continually grew our culinary awareness, and some of Tāmaki Makaurau’s most iconic restaurant dishes became her legacy when she finally departed at the start of this year with the intention of retiring. T

But it was not to be. Kate has been snapped up by Sabato for a new role as Development and Head Production Chef. Her day-to-day now sees her developing and extending Sabato’s range of From our Kitchen products, including gourmet frozen meals, fresh baking and other delicious treats.

How have you found the shift from restaurant to delicatessen?

“I’ve loved using countless Sabato products for many years during my career and knew that working in Sabato’s kitchen would be a good fit for me. I’d had a taste of this previously when I developed the recipe for Sabato’s Backyard BBQ Sauce that has been on their shelves ever since.

“I’m now loving my new working hours, having nights and weekends free has been a very welcome change. I still find myself writing and developing menus and while it’s very different to creating a dish and putting it on the specials list to see how it goes, I now adapt my ideas into new products that can fill the Sabato freezer.”

You’ve shared a recipe for a luscious lemon meringue tart which happens to be gluten-free – is there a story behind that?

“I was diagnosed with coeliac disease in 2011 and was daunted at the prospect of what this would mean for my career. Cibo was very accommodating and encouraged me to adapt the menu, filling it with mainly gluten-free dishes.

“Since starting at Sabato I’ve developed a selection of gluten-free products that can all be found in Sabato’s freezer section – cheese scones, date pudding cake, Brazilian cheese puffs and béchamel sauces in smoked paprika and Gruyère and truffle varieties. These add to Sabato’s existing gluten-free offerings that include firm favourites such as blueberry friand cake and Valrhona triple chocolate brownie, as well as so many other products that are naturally gluten- free. We have also released a gluten-free flour that we are very proud of. I’ve recently become an ambassador for Coeliac New Zealand and am passionate about demonstrating how easy it is to adapt recipes, such as this lemon meringue tart, to be gluten-free.

Summer is here and we’re looking forward to entertaining – tell us about a few Sabato items you wouldn’t be without when hosting friends in summer.

Summer entertaining is so easy when you have amazing products at your fingertips – this list could be endless, but if I must cut it down it would have to be a selection of those products that have always been featured frequently on my menus. Valrhona chocolate is a given, its flavour and quality are superb, and whether you are incorporating it into desserts or eating it by itself, you really can’t get any better. Giusti balsamic vinegar is a must to accompany a tomato and buffalo mozzarella salad, and Pons apple vinegar is great with raw seafood – oysters for example. Sabato gluten-free flour is wonderful, it performs similarly to standard wheat flour and bakes brilliantly: crucial for summer baking. Ferron carnaroli rice is essential for the perfect summer risotto, and Sabato’s selection of pestos, pastes and pasta sauces add so much flavour to many dishes. Ortiz anchovies are a magnificent flavour bomb, try adding them to salads whole, or chopping them finely and adding them to your favourite dressing. Last but certainly not least, Sabato pavlovas are an entertainer’s dream – we’ve done all the hard work sculpting pavlovas with a crisp exterior and marshmallowy centre – they just need to be topped with whipped cream and summer fruits, or for a truly luxurious experience, with our salted butterscotch sauce and Valrhona chocolate.