For the love of cooking with Karena and Kasey

MasterChef NZ 2014 winners Karena and Kasey Bird will be attending Fieldays for the first time this week.

They will demonstrate four dishes in Kiwi’s Best Kitchen on Friday and Saturday.

With the cold weather approaching the sisters have decided to do some of their favourite slow cook and comfort recipes.

Karena and Kasey said they are looking forward to wandering around the event between appearances to see what is on offer.

“We will definitely be making some time to check out anything food related,” Karena said.

The girls have just finished a book tour promoting their new cook book ‘For The Love Of…’ making 64 stops along the way, travelling from Paihia to Gore.

Karena and Kasey spend a lot of time together cooking at home and one of their go-to meals is the Asian Beef Salad from their cookbook.

“It is fresh and vibrant and can be whipped up in under half an hour so it is definitely one of our faves when we are on the go,” Karena said.

Riding the wave of their success, the sisters are food editors of Mana Magazine and food contributors for the Herald on Sunday.

“It is very exciting testing and developing new recipes for these publications,” Karena said.

The next two months will see them doing some work experience in a couple of New Zealand’s top restaurants. They travel to France in August where they have been invited to cook at a pop-up restaurant with chef, Nick Honeyman.

As for the MasterChef NZ contestants this year, the best advice the sisters can give to them is to study hard, stay focused and remember to have some fun along the way.

“It is such an awesome experience so soak it all up and make the most of every day – we have always been great fans of the show so we are keen to see what the new season will be like,” Karena said.