Morsels from the editor's desk, November 14

How do you get dinner on the table midweek? We're stuck in a ludicrous cycle of dinner at 6pm, despite my work roster suggesting I should still be at my desk at that time. What this means is mad weekends of cooking dawn until dusk to get the prep done; or throwing together something we do all the time, such as carrot soup, or spaghetti bolognese, or risotto.

What it doesn't mean is turning to Jamie's 15-Minute Meals, or the 4 Ingredients pair, or to any book for that matter. Sure, they might be quick-ish, but cooking anything from a book takes focus and planning. And, more than that, this fast-cooking fad seems entirely wrong, especially when it involves jars and cans of stuff. It debases food and feeds the problem it's trying to solve: that we're all too busy to cook. Who wants to make time to cook when food is utterly uninteresting?

Chef Hugh-Fearnley-Whittingstall takes a different approach in his new book, putting together good combinations from a few excellent and simple ingredients. Our cover story looks at this trend, and puts some of these books to the test.

By the way, if you're looking for a good midweek idea, confit is working for us. Confit some duck marylands - snug in a pan with goose fat to submerge, and bay leaf, pepper and thyme, cooked at 150C or lower for hours on a Sunday. When you're ready to eat, take them out of the fat and simply fry to crisp, and serve with a salad of rocket, pears caramelised in butter, and a dressing of olive oil and orange juice. Or, shred the duck meat finely with two forks on Sunday night, add salt and pepper and a bit of the goose fat to loosen, put them in a jar, cover with fat to seal and call them rillettes. An instant midweek meal on bread or toast with gherkins or other salad bits if you like. Dump the fast books, I reckon; maybe pick up the simple ones.

Rosé recognition

Today is Rosé Revolution day, where rosé makers and enthusiasts get together actually or virtually to taste rosé. In Canberra, you can head along to Soju Girl on Northbourne Avenue tonight for a free rosé tasting, organised by Aubergine sommelier Peter Bell and Lark Hill winemaker Chris Carpenter. Carpenter expects to have as many as 50 wines for tasting, with the focus on dry, textural rosés. If you just want to grab a bottle of your own and do this at home, tweet with the hashtag #roserev to be part of the conversation. It's an annual promotional event to boost appreciation of a largely under-appreciated wine style, rosewinerevolution.com, 5-7pm tonight.

Nation’s top wines on show

The National Wine Show judging is on in Canberra this week, with the public invited to the awards dinner next Thursday, November 22, in the Great Hall at Parliament House. The dinner features the trophy-winning wines, including champion wine of the show. A black-tie event with Boys in the Band to entertain (7.20pm, $220, 6241 2478, rncas.org.au). The new chairman of judges is Stephen Pannell whose winery is S.C. Pannell in South Australia, a bit of a specialist in alternative varieties.

Farm produce on the table

The Kitchen Cabinet at Old Parliament House holds a lunch on Sunday featuring local farm produce and a panel of producers – Sam and Claire Johnson from Boxgum Grazing at Murringo, who sell at the Southside Farmers Market; Tobias and Beatrice Koenig, who farm pigs and cattle and also grow potatoes; biodynamic lamb producers Vince and Janet Heffernan from Moorlands; and Joyce Wilkie and Michael Plane from Allsun vegetable farm. The lunch is $60, 6270 8156. Organiser Janet Jeffs promises a taste of her Christmas hams from her own Wessex Saddleback piglets. Check out this video: youtube.com/embed/1Lb9qwtiNYQ.

What a funny, gentle taste of country life it gives (unless you’re the pig).

More than a taste of Vietnam

Koto, the restaurant group set up to help disadvantaged kids in Vietnam, holds a fund-raising dinner in Canberra on November 25 at Bicicletta, the Italian cafe in the Diamant Hotel precinct at New Acton. Koto (Know One Teach One) was started 12 years ago by Vietnamese Australian Jimmy Pham, a Sydney tour guide. He began a sandwich shop to provide jobs for street kids in Vietnam, then restaurants and a training centre, and now trains as many as 40 young people a year to be chefs, recruiting them from orphanages, the streets, shelters and the like. Philip Barnaart, a volunteer English teacher at Koto in Hanoi and Saigon, is organising the dinner: antipasti, then beetroot gnocchi or eye fillet, and tiramisu or pannacotta, with wine and beer. You get to meet and hear from Koto graduates, including Dang Thi Huong, now studying in Melbourne. She comes from a poor background, no father, an invalid mother and siblings, and before Koto was the main breadwinner in the family, making sticky rice to sell in the local market while still at high school. An outstanding individual, Barnaart says. There will be an auction of Vietnamese items to raise money. $105, pbarnaart@koto.com.au