Lisa's Vintage Cheddar, Caramelised Onion and Thyme Whipped DIp with homemade potato chips

The Bite team love our reader recipe competitions, because they give us the opportunity to try new dishes — Rita Kapoor's puffed rice salad was new to me, others had enjoyed similar dishes on their travels, but we all agreed this exciting mix of ingredients got our digestive and creative juices flowing.

Samantha Dekker's ratatouille received an initial "no" — the mix of cumin and miso with capers and olives seemed too fusion for its own good — but we're glad we gave it a test run because it's very much a "yes". There is a depth of flavour that this stew very often lacks. It's so good that it's hard to stop eating, but is chock full of veges, so that's actually a good thing.

Our winner, James Siddle, didn't so much give us a new dish, as remind us of what New Zealand in spring is all about and how much we enjoy the simple things it has to offer. I hope you all get to enjoy a sandwich of freshly caught snapper over the next few months. Jo Elwin Editor

Experiment with other root vegetables such as beetroot, parsnip and kumara, pairing chips with

various Lisa’s Whipped Dip flavours. 1 Using a mandolin or sharp knife, slice agria potatoes into wafer-thin slices. Lay out on a clean tea towel and dry thoroughly. Place in a bowl and toss through a little olive oil. 2 Lay potato slices out on lined baking trays. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and paprika if you like things spicy, and bake at 160C until golden and crisp. To ensure they cook evenly, turn the trays around in the oven and flip the chips as they colour. 3 To serve, arrange stacks of chips alongside big spoonfuls of dip.