nella mia cucina

but don't you, step on my blue cheese shoes

2012-02-01T10:29:00.000+13:00

We went to the Narrows Landing for dinner the other night. Fantastic food and service, warm summer night, eating on the terrace. Can't ask for much better than that eh? Something on their menu caught my eye upon arrival, so naturally had to try it. Blue cheese and honey bruschetta - blue cheese and honey!? None of us were too sure how that combo was going to go down, but figured with blue cheese, how wrong can you go? OMG - amazing!! The two flavours complimented each other perfectly. If I were to be poetical about it, I'd say it was like a gastronomic symphony, a veritable feast for the tastebuds.

Last night I decided to recreate it at home, using my favourite blue - Kapiti Kikorangi. You'll need:

4 turkish buns, ciabatta buns, or 1 ciabatta loaf
olive oil
blue cheese
honey (I used manuka)

Slice buns in half, as you would for burgers (if using loaf, slice nice thick slices, probably a cm thick). Brush with olive oil.
Grill soft, oiled side of buns until browned. Turn and grill underside a little, but not as much as soft side.
Spread liberally with blue cheese.
Drizzle with honey (soften in microwave if needs be). If using a strong honey, like manuka, be careful not to drown the cheese too much.
Grill for a few minutes, until cheese is bubbling and honey has started to caramalise.
Set on serving plate and allow to sit for a minute or two before serving.

PS: Sorry I forgot to take a photo - next time!

more zucchini goodness!

2012-01-16T11:40:00.000+13:00

It's that time of year. The zucchini plants are going crazy. You go away for the weekend, come home and you have marrows. Our two plants are producing zuccs faster than we can eat them, but at least it forces you to really think about what you can do with them. We eat them a lot just sliced longways in half and then fried in butter (oh yes!!), or sliced and then layered in a lasagne (hmmm... potential for tonight...). But recently I was given a whole new idea - zucchini fritters!

I know it may not be an earth-shattering idea, but it was novel to me. I don't know why, seeing as I'm familiar with the concept of vege fritters - corn, potato etc. But anyway... Here's what we put in this time, but I reckon there are probably a million of different things you could put in. Make sure you grate your veges early and set aside, 'cause a lot of liquid will come out of them, which you'll want to drain before frittering. Buon appetito!

2 zucchini, grated
1 each beetroot and kumara, grated
fresh herbs, chopped
capers
dash sweet chilli sauce
lemon zest
cumin seeds
2 eggs
flour, as necessary

Mix ingredients together and shallow fry in hot oil. Yum!!

Served with brown-sugared salmon and garden-fresh french beans. Excuse the unappetising photo of fritter mix - one of those impossible-to-make-photogenic things.

Berry Christmas everyone!

2011-12-21T07:56:00.001+13:00

Wow. Technology is wicked. Well, sometimes. I've just discovered that there is a blog app on my phone. Love it! I loved my nokia, but these smartypants phones...

Anyhoo, it's only 4 days til Christmas, so get out there, buy up some berries, and feel the relaxation start to kick in. Berries are great like that, maybe its the antioxidants?

Berry Christmas!!

baa baa black sheep

2011-12-20T12:18:00.000+13:00

It's been a long time since the last post. Website kept crashing, so I thought it might be time to give it a wee holiday. But all seems to be working again now, so here we go!

It's been a busy few weeks since 02 November, the silly season's started and we're only a few days out from Christmas. I'll not bore you with a detailed recitation of what's been cooking over the past 48 days, but will ease back into the world of bloggery with slightly more detailed rack of lamb details that was posted on Facebook.

I'd never done a rack of lamb before, but I can tell you right now that I'll be doing it again, and very soon. It was so tender and, if you shop around, pretty damn cheap. It was $15/kg at the supy. This will serve four peeps.

2 x 7 chop lamb racks
2 tbsp harissa
6 tbsp breadcrumbs
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped

Smear the fat side of the lamb with harissa.
Mix breadcrumbs, oil and herbs in bowl. Press mixture onto harissa-smeared lamb.
Roast in preheated oven (180-200 degrees) for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Serve with new potatoes, asparagus and pan-fried zucchini, for the flavours of summer!

Nb: 15 minutes, our lamb was medium-rare after resting. If you want yours less or more done, adjust the cooking time accordingly.

when the moon hits your eye, like a big pizza pie...

2011-11-02T09:06:00.001+13:00

I've made pizza bases before. I've blogged about making pizza bases before. Heck, I've already blogged the exact recipe for this pizza base before. But this weekend, the pizza-making took on a whole new dimension, so much so that re-bloggery was imperative. The yeast was spongey like sea foam, the dough more than doubled in size and had the elastic quality that every pizza maker strives for.

As I said, this recipe ain't new, but for the first time in my pizza-making career, the dough just seemed to do absolutely everything it was supposed to. All the pizzas in the past have been wicked, but this one was sublime. Nir-freaking-vana my friends. I'd like to think it was me and my general awesomeness that made the difference, but I think it was more the pizza-making partnership with my sous chef KB (said rather tongue and cheek, given it was he who prepared the frothy yeasty goodness which forms the foundation of a winning dough).

From the moment I set eyes (in complete astonishment, I'd never seen yeast activate like this before) on the mixing bowl, I knew this was the dough for visual documentation. So, without further bleeting on, here follows a pictorial guide to pizza greatness. Thanks to both KB and Mac, the dog who tried to help, by licking up the excess flour.

1 and 1/2 cups warm water
7 g active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar (or thereabouts)
500 g flour
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
extra olive oil, for brushing crusts
parmesan, for crusts (optional)
tomato paste / satay paste (or others, such as BBQ sauce etc)
toppings

The step-by-step method can be found at the link at the beginning of this entry. What follows is a pictorial of how the pizza-making process is done. Oh, and to get your frothy yeast into super-risen dough - pour the yeast mix into the flour/salt/oil in a food processor. Mix until it forms a ball and pulls away from the sides. Return to well-oiled bowl, cover with damp teatowel and place somewhere warm for 45 minutes. I preheat the oven a little, then turn it off. No drafts, works well. Buon appetito!!!

NB: It's a good idea to get the toppings all ready to go while the dough is rising. Once you've got your dough flattened into bases, you want to top them asap, 'cause otherwise the dough will start to rise again and you could end up with fluffy, thick pizzas, instead of thin, pizzary goodness. Enjoy!!

me gusta mañana, me gustas tu, me gusta enchilada, me gustas tu - n◦ 2

2011-10-12T09:25:00.000+13:00

I haven't really made a lot of enchiladas this year. Plenty of burritos, a few batches of tasty tasty empandas, but not a lot on the baked goodness of the enchilada-front. Time to get back on the horse. Ordinarily I'm a chicken and kidney bean kind of girl, when it comes to enchiladas, but last night decided to make them with essentially a spag bol concoction. Have mince, will travel.

The thing I really love about enchiladas (and indeed the majority of tortilla-based foods) is that you can make the filling well before dinner time. Heck, make it the day before. Or a month before, then freeze it. It doesn't matter, especcially for enchiladas, 'cause you're going to whack 'em in the oven anyway. We had our mexican canneloni (it's what they remind me of) with a warm salad - cauli, red onion, garlic, ginger, beetroot, carrot and thinly-sliced kumara, stir-fried to perfection by KB with sesame oil.

For 6 enchiladas (so 3-4 people, or 2 people, plus leftovers for lunch)

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 chilli, chopped

cumin (powdered or seeds)

salt and pepper

500 g mince

capers, up to you how many

2 tbsp wholegrain mustard

2-3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

dash balsamic vinegar

400g tin tomatoes

6 tortillas (c. 20cm ones)

cream cheese

cheese, grated

Sauté onions and garlic. When softening, add chilli, cumin (as much as to your taste, I use a good 3-4 tablespoons), salt and pepper. Stir.
Add mince and break up, stiring to brown all through.
Add capers, mustard, sweet chilli and balsamic. Mix through the mince. Add the tomatoes, stir thoroughly and reduce temprature to low and allow to simmer for anything from a half hour to an hour or so. Stir occasionally, to ensure the flavours are all through.
When you're about 20 minutes away from being ready to eat, turn oven on to about 180 degrees celcius.
Make up the enchiladas by spreading cream cheese onto the tortillas. Spoon in a decent amount of mince and roll up (like a canneloni, or a crèpe), tucking the two sides together. Place, seam down, into your baking dish. Tuck all six alongside each other, so they stay put. Grate cheese over the top.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and browned a little.
Serve with a salad and you're done!

PS: Thanks, Manu Chao, for the title-inspiration, and you can add extra tomato on top of the enchiladas too, if you want, under the grated cheese.

fish n chips, fish n chips, makes me wanna lick my lips

2011-10-11T09:47:00.001+13:00

We eat fish fairly frequently. One of the bonuses of having a boat, and enjoying sitting out with a line for a few hours. If it's home-caught (so to speak) it's usually snapper. If it's from the supy, it's whatever looks good that ain't going to completely fleece the wallet. Usually we simply pan-fry the fillets - I mean, with tasty fresh fish, what else do you need to do? However, sometimes you just feel like good ol' battered goodness. Last night was such an evening.

I'd heard the Morning Rumble talking about a new batter- and fritter-mix available on the market. Fogdog, made in NZ, by a couple of blokey blokes, it was apparantly really good - light, crispy, the opposite of dodgy stodge (which is more often than not what you get from the local chipper, these days). Obviously you can easily make your own beer batter from scratch (a little flour, cornflour and beer), but sometimes it's fun to try out new products. Everyone's a sucker for advertising from time to time. So yesterday, picked up some fresh trevally and a packet of this supposed wonder batter. Given our general aversion to battering fresh fish, it had big proverbial shoes to fill.

And it did! It was light and crispy. Apparantly, cooking with beer (as opposed to water-based batters) reduces the oil absorbtion. So using beer is actually better for you. Sweet!! It cooked very fast (though, that could have been controlled better by yours truly, had I reduced the heat under the pan a little) and didn't fall/slide off the fish. All you need is the packet and half a bottle of beer. I used Carlsberg, but next time would be interesting to try it with a darker beer, like Speights Old Dark, or something...

1 packed Fogdog batter

140 ml beer

2-3 fillets fish

2 large potatoes

cumin seeds

salt

rice bran oil

salad

Cut potatoes into nice, fat, chunky chips. Toss with a little oil and cumin seeds. Whack into oven at about 180 degrees celcius. I usually leave them cooking away for a good half hour or more, then grill them for a couple of minutes, to crisp them up. Remember to toss them from time to time, so they don't stick to the tray.
Make up your salad, however you fancy it. Now you're pretty much ready to go, once the chips are done to your liking.
When almost ready to serve, mix beer and batter in a bowl. I reckon it's best to use a whisk, if you have one, as it gets more air into the batter, which presumably helps make it light. Pat the fillets dry and pour about 4mm oil into non-stick pan. Get the oil good and hot (drop a wee bit of batter in, to see if it sizzles - that's how you'll know).
Carefully place the pieces of fish into the hot oil - be careful not to drop them in, as you'll make a mess of your kitchen, and likely burn your fingers/arm. I know, I did that last night. Kitchen floor was a shambles. Have tongs at the ready, 'cause the fish won't take long. Pretty much as soon as you've put the fish in, it's time to turn it over. When golden and crispy remove from pan and serve, with salad and cumin-crusted chips.

Nb: You don't have to use rice bran oil, but if you don't, be very careful to keep an eye on the oil, so it doesn't burn. Olive oil, the cuisine guru for so many things, isn't much good here. It has a lower burning point, and the stronger flavour can mask the delicate flavour of the fish. I'd recommend either rice bran or avocado, as they both have a high burn point.

a little more coconut, please

2011-10-09T18:35:00.001+13:00

This is really a big, fat, cheaty blog post. We're having the same essential mix as in the earlier 'you put da lime in da coconut' post. But it was so good! Have to have it again. And this time, chorizo baby!! Seriously peeps, get this dish going, 'cause it's awesome. And 'cause it's Sunday, forgive my bloggy slackness. :)

You know you curry me life, you curry me thinking...

2011-10-06T10:05:00.002+13:00

Thanks, Katchafire, awesome song. I know the original didn't actually mention curry but, to be honest, you'll be hard-pressed to find one that does. Sometimes a little poetic licence is needed, I'm sure those kings of dub won't mind.

As you've no doubt noticed, it's spring. Curry isn't really a food that jumps to mind when you think of sun, al fresco dining and the beach (I'm a year-round beacher, none of this 'summer-only' puha), but perhaps we need to adjust our thinking. I can definitely understand why curries are moreso associated with winter, and maybe autumn - it's cold, they're hot; it's cold, they're warming; you want thick, comforting food with plenty of carbs, they're thick, comforting and come with rice and/or breads.

However, it's spring and summer vege gardens are being put in around the country (well, around the warmer parts anyway - might be another month or so for the deep south). Vege gardens = fresh herbs. Coriander, thyme, chives, parsley. Nothing makes me curry-hungry more than the smell of fresh coriander. So it was that last night, after returning home from our bi-weekly shop, that we whipped up a thai yellow curry, spurred on by the coriander in the garden, and the smell of the one sitting on the kitchen sill.

Break out of the seasonal chains peeps - curry it up year round. And watch this space for a tasty looking greek stew a la Nigella (it uses a whole bottle of white wine, so surely we can't go wrong) - winter's food is spreading its wings!

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

2cm ginger, diced

1 capsicum, sliced

handful mushrooms, chopped

few florets broccoli

dash sweet chilli sauce

1 tbsp (or so) curry paste

1 tin (or so) coconut milk

sesame oil

2 chicken thighs, chopped

handful nuts, seeds

rice

Brown chicken lightly in a little oil (olive, rice bran, whatever). Remove from pan and set aside.
Fry onion, garlic and ginger in sesame oil, until slightly soft. Stir in curry paste, chilli sauce and coconut cream/milk. Let it reduce a little, over a medium-low heat.
Add in all other ingredients and leave to simmer until you're ready to eat - the nuts give it so much texture and a wonderful flavour. We've been using a mixture of brasil nuts and almonds, crushed up a bit. So good - wouldn't go back to a nutless curry.
Get rice on - I cook it as per the link above (click on 'rice'). I usually use a stock cube though, rather than salt, and always throw in some cumin seeds.
Serve when all's ready and enjoy! This makes enough for 4 people, maybe 5 if you have roti or naan too.

PS: The picture of the dogs isn't completely random, they were apparantly enjoying the wonderful aroma that is coriander too.

Copa cabana on a plate

2011-09-30T08:16:00.000+13:00

Fish, chips and salad. Doesn't sound very blog-worthy, does it? Okay, how about if it's fresh snapper, cumin-crusted big fat homecut chips, and a stirfried salad with so much colour it's like carneval has shimmied onto your plate? Yeah, thought so.

We've had this salad for the past two nights, and to be honest I'll be voting for the trifecta, 'cause it's so yum. I think it would be awesome using any oil, but sesame is definitely the best, if you've got it. It has a strong flavour, but doesn't overpower the veges. Obviously, as with all salads, feel free to change certain veges, if you don't have them but have others. Keep the colour though, it's such a good looking plate when there's more than white and green. We had it with the beetroot one night, and without the other - you couldn't really taste the beetroot, but it did make it even more colourful, and you get the knowledge that you're eating super-high-antioxident food. Just add it at the end, on top. Buon appetito!

sesame oil, to cook
capsicum
mushroom
carrot
broccoli
red onion
garlic, finely chopped
ginger, finely chopped
brasil nuts and almonds, munched up a little
fresh sage
fresh thyme
beetroot (on top)

PS: The chips were cut up nice and chunky, then tossed with oil and cumin seeds, before chucking into the oven for a half hour or so.

It's kaimoana time again, friends

2011-09-24T19:21:00.000+12:00

Sunny days, daylight savings on the way. Time for BBQs and seafood. With the ABs playing France tonight, we've got chips and sangers for the kids, but what about us, more discerning big kids? Perusing the wares at the local supy this arvo we settled on prawns. Skewered. BBQed. Mean.

KB's a master of tasty seafood - full of flavour, but not overpowering the delicate nature of the fodder itself. Tonight's was tasty as usual, but with the addition of a couple of different ingredients it took on an amazing silky texture, almost creamy, and flavoursome as hell.

Mix the following (and anything else you have to hand and feel inclined to throw in), brush over skewered prawns, and go to BBQ town.

Lemon zest (plenty plenty plenty)

Mint

Wholegrain mustard

Salt and pepper

Capers, mushed up

dash of sugar

the knave of hearts, he stole some tarts...

2011-09-13T09:14:00.000+12:00

Every day I drive past at least two signs for berry farms. At the moment the signs say 'closed' (oh, and 'COME ON ALL BLACKS!!'), but they're a reminder of goodness to come. Fresh blueberries, raspberries and massive trays of sunny strawberries for only $6 (go the misshapen seconds trays!!). Whilst I may still have a month or so to wait, it's never too early to break out the frozen berries for some muffins. So, blueberry muffins it is, with a hint of white shocola. Normally white chocolate has me sticking my tongue out in distaste (too sickly sweet), but with berries it seems to take on a whole new dimension, one of subtle, nutty, vanillayness. Okay, perhaps it's a day for making up words. Never mind, the muffins are so tasty, I'm sure the lexical authorities will forgive me.

2 cups flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

5 tbsp raw sugar

1 cup white chocolate (chips, bits, whatever)

2 eggs, beaten

3/4 cup milk

75g butter, melted

1 cup berries

extra raw sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius. Grease muffins tins.
Sift dry ingredients into bowl. Stir in chocolate and make a well in the centre.
Combine eggs, milk and butter. Pour the mixture into well and add blueberries.
Stir until just combined.
Pour mixture into muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and sprinkle with a little raw sugar.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and inserted skewer comes out clean.

keep it simple, stupid

2011-09-11T13:54:00.000+12:00

You know how sometimes you just hanker for something simple for dinner? I don't mean a packet of 2 minute noodles, but just simple, fresh tastes. Last weekend we had family staying and were lucky enough that they brought with them a rather large amount of eye fillet. Needless to say it was on the menu a couple of times last week. Perfect meal when you need something quick, easy, but still bursting with taste and nutrients. We coupled it with a good ol' green salad. Now, you may wonder why I'm blogging about how to make a salad, but never fear - I'm not going to break down how to make one (no one is THAT simple), but just to remind you of their existence. We tend to forget the humble garden salad over winter, but damn, we shouldn't. So put away your fancy foods and kitchen contraptions for a night and break out an old school iceberg. Yum, fresh and leaves you with more time to watch the rugby and pour another wine.

Nb: Meal is nicely finished off with a spot of custard. Nom nom nom.

you put da lime in da coconut

2011-09-07T10:43:00.000+12:00

Sometimes you just have a hankering for creamy pasta. Warm, filling and really quick (bonus!). Last night I had to be getting off to my play, and KB was headed to have a drink with a friend emigrating across the ditch. So quick was key. We'd thought to have the last of the eye fillet steak sitting in the fridge, but to be honest, after three nights of venison and eye fillet, we were kind of red meated-out (how spoiled are we?!). Anyway, we were being picky, turning out noses up at succulent strips of beef (which, incidentally will be eaten tonight, they'll not go to waste), and turned our minds to other possibilities in the pantry.

I'd been having a wine with KB's mum and she'd mentioned they were having carbonara. Yum. Love it. They didn't have any cream, so she was going to use a tin of coconut cream. What a brilliant idea! I know it may not be rocket science, and perhaps it's glaringly obvious, but it hit me across the face with its brilliance. Problem solved. Coconutty carbonara.

It lived up to my expectations too, wonderfully creamy, but with 10 times more flavour than when we use normal cream. To be honest, I don't think I'll be going back. And because we were using coconut other flavours seemed to jump out more too - we chucked in some chilli, fresh coriander and basil, which somehow always seem to be a trifle overpowered by cow cream. Not this time. This time, it was hoppin'. You put da lime in da coconut and drink 'em bode up...

1 onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (or crushed)

1 chilli, finely chopped

c. 250 g bacon, chopped up

1 tin coconut cream

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

spaghetti/fettucine (we used enough for 4 meals)

parmigiano, grated

fresh herbs

Fry onion, garlic and chilli to soften. Add bacon and fry until getting a bit crispy. Remove from heat.
Pour cream into jug, add eggs and mix. Stir in some salt and pepper.
Cook pasta, drain.
Add pasta and cream mixture to pan. Return to very low heat and stir, coating the pasta with the sauce. Continue stirring/folding for a minute or so, until heated through and thickening slightly.
Grate cheese on top, add herbs and stir through.
Serve with extra parmigiano, salt and pepper.

teaser alertteaser alertteaser alert

2011-09-06T11:14:00.000+12:00

Right, this is just a little teaser, for Kush and Millie. I have been terribly slack with the blog posts of late, but to be honest it's because I've just been terribly slack in the cooking arena. Profs + work + musical theatre do not make for much spare time. However, in an effort to remedy my slackness I got the camera out last night as we prepared a mini feast for our gastronomic senses. So, watch this space...tastiness is a-comin'. xx A

PS: The photo is from being at The Woodbox last weekend - OMG, the prawn and sweetcorn wontons were AMAZING. Once I'm done with this play, those are next on my list. Even have a wonton wrapper recipe bookmarked. Nom nom nom.

thank god for the pine tree

2011-08-23T08:54:00.000+12:00

Christmas trees (well, in NZ anyway). Timber. Paper. Keeping the planet's CO2 levels down and O2 levels up. Dodgy pine cone decorations. Resin. Food for some types of moth. Pesto. Pines are wicked.

Pasta was on the menu last night. Not a particularly unusual thing for a Monday night, by any means, but by no means unbloggable. Once we'd established that we wanted pasta, we moved onto step 2 - creamy, tomato-based, or oil/herb-based... I vetoed creamy and decided on tomato. Step 3, that's the fun part. Scooting around the pantry and the supermarket and creating the dish inside your trolley. We had some bits and pieces in the house - a red onion, some cashews, tomatoes, but that wasn't going to be quite enough. I figured I'd head to the supy and grab some bacon, 'cause that's always a winner. Happy days to be at Countdown, 'cause they had red capsicums and pinenuts on special, which almost never happens (well, for the pinenuts).

Allow me to digress for a little, and wax lyrical about the (not-so)-humble pinenut. Pine nuts are pretty much what the name suggests - the edible seeds of pine trees. There are about 20 species of pine which produce nuts big enough for eating (thanks Wikipedia), though all pines have edible seeds (though you might need tweezers for some). The most well known type is the pinus pinea, the Stone Pine, cultivated throughout Europe and famous for its use in italian cuisine, such as pesto. In NZ the pinenuts we get tend to be the pinus koraiensis, from Korea - they're slightly fatter than their elongated continental brothers. Next time you're looking to get some pine nuts, see where they come from, 'cause pine nuts pines seem to thrive on pretty much all continents. I like it. I'm seriously tempted to head back to Masons, a garden centre here in TA, and grab me a pinus pinea - there was one there when we picked up an avocado tree a few weeks back. How cool would that be, harvesting your own pine nuts?

Okay, I'll stop with my piney rant now, but if you've ever eaten homemade pesto before, or had lightly toasted pine nuts on their own, then you'll know where I'm coming from. If you haven't, break out man. Just one word of warning - pine nuts, once they start browning (and it takes a while before they do), boom! they brown quick.

400 g turkey mince (it was there, had to try it!)

1 egg

dried herbs/spices

salt and pepper

1/2 red onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely diced

1 red chilli, finely diced

oil

1 tin tomatoes

basil (fresh or dry)

c. 1 cup cashew nuts

c. 1/2 cup pine nuts

spaghetti

parmesan cheese, grated

Mix the turkey mince, egg, herbs/spices and salt/pepper and form into little balls. It'll be very wet, but will hold their form. Place into hot pan (oiled, if necessary) and brown on one side before carefully turning over. Remove from pan and set aside. They'll still be pink in the middle, that's fine.
In small pan toast pine nuts (no oil required) - they'll seem to do stuff all to begin with, but once their oil starts to come out they'll brown really fast, so be careful that they don't burn. Set aside.
In meatball pan fry onion, garlic and chilli (don't worry about cleaning the pan) in a little oil. Add tomatoes and nuts (we crushed half the cashews, so there weere different textures). Simmer for a little while and cook spaghetti.
Add meatballs back to pan, carefully covering with sauce ('cause you don't want to break the balls up). Leave them to simmer while the pasta cooks - this will allow the turkey to cook through.
Serve on spaghetti, with frehly grated parmesan on top. Yum!!

Nb: I forgot to add any salt, pepper, herbs or spices to the meatballs themselves, which meant we had a super tasty sauce, but the meatballs were pretty bland. Next time I'll be adding some cumin seeds into them, along with the salt and pepper. Whoops, dumb mistake.

if you like piña coladas...

2011-08-07T17:46:00.000+12:00

Okay, this isn't actually anything to do with piña coladas, but piña colada sort of rhymed with peanut butter, so... Hey, it's a Sunday night, so throw a girl a bone here. Anyhoo... a couple of weeks ago we had friends and their families over for lunch, potluck. There are two things which rule about potluck meals - you don't have to cook everything, and there is a variety of dishes to sample. Oh, and a good portion of the dishes go home with those who brought them. So three things. Sweet. This recipe is for a satay sauce. Ooooh, I hear you (sarcastically) coo. Seriously, before you roll your eyes and declare there's nothing special about satay, it's just a peanut sauce, try this one. Get some chicken kebabs (that's what we had), or slap a layer onto a tasty homemade burger, then sink your teeth into a taste sensation. Over the top? No. This sauce, from Mel Instone, is sublime. It's got a nice twist, from the chilli and fish sauce. I'm just trying to thing of more ways to slip it into our evening fare. Maybe on pizza bases? Or just on a spoon. Yum. So good. Hungry. Going to make some more. Bye!!

1 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups coconut cream/milk

1/2 cup sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 onion, finely diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

a little oil

Fry onion and garlic in oil.
Add all other ingredients and simmer for 15 minutes.
Eat and enjoy!!

Stop! collaborate and listen

2011-08-02T08:38:00.000+12:00

Rice, rice baby (din na na na na na na). We're officially into the last month of winter. It should be bitterly cold all the time, with the only culinary thoughts breaking through being those of casseroles and hearty stews . Not colourful salads and BBQs. However, global warming seems to be intent on throwing off the weather books and doing its own thing. Which suits me fine 'cause I'm all for warmer climes and the foods that go with (not that I don't love a good, warming, rich stew too, especially with dumplings, or stuffing, or yorkshires...).

We had a party on Saturday, a 180th birthday party (combining the festivities for granddad, mum and brother). Held at Ngongotaha, on a gloriously sunny Saturday (in the middle of winter). Sure, once the sun went down it was cool, but certainly not freezing (though brother and boyfriend may dispute this, seeing as they were the ones actually standing outside AT the BBQ). Throwing off the shackles of winter cookery we had a BBQ (in case you hadn't picked up on that), complete with sauteed calamari and deliciously light and fresh rice noodle salad. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, winter!

The noodle salad (made with rice vermicelli, or glass noodles) was amazing, a creation of my sister-in-law Ness. Really tasty, easy to make, and incredibly colourful, which in winter is a nice change. We get so much variety in summer, it was great to see some summery colour back on the plates. KB and I liked it so much that we made it again on Sunday night, to go with our duck. So, without further ado, rice is back with a brand new invention...

50 g rice vermicelli (about half a packet)

2 carrots, sliced real thin, into wee matchsticks

1 capsicum (colourful, so red, yellow or orange)

1 red onion

good handful of each mint and coriander

1/4 cup lime/lemon juice

1 - 2 tbsp fish sauce

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

salt and pepper

Cook noodles by pouring boiling water over them and stiring around in a bowl for a minute or so. Drain and set aside (I stirred through a little sesame oil, to help break them up a bit and stop it sticking in a clump).
Stir through veges and herbs.
Mix together the lime, fish and chilli sauces. Stir through the salad.
Season with salt and pepper and serve. Really good with fish, calamari or prawns too.

2011-07-30T09:47:00.000+12:00

The boys went out fishing the other day. Sweet, fresh fish in the middle of winter. Kahawai!! Whilst the lads were busy doing their hunter-gatherer best, Alex and I were busy in thge kitchen preparing some bits and pieces for lunch. She had a recipe for a particularly tasty pumpkin soup, so into the pot the requirements went (with a few additions, of course). The result was as good as promised, light hints of curry and fresh veges. Not a lot more to say, really, other than get out your stock pot and get in the kitchen.

1 kg pumpkin
1 onion, diced
2 cm ginger, diced
1 L chicken stock
1 tin tomatoes
1 tin coconut cream
2 tbsp curry paste
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
2 tsp cumin seeds
salt and pepper

Peel and chop pumpkin, put into large pot (stock pot is perfect).
Add all other ingredients and simmer until the pumpkin is cooked.
Puree or mash - we mashed it, because the whizz stick was broken, and I think I preferred this, as it still had a few chunks left in it. YUM!!
Serve with toast, or cheesy buns.

Honey, I'm home!

2011-07-20T09:16:00.000+12:00

The man of the house comes home and the little lady (in her pinnie) has dinner burbling away on the stove. Picture perfect, right? Well, maybe if you're watching a 1950s sitcom rerun. However, stranger things have happened. Last night this was the picture in our kitchen, only I wasn't wearing a pinnie, I was about to open a beer (for myself) and the dinner burbling away on the stove was pink. Sort of alters the stereotype eh? However, dinner's dinner and ours was tasty, pink or otherwise. Not to mention men wear pink now, with pride, so pink food? Meh, no problem. It's food.

We were having chicken breasts last night, stuffed with crème fraîche and harissa. In the past we'd used cream cheese, but as we had the fraiche in the fridge, seemed a good idea. And it was. It may actually have been better then when cream cheese was used, though tough to tell without comparing contemporaneously. Suffice to say that either will be equally tasty. So, all that was needed was something to accompany. Risotto. Not a typical side dish maybe, but I felt like rice, and we had veges a plenty to go into it. What follows is what went into the pink risotto last night, though feel free to change any of the fillings. Obviously don't change the rice, stock etc, they're kinda key.

1 tbsp butter

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

small knob ginger, finely chopped

1 and a half cups short rice (aborio)

small glass white wine

1 L vegetable stock

3 small beetroot, peeled

2 leftover sausages, sliced

good dollop basil pesto

salt and pepper

1/2 cup cheese (I used edam)

On high heat fry onion, garlic and ginger in the butter, until softened. Add the rice and stir to coat.
Pour in the wine (feel free to use more than a small glass, I just didn't want to waste too much!), allow to evaporate. Once the liquid is reduced pour in the prepared stock.
Reduce the heat to medium now, allowing to simmer away, but not letting the liquid disappear too quickly (the rice needs time to cook, though if you do end up with insufficient liquid and still-uncooked rice, just pour in a little water).
With your vegetable peeler, peel slivers of beetroot (outer skin removed) into the pan. When you stir it the whole thing will turn a fantastic pink! Stir through the sausages (or sliced chorizo), pesto, salt and pepper (or whatever else you wish) and cheese.
This can be put aside when cooked, to be warmed through again later, if you want to get it all ready, so you can relax before dinner.

News of the World - chocolate update

2011-07-18T08:48:00.000+12:00

This isn't actually a new recipe - it's an update (and I think an improvement) on the cake from last year's 'Procrastibaking'. I was asked on Thursday night if I would be able to make a chocolate cake on Friday morning, for a 40th birthday - nothing fancy, just good ol' chocolate cake with chocolate icing. Sweet. We had chocolate sauce in the fridge (a la ice cream), so into the cake batter it went. And the icing. I wasn't sure whether or not it would make a noticeable difference, but it did. I tasted one of the crumbs which stuck to the tin and chocolate sauce heaven. So there you go - squirt a decent amount of salsa chocolata into your next festive masterpiece. Extra extra...

maimai wonderland

2011-07-12T08:03:00.000+12:00

Winter means different things to different people. To some it means grey hibernation for a few months; for others it signals a season of skiing, apres-ski aperitifs and powdery goodness; to a number it means shooting. Duck shooting, to be specific. Now, I'm not a duck shooter - no one in their right mind would let me loose with a gun (not that I'm unwilling to learn how to use one, one day), but I am a friend of food. So whilst to most of the lads duck shooting equals whisky, cold mornings and talking sh*t with the boys, to me it screams DUCK FOR DINNER!

A friend of ours, James, does duck shooting, hence the duck in the freezer. Neither of us had ever cooked with duck before (to be honest, I've probably only eaten it once or twice, and usually in a red curry), but knew that it was a red meat, more like cooking a fillet of steak than a chicken breast. KB marinated the pieces in red wine, soy and honey, with ginger, garlic and possibly some sesame oil. Oh, and wholegrain mustard, that was key. Really wicked tang. Once he was ready to cook it the breasts were seared quickly in the pan, then transferred to an oven dish, to bake (not for too long though, you want it tender, not dried out).

The duck was served on a bed of mashed kumara and carrot, alongside caramalised onions and stir-fried red cabbage. On top was a dollop of beetroot and horseradish relish. Combine in a bowl 2 tbsp horseradish, 2 tbsp balsamic, a glug of olive oil and 4 beetroot, grated. Nom nom nom. Give these a whirl - and if duck ain't in your purview, or you just don't fancy it, grab some beef, lamb or rabbit.

PS: Entree was crayfish, hence the photo below...

gary the banana

2011-06-16T13:27:00.001+12:00

It must be a week for people to realise that they have bananas over-ripening in their fruitbowls. I did a couple of nights ago and so decided to make some muffins to deal with that. And Laura, of Hungry and Frozen fame must have too, given her latest offering (that combined with lack of sleep and a very active culinary imagination).

I'm not a big muffin-maker, if I'm honest, 'cause they just don't generally do a lot for me. But banana muffins (and blueberry) can be different. The key to wickedly good muffins, in my humble opinion, is increasing the amount of fruit, compared to the recommended amount. I mean, a recommendation is like a yellow light right? A suggestion, yes? The bulk of this recipe is from the Chelsea Sugar site, but with a few important variations - the banana quotient was increased, as were the chocolate chips. A light dusting of sugar and mixed spice will lift any baking, and for some reason (maybe the extra banana, or the size of my muffin tins) I ended up with 18 muffins, rather than the 12 which I was expecting. Score!

Apologies for the lack of photographic evidence of these muffins - all 18 are gone. They went like hotcakes, so to speak. But surely that's evidential proof of their tastiness? And I'm sure you can imagine what a banana-choc-chip muffin looks like. Anyhoo, in the absence of a photographic hommage, I have Gary the Banana, a Paul Rangiwahia original. Kia kaha in the kitchen guys!

2 eggs

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1/4 cup oil (I used rice bran)

1 cup milk

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

c. 1 cup chocolate chips

white sugar and mixed spice, for dusting (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and grease/spray muffin tins.
In large bowl mix the eggs, bananas, oil, milk and brown sugar together.
Mix in flour, baking powder and chocolate chips. Don't over-stir it, just combine.
Spoon into tins and bake for about 15 minutes, or until golden and a skewer comes out clean (in saying this, mine were still a little gooey in the middle, but that's just because of the amount of banana in there).
Remove from oven, let rest in tins for a couple of minutes, then turn onto cooling racks. They're really good warm, so make sure you eat one straight away!

stuff you

2011-06-14T12:44:00.000+12:00

Until last night I'd never made stuffing. Roasted chicken, sure. But stuffing? No. Stuffless chook. Which is nuts, 'cause stuffing is the yorkshire pudding of roasted poultry. And casseroles... That's right, a totally different use for the tasty, doughy goodness. We had a chicken casserole, which was topped with a layer of stuffing, then slices of cooked potato and finally grated cheese. A winning combination. And it was easy (as I'm sure many of you have realised years ago). So stuff you, get in the kitchen!

6 slices frozen bread

1 onion, finely diced

1 egg

1 tbsp flour

2 tbsp dried mixed herbs

salt and pepper

Chop the bread into little pieces, to make into breadcrumbs (a food processor will make this job easier, but then you do have an extra dish to clean. Up to you).
Mix in the onion. With your hands work through all the other ingredients.
Add a little water, to make the mixture into a doughy texture.
Shove on top of a casserole (sausage, chicken, stew), or into a to-be-roasted chook.

raving about ravioli!

2011-06-13T18:26:00.000+12:00

I think ravioli is something most people really enjoy - pasta is a crowd-pleaser anyway, and add to the equation tasty fillings and you're on to a winner. A couple of weekends ago KB and I had a wicked meal with family at Rain Bar at Papamoa Beach. We both had terakihi on ravioli, with dill butter drizzled over the top. It was fanbloodytastic. One of those meals where you are completely silent for the whole meal, 'cause you've been so sucked in by the flavour that you haven't the brain capacity left to engage in conversation. One of those meals.

Anyhoo, it got us to thinking - why haven't we been making ravioli at home? We have a garden full of herbs, we both love trying new combinations of flavours - surely these little parcels of taste would be the perfect foodject? Yep, they were.

Saturday evening we hit the kitchen, armed with flour, eggs, filling potentials and red wine (for us, not the ravs). I got onto the pasta, while KB prepared two very moreish fillings. I'll start with the fillings, 'cause you really want them to be sorted and ready to go either before you start the pasta, or be doing them at the same time, 'cause once the pasta's ready to go, you don't want it to dry out, you want to get the filling in and press the edges down while it's still malleable.

Filling #1...

Finely (really fine) chop an onion, a knob of ginger, a cup of mushrooms - saute in some butter. Throw in some fresh coriander and mint (shredded) and combine.
Transfer to a bowl and stir through sour cream - enough to get a consistency which will be stay together, but not be too runny. Don't forget to add a couple of good grinds of salt and pepper too.

Filling #2...

Finely chop pak choi (or bok choi) leaves. Combine in a bowl with some capers and sweet thai chilli sauce (to get the mixture to stick together a bit). Chop pieces of blue cheese - about 1 cm, they need to fit in the ravioli. Salt and pepper.

Pasta etc...

Put 2 cups flour onto a clean, dry surface (I use a large marble chopping board, 'cause it doesn't stick, but benchtop will be fine too, and probably easier for rolling - just make sure you've extra flour, in case you need to add a little more to the surface later on). Make a deep well in the centre.
Separate two eggs. Keep the yolks, do what you like with the whites (maybe save them to add into an omelette the next day?). Get another two eggs and beat them lightly with the two yolks (so, all in all, you have 2 eggs + 2 extra yolks).
Pour the eggs into the well of the flour. Pour slowly, you may have to pull some flour in to prevent the egg running everywhere, and then start pouring again. Once all the egg is on the flour, pull the flour in from the sides, combining and kneading to form a nice smooth, elasticcy lump.
Roll the pasta out as thin as you possibly can. We got ours pretty thin, cut the circles out for the raviolis, then re-rolled and re-cut, to get them paper thin. That's what you want, paper thin. It takes time, and some serious arm power - I'd recommend doing this as a duo, so you've got some arm power-backup.
Cut the sheets with circular cutters (we used a cookie cutter, about 10 cm diameter). Reserve the scraps, to roll out again.
Place teaspoons of filling in centre of half the circles and brush the edges with water. Top with another circle and press the edges down with a fork, to prevent escapee-filling. Place on a flour-dusted plate and set aside (make sure you dust the tops of the raviolis with flour, if you're going to double-layer them on the plate, 'cause otherwise they'll stick).
Repeat process until you have used all your scraps and filling - we got about 20 raviolis, and they were pretty large ones.
Boil a pot of water - not boiling too fast though, the agitation of the water might cause your ravs to break open. I set it over a medium hob. Put the pasta in the water and cook for about 3 minutes. Take a bite of an edge, to check they're cooked enough for you.

Nb: If you're going to use meat in the filling, it is important to cook it first, 'cause the ravioli cook so quick that they're not in the water long enough to cook the fillings too.

tiramisu!

2011-06-09T11:49:00.000+12:00

When I was in Italy (Albisola Superiore) a few years back I went with a friend to her grandparents' house for a family dinner. After a few hours of chatting, in what I'm sure was absolutely flawless Italian (ha, yeah right!), everyone had settled in for the evening. Suddenly there's my friend's 6-year old niece jumping up and down in front of me, chanting something. It took me a while to figure out what that was, as children's voices are pretty high-pitched and therefore often difficult to decipher when heard at speed. I figured it out and (proudly) informed her mother that the little girl wanted some dessert. She was chanting 'tiramisu! tiramisu!'. Fair conclusion eh? Now imagine a living room full of Italians laughing heartily as only they seem to know how. Turns out 'tiramisu' means 'pick me up', which is what the little girl wanted. She wanted to see my (erstwhile) nose piercing. Of course.

In NZ however you're pretty safe with assuming demands of 'tiramisu, tiramisu!' relate to hunger and a desire for dessert. Until last weekend I'd not whipped out one of these delectably indulgent treats for several years, which I now know was a foolish waste of good eating time. It is the most satisfyingly creamy, rich, but not sickly delight I think you'll come across this side of whatever the other side is. Yum yum, seriously it's so good. The marscapone can be pretty pricey, but it makes enough to feed about 6-8 people. And who knows - there might even be some left over to eat for breakfast?

From personal experience - make sure your coffee is good and strong, stronger than you'd likely drink it. If you have a coffee maker, great - short short black. The amount of sponge cake used was about 20 cm squared, standard size you might buy at the supermarket - it's best if it's a little stale, maybe a couple of days old, so it doesn't go soggy. Any container can be used, but if you have one half the size of your sponge, but twice as high, perfect (I had some sponge and cream left over, so used a couple of little ramekins as well).

250 g marscapone cheese

2-3 eggs, separated
50 g sugar
sponge cake
30 ml strong coffee
cocoa, to dust

Beat the egg yolks and sugar in large bowl until pale. Beat in the cheese until creamy and smooth.
In separate bowl beat egg whites until fluffy and peaks can form.
Gently fold whites into marscapone mixture. This is now marscapone cream.
Cover the base of your dish with sponge. Drizzle with coffee (not too much, as you want moistened, but not saturated). Cover with marscapone cream. Repeat.
Dust with cocoa and chill in fridge for at least an hour.
Serve by itself, or with some fresh berries alongside.

Nb: If you want the taste of berries (which go really well), but it's winter, grab some frozen or tinned ones and add a layer of berries between the sponge and cream. Make sure they're well drained, or omit the coffee and use a little berry juice instead.

easy-peasy lemon-squeezie

2011-05-26T13:27:00.002+12:00

Targeted advertising. It's everywhere. I loathe it, but at the same time sometimes even I get sucked in. Lucky for me (and those who get to eat my baking) I gave in to a tasty looking ad the other day. It was a little ad, alongside my email, for the chelsea sugar website. The image was a lemon muffin. I LOVE lemons in baking, so was immediately drawn in. Here's the recipe, it was easy and turned out really well - I doubled the lemon from the original, 'cause you can never have too much of the good stuff.

2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup poppy seeds (optional)
finely grated rind of 3-4 lemons
100 g butter
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
juice of 3-4 lemons
1/4 cup sugar

Measure flour, sugar and seeds into a bowl. Add lemon rind and combine.
Melt butter. Mix in eggs and milk.
Add liquid into dry ingredients, fold together, but do not over mix.
Spoon into muffin tray, bake for 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees celcius.
While cooking squeeze lemon juice and mix with sugar - don't dissolve though.
As soon as muffins removed from oven brush with lemon-sugar glaze.
Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Nb: These would also work really well using mini muffin tins, for bite-sized treats, for an afternoon tea. Sounds nanaish, but be honest, we all go there sometimes. ;) Probably would need to reduce the cooking time a little...

nipper-friendly tikka masala

2011-05-25T08:47:00.001+12:00

Okay, this is sort of a cheat-new post, or a psuedo-new post, if you will. The other night I went back in time and made last August's chicken tikka masala again, only this time it wasn't just for adults with taste buds attuned to the rigours of spicy foods. This time it was for two adults and a 6-year old, so needed a little extra attention. Basically the recipe was largely the same (as this is a VERY mild curry anyway), but we removed the seeds from the jalapeno, and I stirred in about a half pottle of sour cream, to further reduce the heat factor. Served with naans, it went down a treat! So, if you're looking for a way to extend a child's taste buds, give this a shot. Nom nom nom!!

creamy creamy carbonara

2011-05-17T16:11:00.000+12:00

Okay, if you are vegan, trying to down your intake of calories, or intolerant in any way to dairy, close this now, 'cause it ain't for you! I usually make carbonara without cream, as per the traditional way from the Lazio region in Italy - my friend Bates has a wicked recipe for the pasta tradizionale on her travelogue for foodies. But last night I went back to the way I first learnt to make carbonara, and it wasn't in Italy, nor was it Italians doing the teaching. The teachers were French, and we were in France. Nathalie, the specific Frenchie doing the teaching, was from the Savoy region in France, where it's pretty alpine and they're not at all adverse to the use of cream, butter and cheese in their cuisine. So, here it is, my take on carbonara with cream, a decade on. Oh, and you can omit the splash of wine if you wish, but as I had a glass in my hand...

250 g spaghetti (or fettucine etc)
some butter or oil, for frying
200 g bacon, cut into matchsticks (les lardons as they call them in France)
1 onion, diced
handful of chopped mushrooms
250 ml cream (or thereabouts)
3 eggs
handful chopped fresh herbs
salt and pepper
parmasan cheese, grated
blue cheese (optional, but as it was in the fridge)

Get the water boiling for your spaghetti, and start that cooking.
Melt butter/oil in large frying pan. Fry the onion, bacon and mushrooms, letting the bacon get good and cooked. Set aside.
Whisk the eggs in a jug/bowl. Add the cream, herbs, salt and pepper and combine.
When the pasta is ready, drain it and add to the bacon etc.
Place pan back over a low heat and stir through the egg mixture. If you're using cheeses, add these too.
Continue to stir, allowing the mixture to warm through, but not let the eggs cook. When the sauce is thick enough serve with a sprinkling of extra parmasan. Yum!!

mundane? maybe. amazing? yes!

2011-05-12T12:09:00.000+12:00

Okay, garlic fries. Hardly going to be a winning entry into Masterchef. But it is possibly the yummest food-related discovery I've made this week (second only to the fact that last night's curry soup tastes like the laksa from Wellington's Satay Kingdom). Most people like hot chips, and I'm no exception. But oven-baked frozen fries from the supermarket just don't quite cut it. I like a little oil, and a little more flavour. So this is the perfect solution - oven-baked, then tossed with garlic-infused hot oil. Brilliant!

1 bag frozen fries (whatever cut you like, as many as you need)
4 cloves garlic, grated finely
good glug of oil - you need enough to toss the chips with

Bake chips as per instructions on packet. I like to leave mine in for a few minutes extra, to get them really golden and crunchy on the outside.
Gently heat oil in pan, add garlic and cook slowly.
Pour the oil and garlic over chips and toss to coat.

Nb: You don't have to use frozen chips, obviously - if you prefer, cut up some fresh ones at home. But this is a good way to turn puha frozen muck into homemade-tasting goodness.

อร่อยมาก - aroi mak!!

2011-05-11T09:20:00.000+12:00

I am not ashamed to say that I love the Rachael Ray show. It's fun, has funny guests, and the food demos are usually pretty fun to watch. Also her magazine - 'Everyday With Rachael Ray', 'cause it's full of two very good types of recipe ideas - quick and easy, and tasty twists on various world foods. Mum recently brought me back the latest copy of the magazine from the States, and this recipe for a thai curry soup jumped out - super simple to throw together, and with a relatively short list of ingredients. I like it! I've used broccoli florets in mine, rather than the stipulated snow peas (out of season), and swapped red curry paste for yellow (it's what we have in the fridge). I also added a few ingredients at the beginning, mostly 'cause I just enjoy frying up onions, garlic and ginger. But that goes to show - swap it up, change things for what you have, or what you fancy. Enjoy this with some roti on the side, for dunkin', or bread toasted with garlic and butter. Aroi mak!!

120 g rice noodles (or egg)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, finely diced
2 cm knob ginger, finely diced
1 cup water
400 g tin coconut cream/milk
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp curry paste (or 1, for less heat)
500 g raw prawns (peeled and deveined)
2 cups veges (broccoli, carrots, snow peas etc)
salt and pepper
fresh coriander, to serve
lemon/lime wedges (optional)

Cook noodles, drain and set aside (it's a good idea to stir a very small amount of oil through them, to prevent them sticking together, as they dry off a bit).
In pot fry onion, garlic and ginger in a little oil (or butter), until softened. Add water, coconut cream, soy and curry paste and bring to a simmer.
Add veges and cook for about 3 minutes, to crisp-tender. Season with salt and pepper.
Put the noodles back in and add the prawns. Cook for about one minute, until the prawns are just pink.
Ladle into bowls, garnish with coriander, and serve alongside toasts and lime wedges.

spice up your life!!

2011-05-05T08:05:00.000+12:00

A group of lads came by the other day, with bags and bags of fruit for sale, off the back of a pickup truck. It was fantastic - nashi pears (the size of mammoth grapefruit!), apples and pears. Big bags, $2 a pop. Where'd they get the fruit? Who knows, but it tasted great, so if it was hot, I'm not altogether concerned (though I doubt it was, I imagine they work at an orchard and these were bags which didn't meet export requirements, or something mundane like that).

Anyhoo, getting through three tramping packs full of fruit (a slight exageration, sure) was a big ask. The apples did, eventually, start to get a bit battered and bruised, sharing their space in the fridge with many other veges, jostling for position. It came time to accept we weren't going to eat all of them. The really bruised ones would, most likely, get ditched ('cause lets admit it, unless really, really hungry, or hanging out for some vitamins, no one wants to eat the ones with big, brown, soft, bruisy spots). So I stewed 'em and they became muffins. Really yum muffins too - they'd work with all sorts of fruit too - apples, pears, feijoas, tamarillos, whatever you have overkill on.

225 g flour
175 g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp mixed spice
2 cups stewed apples (I like to stew mine with a little vanilla essence and cinnamon)
125 g butter
1 egg, beaten

Set apples to stew (with any additions you fancy).
Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius and grease a dozen muffin tins.
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.
Beat egg with a fork, so ready when you need it.
Once apples are ready (drain if there's too much excess liquid) add the butter to them and stir until butter is all melted.
Add to dry ingredients, along with egg, and mix. Spoon into tins and bake for about 15 minutes.

winter warmers #5

2011-05-02T10:23:00.000+12:00

Chicken casserole. Yum. We got home yesterday after a busy weekend to be faced with that awful Sunday dilemma - what to eat? You know that feeling when you haven't got anything planned for dinner and you really can't be arsed thinking of something, let alone making it, but takeaways just don't leap out either? Well, seeing as we'd had steak, sausages and rissoles the night before (BBQ) and didn't want to eat the same, that narrowed down the choices from the freezer. Chicken, prawns or snapper.

So KB started to throw together a casserole, the first he'd done in the oven (usually being a crockpot devotee). It was so so yum - I reckon it was the lemongrass and white wine which were the star ingredients here, followed closely by ginger and soy. So, when in doubt, get the chicken out. This served 2.

4 chicken drumsticks (or any other piece on the bone)

750 ml chicken stock

250 ml white wine

dash dark soy sauce

pinch of salt, grind of pepper

few stalks of lemongrass, cut to fit in dish

fresh herbs (last night thyme and majoram were used)

1 onion, diced

2 cm fresh ginger, finely diced

1 clove garlic, finely diced

Put all ingredients into casserole dish. Stir to combine.
Cook in 180 degree celcius oven for a couple of hours (or however long you have, but no less than one hour).
Remove and serve on mash, with veges on the side (we had pak choi, capsicum and zucchini stir-fried with some sesame oil). If the sauce is too thin, shake together some flour and milk, to stir in as a thickener.

Nb: We had plenty of sauce left at the end, so have put it in the fridge (it tasted so good) and are going to use it to make some tasty meatballs for dinner this evening. Would also be a great base for a chicken and vegetable soup!

winter warmers #4

2011-04-29T09:56:00.000+12:00

A top-five of winter warmers wouldn't be worth anything if bangers and mash were not included. It is one of the most warming, quintessentially wintery meals I can think of. Basically it's a simple meal - sausages on mashed potato, with a gravy poured over it. Doesn't sound all that appetising, or worth blogging about, does it? Well, that depends on how you go about the gravy...

I learned the key to amazing bangers and mash a few years ago, when working in that well known Wellington haunt Kitty O'Sheas. The chef would make an onion gravy, with red wine and other tasty goodies and, once it had reduced a little, bang it into the oven for a half hour, to produce sausages covered in a lovely, slighty sticky, caramelised onion sauce. Amazing, seriously. The mash, well that's up to you how you do that. Using kumara is always a good idea, or add a little sour cream or cream cheese while mashing (as well as the obligatory knob of butter and dash of milk!).

So here it is, the tastiest bangers and mash you'll come across. That's a big call, but I reckon it'd hold up. Yum!

potatoes, enough for three people
butter, milk etc (for mashing later)

6 sausages (I like beef ones - make sure they're real meat, not flavoured muck)
olive oil

4 onions, sliced thinly in rings
50 g butter
pinch sea salt
3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed with blade of knife
1 tbsp brown sugar
good grind of pepper
1 glass red wine (c. 150 ml)
dash worchester sauce
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
1 L stock (I used beef)
sprig fresh rosemary or thyme (or both!)

Have the potatoes all peeled, chopped, and sitting in pot of water, ready to go later on.
Heat oil in large pan (one which can go in the oven. If you don't have one, use a casserole dish which is okay on the element. Failing all else, use pan for stove-top stuff, then transfer into ovenproof casserole when the lot goes in the oven) on medium-low. Brown the sausages slightly, but don't worry about cooking them - just colour the skins. Remove and place aside on plate (you'll add them back later).
Melt butter in pan, add onions and sea salt (to bring out the flavour) and cook slowly for about 10 minutes, until softened and slightly translucent. Don't trade butter for margarine, if you can help it - butter has a flavour that margarines just generally don't.
Stir in brown sugar, garlic and pepper. Turn up the heat and add wine, to deglaze the pan. Simmer for a few minutes, to slightly reduce the liquid. Add all other ingredients and let it burble away for 20 minutes, to reduce a bit.
Add sausages back to the fold and place the lot in a pre-heated 180 degree oven, for 30 minutes. At this point turn on your tatties, and organise any other veges you want on the side.
Enjoy your sticky, yummy onion gravy with the sausages on a nice fluffy bed of mashed spud. Brilliant, and best served with a glass of winter warming red.

winter warmers #3, a.k.a. apologies to the village chicken, again

2011-04-20T13:01:00.000+12:00

Last night was one of those more balmy autumnal evenings, when you almost think you might like to sit outside in a singlet. Hmmm, maybe not. But casseroles and the like take a seat on the back burner for a bit, making way for something a little lighter, but still warming - stuffed chicken breasts. About a year ago I gave a jar of Sabato (Julie le Clerc) harissa to KB, 'cause he's into his spice. We demolished that quick smart, discovering just how versitile the hot little paste is. Last night he whipped up one of my new favs (using a subsequent jar of harissa, obviously) - baked chicken breast stuffed with harissa and cream cheese. A good dollop of each is needed per piece of chook (which he sliced through the centre, to stuff). We served it alongside oven-baked kumara chips and BBQed zucchini and cobs of corn. Yum - summeryish, but warming enough to last into autumn. One of the yummiest meals we eat, that harissa is GOLD!

Fancy harissa, like the Sabato, can be found in various deli stores, but it don't come cheap. Indian and general Asian groceries usually have it, often several brands, of varying degrees of spiciness. You can make your own too, though that's an endeavour better left for summer, when capsicums, tomatoes and the like are abounding. I'll hunt out my recipe and pop that up. Enjoy the weekend!

winter warmers #2

2011-04-18T15:19:00.001+12:00

Chilli's a pretty obvious choice, really, when you're thinking of something warming for those cooler winter nights. The best thing about chilli is that it's not only tasty and guaranteed to crank your internal thermostat, but it's a base for a myriad of dishes - nachos, enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas, chilli con carne on toast, chilli beef pie, with rice, as a spicy alternative to traditional meat sauce in lasagne, the list is pretty endless, so will stop there, but if you're making anything which essentially uses a bolognaise sauce, then chilli can be your substitute.

Now, chilli con carne can be made using any meat (the standard is beef mince, but any type of mince works, or even finely chopped chicken breast, etc), and with as many variations to the sauce as there are endings to a Woody Allen film, so I'll just give you what I do when making a basic chilli, then list some personal favourite alternatives at the end. Muy gustoso!!

500-750 g beef mince

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

2-3 tbsp tandoori paste (or harissa, tikka masala paste)

2 tbsp tomato paste

herbs and spices, to taste (I typically use cumin seeds, ground cumin and fresh basil)

1 tin red kidney beans

1 tin tomatoes

Fry onions and garlic in a little oil. When softened add meat and brown thoroughly.
Stir through tandoori and tomato pastes.
Add herbs/spices and tins of kidney beans and tomatoes.
Stir so all meat is coated with tomato and reduce heat to allow mixture to simmer gently for up to an hour. Serve with dish of choice.

Some additions which I've made in the past have been finely grated dark chocolate, and fresh chilli. If using fresh chilli I up the tomato paste and remove the tandoori altogether.

If you're going to eat something containing chilli con carne then, more likely than not, you'll be wanting some extras on the side (unless it's being used in a lasagne), such as sour cream, grated cheese, guacamole and salsa.

A basic salsa just needs a tin of tomatoes (or a cup of finely chopped fresh ones), red onion, fresh herbs and a chilli, all finely chopped (omit the chilli if you don't do spicy).

Guacamole is a chameleon, but mine is made a la Clara, with balsamic vinegar added to the mashed avo and lemon juice mix. Mix through a finely chopped red onion too, if you want a bit of texture. So, mes amis, stay warm and eat well. xx A

winter warmers #1

2011-04-18T11:54:00.000+12:00

Last night Jim Hickey forecast a southerly making its way up the country. It hit us mid-morning - rain, wind and general bleakness. But, to be honest, it's all good - indoors, with the dog, holding a hot cup of coffee. Sweet. It did, however, meddle with my projected dinner plans. Fresh snapper was going to be on the menu, accompanied by some roasties. But when the sky turns leaden, and the temprature drops so as you're forced to add another layer (and KB to come home to hunt out a hat) nice light meals go off the menu. Warm, hearty food becomes the order of the day. So, fish tomorrow (the southerly is going to be overcome by a few more lovely sunny days), tonight - sausage casserole.

Sausage casserole, it just doesn't sound very appetising. I think it's the two words. Sausage. Casserole. They sound sort of squelchy and gross. But that's a misleader, 'cause as most of us already know, sausages are wonderful, and sausage casserole is in the top five for winter warmers (stay tuned for the rest, in no particular order). You can use whatever's to hand in the pantry, and make it upon arriving home, or in the crock pot. In my crock pot today I have thrown...

6 bacon sausages (from Hurley's Butchery in Patea, best butchery in NZ)

2 carrots, chopped up

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, whole

2 spring onions, chopped

1 tin chickpeas

1 tin pea & ham soup

2/3 cup water

cumin seeds, garam masala, black pepper

This is going to be served with the casserole's staple sidekick - mashed spuds (maybe mashed with some cream cheese, or sour cream...), and a couple of panfried zucchini (the last of the summer wine, so to speak). If I hadn't had the tin of soup, I'd have used a tin of tomatoes, equally tasty. Keep warm!

feijoas a-go-go

2011-04-18T09:29:00.002+12:00

It is well and truly feijoa season now. Some people's trees are still producing the smaller, tarter fruit, but there are enough booming with big, ripe, tasty goodness to fill shopping bags aplenty. Our neighbour down the street has such a tree, so it was time to stop talking about trying out this recipe, and actually do it.

Dad and Ann gave KB an annual gardener's diary at Christmas, packed with useful tips and recipes for the kiwi gardener, as well as a guide on what to plant, at what time etc. There's a recipe in there for this 'easy feijoa loaf', which seemed like a good way to deal to some of the green beasts now taking over our table. A friend, Tee, tried the recipe already, so I knew it was a winner. Eaten with a good covering of butter, this loaf is indeed a soft, tasty morsel, perfect with a cup of coffee mid-morning or -afternoon (or for breakfast, live a little).

1 cup feijoas, chopped

1 cup boiling water

1 cup sugar

50 g butter

1 egg, beaten

2 cups self-raising flour

1 tsp baking soda

Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees celcius.

Place feijoas, water, sugar and butter in pot (large enough to fit dry ingredients in later), bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.

Set aside to cool for a few minutes, then fold in remaining ingredients and mix well.

Pour into greased load tin (lined too, if using a metal one) and bake for 50 minutes.

In our quest to get through all the feijoas before they start to turn (given the season is relatively short-lived, it seems sad to allow any to get away) KB and I decided to use them as a blueberry substitute in sunday-morning pancakes. YUM. Seriously, what a bloody good idea that was. Better than blueberries, I reckon. We squeezed some lemon juice over the pancakes, drizzled with maple syrup (okay, I drenched) and the result was a tart and sweet plate of tastiness. Fully recommended, it rocked.

how to dress your cabbage

2011-04-11T09:25:00.000+12:00

Had the most amazing cabbage salad on Saturday. A cole slaw, I suppose it was, but not in the typical sense. No cole slaw mayonnaise, this was a light, oriental-styled, incredibly tasty masterpiece. Not the easiest feat, to have someone waxing lyrical about cabbage, but seriously this salad warrants every accolade it gets. So thanks, Alex Baker, for making what is the yummiest cabbage dish I've ever eaten. Even went for seconds (as did numerous others). For the salad proper you need to chop up as much cabbage as you are needing (there was a large bowl full on Saturday, so presumably a whole green cabbage). This was topped with tasted slivered almonds and those crispy noodle things. But the key was the dressing that was stirred through, just prior to serving...

1/2 cup oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup raw sugar
1/4 cup malt

Mix all together and stir until sugar is dissolved. YUM!!

seven deadly sins

2011-04-05T16:45:00.000+12:00

Okay, only one, and not deadly, but i've committed the cardinal sin of bloggery - I've left it close on a whole month between blog posts. I do, however, have an excuse. Whether or not it's a good one is subjective, but it's all I have. I went to Australia for a week (including Paddy's Day, which is always going to take over the priorities), have been away at the beach for another week, therefore requiring a month's worth of work and study to be crammed into two weeks. So, little time for recipe-hunting or experimenting, let alone writing about it in my egomaniacal manner.

I have had some pretty tasty foodie treats though, which I will share, by way of peace offering. My olive branch, to use a vaguely food-related analogy. If you're ever in Melbourne, go to Noodle Box, on the quay along the riverside - AMAZING. And Gordon Ramsay's Maze is a lot of fun too - small portions, but very very tasty and presented like you're in a fancy TV cooking show. Very la di da, with great wines to match (even some kiwi pinots and sauvs).

I promise to be back with a little more before too long, there's a fejoia loaf I'm keen to try, so keep your eyes on here over the next few days... A bientot!

old-fashioned ginger

2011-03-07T15:03:00.000+13:00

We all have favourite flavours, some old and tied to childhood memories and others new, associated with developing tastes, trends or culinary experimentation. I, for example, have been on a coriander kick for a few years now. Not, strictly speaking, new, but in the scheme of 27 years... A flavour though that has been a favourite of mine since the days of pinafores and leather T-bar shoes is ginger, and a favourite it is likely to remain.

Think back to childhood - gingernuts, ginger gems, ginger crunch (how good is THAT still, especially with the current trend for adding pistachios, wicked). Mum used to make amazing gingerbread cakes (and still does, for which I am very grateful!), Fran made ginger munch (our take on crunch) and the first biscuits I learned to make, after chocolate chips (I think that's the obligatory first), were ginger snaps. Over the years I've used various ginger biscuit recipes from several books, but none matched those ones from the 80s...until now. Thanks to stumbling across the kiwi-based foodies' site foodlovers.co.nz I have found a recipe to recreate those gingery, crisp, wafer-thin (well, fat-wafer-thin) discs of delight. Feel free to double the ginger!

125 g butter

250 g sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp golden syrup

1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
250 g flour

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Cream together butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add egg, syrup and spices and mix well.
Stir in remaining ingredients.
Place teaspoonfuls onto greased tray, flatten and bake for 10-12 minutes (watch after ten as they cook pretty quick). Allow room for spreading.
Remove onto cooling rack - they crisp up once cool. Yum!! Makes about 35 or so biscuits.

Cake, or death?! Part deux

2011-02-23T09:13:00.001+13:00

I love carrot cake. It's as simple as that. It is the only cake which I will almost never pass on, no matter how much I've already eaten. Doesn't matter, 'cause it's the best damned cake this side of the sun (don't really know what that means, but it fitted my general ramblingness). I've made a couple of carrot cakes over the years, one quite nice, but don't recall the recipe, the other super-healthy, with weird grains and reduced-fat icing which, to be honest, was disgusting. Bugger that - if you're going to make a cake just deal with the cream cheese, or the chocolate, or whatever - it's CAKE!! It's not supposed to be guilt-free. Just enjoy it, don't eat half in one sitting, and you're good to go.

This recipe came to be via a friend who lives in Moscow (thanks Lee!), acting as private chef for a vodka magnate. Well, if there's going to be someone who would likely be quite discerning over the quality and tastiness of his morning cake, it'd be a russian billionaire, right? Definitely - right on the money - this carrot cake is the proverbial bomb. Delicious, as confirmed by the peeps who tasted it. This is the carrot cake recipe to burn all others. You need only one, and I'm going to put it out there that this is it. Okay, now that I sound like I'm trying to sell you something, I'll get onto the recipe. It's really good though, I'll be making it again soon. Oh - the original recipe had double the amounts listed below for the icing, as it called for icing the sides too. I just went for top and centre, so didn't need as much. Up to you.

2 cups finely-grated carrot

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil (I used rice bran)
4 large eggs
225 g tin crushed pineapple, drained
1 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
2/3 cup sultanas (optional)

For icing:

225 g tub cream cheese, softened
4 tbsp butter, softened
1 tbsp lemon juice
zest from 1 lemon - reserve a little to sprinkle on top
1 1/4 cups icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease two 22cm cake tins (I used springform ones and lined the removable base with baking paper).
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a large bowl. Stir in sugar, oil, eggs, carrots, pineapple, coconut, walnuts and raisins (if using).
Divide batter between cake pans and bake until a skewer comes out clean, roughly 35 - 45 minutes.
Allow layers to cool in pans for 5 minutes, then run a thin knife around edge of each and turn onto rack to cool completely.
For the icing, beat together the cream cheese, butter, lemon zest and juice in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy (about 2 minutes). Add icing sugar and beat until icing is smooth.
Place one cake on serving plate and cover with half of icing. Add second layer and ice - make sure the cakes are completely cool, otherwise you'll end with icing running off the cake. Sprinkle with some lemon zest, seeds and the like.

green peppercorn sauce

2011-02-21T09:26:00.000+13:00

I never used to eat a lot of steak, for no reason other than I had it in my head that it was difficult to cook. Well, once a steak-loving flatmate blew that piece of crapola out the window (thanks Kate!) I discovered a whole new food-love. But steak on its lonesome can be a bit plain (unless it's eye fillet, or venison - these require nothing but slight cooking) and a couple of sauces can be the difference between an amazing, but easy, at-home meal, and the kind of steak and chips you might get at the local tavern. Mushroom sauce (slowly break down shrooms in butter) is a winner, but so is a green peppercorn. It's an age-old combo, and once you taste it you'll see why.

1 tbsp green peppercorns (crushed a little with a tiny bit of oil)
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
2 tsp HP sauce (or BBQ)
1 tbsp cream
1.5 tbsp water

Mix all ingredients together, serve with steak and salad (or chips, for the classic french steak and frites!).

up chocolate creek without a popsicle stick

2011-02-16T13:33:00.000+13:00

Seeing as this entry is a recipe for cookies, it seemed appropriate to entitle it with a quote from the gingerbread man in Shrek 2. I've made numerous varieties of chocolate chip biscuits over the years, from the hideously (but VERY good) indulgent tollhouse cookies from midwest USA, to more shortbready types designed for nibbling. I'm a bit ambivilant to CCCs in general, so when I get to feel like making a batch, I want it to be a good one. Edmonds, as always, to the rescue. Their CCC recipe is great. It's easy and it always tastes good, getting the vote of children and adults alike (not always an easy feat). Harry and I made a batch last night, for school lunches, but to be honest I think he'll be lucky if they last the week, going the way they are. Well done, Edmonds, batch two might be in order. Oh, and if wondering about the cat - just continuing the Shrek theme, Antonio Bandares did that character well.

125 g butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
few drops vanilla essence
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips (be generous)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Cream butter, sugar, condensed milk and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Mix flour and baking powder into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.
Place teaspoonfuls onto greased (or lined) trays and flatten with a fork - or flatten with your hands and use cutters to make shapes, as we did.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly browned. Makes about 25.

time to tart yourself up, sugar

2011-02-16T11:23:00.001+13:00

We've had so many tomatoes this summer it's bordering somewhere between the sublime and the ridiculous. Don't get me wrong - I love tomatoes and, when they're finished, you can guarantee I'll be complaining that I can't wait for next summer's crop. But right now keeping up with them is a mission. We give some away, we've made more than a dozen jars of relish, and still the bowls of beautifully glossy red toms are taking over the kitchen. Drastic times, drastic measures - time to consult alternative tomato uses.

Now, a tomato tart isn't really all that alternative, but it's a blog so I reckon I have poetic licence to be a little melodramatic from time to time. However, something that a tomato tart IS is tasty. Especcially this little beast, from mindfood.com. The tomatoes, which are naturally sweet anyway, caramalise in their own sugars, and the vinegar counterbalances with a touch of tang. That combined with the fact it takes half an hour = perfect, in my book. We've had two this week, for dinner and for lunch. Whack a salad alongside for a more substantial meal, cut into squares for a portable lunch.

1 frypan which can go in the oven

tomatoes, cut into thick slices, enough to cover pan

40 g butter

1 tbsp caster sugar

2 tbsp white vinegar

1 sheet puff pastry

handful fresh herbs and cracked pepper

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Heat butter, sugar and vinegar in pan until butter melted, sugar dissolved and mixture burbling a little.
Remove from heat and place slices of tomato all over pan.
Lay sheet of pastry on top, folding excess corners toward the middle.
Cook in oven for 25-35 minutes (until pastry puffed and golden).
Remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes and flip (carefully) onto serving platter. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and a good grind of pepper.

Nb: I used cherry toms, but any will be good.

when arguing with a stone, the egg is always wrong

2011-02-15T11:27:00.005+13:00

But at all other times, the egg is ALWAYS right. There's something about a bacon and egg pie that, for me, screams weekend picnic. Mum used to make them whenever we were going out at weekends - forestry AGMs, Aaron's rowing, whatever. I've never made one though, funnily enough, it's a food I'd largely forgotten about over the years. So when KB decided to throw one together to take to the lake on Sunday, my ears pricked up as my tastebuds started to reminisce down memory lane. This time we used frozen veges, but fresh obviously are the go, we just happened to have a bag that suited our purpose. I say 'our', but if I'm honest it should be 'his', as I was just loitering and watching. Bacon and egg pie, wicked - and if you feel like adding something, or substituting, or taking away, do it. Flexible foods, the best kind for weekends.

6 slices bacon

10 eggs

1 tbsp capers
1 cup chopped vegetables
1 onion, diced
1 sheet pastry (KB used flaky puff this time)

Rub a little oil into the dish you're going to cook the pie in (KB used a roasting tray) and preheat oven to 150 degrees celcius.
Chop up bacon and onion (and veges, if needs be), mix together in a large bowl with about 10 eggs. Stir through some salt and plenty of pepper.
Line your dish with a sheet of pastry (more or less, depending on size of dish) and pour pie filling in.
Bake until cooked through and golden on top.

what're you using for bait - releesh?!

2011-02-02T10:24:00.001+13:00

I love a tasty relish. On crackers, as part of a salad sandwich, on pizza, with sausages. I'm sure the list is as endless as Bubba's uses for shrimps. Anyhoo, having made a few onion relishes before, it felt like time for a change. Also, the fact we have tomato plants which appear to be on some kind of producing-steroid played a part. So, tomato relish! Jan (KB's mum) makes a really tasty one, which I have it on authority from the lady herself, is based on the good ol' recipe from Edmonds. With a few additions and tweaks, of course (extra chillies, don't bother with skinning the toms). So we've given it a go. We did skin the tomatoes but for the next batch won't bother. Tedious and unnecessary. Here you go - tasty tasty tomato relish, tweaked and then a little more!

1.5 kg tomatoes
4 red or brown onions, quartered (and probably even a little smaller)

2 tbsp salt
2 cups brown sugar
2 1/4 cups malt vinegar
4 chillies (we used 2 jalapeno and 2 long long skinnys)
lemongrass stalks (we used 3)
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp flour
1/4 cup malt vinegar

If you are going to skin the tomatoes either blanche them briefly in boiling water, to lift the skins away a bit or, as we did, grill them until the skins begin to split, then remove.
Quarter tomatoes and place in a non-metallic bowl with the onions. Sprinkle with salt and leave for 12 hours (the salt will draw the liquids out of the veges).
Drain off liquid formed and put vegetables into large pot with first measure of vinegar, sugar lemongrass and chillies. Boil gently for 1.5 hours, stirring frequently. You may want to blitz it a little with a blender wand, if it's too chunky (we did).
Mix mustard, curry, flour and second lot of vinegar into smooth paste.
Remove lemongrass stalks (discard) and stir paste into the relish. Boil for 5 minutes.
Pack into well-cleaned and dried jars. Put lids on straight away, wipe away any drips and pop into the pantry for a month or so (or eat straight away, but it's good if they can be rested for a bit).

NB: Just made another batch, with skins on - we didn't leave them for the full 12 hours and, because skins were on, they didn't release as much liquid, making for a runnier relish. Still good, but not as sticky as first lot. Probably needed to leave them a good 12 + hours.

would you lend me a couple of squid?

2011-01-31T12:09:00.002+13:00

Since 'a few squid is all it takes' KB and I have been on a bit of a calamari kick. Over a week away at the beach he prepared some squid as a starter, this time omitting any use of flour, and adding to the solitary salt and pepper some freshly chopped dill and coriander, and finely diced chilli. It was absolutely amazing, the taste was fresh and with a pleasing hint of spice. To be honest, I think he virtually ditched the salt altogether, so definitely go easy on that. Enjoy some fruit of the sea, mes amis!!

harissa me life

2011-01-18T14:41:00.000+13:00

I first came across harissa when living in France - there was a guy from Syria living in our building and he used to have a dollop on the side of his meal most nights. Once I returned to kiwiland I didn't give it any thought until one day I happened upon a jar of it in Sabato, a fabulous deli shop in Auckland.

Julie le Clerc's harissa is REALLY tasty, but it's even more fun (and just as tasty) to make your own. Also there's the added benefit of tailoring the spiciness to your own personal taste (Julie's has quite a kick). So, with the chillies - add as few or many as you wish. I wouldn't recommended less than 3, or more than 6, but see how you go.

Once you've made the harissa keep it in a sealed jar in the fridge - it keeps pretty well for a couple of weeks at least, quite possibly more (I wouldn't know, it never lasts that long!). We've used it to flavour couscous, stuff chicken breasts (my fav), on crackers with a little cheese, mixed with tomato paste on pizza and as a rub on lamb chops on the BBQ. So it's really a pretty versatile wee sauce. Nom nom nom!

2 red capsicums

3-6 long chillies (green or red)

1 garlic clove

1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
pinch salt flakes/rock salt
1/4 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
juice and zest of 1 lemon

Preheat grill to high. Cut capsicums into quarters and blacken.
Once blackened and blistering place into plastic bag and sweat, until skins removes easily (and remove skin).
Blend with other ingredients. YUM!!

Lasagne update

2011-01-11T20:29:00.000+13:00

It's zucchini season again, so it's zuch lasagne time. This year I've been making them with a cheese sauce, rather than using ricotta. Not for any particular reason other than it's something I can make from ingredients in the cupboard and fridge, when there ain't no ricotta. Also Harry knows how to make a cheese sauce and getting a six-year-old involved in the making of dinner is ALWAYS a good way to go. So, without further ado, the cheese sauce, should you ever need to replace the ricotta from I ♥ ricotta, here it is...

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk
salt
pepper
good handful grated cheese (1/2 - 1 cup)
tbsp wholegrain mustard (optional)

Melt butter in saucepan. When melted add flour and briskly stir in - this makes what is called a roux. Add half of the milk, stirring constantly, so the mixture binds and is free of lumps.
Add rest of milk, grind in some salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.
Add cheese and mustard, stir through. Continue to stir as sauce thickens.
Turn off heat, sauce will continue to thicken.

Three Kings Cake

2011-01-08T09:17:00.001+13:00

Christmas foods seem to fall into one of two categories. The first - insanely complicated and time-consuming, resulting in copious hours in the kitchen which, given Christmas is in summer here in kiwiland, seems a bit ridiculous. Secondly you have easy, BBQ-style, low-fuss high-taste. Much smarter. Rifling through the November-December edition of Cuisine I discovered that there was a potential third category - relatively time-consuming, but easy.

There was a recipe for a three milk cake which was topped with a fluffy mound of marshmallow. It needed to be made over a couple of days (to allow the cake and the marshmallow time in the fridge to do their thing), but it was simple to make and just looked sooooo cool. Especcially at the end, with green pistachios and red cranberries sprinkled over the top!!

The original recipe suggested trimming the marshmallow before serving, to make it nicely in line with the cake, but I didn't bother - why waste marshmallow? Without further ado, meet the Christmas centrepiece of the future...

For the cake
225 g flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
5 large eggs, separated
225 g caster sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence (or 1 tsp extract)
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Butter 21cm x 12cm loaf tin and line base with baking paper.
Place egg whites in large bowl and whisk to form firm peaks (I used a handheld electric beater). Gradually add sugar, still whisking.
Turn motor to lowest speed and whisk in egg yolks, vanilla and lemon juice. Fold in flour, baking powder, salt and milk.
Spoon mixture into prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
Turn baked cake onto a wire rack and allow to cool for 1o minutes.

For the three milks
200 ml condensed milk

150 ml cream

150 ml milk

Combine ingredients in jug.
Cut any dark sides from cooled cake and place cake into dish slightly bigger than it is.
Poke holes in top of cake and pour half the milk mixture over, reserving remainder for serving.
Cool completely, cover and refridgerate overnight to soak up milks.

For marshmallow topping

2 egg whites

125 g caster sugar

1 tsp tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp rosewater (I used normal water with a drop red colouring)
1 1/2 tsp powdered gelatine
125 ml boiling water

Whisk egg whites to firm peaks then gradually whisk in sugar. Finally mix in lemon juice and coloured water.
Add gelatine to boiling water, stirring until dissolved.
Slowly pour gelatine into egg mixture while whisking. Continue whisking until mix is cool and firm (about 8 minutes).
Pile marshmallow on top of cake and return to fridge to chill for at least an hour, or up to a day.

Remove cake from fridge about 30 minutes before serving andd tidy up the marshmallow with a hot knife, if you wish. Sprinkle with pistachios and cranberries and put reserved milks into jug alongside.

Happy Birthday baby, got you on my miii-iiind

2010-12-08T15:06:00.001+13:00

It's been birthdays galore lately. Alistairs, mine, Jan's, KB's, plus a handful of friends'. Good time to trial a few new cakes. Plenty of guinea pigs. Mwa ha haaaa. Anyway, I came across this recipe, for Rich Chocolate Cake, in my trusty Edmonds Cookery Book (46th ed.) and thought it sounded perfect for a chocolate-lover's birthday repast. Moist, dense and, presumably, uber-chocolatey. Unfortunately it wasn't all that chocolatey, or very rich. It was very nice, and moist and all that, but when one makes a rich chocolate cake, one wants it to be bloody rich and chocolatey, doesn't one?

However, I think I know what the problem may have been... The original recipe said 150 g chocolate. Bugger that - 200 g from now on. And I used pretty cheap cooking chocolate. Next time it'll be cadbury energy, or whittikers dark ghana, or something with some real chocolate kick. So, lesson learned - don't skimp on the chocolate when making a chocolate cake. You'd think I'd have figured that out by now, wouldn't you?

Oh well, all's well that ends well - the cake was eaten and enjoyed, which is the main thing. Great cake, but take note of where I went wrong. :)

175 g butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 eggs, separated
200 g dark chocolate, melted
140 g ground almonds

Preheat oven to 190 degrees celcius.
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks.
Melt chocolate slowly, by placing bowl over pot of simmering water. Fold this and the almonds into the butter mixture.
In another bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into cake mixture.
Pour into greased and lined 20cm springform tin.
Bake for 20 mins then reduce heat to 150 degrees for further 35 minutes, or until form.
Allow cake to cool in tin before serving dusted with icing sugar and a dollop of yoghurt or whipped cream.

Snickerdoodles

2010-11-18T11:17:00.001+13:00

About a week or so ago I was in the mood for filling the biscuit tin so turned to the guru of domestic cooking, Nigella Lawson, for inspiration. This recipe, from How to be a Domestic Goddess, was chosen largely because of the name. It just sounds so ridiculous, so the resulting food must be fabulous, right? Well, the biscuits that resulted were plentiful and damned tasty, though not without some tweaking for next time (see note below). I altered the recipe slightly (adding chocolate chips), to meet the tastes of the intended eaters, and suspect other variations would work equally well, perhaps a handful of crushed up pistachios or almonds would be nice, or coconut. Anyhoo, without further talking on my part, here it is, snickerdoodles, the most fun-sounding cookie I've come across in ages!

250 g flour

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (I used mixed spice)

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

125 g butter
100 g caster sugar (plus 2 extra tbsp)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp cinnamon
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
dash milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Combine together flour, nutmeg, baking powder and salt. Set aside momentarily.
In large bowl cream butter and 100 g sugar together until light and pale, then beat in egg and vanilla.
Stir in set-aside dry ingredients and chocolate chips until you have a smooth mixture. I found mine was too dry and crumbled, so I added a dash of milk here, to help it bind together.
Roll out walnut-sized balls, roll in mixture of sugar and cinnamon, and place on lined or greased baking tray. Don't squash down - they're more like little biscuity cakes than the typical flat biscuit.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until golden-brown. Makes about 32 (I think I got 40 out of this batch).

NB: These tasted really good, like little cinnamon doughnuts, but were very crumbly in texture. Nice for dunking but possibly a bit dry for the majority of peoples' taste in biscuits. I'm going to make these again, but next time will see how they turn out if flattened a little, to make them crisp, rather than crumbly. We'll see...

Procrastibaking

2010-11-04T16:21:00.000+13:00

There's just nothing like a bit of procrastibaking when studying for exams (or indeed when one ought to be doing almost anything that one would rather not be doing). So you can imagine how pleased I was on Tuesday afternoon (with exam looming on Wednesday morning) to be able to convince myself that it really was imperative that I bake a cake for a friend's birthday. Realistically I doubt she would've given a hoot had we turned up bearing cake or not, but the excuse worked for me.

Last Sunday, when baking Alistair's pear and ginger birthday cake, our oven's element blew up, necessitating a trip down the street, to bake the cake in a friend's mum's oven (one of the innumerable handy things about small towns). While I was there she gave me this recipe, for a very speedy chocolate cake/sponge (I guess it depends on how well you beat it). Anyhoo, I gave it a shot on Tuesday, for Cath's birthday, and it turned out pretty well. I'm not a massive chocolate cake fan and I liked it. The others, who are chocolate cake fans, all appeared to like it to. So here it is - super easy and pretty well foolproof. I like the whole 'bung everything into a bowl' idea too - go the Waikato Ladies' Golf Association (from whose cookbook it came)!

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

3 tbsp soft butter

1/2 cup milk

2 tbsp cocoa

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line/grease 20cm round cake tin (or equivilant).
Beat all ingredients together for 3 minutes.
Pour into tin and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Ice or dust with icing sugar.

Hungry and Frozen: sunshine is a friend of mine...

2010-11-04T16:09:00.001+13:00

Hungry and Frozen: sunshine is a friend of mine...

cast your votes!

2010-11-01T14:54:00.003+13:00

In Ancient Greece votes were cast by scratching the initials of the candidates onto mussel shells. Nowadays things are done a trifle differently, but that doesn't mean there ain't no use for the mussel...

I'm allergic to shellfish, so it's pretty rare that I blog about anything shellfishy 'cause, to be honest, I just don't cook it. But last night KB prepared a mussel appetiser for his parents which, I have to be honest, for the first time made me wish I could eat those little molluscs. It looked so tasty! Grilled mussels, in half-shell, with a fresh and light topping. He smashed together a 2cm knob of ginger root with a handful of coriander leaves and the zest of a lemon (use a morter and pestle, or just chop it all up real fine). This was sprinkled onto the mussels which, having been steamed open and one half of shell discarded, were sitting diligently on an oven tray. Some parmasan cheese lightly grated on top, a drizzle of oil (really light) and grill for a couple of minutes (don't overdo or they'll be rubbery).

I think the thing I liked most about this dish (limited, seeing as I couldn't taste it) was the way it looked. The bright colours of the lemon zest and the coriander, against the pearly white of the mussel shell, and the darker green of the outer shell. If you're a shellfish fiend I suggest you head to your local supy and get in the kitchen, 'cause this was a winner.

the apple's grandaddy

2010-11-01T14:31:00.001+13:00

I love it when someone sees a recipe they like and ask me to try it. It means I get to try something new, and there's going to be someone waiting and wanting to eat it. Bang up combo, that is. Yesterday I made, with significant help from KB, a birthday cake for his dad. Pear and ginger cake. Not a cake I would've gravitated to, had it not been suggested, but one that I'm very glad I've made. It was so yum. Not too sweet, nice and tender, not too crumbly but not doughy either. And easy to make, with no overly weird ingredients. The only thing we had to buy specially was a couple of pears. Will definitely be making this baby again, next time am going to try it with apple and rhubarb. The pear was great, so will be interesting to see how apple/rhubarb is.

185 g butter, softened                                      FOR SYRUP:
3/4 cup castor sugar                                                          50 g butter
2 eggs                                                                                   1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large pears (we used packham)                                    1 tsp ground ginger
2 cups self-raising flour                                                     1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground ginger (heaped!)                                          1/2 cup water
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
juice of half a lemon

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line 20 cm round cake tin with baking paper/grease sides.
Mix together butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Peel, core and slice pears.
Sift in flour and ginger. Add milk, vanilla, pear and mix well.
Spoon into cake tin, bake for 1 hour, or until inserted skewer comes out clean.
Cool in tin for about 10 minutes, then remove to and cool on cake rack.
For syrup put all ingredients into saucepan, melt butter and bring to boil. Boil briefly, remove from heat. Serve warm drizzled over cake.

a few squid is all it takes

2010-10-18T13:07:00.002+13:00

I love calamari (also referred to as 'squid'), so it's unusual that I've never once cooked with it before. I mean, I get well excited if I see it on a restaurant menu (not including fake calamari rings you see on pub menus, though they too have their time and place). So you can imagine my excitement when, over the weekend, whilst reading a recipe for 'squid and saffron rice salad' Emma offered to show me how to cut up, prepare and use a whole squid. I'd never even looked at the squid in the supermarket, frozen or otherwise, having always assumed that it must be terribly difficult to prepare. Well, Em imformed me, it ain't necessarily so...

With making the aforementioned salad in mind we traipsed about the Taupo supermarket in search of our animal. Unfortunately they were entirely out of whole squid. So plan B - some frozen squid tubes, to make salt and pepper friend squid, as an appetiser. Learning to cut up and prepare a whole squid will have to wait for next time.

Once the squid had thawed out (doesn't take long, especcially on a warm day) Emma cut the tube along one side, so she could open it out flat. She then scored it all over one side and cut into pieces (see awesome diagram). When scoring the flesh it's best to use a slightly serrated butter knife, rather than a sharp kitchen knife, as they tend to make a wider cut, without just cutting right through (which you don't want). Together we coated it in a mixture of flour and cornflour, seasoned with salt and pepper (a little paprika, lemon-pepper, garlic salt etc would make nice additions/substitutions here).

Dave, reputed Squid Cook King, stepped in at this point, to take over my position as Emma's culinary partner, one I was happy to relinquish, leaving me watching as the coated strips of calamari were shallow-fried in a combination of hot butter and oil. Don't cook for too long, or they'll become rubbery - they curl a wee bit when ready.  Serve hot, sprinkled with a little sea salt (Maldon was the preferred type on this occasion) and a good grind of pepper.

Nb: Be careful also not to oversalt them before serving - better to use the salt sparingly and place a dish of salt on the table, so people can add more to taste.

skulking in the stews

2010-10-04T17:04:00.000+13:00

I love trying new recipes. This was one I found on mindfood.com when having a look through their latest lot. A few days after finding it there were 5 for dinner and it was a cold night, so what better than a warming, tasty casserole? Until relatively recently I'd always thought of casseroles and stews as that tasteless, old-fashioned, boring meaty soup-glop. But, having tried a few damn good casseroles over the past couple of years, and trying some different combinations myself, I've realised how wrong I was.

Casseroles (and stews, for that matter) are only boring if you leave it as meat, water and veges. Blah. Throw in some herbs and spices (especcially spices), and pan cook a bit before the liquid gets added and badabing badaboom, you're onto a winner. Served with rice, couscous, pearl barley, pasta, toast (buttery toast with a tasty casserole, yum, now I'm almost wishing winter were back again!). I'll try and hunt out a good recipe I had for a cuban-inspired casserole too, 'cause that was awesome. It had a homemade salsa verde, with heaps of coriander. But, for now - hearty cajun lamb!!

2 tbsp olive oil
1 kg lamb rump steak, cut into 3 cm pieces (give or take)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 red capsicum, finely chopped
3 stalks celery, finely chopped
good grinding of black pepper
1 tsp each salt, cajun, paprika and dried thyme
400 g tin tomatoes
1/2 cup chicken stock (or water)
rice, to serve

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Brown lamb in large pan. Once browned add onion, garlic, capsicum and celery, cooking for further 5 minutes or so.
Add spices, stir through, add tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil.
Transfer to casserole dish (with a lid). Cover and cook for about an hour and a quarter. Serve with rice.

Nb: I cooked ours for about an hour an a half, and it was fine. Also, it stayed warm in the oven, once oven turned off, for a good hald hour more, so no hurry. Just be sure it's not drying out and you're fine.

an oldie, but a goodie

2010-09-13T09:40:00.000+12:00

You can't really beat the good ol' chocolate cake. It mightn't be your favourite, but it's almost universally popular and, when undecided on what to bake, this cake is an easy option, every time. I love carrot cake, but like making chocolate because of how easy it is to do and the fact that it's like a blank canvas - you can decorate it, ice it, dust with sugar, whatever - it's good with almost anything.

Ordinarily i'd stick with the more typical chocolate icing. This time however I had Harry, who's six, helping me bake, so it was decided that we'd make three colours of lemon icing. The cake, when finished, looks like something on acid, but it tastes GREAT! Lemon icing and cake = surprisingly good!

The cake itself comes from good ol' Edmonds (another oldie, but a goodie). Can't beat it.

175 g butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs (I used 4, 'cause they were small)
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease 22cm round tin.
Cream butter, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
Sift together cocoa, flour and baking powder. Fold into the creamed mixture, alternately with milk.
Pour into prepared tin and bake for 55 minutes (or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into centre).
Leave on wire rack to cool, then ice.

For the icing we mixed icing sugar (start with about a cup and see how you go - you may need more, depending on how much icing you want) and lemon juice together, adding the juice until the consistency was right (you could use water, orange juice, lime juice). Then add colouring, if desired. Ice and decorate.

from the deep deep depths of ceylon...

2010-09-08T08:02:00.000+12:00

This isn't the first time I've come across a good recipe whilst perusing a Rick Stein cookbook. This one came from Far Eastern Odyssey and is just brilliant, because it's so simple. He's picked up a recipe for roti, from street vendors in Sri Lanka, and has passed it on to the reader in its most simple form. Fantastic, good work, Ricky.

This is a recipe for gothamba roti, typically used in a number of Sri Lankan dishes, made with gothamba flour. I have just used ordinary white flour and it was fine. Perhaps buckwheat flour would be a nice option though, if you have some. The ingredients below are as listed in Rick's recipe, but I think next time I make them I'll add a smidge more salt (up to you) and a teaspoon of sugar, 'cause they could've use a little more je ne sais quoi. See how you go - make 'em once, then alter as your taste buds direct. I served them with a green thai beef curry, so lack of flavour wasn't really an issue.

300 g flour
1 tsp oil (I used sesame)
3/4 tsp salt
250 ml warm water
extra flour for kneading

Mix all ingredients (except the extra flour) together in bowl into a pliable dough.
Turn onto floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes, dusting with more flour as needed.
Put into oiled bowl, cover with cling-film and leave somewhere warm (or at least no drafty) for 30-60 minutes.
Divide into about 10 pieces. Form into disks, cook in hot oiled pan (I formed the disks as they were needed for cooking *), about 2 minutes on first side, then 1 one other side.
Serve warm with curry. YUM!!

NB: * - I didn't actually form the disks - this job was taken over by KB, who has greater skill in dough-manipulation.

Ragin' cajun apple pie

2010-09-06T10:35:00.000+12:00

About five years ago I was watching the Food Network (or Food TV, or Food Channel, or whatever it's called on Sky here in kiwiland), Emeril Lagasse Live - the ragin' cajun! He made an apple pie with custard inside it. It looked so good that I immediately trawled the sky guide to see when the show would be repeated. The next time I was ready - pen and paper - that recipe was a keeper! I made the pie soon afterwards and it was really good, and easy to make. So it's strange that, after that one time, I never made it again. Until last week (I came across the recipe in a serendipidous moment, whilst actually looking for something else. Happy days).

You're supposed to slice the apples thinly, but I can never be bothered. I just cut them off the core in chunks. It tastes the same, it just looks a little more rustic. If you can't get all the custard in, don't worry. Just pour in as much as you can without it overflowing - placing the pie dish on a baking tray is a wise move, just in case...

I'm going to make this one again this afternoon, but will use half apples and half tinned peaches. If you have other fruits (rhubarb, or berries in summer), use them too. I'd probably leave at least half apples, but other than that, use what you like best! Enjoy!!

2 x sheets sweet shortcrust pastry
2 tbsp butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
800 g apples, sliced (granny smith are good)
1 egg, for brushing
¼ cup sugar
½ cup cream (maybe a smidge more, see how you go)
1 egg yolk
½ tsp vanilla essence

Line pie dish with one sheet of pastry.
Melt butter in pan. Stir in brown sugar and cook for 1 minute.
Add cinnamon and apples. Sauté for 3 minutes. Turn into pie base.
Cut hole in second sheet, cover pie with this. Crimp edges, brush with egg yolk.
Cook for 15 minutes.
Whisk together sugar, cream, egg yolk and vanilla. Pour into hole in pie’s centre.
Cook for further 30 minutes.
Either cool completely and dust with icing sugar, or serve warm from the oven with icecream or cream.

LAKSAAAAAA!!

2010-08-30T09:56:00.000+12:00

Laksa is my favourite south-east asian dish. The coconutiness mixed with a little bit of heat makes for a really amazing flavour. There're innumerable malaysian restaurants in Wellington, each particularly good for a particular dish or two, but for laksa (for me anyway) it's Satay Kingdom, down the Leftbank Arcade (off Cuba Mall). Their vege laksa with tofu is the best i've ever had, hands down.

However, seeing as I now live in the Mighty Waikato, it's a trifle difficult to get my laksa-fix (the laksa-flavoured Trident 2-minute noodles are good, but...), so I decided it was time to take the proverbial bull by the horns and make this king of soups for myself. I've used chicken, because I'm a bit of a retard with the deep-fried tofu, so thought i'd leave that for next time. So, here we are - chicken and vege laksa, adapted from a recipe found on Mindfood. Hope you love it! As with most recipes on here you can add pretty much any vegetable you like, swap chicken for prawns, etc. I've used some baby corns too and, next time, will roast some chunks of kumara in advance and have those in there too. Shake it up, serves 4. :)

125 g rice noodles (I like quite fat ones)
2 zucchini, cut into slices (or 1 eggplant, thinly sliced and salted)
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 tbsp red curry paste
1 medium onion (optional)
400 ml tin coconut milk
600 ml hot chicken stock
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 stalk lemongrass, bruised
150 g beans/sugarsnap peas, cut in half
1 tsp brown sugar
zest and juice from 1 lime (or lemon)
handful fresh coriander/basil

Put noodles in a wide bowl and cover with boiling water for 5 minutes to soften. Drain, refresh in cold water and set aside.
Preheat grill to high. Put zucchini on baking tray, brush with oil and season with salt. Grill for 4-5 minutes each side until golden. Drain on kitchen paper.
Stir-fry curry paste in a large pan or wok over medium heat for 1 minute (with onion, if using). Stir in coconut milk and stock and bring to a simmer. Add chicken and lemongrass, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Lift out chicken with a slotted spoon and shred.
Return chicken to pan with sugar snap peas and aubergine. Simmer for 2 minutes. Stir in noodles, sugar, lime zest and juice and most of the herbs and heat through. Ladle into bowls. Serve with lime wedges (extra) and remaining coriander or basil leaves.

we need more neon foods

2010-08-23T15:18:00.000+12:00

Well, maybe not neon like the zinc we used as sunblock when we were kids, but definitely bright. Turmeric is the queen of spices for this - she'll make the most boring of foods suddenly exciting. Take this soup recipe for example. When somebody gave me this (and apologies, I can not remember from whence this came) I politely smiled and graciously accepted the recipe. Of course, the whole time I'm thinking "cauliflower soup? no freakin' way, my friend".

Well, talk about having to eat my proverbial hat. I eventually made the soup and had to not only admit that it tasted amazingly good, but it also looked cool - it's BRIGHT yellow, as neon as food can legally get in NZ. Seriously, this stuff is the shizzle. I've made it a few times now, for various different people and it has been enjoyed every time. Most people look a little skeptical before trying it, but it don't last. So, do something more interesting with that cauliflower going soft in the bottom of your vege crisper than pair it with cheese sauce (no disrespect to the cheese sauce though!). If you've time, make some naan's too, for dipping. YUM!!

4 tbsp olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 med. head cauliflower
2 tsp curry powder
1-2 tsp turmeric
salt and pepper
300 ml hot chicken stock
300 ml milk
extra hot water
100 g chedder, grated

Heat 1/2 oil, cook onion and celery in large pan. Add remaining oil and cook cauliflower florets for 4-5 minutes, with spices and salt and pepper.
Pour in stock. When simmering add milk - if liquid not covering veges, add a little more water.
Simmer gently for about 10 minutes, or until florets are cooked (but not overly mushy).
Blend (I use my wand thingee) and, over low heat, stir in cheese. YUM!!

sticky chook

2010-08-18T10:34:00.001+12:00

I think most people have had chinese soy chicken before, with its lovely sticky glaze. I came across this recipe when perusing some Rick Stein cookbooks at the Bates' house in Taupo. My Mum always used to make a mean version of this, so I thought it was worth giving a try.

Last night the ingredients were thrown together. It was super easy and all the ingredients were in the cupboard or fridge, so no having to make a trip to the supy just to make dinner. Happy days! I've make a note of where I altered an ingredient, due to lack of the original, but I don't think Rick will mind.

6 chicken drumsticks
1 small lemon
1 tsp cayenne pepper (or chilli)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
5 cm piece peeled fresh ginger, finely diced
3 tbsp honey
4 tbsp HP sauce (I didn't have this)
3 tbsp red wine vinegar (I used balsamic)
1 tbsp worchestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 tbsp tomato puree (I used paste)
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, finely diced

Preheat oven to about 180 degrees celcius.
Place chicken in oven-proof dish. Squeeze over the juice from the lemon, the oil, cayenne (just sprinkle this to taste) and salt. Grate the lemon zest over top.
Put all other ingredients into a bowl and mix into a smooth sauce. Brush over the chicken on both sides.
Cook for about 35-45 minutes, taking out periodically to brush with more sauce. Once chicken is cooked through, serve with rice, mash, or couscous.

NB: I served this with rice (add cumin seeds at the same time as the rice, that's REALLY good) and a green salad. The jus from the chicken made for tasty goodness on the rice.

Coca Cola, and a little bit of thievery...

2010-08-18T10:11:00.001+12:00

This recipe comes to you for two reasons - firstly, because I read Laura Vincent's wonderful 'Hungry and Frozen' recipe blog, and secondly because I love Nigella Lawson's baking. Yum yum yum. When Laura blogged recently about making a Coca Cola Chocolate Cake, from Nigella's 'How To Be A Domestic Goddess' (which I am fortunate enough to have a copy of), I thought right, that's me this week. Bake that.

So Wednesday morning, rather than reading something for uni, I'm reading Nigella's baking bible and thinking how wrong it seems to be pouring coke into cake batter. But strangely good, at the same time. And from the smell coming from the oven, I reckon it was a good call. So, without further ado, I present to you the recipe for what is likely to be the cake of all chocolate cakes...

Coca Cola Chocolate Cake, à la Laura

PS: I've used a link to Laura's blog of the recipe because it seems a waste to type it out a second time and because you should read her blog too. Go Wellington, go! The only difference between hers and mine is that I used 100 mls milk and 30 mls yoghurt, rather than half and half. Enjoy!

PPS: If you want some icing heat together 1 tbsp butter, 2 tbsp coke, 1/2 tbsp cocoa and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Once butter all melted stir in about 150 g icing sugar. Pour over once cake is removed from tin, but still warm.

Cuppa chai, love?

2010-08-17T10:56:00.001+12:00

About a year or so ago I was staying with Millie at her old flat in Taupo (it was mean, right by the airport, runway playground!!) and, as happens in Taupo during winter, we were getting a trifle chilly. Mil started making chai for everyone, creamy, fragrant spiced goodness. And not from a lipton box or sugary syrup bottle either, she was making it from scratch. It was the first time I had ever had a chai tea (or chai latte is, I suppose, more appropriate, given there's milk in here and it's got quite a creamy texture) and, having tasted imitations since, hands down the best. She learnt the basics of what to do when travelling in India, and from there it's really a matter of taste. If Millie reads this she may notice a couple of alternations from her usual modus operandi, as chances are I've forgotten/changed/added bits along the way. So, get a pot, something to use as a strainer, and simmer your way to a piece of terrestrial heaven.

2 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced

4 whole cloves

6 cardamom pods, bruised (basically smack 'em)
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp raw sugar
1 tbsp honey (use two, if you haven't any raw sugar)
1 black tea bag
1 cup milk
1 cup water

Put everything in a pot, over medium heat on the stove. Slowly heat through, allowing the tea bag to steep.
When the tea has a good colour remove the tea bag and the ginger pieces (this is to taste, I don't like mine too gingery).
Strain from pot into a pourer, or directly into 4 cups - I pour mine from the pot into a coffee press (bodum etc) and use the strainer in that.

me gusta mañana, me gustas tu, me gusta enchilada, me gustas tu

2010-08-11T10:55:00.001+12:00

One of my favourite types of food is mexican and (good) tex mex. Quesadillas, fajitas, burritos, enchiladas, tostadas, empanadas... The list is long, and the list is tasty. When I was in Texas recently I ate some seriously good mexican and tex mex, at restaurants (if you're in Allen, near Dallas, check out La Finca Chiquita, it's awesome) and at home.

A friend gave me her enchilada recipe which, having made since getting back to kiwiland I can confirm that it is muy MUY buen. I've made a few annotations to the original recipe, to make it user-friendly across the great Pacific-divide, because some ingredients have to be altered slightly. But that's okay, in fact, that's the best part - you can alter ingredients quite a lot with recipes like this one. You don't like avocado? Don't use it. You want to use some mince? Go ahead - just brown it with some onion and add it to the filling. Can't find green taco sauce? Use regular salsa. Oh, and heads up - coriander = cilantro.

So, without further ado, it's enchilada-time!

3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
2 cups grated cheese (US - jack with peppers, NZ - tasty)
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 fresh chilis, chopped up (US - use 4.5 oz tin green chilis)
1/3 cup fresh coriander, chopped
8 flour tortillas (8")
1 jar green taco sauce/salsa (about 1 cup)
toppings - diced tomatoes, diced avocado, more coriander, red onion...

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius (350 farenheit).
Stir together the chicken, cheese and 1/2 cup of sour cream. Spoon mixture over tortillas, roll up.
Place tortillas seam-side-down in lightly greased oven dish. Brush lightly with olive oil and twist some cracked pepper.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden.
Stir together the remaining sour cream with the taco sauce. Spoon over hot enchiladas, and top with toppings. Serves 4.

NB: What's with the title? Manu Chao, baby!!

Vegetastic goodness

2010-08-09T12:50:00.001+12:00

Sunday night. It's been a busy weekend up in Auckland. Can't be bothered even THINKING about dinner. But obviously, one must eat. So...something simple, using what's in the fridge, preferably with lots of vitamins and minerals, to replace those lost by a weekend of wine, coffee and adrenilin. Vege bake!! KB introduced me to the wonder that is the vege bake a few months back. I mean, I knew that people made them, but never had personally. Here's what went into last night's creation - it was gooooooood - the garlic was the icing on the proverbial cake, methinks.

1 beetroot, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pumpkin (cut into pieces about 1x2 cm)
1 cup yams
3 cloves garlic

2 sprigs rosemary
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour (you might need a little more)
1.5 cups milk
1/2 cup cheese, grated
salt and pepper
1 cup cauliflower and broccoli

Place beetroot, carrot, pumpkin, yams (or whatever combo of veges you have for roasting - capsicum, zucchini, potato, kumara etc), garlic in roasting pan (pour a little olive oil over them, swish around to coat).
Mix together the olive oil, soy sauce and honey. Drizzle over the veges, in particular the yams.
Chuck the rosemary sprigs on top and put into the oven (about 180 degrees celcius) to roast for about an hour. Pull them out periodically, to move them around.
Melt butter over low heat in small pot.
Add flour and whisk to form roux (basically mix it until it's all combined). Add milk slowly, whisking all the time. Turn up heat to medium, bring to boil, then reduce back to low. Add cheese. When all melted in, remove from heat and allow to thicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Place veges (roasted and the cauli/broc combo) into ovenproof dish. Pour cheese sauce over and grate a little parmasan cheese on top, if you have some (some freshly-grated nutmeg would be yum too). Pop into the oven until browned a little on top and eat. YUM!!!!

Bananarama

2010-08-09T11:45:00.003+12:00

Banana-ripeness has a tendency to sneak up on me. Sometimes I'll buy a bunch and chew through 'em no problems. Other times I get distracted, go away for a couple of days and boom, they're soft and kind of gross (at least, for eating). So it's baking time. I'm not a big fan of muffins, but they're the easiest way to rid your fruitbowl of a couple of banana bandits. I found this recipe on Kiwiwise. I added chocolate chips. :)

2 mashed bananas

6 tbsp melted butter

8 tbsp sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 cups white flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
1 tbsp baking powder
chocolate chips, up to you...

Preheat oven to 220 degrees celcius.
Add egg and sugar to melted butter and beat. Stir in banana and milk.
Add dry ingredients and stir until free of lumps (except those that are mashed banana).
Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake for about 10 minutes, or until skewer comes out clean when poked into muffin.

Annie, get your gun...

2010-07-26T21:41:00.001+12:00

...and go bag yourself a chicken? Nah, nobody needs to go shoot themselves a chook, not these day (just check out the deli and/or freezer section of the local supy). Of course, if that's your cup of tea, then who am I to try to dissuade you (I mean heck, you've got a gun!).

I spent the weekend visiting family which, as I've commented before, is always great - especcially from the food point of view. Lots of new recipes to look through and new dishes to try. This weekend continued the theme that seems to have settled in this winter - chicken. To be precise, chicken, bacon and white wine. Any complaints? HELLZ no!

This is sort of a chicken casserole, but with a sauce rather than a casseroley-liquid (by this I mean there's not as much liquid as one might expect from a trad casserole). I'm going to be making this again later in the week (Annie cooked it this weekend, not me - I just observed carefully) and will add mushrooms to the mix. Nom nom nom. Right, here we go...

4 chicken breasts
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup chopped bacon (I've picked up a packet of bacon ends from the meat section)
1/2 mushrooms
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock (liquid stock tastes better here than powdered)
about 1 tbsp cornflour (maybe less)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Coat chicken in flour, brown in pan, remove (to casserole dish).
Cook onion, bacon, mushrooms in pan, remove (to casserole).
Deglaze pan with wine, stir in stock and thicken with cornflour - sift cornflour in and whisk in small batches, so you don't end up with nasty lumps. Pour sauce into casserole
and bake in oven until ready (about an hour - hour and a half). If the dish is ready before you are simply cover with foil and keep warm.
Serve with roasted/steamed veges and/or green salad with grated parmasan and balsamic.

chicken soup for the soul

2010-07-19T14:14:00.000+12:00

There's something about soup in winter that is like a balm to our cold and irritable senses. If you're feeling a bit under the weather, if you're in late from a busy day, if you're curling up on the couch with a book for a lazy day off, soup with some buttered slices of toast is a winner every time.

Over the weekend I caught up with some friends. Cruising by Emma's parents' house at around lunchtime turned out to be fortuitous timing - Mrs Bates had made chicken soup the day before and there was a bowlful left. Score! Reheated, with a piece of the aforementioned toast, it was delicious.

So, a couple of days later and I'm back at home and feeling the effects of a busy weekend. It's soup time. Chicken soup time. It's easy (deceptively easy - I've just finished making a pot and feel like there MUST be more to it) and a pot will feed several people, or last several days. Move this recipe around, to suit what's in your cupboard, or what you like to eat. This is just what I threw in the pot, today. Tomorrow's another day.

1 chicken (I used a size 16, or medium)
2 carrots
2 parsnips
2 stalks celery
2 onions
1 swede
1 packet soup mix - I used Sun Valley Foods as it had more barley than the others available
salt and pepper, to taste - you can always add more later
1 tsp each of chicken stock powder, cumin seeds, dried thyme, mustard seeds
spring fresh rosemary and parsley

Fill stock pot a little over halfway with hot water, put on stove top to bring to boil.
Add chicken. Chop veges and add, along with soup mix and any spices you choose to use.
Once boiling, reduce temprature and allow to simmer for about an hour or so (until the chicken is well and truly cooked - the legs/wings will be falling away from the body).
Remove chicken to a plate and strip all the meat from the bones and removing the skin. If you want to make stock from the bones, set them aside. Add chicken meat back into soup.
Turn off heat and leave the soup sitting in the covered pot for a few hours, to let the flavours steep and strengthen. Reheat when it's time to eat. Serve with bread, or a side of rice.

NB: Some addition you may like would be to add some pasta, or rice. Some like to throw a tin of tomatoes in, or a little cream. If you've curry paste in the fridge (green thai, for example) this would be a tasty addition, and a little coconut milk!

Project Pancake

2010-07-14T02:27:00.002+12:00

Heidi Klum advertises Dannon Light & Fit yoghurt in the USA. Smart marketers - most people like yoghurt anyway, Dannon tastes good, and add Heidi into the mix and sorry Yoplait, you are the weakest link.

I buy Dannon whenever I'm in the US or Europe, 'cause it's so damn good. Seriously, best yoghurt ever. Anyway, the latest batch to make it to the home fridge had the following recipe for cornmeal (polenta) pancakes. Sounded good, so I thought I'd give 'em a try.

They are slightly odd in texture - a little granular, because of the polenta - but really light and fluffy. They taste amazing, 'cause of the flavoured yoghurt and the recipe easily serves 5 people - it makes 12 pancakes. I added a little milk to the batter, as was a bit too thick for pouring. See how you go - I added less than 1/4 cup.

1 cup flour

1/2 cup polenta (cornmeal)

3 tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt
1/3 cup blueberries (optional)
1 1/2 cups light yoghurt (vanilla or strawberry are good!)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil

Sift dry ingredients into bowl. Add other ingredients and whisk into smooth batter.
Heat pan over medium heat until hot, pour batter into pan to form coaster-sized cakes.
When wee bubbles appear on top it's tip to flip 'em over. Cook second side for about 1 minute and serve with maple syrup. YUM!!!

♪ take me to the april sun in cuba ♪

2010-07-12T02:42:00.000+12:00

Every week I get sent 5 recipes from mindfood.com, most of which I enjoy reading but know I'll likely never make. However, from time to time a gem shines through that has me almost literally salivating at the computer.

This morning was such a time. I received this recipe, for Cuban-style slow-roasted pork which I will definitely be making, just as soon as I can. The ingredients are pretty standard 'all-in-the-pantry' supplies, excepting perhaps saffron and orange liqueur. Well, I'd suggest invest in a wee box of saffron, 'cause it lasts ages and most recipes only require a tiny amount, and the liqueur - if you like grand marnier or cointreau, grab some and use a little in this recipe. If you don't, just leave it out - I will be - and use the juice of one more orange.

2 oranges, juiced, rind finely grated
3 large limes, juiced, rind finely grated
½ cup soy sauce
¼ cup orange-flavoured liqueur, optional
⅓ cup firmly packed brown sugar

3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp finely ground black pepper
⅓ cup olive oil
1.4 kg pork scotch fillet
1 brown onion, finely chopped
1 green capsicum, deseeded, finely diced
1 tsp cumin seeds, extra
½ tsp saffron threads
1 cup long grain rice
2½ cups chicken stock
1 tbsp plain flour

Combine ½ cup orange juice, orange rind,  ½ cup lime juice, lime rind, soy, liqueur, sugar, garlic, cumin, oregano, pepper and 2 tbsp olive oil in a large zip-lock bag. Add pork; seal bag and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 160˚C. Remove pork from marinade and place in a non-stick roasting pan. Reserve marinade. Roast pork for 2½ hours or until meat is very tender. Rest, covered, for 10 minutes before slicing.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a deep frying pan over medium heat. Add onion, capsicum and extra cumin. Cook for 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in saffron and rice. Add stock and stir until combined. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 8 minutes or until craters form in the rice. Cover and remove from heat. Stand for 10 minutes or until rice is tender. Season with salt and pepper.
Heat remaining oil in a saucepan  over medium heat. Add flour and stir until combined. Slowly add reserved marinade, whisking constantly until combined. Stir until mixture comes to the boil. Reduce  heat and simmer for 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Strain gravy through a fine sieve. Divide rice between serving plates. Place slices of pork over rice and spoon over sauce. Serve.

Move over, Strawberrry Shortcake

2010-07-05T03:02:00.000+12:00

Mum recently acquired a brand-new, heavy-duty, bright-red cake mixer. Mightn't sound particularly exciting to some, but it was to me. I knew that that mixer meant the end to trying (usually in vain) to cream butter and sugar with egg beaters. Using a hand-held mixer (egg beaters) works, but it's laborious and frankly gives less than average results.

Fired by the zeal of one in command of such an august piece of equipment, I (relatively) quickly whipped up louise cake, cup cakes and shortcake. Shortcake was something completely new to me - I'd never tasted it, and certainly had never made it - and it has definitely gone to very near the top of my list, for tasty sweets that are stupidly easy to make. The recipe was one from Alexa Johnston's 'Ladies, A Plate', and called for dried apricots to be used, as the fruit filling. We had a large amount of fresh peaches to hand, so I used some of those. I'm going to make another one, once this one's eaten, with fresh blueberries, so it's a pretty versitile recipe.

One thing I'd recommend to avoid however - the use of jam. I had a couple of dollops of raspberry jam leftover from the jar used in the louise cake, so (rather than let it waste away, lonely in the cupboard) spread that alongside the peaches. Too much. WAY too sweet. Yikes. If you like insanely sweet foods, then go for it. Otherwise, use jams at your own risk. Other than that - foolproof, go for it!!

115 g butter, softened
160 g cup sugar
1 egg
170 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
c. 1 cup fruit, sliced

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celcius.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in eggs and mix well.
Add flour and baking powder, mixing into a smooth paste.
Take half the soft dough and press evenly into greased 20cm round tin (recommended that you place baking paper in bottom, too).
Lay fruit (I used slices of peach, but apple would be really good too, or berries, or a combination - even dried apricots, as in the original recipe, provided they're soaked for a bit before use) in layer across dough base.
Arrange spoonfuls of remaining dough across top and press together with fingertips. They'll spread a little in the oven, so don't be too concerned if they don't meet up perfectly.
Cook for about 30 minutes, or until risen and golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes befire removing from tin. Sift with icing sugar and serve, warm or cold.

next stop, IHOPS

2010-06-23T13:47:00.001+12:00

America knows how to do pancakes, doughnuts and waffles. Other things too, but those are things which really are just best in the USA. No matter where you are there are restaurants and stores which will cater to your every syrupy need - IHOPS, Waffle House, Krispy Kreme, not to mention the myriad of smaller, privately-owned establishments (if you're in Allen, Texas, may I suggest you try Max's, for a very tasty doughnut?).

A friend of Mum's from Michigan kindly brought her a bottle of her nephew's hometapped and produced maple syrup last week. Needless to say I needed to try it. So tonight we had pancakes for dinner (this is something you can do when you're on holiday). I had never made american-style pancakes (I make thin, French-style crepes usually) so I did what every self-respecting cook would do, consulted the internet. Nigella Lawson had a nice and easy recipe to go by, so here it is... (this is a doubled amount, as there were five of us - it made 35 stackable pancakes)

450 g flour
pinch salt
2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
600 ml milk
60 g butter, melted and cooled
4 eggs

Mix all ingredients in food processor or blender (or by hand). It's good if you've time to let the mixture sit for 20 minutes, but this isn't imperative.
Heat large, flat pan, spray with a little oil (you'll only need to do this once or twice throughout, if your pan is non-stick).
Cook the pancakes in batches, keeping the cooked ones warm in the warming drawer of your oven (or serve in batches) - you know it's time to turn them when they start to bubble. Once turned they only need a minute to cook the second side.
Serve warm with syrup, or lemon and sugar, or whatever you fancy!!

Jugosas Empanadas Criollas Argentinas

2010-06-23T13:25:00.000+12:00

At Easter I stopped in at my friend's parents' house, because Kush had come home for the holiday. Clara, her Mum (of avocado + argentina = muy gustoso fame), had made argentinian empanadas. I had only ever come across Mexican-style empanadas, which are a completely different kettle of proverbial fish. Argentinian empanadas resemble a half-moon pastie, or pie, and have the most amazing flavour! When asked for the recipe I was lucky, as Clara was only too happy to share - she even wrote some tips alongside, to assist the kiwi cook (traditionally there are some minor differences, such as using diced veal rather than mince, and a sort of clarified butter).

Clara's empanadas were larger then mine, but I was making these for my Mum and Larry's wedding party BBQ, so bite-size was de rigeur. I was so happy with these little beasts and can't WAIT to make them again. I only bought 4 sheets of pastry and the recipe makes enough meat filling for at least double that. I've frozen the excess, ready to make more to take camping in a couple of weeks. Enjoy, these are so far my favourite Claration.

savoury short pastry - I use the ready rolled sheets from the supermarket
1 kg beef mince
3 onions, diced finely
2 tbsp smoked paprika (normal is also fine)
1 tbsp dried crushed red pepper (chilli flakes)
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups tinned tomatoes (or homemade, if you have it)
dash olive oil
pitted olives (optional)

Prepare meat filling - heat oil to sauté onions until softened (but not browned). Add mince and brown lightly. Stir in spices amd tomatoes. Allow to simmer for a few minutes, then take off heat and allow mixture to cool.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius.
Cut circles of rolled-out pastry (I used a lid from a plastic container which was about 12cm in diameter).
Place about a teaspoon of mixture into centre of pastry circle (and an olive, if you're using them), fold over and press edges closed, with fork or pressing - it can help to brush a little water around the edge before pressing, to help it stick.
Place empanadas on buttered/greased baking tray and bake until golden brown. I finished mine under the grill for a minute or two, to get some real colour (brushing the tops with butter or egg will get a good glaze, but it's more effort).
Serve warm - I didn't serve with sauces, but salsa, or a soy-based dipping sauce would work well. The paprika flavour is pretty strong, so they're good alone, or perhaps with sour cream. YUM!!

zuppa zuppa zuppa!!

2010-06-15T08:46:00.001+12:00

Last summer we weere inundated with zucchini - the plants went crazy, producing so many vegetables that anything that could be made with zucchini was - lasagne, muffins, pasta, antipasto - you name it. After a couple of courgette-intensive months however, the plants slowed down and the season was over (at the time I was thinking, thank goodness, but now I'm kinda looking forward to the next lot...).

Upon arriving in Texas last week I discovered that my prayers had been answered - it's summer here, so zucchini (courgettes, squash, whatever you want to call them) are in season. Larry has a friend who keeps them in constant supply of zucchini - when I arrived there were easily 18 of the things in the fridge - and a good portion of them were pretty big, more the size of a marrow. So, what to do with waaaayyyy more zucchini than 3 people can eat? Lasagne - that took care of about 3 of them. So then soup. Zucchini soup (I made a double batch, so as to use up more zuccs, but have listed the original single quantity here, for serving about 4 people) - it's really tasty, dead easy to make and, because it's meat-free, keeps really well for a good week or more. If it lasts that long.

onion, finely chopped (I used red)
30 g butter
4 zucchini, grated
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 L vegetable stock (I used chicken, 'cause ran out of vege)
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat butter in pan over medium heat and gently fry onion until softened. Add zucchini and garlic, stir-fry for about 2-3 minutes.
Add stock, bring to boil, reduce heat slightly and simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes.
Stir in feta, season and serve.

Summer grillin'

2010-06-13T06:13:00.002+12:00

I'm in Texas, it's summer, and that means it's grillin' time. Grab a cold brewski, fire up the barbee and get ready! A few days ago we went for dinner at LT and Jen's (friends of Mum and Larry's) and had the most AMAZING BBQed steak and chicken. I enquired as to the secret in the sauce, so to speak, and discovered the following tricks to perfect-tasting grilled steak and chicken (they used tenderloins)...

Steak - buy fillet steak and ask the butcher (that's right, go to the butcher so you can specify which piece you want) for the middle of the fillet, rather than the end pieces. Fillet is the most expensive cut, but if you're going to be eating it without sauces etc, you want it to be tender, it should cut like butter when cooked. Obviously most of us can't necessarily afford to buy solely fillet to satisfy our red-meat needs, but use cheaper cuts for stir-frys, curries, stews or steaks being served with a sauce.

Chicken - Jen's chicken tenderloins were incredible. They were marinated, then BBQed, that's all. So the secret was in the marinade. What was in it...? Italian salad dressing. That simple. Seriously, I was blown away - who'd have thought italian salad dressing would be so flavoursome as a marinade? She said she chucked the tenderloins in with the dressing about 4 hours before they were cooked, but as with most marinades that's a movable feast - 12 hours, a half hour... Try it 'cause I swear you'll not find any other marinade for chicken that works so well which is this easy. Ever.

Serve these beasts with salad (green, potato, coleslaw, all of the above!!), or with mashed potatoes and BBQed veges - asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini and broccoli all do well on the barbee. The polenta strips from polenta - provola!! would be good here too - just BBQ them instead of baking or frying them. Watch this space for more grillin' tips - I'm sure to come across some more as I traipse about Texas and Louisiana over the next month!

more chicken for the salad-eater's soul

2010-06-07T10:43:00.000+12:00

I arrived in Texas yesterday evening, tired, vaguely disorientated, and very very hungry. So, first things first, deal with the disorientation, have a glass of wine. Next on the list of priorities, hunger. As it was about 36 degrees celcius nothing too heavy was key. Mum had prepared a salad, the recipe for which a friend, Cathy, had given her. It was AMAZING. So much so that I insisted we make it again today, for lunch. A chicken salad, with loads of goodies, but I reckon it'd be versitile - if you haven't almonds, use pecans, walnuts, peanuts. No grapes - how about some chopped up capsicum? Etc etc etc. So, from the deep south, ya'll enjoy!!

Mix together in a bowl 2 cups cooked chicken meat (about 2 skinless, boneless breasts), 1 cup red grapes (halved), 1 finely diced apple (leave skin on), c. 60g roasted, slivered almonds, 1/2 cup chopped celery.
Mix up the dressing - 1/2 cup mayonnaise (Best Foods lite is good), 1 tbsp honey, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tsp celery salt (if you can't find this, leave it out, don't use normal salt).
Stir dressing through the salad and serve on some leaves of good, crunchy iceberg lettuce. Great in hot weather, keeps well in the fridge. YUM!!!!

The Tales of Naania

2010-06-02T12:57:00.000+12:00

One of the best things about eating out at the local indian is the naan bread. The soft, slightly sweet and, in my case, very garlicky flatbreads are the perfect sidekick to a tasty curry. I like to cook curries at home but haven't, until now, ventured into the bread side of the bargain. Having decided to add naan bread to my repetoire (I was making malaysian goat curry again - this time we slow-cooked the goat in advance, so it was more tender) I did a search online, to compare a few different recipes. This one came from allrecipes.com, with a few amendments (they recommended one cook on the BBQ, which would be ideal, but I used the oven, as it is winter, after all). Give this one a try - it makes 14 naans, so I cooked 6 and froze the rest of the balls of dough, for next time.

7 g active dry yeast (one packet)
1 cup warm water
50 g sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 egg, beaten
615 g flour
2 cloves garlic, minced (optional)
55 g butter, melted

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Preheat grill (or BBQ). Roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Brush one side with melted butter (or oil, if you prefer). Place dough on grill, buttered side up, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over, another 2 to 4 minutes. Continue until all the naan has been prepared.

Yorkshires, they just make me happy

2010-05-26T12:27:00.001+12:00

Normally I follow the Edmonds Cookbook for yorkshire puddings, which uses a lot more flour, more liquid (milk, rather than water) and more eggs. We found ourselves wanting to make yorkshires last night and were sans Edmonds, so we did what all self-respecting gastronomics do when faced with the dilemma of wanting to cook something but not being sure of the ratio of ingredients... We phoned a friend (in this case Jan, KB's mum).

Her recipe for yorkshires was radically different from ol' Edmonds, but they were AWESOME!! Using water, in place of milk, they were crispier (though if you want fluffy, go with milk). And they didn't need much stuff, so even better. Nice!! The amount listed below made 6 wee puds, so get roasting and enjoy!! (or just make some and enjoy with some gravy for a slightly odd but very tasty lunch)

2-3 tbsp flour
1/4 cup water
1-2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 egg
oil (or fat from cooked meat)

Whisk the dry ingredients with the egg to form a nice, smooth paste.
Add water (1/4 cup is an estimate), whisking into paste, until you have the consistency of a batter. The measurements are estimates because, to be honest, it's an eye thing. You know when it's just thick enough. If you add too much water, no worries, just add some more flour. If you add WAY too much water, just add the other ingredients again, make a double amount. Yum!!
Pour thin later oil (or fat) into bottom of muffin tins. Place in oven and heat until bubbling. Add two or three tbsp of batter into each tin.
Cook at about 200 degrees celcius for 10-15 minutes - until puffed up and golden.
Serve with roast, drizzled with gravy. Soooooo GOOD!!

Okay - it's yorkshire time again and, this time, I'm going to use Edmonds again, as a comparison with the aforementioned version. I usually use Edmonds, from habit, but is it actually better? We shall see. I rather suspect it'll be yum and I'll not have a clue which I prefer. I guess it comes down to one thing - do you have milk in the fridge, and how many eggs do you want to use?

Edmonds version is made in the same way, but uses the following ingredients...

1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp water
oil (for putting a little into the bottom of each muffin tin, for cooking)

Pasta de nada, and a little bit of je ne sais quoi

2010-05-21T08:48:00.000+12:00

I've been a bit slack the past week or so, with little (okay, nothing) happening, blogwise. In my defence, I was in Wellington playing handball for several days, and... Well, that's it. :)

Anyhoo, last night got my cooking groove back on, whipping up an after-work/uni meal. I pulled out a variation on the Malaysian chicken curry from Apologies to the Village Chicken, with just a couple of minor alterations - I had no ginger root, so used an extra half an onion; had no curry powder, so used equal amounts of ground cumin, ground coriander, chinese 5-spice and tumeric. Nom nom nom. Other than that, remained unchanged, and it was GOOD!

This was served with rice which, as of last night, should always been cooked Persian style. Ros, one of the lovely cousins who I live with, picked up this trick from an Iranian lady a few years back. Put jug of water on to boil. Heat a dollop of olive oil in a pot, with 1/2 tsp salt. Add 1.5 cups rice (for 4 people) - I used jasmine basmati, but any long grain will do - and stir through the oil, allowing the rice to heat a little. Add 2.25 cups boiling water to rice, stir and allow to bubble away for about 5 minutes. Once the water level is JUST below that of the rice, turn the heat down as low as you can, place a paper towel over the pot and put the pot's lid on. Let it slowly steamy-cook away for 20 minutes or so. After about a half hour turn the heat off, but leave the towel and lid on until ready to serve. It'll stay warm for ages.

Now, as KB was over for dinner I decided to whip up something using custard, following a conversation earlier in the week that custard's just not used for much. I had planned to make pasta de nada (essentially custard tarts - ramekins lined with flaky pastry, filled with custard and baked for 20 minutes), but hadn't enough pastry. So plan B. Fresh (okay, they were fresh, but had subsequently been frozen) berries - I used strawberries - to cover base of ramekin; pour over custard, virtually to ramekin's top; top with meringue and grill for a couple of minutes. Served straight away, or allow to cool (I did that, that way you can prepare them before you eat dinner).

1/2 cup raw sugar
1/2 cup water
2 tbsp cornflour
1 cup milk
2 egg yolks
dash vanilla essence
2 egg whites
1/4 cup white sugar (or thereabouts, less is fine)

Heat sugar and water in small pan, stirring until boiling and sugar dissolved.
Boil for 2 minutes, to allow syrup to form, stirring throughout.
Mix cornflour into smooth paste with a little of the milk. Whisk cornflour paste, milk, egg yolks and vanilla into sugar syrup.
Stir over low heat until thickens.
Allow to cool.
For meringues, beat the egg whites and sugar together, until stiff. Spoon dollops onto top of custard and berries, grill to get nice and golden on top (this doesn't take long!!).

NB: I use raw sugar for the custard, as I like the caramelly flavour it gets. You can use white though, if you prefer (or of that's what's in the pantry!)

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