From the sea to our table

I love food from the sea.  Fish, shellfish, crustaceans  - I love them all.  We have such great seafood here and I love to showcase it with visitors.  Some people, though, can be a little delicate when it comes to seafood so I tend to fall back on lamb or other safe choices.
I was therefore delighted when we recently hosted visitors from Scotland who wanted to try everything.  I just prepared a variety of sea foods and put them all on the table for people to help themselves.  We had bluff oysters  with a little pepper, green-lipped mussels and littleneck clams steamed in white wine and parsley and flaked Coromandel Smoking Company kingfish on a dish.  For pepper seared tuna, mix a little sesame oil with a tsp English mustard and brush over a tuna fillet cut in a log of even thickness at each end.  Heat a dry frying pan until it is very hot and sear the tuna on the long sides.  Take out of the pan immediately and cool.  With a sharp knife slice as finely as you can and serve with finely sliced spring onion, soy sauce and wasabi.
For a ceviche-style dish get some good quality fillets of white fish such as blue cod and slice as thinly as you can.  Lay out on a large platter and dress with finely sliced spring onions and deseeded red chillies.  Just before serving squeeze over the juice of a lime or two.
This was accompanied with salad greens.  It was so simple, it was hardly cooking but was really delicious.
A few weeks ago a friend gave me some tuna.  You may recall I have been the beneficiary of this friend's bounty in the past.  This time we prepared two quite different dishes. 
The first was spiced tuna with an aubergine relish.  To make the relish, which would also go well with lamb or chicken, cut an aubergine into cubes, toss in olive oil and bake in a single layer on a baking tray at 200 for 30 mins or so.  In a frying pan, soften half a finely chopped red onion then add 1/2 tsp each coriander, cumin, cinnamon, paprika and cook for a minute.  Add 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes, 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1/2 a finely chopped green chilli and bring to a simmer.  Add the cooked aubergine and add a pinch sugar, a squeeze of lime and salt and pepper to taste.
Brush the tuna steaks with olive oil and season then sear in a hot grill pan two minutes each side.  Serve on the aubergine and top with mint leaves.
For something quite different we had our old favourite tuna and white bean stew.  This is a traditional Mediterranean method where the tuna is cooked in a sauce.  Using a tuna steak per person, sear the steaks first in a pan and set aside.  In the pan, saute 1/2 a finely chopped onion, 1/2 a finely diced carrot, 1/2 a stick of finely diced celery, 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic with 1/4 tsp each toasted cumin and coriander seeds, coarsely ground.  Add 1/2 tsp Spanish paprika and a handful of black olives.  Lay the tuna back in the pan in one layer and add 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes and 1/2 cup chicken stock.  Simmer about 15 minutes then add 1/2 jar of cooked butter beans and gently mix through.  Sprinkle with parsley to serve.  You will want some crusty bread to mop up the sauce at the end.

Easter traditions

As you know Easter is always a favourite time in my culinary year.  There are traditional favourites we have every year and there is always the time to try something new.
I have been making Nigella Lawson's hot cross buns from Feast for many years but this year I thought I would try Cuisine's proclaimed best-ever hot cross buns.
These will be my go to recipe for the next few years.  They were spicy perfection.  The only improvement could be my crosses which were a bit too runny and elicited the following from Phoebe - "I don't think Jesus died on a blob".  It didn't stop her from eating them on Friday and Saturday and taking some home.  I used to try and make these for breakfast but it was always a bit pressured so I now go for a late morning brunch which carries us through to an early supper.  We can reheat what's left for breakfast on Saturday...and Sunday if necessary. They kept very well.
Our Good Friday supper was, as usual, smoked fish pie.  I don't really vary the recipe although I might vary the type of fish.  This year we used smoked hoki and warehou.  Both were perfectly flaky.
I used to make this regularly as a family meal and it was once a great favourite with the children but alas they all outgrew it and it has been relegated to Good Friday.  Much as I enjoy both making it and eating it, I don't mind that it has become only an annual event.  We all look forward to the meal, enjoy it and then put it aside until next year. 
Easter Sunday is always a good opportunity to have friends over and share some kind of slow cooked lamb.  We have usually enjoyed a leisurely but also industrious three days and we can still enjoy an evening with friends and a sleep-in the next day.
We started the meal with some Pascal's smoked paprika pate served with a selection of cheeses - tome de savoir, manchego and a Waimate brie, on grilled slices of  home-made sourdough. The pate is excellent - Pascal's grandmother's recipe, he tells me.  We got it at the City Market.  Try it.  I had just read about serving torn pieces of very ripe figs with rocket so we had that to accompany and I recommend it.
I often go for the middle eastern-style lamb but this year we looked to Jamie Oliver and a very British approach with a slow roasted shoulder of lamb and smashed root vegetables and greens.   Earlier in the day we had been tidying up the garden to get in some winter crops and came across the last of the agrias that had been missed.  That went in our mash along with the last of the garden carrots.  I have to mention here that it has been an outstanding year for carrots.  We have had a bumper crop with the largest carrot weighing in at 750g.  It was still sweet and delicious, not at all woody.  A bit like last years giant radishes which definitely didn't perform as well this year.
I also love swede in a mash.  It brings a lovely creaminess and a little goes a long way.  I often add swede to pumpkin soup as well.  For our greens we had red kale, cavalo nero and savoy cabbage.  There is a stall at the vege market that sells incredible kale and cavalo and can usually be relied on for outstanding cabbages and leeks.
As usual I thought we needed something else but in the end I refrained and I am glad because we had a delicious meal with very little effort.  There was enough to feed the seven of us at the table and on Monday I turned what was left into a delicious hash/bubble and squeak.
At Easter I like something apple-y to herald autumn.  I enjoyed the seasonal aspect of Easter in the northern hemisphere and I was thinking of Harriet, Max and Jasper  heralding the arrival of spring in their respective locations.  Here I like my Easter meal to represent the autumn bounty. I made an apple and blackberry crumble.  It is only recently we have been able to buy fresh blackberries and I am making the most of them.  Lightly stew 1/2 dozen apples in butter and three tbsp golden caster sugar, or any caster sugar, covered for 15 mins.  I used Cox's Orange plus a couple of windfalls off our tree.  Add about three punnets of blackberries and simmer with the lid off for five mins.  Strain the fruit, retaining the liquid.  Layer the fruit in a dish and top with a crumble mix.  I often add spices but on this occasion I simply rubbed butter into flour, added caster sugar and a little Demerara along with a handful of rolled oats.  Keep the crumble in the fridge until you need to top the fruit and bake.  I poured a little of the reserved juice over the fruit just before baking.  I served this with home made vanilla ice cream.
We had another success this Easter.  For the first time we had enough crabapples to make crabapple jelly.  Not a lot but enough to make 1/2 a dozen jars.  For the first few years of the life of the tress I was reduced to improvising cranbapple chutney. This was nice enough but does not compare to jars of delicious fruity jelly.  My Grandma always made crabapple jelly and I can't eat it without thinking of here which is an excellent reason to make it.

A Holiday by the Sea

We've just returned from 7 nights in the Coromandel.  We stayed at Kuaotunu and aside from the joys of walking on the beach & swimming, (yes! your eyes do not deceive - bathing in the sea did occur), we enjoyed the local produce which mostly comprised "fruits de mer".
On our way from Auckland we stopped at Coromandel Town which is a really delightful town that I heartily recommend.  Coromandel offered many delights.  Our first stop was the Coromandel Oyster Company which is essentially a roadside stall selling primarily oysters but also other shellfish products.  We bought Coromandel oysters on the half shell which we enjoyed with a slice of delicious bread we bought at the Chai Tea House (scroll to the bottom of the page).
We also bought a tub of Mussel Chowder which we enjoyed for lunch the following day again with the delicious Tea House bread.  It was a dense seedy sourdough loaf. 
Next stop was the Coromandel Smoking Company where we bought some smoked scallops & prawns along with a fillet of smoked kingfish which we prepared in a salad comprising potatoes, eggs & spring onions mixed with mayonnaise and served on a bed of lettuce.  This was a variation of a smoked fish salad we regularly have at home.  Unfortunately you can no longer buy Coromandel Smoking Company fish in Wellington as far as I know.  If you know something I don't please let me know.
We were staying in a bach at the back of a house & I had noticed some mint in the garden which gave me the idea of cooking a lamb steak served with roasted potatoes & yoghurt mixed with mint.  Lamb steaks are something I often cook on holiday because you don't need the resources of the pantry.  We always travel with coffee & our trusty espresso pot, along with a bottle of olive oil, grainy mustard, white wine vinegar, the pepper grinder & a jar of cumin.   We are well prepared for whatever culinary treat presents itself.
To our delight our host went out fishing one morning & presented us with a plate of freshly caught snapper fillets.  We served these simply pan fried with a squeeze of lemon, more roasted potatoes & a salad.  This was the most delicious snapper I have ever eaten so we were delighted when another few fillets came our way the next day.  We had plans for dinner so we used them in a salad for our lunch.
We also visited the local eating establishments.  One of the highlights for me was a visit to Colenso Country Cafe where I enjoyed a slice of plum cake so delicious I had to return a few days later & have another slice.  Speaking of plums, which did put in multiple appearances on this holiday, we visited The Artists' House at Whenuakite and on our arrival the artist (Julie) offered us a plum straight from the tree.  This was a magical plum experience - a Luisa plum which was egg shaped with firm yellow flesh.  I find most yellow fleshed plums floury & tasteless but this was firm fleshed & truly delicious.  Unfortunately I suspect they would not do well in Karori.  The artist was planning to make plum brandy with her surplus.
One evening we treated ourselves to a meal at Salt Restaurant in Whitianga.  I had the Coromandel mussels followed by the market fish.  Both were superbly cooked & presented.  On a return visit to Coromandel Town via the 309 Road (check out Stuart's pigs), we bought a tub of Oyster Bisque from the Oyster Company for our dinner.  We lunched at Umu Cafe (third down the page) and Peter & I shared a mussel platter.  If you are a fan of mussels you will love this.  There were smoked mussels, crumbed mussels, chowder, pate.  This was mussel heaven.
We will certainly be returning to those sandy beaches and enjoying more delights of the sea.  On the return journey we spent a couple of nights with relatives who were suffering, like the artist above, from a surplus of plums.  We are now enjoying Aunty Lorraine's plum jam on our morning toast.  They also had tired of apple cucumbers and we returned home with a large box.  I have since produced 16 jars of my grandma's cucumber pickle.  This is really simple.  You need
1 doz apple cucumbers or 6 long green (peeled)
3 lb onions
2 lb white sugar
2 pints vinegar
Chop cucumbers & onions.  Sprinkle with salt & leave 2-3 hrs.  Drain & add vinegar, leaving out 1 cup to mix with thickening.  Add sugar, boil till soft (1-2 hours).


Thicken with:
1 c flour
1 dsp curry powder
1 dsp turmeric
1 tbsp mustard powder
mixed with remaining cup vinegar
Boil till thick – 5-10 mins
Makes 8-9 jars (my 16 jars were probably smaller than Grandma's)
Give me a shout if you would like a jar.

Easter lamb three ways

Easter brings out the usual suspects. Hot cross buns make an appearance for Good Friday brunch. I used to do them for breakfast but brunch around 11 & then an earlyish tea works well.

In the evening we have the old standard, Smoked Fish Pie. I used to make this regularly as a family favourite. Now it only appears annually on the Good Friday table. Not because it is not delicious but because it is not an easy one to shrink down for two. However it is nice reheated the next day. This year I used smoked warehou & fresh monkfish. About 200g smoked & 150g fresh plus a handful of prawns.

This year for our Easter Sunday dinner we stayed with slow roasted shoulder of lamb (and why wouldn't you?), but we varied it a little. We went for Nigel Slater's slightly middle eastern version with mashed chickpeas. I served this with crispy roasted potatoes sprinkled with horopito, baby carrots & beetroot roasted in orange juice and balsamic vinegar, & steamed spinach. Yum.

The lamb made a second appearance in Shepherd's Pie the next day served with the spinach that wasn't used the previous day.

The following day I made a delicious slow cooked lamb stew with chops that I served atop the leftover mashed chickpeas enlivened with a little beef stock (only because I had just prepared a fresh batch & it was there). For two, use 2 large neck chops, trimmed of as much fat as possible. Sprinkle with salt & pepper & brown in a casserole on both sides. You'll need to do in batches if you are doing more, or use a much bigger casserole. Once one side is browned add an onion & a large clove of garlic, both thinly sliced. Push them into the gaps between the chops so that they lightly brown as well. Add some oregano, or thyme leaves, 1/4 cup red wine & a tsp sugar. Once the wine has bubbled up add three or four tomatoes peeled & sliced and a couple of waxy potatoes (I used desiree), unpeeled & thickly sliced. Season with salt & pepper, bring to the boil, turn right down & simmer 1 1/2-2 hours. Or do in the oven at about 120 if your stove top is busy as mine was with beef stock & bottling feijoas. I served the chop on a bed of the chickpea mash with the potatoes & oniony gravy on one side accompanied by steamed new season sprouts.

I am favouring a light grainy dish as a midweek meal. Try this. Saute a couple of sliced spring onions with a minced clove of garlic and a finely chopped chilli in olive oil. Stir through a handful of oregano leaves or a tsp of dried and a couple tbsp chipotle sauce. I had this in the fridge & wanted to use it up but when I haven't, I think I will use home made tomato sauce & maybe add a 2nd chilli. Or maybe sweet chilli sauce?

Add 1 cup quinoa & season. Cook a couple of minutes then add a drained tin of black beans (small kidney beans or pintos would work), 1 cup frozen corn, 2 chopped courgettes (the last 2 in the garden) & 2 cups vegetable stock. Bring to the boil, stir, cover, turn down & simmer about 15 minutes then uncover & cook until the water has mostly evaporated & the quinoa is soft. Serve with lime wedges. Cook generous portions because this may not look pretty but it is so delicious that if you haven't made enough there will be sad faces at your table.

I need to tell you about this new Over the Moon cheese - Southern Cross by Neil Willman. It's a blend of buffalo, ewe, goat & cow cheeses. It's at Moore Wilson but I'm not sure where in Auckland. Try Farro Fresh in Mt Wellington or Mairangi Bay.

Is this summer at last?

Smoked fish with roasted potatoes & egg is one of my absolute favourite summer salads. This is from the January 2006 Cuisine which has one of the best ever selections of salads & is one we return to every summer. We just call it "the fish issue". This year we have been using our home grown Swift potatoes. I recommend Swift for an outstanding crop of waxy potatoes. Try them. We like to get our smoked fish from the Coromandel Smoking Co. We get it from Olive Guy at Harbourside Market. You can probably find an outlet near you.

We recently tried a duck risotto. This was beautiful and we have decided to experiment more with duck so keep an eye out for more. Make a glaze with:

2 tbsp honey

a splash of sherry

2 cardamom pods, bruised

1 tsp cracked pepper, slightly crushed

1 tsp orange blossom water.

Using one duck breast per person, score the skin, season with salt & pepper and put skin down in a hot pan with a little olive oil. When the skin is golden (about 4 minutes), turn & cook a further 2 minutes. Tip away the excess fat - there may be quite a bit - and brush the skin with the glaze. Turn skin side down again & cook a final 2 minutes. Rest before serving. Here is quite a good description of the process for cooking duck. You could crisp up the skin under the grill if you like.

In the meantime make a basic risotto, including a cinnamon stick a a few strands of saffron with the rice. Add fresh peas (or frozen if you have none in the garden) & chopped parsley & celery leaves at the end. Top with the sliced duck.

I recently made broad bean fritters to eat with Turkish bread as an alternative to lamb meatballs. These were so divine. And perfect the next day as a spread on toasted Turkish bread. In the food processor, mix a big bunch of flat leaf parsley (you could use coriander) and a smaller bunch of mint. Add salt & pepper, 1/2 tsp cayenne. 1 tsp ground cumin, a sprinkling of chilli flakes, zest & juice of a lemon, and 500g defrosted broad beans skinned. I found they were easy to skin when they were part defrosted. (Use fresh in season.) Sprinkle in 1 tsp flour & pulse for a few seconds. Don't be tempted to add more flour - the mixture will be too dry. To make the fritters, use 2 spoons to make elegant quenelles. This is really easy, just roll a spoonful of mixture from one to the other about 3 times, try it. Then deep fry the fritters for about 2 minutes. When they rise to the top of the oil they are done. They will be brown on the outside and bright green within. These will be very popular so don't skimp. You could serve as a starter with a lemony yoghurt dip too.