Another Culinary World Tour

Not much writing but still plenty of eating.  Back in the film festival I made a meal I have been meaning to share.  Did you see Le Passe at the Film Festival?  There was a scene where Ahmad made a stew for the family.  The dish had some significance as a family tradition, and it looked delicious.  It was a meat stew with a base of fresh herbs.  I looked into it.  It was Ghormeh Sabzi, a traditional Persian herb stew.   I used lamb and at the end added a handful of baby spinach to add a bit of bright green.  we served it with traditional chelow.  If you can get fresh fenugreek leaves, do, otherwise use dried at a pinch.   By chance we had seen the movie at Petone and browsed the shops beforehand.  I found a Middle Eastern supermarket and saw, for the first time in my life, fresh fenugreek but I didn't buy it because I didn't know I was going to need it.  We had to go back for it the following week.  This has replaced Gheimeh as my favourite Persian stew.  And just in case you are thinking I'm a little crazy, I am not the only one.  If you didn't see the movie, do so.
I caught a glimpse of a Norwegian cooking show on the TV and investigated further.  It turned out to be called New Scandinavian Cooking hosted by Andreas Viestad, who is quite a character in a very Norwegian way.  The funniest thing is that he always cooks outside no matter the season.  It can get quite cold in Norway.  It snows.  Picture Andreas grilling fish with snow drifting into the grill and onto the plates.  They have a lot of very interesting ingredients especially fruit with lovely names like cloudberries or lingonberries.  A trip to the library uncovered Scandilicious by Signe Johansen and we were off.  I haven't fully explored the berry fruit because it wasn't the season and I am sure we can't get cloudberries.  Peter did make a boiled egg with anchovy soldiers.
Our masterpiece was Norwegian meatballs with mashed potatoes & swede (neeps & tatties in my world) and spiced lingonberry red cabbage (we had to settle for redcurrant jelly).  It did sound a bit odd in the recipe and I was a little concerned but it was truly delicious.  We did not have brown goat's cheese and to be perfectly honest I suspect it is a little unpleasant.  For the cabbage, simmer a sliced onion, sliced apple, 1/2 a sliced red cabbage with 30 ml cider vinegar, a glass of red wine and 2 tbsp butter for an hour in a covered dish.  Check occasionally to ensure it doesn't stick.  When the cabbage and onion is very tender add 5 tbsp lingonberrey jam, (or cranberry sauce or redcurrant jelly), 2tbsp dark brown sugar, 1 cinnamon stick, 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg and 5 cloves, and cook a further 30 mins.  Add another splosh of red wine before serving.
Peter went away for a couple of weeks to the UK and then to Peru and I had the idea to make one of his favourites for a homecoming lunch.  So I tackled the pork pie.  I just used home made chicken stock and gelatin leaves for the jelly because I didn't have time to be boiling pigs' trotters.  I didn't have a pie dolly - not sure what one is - so I used a drinking glass.  The Home Harvest woman at the market sells a paper pot maker and I think that would do the trick.  The result was that my first attempt was just like a bought one.
And finally Peter came home from Peru enthusing about ceviche.  I found a Peruvian cookbook at the library and  he made Martin Morales' Don Ceviche.   We will be exploring Peruvian cooking further.

New York, Paris, Huddersfield

We've been eating around the world recently. We had four friends over for the best of New York City, starting with a Manhattan and a platter of oysters, Bluff & Pacific served with thinly sliced sourdough, lemon wedges & Worcester sauce.  This dinner started out because a friend said she'd never eaten oysters.  She liked them. Oysters made me think of NYC so I went on to do a rib roast served with Delmonico potatoes and a garden salad with Thousand Island Dressing.  I made my first ever attempt at New York baked cheesecake and it was excellent.  Unfortunately we were having so much fun we forgot to take photos!
Then another friend said she'd like French onion soup so we had another group of four for a taste of France.  We started with a champagne 75 , kind of like a gin and tonic but with champagne in place of tonic.  We followed the soup with a boeuf bourgignon, roasted potatoes and buttered peas and then Phoebe kindly made us a cherry clafoutis.  Again too much fun, too few photos.
Then it was back to the best of British for Peter & I.  I had a hankering for parsnips and found a Nigel Slater idea for sausage with baked parsnips.  Nigel had black pudding with his, but I thought we could live without.  Peter however had other ideas and a black pudding was duly purchased.  It was actually really nice.  Not just 'I managed to eat a slice' nice but actually so nice I had two slices and sought out another recipe to use the rest.
We came upon Jamie Oliver's scallops & black pudding with clapshot which is just mashed neeps & tatties with chives.  Note that when the Scots refer to turnips they mean swedes not the little white turnips we get.   I served a handful of rocket & watercress on the side to counter the richness of the pudding & scallops.  Sometimes it's worth trying new things even when we've spent all our lives thinking we don't like it.
Another recent find was toad in the hole for vegetarians - mushroom toad with mushy peas and onion gravy.  This was a perfect meal and just thinking about it makes me want to eat it again.   I got the blue peas at Common Sense Organics.  They're so pretty.  Try them with a simple fish supper.
 I saved the cooked barley and had it as a salad with lamb meatballs later in the week however I think you could actually do the onion gravy without.

The $21 challenge

We took the $21 challenge and actually spent $14.60 for the week.   We bought mushrooms, oranges, mandarins, beetroot, lettuce and a capsicum at the market and later in the week we bought milk.  For the rest, we used what we had at hand in the freezer, the pantry and the garden and we ate a lot better than you might expect. 
If you are going to try this - and you should - start with a meal plan and focus on using the things you've had tucked away for a while and haven't got around to using.  You might find some interesting things!  For Sunday lunch we ate some corn muffins from the freezer while for dinner we had mushrooms and chard with pearl barley.  This was another great find from the New York Times in the 'recipes for health' section, so it has to be good.  We bought the mushrooms from our allowance and everything else we had in the cupboard or garden.     
We certainly had most things on hand for lunches, including a lamb backstrap in the freezer. We have some lamb's lettuce in the garden & a few remnants of rocket plus sorrel & herbs so we were able to rustle up a salad every day.  When the lamb ran out we had falafels from the freezer. 
Day two was the last of the pea & ham soup from the freezer.  This was the soup we made with the end of the Christmas ham. Accompanied of course, by a slice of trusty sourdough, lightly toasted. Mmmm.
Day three was spicy bean stew from the freezer.  We had planned to make this fresh because it mostly uses beans & vegetables we already had in the fridge or pantry, but then I discovered we had some in the freezer from a previous week so used that instead.  This is a meal that always has left overs when we we make it for two and it freezes well.  This used to be a family standby and it's quick to make, so I often did it when we had to go to an event at school in the evening.  Phoebe said that this was the meal we always had when she was going to perform in a musical recital and so she associated it with butterflies in her stomach.  I hope she likes it better now.  You can make it go further by adding a chopped chorizo.  We always keep some in the freezer. The stew calls for a dollop of pesto  but we didn't have any so I used some zhoug left over from another meal at the weekend.  Note I make my zhoug from parsley because of that coriander thing. 
Day four we used one of the pumpkins from my autumn display and made a pumpkin risotto.  I roasted the  peeled, diced pumpkin at 180 for 1/2 an hour.  Just toss it in a little olive oil, salt & pepper & grate on some nutmeg.  I made a basic risotto using a leek from the garden.  At the end I folded through the roasted pumpkin, some Serrano ham (that I had bought for another meal the week before and not used) & some Parmesan.  There were a few roasted almond slivers in a small container so I sprinkled them on top.
Day five, we had a khoresht from the freezer.  I added some frozen peas and served on rice.  There was a small container of chopped pistachios & rose petals in the pantry so I sprinkled them on the top.
On Friday we usually have an omelette and we had saved the eggs left from the previous week for this.  We were really low on cheese but had just enough for the omelette & used up the last of the Serrano ham.  We also still had enough fresh veg and some buche zickli (that was for the same meal as the ham...) for a salad.
Saturday lunch we had some toast with the last few slices of cheese - sliced very thinly, and some lemon chutney. 
But I felt day seven's dinner was the master stroke.  We had had a shoulder of lamb earlier in the year when we had guests & the left overs weren't going to get used at the time, so I just shredded the meat & froze it.  Perfect for a delicious pie, perhaps?  I sauteed a leek & carrot from the garden with half an onion from the fridge & some garlic.  I added some rosemary & bay leaves & the last of the lentils I'd cooked for the lunches.  There was a jar of artichoke hearts in the pantry (naturally) so I added a couple of those, a dash of quince splash, some grated lemon rind & juice, the end of a bottle of white wine from the fridge & the lamb.  I put the mix into individual ramekins and covered with the last lonely sheet of puff pastry languishing in the freezer & brushed with milk.  I would normally have used an egg but that seemed like an extravagance.  I baked the pies at 180 for 1/2 an hour and they were truly delicious.
A friend had given is some windfall Granny Smith's for juicing and we used a couple of those to make an apple crumble which we served with the last of the feijoa ice cream from the freezer.
So, we ate really well on our budget and even had $6 left at the end of the week.  I definitely plan to do this again - possibly once a month.  It was a great idea to get things used up and we did have to think a bit more carefully about what we were eating - no coffees at work, except what's provided, for example.  The toughest thing was fruit.  Peter went without bananas because they are expensive and we didn't buy feijoas & passionfruit.  Using up freezer stock was great.  We just used what had been there the longest.  The other thing I will do next time is look more carefully in the pantry and use the things that I don't usually think of. Harriet did well too and like us found it easier than she expected.  Next time I am hoping more people will join us.

Going Dutch

This week we stuck with the old standbys with just a couple of new things to share.
We haven't had a fish soup for ages and this week we tried a variation on an old favourite.  For 2, steam a dozen mussels in 1/2 cup white wine until the mussels have opened.  Set the mussels aside and strain the cooking liquor through a fine sieve.  You'll want about 3/4 cup of liquid.  Set a couple of mussels aside to garnish & halve the rest.  Rinse out the pan and put it back on the heat with a little olive oil & butter, 1/2 leek finely sliced & 1/2 fennel bulb finely sliced.  Season, cover & cook over a low heat about 10 mins until tender.  Add a clove of crushed garlic, some fresh thyme & a pinch of saffron.  Cook about a minute.  Add the mussel liquor, 1 1/2 cups chicken stock & 1/4 cup cream.  Bring to the boil & simmer 10 minutes. Add about 300g firm white fish cut into bite-sized pieces.  We used  porae from Yellow Brick Road - responsibly caught via long-line on day boats, traceable, certified by Friends of the Sea.  I added that because, if you check the app I mentioned last week, porae is listed as a bad choice.  Simmer 3 mins or so until the fish is just cooked then take off the heat and add the mussels & some chopped parsley.  Add a reserved mussel to each bowl along with some fennel fronds & a grind of black pepper.  Serve with freshly baked sourdough.
A real find this week was the Dutch favourite Stamppot.  This is Dutch sausage & mash & is divine.  I found the recipe on a Dutch blog along with other interesting ideas so we may be trying some Dutch fare over winter. I pretty much followed this recipe to the letter and although I was sceptical about the vinegar it was perfect addition. The recipe recommends adding a stock cube to the potato cooking water but, in fact, I boiled the potatoes in our home made stock.  I bought the rookworst at Moore Wilson and again I didn't expect to like it but it was delicious.  I also think this would be nice with a good pork sausage and a blob of apple butter.  Did I mention that I had made it again this year, but this time with more sugar because last year it didn't keep well?  This year's batch is much firmer & could be spreadable but still delicious.
We also went back to that old favourite kedgeree. We got some beautiful smoked fish from YBR but I can't recall what it was.  I was reminded how much I love kedgeree and I'm sure it will reappear on our table before too long. 
Next week is going to be interesting.  Harriet has challenged us to spend no more than $21 on the entire week's food including coffees and other treats.  I feel confident we can do it.  I'll let you know how we go.  If you have any suggestions please share.  Alternately if you have any suplus in your gardens they would be welcome too.

Galicia beckons

As I said last week, we are eating our way through our cooking books and around the world, and this week we were in Galicia in Spain with Rick Stein.  It's the bit at the top left bordering on Portugal.  It's coastal, so we had seafood.  We started with mussels in tomato vinaigrette which was a wonderful way to eat mussels.  Eat more mussels - they are quick and easy to prepare, they are so cheap and they are quite filling.
We followed the mussels with a simple terakihi fillet with caramelised garlic. I have this nifty little app on my phone for choosing sustainable fish.  It's called Best Fish Guide & is produced by Forest & Bird.  You type in the fish the recipe suggests & the app tells you if it is a good choice and if not what to choose instead.  It also includes recipes!  The garlic is something you can do a good batch of and keep in the fridge for a few weeks.  Put 125g roughly chopped garlic cloves & 90ml olive oil into a small pan & cook over a very gentle heat for 20 minutes until it is soft & sweet.  Stir occasionally & bash it with a potato masher after about 15 mins to help it soften down.  Season with salt & refrigerate what you don't use.  We had this with what was described as a classic Spanish mixed salad and seemed like a version of a classic Salad Nicoise.  You can buy white asparagus in jars at Moore Wilson & they're not terribly expensive.  Nothing like the price of fresh in the season.
In the spirit of Spain, if not exactly Spanish, we had a salad of pumpkin, ricotta & Serrano ham served on a bed of baby spinach.  It was Hugh's side dish salad expanded into an entire meal. 
However we did not entirely leave last week's British theme behind.  I was looking at cooking books in the library - don't ask why  - I know we have too many on our shelves which is why we started this regional culinary journey.  However there we were at the library and there it was - The Great British Farmhouse Cookbook. I recommend a trip to your local library to borrow a copy for yourself.  If you are in Wellington wait a couple of weeks because we still have it. I would like to cook my way through the book.  For now we have tried Warm lamb salad with pea, mint & feta dressing.  This is a kind of deconstructed Sunday lunch without the potatoes.  You could serve it with a dish of sauteed or roasted potatoes if you wanted the carbohydrate. I plan to make this again.  The leftovers went well in our weekday lunches.
The book got another outing when Peter whipped up the Roasted squash, red onion, green leaf & cheese tart. We need to eat pumpkin every week to maintain my sideboard autumn display  - we eat & replace so they are not wasted.  We need to eat chard because it keeps growing.  So a recipe that uses both pumpkin and chard is very welcome.  You'll be hearing a lot more about this book.
If you have not yet visited Ombra on Cuba St, do so soon.  It describes itself as a Venetian Bacara.  The food is outstanding.  There is a bit of a wait for a table but you can have a drink and start eating at the bar.  The staff are really friendly and helpful.  You will have a great night out.  We took Phoebe on Friday and we were not disappointed. Phoebe's favourite was the potato & emmental crochetta, mine was the pork meatballs.  Next time I'm going to try the sardines.  Reminds me of a great trip I took to Portugal with a very good friend in 1982/83 where we ate sardines nearly every lunchtime.  It was my introduction to the joy of grilled sardines.

Best of British

We seem to have a lot of cooking books of regional cooking & I thought a nice way to start making more use of them was to pick a country for a Saturday night meal.  Last weekend we had two British meals which provided two midweek meals as well.  I also thought it would be a nice idea to have a seasonal arrangement of those charming mini pumpkins on the sideboard.  I just buy a couple each week & we eat our way through them.
The first British meal was venison loin with barley risotto & roasted roots.  Start with the barley because it takes a while.  Saute a thinly sliced leek with a little butter & oil & a sprig of thyme until softened.  Stir in 250g pearl barley with 1/2  the hot  chicken stock (500ml of 1 litre).  Put the lid on & simmer 20 minutes or so until all the stock is absorbed. Just keep adding stock over the next 40-60 mins until the barley has the consistency you like to eat.
While that is cooking, heat the oven to 200 & dice 1/2 a swede, 1 red onion, 1/2 large carrot & 2  turnips into 1-2cm cubes.  Toss in a roasting dish with 2 rashers chopped streaky bacon & a couple of sprigs of rosemary.  Season well & drizzle over some olive oil.  Cook 30-40 mins until the vegetables are done.
Put the leaves of two rosemary sprigs in a pestle & mortar with 5-6 juniper berries & salt & pepper.  Bash them then mix in a splash red wine vinegar & a swig of olive oil.  Rub all over your venison loin.  We had 400g for two & that stretched to 2 meals.  When you think you are 20 mins away from dishing up, heat a little olive oil in a pan to a high heat.  Cook the loin around 18 mins turning every 2 mins.  Do not overcook.  You want it rare to medium rare. Place on a warmed plate & rub it with a little butter while it rests.  Get up the roasties & stir through some marmalade which will give it a lovely gloss.  Serve it all with a few handfuls of watercress & other green leaves dressed with a little oil & balsamic.
Later in the week make a rustic huntsman's pie with the leftovers.  This is just shepherd's pie with venison.  I made a sofrito with onion, carrot & celery then added the finely chopped venison & left over barley & veg.  I topped with a mash of swede, pumpkin & potato because that is what I had in my cupboard.  You might have a different combination.  I had too much mash so I froze the surplus for another day.  My freezer is full of surplus mash which is great for a potato topped dish & sometimes I forget to label it so I am not sure which vegetable I have until it is done.
On Sunday we did Jamie Oliver's empire roast chicken. I served this with peas - it felt like the right thing to do. You could expand this if you had a crowd maybe with a variation on dhal & some spicy beans.
Leftovers became a pilaf the next day & Peter took the remainder for his lunch the day after.  For that I adapted an old favourite.  I left out the pine nuts & the preserved lemon and added a little garam masala with the turmeric.  I just added the shredded cooked chicken & peas with the rice.  I used 1 cup rice & 2 cups stock.  We served it with the cranberry sauce that needs to be used. Meals like this make weekday eating so easy.

Strange Fruit

Summer fruit, like summer, lasted well into autumn this year but when we had farewelled the last of the plums it was time to welcome the autumn comers.  This year we added dragon fruit to the list.  I had never seen this before, but like many new things, as soon as I discovered it I encountered it everywhere.  The first time I saw it at Moore Wilson I had to buy one and remembering my earlier error with persimmon, where I didn't realise that they should be eaten firm, I looked up what to do.
Luckily I found a helpful video on You Tube.  I was slightly bemused that I was watching an instructional video on how to eat an item of fruit!  Later that week I unintentionally turned the television to one of those cooking competitions where a group of contestants had to make a dessert using a specific set of items & one of those items was dragon fruit.  And then later in the same week I tuned in to Come Dine with Me to see a contestant there serve a fruit salad containing dragon fruit.  This must be the fruit of 2013.  Try one when you get the opportunity.  I really like it.
If you like puff pastry, try this delicious tart which we had first with tomatoes & then used up the rest of the pastry & ricotta with a broccoli version. You could make your own but I would buy a really good puff pastry - we like Paneton.  As an aside try their spinach & feta Danish.  One pack of pastry will make two tarts.  Roll out half the pack about 4mm thick & cut out a 30cm circle.  Put the pastry on a prepared baking tray & refrigerate while you make the filling.  Put 275g ricotta & an egg into a bowl & mix well to combine.  Spread this mixture over the pastry base leaving a 2cm border.  Fold in the border to form a rim.  Bake at 200 for 12 minutes.
Remove from the oven & arrange 200g halved cherry tomatoes cut side up over the tart.  In the summer, look out for Curious Croppers.  They should be available in Moore Wilson later this year. If you are using broccoli, blanch for 3 mins before arranging small florets on the tart.  Drizzle with a little oil & bake a further 10 minutes.  Nestle some torn mozzarella in among the tomatoes & cook a further 2 mins.  Spoon over some basil pesto, scatter with fresh oregano, season with salt & pepper and enjoy.
We have been enjoying little treats.  Phoebe gave Peter some amazing coloured pasta for his birthday.  She prepared it for us with a simple carbonara sauce (sans pancetta) and I do think this was the best way to enjoy the subtle flavours of the pasta.  In a mixing bowl large enough to accommodate the pasta, lightly beat 2 eggs with 3tbsp grated Parmesan & 1 tbsp grated pecorino, finely chopped parsley, salt & pepper.  When the pasta is cooked according to the instructions on the pack, drain it & add to the bowl & toss until mixed through.  Serve immediately because the sauce isn't hot to start & it will cool quickly.  If you want to add pancetta cook it while the pasta water is boiling, in a little butter & olive oil to which you add a splash or white wine & reduce.  Add the pancetta to the pasta at the end.
We had an outstanding crop of broccoli this year.  Those green caterpillars enjoyed it too & we had a struggle keeping them down but a visitor recommended a garlic spray which helped. We celebrated the first of the crop with roast chicken served with broccoli & carrots from the garden.  The first picking of any new crop always seems the best one.  I had wanted to serve this with my cranberry/crabapple sauce - remember cranbapple.  However the crabapples which appeared to be a bumper crop were all rotten in the core.  So disappointing.  I had already bought the cranberries so I made a cranberry sauce that was outstandingly simple.
Tip a packet of fresh cranberries in a pot with the juice of two oranges.  Bring to the boil & simmer until the cranberries start to pop. Just get it to a consistency you like then add 1/2 the amount of sugar to the cranberries & stir till the sugar has dissolved.  Pour into clean jars.  This will keep in the fridge a couple of weeks.  I was so astounded by its simplicity & wonder that I bought another pack of cranberries & tossed it in the freezer for Christmas. We ate the sauce with the chicken, the left over chicken pilaf, potatoes & in fact everything I could think of where sauce might be appropriate.
The broccoli recipe of the season has however been Hugh's variation on pasta with greens - pasta with broccoli.  This takes no time to throw together on a week night & there is something amazing about how all the little broccoli bits cling to the pasta.  The chilli gives just the right degree of heat and it is a most satisfying meal.  I also highly recommend the original version and we do this with whatever greens we have to hand.  Frequently rainbow chard, because it just grows & grows & we need to eat at least one chard recipe most weeks.
Another find to showcase chard is a simple dish with butter beans.  If I can, I buy Navarrrico beans but they are expensive & hard to come by so tinned will do.  My only comment is I use the liquid from the jar & drain the tinned beans & add a little vegetable stock.  Tip a jar or tin of beans into a pan with the liquid from the jar or stock.  Add a pinch of salt, bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes then add a 1/2 dozen or more quartered cherry tomatoes to the pan with a knob of butter, a splash of white wine vinegar, a squeeze of tomato paste & a generous splash of Tabasco or other hot sauce.  Mash a few of the beans with a potato masher & stir it all through.  This will make the dish creamier.  Bring back to the boil & simmer 10 mins or so until creamy & delicious.  Then stir through some shredded greens.  Spinach only needs a minute, chard two or three minutes & cabbage or kale around five.  You could stop here and serve just like this as a side dish but if you want this to be dinner, sprinkle with fresh breadcrumbs and some grated cheese and bake at 180 until the cheese is golden.
Lastly one of my followers gifted us a subscription to the New York Times (thank you)  and I happened upon a recipe for the best ever mushrooms on toast.  This may seem extravagant but I urge you to try it.  These may be the best mushrooms you ever eat.  As I am writing this I am recalling this meal and I can feel mushrooms on toast coming on for lunch tomorrow.  The New York Times food section has some of the best recipes of any newspaper. (I think this recipe is available outside the subscription but if you have trouble with the link give me a yell & I will send you the recipe.)

Courgettes every day

Over the long hot dry that has been Wellington's summer this year we have been feasting from the garden.  Along with lettuces, spring onions, radishes and rainbow chard, we have had a bumper crop of courgettes.  We have had green & yellow courgettes and some wonderful scallopini.  I didn't know that as the scallopini grow they change from bright yellow to a rich creamy colour.
Very fresh radishes it turns out are delicious buttered and dipped in salt.  This turned up in a book of Parisian cooking as something to have with an aperitif, and also appeared in Hugh's veg.  Basically, spread a little of your very best butter - we are currently eating Lewis Rd - on a radish & sprinkle with a pinch of very best sea salt.
We have struggled to keep up with the courgettes and at times were eating them every day.  Luckily, there are so many good things to do with a courgette.  For an excellent fettuccine dish, gently fry 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic with a finely chopped onion & 4 thickly sliced courgettes until the onion is soft.  Add a pinch of saffron threads that have been soaking in 1/4 cup water for 15 mins or so - add the water as well.  Add 4 diced tomatoes and 200ml cream.  Stir this mixture through cooked fettuccine with 200g crumbled goat's feta and a handful of torn basil leaves.  Top with grated Parmesan.
Try a warm chickpea salad filled with summer veg.  This is a bit of an assembly job.  Start by softening a finely sliced red onion with 1 tsp cumin seeds in a pan.  Put in a large bowl with 2 tbsp olive oil and 3 tbsp white wine vinegar.   Rinse & drain 2 tins of chick peas & heat through in a pan of boiling water then drain & add to the bowl.  Cook 2 cobs of corn & scrape the kernels into the bowl - I have a gadget that does this really efficiently and is also good if you have braces or have just had your wisdom teeth extracted and can't gnaw it straight from the cob.  Steam or blanch some green beans & add to the bowl along with 1/2 cup pitted green olives, thinly sliced deseeded red chilli, 1 cup flat leaf parsley (remember I don't eat coriander but you might like to).  Toss to combine, season & sprinkle on some crumbled goat's cheese.  Some crusty sourdough would be nice with this to soak up the dressing on the plate at the end.
To really celebrate a glut of summer vegetables what about a Spanish vegetable stew - a menestra.  I used a few leaves of chard, a large handful of green beans, 2 courgettes, 100g green beans.  I would have added asparagus if they had been around. Strip the leaves from the chard & chop the stalks into 5 cm pieces, halve the beans, slice the courgettes lengthways into stubby sticks.  Bring a large pan of water to the boil & cook the vegetables separately for the appropriate amount of time.  Lift them out with a slotted spoon & refresh under cold water then set aside.  About 5 minutes for the beans, three for the chard stalks (not leaves), courgettes.  Reserve the cooking water.  Heat some olive oil in a cazuela or wide shallow pan and soften a thinly sliced onion & garlic clove.  Stir in 25g plain flour. Gradually stir in about 500ml of the cooking water & 1/2 tsp caster sugar.  Bring to the boil & simmer a couple of minutes.
Stir 150g peas & the chard leaves into the sauce & cook 3 minutes or so then stir in all the cooked vegetables to heat through.  You could have this as a light mid-week meal or as a side with fish.  Either way, it is a delicious way of serving summer greens.
When one courgette is hiding under the leaves & becomes marrow-like before you discover it, try stuffing it with a rice mixture.  I cooked up about 150g lamb mince with onion, garlic & 1 tsp each of cinnamon & cumin.  I mixed through about 1 cup homemade tomato sauce & 1/2 cup cooked rice.  Halve 2 marrow-like courgettes & scrape out the seeds.  Lay in a baking dish where they fit snugly and fill with the mince mixture.  Bake at 180 about 1/2 an hour until the courgettes are tender. 

Golden Weather

Wellington has had an outstanding summer and we have eaten outside more than usual.  This has been very conducive to summer dining and we have had lots of salady things and summer vegetables.  The garden has really enjoyed the sun and we have been racing to catch the courgettes before they escaped to marrowdom.
Summer feels right for Spanish cooking and we remembered a while back, on Rick Stein's series on Spain, he made an intriguing Catalan pasta dish which we've been meaning to try for ages.  Catalan use Fideua noodles which are short thin pieces of dried pasta similar in thickness and texture to spaghettini.  We found something called fadennudeln, which is German but which fitted Rick's description.  You could just use spaghettini & break it up.  Whatever you decide, have a go.
The recipe said to make a fish stock with tomato passata but we actually had some tomato sauce we wanted to use up so we improvised a bit and just used that, diluted with some light chicken stock.  I would make the fish stock next time if I had the time.
In the paella pan (if you don't have one use a regular slope sided pan), fry 2 cloves of thinly sliced garlic.  Keep a close eye on it because garlic burns easily and you are looking for golden rather than charred.  As soon as it colours scoop it out & set aside.  Add 150g of the noodles and fry them in the garlicky oil  until they are golden.  Again you are looking for light golden rather than dark.  Stir in 500g of the tomatoey stock or stocky tomato sauce, a little salt & the fried garlic.  Bring to the boil, then reduce & simmer 9 minutes or so until all the liquid has evaporated.  Remove from the heat, cover with an opened out newspaper and leave to rest.  When Rick did this all the pasta strands pointed upwards but that didn't happen for us.
While the pasta is resting cook the seafood.  We had squid and prawns which worked well.  You'll want to have them prepared before you start the pasta so maybe I should have mentioned this at the top of the page.  You should always read the whole recipe before you start.  Don't you hate it when you're halfway through cooking tonight's dinner when it says "now put in the fridge overnight"?
Use 75g-100g each of peeled prawns and sliced squid.  Heat a little olive oil in another pan, add the squid & prawns over a high heat for 1-1 1/2 minutes until just cooked but nicely caremelised.  Season with a little salt and serve alongside the pasta.  To serve the pasta, dot with aioli (which the Spanish call alioli).  If you don't like seafood you could probably sautee some chicken thighs cut into quite small pieces.
Now that the aubergine season is in full swing we have been making aubergine stacks with chicken and cheese.  We were inspired to this by a delicious meal we ate at the house of one of you.  I don't know if this is what you did but this is our method.  Slice two chicken breasts into thinner slices and flatten the thicker slices by bashing between cling film.  You want thin escalopes of chicken that will sit on a slice of aubergine.  Brush the chicken pieces with oil & white wine vinegar & season.  Fan grill at 200 for about 15 minutes turning once.
Slice an aubergine lengthwise and brush with olive oil.  Grill on a ribbed hot plate or heavy bottomed pan 2-3 mins each side  then finish off with 5 mins under the fan grill.  Grill thick slices of haloumi.  Heat through a small quantity of that homemade tomato sauce you always keep in the freezer.  To assemble, lay a slice of aubergine on the plate, top with a slice of chicken, a slice of haloumi, some torn basil leaves and top with a splodge of tomato sauce.   I think you could be flexible here and think about trying different cheeses & herbs.  Maybe try oregano with the haloumi & mozarella with basil.  You'd probably have to pop the assembled stack under the grill to melt the mozarella.  Or try paneer with coriander.
Last Sunday I made an outstanding vegan pudding I had been meaning to try.  This was inspired by a recipe from the raw food people in Auckland, Little Bird.  I don't actually subscribe to the raw food philosophy any more than I embrace veganism or gluten free for its own sake, but I will champion any meal prepared with good quality ingredients that tastes great.  These chocolate ganache tarts certainly measure up.  This is the version we saw on River Cottage Veg.  I used cashews instead of pecans - cheaper.  I used Blue Coconut oil, Green & Black organic fairly traded cocoa and I substituted the maple syrup for the agave nectar.  Actual maple syrup not maple flavoured syrup!  I also made individual tarts using muffin pans and a couple of extras served in a dish as mousse.  Think about freezing & serving as ice cream.  Note that you must serve this really chilled - at room temperature you may taste the avocado.  It will taste less sweet when chilled so sweeten to a little sweeter than your taste prior to chilling.  It is really rich so think about mini servings.  It is truly delicious so hungry people may eat two but people who overfilled on mains won't manage it even if they think they want to.
On a final note, over the next month we are hosting visitors from foreign parts  - the UK & Canada.  What shall I feed them?  Any suggestions for meals which show off what we produce in New Zealand and are summery?