Good Food

When I first came to Wellington in 1985 I regularly clipped the recipes from the Listener and collected them in a scrap book.  Initially Lois Daish and Annabel Langbein alternated weekly and then Lois took the column over for many years.  Many of these recipes were and still are my go to source for family staples.  Most of my favourites were captured in Good Food which my mother  bought me and which is now rather dog-eared and stained.  Later I collected all Lois' books.  One recipe that wasn't in any of the books was my go-to meat loaf recipe, aptly titled My Meatloaf.  When we were renovating the kitchen all the cooking books were packed away for the duration and this scrap book never reappeared.  I have searched high and low and always hope that it will turn up along with a book about coffee by Claudia Rodin that my mother once gave me.  They must both be in the same carton - if you've seen it let me know or if you ever happen across a copy of the coffee book, I would love to replace it.
The recipe from the book whose loss I have most regretted is the meatloaf.  I have tried over the years to find another.  Friends have passed on recipes which were good but not as good. The problem is often consistency - they are too smooth whereas I remembered Lois' as being coarser, a bit more substance. Recently I discovered that a good friend is Lois' neighbour and I told her my dilemma.  She mentioned this to Lois and now I have the recipe back in my collection.  The original column had a photo of the loaf cooked in a tin but I didn't recall this as I had only clipped the recipe not the picture.  I had always shaped the loaf according to Lois' instructions in the recipe.  This is how it was intended.
When I read over the recipe, it read very much like many of the other recipes I had tried but when I made it, it was clear that it was the right one both in flavour and consistency.  To make Lois' and my meatloaf, sauté a finely chopped onion in a little butter with some finely chopped thyme and sage.  In a large  bowl mix 2 cups of fresh breadcrumbs with a cup of milk, two eggs and salt and pepper.  Add the onions and 500g each minced beef and pork.  On a lightly greased baking tray form the mix into a sausage-shaped loaf.  Cover with 6-8 rashers of bacon.  Bake at 200 for 45-60 mins.  We used to serve this with mashed potato and broccoli and home made tomato sauce.  This was just perfect.  This is quite a large quantity and will feed a crowd (or our family of seven).  I think you could easily halve it.  Just watch your cooking time and don't let it dry out.  On this occasion I froze the left overs in two portions for future occasions.
We have many other favourites from Good Food.  Louisiana chicken salad  was often Isabel's birthday choice and Jasper requested it when he was recently home from France. I always make the broccoli salad with our own crop although Lois may not recognise my modifications.  All these are just great family meals which were always popular in our house and which we now all have in our repertoires.  I am so glad to be reunited with My Meatloaf.

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.

Let them eat cake

I like to bake cakes but these days the occasions to eat cake become fewer.  With just two of us at home most of the time we are just not going to get through a cake.  It is nice to have a special occasion and an appreciative crowd to make  a cake a worthwhile undertaking.
This summer I have made three cakes I think will be worth revisiting next summer.
My favourite type of cake is the basic pound cake, lemon or blueberry, or my old favourite lemon yoghurt cake.  Sometimes they don't seem quite festive enough for occasions which call for cake.  I am not big on icing so a cake that uses fruit as decoration really appeals. In summer you can't go past strawberries.
The November Dish had a light as air sponge filled with balsamic soaked strawberries and a mascarpone cream.  I made this for both Isabel and Phoebe's birthdays. On both occasions we started the evening with this amazing strawberry cocktail.  It's relatively easy to produce a non-alcoholic version for the drivers.
To make the cake prepare two sponges around 20 cm in diameter.   Hull and roughly chop 3 punnets of strawberries then mush them a bit with a fork.  Combine with 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar and 2 tbsp. icing sugar.  Leave for half an hour then strain the liquid into a bowl.  When ready to serve put one half of the sponge on a serving dish and brush with the balsamic juices.  Top with the strawberries - if they are too many leave some aside to serve on the side. Mix 150 ml of softly whipped cream with 200g mascarpone and spread across the strawberries.  Brush the other sponge half with the rest of the balsamic juices and sit atop the cream.  Dust with icing sugar. 
In January I had a celebration at work which coincided with my discovery of this amazing spiced vegetable cake. We also had courgettes and carrots in the garden so it seemed perfect.  I recommend that you try this cake.  Substituting dates for sugar was a great idea.  The cake was neither too sweet nor too heavy.  I am not a fan of the cream cheese frosting on a traditional carrot cake.  I find it far too sweet and cloying.  This one seemed lighter.  Just think of this cake as one of your five servings of vegetables for the day.
Just when I didn't feel I could serve up the balsamic cake for a third time in three months, Dish presented me with the Summer Strawberry Pimms cake.  This is really too easy.  Into the bowl of your standing mixer add 350g very soft butter, 350g caster sugar, 350g flour, 2 tsp baking powder, pinch of salt, 1 tsp mixed spice, grated zest of an orange, 6 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract and the all important 2 tbsp Pimms.  Beat until you have a smooth batter & divide between two 20cm sponge tins.  Bake at 170 for 25 mins or until done. 
In a saucepan boil 1 cup Pimms, 1/2 cup caster sugar, juice of an orange and a lemon, 2 sprigs mint until reduced and syrupy.  Remove the mint.  Spoon the hot syrup over the smooth sides of the cooled cakes.  Beat 1 cup of softly whipped cream with 200g mascarpone and the zest of an orange.  Don't beat the mascarpone or it WILL curdle.  Spread half the cream mixture between the two cakes and the other half on top. Decorate with orange segments, strawberries,  mint and borage flowers.  I always have borage in the garden in the summer because it brings the bees to pollinate vegetables like broad beans and courgettes.  Once you have it, it will never leave.  I served this cake twice as well  - firstly as a welcome home to Max (from London) and Peter and Mike (from their Routeburn trek).  Then I served at as a celebration of having the entire family at the table for the first time in six plus years.  A fitting celebration.