Welcome 2017

Happy New Year.  2016 was a fairly hectic year and although we did eat many delicious and healthy meals, I didn't find the time to write about any of them.  But I'm back and ready to share what goes on our table in 2017.
Having welcomed in the year with some home-baked shortbread and a fine single malt, courtesy of our house guests, we celebrated New Year with a festive dinner of beef fillet with a pomegranate salsa, accompanied by freshly dug potatoes and a tomato and pomegranate salad.  This meal was low on effort and high on impact.
For six people you will need a 1kg fillet of beef - or you might want a bit more because they will definitely want seconds. Tie up the fillet so that it is an even thickness ensuring it will cook evenly or ask your butcher to do this for you. Heat the oven to 250. Combine 1 tbsp mustard with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp each cumin and smoked paprika. Put the beef on a lined baking tray and spread all over with the mustard mix and season with sea salt flakes and a good grind of pepper.  Put in the oven and roast about 25 mins for medium rare. These days we use a meat thermometer to guide the cooking time.  I bought one back when I made the Beef Wellington because you can't judge a Wellington by looking or touching. Turn the fillet over half way through cooking. Rest for 15 mins and slice thickly.
While the beef is cooking prepare the accompaniments. For the salsa whisk 3 tbsp olive oil with 1 tbsp sherry vinegar and 2 cloves garlic.  Add 1/2 cup toasted pinenuts and the seeds of half a pomegranate and season to taste.  If you don't make the tomato salad use the whole pomegranate but I reserved half for the salad.  Add 1/4 cup each finely chopped mint and parsley while the meat is resting. To serve put the sliced beef on a serving plate and top with sliced roasted red pepper  - I use the jars because it is easier and they taste great. Spoon over the pomegranate salsa and some microgreens.
For the salad cut up a variety of tomatoes (roughly a handful per person), so they are about the same size.  Mix 2 tsp za'atar with 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil and set aside.  Add the other half of your pomegranate (if you are not making the salsa use the whole fruit), 1/2 a thinly sliced yellow capsicum, 1/2 a thinly sliced red onion, 1/3 cup torn basil, 1/3 cup torn mint, 1-2 tsp lemon juice and some sea salt.  Gently mix through and drizzle over the za'atar mix.
For the festive pudding I made a strawberry granita.  You'll need to do this in the morning or the day before.  I made a quantity for 12 because it seemed easier but you could just as easily halve it.
Combine 1/4 cup caster sugar with 1/2 cup water and bring it to the boil stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Take it off the heat and add a dozen roughly chopped strawberries, 1 tbsp each rosewater and lime juice.  Leave for 10 mins to cool and process in the blender until you have a smooth puree. Add 2 cups Prosecco and pour into a shallow metal dish and freeze until it is firm around the edges.  My dish was about 20cm x 30cm. Use a fork to scrape through the ice crystals a couple of times during the freezing process. To serve, put a layer of fresh berries in the base of a serving glass then a layer of whipped cream.  Scrape the granita again with a fork and spoon on top of the cream.
While we're talking pomegranates, I have discovered a wonderfully simple fish dish with pomegranate. We use fillets of a firm flaky fish such as purse seine caught trevally or kingfish. Use the Forest and Bird Best Fish Guide 2017 to ascertain a sustainable fish.
Mix the seeds of a pomegranate with 1 tbsp lemon juice and a pinch of salt.  Just before serving add 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (or coriander if you must). Mix 1/4 cup lemon juice with 2 tbsp finely chopped dill, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1 tbsp olive oil, and marinade the fish around 30 mins. Pan fry the fish or cook an a large grill plate on the stove top or barbecue.  Transfer the fish to a platter and garnish with thinly sliced red onion and spring onions, and some think slices of tomato.  Spoon over the pomegranate mix and then sprinkle over some sea salt and sumac powder.
These meals are really quick and easy to prepare and will get your New Year off to an excellent start.

Feeding hungry hordes

We had young relatives visiting from the UK and it seemed the perfect opportunity for some summer family meals.  Unfortunately Wellington did not turn on barbeque weather but we made the best of it.  We started the weekend with an extended family dinner and I couldn't go past a leg of lamb which we had the butcher butterfly for us.  Ideally we would have cooked this on the barbeque but it does just as well on the flat grill on the stove top.  Marinade the lamb for an hour in a blend of 3 tbsp Greek yoghurt, juice of a lemon, 4 crushed cloves of garlic and 2 tbsp dried oregano.  When the grill is very hot, lift the lamb from the marinade, shake off any liquid then lay it on the grill skin-side down.  Cook for about 10 minutes until crisp on the outside.  Turn and brush with the remaining marinade, then continue to cook for around 20 minutes until crisp on the outside and slightly pink within or of you prefer, grill a shorter time and finish in the oven at 200.  Season with salt while cooking.  Rest for around 10 minutes before serving.  Peter does all this because, as you know, I don't really cook large pieces of meat. 
I served this with a classic Greek salad and tzatziki. I also decided to make skordalia for the first time and it was a hugely popular.  For 6-8 people, boil about 150g Agria potatoes or another excellent mashing variety.  It doesn't seem like a lot of potatoes for the hungry hordes but it will be sufficient.  Drain immediately.  Pound three cloves of garlic with salt in a mortar and sieve the potatoes through a very fine sieve or potato ricer.  Mix in the garlic until you have a smooth puree.  Don't use the food processor unless you are planning to hang wallpaper, in which case you will have a lovely garlic infused paste. Beat in 100ml olive oil a little at a time, as if you were making mayonnaise.  You are looking for an emulsion.  Add juice of half a lemon and a little water if you need to loosen the mix.  Serve as a sauce with the lamb.
And then for pudding we had a strawberry and rose wine granita.  So easy.  Blend 500g strawberries, 3 tbsp honey, 2 tbsp of any berry liqueur and 1 tbsp lime juice.  Add a cup of the rose and blend again.  Either still or sparkling wine will be good.  I used sparkling. Pour into a shallow freezer-proof container and freeze.  Two or three times before serving take the tray out and mix through any big chunks of ice, pulling the frozen side edges towards the centre with a fork.  Fluff up the granules and serve in tall glasses on top of mixed berries.  You will need long spoons or long tongues to get the berries from the bottom of the glass.
On Saturday night I decided to do chicken with a quinoa salad.  I  chopped and changed for ages. Quinoa or couscous? At the very last minute I plumped for quinoa.  It was the best decision.  It is actually like a quinoa tabouleh but lighter.  For 4, cook 1 cup quinoa according to the instructions on the packet.  Make a vinaigrette with oil, red wine vinegar and garlic and 1/4 tsp each ground ginger and cinnamon and stir through the cooled quinoa.  Fold in 1 cup diced cucumber, 10 or so roughly chopped cherry tomatoes, 2 thinly sliced spring onions, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, a good handful or mint or parsley or both and season with salt and pepper.  Serve with grilled chicken.  Season boned chicken breast, skin on with Moroccan style spices  - ras el hanout or whatever you have in the cupboard.  Use as many chicken breasts as you need for your diners.  I tend to think 120g per person and chicken breasts can vary hugely in size.  Cook the chicken on the barbeque grill or if it is windy at your house in a saute pan with a little oil.  Rest then slice and serve with the salad, a dollop of cottage cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. 
For pudding, Phoebe made  chocolate mousse using our secret family recipe.  She used an additional secret ingredient so even if you thought you knew the recipe you don't now.  Only Phoebe and I hold the secret.
On Sunday I returned to an old favourite, beef with yellow split peas.  This has the delicious pumpkin seed dressing.  I also served julienne of carrot and courgette with a pesto dressing. Mix 2 tbsp pesto with 3 tbsp olive oil and one of lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
For pudding, I did an old Peter Gordon recipe of marinated strawberries and pawpaw.  Marinade about 500g halved strawberries in 75 ml dessert wine in the fridge for a couple of hours.  Separately marinade 1/2 a peeled and seeded chopped pawpaw in 1 tbsp lime juice.  When ready, gently toss together with a few mint leaves and splash over the juice.
You may notice that we are a bit short of photos.  That sometime happens when we have a crowd.  You'll have to imagine the lamb.

Beef Wellington

Having successfully achieved a long-term cooking goal I decided to attempt another.  I have only ever eaten Beef Wellington once.  That was about twenty-eight years ago, made by my cousin Mary.  I recall being impressed that she had attempted such a feat.  I have often thought about it but never gone any further.  Buoyed by the success of the minimum effort tartare, I decided to go for the complex and have a go at the Wellington.  The first step was to find a recipe and Eat your Books again came to the rescue.  I searched the entire EYB  collection where I located a classic beef Wellington by Sophie Grigson.  There is even a helpful video which I recommend you watch if you are planning to make this.
The recipe was for eight and I halved it.  I think any less won't work so well.  We froze the remaining portion for another occasion.  I pretty much followed the recipe as it was written.  I don't often do this but because I had no idea what I was doing, sticking to the blueprint seemed like the best approach.  It was actually very simple, especially because you could prepare so much ahead and there was no real time pressure.  I used ready-bought pastry and pate and homemade beef stock, which I always keep in the freezer.  Although the recipe suggests you do a lot of the prep the day before, I started at 11.00 a.m. on the day of eating and had no time issues.
I was very anxious about the crepes as I felt this was the part that might not work.  They were fine.  Just remember that when you are making crepes the first one out of the pan is always a dud.  Ensure you have enough mixture for one to discard - and roll up with sugar and lemon as a cook's treat.  The ones you are going to use cannot have any holes.
I followed the cooking instructions and I bought a meat thermometer.  This was invaluable as there is no way you can see or feel what is going on inside the pastry case.  In case you don't have a temperature equivalents guide - preheat the oven to 245.  Turn it straight down to 215 when you put the Wellington in and reduce to 200 after ten minutes.  My meat thermometer said 140 was rare so we went for that rather then the 135 suggested in this recipe.  It was closer to 35 minutes than 25 but watch at the end as the temperature increases quickly - 30 mins may be sufficient. Do invest in the meat thermometer if you don't already have one.  It was inexpensive and easy to use and really helpful.  I used the rest time to finish the sauce and steam the asparagus.  I just served this with asparagus and watercress, and would suggest any simple seasonal green or a salad. It all went very well but the meat did bleed a little into the crepes which were intended to prevent the pastry becoming soggy.  This meant the pastry was a little soggy at the bottom.  I did some further research and found a recipe that suggested to prevent this, substitute the crepe by a single sheet of filo pastry which may do the job better. 
I felt a meal of this splendour deserved a pudding  but I didn't want to go to any effort.  I had some cream in the fridge and syllabub came to mind.  I've never made this before either.  This time Sophie Grigson's mother, Jane, came to the rescue with a recipe called Elizabeth David's Everlasting Syllabub.  This was in Jane Grigson's English Food and apparently stems from Elizabeth David's An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, which surprisingly I don't have.  This is supposed to be started the night before but as I didn't think about it until mid-morning on the day of Wellington that didn't happen and it didn't seem to matter.  As soon as you can, steep the pared rind of a lemon in 100mls of white wine or sherry, 2 tbsp brandy and the juice of the lemon. Leave at least two hours and then strain the liquid into a bowl and dissolve 50g sugar.  Slowly pour in 300 ml cream and add a grating of nutmeg.  Beat the cream until it holds its shape and no longer.  It will curdle easily.  Spoon into serving glasses and store in a cool place but do not refrigerate.  Jane says this will keep for two days or more.  The alcohol may keep it fresh, but can you imagine leaving a delicious pudding sitting around for two days and not being tempted to eat it?  Serve with sponge fingers.  This was the perfect ending to the meal and I am now a syllabub convert.

Un soir a Paris

I am between jobs.  Really.  I start the new one on Monday.  I had planned a week of walking, gardening and cooking some of those meals I have been meaning to make at the end of a long day but there isn't the time.  But things don't always turn out.  Peter had a week of evening events at work and I ate a little more simply.  Thursday night he was in and I decided to make something I have wanted to make since I first encountered it at the Hofbrauhaus in Auckland when I was seventeen. My seventh form German class took our teacher there for dinner because we loved her and wanted to thank her for being such a great teacher.  Because of this experience I believed for many years that this classic French dish was German.  And for some reason I have never eaten it in Paris.
Often when I get an idea in my head it grows.  This was the case here.  A search on Eat your Books revealed that I have two recipes for steak tartare.  For those who don't know, Eat your Books is a recipe site that has indexed thousands of cooking books.  You add all your books and magazines then when you are looking for a recipie you type in a couple of ingredients and it tells you which book it is in.  Do investigate.  It is wonderful.  Was slightly scary to discover how many cook books I have. Does anyone care to guess?
Anyway back to my steak.  Rick Stein's French Odyssey and Sarah Woodward's The Food of France gave me the general idea.  I then thought we would start our evening with an aperitif and was thinking about accompanying this with buttered radishes, however I think this is best with freshly picked and I don't have any ready right now.  I was flicking thrrough the books and came up with seared scallops with puy lentils.  It's the scallop season so this seemed perfect.
First make a dressing for the scallops.  For a dozen scallops, heat two tablespoons of olive oil in a small saucepan and add four finely chopped cloves of garlic then four chopped tomatoes, skinned and deseeded and some finely chopped rosemary and thyme.  Simmer 10 minues or so until until it is pulpy.  In another small saucepan heat two tbsp red wine vinegar with one tsp caster sugar and reduce to about 2 tsp.  Add to the tomato sauce and season.  Set aside.  For two, cook about 1/4 cup puy lentils, season and dress with olive oil then keep warm while you enjoy your aperitif.  We had kir, which if you recall from an earlier post is creme de cassis with white wine.  When you are ready to eat finish off the tomato sauce with a tbsp of lemon juice and a tsp of chopped basil and parsley. Season and heat gently while you cook the scallops.  Heat the pan then add a litle olive oil and sear the scallops a minute or two on each side.  I don't remove the roe and I can't understand why people do that.  Serve with the lentils and pour the sauce over the scallops.
For the steak you want about 100-120g of fillet steak per person.  Trim off any fat or sinew then chop very finely. Season well with salt and pepper  This took quite a while so allow time.  You want to serve it well chilled so chop it first then put in a covered bowl in the fridge while you prepare the rest.
Accompany with with finely chopped shallots, parsley, cornichons, capers and Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco and olive oil.  You could serve it ready mixed but we did ours at the table because we wanted to do them slightly differently.  Shape the beef into neatish rounds on a plate and make an indent in the centre.  Top each round with an egg yolk and serve with shoestring fries. 
We had macarons with coffee.  Not home made, I am almost (but not quite) too ashamed to say, but locally made nonetheless.  Finish the meal with a good brandy.  To transport yourselves completely to France accompany with Django Reinhardt and Edith Piaf.

Beetroot ... and radishes

It was encouraging to see two new signed up followers and a suggestion for radishes - thank you, readers.  We are still in summer eating mode even though there is a dearth of summer weather. 
We have been working hard on both the beetroot and radishes.  We had end of season asparagus with a lamb fillet and a couscous salad.  For the couscous I mixed a little olive oil and lemon juice through the couscous while it was still warm and then tossed through a selection of salad veg - spring onions, capsicum, parsley, feta and, of course, radishes.  I served it with beetroot relish and yoghurt with mint.  I didn't really need both but the relish needed eating and I love lamb with minty yoghurt so I splurged and it was worth it.  Put lots of mint in the yoghurt.
We have taken a fancy to spring rolls. They are so easy.  Buy a pack of spring roll wrappers and some vermicelli.  Finely slice a selection of fresh vegetables and herbs, including radishes.  Toast and crush some skinned peanuts and/or cashews - maybe add a pinch of cumin.  Make a selection of dipping sauces.  Put a dish of warm water on the table and construct and eat spring rolls until you are replete.  On this occasion I thought we had more wraps in the cupboard than we did, however a squid tube from the freezer came to the rescue.  Salt and pepper squid rings were delicious dipped in the sauces.
We were visiting in Auckland and I thought I would contribute pudding.  Make a jelly by dissolving 2 tbsp sugar in 1/2 cup wine (white or rose, still or sparkling) on the stove.  Don't let it boil.  Remove from the heat and add 4 leaves of softened gelatin, a further 1 3/4 cups of wine and 1 tsp lemon juice.  Pour into a shallow dish and refrigerate around 6 hours.  To serve put a mixture of raspberries, strawberries and blueberries into glasses with diced papaya and top with cubes of jelly.
Back home it was radishes and beetroot.  For a change from lamb we tried rump steak with caper, anchovy and rosemary sauce served with shaved veg with a lemony dressing.
For the meat dressing, pound 4-6 anchovies with a clove of garlic using a mortar and pestle.  Add 2 tsp very finely chopped rosemary and pound again.  Add  2 tsp capers, 2 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp olive oil and mix well with salt and pepper.  Cook the rump steak to your liking and brush both sides with a little of the dressing.  Rest then slice and pour over the remaining dressing.
For the vegetables make a dressing with 1 tsp English mustard, 2 tsp honey, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 4 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil and salt & pepper.  Using a mandoline with care not to slice fingers (we have had mandoline incidents here), very finely slice a selection of raw summer vegetables - radishes, beetroot, kohlrabi, courgette.  Trickle over the dressing.
On the side I served a mix of salad leaves including beetroot leaves with a regular vinaigrette, and some freshly baked thyme-flavoured Turkish-style bread (pide) to mop up the juices.  To make the bread, combine 1/2 cup warm water, 1 tsp honey, 3 tbsp olive oil and add to 1 1/2 cups bread flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp instant yeast, 1 tbsp chopped thyme.  Combine and knead for a few minutes until soft and smooth.  Leave to rise for an hour then divide into eight pieces, shape into rounds about 1 cm thick and cover with a teatowel to rise again for 20 minutes.  I only needed half the dough so have frozen the rest for another time.  Cook the breads on a grill 3-4 mins each side until golden and puffy.
Still trying to use up the last of the cranberry sauce, we had venison sausages with roasted beetroot and wilted spinach and beetroot leaves.  I cooked the beetroot, peeled and cut into chunks then put in a roasting dish with some olive oil and salt and pepper and thyme.  When done I splashed over a little vincotto.  I wash and slice spinach then just add in batches to a pan over a medium heat.  As the spinach wilts, push it to the back and add another handful.  When it is done stir in a small knob of butter and seasoning.  I often add nutmeg or cumin but on this occasion used only pepper.  Adding beetroot leaves with the spinach is delicious.  Try it.
Thank you to Jean-Marie for roasted radishes with dukkah. We tried them this evening with our aperitif of saffron gin.  The gin was a Christmas gift and I recommend you try it. It has a unique pizazz. The radishes were very interesting and I really liked them.  I have never eaten a cooked radish and I enjoyed the change in texture and depth of flavour.  The dukkah was brilliant and will become our staple recipe I suspect.

Festive Fare 2011

Earlier in the month I had made Nigella's Chocolate Christmas cake, which has all the qualities of a proper Christmas cake, but somehow the addition of cocoa makes it palatable to non-Christmas cake eaters. I used cointreau rather than coffee liqueur and just used the fruit I had on hand including cranberries. I also got a little carried away & broke some Whittaker's Dark Ghana into chunks & stirred it through. This meant that some times you came across a gooey chocolate bit when eating it. I had no complaints. Sofie was in charge of decorations.
In the past I have started the Christmas festivities with a Danish.  This year I thought I would try something different.  I made a large batch of my regular breakfast juice which went down very well.  Getting the quantities right for 9 was a bit tricky & it came out redder than usual which was appropriate for the occasion.  It was very popular with all.  We followed this with a batch of strawberry brioches.
To make the brioches, make a sweet dough using 1 1/2 cups plain flour, 1/4 cup caster sugar, 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast, 1/2 tsp salt, 60g soft butter, 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup warm milk.  Whisk the egg with the milk & vanilla then add to everything else in a bowl & knead to a soft dough.  Add up to 1 cup additional flour to end up with a soft but not sticky dough then wrap in cling film & refrigerate overnight.  I also prepared the strawberry filling the night before to save time in the morning.  Combine 100g soft butter with 1 tbsp strawberry jam, 1/2 cup caster sugar, finely grated zest of a lemon.
Take the dough out of the fridge at least 1 hour before you want to start.  Preheat the oven to 180.  Roll out the dough to a rectangle approx 45cm x 25cm.  Spread with the jam mix then sprinkle over 400g finely chopped strawberries.  Roll up the dough from the long side to form a log and cut into 9 rounds.   Butter a 30cm round cake tin & sprinkle with caster sugar.  The tin should be 4-5 cm deep .  Put them around the tin cut side up, with one in the middle.  Brush with a little butter & sprinkle with caster sugar.  Bake about 30 minutes.  You will need to cover with foil half way through to prevent burning.  When you take them out, leave for a minute or so then tip onto a plate & invert them onto another so they are crusty side up. Tip over the remaining juice.  Cool for at least 30 minutes & dust with icing sugar.  My tin was too big & they collapsed a little.  You could do them individually in Texas muffin pans.  Also very messy to eat but again I didn't have any complaints.  It sounds like a lot of effort but isn't really.
Christmas lunch was the usual suspects.  Mandy outdid herself with the production of a personalised menu for each guest.  We served gilded roast turkey with sage & onion stuffing or Christmas nut roast, with cranberry sauce & whisky gravy, accompanied by roasted potatoes freshly dug from our garden, shallots, baby carrots & capsicums, Fresh garden peas with feta, mint & olive oil and grilled asparagus with lemon infused olive oil.  We finished with summer pudding.
Later in the evening when we were feeling a little peckish we dished up the glazed ham with a salad.
On Boxing Day we dished up the now familiar Boxing Day turkey coleslaw followed by Christmas pudding & ginger wine ice cream.
Festive dining concluded with a magnicent rib of beef on New Year's Day.  I wanted a celebratory meal but without the heaviness of a full roast.  This was just perfect & the beef was beautiful cold with salad for the next few days.  In fact my visitors were sent packing the next day with some of it in their travelling sandwiches.  The rib is not a common cut of beef these days but our butcher recommend it for the tenderness of the beef & I concur.  I ordered the beef a week in advance so there was time for it to hang and age.  The whole piece had 7 ribs but we just bought 4 and that was more than enough for all the above - dinner for 7 and leftovers.
For pudding we had soft fruit macerated in Kawakawa Vinegar.  I bought this vinegar at the City Market & I stongly recommend you look out for it.  This fruit sald is another way to use up the palm sugar you bought for the tamarind chicken.  I think this would also be really nice with the Tamarillo Vinegar.

Old, new, walnut, blue

This tagine might just be the best ever edging out the beef & beetroot. This is another poached lamb kefta best done on the stove top.  Mix 450 g minced lamb with 1 finely chopped onion, a bunch of finely chopped flat leaf parsley, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp each ground coriander & cumin, 1/2 tsp cayenne, salt & pepper.  Shape into small meatballs - you'll get about 16.  In a pan, saute 1 roughly chopped onion with 3 cloves crushed garlic, a piece of grated ginger & a thinly sliced red chilli  Add 2 tsp turmeric, some roughly chopped parsley & mint and about 300ml water.  Simmer 10 minutes then carefully add the kefta & poach gently for 10 minutes.  Pour over the juice of a lemon and tuck a second lemon, cut into segments, between the meatballs.  Season with salt & poach a further 10 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley & mint.  Serve with couscous and a soft leafy salad.  This is deliciously lemony & fresh.
One of my favourite stalls at the City Market is Angie O.  At the moment she is doing a walnut pesto.  Try spreading this on a piece of toasted sourdough or French bread, then top with a rocket leaf & a slice of your favourite blue cheese.  We had Bleu d'Auvergne.  This makes a divine weekend lunch.
The weather is very up and down and although winter is over I could not resist this beef & red wine pie with spicy pumpkin mash.  The recipe called for beef shin but the butcher didn't have any & recommended a cross-cut blade steak with lovely glutinous veins of fat running through it.  You want something that loves to be slow cooked.    This is a really simple way to make a casserole because you just add everything straight to the pot without browning first.  In fact, I prepared it in the casserole dish in the morning and went to a movie.  When I got home I just took the casserole out of the fridge, heated the oven & popped it in.  To prepare, combine in your casserole dish 750g beef diced fairly large, 1 large carrot roughly chopped, 1 onion roughly chopped, 4 whole cloves garlic, 1 tbsp chopped garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce, zest of 1 orange, 2 tbsp tomato paste, 2 whole star anise, 1/2 cup crushed tomatoes, 1 cup red wine, 1 cup beef stock, salt & pepper.  When you're ready to cook, put it into the oven at 150 for around 3 1/2-4 hours.  If the liquid is too thin near then end just remove the lid & cook until the liquid has reduced & is  a bit syrupy.
For the mash cook some pumpkin & Agria potatoes.  For two, I had about 1/4 pumpkin & 1 potato.  Mash with a little butter & cream & season well.  While the veg is cooking slowly, cook  a thinly sliced onion in a little butter or oil and a good pinch of salt, until soft & golden.  Add a clove of crushed garlic & a grating of ginger & 1/4 tsp allspice & cook another 2 minutes.  Stir through the mash.  To assemble spoon the lamb into individual oven proof dishes.  I have some beautiful pottery dishes my mother bought in Thorndon many years ago.  Do any of you remember the Courtyard Cafe on Tinakori Rd & the pottery shop next door?  These dishes served her well for many years and are now doing great service at our house.  Top with the pumpkin mix & cook at 180 until the mash is coloured & a little crisp.
We welcomed an old favourite back to the table.  This is quick and delicious and a good weekday standby although you do have to pick up your prawns on the day or the day before unless you have some in your freezer.  Skin, deseed & decore 1/2 dozen or so good flavourful tomatoes then roughly chop.  Drain them over a bowl for up to an hour so that you are just using the flesh.  Mix them with 1 clove crushed garlic, a handful each chopped flat leaf parsley & basil, 2 small dried bird's eye chillis (or use flakes), crushed, 1/2 dozen pitted kalamata olives, 3 tbsp olive oil.  Set aside.    Saute about 1/2 dozen prawns per person until just cooked then sprinkle over a pinch saffron & 2 more of those chillis.  Add the tomato mix briefly to warm and scrape up the tasty bits on the bottom of the pan.  Cook some spaghetti according to the pack then toss through the tomato and prawn mix.  Serve with a green salad.

New season

Try a spicy tagine with a variety of earthy sweet root vegetables, such as kumara, yam or pumpkin, and beef.  Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and saute a small piece of grated ginger & 1 onion, finely chopped.  Add 700 kg lean beef, cubed & seer then add 1-2 tsp ras el hanout.  Add enough boiling water to barely cover the meat, cover the tagine & put in the oven at about 180.  After an hour, add your root vegetables cubed - the equivalent of about 2 medium kumara.  Season and cook another 20 minutes or until the meat is tender.  Add 1/2 cup frozen peas and half a tin of chopped tomatoes.  Cook another 10 minutes until the peas and vegetables are cooked.  Sprinkle with chopped preserved lemon & flat leaf parsley.  I made some Turkish flat breads & served with a dollop of Greek yoghurt.
Last Sunday was a very fishy day.   Chowder at the market and whitebait fritters for lunch - the first of the season are always such a treat, served with a squeeze of lemon.  For dinner we bought a beautiful piece of bluenose from the market and pan fried it with za'atar then served with a pinenut dressing, on a bed of hummus.  To cook the fish, brush with olive oil, then sprinkle with za'atar and quickly cook in a hot pan on both sides.  To make the dressing, combine 2 tbsps pinenuts, toasted & roughly chopped, 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley chopped, 1/4 red onion finely chopped, 1/2 red chilli finely chopped, 2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp pomegranate molasses, 1 tbsp lemon juice plus a grating of zest.  Mix together & pour over the fish.
New season's Chinese greens are just beginning to appear at the market.  I plan to really experiment with them this year.  This week I just played it safe and had choy sum with pork fillets. 
Now that Zany Zeus is making paneer, I find we are having it more often.  It is one of my favourite cheeses. Try it with chick peas, spinach & tomatoes.  Heat a tbsp vegetable oil in a pan & cook 1/2 tsp each cumin seeds & yellow mustard seeds until they pop.  Add 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 finely chopped red chilli, 1 small onion thinly sliced, 1 clove garlic crushed, 1/2 tbsp grated ginger.  If you don't have a chilli (and they are not quite in season yet) use dried or flakes.  Season with salt & cook until the onion is soft.  Add a tin crushed tomatoes & a tin of chickpeas & simmer 15 minutes.  In the meantime, slice the paneer (about 150g)  into 2 cm thick chunks and saute in a little oil until golden on both sides.  Cut into bite sized pieces.  Wash a handful of spinach & chop roughly.  Stir into the tomato mix to wilt along with a tbsp tamarind concentrate.  If you don't have tamarind (but you should try & get some) add a squeeze of lemon juice.  Toss through the paneer.
The new season's asparagus is in.  One of the first things I like to do is asparagus in French bread with ham & Gruyere.  This has been a great favourite in our house for many years and was something we often had for lunch when Mum & Dad came to stay in the spring.  They were great asparagus fans. Lightly steam the asparagus then fill a baguette with a slice of Gruyere and a slice of ham & 2-3 asparagus spears.  Toast in a medium oven for about 10 minutes.  We cut our baguette into 3-4 portions depending on the size and appetite of the diners.

Thinking of spring

This week's effort may have been the best tagine ever.  This was my first beef tagine.  Soften one finely sliced red onion, 3 crushed cloves of garlic and a small piece of grated ginger.  When they begin to colour, add one red chilli finely chopped, 2 tsp coriander seeds crushed and 2 sticks of cinnamon.  Add 3-4 lightly cooked beetroots, peeled & quartered.  Saute the beetroot for a minute or so then pour in enough boiling water to nearly cover.  Put the tagine in the oven (put it in at 100 & bring the temperature up to 180).  After about an hour  & 1/2, add an orange peeled & segmented, a tbsp runny honey, 1 tbsp orange flower water & seasoning.  Cover & cook a further 15 minutes.  To serve, sprinkle over lightly roasted pistachios & chopped parsley.  I served it with couscous.
Sunday was Phoebe's last dinner at home before heading back to university & she asked for home made burgers.  I went for a lamb variation.  I make a delicious mix of lamb mince with bulgar wheat, garlic, dried mint & oregano (dried has a more intense flavour) & lemon zest - I think I've told you before.  Sometimes I make them into big patties, sometimes little meatballs to serve on skewers.  On this occasion I made medium sized patties to serve in pitta bread with hummus & a mix of  salad items.  This makes a great change from burgers.  We had the leftovers in our salad lunches.
On Tuesday I made a broccoli & blue cheese salad with the last of the broccoli from the garden.  It was so wonderful I may have to make it again this week with shop bought broccoli.  I urge you to try this.  Apart from broccoli & blue cheese which you have to use - otherwise I'd have to rename the dish - you can put in what ever you have in the fridge.  For the base I used crispy cos and baby spinach.  These days with a composed salad I dress each component as I compose it.  I made a lemony, mustardy vinaigrette & tossed the lettuce with the dressing in a bowl before adding to the salad dish. Cut the broccoli into tiny florets & blanch 1-2 minutes then toss in the dressing bowl & add to the lettuce.  I had some French bread left over from the weekend so I made tiny crispy garlic croutons.  At the market on Sunday I bought some speck from Little Wolf.  If you live in Wellington you should try this.  Sometimes his wife brings delicious Hungarian baking to the market. I put the rind (plus a parmesan rind I found in the freezer) in my pumpkin soup on Monday.  Finely dice the speck, fry & drain well.  I used Roquefort from the French cheese stall at the market and it was the perfect crumbly consistency.  I added halved cherry tomatoes, toasted almonds & micro greens.
Wednesday we had a delicious chicken & couscous meal.  Use 2 boneless chicken thighs, skin on, per person & tie them up with string to reatin their shape while cooking.  Brown on all sides in a pan then set aside.  Add a thinly sliced onion, 1/2  tsp ground corainder & 1/4 tsp each ground turmeric & ginger, 1 crushed garlic clove & a bayleaf.  Soften, adding a sprinkling of water to the pan if the spices start to catch.  Add 1/2 tin drained chickpeas, a handful of green olives & 1 cup chicken stock.  Season, then sit the chicken thighs on top, cover & simmer about 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  Remove the pan from the heat & transfer the thighs to a plate to rest - keep them warm.  Stir 3/4 cup couscous to the pan, cover & leave 10 minutes, then fluff up with a fork.  Add lemon zest & chopped parsley.  We had the left over couscous in our lunch salads.

A Winter Medley

I don't usually cook Asian food as you will have noticed but I just had a hankering for some Asian flavours and something quick. Slice 250g sirloin thinly across the grain and toss with a little vegetable oil, a clove of garlic, crushed and a tsp grated ginger. Combine 1 tsp cornflour with 1 tbsp soy sauce in a small jug & mix to a smooth paste & stir in 2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce & 2tbsp cha siu sauce (Chinese barbeque sauce) if you can get it, otherwise leave it out. Stir fry the beef in a little vegetable oil in a very hot wok for 1-2 minutes. Add the sauce & cook another minute then toss through a handful of spinach to wilt. Serve with your favourite noodles and top with chopped toasted cashew nuts.

For a light Sunday supper make this delicious goat's cheese tart. I had bought some Greek Dodoni feta and it was perfect for this. Make your favourite tart pastry adding thyme to the dough. Line a 24cm pie tin with the pastry, chill until firm. Blind bake about 20 minutes at 200 then take out the beans & reduce the oven to 170. Cook a further 6-7 minutes just to colour.
For the filling, melt 2 tbsp butter in a pan and saute a leek & an onion, both thinly sliced, with a clove of crushed garlic and 1 tbsp finely chopped thyme. When really soft but not coloured, set aside. Whisk 1/2 cup creme fraiche (use fresh cream or sour cream if that's what you have in the fridge) with three eggs and stir in the chilled leek mixture. Season and pour into the tart case. Crumble over about 150g feta or any soft goat's cheese. Bake 25 minutes at 170 until just set then stand for 15 minutes before serving. Perfect with a green salad and a glass of Riesling.
You know I am a fan of puy lentils and love to serve them topped with an egg. We had a Turkish version for dinner this week. For 2, cook 1/2 cup lentils & set aside. Chop about 250g of your favourite pumpkin into 2cm pieces and halve 100g button mushrooms. Combine with 1/2 sliced onion, 1/2 sliced red capsicum, 1 sliced chorizo, 1/2 tin tomatoes, 1 clove garlic, crushed, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp ground cumin & 1/4 cup olive oil. Mix well & tip into a baking tray & cook at 200 for about 1/2 an hour until the pumpkin is cooked. Add the cooked lentils & keep warm while you cook the eggs.
Melt 1 2tbsp butter in a non-stick pan with a small clove of garlic, crushed and a pinch each smoked paprika, ground cumin, dried chilli flakes. Crack 2 eggs into the pan & spoon over the spiced butter until the white is set but the yolk is still very soft. Dish up the lentil mix & top each dish with an egg then drizzle over a little yoghurt then the spiced butter residue & sprinkle with chopped mint.
Last weekend I made the Tamarillo chutney which is an absolute staple in our cupboard. I missed out last year because we were in France and was determined not to do so again. This lot might last until next winter.

End of the Golden Weather

The summer crops are winding down and the new season's produce is filling the market stalls. All the brassicas looked irresistible but I settled for broccoli which we just steamed and served with an old favourite beef stew. It's a good idea to make lots and freeze as it is little effort and you'll have a 2nd hearty meal to produce on one of those nights when you don't have time to cook but want something substantial when you finally get in.

Cut 2kg of stewing steak (blade, chuck, skirt) into thick chunks. Finely chop together 4 rashers of bacon, 2 onions, 2 carrots, 2 sticks celery, 4 cloves garlic with a handful of parsley & thyme. Gently cook in a tbsp lard in a heavy casserole (if you don't want to use lard try olive oil instead but lard gives good flavour here) and set aside. Heat a 2nd tbsp lard in a second pan and brown the meat in batches. When it is done sprinkle a handful of flour over the last batch and cook until the flour has browned. Add the meat to the casserole and to the meat pan add 1 cup red wine, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 2 cups water and salt & pepper. Scrape up the meat residue and add to the meat and vegetables. Cover & cook in a low oven about an hour. Take it out and add some vegetables selecting from mushrooms, pickling onions, carrots, potatoes, baby turnips. Just prepare them and chop them into a size you like. Return to the oven and cook for another hour. If you have 2 casseroles you could split them at this stage & put a different set of vegetables in each one.

Now that daylight saving has ended we are back on soup Mondays. We started the season with Egyptian lentil, served with some pita that was in the fridge and had seen better days. For 2 people, heat a small quantity of oil in a pan and soften a finely diced onion, a sliced garlic clove, a small piece of ginger grated and 1/2 a carrot, grated. Stir in a tsp each of cumin, turmeric and paprika and cook for a minute or two. Add a couple of handfuls of red lentils and stir through the spices then add 500ml chicken stock. Simmer until the lentils are cooked. Meanwhile brush a couple of pita breads with oil on both sides then cut into triangles and gently toast in a medium oven for about 8 minutes. You want them crisp but not so crisp that they shatter when you bite them.

On Tuesday I did something I've been thinking about for ages. I love mattar paneer and Zany Zeus have brought out a paneer so I thought I'd have a go. I delved into my trusty Indian Vegetarian Cookery bought in London 30 years ago and it did not disappoint. Cube the paneer (I just bought a pack of paneer that seemed the right amount for 2 people) and fry in ghee until golden. Set aside. In a mortar & pestle grind a small piece of grated ginger, 1 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chilli, 1 tsp cumin seeds, seeds from 2 cardamom pods, a small piece of cinnamon and mix with a little water to form a paste. In a pan fry a finely chopped onion with 1 tsp each mustard seeds & poppy seeds. Add the paste & fry a couple of minutes. Add 2-3 chopped tomatoes and a cup of peas. Gently fry a couple of minutes, add a cup of water & cook until peas are done. Add the paneer and sprinkle with lemon juice. Serve with rice, home made tamarillo chutney and Indian bread.

If it is a cold night, try sausages in a mustardy sauce. I like to keep a pack of the Island Bay Butcher's pork & fennel sausages in the freezer for a rainy day & Wednesday turned out to be that day. Soften (almost caramelise) 1-2 onions in olive oil. Be patient, you want them to cook right down. While the onions are doing, cook some pasta such as penne or giant conchiglie and set aside. Skin the sausages and break into chunks - you can use any sausages you like. Add to the onion and cook through. Stir through a good dollop each of creamy Dijon and grainy mustard and a handful of chopped Italian parsley. Stir in about 1/2 cup cream and the cooked pasta.

We did a delicious creamy risotto topped with lemony chicken. In a baking dish, combine chopped rosemary and parsley with 2 cloves of crushed garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil and juice of a lemon. Add a couple of chicken thighs - skin on (and skin side up) if you can get them. Put in the oven at 180 and roast 30-40 minutes, basting once. Cover & set aside to rest.

While the chicken is cooking make a basic risotto adding lemon zest and 2 tbsp chopped sage with the rice. Serve with the chicken sliced on top andif you want to be fancy cook a few sage leaves in hot olive oil until crisp. I did the sage leaves in the leftover oil and fat the chicken cooked in - okay if you used a pan that can be used on the stove top.

In the weekend I made a batch of quince jelly. Yell out if you would like a jar. I used to be scared of jelly because people suggest it is complicated but it really is not. Wash & quarter 5-6 quinces. Put them in a large pan (skin, cores and all) covered with water and simmer covered until quinces are soft. Mash the quinces & water until you have a liquidy mush. Spoon the mush into a jelly bag suspended over a large bowl. You have a lot of liquid so I spooned in the solids using a slotted spoon & then poured the liquid over in batches, transferring the resulting pink liquid to the preserving pan so the bowl didn't overflow. Leave the last batch to drip for hours making sure you have eked out every last drop of liquid from the quinces. Measure the liquid as you go because you want to add 7 cups of sugar to 8 cups of juice. That's 7/8 cup of sugar per cup of juice. Don't be precise but you don't want as much as a whole cup. Bring the juice to the boil then add the sugar. Boil until it is ready, skimming off any foam that appears. You want the liquid to reach about 220F and you can use a cooking thermometer to measure this. Don't rely on it though. When your jelly has been at a rolling boil for 10 minutes or so test it by putting about 1/2 tsp on a dish you have had in the freezer. If after a few seconds, when you push it with your finger it wrinkles a little it is done. Don't worry if it isn't perfect. You'll just have jars of delicious quince sauce to pour over ice cream.

I also pulled the basil plants and
made a batch of pesto. The plan for this weekend is to get all those tomatoes that didn't ripen into a batch of green tomato chutney.