A cultural exchange

The weekend following the family meals we had another kind of sharing meal.  This time a sharing of recipes and ingredients.  We have visited the home of Georgian friends and we are always served  this amazing Georgian bread called khachapuri.  I wanted to try this at home so our friend came over to teach me and in return I gave her my sourdough culture and the instructions to make bread.  I have had this culture now for four years and I have nurtured it through extended holidays.  It provides me with one or two loaves of delicious bread every week.  I have shared this culture with some of you and it has not ended well   Hands up who still has the culture.  No, I thought as much.
I digress. Khachapuri.  This is a delicious Georgian cheese bread which will be served at any Georgian festive table.  It is not a precise recipe so if you want to try it let me know and I can talk you through what I know.  Essentially make a dough with yoghurt, eggs, a pinch of soda, a little oil and as much flour as you need to make a soft elastic dough. Once you have such a dough you could refrigerate for an hour or so and prepare the filling.  In Georgia they usually use a Georgian cheese called suluguni.  We used 50/50 mozzarella and cottage cheese and a beaten egg.
Take a fist sized chunk of dough and roll on a floured surface into a round that will fit in a 30cm non stick frying pan.  Put the cheese in the centre and bring the edges to the centre in a magical way that you need to see. Fry on both sides until it is done. 
We had another couple for dinner as well and for aperitif I made a delicious smoked fish pate served with thinly sliced grilled sourdough. We did the lamb leg again but this time in the kettle barbeque which was wonderful.  Sear directly over the charcoal on both sides for 5 minutes then cook indirectly for up to an hour or till done to your liking.  I then realised that our other guests were Greek and I did not want to present Greek style food that wasn't really.  I didn't bother with the tzatziki and served the quinoa salad instead of the Greek salad but I thought the skordalia went so well with the lamb that we did that and were not going to mention the word.  The guests did however recognise it as skordalia so I think we got that one right.  I'm afraid we had the granita again too.  When you find a meal which is perfect for the season just keep eating it.
As a result of this evening I am now the owner of The Georgian Feast and am planning my own Georgian themed meal.  As part of this cultural exchange I also have a container of kefir grains.  I had heard of this but wasn't sure what it was.  I am still unsure but it is very good.  Similar to yoghurt but not.  Delicious - kind of sharp and sour but refreshing.  You just add milk to the grains and leave on the bench until it thickens then strain off the yoghurt-like substance to eat, rinse the grains and start again.  No heating milk to a precise temperature, no leaving in a hot water cupboard until set.  Apparently the grains multiply so I will have some to pass on shortly if you think you can keep them alive.
You need to strain off the whey and I used this to make another recipe I encountered recently.  Carrots cooked in whey. I didn't make the whole recipe, just the carrots, which I served with rump steak and other vegetables from the garden. I may try the entire recipe some time.

Spring into summer

This week's tagine seemed more suited to a festive occasion but I needed to try it out before presenting it to guests.  This is described as a traditional Moorish duck tagine.  You will need one duck breast on the bone per person.  Using a mortar & pestle pound a knob of fresh ginger and 2 chopped garlic cloves to a paste.  Heat 2 tbsp olive oil with a knob of butter in your tagine.  Stir in the garlic paste & 2 cinnamon sticks.  When the mixture starts to colour add the duck breasts & brown the skin.  Stir in 2 tbsp honey and tuck a handful of stoned dates around the duck.  Add just enough water to cover the base of the tagine & come about 1/3 up the duck breasts.  Bring to the boil, cover, then transfer to the oven and cook at 180 for about 25 minutes.  Add 1 tbsp orange flower water, season & continue cooking until the duck is tender - 5 minutes or so.  Saute a handful of whole blanched almonds in a little butter & scatter over the duck to serve.  Serve with couscous flavoured with fresh herbs & lemon zest.  This will help to counter the richness of the duck.
Try a pinto bean chilli using early summer veg.  For 4, heat 1 tbsp oil & soften 3 finely chopped onions.  Add 2-3 fiery green chillies deseeded & finely chopped, 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp cayenne, 1/4 tsp allspice.  Cook for about a minute.  Add 2 diced courgettes & one diced red capsicum.  Coat in the spices then add 2 tbsp tomato puree, a tin of tomatoes, a tin of pinto beans, 100ml red wine & a handful each of fresh parsley & oregano, finely chopped.  Pour over 200ml water & simmer gently for half an hour until all the vegetables are tender & the dish is thick & saucy. We served ours with homemade guacamole, shredded cos lettuce, grated cheese, sour cream and some grilled flat breads. 
I had been given some walnuts so we tried a quinoa & walnut salad.  Make extra because the leftovers are good in lunches.  For 4, toast 2 tsp cumin seeds & 1 tsp fennel seeds, then crush in a mortar & pestle until you have a fine powder.  Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan & saute 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped fennel bulb,  2 finely chopped garlic cloves.  Add the ground spices & the zest of a lemon.  Cook the quinoa according to the instructions.  If you don't have quinoa you could substitute brown rice, bulgar wheat or that large Israeli couscous.  Drain & mix with the onion mixture then stir in the juice of a lemon & chopped herbs - parsley, chives, tarragon, toasted & chopped walnuts - about 75g.  Taste & add more oil & lemon juice if you think it needs it.
Still on the summer veg theme, we stir fried a bunch of greens and served with egg fried rice.  For two, cook 1/2 cup rice - we used brown jasmine - then set aside.  Prepare the vegetables before you start.  A courgette, halved lengthways & sliced thinly lengthwise,  spring onions sliced on the diagonal, a handful of greens such as spinach, rocket mizuna, a handful each snow peas, fresh podded  peas & broadbeans.  I blanched the podded beans & slipped them out of their skins.  Heat a wok or frying pan over a medium high heat & add 1 tbsp sunflower oil.  Add the snowpeas, then the courgettes, peas, onions & greens - one at a time cooking each one a minutes or so before adding the next.  When the greens have wilted down add a finely chopped piece of ginger, a crushed garlic clove & finely chopped green chilli.  Transfer to a hot serving dish & scatter with soy sauce & sesame oil plus a sprinkling of toasted sesame & shredded mint. 
Wipe out the wok & bring back to a medium heat.  Add 1 tbsp sunflower oil and when the oil is hot add the reserved rice & stir until all the grains are coated in the oil.  Make a bit of space in the pan & tip in a beaten egg mixed with a tsp soy sauce.  As the egg starts to cook move it around through the rice until it is cooked & distributed through the rice.  Serve the veg atop the rice & sprinkle with more soy sauce if you like.
This week I had my first go at cheese.  I started with cream cheese which was very simple & also turned out to be delicious.  I started with 2 litres of whole milk and let it sit 24 hours with the cheese culture & rennet.  I then drained it through muslin for a day, and stirred through dried herbs & cheese salt.  It was great on grilled sourdough, with boiled potatoes or on crackers.   Unfortunately I didn't have any smoked salmon.
We also made a batch of marmalade from the windfall grapefruit & lemons we had collected while in Auckland the previous week.  It came up such a beautiful golden colour. 

Brionnais to Paris

The last leg of our French journey took us through Brionnais & the Auvergne to Poitiers and then on to Paris. We spent a night in a small village called Varennes at a wonderful chambre d'hote, a sort of hosted B&B. We were provided with a delicious regional dinner by our hosts. We started with a glass of Kir in the courtyard & then we went into the dining room for a magnificent French repast. First came Jambon Persille followed by a pave of Charolais beef served with a jardiniere of vegetables. Essentially a beautifully presented plate of seasonal vegetables fresh from the garden, in this instance the garden just outside. The beef came from a farm up the road and was possibly the best beef I have ever eaten. In fact, the view from the dining room window (the one to the left of the circular tower) encompassed the fields in which the cattle were grazing. This was followed by a selection of local cheeses from the surrounding farms, chevres (goat's cheese) and the three varieties all tasted quite different from one another, Fourme d'Ambert and La Fontaine. I thought we were done but no, out came a Pear Charlotte, cooked by the 18-year-old daughter of the family. All this was accompanied with a Beaujolais wine - Gamay. We dined with our hosts and their family and the conversation was conducted in a mix of French & English. This was a meal to remember. As a footnote, breakfast was also amazing and included dandelion jam!

We drove to a friend's house in a small village the Auvergne, stopping at the village of Noiretable for lunch. We went to the Hotel de la Gare for lunch, which turned out to be an inspired choice. This was, as it's name suggests, a hotel with accommodation and the diners appeared to be local workmen enjoying their three course set menu with a piquet of wine. On offer was a set menu or an a la carte menu which consisted of a starter, a main & a pudding. I had the starter of terrine & salad, which was amazing, followed by Fromage Blanc which is a French specialty you must try if you go there. Basically its a very fresh creamy cheese with a yoghurt consistency, which you sweeten with sugar to your taste and mix with a little cream. Unbelievable! In Poitiers it was served with berries & honey but I really loved the plain version. This was an outstanding meal and epitomised French country eating at its best. Another feature of the hotel was that your pet could stay for free - there is usually a charge for cats & dogs.

On to Bertignat, a small village near the small town of Ambert, whose claim to fame is a magnificent cheese - Fourme d'Ambert & a round Mairie (town hall). We enjoyed both the cheese and the town hall...in the form of cake.

In fact this region boasts 3 appellation controlee cheeses. Two of them, the Fourme d'Ambert and Cantal are available from Le Marche Francais in Wellington. Another experience I must mention was Denis, the travelling Bordeaux wine salesman. A very pleasant hour was whiled away tasting wine from Denis' case in the comfort of my friend's living room. Ask me about it sometime. Denis was quite a character.

Everywhere in France offered a new dining experience. Poitiers was the closest we got to the coast and so fish was on the menu. In addition, I had the best omelette ever - so good I had it three times!

In Paris, we went for North African - the area round Boulevard Saint Michel is teeming with cheap restaurants and we picked the one with the most interesting looking menu. An alluring waiter stands outside the restaurants enticing the diners in, reminiscent of the sex shops in Soho (not that we know much about them, of course). I had couscous which was served with a variety of meat & chicken. The couscous was divine - very fine.

The other dining experience worthy of note was Cafe de Flore - the haunt of Sartre & de Beauvoir, on Boulevard St Germain. I had one of those fabulous composed salads the French do so well. We were very bemused by a dish of eggs which sat on the unoccupied table next to us throughout our meal. And I discovered another one inside. If anyone can enlighten me I would love to know what that was about.

It was in Paris that Phoebe finally enjoyed her soupe a l'oignon and I have had great success with this at home.

Heat about 60g butter in your Le Creuset. Add a kilo of onions finely sliced, with 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped and 2 tsps caster sugar. Cook slowly for about 1/2 an hour untill the onions are really soft & caramelised. Don't rush this stage.

Add 300ml dry white wine & boil rapidly until it has reduced by half. Then add 1.5 litres good beef stock with a bouquet garni & leave to simmer at least 30 mins. Make your own beef stock or buy good quality fresh in a plastic pouch. Don't spoil this experience by using boxed stock or a stock cube. The stock is the essence of this soup. Discard the bouquet garni & season the soup.

While the soup is simmering prepare a slice of French bread for each bowl. Put slices of bread - about 2-3 cm thick - on a baking tray & bake at 150 about 30 mins. You want them dried out but not coloured at all. When you take them out turn the oven up to 220.

To serve, place a slice of bread on the bottom of each dish - you need ovenproof dishes. I have a beautiful set of stoneware soup bowls my mother bought at the old Courtyard Cafe in Wellington circa 1985. They are perfect. Ladle the soup over the bread, ensuring equal distribution of liquid & onions. Cover the soup with a thick layer of grated cheese - Gruyere or Comte if you can get it. Place the bowls on a sturdy baking tray & bake at 220 for 30 mins until the cheese is golden & bubbling. You can grill them for 5 minutes if you are short of time but the baking delivers a result that is worth waiting for. Don't skimp on time. The soup freezes well so if you make a large quantity freeze and then you only have to do the bread & cheese bit on a busy night. This is a soup Monday favourite.

A Taste of Germany

After 4 weeks eating our way around Germany & France, I want to share some of our experiences with you. We started in Germany and our first stop was Frankfurt. We were staying near the station and as is often that way with immigrant communities we found an abundance of Turkish restaurants. I had the best Turkish food I've had outside of Melbourne (having never actually been to Turkey where I assume they do it the best). One of the things I noticed in the cafe we went to is that the majority of the diners were Turkish and there were no women. The food was superb and it's always worth considering good immigrant food when you're travelling. It is interesting to note that immigrant food takes on the elements of the host country so although the Turkish restaurants felt authentic they also felt very German.

We then travelled to Freiburg via the Romantische Strasse, the Deutsche Alpenstrasse & the Schwarzwald enjoying regional seasonal delights along the way. There was a common theme throughout:

Bread rolls topped with a variety of seeds which is the mainstay of the German breakfast, served with sliced meat & cheese, radishes & cucumber, a selection of jams including the delectable sour cherry and sometimes a boiled egg. Erdbeere (Strawberries) which were the best you've ever tasted. We bought them each day from the local market or from intriguing roadside stalls shaped like strawberries. Pfifferlinge - a delicious mushroom known as Chanterelle in France was in season and available in the markets as was white asparagus.

The yoghurt made from Alpen milk was really distinctive - how could those adorable cows not produce wonderful milk.

The amazing variety of cured meats & cheeses was impressive and delicious. We could buy a selection of breads & cheese & sliced meat for roadside lunches.

Potatoes were plentiful, and could be found in fritters, dumplings, salad with Frankfurters, baked -the list goes on. The highlight of Freiburg was dinner at the local Kartoffelhaus where we had the choice of any potato dish you could imagine.

We had two great meals of Sauerbraten which is a traditional German dish of beef marinaded in a red wine & vinegar sauce. We enjoyed a Franconian version at the Hotel Dortmunder Hof in Wurzburg, which included lebkuchen (gingerbread) & was served with potato dumplings which had a small piece of toast embedded within.

The second was a Swabian version at the Gasthof Berghof at Leutschenbach, in the Schwarzwald, and was served with spaetzle, which is a pasta specialty of Southern Germany and also of Alsace in France.

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed the food in Germany & I attempted to recreate a German meal at home. We were usually served a salad to start as a matter of course and the German dressings were beautifully sharp & vinegary. I then prepared a sauerbraten. It wasn't entirely successful but I think I am close. I followed this recipe which worked up to a point. I thought it was too vinegary and I would halve the vinegar and substitute a cup of red wine. Bottom round is silverside and I think that was the right meat although I would reduce the cooking time from 4 hours to 3. I made lebkuchen which were very successful and thickened the sauce beautifully giving the velvety texture I was looking for. I made a quantity of round biscuits and then some fancy shapes using cutters I bought in Germany - the gingko leaf symbolising Goethe and Neuschwanstein castle. I used about 12 biscuits in the sauerbraten. We served it with potato dumplings. If you are an expert on German cooking and have any suggestions I would be grateful. I feel there was definitely room for improvement.

To finish off the meal I made a Rhabarberkuchen (rhubarb cake) which comprised a slice base topped with lightly stewed rhubarb then a crumble mixture. It was baked in round cake tin in a medium oven about 40 minutes.

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Phoebe used to like cheesymite scrolls for school lunches but I decided that it was too much of a pain to buy them every week, not to mention costly, so I developed our own version. She is now the most popular girl in school - at least at lunchtime. And I also have some cachet with year 12 - my scrolls have been requested at Charities Committee meetings. This is a true story.

In a bowl mix:

500g white bread flour

1 sachet instant yeast

1 tbsp salt (use less to taste)

Add 5 tbsp olive oil to 300-400 ml warm water and mix with dry ingredients to make a soft but firm dough. Knead in your usual way until you have a smooth elastic ball then leave to rise in a lightly oiled bowl covered with clingfilm for about an hour.

When done split the dough in half.

Roll out one half to a rectangle roughly 30 cm by 10 cm. Might be longer - it should be quite thin. Spread the rectangle with tomato paste. Sprinkle on grated cheese - I use cheddar & Parmesan. Actually pile on the cheese - these are very cheesy scrolls. Then sprinkle with dried oregano - I tried chopping fresh but my customer prefers dried. Carefully roll up lengthways & slice into 3cm scrolls. I get 15 or so scrolls. Don't make them too big - they can always take 2.

Put on a baking tray covered with a tea towel for 1/2 hour or so to rise again. Bake at 200 15-20 mins.

While the scrolls are rising cut the top off a garlic bulb, drizzle with olive oil & loosely wrap in tin foil. Put in the oven with the scrolls & leave in another 20 minutes after you've taken them out.

Take your 2nd ball of dough and roll into another rectangle, this time more bulky - more 20cm by 15cm. Sorry didn't measure. Leave on a baking tray, covered with a tea towel to rise. Meantime whizz a handful of parsley in your food processor with the garlic you have just squeezed out of the roasted bulbs. Add some olive oil to make an emulsion - a thick pouring consistency. Make some dimples on the loaf - I use my knuckles. Then pour over the emulsion and bake at 190 for 20 minutes or so. Sprinkle with Maldon salt while still warm and drizzle on some more oi if you are going to eat straight away. I often freeze & drizzle the oil when I am warming up.

Some things to consider when making bread. Look for recipes that resemble the bread you like. This is a flat bread recipe but when I was looking for scrolls this looked the best & it worked. When I wanted to make fruit bread I added spices & fruit to a recipe for rye bread - that worked. The Mountain bread (2 August) replaced our weekly Vogel's loaf. So now I make the breads we used to buy. I use instant yeast. It's just easier. I knead my bread with the dough hook on my mixer. All this makes breadmaking simple - just part of our regular kitchen activities.

The Salad in Winter

The week before I was out of town for most of the week and ate out. I thought I would share with you some of the restaurants I visited. With a work group I went to Wildfire, a Brazilian barbecue restaurant in Auckland. This was certainly an experience. To be recommended if you like to eat a lot of meat. The meat was certainly of a high quality and excellently cooked.
A regular haunt of mine when in Auckland in Tony's on Wellesley St. I regularly eat here with my sister & cousin when in town, not particularly because the food is outstanding but for nostalgic reasons. The food is however good quality, reliable and reasonably priced. Back in the 60s this was one of the few, possibly only, places to get a proper restaurant meal outside of expensive hotels and I'm really pleased it has survived. I remember they used to have candles on the table in those wicker-encased Chianti bottles. I also caught up with an old friend at Swashbucklers at the Westhaven Marina. The calamari is highly recommended.
On my return to Wellington we ate at Le Metropolitain, a French Bistro-style restaurant on Cuba St. I had the snails which are always good and lamb rump with puy lentils. I can never go past a dish served with these most delicious of pulses.
In winter, as well as casseroles & stews, don't forget you can put together a warm salad meal. We had a couple of those this week. Try broccoli with a shell-shaped pasta - orecchiette or conchiglioni. Cook the broccoli until just tender in boiling salter water, then lift out & drizzle with good olive oil. Bring the broccoli water back to the boil & cook the pasta according to the packet. Drain the pasta reserving a little water to toss at the end. In a frying pan, soften sliced garlic, pancetta or bacon chopped into matchsticks, chilli flakes & anchovies. Remove from the pan & warm though the broccoli. Tip the pasta into a serving bowl and toss through all the ingredients with that pasta water you put aside and a squeeze of lemon juice. Serve with grated parmesan at the table.
Try this chicken salad with wasabi mayonnaise. A good way to cook a chicken breast without any fat while retaining maximum moisture is to soak in a brine of cold water, sugar & salt - about 3 tbsp each to 2 cups of water - for 1/2 an hour. Drain & dry the chicken, then dust with 2 tsp Chinese 5 spice, then put under a hot grill - 8 minutes each side until juices run clear. For the dressing, whisk 1/4 cup mayonnaise, zest & juice of 1/2 lime, 1 tbsp wasabi, 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp water and s & p to taste. In a serving bowl mix 1/4 red cabbage v thinly shredded, 2 spring onions thinly sliced, 1/2 c bean sprouts (remember those home spouted puy lentils), and a small handful of mint leaves finely chopped. Toss with the dressing and arrange thinly sliced chicken on top. Garnish with a few mint leaves and 1/4 c roasted peanuts, roughly chopped. As well as being light and healthy it gives your jaws a good workout!
This afternoon we went for a long walk on the Petone foreshore & then stopped in at La Bella Italia for a reviving shot of coffee. Bought some provolone cheese and salami which we enjoyed with as glass of red wine and some of our home pickled onions. Look out for the picture of the provolone on the website - slung over Antonio's shoulders.