A Holiday by the Sea

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


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

Comings and Goings

Its always nice to prepare a special meal for arrivals & departures.

In January Peter's family visited from the UK for the first time. For their arrival we did an old favourite, lamb salad with spinach, kumara & capsicum. It's good to offer a salad when people have recently been sitting in a plane for 24+ hours. In addition, New Zealand lamb is a good start & kumara is a specialty. If you want to make it outside New Zealand then a sweet potato will suffice. I am not sure about varieties. I first made it in February last year. The recipe suggest you slow roast the kumara, onion & capsicum in a pan then set aside while you cook the lamb. I find that for a crowd my pan isn't big enough & the kumara doesn't cook evenly. I suggest you roast the vegetables with olive oil in the oven at about 180 for around 30-40 mins. I always like to heat the pan first as it gives the vegetables a bit of a start. Cook the lamb separately & assemble as described.

For a light pudding, we had grilled summer stone fruits. For 6 use about 1kg of fruit - a mix of plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines, cherries. I added raspberries because I had some in the fridge. Halve the fruit, remove stones & place cut side up in a roasting dish - leave cherries whole. Sift over about 1/2 cup icing sugar & put under a hot grill for about 8-10 minutes. Drizzle over a little liqueur or sprinkle with a little more icing sugar. Serve with home-made vanilla ice cream or the best ice cream you can buy.

To farewell our visitors we made a cobb salad. This is perfect when the salad vegetables, including avocados, are at their best. If you haven't tried it, you can't imagine how delicious this is. It seems fiddly but it isn't. You can just mush it all together in a salad bowl but the careful composition makes it so stunning on the plate and I think it helps to meld the flavours just right. For pudding I made a plum clafoutis.
The following night we farewelled Phoebe who has now left us for those warmer northern climes. We prepared her favourite meal which also happens to be her birthday dinner - Chicken Za'atar & Fattoush. For pudding she requested our family chocolate mousse. Tensions were running a little high as cooking & packing occurred simultaneously & we nearly forgot to serve it and did forget to photograph it. That's probably a good thing as I am not going to give you the recipe. Only Phoebe, Isabel & I know how to make it & they're not telling either.

Now "around" the table is reduced to the two of us sitting at one end of a very large table. I suspect our eating habits will change somewhat - all recipes will be for 2 unless specified. Rest assured however, we will not be depriving ourselves of delicious meals. Watch this space.