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.

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.

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.

Salad and pasta

I had bought a piece of rump steak in case it was a good evening for a barbecue.  It wasn't.  The steak went beautifully with a Greek salad and crushed rosemary potatoes, which tend to go with most things.  The Greek salad was a lovely way to use some of our late cos lettuces and the few tomatoes we have produced this year - will there be enough even for a batch of green tomato chutney?  It is good, if you have time to prepare in advance, steeping the red onions with oil & vinegar &  dried oregano, & sprinkling the tomatoes with a little salt & sugar before you throw everything together.
Monday was Peter's regular birthday dinner, smoked salmon pasta.  This is so quick & easy that it hardly seems like a luxury meal.  Heat plenty of cream in a pan, add lemon juice & zest, smoked salmon, grated Parmesan, parsley.  Season & toss through your best egg pasta.  Serve with a salad.    I used to do a vegetarian version but with cream, cheese, egg pasta there's not much here for a vegan.  This is where the Tasty Pot comes in.  Birthday meals can be difficult because the birthday recipient gets their meal of choice but the whole family with their varying eating habits need to be provided for.  It is getting easier to buy good, almost fresh, pre-prepared choices.
We had a variation on a Nicoise salad with avocado & cannellini beans.  I have been moaning a bit about the avocados this year but this was the perfect avocado.  Make a vinaigrette with olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic & salt & pepper.  Put a tin of tuna, a tin of cannellini beans, some shredded cos lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced spring onions & flat leaf parsley in a bowl & toss through the dressing.  Add hard boiled egg & slices of avocado.
For the perfect autumn salad try pumpkin (in this case butternut) and rocket with mushrooms & blue cheese.  Roast the pumpkin, peeled & cut into pieces, with some olive oil, bruised sage leaves & bashed garlic, about 40 minutes.  You want it soft & just colouring around the edges.  Fry some thickly sliced mushrooms (a friend told me she was given some field mushrooms this week & they would be perfect here), in a little olive oil & a knob of butter until they are cooked through and any liquid has evaporated. Combine the pumpkin, mushrooms, some rocket & crumbled blue cheese - I used Roquefort - in a bowl & toss with olive oil & balsamic vinegar.   This is quite a substantial meal but make more than you think you will need otherwise you'll wish you had.

Winding Down

Happy New Year!  December was a busy month and there was quite a bit of eating out so I decided to take a break & return refreshed in the New Year.
During December when we did eat at home we were eating mostly vegetables, from the garden as much as possible.  I did do a summer lamb tagine I had been saving up.  Do try this, especially as the courgettes are plentiful right now.  For four, heat olive oil in the tagine & stir in 1 roughly chopped onion, 4 roughly chopped cloves of garlic, 1 tsp each cumin & coriander seeds, 1 tsp dried mint & a knob of grated ginger.  Do use dried mint here.  This gives an intense minty depth & you can add fresh at the end of cooking.  Once the onions have softened toss in 750g lean diced lamb & enough water to just cover.  Cook in the oven at 180 for about 1 1/2 hours.
Add a selection of summer vegetables.  The recipe suggests 2 small courgettes, sliced thickly on the diagonal, 1 red or green pepper, cut into thick strips, 4 tomatoes cut into chunks.  I added fresh peas & broadbeans because they were there.  I blanched the broadbeans & took off their outer jackets before adding.  Tuck them all around the meat & add a little more boiling water if necessary.  I never find it so.  Cover & cook another 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  Serve with lemon wedges & a soft leafy green salad.
I saw this amazing tamarind chicken recipe on the television & was compelled to try it. Do get some palm sugar if you can as I think it makes a difference.  I have been using tamarind concentrate in a jar, rather than a block, which eliminates the need for fiddly soaking.  It keeps & you will find plenty of uses for it.  If you don't have tamarind you can substitute lime juice or, at a pinch, lemon.  The tamarind is the sour component of the meal.  I had the leftovers in a lunch salad.
I sometimes pick up recipes from Le Marche Francais at the market & I was tempted by Oeufs Cocotte a Cabecous.  Cabecous is a small round soft goat's cheese.  For 2, butter 2 ramekins.  Crack an egg into each ramekin.  Add half the cabecous to each with 2 tsp cream & some chopped chives.  Season & put the ramekins into a bain marie and bake in the oven at 180 for no more than 10 minutes.  Serve with french bread.  Try dipping asparagus spears into the soft eggy cheese.
Hugh F-W has a delicious Summer Vegetable Soup which is wonderful to showcase the pickings from your spring garden.  Just use what you have to hand but whatever you do do not omit the lettuces.  If you can't buy a Little Gem  - I grow them from seedlings - you could try a baby Cos.  The lettuce gives the soup depth.  We need to rediscover braised lettuce.  It is delicious.
There is such a lot to be done with those early vegetables of summer.  You can add a selection of blanched vegetables to a risotto or try a Pasta Primavera.  Saute a selection of diced vegetables in butter or olive oil.  Start with onion & saute to a rich golden colour, then add celery & carrot & cook 5 minutes.  Add courgette & red capsicum & cook a further 20 minutes.  Add 1 cm asparagus lengths which you have already blanched.  Once all the vegetables are tender, add 200ml cream & cook until the cream has reduced by half.  While the cream is reducing cook some ribbon pasta.  Toss the pasta with the sauce & sprinkle over grated Parmesan & parsley.
During the week leading up to the festivities we treated ourselves to Hugh's Tahini Dressed Courgette Salad.  We made the semi-dried tomatoes, just cooking the tomatoes for 4-5 hours.  You need to treat theses as fresh & use within a week but you will find endless uses for them, for example tucking them in a delicious home-made hamburger.  I am sure you could also find endless uses for the tahini dressing.
Stay tuned & I'll fill you in on the festive dining in the next few days. 

Home and away

We were away for a few days so this week saw us emptying out the cupboards & eating on the road.  At the weekend, before we went, we had the tagine - the last of the chicken tagines.  This was the more traditional tagine with dried fruit.  For 4, heat 2 tbsp olive oil with a knob of butter in the tagine.  Stir in a finely chopped onion, a sprig of finely chopped rosemary, a knob of grated ginger & 2 finely chopped red chillies & saute until the onion has softened.  Stir in a couple of rosemary sprigs and 1-2 cinnamon sticks.  Add the chicken thighs & brown on both sides.  I rolled & tied these the same way we did for the Moroccan chicken a couple of weeks back.  This gives the thighs a good shape to serve.  Toss in a good handful of dried apricots & 2 tbsp clear honey then stir in a tin of tomatoes.  Bring the liquid to the boil & transfer to a medium oven for 40 minutes.  We served this with couscous and a salad.
We usually eat at the market on Sunday morning but we didn't go because we were going away.  Because we were going away we had very little food in the house and no bread.  So we used up some of the eggs we did have and made pancakes.  This was such a satisfying breakfast.
We did make some bread as well and for a change we made Hugh F-W's sourdough recipe.  This made a nice change.  We were struggling to get through the bread.  We are still making are making it weekly, sometimes a sourdough & a Norwegian but we are halving the loaves and freezing what we are not immediately eating.  This means the freezer is full of bread that can be brought out when we have visitors staying.
For lunch I used up the potatoes & everything else I could in a potato salad.  What didn't get used here went into the fish stew for dinner.  Not only was it very pleasing to consume all potential wastage but the meals were utterly delicious. A reminder that you can make great food with very few ingredients.
While we were in Auckland I made a couple of finds I'd like to share with you.  You Aucklanders probably already know them.  We went to Al Brown's new eatery in Federal St -The Depot.  We had the Falafel & the Battered Snapper Tortillas as small sharing plates.  Delicious.  I also discovered Ebisu on Quay St.  This is contemporary Japanese and again is in the style of sharing plates.  We tried the Gyu no Tataki and the Tori no Karaage.  Both delicious & not especially small.
The other treats were the Strawberry Corner in Clevedon.  My sister took us there and treated us to real strawberry ice creams.  Said sister also keeps chickens and one of the girls had produced an egg that was large, beyond imagination.  It was a double yolker as we suspected and each yolk was the size of a regular yolk.  My beloved nephew isn't a fan of eggs but he knows that eggs are nutritious so he has developed a cunning recipe for a smoothie incorporating a raw egg.  This incredible egg went into the smoothie.
To make the super smoothie blend a banana, 1 tbsp cocoa, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp strawberry syrup, 1 cup frozen mixed berries, 1 egg (preferably a double yolker!), a dash of honey, 1 scoop ice cream (whatever flavour you have to hand), 1/2 cup yoghurt (again, whatever you happen to have),  1/2 cup milk and lastly a tbsp of Vitaplan or similar energy powder.  You'll need a big glass to serve it, although if you are a teenage boy, you will probably drink it straight from the blender.
On the return journey we overnighted at Tokaanu.  At the local supermarket I bought one of those packs of salad with dressing, a pottle of potato salad & some slices of free range ham at the New World in Turangi.  As small town supermarkets go, this was a good one.  We had eggs from Takanini.  Presto - a plate of delicious salad.
It was so good we had a very similar supper when we got home.  You can put together a very appealing table starting with a base of bolied potatoes, eggs and a slice of ham.  Don't forget a plate of steamed asparagus drizzled with lemon infused olive oil.  I think we will be eating like this for the rest of the summer.
I had a birthday this week and we had a similar spread.  This included tabbouleh; Antoinette's falafels; a delicious pea & broadbean mash - we raided the garden; hummus; grilled pita triangles; asparagus; shredded carrot salad; mint labne.  I was given Hugh F-W's new vegetable book so you will see me exploring this over the next few weeks.  My Auckland dining experiences, combined with summer eating & ideas from this book will see me exploring the sharing plate possibilities. 
I was also given a poffertje pan for my birthday & Phoebe had friends over so we tried these.  Yes, Phoebe is back with us for the summer and we may see some of her culinary efforts on these pages.  Back to the  poffertjes.  These are a Dutch mini pancake concoction - apparently traditionally made with yeast & buckwheat flour.  The recipe I had was more like a traditional pancake mix with golden syrup added.  They are served sprinkled with icing sugar & a knob of butter.  We served ours with strawberries.  I forgot to photograph the pan but will do that next time we have them. They were delicious!
I also got a book on cheese making so I will get around to trying that out & share my experience sometime soon.

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 Quiet Life

Back to the quiet life. A few weeks ago Nikau were at the City Market serving doughnuts and selling kedgeree tea towels. I bought the tea towel and at last got around to making the kedgeree. I can't tell you how to make it, you'll have to buy your own tea towel. I will let you in on the curry secret. Paul told us they use Vencat curry powder and now so do we. Ours was good but doesn't quite match up to the real thing. Kedgeree is a good quick thing to do after work.
I'm not usually a fan of Asian meals. Although I do love cabbage with Asian flavours and one of my all time favourite meals was the Thai beef salad from the Sugar Club in Wellington. I still miss that restaurant. Back to our dinner. We made an amazing Asian beef salad. I realise what I really dislike about Asian food is not the flavours, which I love, but noodles which I loathe. And yet I love pasta. Can't explain.
I digress again. This salad was delicious and a definite do again. First saute a couple of finely sliced shallots until crisp & set aside. Make a syrup by dissolving 1/4 cup rice vinegar & 1/2 cup grated palm sugar in a small pan over a low heat. Then bring to the boil & cook about 3 minutes. Tip the syrup into a bowl & whisk in 2 tbsp lime juice, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 clove garlic crushed, 1/4 tsp chilli powder, 2 tbsp chilli sauce, 1 tbsp vegetable oil.
Rub a piece of sirloin or rib eye steak with a little oil & salt & pepper and fry in a saute pan 2-3 minutes each side. Put it in a flat dish with half the dressing & leave at least 10 minutes, turning a couple of times. We used 250g beef for 2 but the dressing will suffice for up to 600g. (We bought a beautiful piece of sirloin from Ryan, the "boy" at the Gipps St butcher - aged to a deep red.)
In a large bowl add thin juliennes of carrot, some baby spinach, 1 cup finely shredded red cabbage, 2 thinly slice spring onions, a handful Vietnamese mint (regular will suffice) and a handful of bean sprouts. Bean sprouts are really delicious but they spoil quickly and I find it hard to buy them in small enough quantities. We always end up wasting some and I hate waste.
Return to the beef and slice thinly & return to the dressing. Toss the salad and 1/2 the reserved shallots in some of the remaining dressing then toss through the beef. Sprinkle the remaining shallots & some more mint over the salad once plated.
We have just pickled a batch of onions. This year we included both red and brown onions. I hope it works.
This morning Harriet's centre had a gala and she made a multitude of vegan cup cakes. I bought agave nectar cakes & green tea ones. They look so pretty on the plate. I have to comment on the delicious food that was being served. On the barbecue they were doing yummy looking burgers and vege skewers. Someone was making chick pea toasties (Channa Mania was the pitch!). If I hadn't been rushing home to a loaf of San Francisco sourdough, a slab of goats cheese & a dish of herbs, I would have succumbed to temptation.

Twelve days of Christmas eating

I reported on the first day of Christmas but how did we fare on the following 11? Well we made the most of our Christmas leftovers & barely had to visit the shops which is always a bonus. While I am on the subject, I was shocked this year, to discover that many people believe that the 12 days of Christmas are some sort of countdown leading up to Christmas day. They are not - they are the 12 days from Christmas day to Epiphany (6th January), which is when the 3 fellows from the East turned up in Bethlehem bearing gifts. I'm sure all of you knew that but if not then you do now.
Anyway back to our Christmas fare. We have had a Boxing Day favourite for many years now which is the Christmas coleslaw I told you about last year. I really recommend this and you could variations using chicken or green cabbage at any time. It is beautifully refreshing when you feel you have over-indulged. Note the salt dishes. I was given a packet of black salt for Christmas. Doesn't it look wonderful?
Phoebe's request for the turkey leftovers is always turkey, cranberry & Camembert pizza. When I lived in London, I used to eat a version of this on Vogel's toast for Boxing day breakfast. Just pop under the grill until the cheese is melted.
We finished up the turkey in a turkey pie, which is my usual left over roast chicken pie method. In a pan, saute a finely chopped onion and anything else you have in the fridge that you want to use - capsicum, carrot, celery, mushrooms. Add the shredded cooked turkey and any left over vegetables from your Christmas dinner with the left over gravy. If the mixture feels dry because you skimped on the gravy, add some of the stock you made from the giblets. Pile into a pie dish or casserole & top with pastry. Peter is the pastry maker in our house and he has recently taken to adding a small grating of Parmesan. Try it. Bake the pie at about 180 until the pastry is golden & crisp - about 30 mins. Serve with a crisp green salad.
In addition to the giblet stock we used in the gravy we made regular turkey stock on Christmas day and that is all in the freezer to be used in risottos etc.
Using the turkey was quite easy but the ham was a bit more of a challenge for 3 to consume. I'm always up for a challenge. In the early days you can't go past sliced ham with boiled potatoes and salad. I have a new favourite dressing for boiled potatoes. For about 1 1/2 kilos new season potatoes - I use Jersey Benne or Perla, whisk 1/4 cup white wine vinegar and 1/4 cup white wine with 2 tbsp whole grain mustard. Start with a large bowl because you add everything to this. Cook & drain your potatoes well then halve them - this helps to soak up the dressing. Add to the vinegar mix & leave about two mins. Finely chop 1/2 a red onion & leave to soak in cold water about 10 minutes. This is a great trick for red onion you are going to use raw because it softens a little & takes away the sharpness. Drain & use a tea towel to squeeze out the excess liquid. Drizzle a little olive oil over the potatoes & add the onions & about 2 tbsp each finely chopped parsley & basil. Season & toss gently to coat the potatoes. I think this may be similar to a French warm potato salad and is an excellent way to serve young potatoes. Also make a mayonnaise potato salad and add diced ham.
If you are feeling more adventurous try egg, ham & cheese souffle toasts. This is a recipe from the Chateau de Commarin in Burgundy, France. Lightly toast slices of slightly stale white bread and cut into elegant rounds using a biscuit cutter or small glass. One per person. Do the same with slices of ham. Separate an egg (one per person), and mix the yolks with a little grated Gruyere, then season. Whisk the whites until stiff. To assemble, top each slice of bread with a slice of ham & a dollop of eggy mix then top with a dome of whisked egg white. Put into a pan of hot sunflower oil & with a tablespoon, drizzle the oil gently over the whites until golden.
Continuing with the French theme I had to try the Jambon Persille I enjoyed in Dijon. This was really fun. I read through a recipe from a French cookbook I have - the one with the Boeuf Bourgigon mentioned in the same blog entry - and Julia Child's version & came up with something I was very happy with. First we clarified some stock with egg white. The idea was to render the stock very clear but I wouldn't bother again. Whatever method you choose just try to get your stock as clear as you can. To one cup stock add about 1/4 cup of very finely chopped or minced green tops from spring onions for flavour & colour & dissolve 4 leaves of gelatin or a scant tbsp of the powdered version. Leave to cool but not set.
In a bowl mix 1/2 cup chopped parsley, 1 clove of garlic mashed, 1/2 tbsp dried tarragon & 1/2 tbsp white wine vinegar with salt & pepper to taste and 1/2 cup of the aspic. Chop the ham into 2cm chunks. In a chilled bowl spread a thin layer of the parsley mix then pack with layers of ham & parsley aspic. When the bowl is filled, cover with a weighted plate & chill until set. You are weighting it to press it together & make it easier to slice. When you take it out roughly scumble the top with a fork & pour over the remaining cup of parsley aspic (cool but not set). The scumbling (Julia's word) is to disguise the plate marks. I thought mine looked just like the pictures & it was delicious. Apparently traditionally served at Easter in Burgundy but will become a regular part of my Christmas repertoire.
Finish up the ham in a quiche or pie then all that's left to do is make the pea & ham soup. Throw the ham hock in a saucepan with 500g green split peas, a diced onion, a bay leaf & just cover with water. Simmer several hours, blend, season to taste & freeze for a rainy day.
Christmas eating is over for another year.

Pita meals & marmalade

With the advent of spring or at least rumours of its advent I have been thinking about lighter meals. I bought some spicy lamb sausages from the Island Bay Butchery and made a quick meal on pita breads. Heat the oven to 200 & saute 2 thinly sliced onions in a little olive oil with 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 tsp each allspice & cinnamon & a handful of pinenuts. Slip the sausages out of their skins - this is quite easy, just slit the skins with scissors & peel them off. Use 1-2 sausages per person. Break the sausages into 1 cm pieces and add to the saute pan breaking then into bite sized pieces as they cook. When they're cooked and lightly coloured add a handful of flat leaf parsley & take off the heat.

Carefully slice pita breads in half so that you have 2 rounds. Allow 1-2 rounds per person depending on greed/ appetite. Put the pita on a baking tray and brush around the edges with olive oil - to coat the bits that won't be covered with topping. Divide the sausage mixture among the pita slices & top with halved cherry tomatoes -about 2 tomatoes per pita. Bake 10 minutes until the edges of the pita are crisp & golden.

Serve topped with a drizzle of Greek yoghurt & a sprinkle of cinnamon. I actually used Cleveland buffalo yoghurt & when I was in Auckland at the weekend I saw the buffalo and was able to thank them. I served this with a salad of cos lettuce, finely sliced spring onions, finely sliced orange pieces (peel a couple of oranges & remove all the pith then halve & slice thinly), black olives & feta slices. Make a vinaigrette with red wine vinegar or lemon juice. Coat the lettuce first with some of the dressing then layer up the orange & feta, scatter over the olives & spring onion & drizzle the remaining dressing. The citrus makes a great foil for the richness of the sausage.

Later in the week I made a vegan version using Antoinette's authentic Lebanese falafel. I have just discovered these and recommend you rush out & get some. The vegans drizzled over hummus instead of yoghurt & I had both. I served this with the orange salad again & our old favourite roasted asparagus, which I eat at least once a week at this time of year.

We went to Auckland for the weekend to help a certain sister celebrate a certain birthday. She had an overburdened grapefruit tree so we took a large bag full home & made some grapefruit. I use Edmunds & made a marmalade with 3 grapefruit, 1 orange & a lemon. Unfortunately it didn't set as well as I would have liked & I suspect the grapefruit were over ripe. I read that if they didn't have many pips they would be over ripe & contain less pectin. Earlier in the week when I was preparing them for breakfast they were very pippy but when I was preparing them for the marmalade we found barely a pip. We needed to wrap the pips in muslin & cook the with the fruit. Phoebe & I wondered if as the fruit ripened it ate its own pips. Can anyone enlighten us. Any way for those of you who have a jar of marmalade I hope it doesn't run off the toast.