For all those that were at the cook school yesterday at the wonderful Good Food Trading Company, here are a couple of recipes for you.
Speedy Pasta
Serves 2
200g pasta ‘00’ flour
2 eggs or 4 egg yolks
Method
Sieve flour into a bowl. Add whole egg and combine mixture with finger tips. Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead into a dough. If possible, rest in refrigerator for at least half an hour.
Roll out onto floured board into a rectangle. Next, flour surface of pasta and, using both hands, roll rectangle into a ‘swiss roll’ shape. Use a sharp knife to cut into desired thickness, e.g. tagliarini (thin), tagliatelle (medium) or parpadelle (thick).
To cook pasta, use 1 litre of water for each portion pasta and 1 litre for the pan. The water should boil fast while the pasta is cooking. Allow about 150g fresh pasta per person. Add 1 tablespoon salt per 4 litres boiling water. (Olive oil is only really necessary with lasagne sheets to prevent sticking.) Fresh pasta cooks in 2-3 minutes; “al dente” pasta should feel firm but not have a hard, chalky centre. Drain in a colander. Do not rinse or you will lose the precious sauce-catching starch. Quickly add olive oil and garlic to the hot pan, tip the pasta back in with a handful of freshly chopped herbs or some fresh tomato sauce (see below), cooked mussels, clams or fish, olives and capers or hot steamed vegetables.
Tagliatelle with Chicken & Green Beans
Serves 2
1 x 200g chicken breast, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1½ garlic cloves, finely sliced
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 batch tagliatelle (see ‘speedy pasta’ recipe above)
1 tablespoon olive oil
100g baby green beans, topped (not tailed) and sliced from end to end on the diagonal
65ml (¼ cup) chicken stock
Good quality parmesan cheese, grated
25g basil leaves
Method
Place the chicken, EVO oil and garlic in a bowl and stir to combine. Season with salt & pepper. Cook pasta in a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water until ‘al dente’ and drain well. Meanwhile, 5 minutes before pasta is cooked, place a large frying pan over a high heat until hot. Add olive oil and heat for 5 seconds. Add chicken with marinade and sear quickly for 30 seconds. Add beans and reduce heat to medium. Cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Return heat to high, add the stock and simmer for 30 seconds. Add pasta and toss to combine.
Divide pasta evenly between two bowls and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese, basil and freshly ground black pepper.
Barbecued Crayfish with Lime Aioli
Serves 4 people
If you have just dived for the crayfish yourself, the best way to eat this is straight from the barbecue on the back of the boat, with a glass of New Zealand’s wonderful Pinot Gris. If you are not a diver, the barbecue at home will do just fine. Read more →
Free Range Farms, Katikati
Free Range Farm is a family run business situated in the shadow of the Kaimai ranges in Katikati, Bay of Plenty. Originally breeding a large herd of Pedigree Tamworth pigs in rural Staffordshire in the UK, they are now producing in New Zealand.
Because they follow traditional farming methods and are passionate about how they care for their pigs, customers can be confident in the provenance of their produce. Read more →
Recently I had the opportunity to teach our local rugby team how to cook. Seeing these young athletes from the Bay of Plenty Steamers get enthused about the simple art of cooking was a great pleasure.
Some had never cooked before, some were already well on the way to being foodies. This recipe proved to be great fun and so adaptable to their lifestyles. Read more →
After the amount of rain we’ve had over the past wee while I’m starting to feel like we’re living underwater, so what better time to think about cooking fish.
This salmon dish is very definitely celebration food and perfect for that mid winter party that is so necessary to drag us out of our winter hibernation.
Cooking a fish whole is a wonderful way of cooking, as it tends to stay moist and looks great in the middle of the table. It does, however, come with some tricky bits, namely how do you get the whole fish off the tray and onto the display plate without having it fall apart? To move the salmon you basically need to support it through out its length, this can be done with as many fish slices and hands as you can find, or create a lifting cradle with strips of doubled over foil spaced every few centimetres. This is done before the cooking and can be easily slipped out once the salmon is on the plate.
Happy Cooking.
Vodka Roast Salmon with Dijon Mustard Sauce
This dish looks elaborate yet isn’t fiddly at all! Roasting a whole salmon keeps the texture succulent and all those wonderful flavours locked in. Buy the freshest fish you can find.
Serves 12
3kg whole salmon, gutted, scaled and head removed
1 lemon, halved and sliced
6 tbsp vodka
2 tbsp olive oil
Fresh dill sprigs for garnishing
For the sauce:
300ml crème fraiche
3 tbsp Dijon mustard
½ tbsp fresh lemon juice
4 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
Method
Preheat oven to 200°C or put barbeque on HIGH and close lid. Place salmon in a large roasting tin and score the top at 4cm intervals. Place a slice of lemon in each slit and push the remaining slices underneath. Drizzle with vodka and olive oil and season well, then roast for 45 minutes or until lightly charred and cooked through. Meanwhile, mix together sauce ingredients and season to taste. Place salmon on platter, garnish with dill and serve with mustard sauce.
For me a good Sauvignon Blanc is spot on with this, and cuts through the natural oiliness so well. Try The Ned for a spankingly good value wine.
As a chef I’ve always been my body is a funfair, instead of a temple, kind of person. You know, experience everything and when the time comes go out with a bang. Now this served me well right up until I broke into the forties and started to teach professional rugby players how to cook. Let me tell you nothing makes you feel short, fat and old like walking into a room full of atheletes.
So I guess that you all enjoyed a great St Patricks Day, unless you’re an Irish rugby fan of course, and the Guinness is slowly leaching out of your blood supply. All we need now is for this weird weather to stop and a wonderful Indian summer to develop so that we can celebrate the upcoming Jazz festival in Bay of Plenty style, after all Earth, Wind and Fire is the headlining act and not a prophecy.
That said now is a great time to start polishing up those wonderful autumn and winter comfort puddings. This one works just as well with pecans but for me walnuts are perfect. The tart can also be served with whipped cream, mascarpone, yoghurt or crème fraiche, but for a little extra effort, the sabayon just lifts this whole dish up to another level.
Walnuts seem to be quite expensive at the moment, which is such a shame as it’s not many years ago that walnuts were in most gardens in New Zealand and to be honest I have no idea where they all went. Sometimes we can learn from the generations that have gone before us and plant things that are both pretty and edible. Lets start a campaign against those spiky designer plants that actually serve no useful purpose and plant stuff that tastes great instead, just a thought.
Walnut Tart with Honey Sabayon
1 x 23cm sweet pastry case baked blind
85g softened unsalted butter
85g soft light brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
3 eggs
4 tablespoons thin honey
170g shelled pecans or walnuts
a pinch of salt
- Cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.
- Beat the eggs in one at a time.
- Stir in the honey, walnuts and salt. Fill the pastry case and bake in a preheated oven at 220°C for 30 minutes.
- Serve warm with Honey Sabayon.
Honey Sabayon
4 egg yolks
200ml water
200g honey
200ml alcohol of choice
- Whisk all the ingredients in a shallow wide pan.
- Place over a very gently heat and continue to whisk until a foam starts to form.
- Continue cooking very gently, whisking all the time, for at least 15 minutes, until the sabayon is cooked, light and fluffy.
Wine Match
Here’s one out of the box, why not serve this with the brand new Orangecello from the award winning Distillerie Deinlein in Te Puna. I’ve loved this stuff ever since they were first experimenting with it and I managed to scrounge a taste.
Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon
Serves 2
2 English muffins
4 pieces ‘Aoraki’ smoked salmon
4 poached eggs (see below)
4 tablespoons ‘Quick Blender Hollandaise’ sauce (see below)
Method
Split each muffin, toast and butter. Cover each half with smoked salmon. Top with a poached egg and a good dollop of hollandaise sauce.
Perfect Poached Eggs
Serves 1
2 very fresh, free-range eggs
Plenty of boiling water
Method
Fill a large pan with water and bring to just below boiling. Use a spoon to get the water moving in a gentle circle and break the eggs in. Keep swirling the water gently while cooking the eggs – it may take up to 10 minutes. Do not rush the process; otherwise the white will separate from the egg.
To check if the egg is cooked, lift gently with a slotted spoon and check that none of the white is still transparent; it should be fairly solid and plump around the yolk.
Quick Blender Hollandaise
Makes 600ml
175g butter
2 tablespoons wine vinegar
4 tablespoons lemon juice
6 large egg yolks
A large pinch of salt
6 rounded tablespoons fresh chives, snipped
Method
Melt butter slowly in a small saucepan. Place wine vinegar and lemon juice in another pan and bring to the boil. Meanwhile blend egg yolks in a food processor or liquidiser, then – with the motor still running – gradually add the hot lemon and vinegar. When the butter reaches the boil, trickle this in very slowly, with motor still running until it is all added and the sauce is thickened. Stir in snipped chives. Serve immediately with barbequed salmon or vegetables, e.g. asparagus. Will also keep for up to 2 days if covered with glad wrap and refrigerated.
ROASTED PORK TENDERLOIN WITH BOK CHOY, PICKLED TOMATOES AND AVOCADO
Author: Chef Hugh Acheson
Pork tenderloin is such a wonderfully easy protein to cook. Healthy and low in fat, this flexible dish really is a family pleaser. The added bounce of the bok choy is a great addition of greenery that will make every bite that much healthier. The tomatoes and avocado marry in a classic manner that we love every day!
Ingredients
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 3 Tbsp. avocado oil
- 2 shallots, minced
- 2 jalapeños, sliced thinly
- ½ tsp. cumin seed, toasted and ground
- 1 tsp. mustard seeds, toasted and ground to a paste
- 4 Tbsp. lime juice, freshly squeezed
- 3 Tbsp. cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
- ¼ cup chopped mint
- ¼ cup chopped parsley
- 1 tsp. plus a pinch r salt
- 3 ripe, Fresh Avocados
- 1 tsp. vegetable oil
- 2 lbs. trimmed pork tenderloin, trimmed of all silverskin and connective tissue
- 3 cups cleaned and thinly chopped bok choy
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. make the curried tomatoes. Place the tomatoes in a glass or ceramic bowl that can withstand a little heat. Season the tomatoes with the salt.
In a large fry pan bring olive oil to a simmer over medium high heat, just below smoke point. Add shallot and then jalapeños. Fry off until tender, about two minutes and then add the cumin and the mustard seeds. Toast for about a minute and remove from heat.
Let cool slightly and then carefully add half of the lime juice and vinegar and then pour this over seasoned tomatoes. Add mint, parsley and about ½. of the kosher salt. Let the tomatoes sit at room temperature for the flavors to mature while you roast the pork.
Slice the avocados in half lengthwise. Slice each half lengthwise again, gently removing seeds. Peel and discard the avocado skins and slice avocado into ¼-inch slices. In a medium bowl toss the avocado with the remaining lime juice and season with a pinch of salt. Add them to the curried tomatoes and toss gently.
Place a large frying pan over medium high heat and add the vegetable oil. Season the pork tenderloin with the remaining salt and then carefully add the pork to the pan, searing on all sides for a total time of 5 minutes on the stovetop. Place the pork in the oven and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, Remove the pork from the pan and let it rest on a cutting board for three minutes. While the pan is still hot add the bok choy and let it wilt in the pan, adding a pinch of salt to season.When the pork has rested slice it into thin rounds, about ¼-inch thick. Add the pork to the bok choy, toss lightly and then place the pork and bok choy on a platter, topping with the pickled tomatoes and avocados.
Coconut-Avocado Ice Cream
Yummy soft ice cream but with no eggs.
- 500ml milk
- 300ml coconut cream
- 150g white sugar
- 3 avocados, peeled and pitted
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method
Blitz all of the above in a blender until very smooth, cover and refrigerate until cold . Freeze in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer’s directions, then freeze overnight.
- Allow ice cream to soften in refrigerator for 10 minutes before serving.
Grilled Squid and Caramelised Gold Kiwi Fruit Salad
Ingredients: 8 squid tubes
1/4 cup soy sauce
6 to 8 cups assorted salad greens
12 Roasted Garlic Cloves
Juice of 1 large lemon
3 Gold Kiwifruit , skinned and neatly chopped
2 Green Kiwifruit skinned and crushed
1 1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
Method:
Marinade the squid in the crushed green Kiwifruit for 1/2 hour, then add the Soy Sauce. Dress the greens with the lemon juice, roasted garlic cloves and olive oil, Panfry Green Kiwifruit to caramelize then cut up the squid and panfry very quickly at a high heat. Scatter Squid and caramelized Kiwifruit on top of the salad. Sprinkle with the sesame oil, season, and serve. 4 servings.
Christmas Avocado loaf
Lightly toasted with a spot of butter is the perfect light Christmas snack
- 500g good quality Christmas mince
- 150g chopped walnuts
- 100g old-fashioned oats
- 275g all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 2tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 3 ripe, Fresh Avocado, seeded and skinned
- 130ml avocado oil
- 300g (packed) brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 120ml buttermilk
Method
Line two 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf tins with nonstick baking paper and lightly grease the bottom only.
Preheat oven to 180˚C.
Combine dry ingredients: oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
Scoop the avocado into a large bowl and mash lightly.
Add avocado oil and brown sugar to the avocado. Cream together using an electric mixer, until light and creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Stir in Christmas mince, then walnuts and dry ingredients.
Stir in buttermilk and beat just until buttermilk is incorporated.
Pour into prepared loaf tins and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour and 10 minutes. This Christmas tea bread is quite moist and may not pass the “toothpick” test at this point. If you prefer a drier bread, bake a little longer.
Rump Steak with Polenta and Kiwifruit Salsa
Kiwifruit can be used to marinate meat or octopus, as it contains the enzyme ‘actinidin’ which is a natural and very effective tenderiser. Spread a ‘mash’ of kiwifruit over the meat and leave for 30 minutes, before scraping off and grilling. The same enzyme also prevents gelatine from setting so that, like pineapple, kiwifruit in a dessert will not ‘set’ unless poached first.
Serves 2
2 x 140g Rump Steak
110gg instant polenta
60g parmesan cheese
60g unsalted butter
75ml beef stock
21/2 tbsp dry sherry or madeira
salt and pepper
avocado oil for frying and greasing
Kiwifruit Salsa
Allow steaks to come to room temperature, marinading in ‘St Andrew’s Limes’ Spicy Glaze. Meanwhile, make the polenta, stir in the grated parmesan cheese and half the butter and season liberally. Pour out 1cm thick onto an oiled baking tray. Refrigerate until set firm and then, using a pastry cutter slightly larger than the tournedos, cut 4 rounds from the sheet of polenta.
To make the salsa verde, finely chop the garlic and then put into a food processor with all the other ingredients except the olive oil and spicy glaze. Process until evenly chopped and then add the oil and spicy glaze, continuing to process until smooth; taste and adjust seasoning.
Preheat oven to 220°C. Melt half the remaining butter in a frying pan with 1 tablespoon oil. Lightly season polenta rounds and fry for 1 minute each side and transfer to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, carefully turn over using a spatula and bake for a further 5 minutes until crisp.
Heat a clean frying pan dry until very hot. Flatten tournedos slightly with heel of hand and season. Cook over a high heat for 3 minutes on each side for rare and 4 minutes for medium. Transfer to a warm plate, cover and keep warm.
Pour beef stock and sherry or Madeira into pan to deglaze, quickly reducing liquid to a syrupy consistency. Add remaining butter, a small piece at a time, swirling pan until incorporated to finish the texture of the sauce and give a beautiful gloss.
To serve, put a crisp polenta croûte on each warmed plate and top with tournedos. Stir into the sauce any juices that have exuded from tournedos while resting and then spoon this over each steak before spreading the salsa verde on top
Roast Chicken with Avocado
Everyone has their own roast chicken recipe and so they should as it is one of the most under-rated and yet finest family meals that you can do. The avocado in this recipe was adapted as a healthier and tastier variation of butter when we found we had a glut of avocados going soft. After all, there’s only so much guacamole a family can eat!
Buy a free range, corn-fed, chill-fresh bird. To test if the bird is cooked, pierce the thickest part of the thigh with a skewer – the juices running out should be golden and clear. Also, you should feel the leg ‘give’ when tugged gently away from the body. To carve a chicken easily and neatly, allow at least 15–20 minutes resting time, preferably longer. This lets the juices which have welled up to the surface during cooking seep back into the flesh to keep it succulent.
Serves 6–8
2.5 kg chicken
1 carrot
1 onion
1 stick celery
1 tablespoon standard flour
75g buttered Avocado
6 rashers fat streaky bacon
salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 tablespoons verjuice or white wine
- Preheat the oven to 190°C.
- Prepare a ‘mire poix’ of vegetables and place in bottom of roasting tin. Sprinkle over flour.
- Smear the butter generously over the bird and tuck an extra lump of butter at the points where the thighs join the body. Season with salt and pepper, then place the bacon strips in a row, slightly overlapping each other, all along the breast.
- Lay the chicken on its back in a roasting tin on a high shelf in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes per 450g and sometimes 20 minutes over. (This has to be flexible because of the size of the bird and the type of oven.)
- After 1 hour, set aside the crispy bacon for serving later. When chicken is cooked, check the core temperature of the bird has reached 72˚C and rest, covered loosely with foil, for at least 10–15 minutes before carving.
- Meanwhile, add verjuice or white wine to cooked ‘mire poix’ and deglaze the roasting tin, stirring with a wooden spoon. Strain through a sieve and serve with chicken and crispy bacon.
Kiwifruit Mess
This dish is inspired by the great English classic, Eton Mess, a wonderful combination of crushed meringue, strawberries and cream.
Serves 2
4 kiwifruit, peeled
100g crème fraîche
3–4 tsp syrup from preserved ginger
1 tablespoon finely chopped preserved ginger
2 meringues, crushed into bite-size chunks
4 gingernut biscuits, crushed
- Cut kiwifruit into small chunks.
- Mix crème fraîche with ginger syrup.
Mix all ingredients lightly in a bowl and pile loosely into two glasses to serve
Bread is that wonderful staple that can be done so badly in this modern era of factory production. But let’s ignore that for the moment and look at where it all started. Around six thousand years ago the ancient Egyptians revolutionised bread when they realised that if they let the dough sit around in the warm sunshine, it would become naturally leavened by the yeast spores in the air and once baked it would retain its risen shape.
Traditional bakers know that the longer you ferment your dough the better the bread keeps; time invested in the making is repaid in the eating. Modern bread factories have destroyed this elegant balance and have stolen time from the production process – a theft they try to disguise by using additives and enzymes to extend the shelf life and apparent freshness while shortening the manufacturing time. For me the difficult bit here is the use of enzymes that don’t appear in the ingredients list as they are used in the process. When will they realise that our daily bread is a gift and not a science experiment?!
That’s my rant over, except to observe that one of the sad bits of modern bread is the loss to cooking of the glorious uses of old or stale bread. Toast is the first and most obvious; the Romans spread the idea of toast throughout Europe and it became a favourite in the middle ages when “sops” of bread were used to soak up wine or sweet liquids and then toasted against the heat of an open fire. Which brings me to that old classic the Bread and Butter Pudding, a dish often given a bad name by being overcooked, dry and tasteless. This recipe will give you a quite different dish, something with an almost sponge-like texture with thick fresh custard oozing out between the layers and the wonderfully boozy raisins and sultanas. For the adventurous why not experiment with the types of bread and alcohol? Pain au Chocolat or Brioche make a luxurious choice and with the booze… frankly pick the one you like the best.
Bread and Butter Pudding
Serves 8 – 10
12 slices buttered white bread (crusts removed)
12 egg yolks
250ml cream
250ml milk
150g caster sugar
50g sultanas and raisins, soaked in alcohol overnight
1 vanilla pod
Method
Cut the bread into squares and layer in a buttered dish sprinkled with the raisins and sultanas. Scald the cream and milk with the vanilla pod. Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and thick and slowly add the warmed milk, cream and vanilla. Pour over the bread and place in a boiling hot “bain marie”. Cook at 120˚C for about 1½ hours or until just set. Dust with icing sugar and glaze under the grill or with a blowtorch.
For my match this week I want to use something as a drink and also to soak the dried fruit in. the Dark Spice 8th Tribe from Distillerie Deinlein is just perfect with its wonderful warming spices and even better it’s made right here in the Bay.
At the cook school we are just starting to get into winter, and so the other night I was looking at one pot cooking and up popped my recipe for Boeuf Bourguignonne. I know the name is a mouthful and if I’m being honest I don’t think I pronounce it right so lets call it a French beef casserole.
It’s probably a few years since I’ve cooked this dish and I’d forgotten just how good it is. The aromas wafting around the kitchen as it cooks leave you in no doubt that dinner is on the way and as you serve it the wonderful rich colour of the meat is just stunning. This all sounds great so far but the best is still to come, as you cut into the meat it just falls apart, with every mouthful being soft and full of flavour.
Why is that casseroles taste so good at this time of year? Lets be honest winter is the time for comfort food, as the weather gets colder and the days get shorter our cooking styles change. What can be finer than walking into a home with the air filled with the aroma and warmth of a slow cooking caserole gently sizzling away in the oven? The anticipation of a cozy family gathering insulated from the outside elements. Of course the other sneaky advantage is that slow cooking is also perfect for the cheaper cuts of meat, which for me always have a much deeper flavour.
So all things considered this is an absolute winner and my advice would be to make more than you need as it will keep well in the fridge for a few days or even freeze for that night when inspiration has deserted you. Bon appetit.
Boeuf Bourguignonne or lets be honest, Beef Casserole
Serves 6
900g chuck steak, cut into 3 cm squares
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 Medium onion, sliced
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
425ml red wine
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
350g shallots topped, tailed and peeled
225g streaky bacon
100g brown mushrooms
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat oven to 150˚cHeat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large flame proof casserole dish and sear the chunks of beef – a few pieces at a time _ to a rich dark brown on all sides, removing meat with a slotted spoon as it browns to a plate, repeat until all the meat is browned off.
Add the sliced onion to the casserole and brown a little then return the meat to the casserole, sprinkle with flour, stirring to soak up all the juices, and then gradually pour in the red wine, stirring all the time. Add chopped garlic and herbs, season with salt and pepper, put lid on and cook in the oven for 2 ½ hours.
After an hour and a half, pan-fry the shallots and cubes of bacon in the remaining oil to colour lightly and add them to the casserole together with the whole mushrooms. Put the lid back on and continue to cook for a further hour.
Serve with new potatoes and lightly steamed seasonal vegetables.
This dish works with most red wines, but to give it that really strong rich flavour why not use a Shiraz/Syrah in the cooking and the glass. There are lots of great Shiraz/Syrah out there with the Hawkes Bay probably leading the pack, try Bridge Pa Reserve Syrah.
