With the Rugby World Cup rapidly progressing into the later stages, I thought I’d share what we do as a family on Test Match nights. Burgers in front of the TV while the All Blacks chase the dream.
Yes I know what you’re thinking, burgers are fast food and what is he going there for? Well it’s simple really they taste great and are a load of fun. In some ways this is the problem with modern food, the fast food industry gets hold of a good idea and then cheapens it to the point of extinction. Where the reality is that, made well, burgers are really good for you, especially if you sneakily pack as much vegetable content into them as you can get away with. It’s all about knowing what’s in you’re food, especially the fun food.
As a chef I spend most of my time trying to dream up recipes using the most elaborate ingredients possible and then attempting to come up with new and innovative ways to cook and present them. This is all great fun and is a major part of cooking these days, but sometimes food just needs to be there for the family in a fun and nutritious way while the rugby is on. So go on, forget the fast food, and make your own.
Over the coming months I’ll be at Mills Reef Winery for a series of cook schools in the glorious Vintage Wine Cellar, I look forward to seeing some of you there.
Easy Burgers
500g minced beef or lamb
2 onion, diced finely
3 clove garlic, chopped
Salt & pepper
Chopped fresh herbs or dried herbs
2 tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
Avocado oil
Optional additions:
2 red capsicum, diced finely
150g mushrooms, diced finely
1 courgette, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 teaspoon fresh Thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Method
Mix all ingredients together well. Take large spoonfuls of mixture, shape into balls, place on a floured surface and flatten with your hand. Heat avocado oil in a frying pan and add 2 or 3 burgers at a time. Cook both sides until crisp and brown. Alternatively, the burgers can be cooked on a BBQ or finished off in the oven at 180°C.
Split the hamburger buns, place the burger inside with lettuce, tomato, avocado salsa (see below), cottage cheese and serve.
Avocado Salsa
2 ripe avocado, diced
2 de-seeded and finely chopped red chillies
2tsp chopped fresh coriander
4 tomatoes de-skinned, deseeded and diced
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
Pinch salt
Zest & juice 1 lime
Method
Place all ingredients in a bowl, mix well and leave at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours develop.
Burger Buns
Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour
20g instant yeast
20g sugar
10g salt
60g unsalted butter
280ml warm water
Optional
2 egg white
4 teaspoons of sesame seeds
Method
Weigh out the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a large mixing bowl. (If your yeast needs activating in water, follow the instructions on the packet and subtract whatever water you need to use from the 280ml water listed above.) Mix them together so that they are evenly distributed.
Heat the butter (either in the microwave or in a pan) so that it has just melted, it should be just warm, not hot. Weigh the water into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients, pour in the melted butter and mix it all together (using your hands) to form a dough.
Tip the dough out on to a floured work surface and knead it until it has formed a smooth, elastic dough. It will be sticky at first but will become smooth as you knead it. Form the dough into a ball, lightly oil the inside of the mixing bowl and put the ball of dough back into the mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with a piece of cling-film/plastic-wrap, put the bowl somewhere warm and leave it to prove until it has doubled in size (it depends on how warm it is but this usually takes 1 – 2 hours).
When the dough has doubled in size, tip the dough out of the bowl, cut it into eight and shape each into a ball. Leave the balls of dough on the work-top, cover them with a piece of lightly oiled cling-film/plastic-wrap and leave them to prove for a second time until they have doubled in size.
When the balls of dough have doubled in size, put them onto a lightly oiled baking tray and gently press them down to form the burger bun shape. Optionally, brush the top of each disk of dough with some egg white and sprinkle each with ½ teaspoon of sesame seeds.
Heat the oven to 170°c.
Leave the buns to rise for the final time until they have puffed up (not necessarily doubled in size but close).
When they are cooked, take the burger buns out of the oven and leave them on the tray until they have cooled to room temperature (when they come out of the oven they will feel very firm but leaving them to cool on the tray greatly softens the crust).
When they are cooled, cook your burgers and enjoy!
Real chocolate is good for you! It is nutritious, easily digestible, and full of vitamins, minerals and a 93% useable form of iron. Real chocolate is low in sugar with a low glycaemic index, keeping you full for longer and helping keep blood glucose levels steady. A naturally occurring antidepressant in chocolate helps boost energy levels and mental alertness. Cocoa butter has been proven to lower blood cholesterol levels and chocolate is rich in antioxidants, which help prevent cancer.
In contrast, ‘fast’ chocolate contains as little as 5% cocoa, along with sugar, solid hydrogenated vegetable fats (often linked with serious health problems), nut oils and a host of artificial flavourings.
When looking for real chocolate, look for a high cocoa content – between 50 and 70% cocoa solids – and natural vanilla rather than artificial vanillin. Also find out about the origin and variety of the cocoa beans. Fine-flavoured varieties are carefully roasted to enhance the flavour.
The Five Senses Chocolate Test
Smell
Like a good wine, a good chocolate will have a well-balanced, pleasing smell of intense fruit, wood, tobacco, or caramel.
Sight
When chocolate is broken, you can see a very characteristic texture in the break, a bit like tree bark. It should also be glossy and without bloom (an indicator of damp or warm storage conditions.) In general, the redder the colour of the chocolate, the better the cocoa.
Sound
Real chocolate has a distinctive ‘snap’ caused by the cocoa butter crystals. ‘Fast’ chocolate is more like plasticine; expect a dull thud.
Touch
Real chocolate should melt when held in the hand for a few seconds because cocoa butter melts at 34˚C. Chocolate with a lower proportion of cocoa butter will take longer to melt.
Taste
Real chocolate should linger deliciously in the mouth. A greasy residue means the chocolate contains fats other than cocoa butter. Particle size, i.e. smoothness on the tongue, should be so fine as to be indiscernible. Smell comes into play again as the chocolate melts on the tongue.
Avocado Chocolate Truffles
Makes approx. 25
250ml cream
275g real dark chocolate
75g fresh avocado butter (fresh avocado & ‘Grove’ avocado oil)
Good quality cocoa powder or tempered chocolate for enrobing
Method
Chop the chocolate into chunks or break into squares. Put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl and microwave on HIGH until barely melted.
Scald the cream in a pan – allow it to boil and rise up (be careful it doesn’t boil over.) Pour about a tablespoon onto the chocolate and mix well. Keep adding the cream, a spoonful at a time, mixing thoroughly to form an ‘emulsion’.
When all the cream has been mixed in, add the avocado butter. The mixture should still be warm enough to absorb it, although it will take a few minutes to beat it in, so there are no lumps left. When it has set to the consistency of butter icing, it is ready to be piped or spooned into truffle-sized pieces.
If piping, put the mixture into a piping bag and pipe blobs of mixture about the size of a large cherry onto a tray covered with greaseproof paper or cling film. Leave to cool for at least 2 hours, preferably 24.
To finish, drop into a tray of cocoa powder, roll briefly, shaking off excess and leave to set. Alternatively, the chocolates can be enrobed with tempered chocolate and drizzled with melted white chocolate or topped with a pistachio or blanched almond.
Looking out of my office window this week it’s obvious that spring is very much with us, there’s new growth all around and an air of optimism as the natural world throws off the cloak of winter and stretches. I love this time of year as we see all sorts of things making their annual appearance in our kitchens, for those of you that haven’t had any new season asparagus yet I urge you to grab some and marvel at the delicate flavour.
Seasons form the natural backdrop for eating. All of the World’s Healthiest Foods are seasonal. Imagine a vegetable garden in the dead of winter. Now imagine this same garden on a sunny, summer day. How different things are during these two seasons of the year! For ecologists, seasons are considered a source of natural diversity. Changes in growing conditions from spring to summer or autumn to winter are considered essential for balancing the earth’s resources and its life forms. But today it’s so easy for us to forget about seasons when we eat! Modern food processing and worldwide distribution of food make foods available year-round, and grocery stores shelves look much the same in December as they do in July.
Which brings me to this weeks recipe, the fields abound with young lamb and the shops will soon be pushing new season lamb for all they’re worth. This is a situation that I’ve always found a bit odd, after all new season lamb or milk lamb has almost no flavour. The poor little devils haven’t had the time to eat the multitude of grass varieties that will in the coming months give the distinctive flavour that makes lamb so wonderful. So does this mean that lamb is off the menu, well actually no but you need to think about where the flavour comes from, last years lambs have just become year olds or Hogget (why they couldn’t come up with a more appetitising name I don’t know) that wonderful transition between the soft and succulent lamb and the full flavoured but tough mutton.
So ask your butcher for some hogget and give this Moroccan classic a bash and remember sometimes it’s worth waiting for.
Tagine of Lamb with Apricots
Serves 6-8
The name “tagine” derives from the clay pot with conical lid in which stews are cooked slowly over a fire. In Morocco, a very sweet fruit tagine (Tagine barragog) is made, with lamb, prunes and honey. With this recipe, we prefer to use sharp, naturally dried or semi-dried apricots – if you can find them!
2 large onions, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp saffron
1 tsp ground cumin
A good pinch of chilli powder, to taste
1kg leg or shoulder of lamb, trimmed of some of the fat
2½cm fresh root ginger, cut into slices
3 garlic cloves, crushed
Salt & plenty of black pepper
500g dried apricots
Method
Using a tagine (or casserole dish if you don’t have a tagine), fry the onion gently in the oil until soft.
Stir in the spices – the cinnamon, saffron, cumin and chilli powder – and put in the meat Turn the pieces so that they are covered in the spice mixture. Add the ginger, garlic, salt and pepper and cover with about ½ litre water. Simmer, covered with lid, for 1½ hours, turning the meat over occasionally and adding water if necessary. (You can also put the tagine in your barbeque to simmer.)
Add the apricots and cook for 30 minutes more, adding water if necessary.
Couscous
Generally, the couscous you find in supermarkets is a quick-cook variety and you need to be careful not to over cook it and create a glutinous mess that will put the kids off it for life.
Here’s an easy, failsafe way to cook couscous.
• Place 2 cups of couscous in a heavy bowl.
• Boil 2 ½ cups of water and add to the couscous.
• Add ½ a teaspoon of salt.
• Stir with a fork.
• Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes
• Uncover and fluff up with a fork – the grains of couscous will have absorbed the liquid without becoming mushy.
• Dot with butter and fluff again. Season and serve
Cooking Couscous – an Olive Oil Variation
To impart a richer, nuttier flavour to your couscous try the recipe below.
• In a saucepan, heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil.
• When the oil is hot add 2 cups of couscous and a good shake of salt.
• Cook for 2-3 mins until the couscous is golden, stirring constantly to prevent burning.
• Add 2 ½ cups of boiling water.
• Remove from the heat and cover.
• Let the couscous sit until all the water is absorbed and the grains are soft – about 5 mins.
• Loosen the couscous with a fork and serve.
• Dot with butter and fluff again. Season and serve
More Flavour
Alone, couscous can taste somewhat bland. While the main taste centre of your meal will be the meat or fish you serve with it, you can add more flavour to the couscous itself by substituting beef, chicken or vegetable stock for the boiling water in the recipes above.
The flavour of couscous can also be punched up by adding pine nuts, currents, oregano, thyme, basil or cinnamon before you add your boiling liquid.
Wine match
We are blessed in this glorious country to have some of the most wonderful Boutique wineries. For the wine connoisseur they are worth tracking down. This week I’ve just found Bijou Estate and their Pinot Noir is a cracker. So go on be adventurous and track them down.
So the overindulgence of the festive period is over, and after the weather we’ve had what else was there to do but cook and eat. What’s more it now looks like summer has arrived which means more time at the beach desperately hoping we can fit into the board shorts that we wore last year and trying to live up to our New Years resolution to get in shape, sound familiar?
I think we all get more motivated when the sun is out, but the thought of eating like a rabbit after the glories of the Christmas table is frankly a bit depressing, however eating healthily doesn’t have to be boring, in fact it is all about being adventurous with the flavours and eating in season. This dish is a cracker with the wonderful heat from the Cajun spicing and the zingy salsa giving you a real flavour treat. On the health front there is no animal fat and the salmon is one of those proteins that we should be eating at least once a week, the avocados are great at the moment and the overall combination delivers at every level. Interestingly, since all the ingredients are in season at the moment it is even good for the wallet!
Fillet of Salmon on Bruschetta with Avocado Salsa
Serves 4
4 fillets ‘Aoraki’ fresh salmon
2 teaspoons Cajun spices
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season
The Grove Avocado oil
Method
Brush the surface of the salmon with the avocado oil. Sprinkle over Cajun spices, salt and pepper. Sear on a hot barbeque for 2 to 3 minutes each side, then lower heat and lid and cook for a further 3 to 4 minutes. Alternatively, the salmon can be finished off in a preheated oven at 180˚C for 3 to 4 minutes. Serve immediately with bruschetta and salsa (see below.)
Avocado Salsa
2 ripe avocado, diced
2 de-seeded and finely chopped red chillies
2tsp chopped fresh coriander
4 tomatoes deskinned, deseeded and diced
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
Pinch salt
Zest & juice 1 lime
Method
Place all ingredients in a bowl, mix well and leave at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours develop.
Bruschetta
Sliced sourdough or rustic bread
The Grove Avocado oil
Peeled garlic cloves, cut in half
Method
Char-grill bread, brush with oil and rub garlic over surface.
Wine doesn’t exactly fit into the idea of the detox, but a little of what you like can’t be too bad can it? Try the Mt Difficulty Pinot Gris for a wonderfully refreshing compliment to the Salmon, that can also handle the spicing.
Remember, remember the fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot.
We see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!
Guy Fawkes, guy, t’was his intent
To blow up king and parliament.
Three score barrels were laid below
To prove old England’s overthrow.
By god’s mercy he was catch’d
With a darkened lantern and burning match.
So, holler boys, holler boys, Let the bells ring.
Holler boys, holler boys, God save the king.
And what shall we do with him?
Burn him!
In 1605, thirteen young men planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Among them was Guy Fawkes, Britain’s most notorious traitor. Interestingly could this be the beginning of the unlucky thirteen myth?
The tradition of Guy Fawkes-related bonfires actually began the very same year as the failed coup. The Plot was foiled in the night between the 4th and 5th of November. Already on the 5th, agitated Londoners who knew little more than that their King had been saved, joyfully lit bonfires in thanksgiving. As years progressed, however, the ritual became more elaborate and is now commemorated every year with fireworks and burning effigies of Guy Fawkes on a bonfire.
Astonishing really that such a blood thirsty act in London more than four hundred years ago, has now become a family celebration that kids up and down New Zealand look forward to. And indeed some of the adults have been known to wonder, in a tongue in cheek kind of way, whether they are celebrating Fawkes’ execution or honoring his attempt to do away with the government. Whatever your beliefs bonfire night is now a family celebration and a time to come together and enjoy each others company.
So lets bring the family together and enjoy the whole thing with some toffee apples by the fire afterall who hasn’t got fond memories of childhood with toffee stuck between their teeth and Dad desperately trying to light a match.
For the toffee coating
450 g demerara sugar
220 ml water
1 tsp vinegar
4 tbsp golden syrup
50 g butter
For the apples
10 apples, I prefer granny smith
10 wooden skewers, for holding the apples – ice lolly sticks will do
Method
1. Add the sugar to the water and dissolve over a moderate heat. When it has dissolved, stir in the vinegar, syrup and butter. Bring to a boil and cook without stirring until it reaches hard-crack stage (138C) or hardens into a ball when dropped in a bowl of cold water.
2. While the syrup is cooking, push a wooden stick into each apple. Once the toffee is ready, dip each apple into the hot toffee, turning it around in the syrup so that each one is fully coated. If you have problems keeping the toffee on the apple try dipping into cold water to rapidly drop the toffee temperature.
3. Leave to harden on a lightly oiled tray before serving. If you’re planning to keep them for a day or two, wrap the apples in cellophane.
For the kids, take a trip to Mr Macgregor’s in Te Puna where they have the most astonishing unadulterated Jazz Apple Juice. And for the adults to follow the apple theme there is that wonderful NZ cider from Old Mout.
I know that I’m usually banging on about seasonal food and so it will seem a little strange to be writing about a fruit that won’t be out till November but bear with me there is a link. Having just returned to the frosty mornings of Gods own from the riots of the UK, got me thinking about the humble Gooseberry. You see the Gooseberry plant needs to have a good frost over the winter in order to produce good fruit in early summer. In the Bay we are lucky to still have a grower in the form of Mamaku Blue across near Rotorua. They are more well known for growing Blueberries and can be found at most of our farmers markets, however they still grow Gooseberries at the moment even if demand isn’t too high. To me this is such a shame as the fruit is so versatile for cooking, as happy with savory as it is with sweet (in France they are traditionally served with oily fish)
In the middle Ages, the acidic juice of wild gooseberries was highly regarded for its medicinal properties in cooling fevers and the old English name, Fea-berry still survives in some provincial dialects. Although the Oxford English Dictionary associates the fruit’s name with the goose with which it was once served as an accompanying sauce. The phrase ‘to play gooseberry’ comes from the days when the fruit was a euphemism for the devil.
The popularity of the fruit in England led to improved, larger and sweeter varieties being bred, some for eating raw as a dessert fruit (usually red or yellow) and others (usually green), which are sour but have a superior flavour when cooked. Gooseberry shows were once popular all over the North of England, but there are now only two left, the most famous of which is the Egton Bridge Show in North Yorkshire, where official records go back to 1800. In 2009 a world record-breaking ‘Woodpecker’ berry was produced, weighing in at 62 grams. As luck would have it our trip coincided with the Egton Show, so I had to go along for a look-see. I wasn’t expecting much from a little village hall in a tiny village in North Yorkshire, so you can imagine my surprise when we arrived to find two television stations and a radio station already there eagerly awaiting the announcement of the grand champion. It’s a serious business this gooseberry growing.
So now to the technical bits, they are available November to January, an average portion of gooseberries contains about a quarter of the daily Vitamin C requirement and fairly good levels of vitamins A, B, fibre, potassium, copper & manganese. Rich in pectin when slightly unripe, they are ideal for sauces, jams, preserves, pickles & jellies and they make an excellent tart sauce for oily fish such as mackerel, poultry or meat. They also make a good filling for crumble, tarts, pies or suet pudding.
Gooseberry Tansy
I love the sense of history and tradition that goes with food – the small village of Egton Bridge, near where I grew up in North Yorkshire, still holds an annual Gooseberry Show which dates back to 1800! Tansies are a type of sweet omelette, originally named after the herb, tansy, which was used in this dish in the 15th century.
Serves 4
25g unsalted butter
200g gooseberries, topped and tailed
Freshly grated zest of 1 orange
3 tbsp sugar
25g breadcrumbs
3 eggs, separated
40ml cream
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp apricot liqueur
1. Melt the butter in a frying pan and when foaming add the gooseberries and orange zest. Cook gently over a low heat until the fruit begins to soften (about 10 minutes) then add the sugar, mixing well, and cook until the sugar melts and the mixture becomes syrupy.
2. Add just enough breadcrumbs to soak up the syrup and stir.
3. Meanwhile add the egg whites to a clean bowl and whisk into soft peaks.
4. In a separate bowl beat together the egg yolks, cream, nutmeg and liqueur. Slowly add the egg yolk mixture into the gooseberry mixture, stirring slowly.
5. Fold-in the egg whites and continue cooking on very low heat until the mixture sets.
6. If necessary, place the tansy under a low grill or use a blow torch to set the top.
7. Dust with icing sugar, decorate with a few sprigs of mint and serve.
Lets stay local this week and how about a cheeky little number from Mills Reef, Light and refreshing (titillating and tantalizing). Chill down and chill out with a ‘Little Sweetie’.
8.
I realise that over the last couple of months I’ve been a bit remiss with my recipes, let’s face it savoury is great but it’s always nice to be sweet. So here goes with one of those fruits that is bang in season at the moment and if you pop along to the farmers markets this weekend I’m sure you’ll find some, probably from Mamaku Blue (the same wonderful people who do the gooseberries).
The blueberry is one of the few fruits native to North America. For centuries, blueberries were gathered from the forests and the bogs by Native Americans and consumed fresh or preserved. Revered by Northeast Native American tribes, blueberries, leaves and roots were used for medicinal purposes while the juice made an excellent dye for baskets and cloth. In food preparation, dried blueberries were added to stews, soups and meats.
In New Zealand, blueberries are prospering due to interest in the health attributes associated with the blue pigments. Studies from Tufts University USA claim blueberries as the ‘miracle berry’. Research shows half a cup per person per day has enough antioxidants to reverse the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, reduce or reverse arthritis, skin ageing and has some positive effect on cancers. Blueberries may also be effective at lowering cholesterol and have fewer side effects than commercial drugs.
Blueberry Frangipane Tart with Vanilla Sauce
This dish brings back memories of walking past pâtisseries in Paris and drooling over a window full of glossy frangipane tarts just begging to be eaten! The tart works well with any berry fruit, stone fruit or pip fruit, but what tastes better than New Zealand blueberries fresh off the bush?
Serves 8
1 Sweet Pastry case
175g plain flour
40g icing sugar
75g softened unsalted butter
pinch salt
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp water or milk
seeds of 1/2 vanilla pod and grated zest of 1/2 a lemon
Almond Paste or Frangipane
225g cold unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
175g ground almonds
50g plain flour
4 eggs
150g blueberries
2 tbsp apricot jam
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp water
1. Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process until it forms a firm dough.
2. Turn out and knead lightly before placing in a polythene bag and leaving in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
3. Preheat oven to 200˚C and place a solid baking sheet inside as well to preheat.
4. Roll out pastry as thinly as possible and carefully line a 24cm flan tin. Prick the base with a fork (or use baking beans) and brush all over with beaten egg white. Bake on the baking sheet on the middle shelf for 20 minutes.
5. Once cooled, the pastry case can be brushed with melted chocolate to stop it going soggy from the filling.
6. Cream butter and sugar until almost white.
7. Mix together flour and ground almonds.
8. Add one egg at a time to the butter and sugar mix, sprinkling in a handful of ground almonds and flour at the same time to help the butter and sugar accept the eggs.
9. Once all the eggs have been added, continue to fold in the remaining almond and flour mixture.
10. Place half blueberries on base of pastry case. Pour over frangipane mixture. Place remaining blueberries on top of mixture in an attractive pattern.
11. Bake at 200˚C for approximately 40 minutes, but check after 30 minutes to see if cooked. For smaller tarts, adjust time accordingly.
12. Heat apricot jam with lemon juice and water. Sieve out seeds.
13. Once cooled, turn tart out of tin, glaze with apricot jam.
14. Serve with vanilla sauce.
Vanilla Sauce
Serves 10
6 egg yolks
120g caster sugar
500ml cream
2 vanilla pods, split
1. Boil cream with vanilla in a saucepan.
2. Meanwhile boil a second pan half filled with water.
3. Mix eggs and sugar until pale and then add boiled cream very slowly.
4. Mix well and place over a pan of boiling water, stirring continuously until the mixture thickens.
Wine Match
So Breast Cancer Awareness Month is on again and the time is right to celebrate the wonderful strong women who suffer through breast cancer, some to survive and sadly some not.
I have some experience of both sides of this coin with a mother in law who is a breast cancer survivor and a mother who was not. The three years that my mother fought her cancer were some of the most astonishing of my life, once the initial shock and horror had diminished what I saw was an incredibly strong woman with an enormous love of life. Through her treatment I had the opportunity to meet many cancer patients and cancer survivors and a recurring theme became obvious, that being unbelievable strength and as the French say “Joie de Vivre”.
One little story for you, this happened early in my mothers’ cancer journey, I was waiting to take her home after a treatment and had an hour to kill, so I wandered into the Marie Curie centre in the hospital in Edinburgh. I must have been looking a bit lost as I was approached by an old lady to see if I was OK. She had realised straight away that I was a cancer patient relative that was struggling to find perspective; she knew instinctively that I wandered in to find answers to impossible questions.
“You don’t know what to do, do you?” I must have nodded.
“Let me put it this way, if you mother wants to strip naked and run down Princes Street your job is not to stop her or strip down and join in but to hold her clothes and cheer her every step of the way. This is her journey and you’re a passenger”
That wonderful cancer survivor started me on a three-year journey that certainly had its low points but on the whole the tears were of joy and laughter.
To all those that are on their own personal journey, good luck, and to the passengers, make sure you enjoy the ride and celebrate everything that you can. To that end this weeks recipe is one that my mother loved because it is fun, a little childish and with the Pink Champagne, just a little bit naughty.
You’ll notice that the recipe doesn’t use the full bottle of pink champagne, use the rest to toast the incredible women (and men) who confront their journey through Breast Cancer with such fortitude, and cheer them every single step of the way.
Sparkling Berry Fruit Jelly
Who doesn’t love jelly? In this case a fruity and alcoholic adult version!
Serves 8
425ml Pink Champagne
6 leaves gelatine
50g caster sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
350g strawberries, hulled and halved
225g fresh raspberries
200g fresh blueberries
2 x 900g loaf tins (one to be used as a weight)
- Line one loaf tin with Glad Wrap.
- Mix fruits gently together in a large bowl.
- Soak gelatine sheets in water until soft.
- Heat half the wine till it begins to simmer, then whisk sugar into it.
- Squeeze out gelatine and whisk into wine mix until dissolved.
- Add remaining wine and lime juice, pour liquid into a jug and allow to cool.
- Meanwhile, lay mixed fruit into lined loaf tin, arranging bottom layer decoratively as this will be the top when turned out.
- Pour all but 150ml of the liquid over the fruit.
- Lay a sheet of Glad Wrap over the tin, place the other loaf tin directly on top, then weigh down with heavy tins and refrigerate for about 1 hour until set.
- Reheat remaining 150ml wine mixture and pour over surface of the jelly.
- Re-cover with Glad Wrap and refrigerate overnight until set firm.
- Turn out by dipping tin in hot water and inverting over a plate.
- Cut into slices with a sharp knife dipped into hot water. Serve with cream, yoghurt or fruit coulis.
The pink Champagne that I’ve used here is the Little Rosie from Mills Reef, that cheeky little number that is just itching to be quaffed.
With the Rugby World Cup rapidly progressing into the later stages, I thought I’d share what we do as a family on Test Match nights. Burgers in front of the TV while the All Blacks chase the dream.
Yes I know what you’re thinking, burgers are fast food and what is he going there for? Well it’s simple really they taste great and are a load of fun. In some ways this is the problem with modern food, the fast food industry gets hold of a good idea and then cheapens it to the point of extinction. Where the reality is that, made well, burgers are really good for you, especially if you sneakily pack as much vegetable content into them as you can get away with. It’s all about knowing what’s in you’re food, especially the fun food.
As a chef I spend most of my time trying to dream up recipes using the most elaborate ingredients possible and then attempting to come up with new and innovative ways to cook and present them. This is all great fun and is a major part of cooking these days, but sometimes food just needs to be there for the family in a fun and nutritious way while the rugby is on. So go on, forget the fast food, and make your own.
Over the coming months I’ll be at Mills Reef Winery for a series of cook schools in the glorious Vintage Wine Cellar, I look forward to seeing some of you there.
Easy Burgers
500g minced beef or lamb
2 onion, diced finely
3 clove garlic, chopped
Salt & pepper
Chopped fresh herbs or dried herbs
2 tbsp plain flour
1 egg, beaten
Avocado oil
Optional additions:
2 red capsicum, diced finely
150g mushrooms, diced finely
1 courgette, grated
1 carrot, grated
1 teaspoon fresh Thyme, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Method
Mix all ingredients together well. Take large spoonfuls of mixture, shape into balls, place on a floured surface and flatten with your hand. Heat avocado oil in a frying pan and add 2 or 3 burgers at a time. Cook both sides until crisp and brown. Alternatively, the burgers can be cooked on a BBQ or finished off in the oven at 180°C.
Split the hamburger buns, place the burger inside with lettuce, tomato, avocado salsa (see below), cottage cheese and serve.
Avocado Salsa
2 ripe avocado, diced
2 de-seeded and finely chopped red chillies
2tsp chopped fresh coriander
4 tomatoes de-skinned, deseeded and diced
2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
Pinch salt
Zest & juice 1 lime
Method
Place all ingredients in a bowl, mix well and leave at room temperature for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours develop.
Burger Buns
Ingredients
500g strong white bread flour
20g instant yeast
20g sugar
10g salt
60g unsalted butter
280ml warm water
Optional
2 egg white
4 teaspoons of sesame seeds
Method
Weigh out the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a large mixing bowl. (If your yeast needs activating in water, follow the instructions on the packet and subtract whatever water you need to use from the 280ml water listed above.) Mix them together so that they are evenly distributed.
Heat the butter (either in the microwave or in a pan) so that it has just melted, it should be just warm, not hot. Weigh the water into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients, pour in the melted butter and mix it all together (using your hands) to form a dough.
Tip the dough out on to a floured work surface and knead it until it has formed a smooth, elastic dough. It will be sticky at first but will become smooth as you knead it. Form the dough into a ball, lightly oil the inside of the mixing bowl and put the ball of dough back into the mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with a piece of cling-film/plastic-wrap, put the bowl somewhere warm and leave it to prove until it has doubled in size (it depends on how warm it is but this usually takes 1 – 2 hours).
When the dough has doubled in size, tip the dough out of the bowl, cut it into eight and shape each into a ball. Leave the balls of dough on the work-top, cover them with a piece of lightly oiled cling-film/plastic-wrap and leave them to prove for a second time until they have doubled in size.
When the balls of dough have doubled in size, put them onto a lightly oiled baking tray and gently press them down to form the burger bun shape. Optionally, brush the top of each disk of dough with some egg white and sprinkle each with ½ teaspoon of sesame seeds.
Heat the oven to 170°c.
Leave the buns to rise for the final time until they have puffed up (not necessarily doubled in size but close).
When they are cooked, take the burger buns out of the oven and leave them on the tray until they have cooled to room temperature (when they come out of the oven they will feel very firm but leaving them to cool on the tray greatly softens the crust).
When they are cooled, cook
I know that I’m usually banging on about seasonal food and so it will seem a little strange to be writing about a fruit that won’t be out till November but bear with me there is a link. Having just returned to the frosty mornings of Gods own from the riots of the UK, got me thinking about the humble Gooseberry. You see the Gooseberry plant needs to have a good frost over the winter in order to produce good fruit in early summer. In the Bay we are lucky to still have a grower in the form of Mamaku Blue across near Rotorua. They are more well known for growing Blueberries and can be found at most of our farmers markets, however they still grow Gooseberries at the moment even if demand isn’t too high. To me this is such a shame as the fruit is so versatile for cooking, as happy with savory as it is with sweet (in France they are traditionally served with oily fish)
In the middle Ages, the acidic juice of wild gooseberries was highly regarded for its medicinal properties in cooling fevers and the old English name, Fea-berry still survives in some provincial dialects. Although the Oxford English Dictionary associates the fruit’s name with the goose with which it was once served as an accompanying sauce. The phrase ‘to play gooseberry’ comes from the days when the fruit was a euphemism for the devil.
The popularity of the fruit in England led to improved, larger and sweeter varieties being bred, some for eating raw as a dessert fruit (usually red or yellow) and others (usually green), which are sour but have a superior flavour when cooked. Gooseberry shows were once popular all over the North of England, but there are now only two left, the most famous of which is the Egton Bridge Show in North Yorkshire, where official records go back to 1800. In 2009 a world record-breaking ‘Woodpecker’ berry was produced, weighing in at 62 grams. As luck would have it our trip coincided with the Egton Show, so I had to go along for a look-see. I wasn’t expecting much from a little village hall in a tiny village in North Yorkshire, so you can imagine my surprise when we arrived to find two television stations and a radio station already there eagerly awaiting the announcement of the grand champion. It’s a serious business this gooseberry growing.
So now to the technical bits, they are available November to January, an average portion of gooseberries contains about a quarter of the daily Vitamin C requirement and fairly good levels of vitamins A, B, fibre, potassium, copper & manganese. Rich in pectin when slightly unripe, they are ideal for sauces, jams, preserves, pickles & jellies and they make an excellent tart sauce for oily fish such as mackerel, poultry or meat. They also make a good filling for crumble, tarts, pies or suet pudding.
Gooseberry Tansy
I love the sense of history and tradition that goes with food – the small village of Egton Bridge, near where I grew up in North Yorkshire, still holds an annual Gooseberry Show which dates back to 1800! Tansies are a type of sweet omelette, originally named after the herb, tansy, which was used in this dish in the 15th century.
Serves 4
25g unsalted butter
200g gooseberries, topped and tailed
Freshly grated zest of 1 orange
3 tbsp sugar
25g breadcrumbs
3 eggs, separated
40ml cream
¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp apricot liqueur
1. Melt the butter in a frying pan and when foaming add the gooseberries and orange zest. Cook gently over a low heat until the fruit begins to soften (about 10 minutes) then add the sugar, mixing well, and cook until the sugar melts and the mixture becomes syrupy.
2. Add just enough breadcrumbs to soak up the syrup and stir.
3. Meanwhile add the egg whites to a clean bowl and whisk into soft peaks.
4. In a separate bowl beat together the egg yolks, cream, nutmeg and liqueur. Slowly add the egg yolk mixture into the gooseberry mixture, stirring slowly.
5. Fold-in the egg whites and continue cooking on very low heat until the mixture sets.
6. If necessary, place the tansy under a low grill or use a blow torch to set the top.
7. Dust with icing sugar, decorate with a few sprigs of mint and serve.
Lets stay local this week and how about a cheeky little number from Mills Reef, Light and refreshing (titillating and tantalizing). Chill down and chill out with a ‘Little Sweetie’.
