Hazelnut Affagato

Weekend chilling, a book in hand, a big bean chair on the deck basking in the sun and an hazelnut affogato to finish the picture. Ten years ago I would have thought this a fancy pants way to drink coffee but that was before being enlightened by the coffee culture in New Zealand. I didn’t drink much coffee before I came to NZ, it wasn’t very good in the UK although I had started to enjoy a Milch Kaffee in Frankfurt while living there but was still very much a British tea girl.

New Zealand has an amazing coffee culture, the skill of a good barista is highly sort after as it is not just the quality of the beans that makes the perfect coffee. I was a little lost walking into my first coffee shop with ‘flat whites’, ‘lattes’, ‘macchiatos’, when all I was used to was the bog standard black or white coffee. It didn’t take me long to become part of this culture, I can be found most mornings stopping by my favourite coffee shop on the way to work, they know my car and my preferred coffee will often be on the counter waiting for me as I walk.

For one Frangelico Affogato
Add to a glass, 1 shot of Frangelico liqueur
Then 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream
Topped with 1 shot of espresso coffee

A few pics Out and About in Auckland

Summer Sandwich Series – Hot Smoked Salmon with a Lime Kelp Cucumber Pickle

Here is the next sandwich in my series, smoked salmon with a fresh zingy pickle to go with it. The sharp zesty pickle compliments the richness of the salmon. I hadn’t eaten hot smoked fish much until I moved to New Zealand but the Kiwis are mad on hot smoking and living out by the beach there always seems to be someone out catching or smoking fish. We are very lucky, we have very generous friends who often drop off a fish or two, sometimes raw, sometimes already smoked. In fact our old electric oven which we were about to throw away got converted into an outdoor smoker by our neighbour, it’s very effective and you have to love the Kiwi ingenuity of it.

The salmon for the sandwich was bought from the local farmers market, smoked with lime and a local Horopito leaf. The Horopito has a peppery taste to it and has been used by the Maori as a medicinal and culinary herb for centuries.

Ingredients for Cucumber Pickle
1 cucumber, peeled
1 tsp Lime Kelp Seasoning – Pacific Harvest
1 inch fresh ginger, finely grated
Juice of one small lime
Handful coriander leaves, chopped
1tsp honey or brown sugar
Pinch of chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Method
Use the peeling to peel the cucumber into ribbons.
Add all ingredients except cucumber to a bowl and combine.
Add cucumber ribbons and toss through dressing.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Assemble sandwiches immediately as you want the cucumber fresh and crisp
The rest of the sandwich is the hot smoke salmon and slices of avocado.

Good Old Fashioned Ginger Cake & Sweet NZ

There is nothing better than a slice of good old fashioned ginger cake and how remiss of me to neglect it for the past ten years. A Jamaican Ginger Cake is what I had in mind with it’s heavy, sticky texture and dark molasses flavour. It’s an iconic British tea time cake but I have no idea where it got its name from. Did the recipe derive from Jamaica, was it the ginger that came from Jamaica or did a Jamaican in the UK invented the recipe. Or was it just an exotic name given to it by McVities (who produce the cake) and has no story behind it at all? If you do know drop me a line, I couldn’t find anything on the web.

Most recipe call for golden syrup but I prefer to use honey these days particularly since I have a constant supply from a bee keeper friend. If honey is too expensive in your neck of the woods you can substitute if back for golden syrup.

This is also my submission for Sweet New Zealand which is being hosted by the lovely Shirleen over at Sugar & Spice & all Things Nice. Pop over to her blog and see what other treats our fellow Kiwi bloggers are submitting this month.

Ingredients
250 g self-raising flour
3 tsp ground ginger
200 g honey or golden syrup
125 g butter
100g preserved stem ginger, chopped
100 g dark muscovado sugar
2 tbsp molasses or treacle
2 large eggs
200 ml milk

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Grease and line a 22cm cake tin with baking paper.
Melt the honey, sugar molasses, stem ginger and butter in a pan over a low heat.
Sift the flour and ground ginger into a separate bowl.
In another bowl whisk together the eggs and the milk.
Once the sugar mixture has melted pour it into the bowl with the flour and stir together to make a smooth paste.
Add the eggs to the flour mixture and beat together, the mixture will be quite runny.
Pour mixture into prepared cake tin.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean.
Allow to cool in cake tin before removing it.
Ginger cake is always better if you can leave it a day or two before eating it, the cake becomes a lot more sticky!

My Own Mushroom Farm

How delicate are these oyster mushrooms close up?

We started a little project over Christmas which was a small oyster mushroom farm. Perhaps not very exciting for those of you who live near woods and can pick your own under the tree canopies but for us it isn’t so easy to buy exotic mushrooms here that don’t break the bank balance. The kit from Mushroom Gourmet provides the environment to grow them in as well as the spores and you get three flushes from the spores as well as information on how to keep the cultures growing. We are only on the first flush and a third of that provided us with mushrooms on toast for the two of us. I wanted to keep the first tasting simple to really taste the mushrooms but hubby and I are already arguing what we will make next, I fancy a polenta with mushroom and Parmesan topping and hubby wants to make a creamy mushroom pasta. Whoever is first in the kitchen with the next batch of mushrooms will be the winner I say but we will most definitely enjoy both dishes. I might even make a summer sandwich series of them!

The Gourmet Mushroom company also sell Shitake kits which is likely to be next on our project list

These are the mushrooms growing from their farm….bag.

Summer Sarnie Series – Lamb Sausage with Mint & Coriander Balsamic Onions

A posh Butty is what we would call this in Liverpool and for those who have never heard the term Butty before it usually refers to two slices of bread and butter filled with chips and any decent takeaway from the chip shop would not be the same without it. Even though I love chip butties dripping with butter and malt vinegar they aren’t quite the same out of the UK so when I opt for another sandwich it has to be a little more creative.

Hubby thinks this summer series of sandwiches/buttie/sarnies is a great idea, although perhaps not as impressed with the waiting around while I style and shoot them first but I’m getting a lot quicker now I have converted our spare room into my studio. I wanted to challenge myself with photographing what I consider quite a difficult subject, sandwiches don’t always look that great in pics and meat even worse.

To make the posh butty I have used the best lamb sausages I could get hold of and a few slices of sour dough bread. Caramelized onions with balsamic and two herbs. I’m sure Scouser would approve of me straying away from the chip butty if I served them this one (Scouser is a term for someone coming from Liverpool)

Ingredients for balsamic onions
1 onion, sliced
Dash of olive oil
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tbsp soy sauce
Generous handful of fresh mint and coriander, chopped

Method
Place the olive oil and onion in a frying pan and sauté on a low heat for 5 minutes.
Add the balsamic and soy and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Add the herbs and use immediately.
Toast your bread then butter it, add a layer of onions, place the cooked sausages ontop of the onions, add another slice of toasted buttered bread and enjoy!

Quinoa Bircher Muesli with Coconut Milk & Breakfast on the go Quinoa Fruit & Seed Bars

After a recent trip to Sydney a friend introduced me to her quinoa porridge and I knew it was something I was going to eat and make the first weekend back home. My preference was to make a Bircher style muesli cereal rather than porridge since its summer here and week days are too busy in the mornings for me to spend time cooking (which I know is a shame as would prefer to be in the kitchen). I thought I could probably prepare a few days worth of the quinoa in advance and add the rest of the fruit and seeds to it on the day of eating it. So I cooked a cup of quinoa as the base of the cereal, rinsed it in cold water and then drained it and kept it in the fridge which lasted me three servings. The rest of the ingredients I added just before eating it, or you could easily add them the night before although it’s not really necessary. The great thing about a quinoa muesli is that is is quite filling but is gluten free, it’s high in protein for a grain and a good source of amino acids, magnesium and iron. Here is more info on the grain if you are interested.

The muesli bars where for the extra energy boost during the day rather than reach for a choccy bar which is what I am know to do. The only sweetener being the honey which is from a friends local bee hive so it has to be good for me.

Ingredients
1 cup Ceres quinoa grains
Cinnamon powder
Sunflower seeds
Pumpkin seeds
Shredded coconut
Coconut milk
Fresh berries

Method
Place the quinoa in a medium sized pan with 2 cups of water.
Simmer on a low heat for about 5 minutes or until the grains ‘sprout’ their tail. They should still have texture, not soggy.
Rinse in cold water, drain thoroughly and store in fridge until you want to eat your cereal. It will last several days only.
To serve, add a handful of sunflower, pumpkin seeds and shredded coconut, a sprinkle of cinnamon, a drizzle of homey and coconut milk.
Enjoy.

Ingredients
Make 12 bars
1 cup Ceres quinoa grains
1/2 cup of fine oats
1/2 cup, pumpkin, sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup figs, finely chopped
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp coconut oil

Method
Pre-heat oven to 180C and line a 22cm baking tray with greaseproof paper.
Place the quinoa in a medium sized pan with 2 cups of water.
Simmer on a low heat for about 5 minutes or until the grains ‘sprout’ their tail. They should still have texture, not soggy.
Rinse in cold water, drain thoroughly.
Place the finely chopped figs, oil and honey in a pan and simmer for 5 minutes to break up the figs.
Add all the other ingredients to the figs and combine.
Press firmly into baking tray.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Remove from oven and cut into bars but do not remove from the pan.
Only remove once cooled completely.

Home Made Feta, Bean Herb Salad and Stuffed Pesto Feta Mushrooms

If you had read the previous post you will know that I have been making cheese over the Christmas break and you can find a recipe for Feta Cheese here.

As well as a simple Greek Salad I turned my feta into this lovely bean, herb salad which was the perfect accompaniment for a summer BBQ, albeit our summer at the moment is quite questionable. We also enjoyed stuffed field mushrooms with pesto and feta for breakfast one Sunday morning and definitely a dish I could eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

I am also very excited about my Camembert which is maturing nicely and look forward to introducing you to that soon. What shall I make with it or should I eat it au natural? It was made with un-pasturised milk so I am convinced it will be special, very European I hope as the Kiwis do not yet make un-pasturised cheese even though it is now permitted to produce here. Correct me if I am wrong and you have found an New Zealand un-pasturised cheese, I will gladly hunt it down.

Ingredients
Makes enough for 4 side salads
2 cup broad beans, frozen
1 cup garden peas, frozen
250g Feta cheese, chopped into squares or crumbled
Handful parsley and mint, finely chopped
Tbsp capers, chopped
Zest of one lemon
Juice of half a lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to season

Method
Blanch the broad beans as per instructions on packet and then drain and plunge in ice water. Drain completely.
Rinse the garden peas in cold water only, they don’t require cooking.
Add all the ingredients to a large bowl and combine.
Serve chilled.
Goes well with fish, chicken or just on its own.

I have given the approximate ingredients per portion for a guideline on purchasing but it’s really a recipe where a bit more or less of one thing will not matter, it’s all about preference and tasting as you go.

Ingredients per portion
2-3 field mushrooms
1 tsp of pesto per mushroom, recipe here
1 tsp feta cheese per mushroom, crumbled
1 tsp olive oil per mushroom
Cracked black pepper

Method
Combine the pesto and feta together in a bowl.
Place the mushrooms on a baking tray, I used my individual oven proof frying pans.
Spoon pesto/feta mix over the mushrooms.
Drizzle with olive oil
Bake in oven for 20 minutes
Place mushrooms on serving plates and garnish with cracked pepper.

Making Feta Cheese and a Simple Greek Salad

One rainy day over the Christmas break a few girlfriends and I decided to make some cheeses, feta, Camembert and Mozzarella. We buy milk from a local farmer by the 10 liter bucket so it makes sense to make cheese in bulk. The mozzarella I have made many times before and there is a recipe here, the Camembert I will blog about once it has matured over the next few weeks. The good thing about the feta is that it is ready to eat straight away or you can hold it in a brine solution for a few weeks.

It produces a nice soft creamy feta, not crumbly like traditional but perhaps that is because it was so fresh and it didn’t get a chance to age it. I’m also running a feta cheese making workshop at Gourmet Gannet in March for anyone interested and also take private group booking in Auckland.

I have not included a recipe for Greek salad, it is how you see it, either sliced or chopped tomatoes, cucumber, onion, feta cheese, a drizzle of olive oil, add some olives if you wish. I have a few more recipes with feta coming next, in the meantime here is how to make feta if you would like to give it a go, it’s quite easy.

Equipment
You can buy all the cheese equipment from Mad Millieif you are in New Zealand
Cheese thermometer
Feta cheese mould or you can use a sift and muslin cloth
Large heavy bottom pan
Long knife
Slotted spoon
Sterilizing tabs
Sterilize all equipment you are going to use. You can use the sterilizing tabs used for sterilizing babies bottles, found at local supper markets. Follow manufacturers instructions.

Ingredients
2 litres full cream milk (not homogenized)
½ tsp rennet (diluted with ½ tsp water)
8 grain of Flora Danica Culture or Lipase
1/2 tsp salt

Method
In a pan heavy bottom pan add the milk
Gently heat to 32C
Add the Flora Danica Culture or Lipase.
Dilute the rennet with a tablespoon of water.
Add the rennet to the milk and stir well.
Leave for 20-30 minutes to allow curds to form.
Cut curds into 1 cm cubes with a knife, then cut curds across the centre.
Leave the curds to sit for half and hour, folding them over each other every couple of minutes.
Ladle the curds into the feta moulds and allow to drain overnight in the fridge. Placing the moulds on a wire rack so the whey drains through.
In the morning make a brine solution of 20% salt to water.
Place the feta in the brine solution.
Feta can be eaten after 12 hours soaking or left to mature for up to two three weeks.

Salmon and Purple Asparagus Risotto & a few pics from around my Garden

Have you ever seen purple asparagus? I’ve had purple carrots but this is the first time I have seen purple asparagus and of course I had to buy some. From my experience with purple carrots I realized that if you cook them in water they turn back to there original colour, it is only their outer skin that is purple. Roasting them keeps them purple too but since they were very tender shoots I decided to slice them thinly and pop them in the risotto at the last minute.

Risotto is summer might seem a bit odd but when the temperatures drops from 23C to 17C overnight it’s a good excuse to eat risotto. I always use Jamie’s basic risotto recipe and add from there.

Ingredients
1 cup risotto rice
2.5 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup white wine
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch of asparagus, thinly sliced
50g hot smoked salmon
50g Parmesan cheese, I used Pecorino instead
Zest of one lemon
1/2 tbsp butter
salt & black pepper to season

Method
Heat the stock in a pan.
In another pan, heat the olive oil, add the onions and garlic and fry very slowly for about 10 minutes until soft but not coloured.
Add the rice and turn up the heat, keep stirring
After a minute it will look slightly translucent. Add the wine and keep stirring.
Allow wine to reduce and alcohol flavours to evaporate.
Once the vermouth or wine has cooked into the rice, add your first ladle of hot stock and a good pinch of salt.
Turn down the heat to a simmer so the rice doesn’t cook too quickly on the outside.
Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring to release the creamy starch from the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next.
This will take around 15 minutes. Taste the rice if not cooked carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite.
If you run out of stock before the rice is cooked, add some boiling water.
Add the asparagus and season, not too much salt though as the cheese is salty. Stir through.
Add the Parmesan, lemon zest, butter and salmon and stir briefly.
Place a lid on the pan and rest for a few minutes before serving, this lets the cheese become gooey.

Bumble bees busy at work and our Doves all ruffled and drying out after the rain.

Mondo grass in bloom which I discovered under the bamboo. My lavender in bloom outside out door which smells amazing.

Happy New Year and a Chocolate & Ginger Fruit Cake

Happy New Year everyone and welcome 2012. New Years morning, even before breakfast, hubby and I write a list of goals for the year ahead. Some people have New Year resolutions but i like a list! A little pedantic some think but I am a great believer of if you verbalize it and put it out there the universe will help you achieve it. Do you do anything like this at the beginning of a new year?

Here is my Christmas cake recipe that I rushed to make the week before Christmas. I’m glad I did, even without the maturing in booze for several months it turned out scrummy, this years twist was adding chocolate and ginger to the mix which is my favourite so far.

Ingredients
200g sultanas
200g raisins
200g pitted chopped prunes
300g chopped figs
150g glace cherries
150g chopped crystalized ginger
200g dark chocolate (70% cacao), chopped
280g chopped almonds
1 cup brandy
1cup orange juice
250g butter, chopped
1 cup dark brown sugar
4 eggs
1/3 cup treacle
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup self-raising flour
¼ cup of cocoa
1/2 tbsp ground cardamom
1/2 tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
Extra 1/2 cup port or brandy for pouring over cake.

Method
Soak all fruit, orange juice and brandy in a bowl for several hours (or overnight) until all liquid is absorbed, stirring occasionally.
Preheat oven on bake to 150C (do not use fan bake as this will dry the cake out). Line the sides and base of a deep 23cm-round tin with two layers of baking paper (help prevent drying out), bringing it 5cm above the rim of the tin.
In a bowl combine the flour, spices, cocoa, chopped chocolate and chopped nuts.
In another bowl, beat butter and sugar together until is pale yellow light and creamy. Then beat in the treacle.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the fruit to the creamed mixture and mix together.
Add the dry ingredients to the mixture. Stir with a metal spoon until just combined but do not over mix.
Spoon a layer of mixture across the base of the tin and gently spread so the lining doesn’t move. Spoon and spread the rest of the mixture into the tin.
Place a piece of greaseproof paper over the top to help prevent the cake from drying out.
Wrap brown paper around the tin and tie with string. My Nan always did this to prevent it from drying out and I have done it ever since.
Bake for 2-2.5 hours or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre. Check at two hours and then every 15 minutes.
Once cake is cold pour over port and wrap in clingfilm/gladwrap and place in a tin and store in a dry place.

You can substitute any of the fruit as long as you keep the quantities the same. I use prunes & figs since they produce a more moist cake.