Earthbound Honey & Soy Sticky Chicken with Green Rice

I bought a beautiful bottle of Earthbound Raw Organic Apple Cider Honeygar from the lovely Terry and Karlene who have a stall at The Hobsonville Point Farmers Market. 

I have always steered clear of cider vinegar after being subject to is as a child. I can still hear my Mum saying “it’s good for you, drink it up”. Thankfully there wasn’t often the pennies for health tonics like this but you only need one memory to make it stick. But Earthbound’s cider Honeygar is nothing like memories of the past, it has a beautiful silky honey taste to it. I was hooked as soon as I tried it and even before I got the bottle home this recipe had developed in my head. I used the Honeygar as the sweet and acid for the marinade and man did it taste good!

Psst…. don’t tell my Mum but you can often find me having a hot toddy these cold night with a shot of the honeygar and water!

 

Ingredients – marinade 

5  Tbsp Earthbound Raw Organic Apple Cider Honeygar

2 Tbsp peanut oil

1 Tbsp soy

2 small chili, finely chopped

12 chicken wings or 6 thighs

Extra peanut oil for frying the chicken

Sesame seeds for garnish

Ingredients – Green Rice

2 cups basmati rice

3 Spring onion, finely sliced

2 Tbsp peanut oil

Small bunch of each herb – parsley, mint, coriander, finely chopped

Method

Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a large bowl.

Add the chicken wings/thighs and leave to marinade for 20 mins or longer if you have the time.

In a heavy frying pan (I used cast iron) over a medium heat add a splash of peanut oil.

Put the chicken wings into the frying pan but retain the marinade for later.

Cook the chicken on one side till golden then turn over. Cover the chicken with a piece of baking or greaseproof paper and sit a saucepan on top of the paper.

The pan should be big enough to cover all the chicken underneath the paper (i Think I saw Jamie doe this and it works really well).

This helps it to cook through and also pushes more of the chicken surface onto the pan making it browner.

Prepare the rice as you would normal basmati, I use a rice cooker so I’m no use at giving instruction on making rice in a pan.

Once the rice is cooked, add the chopped herbs and peanut oil and stir through. Season with salt or a little soy. Keep warm till chicken is ready.

Once the chicken is brown on both sides and cooked through, about 10 mins for wings. Add the reserved marinade and 1/4 cup of water to the pan and allow it to cook for a minute.

Serve the chicken wings and sauce over the green rice

Sprinkle with some sesame seeds

Posh Bangers & Mash with Herby Peas

Bangers… does that make sense to anyone other than the British? Sausages earned the named bangers during World War 1 when the meat content in them was reduced due to rationing and shortages. More water was added which made them explode when cooked, hence bangers.

I was never a fan of sausages as a child but loved to make what we called ‘a bean fort’. A dollop of mash was put onto the plate and you made a well in the centre. Half a sausage stood tall in four corners as turrets to a fort and you poured your beans or peas in the centre. The highlight was to break the mash wall and watch all the beans soldiers run out. I obviously always likes to play around with food even then )

I began to really like sausages when living in Germany, where only meat and spices are put into the sausages, no wheat or other fillers are used. In New Zealand there is finally a trend by some butchers to make sausages in the same method, relying on their meat and spices to shine in their glory without packing them with cheap fillers. Amanda, my  stall holder neighbour at Hobsonville Point Farmers Market, who is the owner of Farm Gate Produce  makes these beautiful free range piggie sausages I used in this recipe. They also have a mixed beef and pork spiced sausage which is perfect not only for good old Bangers and Mash but makes a great pasta dish by using the sausage instead of meatballs. Don’t get me started on how amazing their aged eye fillet is either otherwise I’ll never finish this post. Anyway, if you do get a chance to try them, you really should and you can buy one of my sweet treats from the market too to finish your meal off.

A note when making the three elements to this dish, make the beans and peas first and put aside, they can be warmed through just before you are ready to serve. That will save you the juggling of pots and pans on the stove top.

Congratulations also to the winners of the Haute Cuisine double passes….. Genie and Sue, have fun at the movies!

Bangers – Sausages – 4 people

8 quality free range, wheat free sausages

Cook as required. If using wheat free sausage do not over cook them, treat them like you would a good steak.

Ingredients – Mash

1 Tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 x 400g tin butter beans, drained

1 x400g tin cannellini beans, drained

1 cup veg stock

Method – Mash

In a medium pan over a low heat put the garlic and butter. Cook for 1 minute.

Add both beans to the pan with the stock and warm through.

Once hot blitz with a wiz stick till you have a smooth puree.

I don’t salt them as tinned beans tend to have enough but go with your own preference.

Ingredients – Herby Peas

3 cups baby peas – frozen

1 cup podded broad beans (optional)

1/4 cup of veg stock

1 handful parsley

1 handful of basil or mint

1/4 tsp salt

Method – Herby Peas

Warm the frozen peas and podded broad beans with the stock in a medium sized pan over a low heat. Don’t boil them, they really don’t need to be cooked and too much heat will turn them brown.

Add the herbs and salt and with a wiz stick blitz a quarter of the peas, keeping the stick in one place so all the peas don’t mush. The quarter blitzed peas will create a sauce.

Assemble on the plates or serve on family style platters or if you have kids maybe they would like to try making a bean fort!

Ham Hock, Cannellini Beans and a few Autumnal Photos

It’s getting colder and wetter here in New Zealand as we stumble towards autumn. I say stumble because at this time of year we can still swing between glorious warm days or wet and blustery days, particularly on our wild West Coast. But that’s no reason to be sad, we have hearty winter fare to look forward to, roasts, stews and dishes with dumplings! Not only that I get to wear my new boots that have been in a box for several months waiting for colder days. I have a thing for UK shoes still even after 13 years here and buy online out of season, the benefits are two fold. Something different to what is selling on the high street and picking up the out of season sales price.

Enough shoe talk and onto the ham hock and cannellini bean stew. I used a pressure cooker to make this dish being short on time and just a tad impatient so if you don’t have one you will probably have to cook the ham at least an hour and a half or until it falls off the bone. Recipe below the pics from a misty Muriwai morning.

 

Ingredients – serves 4

1 small smoked ham hock (uncooked)

1 onion, peeled, halved & thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, crushed,

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tins cannellini beans

small bunch parsley, finely chopped

zest of 1 lemon

Method

Place the onion in the pan/pressure cooker with olive oil over a medium heat and cook for 5 minutes until the onions are soft.

Add the tinned tomatoes, garlic and ham hock.

Cook in pressure cooker per manufactures instructions for 35 minutes.

Once cooked pull the ham off the bone and remove the bone from the pan.

Add the cannellini beans, chopped parsley and lemon zest.

Season with black pepper, it won’t need salt as the ham hock should be salty enough.

Serve with crusty bread

Haute Cuisine & a Movie Ticket Give Away!

Last week I was invited to the preview of the movie Haute Cuisine by the lovely Samantha of Trigger Marketing. Being a slight Francophile myself I was in heaven, a movie about a French Chef, set in my favourite two places in France, Paris and Périgord. It’s a wonderful movie in a beautiful setting but be warned, don’t watch it like I did on an empty stomach, we had to straight out for dinner afterward. It’s a humorous and engaging tale with mouth watering visuals in which recipes are discuss and prepared lovingly. I heartily recommend the movie if you, like me, love anything French and are a big foodie movie fan.

The good news is I have two double passes curtesy of Trigger Marketing to give away to the movie. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post before 26th April and I will take a luck dip from those names and the two names that are picked will win the passes. I will contact the winners for their mailing address.

The passes are valid at any movie box office showing Haute Cuisine. The tickets are valid from May 2nd to June 10th.

About the film: Hortense Laborie, a renowned chef from the Périgord, is astonished when the President of the Republic appoints her his personal cook, responsible for creating all his meals at the Élysée Palace. Despite jealous resentment from the other kitchen staff, Hortense quickly establishes herself, thanks to her indomitable spirit. The authenticity of her cooking soon seduces the President, but the corridors of power are littered with traps. Based on the extraordinary true story of President Francois Mitterand’s private cook.

Written & Directed by Christian Vincent
Starring Catherine Frot, Arthur Dupont, Jean d’Ormesson & Hippolyte Girardot

Custard & Raspberry Jam Doughnuts

I’m afraid I am going to torture you with a photograph only today and no recipe. The pictured doughnuts are rapidly becoming the most popular item on my patisserie list so I am being mean and not sharing it’s secret, not just yet anyway. Well I don’t want you all making your own and no longer visiting me at my stall do I? That would be sad to not see your faces every Saturday or Sunday.

The end of the week is a crazy one, making all my own pastries for all the goodies to sell on Saturday and Sunday; puff, shortcrust, hot water, croissant, brioche dough and bread. It’s very rewarding though as it comes out the oven and the neighbours knock on the door when they get a waft of the sweet and savoury aromas.  As well as the market stall on Sunday I have a growing list of orders from Muriwai locals who stop by my kitchen on Saturday and collect their weekend treats.

So instead of a recipe I leave you with this weeks menu, in hope some of you Auckland locals reading this will pop Hobsonville Point Market by and say hello! Happy weekend!

Savoury Pastries

Seasonal Galettes – Leek,Walnut Pesto, Halloumi & Roasted Tomato. Roasted Beetroot & Feta. Caramelised Onion, Halloumi & Field Mushroom

Handmade Traditional Pork Pies

Cornish Pasties – Beef & Mustard. Chicken, Leek & Tarragon
Large Croissant Cheese Twists/Stick
Bacon & Egg Pies

Pork & fennel Sausage Rolls

Multigrain loaf (500g) – $5 (please order

Sweet Pastries
French Caramel Apple Tart
Eccles Cakes

Crisp Palmiers

Apricot Danish

Pacific Panforte– Mango, Macadamia, Coconut

Vanilla Custard & Raspberry Filled Doughnuts

Boizel Winemakers Dinner at Bracau

It’s been a whirlwind few months, working 3 days in my office job as well as running cooking school classes once a week and the baking for the Sunday market at Hobsonville Point. My patisserie sales have organically grown into selling direct to the Muriwai locals on a Saturday now too, straight from my kitchen. The local sale are a lot of fun, neighbours  coming together in my cooking school kitchen for a Saturday morning catch up while they pick out their weekend treats. There is talk about whether I should be offing coffee too but I think I might need an extra pair of hands to do that!

So I am please to be taking some time out this evening and heading out to the Bombay Hills to Bracau where I have been invited to attend the winemakers dinner with my mate Mairi from Toast. We will keep you updated on Twitter and Facebook this evening, perhaps torturing you a little with photos of what we are eating. There are still places available for those keen. Here’s some information below.

Oh and I promise to be back before the weekend with my recipe for Pacific Panforte with Mango, Coconut & Macadamia

On Wednesday 27 March Mikey teams up with Maison Vauron’s Will Brunel-Morva and Quitterie Lagrange to create an exquisite five course Boizel Winemaker’s Dinner featuring stunning champagnes from Boizel at Simunovich Olive Estate.

The meal starts with canapes and ends with a glass of 1996 Joyau Vintage Champagne to accompany dessert. Champagne Boizel represents the finest in artisan winemaking handed down from one generation of the Boizel family to the next. The dishes Mikey and his team create will reflect the hand-crafted heritage of wines that are made to be enjoyed with food.

When he visited the House of Boizel last year, Bracu Head Chef Mikey Newlands could barely believe his eyes, or his tastebuds! ”I found the wines of Champagne Boizel just exquisite! And I loved the opportunity to learn of the passion for winemaking that this family has after talking to Florent Boizel, a fifth-generation member of this dedicated family”, says Mikey.

A few more tickets remain for this special dinner at Simunovich Olive Estate on Wednesday 27 March. The link follows here

Cheese & Smoked Paprika Croissant Twists

It’s been a whirlwind start to the year…looming redundancy, starting a patisserie stall at a local farmers market and now looking to expand. Most day’s I don’t know whether I am coming or going let alone take photos of food I am making and sharing them with you.

Hopefully I will have news soon about our new business venture but I will wait until we have something signed and sealed and then I will share all our plans with you. I can say though that I hope to be cooking every day.

I have bought a commercial dough mixer this week,  how exciting is that? It’s been a chore as demand grows making croissant dough, puff pastry, shortcrust – sweet and savoury, special pork pie and Cornish pasty pastries en-mass by hand. This week should be a breeze with the new machine and I will be dabbling with an Easter loaf recipe too.

I introduced these cheese & paprika twist to the market last week and sold out! Here is the recipe below.

Ingredients

1 and 1/3 cups luke warm water

1.5 tsp instant yeast

450g flour

200g butter

2 Tbsp sugar

200g cheese, grated

1 heaped tsp smoked paprika

Method

Pre-heat oven on fan bake 200C and line 4 baking trays with baking paper.

Place the luke warm water into a small bowl and add the yeast. Let it dissolve.

In a large bowl add the flour & sugar then mix in the water and dissolved yeast. Bring everything together to a soft dough (tacky but not sticky). Knead dough for 3 minutes.

I use commercial slabs of butter which make it easier so I suggest you slice the butter block into 6 if you can.

Roll the dough to approx 20 cm x 60cm. Lay 3 slices of butter at one end and fold it over towards the middle so butter in enclosed.

Lay the other 3 slices of butter ontop of folded dough and bring the opposite end over to cover butter. Press around edges to seal butter in and turn so open ends face you.

Gently press down along the dough then roll to existing size 20 x 60cm.

Rest in the fridge until butter it cold and hard ( several hours)

Remove dough from fridge and repeat the process 2 more times, resting in fridge between both rollings.

Cut dough in half and roll each half to approx 20 x 40 cm.

Sprinkle with grated cheese and paprika.

Longways, cut 6 strips. Roll each strip up enclosing the cheese and put onto a baking tray covered in baking paper.  4 to a tray so they have plenty space.

All twist to prove till double in size (this will depend on how warm your kitchen is).

Bake for 12-15 minutes

Enjoy!

Sweet Corn, Pea & Halloumi Herb Fritters

A nice easy brunch recipe that is quick to put together if you always have corn in the cupboard or peas in the freezer like we do. The key to this recipe is to use lots of herbs, so where I note a large handful I mean LARGE, not a few leaves. Think Jamie Oliver, wildly tearing heads of herbs off their stalks and using the lot, no point saving the rest for a rainy day, chances are they will wilt away in the fridge. Unless of course you have your own garden supply, mine has dwindled with our new resident hens who have got into my herb garden and made it into a dust bath. The fencing will go up this weekend to keep them out and new herbs will be planted. Speaking of our hens, when we adopted them one of the hens, Beryl, had a baby chick which we were excited about the prospect of more eggs once it grew up. Well the chick has become a teenage, it’s a bit like the ugly duckling story because our cute baby chick is starting to resemble a Pea Hen (hopefully not Peacock) and not a egg laying chicken! They say hens will adopt any eggs or chicks if they are broody and it appears that is what Beryl has done. Below is a picture of ‘Pea’ very timid and hiding under our deck.

Makes approx 16 small fritters
Ingredients
4 large free range eggs (or 5 small)
200g garden peas (frozen is fine)
400g tin of creamed corn
Large handful of fresh parsley, mint and coriander, finely chopped
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp plain flour
200g halloumi, diced small
Salt & Pepper to season
Vegetable oil for frying
Method
In a large bowl whisk together the eggs.
Add the frozen peas (they will defrost quickly), tinned corn, herbs & lemon zest to the whisked eggs.
Sift the flour over the vegetable & herb mix in the bowl and stir through until combined.
Add the diced Halloumi and stir through again. We add the halloumi last so it doesn’t break up.
Season with salt & pepper, the mixture should be fairly thick at this stage, if not add another tablespoon of flour..
In a large frying pan over a medium heat add  2 tablespoons of vegetable oil.
Spoon a tablespoon of mixture into the pan to make each fritter, add another three making sure fritters have enough space to flip them over.
Cook fritter for approximately 2 minutes until golden brown then flip over with a spatula.
Cook second side for the same length of time.
Remove fritters from the pan and place on a tray covered with kitchen roll to soak an excess fat.
Add a little more oil to the frying pan and cook more fritters, repeat process till all mixture is cooked.

Malaysian Egg Curry & Return of The Gannets

Where have you gone my lovely sunshine? For one day you graced us with your presence and back into hiding you went, all you left behind was a glowing red line across the back of my neck, evidence that you truly had visited . Our beautiful Gannets were happy as the sun shone, they played on the blustery sea air, swooping and diving, showing off to their mates, they are home again for the season. When the wind blows onshore we can hear their calls from our deck, they know summer is on it’s way even if the sun doesn’t always play it’s part in the deal.

As the weather changed again the salads went to the back of the fridge and a quick spicy Malaysian curry made an appearance for lunch. The recipe is slightly adjusted from Alice Hart’s book, Vegetarian to suit the ingredients I had on hand, it’s one of my favourites because it is so quick to prepare and full of fragrant flavours.

Ingredients – 4 portions

Serve with Basmati or Jasmine rice

8 soft boiled eggs

1 Tbsp coconut oil

4 spring onions, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic

2 inch fresh ginger, grated

1 tsp cumin seeds, ground

1 tsp coriander seeds, ground

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 chili, chopped

400ml chopped tinned tomatoes

2 Tbsp tamarind paste

100ml coconut milk

1 Tbsp brown sugar

salt to season

large handful fresh coriander, chopped

Method

In a large frying pan heat the coconut oil over a medium heat.

Add the spring onions, ginger and garlic and saute for 2 minutes.

Add the ground cumin, coriander, turmeric, chili & tomatoes to the pan and saute for 5 more minutes.

Stir in the tamarind paste, coconut milk and brown sugar, season with salt to your taste.

Simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce starts to thicken and then add the boiled eggs.

Cook for a few more minutes to warm the eggs through.

Scatter with fresh coriander and serve with rice

Roast Pumpkin with Mexican Green Mole

We have gone all Mexican the past few weeks, homemade tacos, Mexican salads, salsa and moles galore. Hubby thinks he’s in food heaven enjoying the meat laden tacos with the token greenery scattered on top, after all eating tacos means you get to design your own. When I saw this dish in Tomasina Miers book which arrive a few weeks ago I just had to make it, the vibrant orange pumpkin against the Herby green pumpkins seeds cried out to be made. All the spices and flavours I knew I would love it and declared that we were having Mexican again for dinner. When I lifted the lid off the serving dish at the table hubby looked like a goldfish in a bowl, jaw open with a vacant expression, uttering “Err, is that the side dish”. “No Dear” I replied in my English school mam voice. A hesitant scoop went onto his plate next to a rather large pile of soft tacos. But guess what? He loved it after the first taste, declared it didn’t need any meat it was a perfect dish. So there you go, it pays sometimes to keep my trap shut and not react to his initial lack of enthusiasm,  I must have been having a positive hormone day! Therefore I can recommend this as a ‘complete dish’ even for those meat lovers but it would work well next to a spicy meat dishes or marinated fish which you can find in Tomasina’s book, Mexican Food At Home. The original recipe has quinces in it but that would have pushing it a little to far for hubby mixing fruit and savoury, I have also altered a few ingredients to suit availability here.

Ingredients

2kg butternut pumpkin, peeled & de-seeded

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp cumin seeds

olive oil

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

For the Green Mole (Pipian)

3 Chipotle Chili (you can buy tinned La Morena brand here)

3 pickled Jalapeno chili (La Morena)

120g pumpkin seeds

4 cloves garlic

1 onion, peeled and quartered

700ml stock

2 large bunches coriander

1 large bunch basil

olive oil

Method

Preheat oven to 200C

Cut the butternut pumpkin into bite size chunks and place in a roasting dish.

Add a good splash of olive oil, ground cinnamon, cumin seeds & balsamic vinegar to the roasting pan and toss through the pumpkin.

Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes. You want them to be cooked but not falling apart.

Remove the pumpkin from the oven once cooked.

To make the Green Mole place the pumpkin seeds on a baking tray and toast in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

Transfer them to a food processor then add the chillies, onion & garlic and blitz till the texture of a chunky pesto.

Add the coriander & basil and blend again till the herbs are finely chopped. You may need to add a few tablespoons of water to loosen the paste if it doesn’t blend properly.

In a large frying pan over a medium heat add a good splash of olive oil and heat.

Add the green mole and cook for another 5 minutes.

Add the stock to make a sauce and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Then add your roasted pumpkin to the sauce and gently stir through the green mole with out breaking up the pumpkin. Heat through if the pumpkin has cooled.

Serve with soft warm tacos.