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.

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.

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.

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 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.

‘Twas the days after Christmas and all that was stirring was a few sad looking vegetables in the fridge, the tomatoes were soft, the tangelos (oranges) looking old and a wrinkly aubergine or two but a garden lush with herbs. It would be a shame to waste them and with time on my hands in between surfing, the conditions have been very favorable this Christmas, I put a few pots on the stove to make some relishes, chutneys and a pesto. The pesto is dairy free, to replace the creamy texture cheese offers I have used tahini and sesame oil. The aubergine spread with mint and coriander I did not get to photograph so will save that for another day.

Not that these will sustain us as vegetables for the next few days, I will have to venture away from the beach at some point but maybe I can count Christmas cake as my five fruit and veg a day :0)

Tomato Cumin Relish Ingredients
1kg tomatoes
1 tbsp cumin seeds
6 cardamom pods
½ tbsp mustard seeds
60ml vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp grated ginger
4 small chillies
1 tsp turmeric powder
60ml vinegar (white or cider)
2 tbsp brown sugar

Method
Place cumin & cardamon in a sauce pan and dry fry them for a few minutes.
Remove from the pan and grind.
Add oil to the pan and heat, when hot add the mustard seeds and cook for a few minutes.
Add the rest of the spices to the pan and cook for a few more minutes.
Add the tomatoes, sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil then turn heat down and simmer for about 45 minutes.
As the liquid starts to reduce down towards the end of the cooking, stir frequently to avoid sticking on the bottom of the pan.
Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

Dairy Free Parsley Coriander Tahini Pesto Ingredients
Large bunch parsley
Bunch coriander
1tbsp tahini paste
1tbsp sesame oil
50g walnuts
1 clove garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt to season

Method
Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend.
Slowly add the oil to a smooth paste.
Season with salt to taste

Tangelo & Date Chutney Ingredients
3 Tangelos/oranges
1 1/2 cup dried dates
1 1/2 cup cider vinegar
1tbsp tamarind purée
1tbsp mustard seeds
1 tsp turmeric powder
1tbsp freshly grated ginger root
3 birds eye chilies
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup water

Method
Add all the ingredients to a heavy based pan over a medium heat. Cover with a lid.
Simmer for an hour stirring occasionally to break up the dates.
If it starts to get to dry add more water.
Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

Our black sand beach and surf, the gannet colony, the pohutakawa tree ( New Zealand’s Christmas tree)

Spot the photo from 2009, I’m pleased to look back and see my photography has improved over the years.

I can’t believe it is only a few days till Christmas, this week has flown by. It has been a busy December for me with a work trip to Aussie ( the job that pays the bills) and a busy month for my cooking school (my second job that I hope one day can pay the bills) and Christmas group bookings. With the final class for the year behind me today it’s time to get organised for our own festivities. We are hosting Christmas lunch at our house, there will be eight and I and haven’t even decided on the main course. I tend to start at dessert and work the menu back, not surprising really. Having been given crayfish and whitebait that has sorted out the entree. Heston’s Christmas pudding and vanilla Panna cotta with pomegrante and pistachio for desserts but I am still procrastinating on the main course. What about you, are you all organised?

Here is my recipe for chocolate mince pies if you haven’t yet made any.

Ingredients- fruit
2 tbs brown sugar
¼ cup brandy
1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, coarsely grated
100g raisins, coarsely chopped
100g currants
100g sultanas
zest & juice of one small orange
(1/3 cup) orange marmalade
1/2 tsp mixed spice
50g 70% choc, chopped

Method
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.
Set aside, and soak over night, stir occasionally
Ingredients – pastry

Ingredients-pastry
110g Butter
180g flour
60g icing sugar
1 egg

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Place the flour, butter & sugar in a bowl.
Work the ingredients together until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and bring dough together.
Rest dough in fridge for an hour before rolling out.
Roll the dough out thinly and use a cookie cutter that will fit your cupcake tins, making sure it is large enough to cup the filling.
Add about one heaped teaspoon per case and then cut out star shape out of the pastry for the lids.
Egg wash the star shaped pastry.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.

The Jamie Dodger is a biscuit of my youth, I can’t say they were my favourite at the time as they were probably bought as an economical choice to stretch amongst us kids. Although now I am older and no longer live in the UK I look back at them quite fondly. I did like the chewy bit of jam in the centre though more than the biscuits itself so I have decided to revamp the Jamie Dodger to my taste with a little Christmas spice too. For my biscuits I have added cinnamon to a sable dough and added Opies ginger spread to the centres. You could use any ginger jam available in you neck of the woods. If you are a ginger fan, Opies make a wonderful range of ginger products, unfortunately the shop I used to buy mine from has closed its doors and I haven’t yet found a new source. Being a UK product I’m not sure there will be many places in NZ that stock it but do let me know if you come across it in Auckland.

Ingredients
Ingredients – makes 12
300g plain flour
200g butter
100g castor sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
100g ginger jam/spread
1 egg

Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
Place all the ingredients except for the ginger jam and egg in a food processor and blitz till the dough becomes fine breadcrumbs in texture.
Add the egg and pulse until a dough starts to form. Remove from food processor and bring together by hand.
Roll the dough out in between to sheets of baking paper to prevent it sticking to the work surface or rolling pin, to about 1/2 inch thick.
Rest in the fridge till chilled.
Cut out shapes with a round cookie cutter. Half of the biscuits need to have the centre cut out with a smaller cutter (round, heart, star shaped).
Re-roll the off cuts of dough to make more biscuits.
Place biscuits on a non stick baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
Once cookies are cool, dust the top biscuit with icing sugar.
Spread a generous amount of ginger jam on the base biscuit and press the top biscuit into the jam to form a sandwich.

Enjoy! Alli

Eating ‘Russian fudge’ in the office the other week the girls said “you could easily make this couldn’t you and probably better?” “Yes of course I replied” Needless to say their response was, “Why don’t you make us some then and maybe make it peanut butter flavoured while your at it?”. Serves me right of course for being a smart a*se, so I dutifully went home to show them I could make a decent batch of fudge. I use the basic Chelsea sugar recipe but adjust it to what is more convenient, never having golden syrup in the house I skip it but also increased the condensed milk content to a full tin then added peanut butter.

Anyone know why fudge in New Zealand is called Russian fudge? All I could find on its origin is this with no mention of Russia.

Ingredients
3 cups castor sugar
125g butter
400g sweetened condensed milk (standard tin)
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp peanut butter, I used crunchy

Method
Place all the ingredients except the vanilla and peanut butter into a heavy bottom saucepan. Warm over a gentle heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Bring to a gentle boil and cook for about 15-20 minutes, until it reaches the soft ball stage (120°C). Keep stirring the mix so it doesn’t burn on the bottom.
Remove from the heat and add the and peanut butter.
Beat using an electric mixer until the fudge is thick and creamy.
Pour into a greased 20 cm cake tin lined with baking paper.
Score the top and break into pieces when cold.