Purple Potato & Micro Greens Salad

Like all Kiwi Bloggers I haven’t had the heart to post this week after events in Christchurch, it has affected us all and our hearts go out to all the families directly affected. A simple dish for complicated times, made from iconic New Zealand potatoes.

It’s not something you see often in the veggie store but I can’t resist these little purple gems when they are in season. They are known as Maori potatoes in New Zealand because they are one of the original crops cultivated by the Maori people, although purple potatoes would have originated from the Americas and introduced across the world by explorers. Here’s a bit of information on the varieties in NZ.

They are very seasonal and a little more work cleaning than regular spuds since they are small and knobbly but watching everyone’s face when you serve them is certainly worth the effort. They taste like a ‘new’ season baby potato, a little sweeter than regular spuds. I had also fund some micro greens; snow peas and purple basil from the local farmers market and was very excited about mixing the two ‘uncommon’ products together. I have used a tangy sweet dressing with coriander and parsley but of course you could use any dressing. If you can’t get any cool looking spuds like these you can always replace them with new season baby potatoes.

Ingredients – dressing for 1kg potatoes

• large handful parsley, finely chopped
• handful coriander, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp white vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp caster sugar

Method

• Combine all ingredients together and toss through cooked cool potatoes.

Green Tea Pudding & Poached Rhubarb

After a trip to Japan two years ago I was very inspired to create desserts with green tea powder after sampling green tea Tiramisu and green tea ice cream. Upon my return I had been talking to a very good friend of mine about this and she kindly gave me a tin of the green tea powder. It has taken me a while to make anything and I wish my friend who gave me the powder lived a bit closer so she could sample what I have made. It’s quite an unusual flavour for the uninitiated and therefore I suggest going easy on the tea powder when first experimenting.

The original recipe was in a Woman’s Weekly book of Japanese recipes.

Ingredients

• 2.5 cup single cream (or milk for light variety)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp green powder
• 1 tsp agar agar powder
• seeds from 1 vanilla pod or 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 stalks of rhubarb
• 1 tbsp sugar

Method

• Mix together the cream, vanilla and sugar and place in a heavy bottom pan over a low heat.
• Mix the green tea powder with a tablespoon of water to a smooth paste then add to the cream in the pan.
• Combine the agar powder with a 3 tablespoons of water to a smooth paste and add to the cream.
• Gently heat the mixture stirring constantly so the cream doesn’t stick on the bottom of the pan. Once the liquid is just below boiling, continue to simmer for 2 minutes while stirring so the agar dissolves completely.
• Remove from the heat and strain through ha colander then divide between 6 ramekin size dishes and place in the fridge to set.
• Wash and cut he rhubarb down to 1.5 inch pieces. Place the wet rhubarb in a wide pan so each piece touches the bottom of the pan (there should be enough water from washing the rhubarb to cook the fruit).
• Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over the rhubarb and place pan over a very low heat with a lid on pan.
• The rhubarb should only take about 2 minutes to cook once the temperature in the pan has become hot. Keep checking, you don’t want it to boil and the rhubarb loose it’s shape.
• Allow rhubarb to cool then spoon onto the cool puddings and serve.
• Note: Quanties of agar agar I have specified to the brand I use. I recommend you go by the ratio liquid to agar that is stated on your packet and if is gives an estimate 1/2 – 1 tsp to a cup go with whatever the lower ration is. The pudding should set set but not as much a jelly.