Inspired by a green goddess salad. I didn’t have anchovies, but I did have a couple of fillets of lemon pepper crumbed fish. A perfect light meal for a warm spring Sunday lunch. Our lemon tree is giving us plenty of fruit at the moment. With the amount of fish we eat, it’s been wonderful!
This is one of those dishes I made up a long time ago by putting together a whole lot of delcious ingredients and hoping for the best. I mean, bacon, chicken, mushroom, garlic, cream…how could this possibly go bad? I used to make this without bacon or capers, so you can use these or leave out. This recipe is enough for 2 servings. What I like about this dish is that you can prep for it before guests arrive, then pop it in the oven when they get to your house. Then it’s only 30 minutes until dinner and you can entertain rather than fluffing around in the kitchen. Mushroom Stuffed Chicken Breast…Wrapped in Bacon Ingredients 1 large chicken breast 2 pieces of streaky bacon 2 brown mushrooms 2 cloves garlic 3 tablespoons breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon herbs 1/4 cup of cream 1 teaspoon of capers salt pepper Preparation Preheat oven to 200°C. Slice the mushrooms, finely chop the garlic and put into a bowl. Add the capers, breadcrumbs, herbs, salt, pepper and cream. The mixture …
This is the first time I’ve ever grown silverbeet, and while it’s not my favourite vegetable, it’s super easy to grow and easy to cook too. Here I served up sauteed silverbeet with some roast vegies like garlic, potato, onion and mushrooms. The porkchop was thickly coated in apple sauce, a little sugar, salt and pepper and pan fried until done. The black caramelised bits tasted like intense, savoury, applepork. Yes, applepork is a word. Well, now it is.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on broad beans: The top few centimetres of growth on the main stems of your broad beans need to be pinched out anyway when their flowers are just starting to wilt, to stop the plant growing any taller and help it pod up. These “pinchings” have a lovely leguminous flavour – delicious as a side veg just lightly steamed and tossed in butter, and perfect in an omelette or tart. But you can also grow bean shoots “to order”, harvesting when a few inches high. I’m growing broad beans at the moment in the filing cabinet planter that we upcycled. No actual beans as yet and I finally got round to tying them up so they stand nice and tall. So I thought, what they hell, might as well eat some pinchings. What’s good enough for Hugh is good enough for us! It’s kinda funny how the landlord leaves a bit of long grass around the planter, so that you can’t see the faces of the painted rabbits, only their ears. Brussels sprouts, cauli flower …
Sometimes, all you want is ham basted in apple sauce, mac and cheese and roasted carrots with sugar and spice. Carrots are from Kayotic Kitchen’s fabulous recipe with a few wedges of red onion added. This recipe is da bomb.
I was recently watching Nici Wicke’s World Kitchen, specifically the Hong Kong episode. I was born in Hong Kong and it will always have a special place in my heart. In this episode, while sipping on snake soup, Nici and her Hong Kong guide Denny, talk about soup. In Western society, soup is often eaten when we are sick. Chicken soup is consciously or subconciously considered to a magical elixir that will cure what ails you. Soup is nourishing and easy to digest. In Chinese society, a nourishing soup is served with dinner to prevent sickness. Take a magical elixir every day for good health. How cool is that? I grew up with soup as a course before dinner. Chinese soup is a savoury broth and light enough to have before every meal. Meats like pork or chicken are boiled with various dried roots, vegetables, dried fruits and even nuts. It’s an important aspect of every Chinese dinner. We were often encouraged to have a second bowl of soup after our meal too. I serve soup …
In July, I attended a Freestyle Cooking demonstration at Auckland Fish Market’s Seafood School. The event was hosted by Gregg’s and Taste Magazine and was free for Taste Magazine subscribers. Chef Alison Robert demonstrated three yummy dishes: A Chinese canapé of of prawn & sesame toast with five spice dipping sauce A Mexican starter or lunch of black bean soup with crispy tortillas A Jamaican inspired main of chicken thighs filled with Jamaican stuffing We were served generous tasters of all three dishes with wine from Grove Mill. Alison was a pleasure to watch and listen to. Equal parts comedy and education, a fun night was had by all. We took goodie bags including a freestyle apron, some organic black beans, wholemeal tortillas, and of course, a few of Gregg’s spice blends: spicy toasted sesame seasoning, Mexican seasoning and Jamaican seasonings. There were also with plenty more edible prizes for quick thinking audience who answered freestyle questions. Sorry, no prawn toast photo as I ate my pieces before I remembered to photograph it. You’ll just have to use your imagination! …
Lemon pepper fish with potatoes dauphinoise, salad with lemon ginger dressing. Lemon pepper fish came out of a box. Potatoes Dauphinoise Ingredients 3 potatoes 3 cloves of garlic 1 teaspoon dried herbs (optional) Half a cup of cream Plenty of salt and pepper 1 tablespoon oil Preparation Preheat oven to 175°C. Peel potatoes and slice into 2mm thick rounds. Peel and finely chop garlic. Coat the bottom of an oven proof dish with oil. Arrange 1 layer of sliced potato on the bottom of the dish. Drizzle with a cream and season with salt, pepper and a pinch of dried herbs. Repeat last 2 steps finishing with a layer of potato. Bake at 180°C for 45 minutes. Divide into desired portions and serve. Lemon Ginger Dressing Ingredients Juice of 1 lemon 1/4 cup oil 1 teaspoon mustard powder 1 teaspoon minced ginger Pinch of Salt Ground Pepper 1 teaspoon sugar Preparation Whisk all ingredients together. Can be refrigerated, just give the dressing a whisk/shake before serving.
I had all the ingredients for dumplings but I didn’t really feel like wrapping them. So I made these naked dumplings instead. What makes these different to meatballs? Well, they have pork, prawns, ginger and shitakke mushrooms in them, so they’re dumplings! Naked Little Dumplings Ingredients 200grams pork mince 100grams raw, frozen, shelled prawns 4 dried shitakke mushrooms 1 spring onion 1 teaspoon salt Ground black pepper 1 tablespoon applesauce 1 teaspoon minced ginger 1 egg, beaten 2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce oil Serve with rice, vegetables and coconut cream. Preparation of naked dumplings Thaw prawns in water and chop each prawn into 3 pieces. Boil mushrooms for a minute and drain. Cut off the hard stem and chop the mushrooms finely. Add all the ingredients except for the oil to a mixing bowl and mix, mix, mix. Add a little oil to a non stick frying pan. Using wet hands, measure out a tablespoon of mixture and roll into a ball. Add to the frying pan. Repeat until the mixture is all used up (about …
This billboard from Vogel’s Bread makes me chuckle. New Zealand fashion icons have been translated into toast. But before I got any further, just in case you have never heard of these 3 labels, you need some context, so here’s a few photos to illustrate, followed by the billboard. Huffer (worn by Orlando Bloom) Trelise Cooper Zambesi model The billboard: The Huffer: 3 slices of tomato The Trelise Cooper: hundreds & thousands sprinkles The Zambesi: Thickly spread Marmite
Congee is rice porridge and often served for breakfast. It’s also served to babies and sick people as it is easy to digest and is often served with extras. When I was a newborn, I was feed congee with fish. Some people enjoy it plain, but I prefer some “toppings”. My breakfast congee. Rice, pork mince, spring onion and ginger. Boil half a cup of long grain rice in about 3 inches of water. Cook for 1-2 hours until the grains of rice have broken down and there is no longer rice and water but rice bound in a thick liquid. Add a handful of minced pork or chopped chicken and cook for another 15 minutes. Add a splash of soy sauce, salt, ginger and spring onions. Serve or cool and refridgerate. Can be microwaved or reheated on the stovetop each morning for breakfast.
I would love to live in a tiny fishing village for a while and buy fresh seafood from the fishermen as they come in from sea. Here is a collection of seafood plates I’ve whipped so far this year: What do you do when you haven’t been shopping in a while and only have cheese, potatoes, peas…and then find half a bag of prawns in the freezer? You make cheesy potato gratin with pea puree and sweet chili prawn skewers of course! Mussels in coconut cream and sweet chili sauce. Feeds 2 hungry adults for less than $5! Add a $10 bottle of red and you’ve got yourself a date 🙂 One day I’ll figure a way to avoid photographing the steam coming off hot food…without having to wait for dinner to grow cold. Creamy prawns with rice and green salad and beetroot. Easy and decadent. Saute half a diced onion and a couple of cloves of chopped garlic in some butter. When those are cooked, add enough prawns for 2 and cook until just done. …
Hump day roast. Red skinned pototoes, carrots, red onion, brown onion, whole cloves of garlic, chicken drumsticks. Salt, pepper and oil. From the garden: 2 lemons, rosemary and sage. Chop, peel (optional), grind, drizzle, zest, squeeze, sprinkle, toss. Bake at 200°C for 40 minutes. Could have done with another 10-15 minutes actually, but sometimes you need to eat NOW. Especially when it smells this good. This kind of roast is easy enough to do mid week. Do you roast mid week?
Siu Mai are my favourite dim sums at yum cha. So it was only a matter of time until I’d give these pork and prawn dumplings a whirl in the kitchen. Siu Mai are open face dumplings with an orange garnish of roe or carrot. I’ve used grated carrot. Seasonings include shitakke mushrooms, coriander, ginger and spring onions. Today I bought a large bamboo steamer and Siu Mai ingredients from my local Chinese supermarket. I loosely followed a recipe from this month’s Taste Magazine and served these Siu Mai with udon noodles, broccoli and broth. Here are the results:
Salmon is my number one favourite fish. It cooks well, is never dry, can be undercooked or overcooked and it’s creamy, fatty, melt in your mouth texture makes me swoon. I’ll eat it raw, baked, fried, steamed, poached…you name it, I’ll eat it. There is a couple who come into our workplace every week or fortnight with a box of fresh seafood. It is very, very hard to resist. I usually buy a “necklace”. It is a chain of vacuum packed smoked salmon portions. Probably the most delicious necklace I’ve ever owned. I’ve also bought scallops from them, a bag of about 30 scallops for $26NZ. Fresh from Whitianga. Here’s a roundup of salmon I’ve dished up in the last year: Pan fried salmon with oregano and lemon slices. Potato mash. Beans and tomatoes from the garden stir fried with garlic and yellow capsicum. Close up! Baked salmon with lemon and tarragon. Place a salmon steak in the middle of a piece of foil. Sprinkle with lemon zest, a good pinch of tarragon and a …
Scallops and bacon are a match made in heaven. The seafood couple came into work again. They had fresh scallops from Whitianga this morning and seeing as it is the Whitianga Scallop Festival this weekend, what could be more appropriate than eating a whole lot of scallops? 2 course dinner with Scallops and Bacon Starter: 5 Pan fried scallops wrapped in bacon with tartar sauce. Wrap each scallop with a strip of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Pan fry with a bit of butter. Season lightly with herbs, salt and pepper. Serve with tartar sauce. Tartar Sauce: mayo, sour cream, chopped gherkins, finely chopped red onion. Main Course: Scallops and Bacon pasta Cook pasta according to instructions. Saute vegies in a little oil: sliced courgette, sliced red onion, sliced garlic. Remove from heat and set aside. Finely chop 4 slices of bacon (I tried Danish eye bacon) and fry in oil. Add scallops to the pan. Once scallops are done, add 2 tablespoons of sour cream, 2 table spoons of tomato paste. Drain pasta and …
Chicken. It can be versatile. It can be boring. I often cook chicken at home, but hardly every order chicken when I dine out. Here is a selection of home cooked chicken dinners from the last few months. Ginger roast chicken drums, mustard potato and ginger coleslaw. Easy, yummy noms. Can you tell I like purple food? Breaded chicken stuffed with camembert, tomatoes and lettuce from the garden, onion garlic rice. Spicy chicken with black beans and baked tortilla chips. Hearty fare! Sour cream would have made this OMG but all we had was cheese. Chicken breast stuffed with fresh mango, spices, onion and garlic. Mushrooms cooked in leftover mango stuffing. Shackin up with buttery brussels sprouts, broccoli and mash. Chicken salad with baked cheesey cauli for dinner. In New Zealand, chicken salad doesn’t have anything to do with sandwiches or mayonnaise. I’m loving this Mexican spice mix I got from Taste and Gregg’s cooking demo a few weeks ago. Great for adding some kick to meats but mild enough not to overpower the natural …
Unagi: freshwater eel. Often served as unadon or unagidon (on rice). From what I’ve read, in this country at least, restaurants buy their unagi pre-cooked and pre-sauced. I love unagi, but why pay someone else to microwave pre-cooked, pre-sauced unagi when you can do it yourself? You can find unagi packs with sauce in the frozen section of your local Asian market at about $9NZ each. I’ve bought these before from a Japan shop and also a Chinese grocer. All you have to do is remove the eel from the packaging, zap for a few minutes then pour on the sauce. Serve with rice, maybe a salad or greens and some edamame and presto! 2 bags of unagi can feed 2 or 3 people for dinner.
With lamb sausages, champs, peas and red cabbage. Champs Ingredients 3 potatoes, peeled and chopped Splash of milk 1 stalk of spring onion, sliced finely Knob of butter Salt Pepper 1 egg Preparation Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes until tender. Drain potatoes. Heat milk, butter and spring onions gently in a small pot until the butter has melted. Mash the potatoes with a pinch of salt. With a spoon, quickly stir in the egg and then the warmed milk mixture. Serve immediately.
I ate Hainaese Chicken Rice a lot as a kid and I often crave it. The chicken is smooth and silky and the rice is fragrant and full of flavour and you get a bowl of comforting broth to sip on with your meal. Because it is not fast food (slow, slow food) not many restaurants offer it. I roughly followed this recipe that I found online. I couldn’t bear for the water to get cold (scared that the chicken wouldn’t get cooked enough) so I turned it up to a simmer at about the half way mark and then back off. I used chicken pieces instead of a whole chicken. Hainanese Chicken Rice Ingredients Salt and freshly ground pepper 1 whole (3- to 4-pound) chicken, trimmed of excess fat Several cloves smashed garlic, plus 1 teaspoon minced garlic Several slices fresh ginger, plus 1 tablespoon minced ginger 1/2 cup peanut oil, or neutral oil, like corn or canola 3 shallots, roughly chopped, or a small onion 2 cups long-grain rice 1/2 cup minced scallions …
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