All posts tagged: fish

One thing I would absolutely eat again and one thing I would not.

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I just spent three and a half weeks in the Philippines. I ate balut on the first day. It was completely unplanned. I promise. Yeah, OK, it was on my list of things to eat. Way, waaay down, at the bottom. Past lechon (pig on a spit), adobo (chicken or pork vinegar soy stew), sisig (sizzling chopped pigs head and chicken liver), arroz caldo (chicken rice soup), kare kare (peanut sauce stew). Even past dinuguan (that’s pork blood stew if you were wondering). Like, if we seriously ran of things to do, I *might* eat a duck fetus for shits and giggles. But that is not what happened.  We arrived in Mactan on a Friday morning and met up with our dear old friend Adam. We started on the local beers fairly early in the day and later enjoyed a jolly dinner with his Mactan crew. There was local BBQ (marinated meat on sticks) tacos and of course, local beer. The subject of balut was brought up I mentioned I was interested in trying it…at …

Oven baked flounder with tomatoes

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If you don’t like eyes looking at you from your plate, then flounder are the worst. I grew up eating yellowbelly flounder. My parents steamed whole fish with fresh ginger and a touch of hot oil and soy, served with rice and a side of greens. Fish doesn’t need much messing around with. While I’m sure not everyone feels the same way, there’s something I find super appealing about fish served whole. Fun fish fact: Flounder are born with an eye on each side but as they develop, one eye grows over to the other side to join the other. Yellowbelly flounder are available year round and I’ve paired them here with tomatoes which also available year round as they are grown in glasshouses. When buying whole fish, Look for bright clear eyes, shiny tight scales and a moist flat tail. A fish with a dry tail is a sad sight. Your flounder will probably be gutted and most places may have scaled your fish, if not ask, for them to be scaled or do …

Poké face

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Poké (pronounced “po–kay”) landed in Auckland last September in the tired underground IMAX food court on Queen Street. My fork buddy and I hit up Poke Time on opening day: bright and little tacky, as Hawaiian-themed things can be, the experience has a Subway vibe and is essentially a build-your-own raw fish salad bowl. You pick whatever you want, although it can be too many decisions for the uninitiated. If you’ve never tried poké before, it can be overwhelming but if you know what you are doing, Poke Time is great value. With heaps of options including salmon, two types of tuna, and trevally, they also have token vegetarian options, but that’s probably not what most will come here for. Tip: go for the seasoned fish, the non-marinated options are essentially sashimi bowls, rather than poké bowls. Poké means “chop” and is a Hawaiian dish influenced by Japanese cuisine. Poké is raw fish (such as tuna, salmon or octopus) is cubed and seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil, seaweed. Poké is often served served with fresh vegetables and rice …

Fish at work

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It doesn’t matter if your co-workers love fish, zapping a fish lunch in the staff microwave is just bad manners. I love fish, especially smoked fish but I’ve always been careful not to have bring fish to work. Smoked fish pie and fish curries – while delicious – are dishes I enjoy at restaurants or at home. This smoked fish recipe is work-place appropriate. Because it is served cold, no one else needs to know you’re enjoying some yummy smoked fish. Kahawai is a firm white fish commonly found in New Zealand and most of the time is served hot smoked. Reasonably priced at around $25NZ per kilo for boneless sides, a 250gram (half pound) fillet will set you back less than $7NZ. If you can’t get a hold of smoked kahawai, feel free to use any smoked fish fillet – hot smoked trout would be a great substitute. Spring is just around the corner here and in my garden, the rosemary bush and onion weed is flowering so I’ve used these as garnish along with …

Auckland Seafood Festival 2016 – double pass giveaway

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2016 has started with a bang. Like just about everyone else, I have some dietary intentions for the year. I was feeling like were were eating too much red meat last year, but instead of saying, “I will eat less red meat” I’ve been saying, “I will eat more seafood”. The thinking is different, the end result is the same. So far in 2016, I have eaten yakitori scallops, whole grilled squid, salt pepper squid, herb-crusted pan-fried salmon, bagel with lox, yakitori salmon, mayo-cheese mussels, prawn pasta, Vietnamese pancake with pork and prawn, prawn fried rice, prawn and fish butter curry, fish tacos and a fish burger. Not bad considering we’re only 15 days in. Here’s to 2016 being a seafood-fuelled year and hopefully I’ll will cook or eat a seafood dish that I’ve never cooked or eaten before. With Auckland anniversary coming up, we can look forward to even more seafood at Auckland Seafood Festival. Running 5 sessions over 4 days at Halsey Wharf which is downtown between the Viaduct and North Wharf. Thanks to …

What to eat and see at Taste of Auckland 2015

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Taste of Auckland starts on this Thursday! Running Thursday 5 to Sunday 8 November 2015, this will be their second year at the new location of Western Springs. A haven for foodies, this festival is now in it’s 7th year. Consider it a walking, living, breathing, build-your-own degustation. Tickets are available online or if you prefer to wait and see what the weather is doing, there are also door sales. I haven’t missed a single Taste festival yet. Yup. You could say I’m a fan. Gourmet Hangi For the first time at Taste, there will be a gourmet hangi. Each session a different chef or restaurant team will be offering a gourmet take on the Māori hangi. Be in quick, portions are limited and on first in first serve basis. I grew up in Rotorua where hangi feasts were fairly common but since moving to Auckland 20+ years ago, there’s been a distinct absence of hangi from my life. You can bet I’ll be trying as much gourmet hangi as I can! The Gourmet Hangi will be …

Asparagus for adults in spring

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It might only be the start of spring but it feels like the tail-end already. We’ve had bright sunny days that suggest that summer is just around the corner. Daylight savings has begun, which means I get to photograph food in natural light in the evenings instead of having to save it for the weekend. This means (potentially) more recipes and more blog posts! Yay!   Last week, The Koala and I went to Cornwall Park to see the spring lambs. They were super cute. If you’re in the southern hemisphere, I would advise seeking out a lamb visit. It’s worth it. After our visit with the lambs, we invited a couple of friends over for the first barbecue of the season. It’s been all of winter since we taught ourselves how to use our charcoal barbecue and we’ve still got the skills we picked up in summer. I don’t remember spring barbecues being a thing, but going by the lovely smells in our neighbourhood, we’re not the only ones barbecuing in spring. Spring also means asparagus season. I …

Diving into fish tacos

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  Warning: May contain innuendos. I love fish tacos. I dream of staying near the coast in Mexico and gorging on fresh fish tacos every day. We’ve enjoyed tacos at home a few times, specifically pulled pork tacos so when we received some lovely fillets from our delivery last week, I figured it was time to explore the fish taco at home. I’d never made them before, but it seemed pretty straightforward to me. I just made up the process as I went along. The perfect fish taco has a good balance of fish, salad and condiments. I hate a dry taco. Saucy tacos FTW! My preference is soft shell tacos, specifically corn tortillas. I first tried Tio Pablo’s corn tortillas last year when I was going through a gluten free phase, but turns out, I prefer the flavour of corn tortillas over flour tortillas. I used tarakihi fillets, but any medium white fish will do. Snapper, red gurnard, or trevally would also be suitable. Other types of fish such as flounder, turbot or salmon would probably be amazing. Feel free …

Favourite Seafood Recipes

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Summer in New Zealand is all about gorging on simply prepared seafood. This summer has been particularly seafood filled. Here is a collection of five my favourite seafood recipes. Just click on the images to view the recipes. Enjoy!   1. Steamed Garlic Prawns Super easy recipe for Steamed Garlic Prawns, a very popular dish at Kingsland’s Canton Cafe. Includes a handy guide to prawn sizing in New Zealand.   2. Pan Fried Flounder The most popular recipe on my blog by miles, this buttery golden pan fried flounder makes use of a whole flounder. You’ll need a flounder (or two) butter, more butter, flour, salt and pepper. 3. Raw Fish Salad I fell in love with Ika Mata (raw fish salad) in Rarotonga. Here’s my version of it using fresh tuna fillets, though you can also use any firm white fish. 4. Oysters Kilpatrick Oysters Kilpatrick are an easy crowd pleaser. Oystes, bacon, tasty sauce and cheese. What could go wrong? 5. All-in-one Seafood Stew I test out Adie McClelland’s all-in-one seafood stew from her …

Auckland Seafood Festival 2015 – food porn and review

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My seafood gobbling friends and I descended on the Auckland Seafood Festival at midday today with hunger in our bellies and a readiness to partake. Being the middle of Auckland Anniversary weekend, the city was BUSY. There was plenty of atmosphere and things to do. There still are. The layout of the venue at Halsey Wharf was quite different this year and the areas felt a little less marked out. No restaurant alley this year, but it was easy to navigate. There was plenty of seating, though the limited shade was snapped up quickly. The lines were short all except for the line for the Oceanz’s crayfish (from $25 for half) which was so long (about 40 bellies deep) we didn’t bother. My favourite dish was one from NSIA a school for hospo students. Pulpo in honey and balsamic, gazpacho caviar, Spanish olive soil, capsicum sofrito ($8). Pulpo is spanish for octopus and this dish was filled with bite size octopi. Quite an adventurous and sophisticated dish, it really paid off. We also tried their …

Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Ribbons

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This simple recipe makes a light lunch or summery starter. I used the Peri Peri flavoured hot smoked salmon because the yogurt sauce is nice contrast for the chili kick but you can use regular hot smoked salmon if chili flavoured salmon is unavailable. The chili salmon was actually milder than I anticipated. Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Ribbons Serves two Ingredients 150 grams hot smoked salmon (peri peri flavour) Half a cucumber A handful of fresh mint 1/2 cup Greek yogurt 1 clove garlic 1 tablespoon capers 1 tablespoon black olives, sliced Preparation Using a vegetable peeler, peel the cucumber into ribbons. Aim for a small strip of skin on each piece (for aesthetic purposes). Arrange the ribbons on two plates. Finely grate the garlic (I use a Microplane zester), chop the mint and mix into the yogurt. Dot the yogurt sauce on top of the cucumber ribbons. Break up the smoked salmon into smaller pieces and add to the plate followed by capers and black olives. Season with salt and pepper to your liking. Enjoy! …

Smoked salmon sushi bowl

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A bowl of yum For those who don’t know what a sushi bowl is, it’s just a bunch of chopped sushi and salad ingredients served on a bowl of rice. You have a mouthful of this, a mouthful of that and in the end, it pretty much tastes like sushi in your mouth. This recipe is great for either lunch and dinner. I should know, I’ve eaten this for lunch and dinner this week. Thanks to Sealord, I’ve got a summer prize pack to give away. The pack includes a Sealord chilly bag, a stainless steel lunch box, a picnic blanket and Sealord’s Manuka Hot Smoked Salmon vouchers. To enter, fill in the form at the bottom of the giveaway post here. Sealord recently won the Supreme Award at the New Zealand Food Awards for their Manuka Hot Smoked Salmon. The flavours in their Manuka Hot Smoked Salmon range: Natural, Peri Peri (bird’s eye chili) and Tuscan. Au Natural I usually buy unflavoured smoked salmon. I find it to be more versatile and I enjoy adding my own flavourings …

Auckland Restaurant Month 2014 – top picks

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August is Auckland Restaurant Month and the menus for the 100 participating restaurants have been posted already. I know it’s a whole month away, but a month is good time to make dates with friends and tick off a few restaurants on the way. There are some fabulous specials and this is a great way to try out some of Auckland’s best restaurants on a range of budgets. It was hard (and hungry) work, but I’ve picked out 10 of my favourite specials which  range from $25 to $100 per person. Auckland Restaurant Month top 10 picks: (In order of budget) 1. Fukuko Britomart, Cocktail bar $25 for 2 snack courses and a shochu cocktail of your choice. Includes a steamed pork bun and 2 tacos (your choice of braised miso short rib, sticky pulled pork, spiced roast duck, sole tempura). http://www.fukuko.co.nz   2. Besos Latinos Elliot Stables, Latin American gourmet $25 for cornchips, your choice of taco and a classic margarita. Taco options: Pork, beef, chicken, vegetarian or fish. http://www.besoslatinos.com   3. Kushi Durham St West, Japanese …

Heads and wings

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Dear reader, I have fallen in love with some weird fish bits. Creamy, fatty, sweet, savoury and undeniably moreish. They are wings. Salmon wings. Salmon wings (also known as salmon collars) are one of those budget cuts that will probably become too popular (like pork belly, beef brisket and lamb shanks) and see a price increase. Get them while they are still cheap! If you have never had salmon wings before, think of them as ribs or buffalo wings of the sea. You may get your hands dirty but it’s worth it. One day I was just ambling through my local supermarket, minding my own business when I spied a tray with 2 large salmon heads. I didn’t expect to see salmon wings at the supermarket. I’ve never cooked with salmon wings but I’d seen a few blogs mention them before so I grabbed them instantly. The salmon heads cost about $2.22NZ ($1.84US) each and had plenty of eating on them. If you are not confident with fish bones or are serving less adventurous eaters, …

Auckland Seafood Feastival is upon us

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The Auckland Seafood Feastival is on this weekend. It’s long weekend here in Auckland and you can dine on kai moana (Māori for seafood) on Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Every year I gaze upon the crayfish but never partake. I think this year will be my year! Find out more or purchase tickets here: www.aucklandseafoodfestival.co.nz Some of my photos from previous festivals.      

Hannibal Buress got me into pickle juice

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The Koala and I laugh about pickle juice. Probably too much. To find out why, watch this bit from funny man Hannibal Buress. It’s gold. The Koala is addicted to pickles so we also have an abundance of pickle juice in this house. We usually throw it out. Cooking with pickle juice wouldn’t be part of my radar but the seed was sown. Hannibal Buress made me experiment with pickle juice. I hope he likes this recipe! It ain’t swordfish but the salmon market is pretty stable. 😉 Note: recipe may vary as pickle juice is a man-made product and comes in all manners of strengths. I found ours  mild  with a little sweetness and delicately flavoured the fish. I felt that could have done with a little more oomph but The Koala thought the flavour was just right. I served this with pumpkin mash and some rainbow silverbeet (rainbow chard) for colour. There’s something fun about a widly colourful all-natural plate of food. But if you want to be a bit more subdued, rice …

Autumn is the best.

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Autumn is the best. I relish the crisp air, warm scarves and feijoa laden trees. Green leaves turn to red. Red wine replaces cold beer. Comfort food replaces chilled food. I’ve been feeling a little run down this week and my clothes have been feeling a little taut. You know, when your skinny jeans feel a tad too skinny and you worry what might happen to the shape of your middle when you attempt to sit down. I’m sure it is just the change of season and I’ll accuse daylight savings of lighting trickery. Before we dive into comfort food territory, I think it’s a good opportunity to revisit some of my favourite blog recipes. Light and bright food porn to tickle your fancy. For those heading into spring, this should be good inspirational fodder for you too. All thumbnails jump to relevant posts.

Deal to a freshly caught fish

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The Koala, Tofu and I are lucky to have lovely neighbours who we share our yard with. They have been fishing this summer and this week we were gifted two red snapper. I was stoked to able to cross off a bucket list item: Deal to a freshly caught fish. First I scaled both fish. With the fish and your hands in a plastic bag seriously cuts down on flying scales and mess. From what I’ve read, it’s also a good idea to scale fish outside, but I prefer to be by our sink. Our neighbour had kindly gutted one fish so I used that as a template. In case you didn’t already know, fish guts are disgusting. To be honest, I never gave it much thought. All the fish I’ve cooked or eaten have come to me sans guts. Fish guts look like a mini version of the people guts that you might glimpse in a zombie movie. It’s not all pink and red, but some orange and yellow hues. Gruesome. As revolting as …

A sucker for scallops wrapped in bacon

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I’ve been gorging on seafood and booze all weekend and today is the final day of the Auckland Seafood Feastival. Please note, it wasn’t until late afternoon that I realised that it was a feastival rather than a festival. On a blue skied Saturday, I attended with my three of my friends at the opening time of 11am and we didn’t leave until closing around 6pm. I would say we gave it a mighty good bash. Scampi Street I’d been raving about Scampi Street since last year so we grabbed two plates of BBQ scampi to share. Scampi Street was slightly relocated this year and didn’t have the same “street” or alley feel. I recently learned that scampi are known as langoustine so if you know that term for it, you’ll know that these are sweet and fleshy and can be good eating. The scampi were smaller than last year’s and were not cut in half (crayfish style) for easy eating. The result was messy and a little disappointing. After I’d hyped it up so …

All-In-One Seafood Stew

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I was recently given the opportunity to test drive a recipe from a new cook book. Adie McClelland’s first Black Dog Cottage Cookbook was published in 2009 and her second book, sensibly titled The Second Black Dog Cottage Cookbook was released in August. She’s a well travelled foodie and it shows through her recipes. Her style of cooking is much like mine – unfussy and easy but with a Mediterranean angle. I think she would forgive me my casual cooking style. The Second Black Dog Cottage Cook Book has just been released throughout New Zealand. For more information please visit Phantom House Books http://www.phantomhouse.com or their Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/BlackDogCottageCookbook. I wanted to make the All-In-One Seafood Stew because it’s what I would order if I were dining out. This recipe requires 10 tomatoes, which for a long time were unbelievably expensive and probably not very good. They’re starting to come down in price now so it was time to tackle this stew. After a quick scan of the recipe, I identified just one unknown ingredient: passata. Passata …