6 February 2012

SUSTAINABILITY ON WAITANGI DAY

It’s Waitangi Day, supposedly a day of celebrating our freedom and alliance with the Crown. The usual shenanigans in the north have passed me by as a very vocal minority use the occasion yet again to air grievances very rudely and with utter contempt for others.

It has had me thinking however as the Waitangi holiday marks the end (for the meantime) of my own summer holiday which I have managed to make last for seven weeks. I’m cleaning out my fridge and thinking about the paucity of fish this year. My husband blames trawlers that come in the night and sweep the local ocean so there’s hardly a fish for the recreational fishermen.

I have been lucky as Royal Forest and Bird asked me to contribute a recipe for their sustainable fish guide out this week. As they needed an accompanying photo, it was dependent on me having the right fish to work with. The husband came up trumps. He went out in his boat and came back proudly with a 1 meter long kingfish and a fat kahawai; both near the top of the RF&B’s sustainable fish list. My recipe is for tea smoked kahawai, and I will post it in the recipe section here.

But sustainability is more than just a list of fish. It is the practice of not wasting anything and ensuring the future generations have at least, if not more, than the present. It is using everything that’s brought into the house to eat, returning goodness to the land and having respect for land, sea and air. So instead of firing out leftovers from the fridge, I used the bits and pieces to make the fabulous fishcakes above for our lunch.

Scrappy ends from some kingfish, a chunk of that tea smoked kahawai, lemon rind and two cooked potatoes were whizzed together in the food processor with a spring onion and some thyme from my herb garden. I then made a ‘panade’ which is a fancy way of saying a thick white sauce mixture, to bond the cakes together; melt 2 tbsps buffalo butter, add 2 tbsps white flour, ½ tsp ground cumin, salt and pepper and stir until the flour starts to cook. Tip in about 5 tbsps milk and stir constantly until thick and bubbling. Add this to the fish, stirring well and season to taste. Form into six fishcakes, dip these in beaten egg and then into panko crumbs. Refrigerate until needed. To cook, melt a little butter in some olive oil in a heavy frying pan and gently cook the cakes on both sides until they’re golden. Serve at once with some spicy sauce and a salad of fridge leftovers.

I’m feeling virtuous as I associate this meal with another of my steps toward the sustainability of Aotearoa. Perfect food for Waitangi Day.