Lauraine’s blog
3 March 2012
Possibly the most originally conceived dinner I have been to in a while, and definitely the best wine and food matching for yonks. Sara Simpson, chef at The Tasting Shed near Kumeu worked wonders with a superb Nose to Tail menu that accompanied fine Peregrine wines. There’s nothing quite like a playful approach in a world where far too many chefs and wine makers take themselves so seriously. Nose to Tail, as you can see from the illustrated placemat meant a progression of courses founded on Fergus Henderson’s quirky book, but this was much cleverer.
First up EAR; a tasty course with corn (as in ear- geddit?) matched to Peregrine’s creamy sauvignon blanc. Delicious food, delicious wine and as Greg Hay said “It’s nothing like Marlborough sav - that’s why we do it!”
Then HEAD; a deconstructed and crisp light crumbed pig’s head, served alongside a meaty scallop with Peregrine Pinot Gris 2010. Delicious food and a wine of finesse that stands out in the varietal Greg called the “rice of the wine world.”
Next NECK; a lamb neck (absolutely the best meat on the whole beast) tucked into a generous ravioli to match a delicate, unctuous spicy dry gewürztraminer.
BELLY: tuna belly cooked sous-vide and garnished with vanilla gel and nuggets of golden hazelnuts to match chardonnay 2010 that was “melted butter in a bottle”.
LOIN; venison medallions baked in ash and served with cherries and anchovies that were deep fried in a batter. Naturally pinot noir to accompany, elegant, weighty and a trophy winner.
Finally TAIL and so witty. It was the dessert course and a fruity cock-tail of a citrusy jelly topped with little tastes of the lovely flavours in the Charcoal Riesling that was a perfect sweet ending to the dinner.
Fabulous food, wonderful wines, friendly professional hosting that made this an evening to remember. I would love to have been a fly on the wall when the chef and the owners sat down to brainstorm this very smart dinner and wine matching. Don’t miss this fabulous restaurant. We can’t wait to return.
609 SH16 Kumeu T 09 412 6454
2 March 2012
What a privilege. This week I flew to Queenstown to reacquaint myself with Blanket Bay, the stately lodge that hunkers into the mountains at the head of Lake Wakatipu.
While New Zealanders everywhere are decrying foreign investment in land, companies and assets, Blanket Bay is a timely reminder of just how spectacularly thoughtful and valuable this can be for us. Tom and Pauline Tusher, the owners, have been guardians of a magnificent piece of land that will now be assuredly kept pristine forever. And they've invested in the kitchen crew too, training chefs that are amongst the best in the nation. Current chef Corey Hume totally wowed me with his food.
Here's my entree. Ten textures of carrot. Chef Corey worked total magic on carrots. Savoury carrot and cumin sorbet, carrot gel, faux carrot caviar, carrot marshmallow, carrot 'sheet' with cardamom, carrot and ginger croquette, pickled heirloom white carrot with honey, shaved purple carrot, and baby carrot wafer. Now that's really doing amazing things with food!
27 February 2012
The Avondale market is a total must-do for anyone seeking Asian vegetables and herbs, plus a host of other vegetables at wonderfully low prices.
Yesterday was a sunny warm day and folks were out in their hundreds to gather up fresh produce for the coming week. Every imaginable Asian herb, including perilla, holy basil, Vietnamese mint, amaranth, crysanthemum, purslane, curry leaves, kaffir limes and leaves, lemon grass, ginger, turmeric, galangal and more were there in dewy fresh bundles.
Vegetables included shiitake, daikon, bamboo shoots, chinese cabbage, bokchoy, chillis in abundance, bitter gourds, fuzzy melons, snake beans, aubergines, including the small round green Thai variety and so much more.
And ta-daa! Wing beans. I had searched very vegetable market in Sri Lanka last year to track down wing beans and yes, that's what those are pictured. Who would have thought I would have to find them here, rather than in Sri Lanka? Our wing beans were fabulous steamed last night with spinach and chilli on noodles with touch of soy sauce.
23 February 2012
I had heard good things about Ile de France, a French bistro in Remuera Rd, Newmarket that has settled into the space in the old AEPB building, occupied briefly by the Mecca coffee chain. So when I heard about a seven course Alsacien dinner, matched to fine Alsatian wines by the guys of Maison Vauron, I booked six places.
We had a fabulous evening last night, where every course was deliciously simple and very ‘authentique.’ The canapé, a generous slice of duck liver pate with black truffle kicked the night off, followed by some slow cooked pork rillettes with the most amazing bread. (Apparently made by a young baker, Tetsuya but not that Tetsuya.)
Anyone who has visited Alsace knows it’s not a place to take anyone with a faint appetite for it’s a cuisine rich in fat, sausage and meat and where vegetables are rarely sighted unless you count choucroute as a vegetable – not fresh of course! This meal prepared by chef/owner Gilles Pabst, a tall young native of Alsace now resident in Auckland, lived up to expectations. The pate and the rillettes melted in the mouth, and then escargots, presented with rich dark mushrooms on toast.
Next; the snapper matelot (pic above) with onion jam ravioli, and a tender ballotine of chicken stuffed with foie gras and Champagne. The obligatory cheese course (a meal would not be French without cheese) was croustillant of Munster, the rich buttery cheese oozing from its pastry case, and we finished, groaning with spiced poached seasonal peaches with ice cream, cherry sauce and almond tuiles.
The pace and service were excellent, and the Maison Vauron boys kept us entertained and well in touch with the wines; pinot d’Alsace, pinot gris, pinot blanc, riesling, gewürztraminer and an audacious Albert Mann pinot gris Altenbourg vendanges tardives to finish. Best wine of the night? The Marcel Deiss 1er cru Engelgarten 2007. A wine so amazing I have written about it on the Wines to Drink page of my website.
17 February 2012
Sensational. That’s the only way to describe sublime food that excites the senses and satisfies the palate.
Last night we opted for a five course degustation (well, it turned into an eight course dinner) accompanied by house made bread with white truffle butter, at Cru restaurant. Sale St, a large rowdy bar on the city fringe, hides this elegant restaurant behind a curtained space out the back, and the restaurant is approached down a tiny passage behind the bar. Nick Honeyman is Cru’s chef and he’s on fire. He’s probably the only chef currently cooking here that’s learnt some of his stuff from Pascal Barbot at L’Astrance, the tiny but perfect three Michelin starred restaurant across the river from the Eiffel Tour.
Presently Nick and his team are turning out around three new dishes a week; each one a tiny and intriguing combination of tastes and textures. Sometimes there’s only a bite or two on the plate. Want more? There’s something else original and delicious on its way. There was foam, savoury meringue, smoke (no mirrors), sous vide meat and fish, shavings of this and that, purees, gels and more. Standouts? Suffice to say it was all standout.
Pictured above, our fourth course, sous vide snapper, as fresh as fresh, on a carrot and cumin puree with shaved baby crimson and white carrot, a cheesy beignet that was as light as a feather, crunchy hazelnuts and herbs and flowers. That delight had followed yellowfin tuna with yuzu gel, venison carpaccio wrapped around meltingly tender aubergine on a charcoal puree, and some hapuku belly with a lemon puree and tiny cubes of pork crackling to provide snap, crackle and pop.
The quail confit leg, our fifth course, was accompanied by rare quail breast wrapped in nori and garnished with smoked eel, dried Iberico ham and port jelly and it arrived in a cylindrical bell of smoke. Knock out!
And then the duck to conclude the savoury courses, followed by an aperitif dessert that was memorable for its wonderful presentation with warm Italian meringue covering artichoke ice-cream and ice-cold strawberries and raspberries. Finally the play on a Penang pudding with a shower of freeze dried lychees.
Great food, fine wine choices to match delivered at a fine pace that didn’t ever drop for a second. Go and eat Nick Honeyman’s food soon.
Cru, Sale St, ph 09 307 8148 Tues - Sat
10 February 2012
It's rare to sight an All Black on my food pages, but this week I met Conrad Smith, pictured above, at the launch of Forest & Bird's new Best Fish Guide.
He's cutting a 'fish cake' which is a far cry from the fishcakes in the posting below this. We got to enjoy the moist chocolate cake after eating a spicy kingfish curry Conrad had cooked alongside Shaun Clouston, Logan Brown's head chef. We also ate a selection of tasty hors d'oeuvres made from such highly endorsed fish like kahawai, paua, kingfish, trevally and more.
Forest & Bird put careful research into their listings of fish and rate all fish caught in New Zealand waters from Best Choice through to Worst Choice. This list is available on their website www.bestfishguide.org.nz where you can also download the Best Fish Guide mobile app.
The work is extensive but now the real work begins as we must find ways to get fish shops, supermarkets and recreational fishermen to source the fish at the top of the list. This means we all need to learn to seek and cook such fish as anchovies, pilchards, kahawai, trevally, sprats and butter fish. Quite the challenge.
Who's up for it? I am!
6 February 2012
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.
3 February 2012
With good friends invited for dinner on the weekend, I challenged myself to provide an appropriate fishy dinner for our beach setting.
I served a meal that was entirely local, and we became hunters and gatherer to find seafood for our feast. I plunged into the ocean to gather tuatuas for fritters, while the husband went fishing. He's a star; returned with a large kahawai and a 1 metre kingfish. So we had the makings of a fine meal, and all the fish is on the sustainable list; in other words there’s plenty there and the species are not threatened.
We started with the tuatua fritters pictured above, plus that sashimi kingfish dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, parsley, pink peppercorns and salt. Then came the gorgeous smoked kahawai with a salad. I love to marinate the kahawai in ponzu (Japanese soy with citrus and seaweed) and brown sugar and then smoke it over aromatic tea leaves.
The main was pan-fried kingfish with lemon, new potatoes and delicious local vegetables; beetroot, fried aubergines that were simmered in tomato and garlic, and steamed green beans.
To finish, ice cream, jelly, berries and meringues with accompanying piano and singing. Yes! A perfect evening.
29 January 2012
YEsterday I bought buffalo butter at the Matakana Farmers Market from the clever team at Whangaripo Buffalo Farm.
The butter is sweet and light, with a buttery texture but not at all oily or fatty. So far I have eaten spread it on my toast but
I am anxious to melt it on my freshly dug potatoes when I steam them, and to bake with it.
Who would have dreamed butter could be so white? But then the Whangaripo buffalo cheeses and yogurt are all pristine white rather than yellow or cream. How lucky am I to have this first ever buffalo butter?
22 January 2012
Welcome to the year of the Dragon! This year I was far away from a sophisticated City Chinese Restaurant for New Year celebrations. We had a wonderful local lunch at the appropriately and beautifully decorated home of J Barry Ferguson, one of those occasions where a well planned feast with several people contributing makes for a very special day.
Above are my friend Sandra’s rice paper rolls, a refreshing and apt start (but not before our host had initiated the fun with some loud firecrackers) to our big feast. We then moved to a delicious buffet selection of Chinese inspired dishes.
I contributed my now famous Oriental marinated beef (in my Listener column this week and in the Recipe section of this website) accompanied by a salad of celery, snowpeas and tiny green beans, scattered with the wonderfully fresh Vietnamese herbs I’d bought from Phuong Graham at the Matakana Farmers Market. I also made Fuschia Dunlop’s braised eggplant and tofu in a sticky dark sauce. Yum. Soy roasted chickens, tasty fried rice with prawns, ham and mushrooms and some soft doughy steamed buns rounded off the feast.
To finish, a spectacular cake with mango puree, chocolate, loads of rum and coconut cream. Delicious, delicious, delicious but no wonder that green tea slipped down so easily. “Chuc Mung Nam Moi!!!” as Phuong had said to me.