Lauraine’s blog
1 December 2013
Goat is probably one of the most uncommonly cooked meats in New Zealand but is also uncommonly good. Most of us have got closest to the goat by eating goat cheese, especially feta which can be soft, fresh and crumbly.
When I attended the recent taste of Auckland I was gobsmacked to see the goat pictured above on a rotisserie spit, golden and crisp from several hours of roasting. Ben Bayly of Baduzzi, the brilliant American/Italian newcomer restaurant in the base of the new ASB building at North Wharf made this goat into the most delicious muffaletta sandwiches.
Taste is the best food event on the Auckland calendar for not only can you taste and purchase fabulous artisan food products, but you can also wander around sipping and sampling food from many of the city's best restaurants. It is the one chance to experience great food at absolutely bargain prices. And it's all in a very sophisticated scene with no greedy grabbing and shovelling that can happen at other events. Yay.
I'm really keen to cook some goat myself now and will be chasing some in the next week or two. Wairau Wild Game have it to order so a whole goat may well be on the menu if you're invited to my place soon. In the meantime there will be plenty of both local and imported goat cheese in my fridge.
30 November 2013
Forage is the new black of the food world. Leading chefs around the planet were the first to alert us to the possibilities of finding food in the wild. They put all sorts of weird and wonderful things both familiar and unfamiliar on their menus.
So it was with great delight I accepted an invitation last week to judge the inaugural Whangaripo Valley Wild Food & Forage Festival. It was astonishing just what the locals, who came from the valleys and hills behind Matakana and Pakiri, found to make dishes for the competition.
There were few rules; just turn up with plates of your most wild imaginative food for tasting, put your fears aside and have fun. The official festival kicked off in the Whangaripo Valley Hall where tables were set up for the displays while outside families relaxed in the shade of marquees, listening to an all girl band, watching over the kids’ organized fun competitions and sipping local Leigh Sawmill beers and Lothlorien wines. Buffalo burgers and goat sausages were served from smoky barbecues.
As the official judge I ate my way through all manner of astonishingly tasty treats, and now know there’s plenty of food talent in them thar hills! Pukeko, peacock, wild rabbit, eel, wild boar, wild deer, freshly caught fish and more were fashioned into pies, sausages, pates and salamis. Wild plants from fennel, nasturtiums, berries, honeysuckle, wild roses and samphire found their way into some fantastic treats.
The winners included honeysuckle sorbet in a honeysuckle ice bowl, seedy oat crackers with pickled beetroot, smoked eel and nasturtium salsa, wild fennel scones with mulberry jam and cream, wild boar balls(!) and nasturtium ice cream on seedy shortbread. I wish I could have awarded more prizes as every single item was so imaginative.
Well done to the clever organizers and roll on 2014.
29 November 2013
I have two stories about the egg. It is the most complete food, and if there's an egg in the house there's always going to be a meal in the house.
Recently I made my almost famous ham and egg sandwiches for a supper after a concert we held at our house for an emerging young pianist, Sylvia Jiang. Three people told me they were the BEST sandwiches they'd ever had! The recipe can be found by clicking on the RECIPE bar to the top right of this page.
Next, we spent a week in Tokyo in late September and on our last night went to one of the top restaurants. Takazawa, in that wonderful city of culinary adventure.
Every course was really adventurous, but apart from the set of 16 tiny jellies flavoured with the tastes of both red and white wine that we finished with, the one that captured my mind was named "Breakfast at Takazawa." It was a small bowl of something like cornflakes that turned out to be crisp little potato flakes, and another bowl with a generous pile of freshly shaved truffle, and hidden underneath that was an egg. Not just any ordinary egg, but the brightly orange coloured yolk that only a free ranging fowl could produce. We piled on the 'cornflakes', and then dipped our spoons in, and the runny yolk and white served as the 'milk.' What a combination; potatoes, truffle and the perfect egg.
I love Eggs.
28 November 2013
Lots of cooks shy away from duck, thinking it's a bit too hard to cook. So they miss out on all that deliciousness.
Getting started with duck is easy. I suggest buying duck breasts which are no more expensive than a piece of very good steak, and just as easy to cook.
Score the skin on the duck breasts in a diamond pattern and cut off what may look like excess fat on the edges. Place the duck breasts skin side down in a dry, cold, heavy frying pan and turn on the heat. As the pan heats, the fat starts to run and after a minute or two the duck breasts will be happily sizzling. Turn the heat down and allow the duck to cook on the skin side for about 9-10 minutes so it becomes golden brown. Then turn the breasts over, cook for another 2-3 minutes and they're done! Rest the duck while you heat a little stock for moistening the dish. Serve the duck with the stock poured over and some fresh cherries, pips removed, as they are in season right now! It is that easy.
There will be lots of fat in the pan so carefully tip this into a contanier to keep. It is useful for the best roast potatoes you will ever make.
27 November 2013
I couldn't let the C Day pass without mentioning Champagne. I know this blog and A to Z Challenge is all about Grow, Cook and Eat but it was quite canny that I attended a Champagne Lunch on the sunny flower decked terrace at Soul Bar & Bistro today.
Champagne Mumm were the hosts and we sipped four different expressions of their lovely Champagne matched to Chef Gareth Stewart's delicious food.
For me the most outstanding Champagne was the Blanc de Blancs, made entirely with Chardonnay grapes. It was well rounded smooth and subtle.
And on a menu that included Tio Point oysters, sashimi and salad, goat cheese ravioli with lemon butter, grilled crayfish, and a raspberry chocolate tart, it was the crayfish that totally won me over. The big C's of the day; Champagne and Crayfish. Wow!
27 November 2013
Continuing the Daily A to Z food Challenge here's today's entry. Courgettes are perhaps the easiest vegetable to grow as long as it's warm and there's plenty of water.
I love making fritters as simple lunch time treat for myself.
- one free range egg
- one courgette, finely grated and squeezed to remove excess moisture
- one tablespoon crumbly feta
Combine all ingredients, season with a little salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper, and cook in large tablespoons in grapeseed oil until crisp and golden.
Makes 4 fritters.
26 November 2013
All through spring I have been devouring tender little pale green broad beans from our garden. They have been my new favourite vegetable. If I pick them early enough there's no need to squeeze them from their skin, once removed from the pod. But the crop is over now and we will be planting climbing beans in that spot.
So I bought broad beans in the Matakana Farmers' Market on the weekend and to my surpirse when I opened the pods they were a light bronze colour. They certainly needed to be both podded, steamed and peeled but were just as delicious once those tasks were done. Best way to eat them? Drizzled with Lot 8 citrus oil and lots of salt and pepper.
26 November 2013
Love these tender new freshly dug Agria potatoes. Grown by Marie Claydon of Quail Farm in the rich peaty soil of Omaha Flats.
A floury yellow spud that's perfect for baking, roasting and for gnocchi, and even better for the all time BEST EVER potato recipe; Potatoes with Prunes and Caramel from Yottam Ottolehghi and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem cook book.
The greens to accompany the potatoes are all from our garden. Mmmm.
26 November 2013
Love this idea from Stephanie Alexander. It's a daily A to Z Food Photo Challenge to promote her new Cook's Companion App.
I have signed up and will post a new picture everyday. Keep your eyes out and be prepared to get hungry! The posts will also be on Twitter.
Join me and if you're a Kiwi add the hashtag #atnzfood on your Twitter posts
28 October 2013
I was completely bowled over and extremely humbled to be named as one of three recipients of a Founders Award from my old school, Epsom Girls Grammar School this year.
At a very pleasant dinner at Romfords on Tamaki Drive almost 100 Old Girls and a handful of present senior pupils met and chatted and then heard the remarkable stories of the 2013 recipients; Lisa Harrow, actress; Jill Mandeno, infotech pioneer and business woman; and myself, a culinary professional. I never regard myself as a high achiever but when the citation was read out I was quite astonished to learn of my own accomplishments over thirty years of teaching, cooking, writing and mentoring.
And there's still work to be done for
I am passionate to see our own New Zealand food as part of our tourism strategy and for all New Zealanders to recognise and supprt thse who grow and produce our food within our country.
Pictured above, My sister Chris, My niece Rebecca Chrystall, myself and my 90 year old mother Patricia Stevens. All EGGS girls!