A Whale of a Tale

The excitement of a whale visiting the bay outside our door, frolicking and spouting just outside the breakers for two days is over, and it’s a cold middle of the winters day here on the East Coast of New Zealand's South Island with snow forecast to fall on the hills anytime soon, so I am very glad to be planning a small dinner for a few neighbors tonight.

Sometimes it’s hard to stop reading recipe books and food blogs such as  Orangette make up your mind on a menu and start cooking, but the hardest part is stopping my friends from bringing all the food themselves, it seems it is impossible for New Zealanders to go out to dinner without taking it with them, and sometimes this is fine if you are busy or having a lot of people in, but it can be frustrating when you love to plan something yourself. I don't go to too much trouble, keeping things simple so that I can join in the conversation and not get distracted by the kitchen too much.

The Pootle went out in his boat yesterday and brought me in some lovely blue cod fillets, so I am making “Lemon Crumb Cod”, from the Karitane Bowling Club recipe book, it is easy to prepare before hand and just pop in the oven 20mins before eating.

With it we will have Judith Cullen’s  “Smashed Potatoes with Olive Oil and Sage”, I use Agria potatoes and these are so good made this way you could easily have them for a meal with a couple of fried eggs, and “Adzuki Bean Salad” adapted from the Ardleigh golf club recipe book. Aduki's are often forsaken in bean salads for their bigger cousins the kidney and lima and esp. the four bean mix tins, but their crunchiness is wonderful, I am going to substitute the brown rice with Quinoa, (keen-wah),the first time I’ve used it.

I was tossing up for dessert between “Circle of Choux” from Lovely Wee days  otherwise known as “Paris Brest” [nothing to do with the Hilton family], a gorgeous looking French dessert said to have been created by a pastry chef in honor of a bicycle race between Paris and Brest and meant to look like a bicycle wheel, or one of   Orangettes wicked chocolate cakes, so I asked the Pootle which he liked best by showing him the photos, and the” Circle of Choux” won hands down, I’m not sure whether to use frozen or drained tinned mixed fruit, I don’t like the frozen strawberries in the packets of frozen fruit, but they are easily picked out and  Orangette has a lovely recipe for scones with frozen strawberries in them.

I have a bottle of Dog Point Section 2007 Sauvignon Blanc that I have been wanting to drink since February when we tasted it at the Masters Games wine tasting, and it was so unusual I brought a bottle the next day and somehow have not got round to drinking it. The Masters Games wine tasting was fun, we got last, and at one point were awarded a gumboot on our table for not having answered a question correctly for ages, next time we will fare better. I will also making some “Cheese Straws” from Smitten Kitchen to have with the wine.

 

CHEESE STRAWS

1 1/2 cups (about 6 ounces) grated extra-sharp Cheddar cheese
50gms unsalted butter, softened and cut into 4 pieces

3/4 cup flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon cream, suspect milk would work just as well

1. Preheat oven to 180c

.

2. In a food processor, combine the cheese, butter, flour, salt and paprika in five 5-second pulses until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add cream and process until the dough forms a ball, about 10 seconds.

3. On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle that is 1/8-inch thick. With a sharp knife cut the dough into thin 8 strips, each 1/4- to 1/3-inch wide (dipping the knife in flour after every few inches ensures a clean cut). Gently transfer the strips to an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper, leaving at least 1/4-inch between them. The dough may sag or may break occasionally in the transfer, but don’t be concerned — just do your best. The straws can be any length, from 2 to 10 inches.

4. Bake the straws on the middle rack for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the ends are barely browned. Remove from the oven and set the cookie sheet on a rack to cool.

5. Serve at room temperature. Cheese straws will keep in the refrigerator, in a sealed container, for two days. However most unlikely any will be left to store.

BLUE COD WITH LEMON CRUMB

Ingredients:

8 blue cod fillets

3 or 4 lemons

1/2 cup fresh herbs chopped finely e.g. parsley, dill, basil, chives.

1 cup fresh breadcrumbs [whiz 4 slices toast bread, brown or white]

100 gm butter

S & P

Method:

Preheat oven to 230c.

Place fish in a greased baking dish.

Finely grate or shred the lemon rind from lemons, toss together with the breadcrumbs and herbs.

Press this mixture on top of fish.

Melt the butter, add squeezed lemon juice, and spread over fish.

Bake for 15 to 20 min or until fish flakes easily.

I have the crumb & herbs mix, and the lemon butter ready and add just before putting in oven otherwise it goes gloopy. This picture was taken before it went into the oven, it should come out nice and crisp and toasted light brown.

SMASHED POTATOES WITH SAGE [adapted from Judith Cullen’s recipe book]

10 small potatoes I like Agrias best

2 Tablespoons good oil

1 good sized garlic clove either crushed or cut finely

Small handful of sage chopped finely

Parmesan [optional]

Rock salt

Boil the spuds until just cooked, be careful not to overcook as will fall apart., drain and cool until you can pick up easily. Add the garlic to the oil.

Flatten each spud, place on oven proof tray or dish, drizzle the garlic and oil over, sprinkle with Parmesan, sage and rock salt. Bake at 200 for about 15 to 20mins

I usually get them a bit flatter, but I boiled the spuds a bit too long, tasted as good though, I didn’t use the cheese.

ADZUKI BEAN SALAD

2 cups cooked brown rice or Quinoa [start with 1 cup dry]

1 1/2 cups roasted nuts [I use peanuts]

1 cup sultanas

2 cups adzuki beans [from 1 cup soaked overnight]

½ cup sesame seeds

2 cups sprouted mung beans or peas

Chopped Parsley, celery, peppers herbs optional

Sizzle for no more than a minute ½ cup oil and 1 dessertspoon curry powder. Add 1/2 cup of cider vinegar [or other], simmer 5 mins, add a tablespoon of sugar, stir to dissolve, cool, and add juice of two lemons. and pour over other ingredients

This makes enough to feed about 20 people; it keeps well and is fine the next day.

PARIS BREST OR CIRCLE OF CHOUX

I use the Edmonds Chocolate Éclair recipe for the choux pastry, but use your own favourite.
1 cup water
75g Butter
150g flour
1 dessertspoon sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
4 small eggs

Bring butter and water to the boil add flour at once and beat with wooden spoon until the mixture leaves the sides of the saucepan. Remove from heat, cool a little then add sugar and vanilla and beat in the eggs one at a time. Place on a tray a sheet of baking paper that you have first scrunched up and run under cold water (this helps ensure the pastry rises and is light and moist). Put tablespoons of the mixture in a circle so they are just touching each other (I used a small plate and drew an outline). If there’s extra mixture left over add smaller spoonfuls to fill in any gaps. Bake for about 30 minutes at 200°C.

Once cooked, carefully cut the ring in half horizontally and lift off the top half of the ring, don’t worry if the top breaks as once pieced together it will look fine. Fill the bottom half of the ring with cream, and any fruit of your choice. I piled on a thawed and drained, frozen mixed boysenberries and blueberries etc. I picked out the strawberries as they were not nice. Place the top back on and dust with icing sugar or I used vanilla sugar. It was in the fridge for two or three hours before we ate it and was just as good as when put together.

The evening went very well with no culinary disasters and I think I remembered to put everything out, I thought the cheese straws were a little to flavoursome and overpowering for the wine. The Dog Point savy was wonderful and someone brought a bottle of Villa Maria Noble Riesling 1991 to have with dessert, which was a real treat. The Quinoa was very good in place of rice and is easier to cook, one cup Quinoa [rinsed], two cups water, boil 10mins and drain. The Circle of Choux was scrumptious and I of course polished the leftover piece afterward, I did offer it to the Pootle first, but he seems to know when he is full, and I never can tell.

Well it is a beautiful day now that the frost has melted and I am off for a walk along the beach with friends, after putting a large pot of veg. soup on for lunch, will keep cooking simple today I think as had a bit much of the grape last night.

The Pootle cooked us hogget chops and roast tomatoes for dinner last night, we had put the green tomatoes from his glass house into the wine drawers, they have ripened beautifully and are very flavoursome, so lucky to have such fresh tasty tomatoes in July.

I woke up with a running nose, I have had the flu injection so can only be a cold, it's a beautiful day after a light frost, my sister emailed to say she and her cats have flu and she is so bad even her hair hurts! I hope I don’t escalate to that level of illness.

My brother has come to get a grate made for his fire place, as the Pootle is very good at welding. I made scones with strawberries, a la Orangette using scone mix and my frozen strawberries [picked out from the frozen mixed berries used yesterday], for morning tea, they looked wonderful, but needed something sweet , I find strawberries are nearly always disappointingly tart, they would have been perfect with sweet whipped cream, but after the decadence of the “Paris Brest” I wanted plain, next time will add some sugar to the scone mix.

Was catching up on the bros’ news as the Pootle made us coffee, and neighbours called in, just back from Carins and Port Douglas, so happy to be here and enjoying our beautiful cool air and lack of having to worry when the bushes rustle in case it’s a croc, we all congratulate ourselves on living in paradise.

As he leaves Brother says ‘ I have put 4 ducks in your deep freeze”, I am really looking forward to cooking them as last year in Melbourne I attended duck cooking lessons and they are ridiculous price at the supermarkets here to practice cooking skills on.

This afternoon I pruned the roses and then went to a book launch at the bowling club, Ian Church a local historian has written a history of the fishermen of Karitane called “ Karitane by the Sea”. It was worth buying for the beautiful painting reproduced on the cover alone, with our house “Oki Oki”, in the background. I brought two, came home, flicked through and went back for another three, they will make great Christmas presents for anyone with a Karitane connection.

Not up to much cooking wise today with nose streaming, so made Orangettes “Braised Savoy Cabbage”, and had it with a couple of fried eggs each and slice of bread. It was a good Sunday night meal. I used a Mainland double cream Camembert which was a bit stiff, she recommends a triple cream. I used half the cheese stated in the recipe, and I’m sure it would have been enough if I had used a softer, gooier type of cheese; next time will try vegetable stock instead of chicken, it’s a very rich and satisfying meal, and certainly no need for meat as well, but it would also make a side dish for several people.

SAVOY CABBAGE GRATIN
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 Savoy cabbage quartered, cored, and sliced into ½-inch-wide shreds
2 tiny leeks, white and green parts, sliced into ½-inch-wide pieces
Salt
1 ¾ cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 ripe Saint-Marcellin cheese (about 85g), or an equal amount of triple-cream cheese

Set a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat the oven to 160c. Lightly butter a large gratin dish, or another dish of similar size.
Melt the butter in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the cabbage and leeks, season generously with salt, and cook, stirring, until the cabbage is nicely wilted and just beginning to brown in spots, about 10 minutes. Add the stock; bring to a steady simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes.
Transfer all into the prepared gratin dish. Cover tightly with foil or lid, and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the lid, and continue to bake until the liquid is mostly evaporated, about 20 minutes more. Then remove the dish from the oven. Cut the cheese into small lumps and scatter it over the cabbage. Increase the oven temperature to 180°c return the dish to the oven, and cook until the cheese is thoroughly melted, about 10 minutes.