We have just got back from a couple of weeks in the Cook Islands, visiting Rarotonga and Aitutaki, both stunning places. We felt quite at home as most of people we met where NZers on holiday or locals who have lived in NZ and decided to return to paradise. In Rarotonga we loved the way tropical fruits and flowers were left in our room every day, always a bowl of paw paw, bananas and passion fruit, and outside there was a whole huge bunch of bananas to help yourself to. http:/www.muribeachresort.com. 
We only did one tour, a progressive dinner temu@cookislandsconnect.co.ck, visiting three local homes, it was great to see around the gardens where they even grew coffee, and to taste local dishes, we tried taro leaves in coconut milk, albacore marinated raw in lemon and lime juice and dressed with coconut cream, arrowroot sticks, and the local fish wahoo.
There’s not many such accessible warm places in the world where everyone has a beachfront place to stay at a reasonable price, and you can wander a beach, swim, snorkel a lagoon or kayak, often with no one else in sight, Aere ra.
All our friends are returning from holidays as well, we have hopefully timed our holidays to miss the worst of winter and have arrived home in time to enjoy spring, as a good omen my rhododendron is in full flower, the best I’ve ever seen it, probably due to the wet summer this year.
ROAST WILD DUCK
Place [frozen in this case] duck in oven bag, sprinkle in some oil as wild duck has no fat, some chopped thyme and sage, dried or fresh is okay, 2tbsps Kecap Manis [sweet soy sauce], 2 tbsp flour, ¼ cup water or stock, tie and squiggle round, bake slowly at about 160c. After an hour place oiled veg eg. pumpkin, parsnip, potatoes on another tray and roast at same temp for 30 mins, then take duck out to rest, increase heat to 200c, 10mins before veg cooked, take duck out of bag and place in with veg to heat and crisp a bit. Leave oven bag in pan, split it open and add some stock or water, swirl round to get residue off bag and then remove it, heat up and thicken to make lovely gravy, the juice of an orange is nice added to duck gravy. I had stuffed this duck before I froze it by mixing some breadcrumbs with a small chopped onion, sage, thyme and parsley and enough oil to just moisten a little. We should have had a green veg and mashed potatoes, but it was easier to chuck everything in the oven, eating it beside a roaring fire with a glass of wine made us feel very happy to be home.
The next day was chilly, I went for a walk on the beach with a friend and then to take my mind off winter and eating tropical fruits I baked between doing loads of washing. I made plain healthy muesli and Oat Bran biscuits, and Yo Yos for Pootle, for lunch we had a lovelyFeta Souffle. It feels great to be back in the kitchen again, a feeling that probably won’t last.
MUESLI adapted from Aspire for life diet
500gms whole rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup wheat germ
½ cup ground linseed
½ cup sunflower seeds [or any seeds you have to hand]
1/4 cup brown sugar
25 ml rice bran or canola oil
1/3 cup trim milk
1 cup dried fruit[ I use dates]
Mix everything together except the dried fruit and place in large oven dish, make sure you mix the sugar through thoroughly or it goes into hard lumps, I rub everything together with my fingers as if making scones. Cook at 150°C for 45 minutes stirring at regular intervals. Turn the oven off and leave until oven is cold, when cooled, mix in the chopped dried fruit of your choice. Store in airtight jars.
OAT BRAN BISCUITS [I can't remember where I got this recipe from]
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup natural oat bran
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
75 g unsalted butter, chopped
1/2 cup water
1/4c currants and 1 tsp cinnamon [optional]
Combine the flour, oat bran, sugar, salt and bicarbonate of soda in food processor, add butter, pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add currants and cinnamon if using.
Add the water until the mixture just comes together, you might need a little more water.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
Heat oven to 180°C, and grease two baking trays.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is about 3mm thick and place on trays.
Bake, swapping the position of the trays over halfway through the cooking, for 20 to 25mins minutes or until golden brown. Watch carefully as they can burn at the edges. They look dreary but good for when you feel like something healthy and are really tasty esp. with a slice of cheese.
YO YOS adapted from Edmond's cookbook
175gms butter
1/4c icing sugar
Few drops vanilla
1&1/2c plain flour
1/4c custard power
Lemon Butter Icing
Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla.
Sift the flour and custard power together and mix into the creamed mixture.
Roll into evenly sized balls [should be about 24], flatten with a fork dipped in flour.
Bake at 180c for 15 to 20 mins.
They are very delicate so lift off gently.
When cool fill with lemon butter icing.
FETA SOUFFLE from the book Fetching for Frank by Anne Findlay Norris
Butter to grease plates
100gm Parmesan [freshly grated best], cheddar is also okay or half of each
3 eggs separated
200gms soft feta
75ml cream
1tsp chopped thyme
Few thyme leaves
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 200c
Grease two shallow soup plates and sprinkle with ¼ of the Parmesan.
Whisk the egg yolks, add crumbled feta and whisk again.
Stir in the cream, thyme, and salt and pepper.
Fold in half the remaining Parmesan.
In separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt.
Fold whites gently but through into other mixture, pour into the two bowls, sprinkle with remaining cheese and decorate with thyme sprigs.
Bake for about 10mins and serve immediately with a slice of bread and butter or toast.
This is a delicious lunch and a good book to read, about a New Zealand woman who goes to London and looks after a wealthy expat, she includes some lovely recipes.
We have wine club every couple of months, we all take a “plate” and the hostess chooses the wine and sometimes a theme, this time it’s “Black Friday”, so I took “ Boudin Noir”, or “Black Pudding”, as it’s the only black food I could think of, I love this occasionally, but the Pootle used to be a butcher in the far far away days and won’t touch it, he mutters darkly “if only you knew the ingredients”, “ how can you eat that” etc.These days I make it in the French way with sauteed apples, the secret is to fry slices of the pudding until they have crispy edges, and soft centers yumo.
BOUDIN NOIR adapted from FPSi
2 black puddings
4 cooking apples
1 or 2 large onions
Slice black puddings into rings and fry in a little butter until they have crispy edges, about 5mins, set aside.
Peel and slice apples, fry slices in butter with the sliced onion until golden brown and tender, remove from heat.
Tip the black puddings and the apple and onion into an attractive dish and keep warm in oven until serving.
Nice serve with mashed potatoes.
I raked through the dress up bag and went as Dracula’s mother [grandmother!], I dotted black freckles across my face thinking they looked rather fetching, but in morning they seemed to have melded into black patches to match the bags under my eyes! It’s been a slow day, but I managed to cook Jamie Olivers “Fish Pie” for dinner using some blue cod the Pootle had smoked, thinking I will worry about the high calories on Monday.
FISH PIE adapted from Jamie Oliver
3 large potatoes, cooked and mashed
salt and pepper
2 eggs
2 large handfuls fresh spinach, trimmed and washed
1 leek, finely chopped
1 carrot, halved and finely chopped
Olive oil 3/4c cream
2 good handfuls grated mature Cheddar or Parmesan
Juice of 1 lemon
1 heaped teaspoon English mustard [dry]
1 large handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
500gms fresh or smoked cod [or any other fish] broken into bits
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Nutmeg, optional
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Boil potatoes and eggs, steam the spinach in a colander above the pot. This will only take a minute. When the spinach is done, remove from the colander and gently squeeze any excess moisture away.
Drain and mash the potatoes adding butter, milk and nutmeg if you want, peel the eggs and chop.
In a separate pan slowly fry the leek and carrot in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes, then add the cream, and bring just to a boil.
Remove from the heat and add the cheese, lemon juice, mustard, and parsley.
Put the spinach, fish and eggs into an appropriately sized dish and mix together, pouring over the creamy vegetable sauce.
Top with mashed potatoes.
Place in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are golden.
Don't be afraid of using so much mustard it makes the dish special, serve with some nice peas, beans or a salad.
I sold a dear little crib a few days before going on holiday and now I haven't much stock so I will have to get to work, I am looking forward to it as someone will be wanting a crib for the summer and I will love finding it for them.
We only did one tour, a progressive dinner temu@cookislandsconnect.co.ck, visiting three local homes, it was great to see around the gardens where they even grew coffee, and to taste local dishes, we tried taro leaves in coconut milk, albacore marinated raw in lemon and lime juice and dressed with coconut cream, arrowroot sticks, and the local fish wahoo.
There’s not many such accessible warm places in the world where everyone has a beachfront place to stay at a reasonable price, and you can wander a beach, swim, snorkel a lagoon or kayak, often with no one else in sight, Aere ra.
All our friends are returning from holidays as well, we have hopefully timed our holidays to miss the worst of winter and have arrived home in time to enjoy spring, as a good omen my rhododendron is in full flower, the best I’ve ever seen it, probably due to the wet summer this year.
Place [frozen in this case] duck in oven bag, sprinkle in some oil as wild duck has no fat, some chopped thyme and sage, dried or fresh is okay, 2tbsps Kecap Manis [sweet soy sauce], 2 tbsp flour, ¼ cup water or stock, tie and squiggle round, bake slowly at about 160c. After an hour place oiled veg eg. pumpkin, parsnip, potatoes on another tray and roast at same temp for 30 mins, then take duck out to rest, increase heat to 200c, 10mins before veg cooked, take duck out of bag and place in with veg to heat and crisp a bit. Leave oven bag in pan, split it open and add some stock or water, swirl round to get residue off bag and then remove it, heat up and thicken to make lovely gravy, the juice of an orange is nice added to duck gravy. I had stuffed this duck before I froze it by mixing some breadcrumbs with a small chopped onion, sage, thyme and parsley and enough oil to just moisten a little. We should have had a green veg and mashed potatoes, but it was easier to chuck everything in the oven, eating it beside a roaring fire with a glass of wine made us feel very happy to be home.
The next day was chilly, I went for a walk on the beach with a friend and then to take my mind off winter and eating tropical fruits I baked between doing loads of washing. I made plain healthy muesli and Oat Bran biscuits, and Yo Yos for Pootle, for lunch we had a lovelyFeta Souffle. It feels great to be back in the kitchen again, a feeling that probably won’t last.
500gms whole rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1/2 cup wheat germ
½ cup ground linseed
½ cup sunflower seeds [or any seeds you have to hand]
1/4 cup brown sugar
25 ml rice bran or canola oil
1/3 cup trim milk
1 cup dried fruit[ I use dates]
Mix everything together except the dried fruit and place in large oven dish, make sure you mix the sugar through thoroughly or it goes into hard lumps, I rub everything together with my fingers as if making scones. Cook at 150°C for 45 minutes stirring at regular intervals. Turn the oven off and leave until oven is cold, when cooled, mix in the chopped dried fruit of your choice. Store in airtight jars.
OAT BRAN BISCUITS [I can't remember where I got this recipe from]
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup natural oat bran
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, to taste
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
75 g unsalted butter, chopped
1/2 cup water
1/4c currants and 1 tsp cinnamon [optional]
Combine the flour, oat bran, sugar, salt and bicarbonate of soda in food processor, add butter, pulse until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add currants and cinnamon if using.
Add the water until the mixture just comes together, you might need a little more water.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.
Heat oven to 180°C, and grease two baking trays.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out the dough until it is about 3mm thick and place on trays.
Bake, swapping the position of the trays over halfway through the cooking, for 20 to 25mins minutes or until golden brown. Watch carefully as they can burn at the edges. They look dreary but good for when you feel like something healthy and are really tasty esp. with a slice of cheese.
175gms butter
1/4c icing sugar
Few drops vanilla
1&1/2c plain flour
1/4c custard power
Lemon Butter Icing
Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy, add vanilla.
Sift the flour and custard power together and mix into the creamed mixture.
Roll into evenly sized balls [should be about 24], flatten with a fork dipped in flour.
Bake at 180c for 15 to 20 mins.
They are very delicate so lift off gently.
When cool fill with lemon butter icing.
Butter to grease plates
100gm Parmesan [freshly grated best], cheddar is also okay or half of each
3 eggs separated
200gms soft feta
75ml cream
1tsp chopped thyme
Few thyme leaves
Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 200c
Grease two shallow soup plates and sprinkle with ¼ of the Parmesan.
Whisk the egg yolks, add crumbled feta and whisk again.
Stir in the cream, thyme, and salt and pepper.
Fold in half the remaining Parmesan.
In separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff with a pinch of salt.
Fold whites gently but through into other mixture, pour into the two bowls, sprinkle with remaining cheese and decorate with thyme sprigs.
Bake for about 10mins and serve immediately with a slice of bread and butter or toast.
This is a delicious lunch and a good book to read, about a New Zealand woman who goes to London and looks after a wealthy expat, she includes some lovely recipes.
We have wine club every couple of months, we all take a “plate” and the hostess chooses the wine and sometimes a theme, this time it’s “Black Friday”, so I took “ Boudin Noir”, or “Black Pudding”, as it’s the only black food I could think of, I love this occasionally, but the Pootle used to be a butcher in the far far away days and won’t touch it, he mutters darkly “if only you knew the ingredients”, “ how can you eat that” etc.These days I make it in the French way with sauteed apples, the secret is to fry slices of the pudding until they have crispy edges, and soft centers yumo.
2 black puddings
4 cooking apples
1 or 2 large onions
Slice black puddings into rings and fry in a little butter until they have crispy edges, about 5mins, set aside.
Peel and slice apples, fry slices in butter with the sliced onion until golden brown and tender, remove from heat.
Tip the black puddings and the apple and onion into an attractive dish and keep warm in oven until serving.
Nice serve with mashed potatoes.
FISH PIE adapted from Jamie Oliver
3 large potatoes, cooked and mashed
salt and pepper
2 eggs
2 large handfuls fresh spinach, trimmed and washed
1 leek, finely chopped
1 carrot, halved and finely chopped
Olive oil 3/4c cream
2 good handfuls grated mature Cheddar or Parmesan
Juice of 1 lemon
1 heaped teaspoon English mustard [dry]
1 large handful flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
500gms fresh or smoked cod [or any other fish] broken into bits
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Nutmeg, optional
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Boil potatoes and eggs, steam the spinach in a colander above the pot. This will only take a minute. When the spinach is done, remove from the colander and gently squeeze any excess moisture away.
Drain and mash the potatoes adding butter, milk and nutmeg if you want, peel the eggs and chop.
In a separate pan slowly fry the leek and carrot in a little olive oil for about 5 minutes, then add the cream, and bring just to a boil.
Remove from the heat and add the cheese, lemon juice, mustard, and parsley.
Put the spinach, fish and eggs into an appropriately sized dish and mix together, pouring over the creamy vegetable sauce.
Top with mashed potatoes.
Place in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes until the potatoes are golden.
Don't be afraid of using so much mustard it makes the dish special, serve with some nice peas, beans or a salad.
I sold a dear little crib a few days before going on holiday and now I haven't much stock so I will have to get to work, I am looking forward to it as someone will be wanting a crib for the summer and I will love finding it for them.
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