a few of our favourite things

Miriam: While visiting Tauranga & Rotorua recently, we stopped in at Okere Falls Store. This is the most upmarket general store around, and as well as an extensive range of gourmet goodies for sale, they also have a lovely sunny beer garden. Their smoothies are not to be missed, with my friend Lewi claiming they're the best in NZ. Mike and I passed Okere Falls on two occasions during our trip and both times we couldn't resist leaving without a smoothie for the road. Oh and cup is 100% biodegradable, so there's no need to feel guilty about the take-away packaging.

Becs: I love my 2012 calendar illustrated by Victoria Griffin. Miriam does too, hence we managed to buy one for each other and also ourselves for Christmas, resulting in four identical calendars between the two of us. Each month is whimsically but simply illustrated; February features a sweet recipe for raspberry jam. If you are still calendarless for 2012 they still have a few on sale at Felt for just $15, snap up a bargain. (Credit to Victoria's blog for this beautifully styled picture too by the way)

two ways with mince

A rather boring title for my first proper blog post for 2012 I know, but here are a couple of tasty dinners we have enjoyed lately. I am not too much of a meat snob, and provided it is decent mince I quite enjoy cooking with it.  A recent visit to Nikau inspired this dinner above - crispy Moroccan-style lamb on hummus.  The trick to getting it crispy is having a hot hot pan (cast iron would be best) and not cooking too much mince at once as it cools the pan down and ends up stewing.  So tempting I know to chuck it all in, but don't.  My rendition was more heavily spiced than Nikau's, so suit yourself in that regard, but it was still delicious.  We ate it with warm pita and a salad of roasted eggplant and red pepper.

To make a quick hummus in the food processor I blend a tin of drained, rinsed chickpeas with the juice of a lemon, salt, a clove of garlic and a spoonful of tahini if I have it. Then I add little pour of olive oil and a good dollop of yoghurt to loosen it; I like my hummus to be fairly sloppy in texture and sharp in taste.

crispy spiced lamb with hummus and herbs

 rice bran oil

1 onion, sliced

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp cinnamon

400g lamb mince

chopped fresh mint and Italian parsley to serve

roasted almonds/pistachios/pinenuts or dukkah to serve

Slowly cook the onion until golden and tender, add the spices and fry gently for a few minutes. Put aside.

Just heat oil in a pan until smoking hot, add the lamb, breaking it into little bits with your spoon and fry until dark brown, stir through the onion mix and continue cooking.

Tip onto a plate spread generously with hummus, scatter with the herbs and nuts and serve with pita bread.

Pork mince is another favourite starting point for a quick dinner. The pork spring rolls below Mum made; don't let the fact that the recipe comes from Food in a Minute put you off,  they are very tasty.  I think homemade spring rolls are the only way to go - comfortingly you can rely on the filling being identifiable, and ensure a good ratio of filling to pastry.  This version is brushed with oil and baked in a hot oven, so they are pleasantly free of excess grease. You can find the recipe here.

a few of our favourite things...

Libby: I LOVE my new chopping board - a belated birthday gift from my sister Sarah. It's good and sturdy so it doesn't slide around on the bench but is light enough to pick up and move around as required. It makes my old plastic boards look especially old and decrepit! It's made by Bec's friend Marc Zuckerman of MZ Design. We're also fans of his remarkably useful toast tongs.

Becs: I have rediscovered greenshell mussels lately when just cooking for myself, they are such an easy meal for one and so cheap. I think their low price makes us take them for granted a bit here in NZ. These ones I steamed open in a covered pan with a little white wine, then removed the top shell, lay them on a lined baking sheet and drizzled them with sticky thai sauce before grilling for a few minutes. (To make the sauce just simmer 50ml each of lemon juice, soy sauce and fish sauce together with 2 chopped red chillis and 1/4c each of fresh mint and coriander - thicken with a little cornflour and store in the fridge - it will keep for ages.) These make a great pre dinner pass-around too when piled up on a platter.

a few of our favourite things...

Libby: I usually like to buy vegetables a few times a week depending on what I feel like eating but this week I'll be using up the huge array of veges from the mixed box delivered by Epicurean Supplies on Friday (via a daily deal voucher). I was impressed by the selection - lots of salad leaves and other leafy greens, chioggia and red beetroot, carrots, capsicums, cucumbers, bok choy and a great mix of herbs - and most importantly, all lovely and fresh. 

Becs: Daisy and I are up in Wellington for a few days, so we paid a visit to the City Market on Sunday morning.  Libby and I loved the beautifully packaged honey-based syrups from Bees blessing; she chose an Elderflower and honey cordial while I bought a bottle of the Mulled lemon and honey.  

hawaiian crepes

This is a bit of an old-school dinner Mum used to make us (and still does on special occasions). It's kind of like a crepe cannelloni. The 'recipe' is pretty loose; make a whole bunch of crepes, fill them with ham, pineapple, cheese and anything else you have lying around. Roll them up and squish them all into a dish, sprinkling with cheese on top. Bake until the cheese is melted and the ham is warm. Serve with a green salad if you want. Enjoy!

plum & vanilla upside-down cake with vanilla mascarpone

Mike's mum Barbara recently gave me some Heilala Vanilla that came with a recipe handout. I've never made an upside down cake before, but this one look appealing and given that plums are in season and I had most of the ingredients in the cupboard, I decided to give it a go. I made two of these; the bigger one was shared when we had friends over for dinner and the slightly smaller version was for my friends Lewi & Kate who were in need a pick-me-up. It was simple to make, and the vanilla mascarpone was delicious on the side. The recipe suggests you can use any fresh fruit for this cake, so I must play around with other fruit too.

Plum & vanilla upside-down cake

20g butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

6-8 black or red plums

125g butter

1 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups self-raising flour

1/4 cup milk

Vanilla mascarpone

250g mascarpone

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)

2 teaspoons icing sugar

preheat oven to 180C. Line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper. Melt the first measure of butter and the brown sugar in a small pan. Pour it into the base of the cake tin and spread evenly. Cut the plums in half and remove the stones. Arrange the plum halves, cut side down on the butter and brown sugar mixture. Put the extra butter, caster sugar and vanilla in a bowl and using an electric beater, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Fold the flour into the creamed mixture alternatively with the milk. Spoon the cake mixture evenly over the plums. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave the cake in the tine for 10-15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the mascarpone, vanilla paste and icing sugar. Turn the cake out onto a platter and serve with the vanilla mascarpone.

a few of our favourite things

Miriam: Ginger Crunch is having a resurgence in my household. And I love it! I think the Edmond's Cookbook recipe is pretty good, but, it is made soooo much better when you double (or triple) the topping of the fudge-like ginger goodness.

Becs: I really rate these crispy little lavosh made by 180 degrees (they don't seem to have a website?) I have tried all their lavosh variants and the black and white sesame seed is by far my favourite; the others seemed a bit 'flavoured' or oversalted. These little crackers are brilliantly crunchy and super served with a bowl of garlicky hummus. Not too expensive either - about $4 from memory - I stocked up at the supermarket before Christmas when all these sort of treaty things were on special.

a few of our favourite things

Libby: I've recently re-discovered ice cream-in-a-cone. It's the perfect sweet finish to a summer barbecue - it's easy (if you buy the ice cream), inexpensive (as ice cream seems to go further when served in cones) and best of all... no dishes. Stay away from those horrid orange wafer cones though - I like the "Select" brand waffle cones from Countdown and Pam's honey waffle cones.

Miriam: My brother David requested this Heston Blumenthal Christmas Pudding for Christmas. Apparently these were a must-have in the UK and a black market developed with puddings selling for up to 15 times their RRP. I purchased this one at Nosh for a more modest $50. The pudding has a candied orange in the center, which adds a lovely moistness to the whole pudding, with the orange juices/oils running throughout the pudding. Although I found it a bit sweet for my liking, it certainly was worth a taste and a little goes a long way so lots of us were able to indulge in a sample.

Asian-style chicken salad

I may have eaten one too many barbecued sausage over the Christmas break because since coming home I've been felt like cooking anything but barbecued food. I've been making lots of curries, with loads of fresh garlic, ginger and whole spices and tonight, for a change from barbecued food and curries, I made this chilli-spiked, salty-sweet Asian-style chicken salad. It's inspired by this recipe here from Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty and a recipe from Oamaru's Riverstone Kitchen that was in this week's Sunday Star Times.

I know the ingredient list below is a reasonably long one but you're missing something just swap it for something else or leave it out. It's more a list of suggestions than a recipe. I used iceberg lettuce because I love its refreshing crispness but finely sliced cabbage, baby spinach or any other salad green will work just as well as iceberg. The pineapple could be swapped for mango or left out altogether if you don't like the meat-with-fruit combo. Similarly, cashews or plain peanuts would also be delicious instead of honey roasted ones. Or if you're feeling extravagant make the caramelised macadamia nuts in the Ottolenghi recipe linked above. They are truly delicious so make enough to nibble a few while you cook.

Asian-style chicken salad

2 chicken breasts

400ml can coconut milk

dressing

2 pinches chilli flakes

1 large clove garlic, crushed

1tsp flaky sea salt

2 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tsp fish sauce

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 iceberg lettuce, shredded

1 capsicum, deseeded and thinly sliced

1/2 pineapple sliced into thin batons (or a finely sliced mango if available/affordable)

1 cup bean sprouts

1 cup fresh coriander, roughly chopped

1/2 cup fresh mint, roughly chopped

1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced

to finish

1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts, finely chopped

4 tablespoons crispy shallots

Place the coconut milk and chicken breasts in a saucepan, bring to a simmer and simmer for 8-12 minutes - until chicken is cooked all the way through (if your chicken breasts are fat ones allow more time). Leave the chicken to cool in the coconut milk. Once cool, shred and place in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Bring the coconut milk to the boil and add the salt, chilli flakes, garlic and sugar. Simmer for a minute or so to dissolve the sugar then remove from heat and add the lemon juice and fish sauce. Pour a few tablespoons of the dressing over the chicken and set the rest aside to cool.

While the dressing is cooling prepare the salad ingredients and place in a large bowl. When ready to serve, add the chicken and an extra 1/2 cup of the coconut milk dressing and mix. Serve topped with the fried shallots and peanuts.

Serve with rice noodles or plain steamed rice and extra dressing on the side.

This recipe makes enough for four people. Adjust the quantities as required.

a few of our favourite things

Miriam: I spent some of the Christmas holidays in the South Island with Mike along with some of our family and friends (including Libby, Becs and Daisy). During our adventures, we went to my Dad's home town of Temuka. Becs and I both managed to find treasures at John's Collectibles on the main street. I brought these glass cream bottles. To combat the post holiday/return to work depression, I have filled the house with flowers. I think the bottles look rather sweet with carnations and help brighten up the place in the dreary weather we are experiencing.