SPICY THOUGHTS

French Almond Cake w/berries

2009-11-11T00:07:00.000-08:00

I've been playing with a lot with dessert-making lately. I miss the days back in California when Steve would purchase the various frozen desserts at Trader Joe's. Desserts like: Frozen profiteroles, Chocolate ganache cake, Chocolate mousse collaboration, Berry Charlotte, etc. We tried most of them.; a thin slice doled out during special moments (which was nearly every other day) and served with a lovely glass of good Port or some other dessert liquer...mmm- mmm!
Right now Steve doles out delicious bits of dark chocolate flavoured with Pear or Chili or perhaps some of his homemade biscotti (which I will feature at some point).
Problem is that his biscottis are best accompanied with tea and the chocolate bits are too small. Diet-wise this dessert regimen might be healthy but for someone used to Trader Joe's high end stuff - honey I need more!

Thus, I've tried to replicate a some less complicated styles of desserts.

I flipped through some Sunday magazine and fell upon a simple recipe for French Almond Cake with berries. The ingredients were simple - and I responded in typical Pavlovian style as my mind dreamt of chopped almonds in a butter cake - yummm!!! I had many questions though on how soft and/or rich the cake might turn out. Here is the recipe with my touch:

Serving size: 6
INGREDIENTS:
125g Caster sugar
4 eggs, separated
125g butter, softened, but not melted
250g almonds, finely ground
60g flour
500g Berries, jam or sweet greek yoghurt for serving (my touch).

PROCEDURE:
Preheat oven: 180ºC
Butter and flour a 20cm-diameter cake tin or a 22cm-diameter ring tin.
Note: I used decorative silicone plasticware - greased nicely with butter:

Using an electric mixer beat sugar & egg ytolks until pale and thick.

Beat in butter nicely then add flour & almonds:

In a separate bowl - beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks.

Gently fold in egg whites into butter/almond mixture- careful not to mix too thoroughly.
Pour in a tin and bake 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the oven, cool, flip onto a serving plate, slice and serve with berries. Alternatively if no berries, place a tsp of sweet yoghurt on top of cake slice and then 1 tsp of berry jam (or all of the above).

Notes: I tried this with an electric mixer and without (whisked by hand). I must say that one's hand gets awful sore after all that mixing. Use a mixer for best results.

I've tried this recipe with fresh ground almonds (ground with a food processor) and then another time with store-bought ground almonds. It's a matter of preference of texture of your cake. If like to feel nuts in your mouth -then grind nuts yourself in a food processor.

Easy, tasty and keeps nicely for a week. Enjoy!

Beef dry curry (Burmese style)

2009-10-29T00:07:00.000-07:00

Wondering about something exotic to make with all your beef?

This recipe takes about an hour to prepare and serve. It has wonderful flavour and is fairly easy for an exotic dish! It was first prepared and served to me by my partner Steve during our early years dating. (One of the many reasons I fell for him:)

I've used it for over 10 years and each time I add a little different flair to it - perhaps some Habañero chilies and/or chopped kaffir lime. These are sensible deviations and only enhance the dish over time.

Ingredients:

750g (1.5lb) stewing steak cut in 5cm (2in) squares

2 large onions

5 large cloves garlic

2 tsp chopped fresh ginger

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder (mild or xxx)

3 tablespoons mustard or olive oil

¼ tsp ground black pepper

2 tender stems lemon grass, finely sliced, or 4 strips lemon rind

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 cup (8 fl oz) hot water

1.5 tsp salt

Garnish:

2 large onions, finely sliced and fried until crisp & brown (OPTIONAL)

4 large stalks of fresh cut cilantro and one green onion (OPTIONAL)

Procedure:

Typically the onion, garlic and ginger are termed "basic ingredients". These are put through a food processor and puréed. The turmeric and chili are added to this purée and this whole mixture is sautéed in hot (almost smoking) oil for at least 15 minutes; the goal being to remove most of the water from the mixture without allowing it to becoming too sticky. You essentially want the oil to return.

Deviation is not a sin, I have done the puréed and non-puréed versions and I find it doesn't affect the flavour too much either way. Texture-wise there is a slight difference. Experiment for yourself. I choose the easy, non-purée, sauté of basic ingredients (minus chili):

Keep in mind though that chili, when sauteed along with the onions, garlic & ginger, will emanate it's burning sensation not only through your mucosal membranes but also to those in your immediate living space. Don't be surprised to find members of your household coughing or sneezing. Depending on what chili species you use -the experience might be damned near uncomfortable or painful. I add any chili or other pepper flakes with the meat (much more tolerable).

Going back to the sautéeing the basic ingredients...when the water has left and the oil has returned, add the meat, black pepper and lemon grass/lemon rind (and habañero). Continue frying and stirring until all the juices from the beef have completely evaporated and meat changes colour.

Note...at this point it might be your last chance to prepare your favorite version of steamed rice (in a rice cooker).

Add hot water & salt, lemon juice - cover and simmer until meat is tender (add more water if necessary).

Remove lid, raise heat and cook rapidly until the meat is oily-dry and well coated with the gravy. Taste to ensure tenderness of meat and salt levels are satisfactory.

Serve with 1.5 scoops of steamed white rice and however much dry curry you desire. Top with green onion, cilantro and fried onion topping mix (or everything minus deep fried onion as I did below):

This can be aliquotted and frozen; it only tastes better the longer it is kept:)

Our first farm crop!

2009-10-07T13:46:00.000-07:00

Marasmius oreades -This is the scientific name for the fairy ring mushrooms found on our farm.

There are many rings all over our property.
Fanciers of mushrooms, we were keen to find out if these were edible. When experimenting with wild mushrooms great care must be taken to really know if what you picked isn't poisonous. We researched these mushrooms to identify exactly what species they were. Yet pictures can be subjective and mistakes may still occur. If brave enough - a self experimentation must follow. After identifying the mushroom, we went ahead and picked some mushrooms from a few fairy rings - making sure gills and caps of mushrooms were of same colour and consistency.

We removed the stem of one mushroom and cleaned the gills of the cap:
There are many minute live insects lodged within the gills and I found the best way to coax them out was with running water:
Hmmm...if the bugs were found alive does that count for nonpoisonous? No. We still needed to cook one to see how we react to it.

One mushroom cap was tossed in hot oil, salted and shared between ourselves.

We waited one day to see if either of us felt queasy, out of sorts or hallucinated visions of god-like creatures. Sadly no new gods were discovered and we felt fine.

The experiment worked and fairy rings were our first home-grown crop and designated for morning breakfast. The recipe follows.

Ingredients:
2 leaves fresh sage - chopped
1 sprig thyme
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 clove of diced/crushed garlic
Fairy ring mushrooms - a handful of cleaned caps; stems removed
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste

Soak, wash and pat dry caps:

If caps are large slice them lengthwise:

Heat one tbsp of oil and fry garlic for 1 minute.

Then throw in diced mushroom caps and saute for 3 minutes or until water starts to come out and mushrooms appear soft:

Throw in fresh herbs and salt:

Serve as a side as I have for breakfast:
The mushrooms did not possess a strong flavour thus the garlic and herbs came through and were a lovely addition. The texture of these mushrooms were soft and smooth. So there! Free, healthy vegetables, growing wild on our farm, organic with no chemical fertilizers, low in calories and more importantly... we lived to tell about it!

A SPICY HOT BREAKFAST TO REV UP YOUR DAY!

2009-09-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

When Steve and I would visit his parents in Southern California I truly enjoyed the times when his Mom would make "Thai breakfast". She learned this when she visited Thailand and makes it every so often.

I've learned this recipe from her and I put my own "holly" additions to it (as I tend to enjoy things a bit sour and xx-hot). The recipe involves rice gruel, poached egg and thai spiced chicken or pork and frankly is best prepared and eaten on a cold winter's morning.

Serving size: 2
Ingredients for rice gruel:
1 cup rice
2 cups chicken broth
2 large eggs

Ingredients for Thai spiced chicken:
1⁄4kg chicken thighs chopped
3⁄4 Tbsp Fish sauce
1 Tbsp Tom Yum
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp shrimp paste
2 Kaffir Lime leaves - chopped fine
1 tsp grated ginger
1 shallot (or onion) finely chopped
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1⁄4cup chopped cilantro
1 Tbsp oil

Ingredients for spicy-sour Fish Sauce:
1⁄4 cup Thai fish sauce
1⁄2 lime squeezed for juice
2 Thai chilies (or however many you can tolerate)
Mix all of these together and set aside.

Heat chicken broth in pan and add rice (medium -low heat). Continue on a low boil until rice gets soft and soggy adding extra chicken broth if necessary.

Meanwhile -mix tom yum, shrimp paste, fish sauce and rice vinegar in a bowl and set aside.

Heat oil in pan.
Sauté garlic and ginger first until soft. Then add kaffir lime leaves.
Add chicken and onions. Stir and brown chicken on one side.

After 5 minutes, add the tom yum mixture to chicken, stir and cover; turn heat to low and let simmer for 5-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked. Turn off heat.

Return to boiling rice mixture and make sure there is extra liquid and rice is reasonably soft.
When rice is soft, create two holes in the gruel for placing the each of two cracked eggs. Cover and continue to poach to desired level.

Check on eggs in the rice gruel; when done to your liking turn off heat.
Assemble Thai breakfast as follows:

In a nice bowl place a scoop out rice and a poached egg.

Add one spoonful as desired of the Thai spiced chicken.

Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.

Add spicy fish sauce as desired.

MOHNKUCHEN...

2009-09-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

This is just another way of saying "Eastern European poppy-seed cake"; although since it has a German name it is often referred to as German poppy seed cake. Whatever the case it hails from Europe.

Steve, my 'master-baker' has been excelling in his baking skills. He has now made this fantastic cake several times. Each time he bakes this - the house is filled with the lovely scent of citrus and poppy seed...and I just can't wait to get my slice! His recipe hails from "Morning Food - Cafe Beaujolais" by Margaret S. Fox.

Here is the recipe more (as we have performed it):
BREAD:
11⁄2 Tbsp dry yeast (check exp. date)
1⁄4 cup warm water
1⁄4 cup warm milk
1⁄2 tsp. salt
1⁄4 cup sugar
1 egg
1⁄4 cup butter at room temperature
3 cups unsifted white flour
Egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 tsp water
3 Tbsp sliced almonds.

POPPY SEED FILLING:
3⁄4 cup poppy seeds
3⁄4 cup whole almonds or hazelnuts
1⁄2 cup white sugar
1⁄3 cup milk
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp butter

Steve made the filling first then kept it aside - though not very long.

Procedure for poppy seed filling:
The nuts are combined in blender or food processor and blended until the mixture is consistency of cornmeal. Steve used a nut grinder or a small coffee grinder as his blenders.
In a small pan, combine the rest of the filling ingredients and cook over low heat, stirring until the mixture boils and thickens (10 minutes). Cool.

Procedure for bread:
Dissolve yeast in water with a pinch of sugar. Let it stand for 5 minutes then stir and blend in the milk, salt, sugar, egg & butter.
Gradually beat in about 2 1⁄2 cups of the flour to make a soft dough.
Flour a dough board and turn the dough out on the floured board. Adding remaining 1⁄2 cup flour as necessary, knead until it is smooth and satiny, about 5 minutes. Turn the dough over in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about 1 1⁄2 hours).

When dough has risen sufficiently, punch it down. On a flat, greased surface, roll the dough out to cover the entire surface. Mark the dough lightly into 3 lengthwise sections.
In the pictures below (left to right)

Poppy seed filling already prepared (top left).
Bread machine used to knead and incubate dough as it rises (top right)
Steve rolling out dough for filling (bottom left & right)

Spread the poppy-seed filling over the center third of the dough as seen below.

Cut about 10 diagonal strips in each of the 2 outer sections of the dough, scoring at an angle from the outside almost as far as the filling (bottom left in the picture above).
Alternatively fold these strips over the filling, first one side then the other; as if braiding hair.

Brush the loaf with the egg wash and sprinkle surface with almonds.
Allow loaf to rise uncovered in a warm place until it has almost doubled (about 45 minutes).

Slip loaf on a baking tray and bake at 35oºF (177ºC) for 30 minutes (see below).
Cool on rack:

Guten Appetit!

To Choke or not to Choke...

2009-08-24T22:02:00.000-07:00

Sunchokes...what are they? Jerusalem artichokes...
They are a root or Tuber vegetable native to North America (not Jerusalem). It also doesn't look anything like an artichoke. Read more about it here:

SUNCHOKE

A plus for diabetics: "...unlike most starchy vegetables, the principal storage carbohydrate in sunchokes immediately after harvest is inulin rather than starch. When consumed the inulin is converted in the digestive tract to fructose rather than glucose, which can be tolerated by diabetics."

Amazing that we have never tried this vegetable. We saw a bag at our local honour box.
What is an honour box? It's a box where people sell locally picked & grown produce or "stuff". There can be anything on sale from farm fresh eggs, fruit and manure and ....sunchokes.

We got our bag of these tubers for $2.50

I looked up a few recipes on the web to check how they should be handled and the best recipe that would allow us to taste the true flavour.

I looked in the bag and OMG - these tubers were HUGELY muddy.

1st step - wash these tubers! There are options...you can skin these tubers (peel the skin) or cut them in bits and give a little scrub. We did the latter because it was easier to get the mud out:
2nd step: Heat oil in a cast iron skillet on medium-high heat. Add 1/4 tsp salt (or enough to your liking) and some fresh cracked pepper.
In this recipe - I threw in curry leaves. They add a nice smoky flavour to these chokes.
Sauté cut chokes in hot oil for about 3-5 minutes. Turn heat down and cover chokes for 15-20 minutes.

3rd step (optional): For a little extra flavour, toss in some chopped cilantro and serve:

Bon Appetít!

Discovering Silicone...

2009-06-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Poached eggs are wonderful - especially when seen in eggs benedict or just on toast.

I have no utensil at home that enables me to poach eggs nicely so off to the kitchen store I went.

I found several devices but one in particular caught my eye; mainly because it was cheaper: SILICONE CUPS.

Surely these do look a little funny but I can assure you that they can not be used for personal enhancement (if you prove me wrong please email me and let me know).

Here is what they look like:

Beautiful aren't they?

I played around with this a bit - mainly with boiling times and since many have different preferences for poached eggs, I encourage people to experiment.

My preference is for the yolk to be medium soft (still a bit runny).

The directions accompanying the silicone cups state to lightly grease the cups, boil water first, then set the cups in water and cover from 4-6 minutes.

Since I like my eggs medium soft and I was using smallish sized eggs, I experimented and found this to work for me:
- Boil water
- Oil or spice up silicone cups.
- Crack egg inside.
- Float silicone cups in boiling water and cover for 3.5 minutes.
- Turn off the burner and keep covered for about 30-45 seconds more.

Silicone retains a bit of heat so taking them out of the water and laying them on a heat resistant counter will continue to slowly "cook" the proteins (FYI).

Again - experiment because there are some variables:

Burner temperature (low, med. high)
Size of egg
Your preference in poaching.

After they are poached to your liking, use a spoon and run along the edge and flip it onto a serving plate. Voila!

Here is a small toy slideshow video of these silicone cups used in different formats; it will take a little while to download when you hit play; if you are seeing this at work don't be surprised if your company's "IT-Nanny" forbids you to peek into Youtube. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Pd5DAmPx0s

Nelson Smoked Fish Chowder..

2009-06-17T01:35:00.000-07:00

Now that we live in Nelson it seems appropriate to incorporate more fish into our diet.

At the moment, I am taking a break from the life of a wage slave. I do a bit of cleaing and cooking. With the latter, I begin to feel the creativity set in. We went to the Saltwater cafe. It is a seafood restaurant just on the Nelson port. They served a splendid fish chowder which I was determined to replicate at home.

Tonight my chowder consisted of milk and potatoes. I researched a few recipes on the web. Most chowders have cream and/or roux; it certainly makes for a richer chowder. Using whole fat milk and potatoes is slightly healthier. Here is a recipe I found on the web that I have modified with a few extra things. It feeds about 6:

1) 400g smoked white fish (blue cod, haddock, etc) & 1 small fillet of fresh salmon
2) 1 L full fat milk
3) 1-2 leeks (white part)

4) 35-40g butter
5) 600g medium potatoes (assume 100g/potato), peel & small dice.
6) 2 sprigs thyme
7) 2 sprigs Parsley
8) 1 bay leaf
9) 1 clove crushed fresh garlic
10) Salt & Pepper to taste
11) Chopped chives & fresh parsley, to serve
12) 3 drops of plain Tobasco.

Method:
In a sauté pan place fish and pour over enough of the milk to almost cover fish. Reserve the remainder of milk for later. Bring milk to boil then simmer for 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool and then flake fish into milk (discard any skin).

Rinse leeks thoroughly and then chop into medium pieces. Soak in water to remove any remaining dirt. On medium heat, melt 35-40g of butter; place chopped leeks to sauté until soft (1-2 minutes). Add remaining amount of milk, potatoes and herbs (tied in a bundle).
Simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Remove and discard herb bundle, roughly smash potatoes in order to thicken chowder. Watch to be sure that mixture is not too salty or doesn't boil for too long as milk might curdle which does more for appearance than flavour.
Add cooked fish mixture. Taste amd adkust the seasonings with salt and pepper.

Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with fresh chive/parsley mixture and 3 dashes of Tobasco sauce.

Yummm!!!

New Zealand native spices do not arouse taste buds...

2009-06-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

Kawakawa and Horopito are two native NZ herbs that I constantly play with. Both are found in many stores and both, sadly, are tasteless.
Kawakawa: is more of a healing herb. It is purported to relieve stomach pains and indigestion, particularly where due to over-eating. Kawakawa leaf applications were also used topically for bruises and rheumatism, the pain of neuralgia and nettle stings, as well as for eczema. As an herb for cooking I find there is very little flavour.

Horopito has a more interesting background. It is said to have a more "peppery taste" but my god is it ever so mild! Horopito was traditionally used by the Maori people of New Zealand to treat stomach pain and diarrhoea, this is probably due to its astringent (tissue tightening) and antiseptic properties. Skin complaints were treated using bruised leaves that had been steeped in water or chewed before application. The peppery constituents of Horopito stimulate the circulation when it is applied topically, and also taken internally. Topical uses include fungal infections, such as Candida albicans and ringworm; wounds, cuts and burns; painful bruises and joint inflammations; skin diseases and as an insect repellent. Fresh leaves were also chewed for toothache.

Before I wrote these two herbs off my list, Field days had KONO. This brand boasted pre-cooked NZ green lipped mussels flavoured with Kawakawa or Horopito.

These pre-cooked beauties were 8 to package and were selling for $4 each or alternatively 4 packs for $10. Great bargain either way - we went for the 4 packs for $10. The flavours were:

Lime & Kawakawa,
Chili & Horopito,
Garlic & Butter then last...
Manuka smoke flavour & kelp.

Tonight Steve flipped the oven on and began baking the Lime & Kawakawa and the Chili & Horopito flavoured mussels. He steamed broccolini and prepared a fresh garden salad to accompany the mussels. We ate this with a lovely Sauvignon Blanc. The meal was lovely but my tastebuds were only able to detect the more dominant flavours of Lime and Chili. Why is tasting Kawakawa and Horopito so hard?

Should I give up on these native spices??
Well, before I do, there is still another pairing to play around with. I intend one last experiment. If that doesn't work - we will only be growing these native herbs for either medicine or garden hedges!

Stuffing chilies

2009-03-29T00:44:00.000-07:00

Today, I experimented with an unknown variety of Capiscum annuum (green mild chili). Padma, my coworker, grows her own annuum types and had extra crop to share.

She had initially prepared them with stuffing and brought some of these cooked delights for morning tea (this is the American version for 1st coffee break). It was yum. I asked her for the recipe... it wasn't written- only verbal.

I had to decide how best to replicate her tasty version using sheer memory. Yikes!
Here is the stuffing for 10 medium sized; medium hot (semi-thick) skinned chilies:

3 parts dessicated coconut
1 part chenna flour (pea flour)
1 tsp cumin (or more if you like this flower)
1/4 tsp coriander
1.5 tsp tumeric
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 /4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp hot chili powder (leave it out if you don't want it hot)
juice of two lemons.
1 small bunch of fresh coriander
1/2 green onion white and green

Mix all the ingredients in a glass bowl. It will turn from dry to semi-dry. This is the ideal state for stuffing the designated chilies.

olive oil for light frying
salt to taste.

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet over a medium-high flame.
Warm oven also - to about 18oºC.
Wash 10 of the medium thick green or red chilies.
Slice one side and de-seed the membrane and seeds from the interior. You may need plastic (disposable) plastic gloves to protect against burning.

Wash and set aside.
Proceed to stuff each chili with the pea, curry mixture above.

As the oil gets hot, set chilies to fry. Brown all sides - 2 minutes each side if oil is hot.

Using tongs place fried chilies in a oven-proof dish.
Stick all of these in the oven for about 7 minutes.
Remove and serve warm.
Warning: if de-seeded properly, these chilies will be sour and nicely mild; otherwise...not:) Enjoy!

Indian Gherkins

2009-02-07T16:40:00.000-08:00

Ivy gourd, little gourd, Indian gherkin are all just a few of the common names for this little vegetable. It grows in the tropics as a vine. The fruit may be eaten immature and green, or mature and deep red. The young shoots and leaves may also be eaten as greens. It is a great source of micro-nutrients - including Vitamin A & D and is said to aid in the control of diabetes. For me - it is a fresh vegetable that mom used to spice up and serve.
I don't have mom's recipe but I found one that is probably just as good on another blog: Foodie's hope. This recipe was lovely because it employed fresh roasted spice. I recommend adding some garlic and chillies to funk up the dish a bit.

Ingredients:
1 lb Tendli sliced longitudinally
2 tomatoes chopped
1 small bunch Cilantro
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 red Chilly (or as many as you like)
Curry Leaves (15 or so)
1 Onion
1-2 Tbsp Tamarind Juice
Fresh ground masala (below)

Masala:
1 tbsp Coriander Seeds
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 Fenugreek Seeds
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tsp Peppercorns
Turmeric
1 tsp Rice
1 tbsp Coconut

HOW TO:
1. Roast and grind masala and keep aside.

2. Heat oil, add: Onion, mustard & cumin seeds, curry leaves.
3. Add cut Tendli ,fry for some time.
4. Pour in 1 cup or more of water to cook the vegetables.
5. Add in tomatoes, chilies, little tamarind juice.
6. Last add fresh ground masala, and allow the mixture to simmer gently to reduce and thicken.

4. Add salt to taste.
5. Garnish with cilantro.

Steve and I have decided to include this delicious vegetable as part of our repertoire of unusual vegetables to be grown on Fitina farms.

Fish potato chops

2009-01-30T21:36:00.000-08:00

My cholesterol is up and guess what? Fish needs to make a strong presence in my diet; I think about 70% presence perhaps ? Arbitrary - but its a start.

Fish is more a pain to shop for because the best fish is purchased fresh but how many of you wage slaves have time to visit the butcher daily for fresh fish? Fish freezes but it's ideal if cooked within 48 hours of being caught. Fish recipes don't pop in my head as quickly as recipes with meat and so I don't have much creativity with cooking it. I constantly flip recipe books looking for something. Good quality fish like salmon and tuna - are most enjoyable eaten raw with a dab of wasabi and soy sauce. Perhaps I should dig further into my heritage - which hails from a tiny state in India called: Goa- renowned for "Goan fish curry" among other things. That should help.

Goan dishes that mom used to make usually had a sour, vinegary taste to it. As a result, I utilize vinegar in many stews and curries. Steve is always chiding me whenever I added a little vinegar to some dishes. Funny, he doesn't complain how much better it ends up tasting. Goan dishes also tend to have coconut milk or fresh grated; the latter I don't mind. I think I will try to avoid coconut milk or at least limit its use because it has a bit of unnecessary cholesterol and fat.

The Goan potato chop is one of many dishes my mother makes quite well; thus, I am quite fond of it. Mom is not one to pass down her recipes - unless of course the price is right. So rather than beg her, I took to improvising many of the Goan dishes I grew up with. The Goan dishes I improvised wouldn't come out exactly like mom's but then... it didn't taste bad either.

Today, I experimented with Goan potato chops. It's normally made with minced meat (lamb or beef). I used a local yet common white fish mixed with some shrimp; it's a healthier alternative and it is so "Goan":)

The masala (spice mix) is the key. Many parts of India as well as many Indian families have their own secret masala recipes. In my opinion, masalas are flexible - you can heighten the particular spice you fancy within that masala and call it your own special mix. For me - my favourite spice is cumin.

The recipe below is for a large amount of fish - either use the same amount or use a smaller amount and adjust the spices as required. If you end up using a lot of fish and have extra the mixture freezes well for use in another dish at a later time.

The spice mix I used was the following:

Masala:

2.0 Tbsp cumin seed
0.5 Tbsp Harissa (French Market in Parnell)
1.0 Tbsp Paprika
1.5 tsp clove powder
1.5 tsp tumeric
3 Tbsp white vinegar

Mix all together in a small soup ball and set aside.

The remainder of the ingredients are as follows:

400g of cod- chopped
100g of shrimp- chopped
1 large onion chopped
1 large tomato; de-seeded and chopped
1 Tbsp chopped fresh ginger
2 large cloves garlic
2 Tbsp chopped fresh coriander
1 tsp fresh curry leaves
salt to taste
2 large (hot) chilies - adjust or eliminate to your liking.
2 Tbsp olive oil
8 large russet potatoes - boiled in salt water, skinned, salted and mashed with chopped fresh parsley.

In a large skillet, sauté onions, ginger, garlic, curry leaves - until onions are soft or brown. Add chilies and masala and sauté for 5 minutes then add all the fish and sauté on medium-low heat for 7 minutes. Add tomatoes and coriander and adjust for salt. Stir and cover; turn stove to a lower heat to avoid overcooking. Best results are obtained if much if the mixture is thickened (reduced liquid). Cod withstands overcooking to a certain degree and that is why I chose such a fish.

Take about 3.0 Tbsp of mashed potatoes in the palm of your hand and pat flat on a cutting board:
Add a small tsp of curry fish mixuture:
Pat another Tbsp of potato mash and cover the fish mixture:
Then mold to create a flat disc shaped potato patty.

Then cover with panko or bread crumbs and fry lightly in a pan of olive oil or ghee (clarified butter):

Lay to rest on an absorbent paper towel and when cooled, serve on a bed of salad for a nice meal.
Coma bem!

TABASCO HABANERO hits Auckland

2009-01-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

We saw its introduction at Auckland Food show and the reps at the booth said that it would be 6 weeks before it would hit stores. About 5 months later - here it finally is! I found it at the Pak n' Save in Ellerslie for ab out $5/bottle. Not bad. Steve and I each purchased one for work. That should put a pep into our meat pies and seaweed salad!

We have tried a few hot sauces local and otherwise. The Nando's hot sauces are tasty but also a bit flat and acidic. The extra-extra hot Nando's isn't all that extra-extra hot. Orcona brand sells some good habanero but who the hell wants to pay more than $10 for hot sauce? Tabasco employs the KISS principle in hot sauces (Keep It Simple Stupid). It's primary ingredient is vinegar but then right after is Habanero. If you look at ingredients on bottles they usually list them from highest concentration to lowest. If Habanero is an ingredient listed 1st or 2nd , our interest gets piqued.

Great with meat pie!!

A CURRY CHICKEN PIZZA

2008-10-16T00:05:00.000-07:00

We were so inspired by this pizza when in Fiji because it was so tasty and spicy. Steve was going to mimic it at home. Note, that this homemade pizza - which is far cry from your everyday Round table/Pizza Hut stuff and way better because it uses home-made fresh dough and other fresh ingredients for a variety of toppings.

BASIC BREAD DOUGH:
2 C hot water
1 dash of yeast
1 C whole wheat flour
Salt
olive oil
Enough high grade white flour to make a dough
Note: This may be an overwhelming amount of dough for two people. Just use what you need and pack the remaining dough in a plastic bag in the refrigerator - good for 1 week).

In a bread machine container, add hot water (slightly above body temp); add the yeast and wait for yeast "proof" (5 minutes). Proofing is when the yeast creates gas bubbles and comes alive.

Still in the bread machine but now turning on the mixer (dough/pasta setting), add whole wheat flour and allow to absorb in. Begin adding cups of high-grade white flour until mixture starts to form dough. Follow with couple teaspoons of salt. Keep adding flour until dough it pulls away from bread machine and starts to form a ball. Add a Tbsp or so of good quality olive oil and allow to mix in. Turn off mixing and leave dough to rise till it doubles in volume. This is dependant on temperature. After it rises - punch it down.

Time to roll out. Knead and add more flour as needed to roll out. The whole process is about 1.5 hours. Flatten to your preferred pizza size. Here is a video for a sundried tomato, eggplant, onion and cheese pizza. The dough making parts are clearly outlined in a step by step process. Note: Having a bread machine makes it easier and you can add whatever toppings in the end such as the curry chicken mixture that follows:

Now for the Hot chicken curry topping:
Chicken curry mixture.
1/2 lb ground chicken
1 Tbsp hot curry powder
5 curry leaves.
1 tsp fresh ground roasted cumin
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 onion chopped fine
1/2 Tbsp olive oil

Extras to set aside for pizza toppings:
1 chopped ripe tomato
2 chopped fresh green onion
1/4 cup fresh cilantro
1/4 cup chopped mild cheese.
Note: For a spicy pizza, chop 5 long Thai green chilies fine. Be careful to use gloves.

In a bowl, dissolve the curry powder, cumin with lemon juice and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a cast iron pan. Add onions and saute until brown.
Add garlic and ginger, and curry leaves and salt to taste; stir for 3 minutes. Add chicken and stir for one minute. Add curry mixture into chicken and stir-fry until chicken is fully cooked. Test salt content again and add extra salt is desired. Set mixture aside to cool.

Roll out bread dough to desired size pizza. Spread (room temp) curry chicken mixture evenly across the dough; follow with green onions, cilantro, chopped tomato, cheese and fresh chopped chilies. Pat down firmly. Squeeze half a lemon over it for an extra tangy appeal.

Place in the oven and bake at 250ºC for 15 minutes or until dough rises and gets brown.
Voila! Spicy and flavourful!

A Summer Lunch Crab Feast

2008-09-27T16:23:00.000-07:00

The pace at which my in-laws were gearing up for their anniversary party celebration was good. Preparation for the Saturday event was properly timed and we often found moments to share good food and wine. It is special and I have grown to so enjoy them as I have grown to know Steve and his family.

We were preparing for lunch with Steve's relatives. The patio table was to be decked out for a delicious lunch. It was simple fare that was made elegant with great crab, good company and some fabulous white wine.

The crab is essentially the best type - Alaskan King Crab. Not easy to find in NZ. Anywhere else you find it - look for the best price. Alaskan King Crab, as the name suggests, are huge. Just to give you an idea what they look like before steaming - here is a picture of one I picked off a google search:
This crab is known best for it's lovely flavour and the mighty amount of meat found in those large legs. Once steamed, cracked, and dipped in a spicy butter sauce - it tingles any taste bud.
Here was our spread:

Fresh salad, crusty bread to mop up the juice and a good glass of white wine!

DIPPING SAUCE:

1/4 STICK OF BUTTER - melted
1 Tbsp of Tom Yum (Thai) mix
2 Tbsp of lemon juice
1-2 clove of garlic (varies to your liking)
2 Thai chilies - chopped fine (amount varies to your liking)

Melt the butter gently and add the other ingredients after. Mix well and serve immediately with steamed crab. If the dipping sauce cools too fast it will become butter again so serve warm and dip that crab meat in. Keep a cup of extra lemon juice around for those that enjoy a little extra tartness in their dipping sauce.
¡Salud!

OYSTERS HOLLY

2008-09-27T05:53:00.000-07:00

Oysters, when chosen well and prepared appropriately, are wonderful raw. Many sea creatures taste good super fresh: squid; scallops and mussels. One must be careful though with eating sea creatures raw. Lots can happen and much of it ain't good. Severe food poisoning and gastroenteritis may result and this may require hospitalization in severe cases.

Know your oyster, eat it fresh (ask), be alert for shellfish warnings that occur seasonally and for Pete's sake don't take risks eating any ol' oyster from any old hole in the wall restaurant; the dining establishment should be well known and highly regarded for good quality (fresh) food - don't take any risks.

I don't shuck my own oysters I'd rather leave that to the pros.
The best way to eat oysters is raw but lightly baked or grilled is just as good as raw. The toppings one can use in these cooking scenarios can give a wonderful flavor to the oyster.
The only thing that some people miss is the taste of the sea. Eating an oyster raw doesn't mean that it has to taste fishy. Rather, there should be a crisp and briny type feeling on one's tongue. Some raw oysters have a delicate cream to them - a kind of fatty layer. There are folks that find that delectable and others (like me) - who find it a turn off. Some raw oysters leave a stringent feeling on one's tongue - reminiscent of a moment back in college, in a hall closet...well I won't go any further; nevertheless a bit of a turn off.

For the beginning oyster eater - try the oysters in shooters (bloody mary). Then progress to raw then lightly baked or grilled. The recipe after my name was created by a special someone - my Fiancé. It is deliciously spicy.

Oysters Holly:

1 dozen fresh, good quality oysters - already shucked and in a baking pan
(Rinse lightly to remove shell bits and completely drain water).

12 thin slices of good cheese such as Gouda, Parmesan, etc.
Hot sliced spanish salami; non-generic and from a specialty food store
Habanero Tabasco sauce.

Turn on your oven broiler.
Arrange freshly rinsed and dried oysters in a baking pan; well spaced.
Try not to have the oyster tilt too much in the pan.
Place a slice of cheese on top of each oyster.
Place a slice of good quality spanish hot salami over the cheese.
Broil just until cheese melts; do not overbake!
Remove tray of oysters from oven, place a drop of Habanero Tabasco on top.

Serve with warm crusty bread to mop up juices and a nice glass of white wine. Enjoy!
Woops! Ate them before I took the photo (@%&*!).

AVOCADO LIME PIE:

2008-06-15T02:30:00.001-07:00

This recipe was found at a cool market described in detail here: California Refugees in NZ
"It has but a subtle taste of Avocado to it..."

The recipe was offered by a gal selling Hass Avocados at the Clevedon Market. My food blog is "morphing" I guess. As I start to develop my cooking skills and learn new things about food and restaurants I also would like to share them on this here blog.

This recipe is interesting in that it utilizes quite a bit of avocado yet tastes like lime. Condensed milk is key to the rich creamy texture as is the crushing of avocado pulp.
This pie is best after a thoroughly spicy meal; the smooth, creamy, richness will calm the most inflamed taste bud:)

Nutrition Facts and Information about Avocado:
Avocado is a fat-rich fruit having a fat content of about 23%. It contains dietary fibers. It is rich in minerals such as copper, magnesium, manganese, and contains some amounts of iron, calcium, iodine, selenium, zinc and phosphorus.

Vitamin Content:
Avocado is well known for its high vitamin K and Vitamin A content. It also contains small amounts of Vitamin B, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Biotin, and Folate.

Calorific Content of Avocado:
Fruits are normally not rich in calories and are eaten for their ability to provide vitamins, minerals and digestive fibrous content. However, avocado owing to its high fat content provides good quantity of calories. A 100 gm of edible portion of the fruit provides about 215 calories.

Health Benefits of Avocado:
The nutritional value of avocado makes it good for indigestion, hair care, heart health, skin care, psoriasis, and bad breath.

Okay satisfied? Note that this is a high fat, high cholesterol recipe.
Negative contributors: Sugar, butter, cookies, avocado; and now...the recipe:

RECIPE:

1 cup sieved ripe avocado pulp.
1 can sweetened condensed milk'
1 tsp grated lime zest
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
2 egg yolks
pinch salt
1 sheet rolled sweet pastry- cooked or 15 NICE Arnott's cracker crust (blended with butter).
Combine condensed milk, lim zest, juice, lightly beaten yolks of salt, blend until mixture thickens.
After that - stir in avocado pulp.

Pour filling into cooled baked pie shell, filling as appropriate and set in refrigerator to chill.
The recipe is easy but the crust is one for you to decide.

From the top:
The recipe called for a sweet flaky crust. I decided to create a graham cracker crust using Arnott's 'NICE' crackers. About 15 or so of these were crushed into fine bits. Then I softened about 1/4 cup of butter and mixed it with the crushed cookie mess:
The cookie crumble was molded into a ceramic pie dish and baked at 200 degrees for 10 minutes. Once that was done it was set aside to cool.

I mashed 3 avocados. There were a lot of chunks n' things and although the recipe called for putting it through a sieve. The thick avocado mash would take work to pass through a wire sieve. Well to get facilitate the process a bit, I added some milk to promote a slight liquefication of the avocado mash:
Thereafter, it was easily pushed through a sieve. An immaculately smooth mixture of pure avocado came through the other end. It was rich, smooth...and so freakin' green!
Next came the lime juice, lime zest and condensed milk. Mix only those and blend until thick!

I actually stuck this along with the avocado pulp into the blender with 3 egg yolks. I blended it until thick. It still looked green, smooth & thick. After the consistency was appealing, I poured the mixture into a cooled cookie crust and chilled for 2 hours. Voila:
Looks good, doesn't it? It sure did taste good! The true test was Steve...let's see...

SOMETHING OF A JE NE SAIS QUOIS in Auckland

2008-06-14T04:29:00.000-07:00

Tonight was dinner at the famous Auckland landmark: French Cafe. It has been rated in the top 10 restaurants in Auckland for the past 4 years at least. As in SF, I've tried to make it a point to check out the top restaurants around town. I usually like to dine with folks that enjoy food and are not concerned about the cost. This gets to be difficult in Auckland unless you are part of the elite. So, my tristes to upscale restaraunts are more by way of celebrations of friendship and experiences.

The decor is light and the staff delightful. As an American living in Auckland for two years, it felt really nice to finally do it up as I used to in San Francisco. We dined with our wonderful Kiwi friends. The last time they enjoyed this restaraunt was a good 20 years ago. I had no idea this restaurant was around for that long! Simon Wright is the Chef/Owner of the restaurant. He has trained in Europe´s top Hotels and Michelin Star Restaurants. Simon changes the menu monthly in order to utilise the best ingredients available. Simon Wright believes he is a better chef for moving to New Zealand. With an eye to the top end, he’d worked in some of London’s best kitchens – “and New Zealand forced me to be more creative”, he says. “It would have been so much harder in London. One must look at several types of menus -
1) Tasting menu - 6 courses - $90/person; with optional $60/person wine matching
2) Chef's tasting menu - 11 courses - $120/person with optional $85/person wine matching.
3) A la carte: appetizers ~$18; First course ~$25; and mains- $40.00

All four of us did the tasting menu. It started off with a tiny dish called an
"AMUSE BOUCHE": Creamy pate stuffed in crispy cannelloni laid on a pear salad. Well, that is all I could recall; my mind was overwhelmed at how this dish was so well put together.
Other courses were:
MARINATED TUNA
picked crab, aromatic herb salad, toasted rice, lime leaf dressing
SEARED SCALLOP
crispy pork, cauliflower and almond puree, apple salad
ROASTED FRENCH GOATS CHEESE
caramelised onion, beetroot and fig tart, red wine syrup
SEARED DUCK BREAST
sweet spices, steamed bok choy, kumara mash, jus of oranges
or
CRISPY-SKINNED SNAPPER
pearl barley and sweetcorn risotto, prawns, crushed basil
ELDERFLOWER AND CHAMPAGNE GRANITA
lemon cream, blueberry compote
BAKED CHOCOLATE SABLEE TART
toffee cream, chocolate sauce, roasted hazelnuts,malted milk ice cream

The whole menu was a gustatory delight! Although the whole menu was well presented and the flavors were tingle to the taste buds -the best of the menu items were the Amuse Bouche, Roasted French Goats cheese, Seared duck breast and elderflower dessert.
The Goat cheese was divine - the cheese was home made - lovely soft and not too strong. The pastry was light and buttery and the presentation a work of art. Here is a picture:

Overall dinner was worth it. The variety of flavors and pairings with wine were fantastic.

The price for all 4 with 6 courses each and 4 different types of wine = $600.
Add to this tip. Now here is where it got funky. As an American the tip calculator should have been ready to calculate; however living in Auckland for 2 years and not required to pay a tip for over two years...well let's just say the tip calculator no longer worked. So when I saw the EFTpos asking me for a tip on the teeny weeny screen for the first time- I stood there dumbfounded trying to calculate it out. Instead of $50 I typed in $5.00 for tip. Restaurant fanatics beware that tips are making a comeback in Auckland.

A GOURMET WEEKEND IN AUCKLAND!

2007-10-02T03:28:00.000-07:00

The "cube" is cool ay? You can actually move with your mouse as well. Just point drag and the cube moves where you want. If you want the music off you can click the speaker icon which should be on the lower left side. Way below, I have a slide show with more pictures, subtitles and music of my gourmet weekend.

What can I say about this weekend other than it was gluttinous and I was giddy from all that good food and drink!
I have never lived this large before. It was definitely a delight and not one you'd want your waistline to endure on a daily basis.
There were three cooking demonstrations and NOT cooking "classes".
In the latter one has helpers and a good view of the pan on the stove. In the former -you watch, talk while the demostrator multi-tasks quite a bit - answering questions, tending to the stove and cutting their own ingredients. Noticeable difference.

I told a few of my work mates that I was to experience a cooking demonstration of Lamb Rogan Josh. There are a few Indian workmates who balked at the sound of me learning to make Lamb Rogan Josh. I am Goan and in saying that, I've never really explored Lamb Rogan Josh. I love Indian food and still felt it important to learn the basics from different perspectives of India. My work mates were actually amused that I would go to the trouble of taking a class for Indian food. They wondered why I just don't buy the stuff in a can. Yes, why not? Our society is on the go and cans and fast food are the thing. Cooking fresh ingredients is considered so yesterday. Well, this weekend proved that yesterday can be today and it can be good for you.

Our first day was an instruction by SADHANA NATALI-KAHN.
Her signature dish was Lamb Rogan Josh with rice. Sadhana specializes in freshly ground Indian spices. Her cumin seeds are roasted and then ground. This process releases an intense nutty, peppery flavor. In fact, Cumin's distinctive flavour and strong, warm aroma is due to its essential oil content. Its main constituent is cuminaldehyde (4-isopropylbenzaldehyde).
Sadhana's business is "SPICE WISE" and through this business and cooking classes, she tries to get people to cook fresh using fresh ingredients and spices. The flavors are much more real.

To accompany our Rogan Josh, Sadhana prepared Raita which is a yoghurt and cucumber dip.
The recipe for Raita is very easy with just mixing of ingredients (no cooking):

1 cup yoghurt
1/2 small cucumber
1/2 tsp salt to taste
1 tbsp fresh corianer - finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh mint - finely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp freshly crushed garlic

In a bowl, mix all the ingredient s except the cucumber. Grate the cucumber, add a little salt to it, and squeeze out any excess juice. Add the cucumber pulp ot the yoghurt mixture and serve.

When traditional Indian food is super hot, it is very good to have a milk-based substance around to calm the heat. Raita is just that. Again fresh roasted spice was used.

Tamarind chutney required a little bit of cooking. Palm sugar is usually purchased cheaply at a local Asian store - or if your not comfortable visiting such shops, then pop into a specialty gourmet grocery like Draeger's in San Mateo, CA or NOSH in Auckland, NZ. They are more than likely to have it...at twice the price. When I saw this tamarind chutney being prepared I felt the extreme urge to add chili. I will not apologize for this. If I were to make this, I would add a teaspoon or two of my harissa chili:

2 tbsp tamarind
2 tbsp jaggery (palm sugar) or brown sugar
2 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
250ml water
12 dates

In a saucepan add all the ingredients and boil. turn heat down to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes or until the mixture is soft. Let the mixture cool down a little before placing a blender remembering to take the seeds out of the tamarind if you have used a tamarind pulp "block".

For appetizers, Sadhana provided us with a bowl of Raita, Tamarind chutney and deep fried Papads. The latter can be microwaved for about 30 seconds, rather than deep fried. Deep frying let's just say is way more delectable. We ate this as she began to cook her Rogan Josh.

Sadhana had prepared all the necessary items for her Rogan Josh.
She used ghee, which is clarified butter. Ghee is also a common ingredient in most Indian cooking. The ghee was heated to high, thereafter whole cardamom pods, cloves and cinnamon were added. These ingredients are sauteed whole because they expectorate more flavor into the oil. The onions , garlic & ginger were subsequently added and sauteed until golden brown. If things stick, add a small bit of water. The next ingredient, yoghurt, took me a little by surprise. Goanese cooking seldom involves yoghurt so I had never really learned how to cook with this. I watched how Sadhana removed the pot from the stove and slowly added the yoghurt to the pan - spoon full after spoonful and stirring each time. This was done to prevent the curdling of the yoghurt. It has proteins and in saying this, protein denatures when exposed to high a heat or acid conditions, it will lump up (curdle) and appear as "bits".

500 g good quality lamb pieces
3 green cardamon pods
3 cloves
2 cinnamon stickes
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ginger paste
2 tsp garlic paste
1 large onion - finely diced
2 tbsp natural unsweetened yoghurt
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp garam masala

In a saucepan, heat oil or ghee over medium heat . Onions were browning in vegetable oil then after 3 minutes ginger and garlic were added along with the cumin seeds, cassia, cloves and cardamom and curry leaves. These ingredients are put in whole because they expectorate their flavor as they are fried. The room smelled wonderful! and prepared it in her pot. Sandhana's chili was red chili powder and it wasn't too spicy. Since there were more caucasians in our group of 8, she went light on the chili. It may be wise to add a 1/4 cup of hot water to stop spices from sticking and burning. Remove the pan from the stove and gradually inroduce the yoghurt o the pan, stirring as you place each spoonful in. Follow this with tomato paste. A wondrful orange color should develop. You can now put in the diced lamb and stir until all the meat is coated in the sauce. Add salt, garam masala and 1/2 the fresh coriander leaves and reduce the temperature to a simmer. Cook on a slow heat for a 1 hour or until the lamb is tender. When cooked, garnish the dish with the rest of the fresh coriander.

Then there was Sabzi Pilau (Rice with spices & vegetables). This was a lovely accompaniement to our Lamb RJ. You can certainly eat pulao or plain white rice with this as well. Basmati is the preferred type of rice grain to cook.

Next on the cooking demonstration was Dr. Hanna Frederic. She is a food chemist or biochemist. Steve and I met her at Nosh. She has a wonderful Hungarian presence about her. She is more known for her hand made chocolates which she sells at NOSH.
The chocolate company is M'amor . Today, Hanna was going to show us how to prepare Hungarian Goulash. Each Hungarian woman has he own way of making it and they do not like to give up their secret ingredient. Not Hanna; throughout this cooking demonstration, she was animated and detailed. On observation, Goulash seemed very simple - almost like a stew. The Hungarian paprika was the key she said - it had to be sweet Hungarian paprika and there is a choice to use "hot Hungarian paprika". The funny thing though was that the "hot paprika" was not hot enough so Hanna substituted good old Asian chili garlic sauce. Another thing I turned my nose at was the fact that "Vegeta" was used in this. I felt I was being cheated. Why does this thing make everything taste good? The Goulash recipe also involved garlic and onions which traditionally makes anything tasty. These get sauteed first then all the rest of the ingredients put in later. Similar to the Lamb Rogan Josh process:
Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 TBSP salt
1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds
600g beef shoulder, fat trimmed, cut into 2 cm cubes
1 tsp ground caraway seeds
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons Hungarian sweet paprika
1 carrot, peeled, chopped
1 parsnip, peeled, chopped
1-2 green capsicums, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 tsp Vegeta
1 tsp “Piros Arany” cream
2 tsp Chinese garlic chilli pepper
500g potatoes, peeled, diced
water
1 cup Hungarian pinched noodles (“Csipetke”) see recipe below

Preparation Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion and salt and sauté until onion begins to soften, about 8 minutes. Add beef and sauté on high until meat is brown on all sides, about 10 minutes, stirring time to time. Turn heat to medium, add caraway seeds, garlic, paprika, carrots, capsicums, parsnips and sauté stirring for 2-3 minutes. Add as much water as covers the stew. Add tomatoes, Vegeta, Piros Arany, chilli pepper. Bring to boil, scraping up browned bits at bottom of pot. Reduce heat to low; simmer until meat is just tender, about 40 minutes. Add 1/3 more cold water and stir potato into the stew. Simmer until potatoes and meat are tender, about 20 minutes. Add Csipetke noodles, and simmer the soup for 5 minutes more. Season soup to taste with salt and more hot pepper. Ladle soup into 6 bowls. Serve them very hot. Soup can be refrigerated, even freeze.

Piros Arany is a paprika type paste. If you really must know how it tastes - here is a wonderful youtube demo of some kid tasting it:

Csipetke is a tiny boiled Hungarian pasta. It consists of white flour, 1 egg salt. It becomes a hard dough. Roll it out and pinch out small pieces. Almost like bugar-like pieces. Sorry, this term is used because Hanna's sons were employed to help her make this one day and that was their term for it. Anyway - once these pieces are made they get tossed into the Goulash.
Voila:

The remaining demonstration was chocolate making which had no ingredients but the quality in the making of this was exceptional. My camera's batteries died and I was at a loss. For now, enjoy!

A LOVELY KIWI BAR-BEE

2007-09-02T03:38:00.000-07:00

Saturday, Sept 1st, I was at my good friend's house. We met neighbors and had a lovely dinner.
The conversation was interesting but the food is what I am here to speak of.
The reason to get together was not really made. Perhaps a belated b'day?? I bought my good friend some gorgeous pink mixed flowers last week. When I got there yesterday (a week later)- they were still there and still beautiful - like her:

On the grill were lamb chops, lamb rack, hamburger, and sausages.
We also had a wonderful pear, walnut and blue cheese salad
Finally - Solomon Poi.
Now - none of these were all that spicy.
We did bring some RAPTOR RUB from NOSH. The latter is a nice gourmet store located in Glen Innes.
Raptor Tex-Mex rub has a very "Mexican blend" of spices. One can smell cumin and chili pepper. I would venture to guess the chili is New Mexico or Guajillo dried chili. What is unique is its sweetness. Delicious rub if you ask me. Sprinkle it on your meet with a little fresh garlic and olive oil and you are ready to grill!

The serving:

The above here is "Solomon Poi". I had no idea what this was - but my friend made it and it was just yum. Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
1 kg kumara, peeled and grated
1 kg pumpkin, peeled and grated
6 large silverbeet leaves, stalks removed
1⁄2 cup cashew nuts, roasted and fi nely chopped
1⁄2 cup coconut cream
1⁄2 cup low-fat milk
pepper
salt (optional)

Method
1. Combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly
2. Line a baking dish with tinfoil, allowing enough to fold over the top
3. Place the mixture into the baking dish
4. Fold over the ends of the tinfoil to make a parcel
5. Bake at 180C for one hour.
Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour
Preheat oven to 180C
----------------------------------------

My plate....with Solomon Poi:

After dinner - we did enjoy dessert along with some very nice sherry and VERY old Port:

GUESS I WILL BE WAKING UP THE NEXT DAY WITH A LITTLE EXTRA "MEMOROBILIA"...

NOUS ALLONS AU MARCHé !

2007-08-25T02:46:00.001-07:00

marché française

The French Market is a superb market and is located in the Parnell district right here in Auckland city. The market is open weekdays and Saturdays. You can purchase fresh vegetables, flowers, various cheeses, meats and hot foods. Clothes and other household items are also sold here. What a fantastic place to meet and greet friends.

My partner and I visited there two weeks ago. The place was hoppin' with pastries, fresh coffee and a humungo paella pan chocker full of chicken, calamari and mussels. Yes folks - an absolutely gargantuan pan full of paella was being prepared. We looked around the market and found some nice fresh vegetables. It is a little funny how there was one vendor selling nice veggies - with no prices and another selling veggies with prices. Guess who got more business? Just a little advice for those market people that want to sell their veggies and things - PUT FREAKIN' PRICES ON THE ITEMS WILL YA??? People like to know how much things cost. Anyway... we purchased a medium container of the best Harissa.

It was vibrant red and HOT!! The flavor was exquisite. We use it with scrambled eggs and other things. This stuff rocks!

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 cloves garlic, quartered
salt to taste
3 tablespoons sweet paprika
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil

additional olive oil

Directions:
Toast the caraway, coriander, and cumin in a skillet over medium heat until very aromatic, about 2-3 min. Let cool and grind to a fine powder. Add the garlic and salt and grind again until smooth. Add the paprika, pepper flakes, and 1 Tbsp oil and grind till well combined. The harissa will be very thick and dry. Transfer to a small jar and cover with olive oil. It will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for 6 months.

Enjoy!

ROCOTO PEPPER

2007-08-20T03:30:00.000-07:00

I've had experience growing this pepper in my backyard some time ago. The leaves are slightly fuzzy and these gorgeous purple flowers start to come out:

The chilis look like this:

You cut these chilis to reveal dark, black seeds:
Living in NZ, it has been very difficult to get a good variety of hot peppers. In fact the bell pepper here is called "capsicum". How trite. I find it annoying that they use this word. To me a bell pepper is nice on a salad. A bell pepper is quaint - kind of like a good girl that never made history. I find that most New Zealanders are scared of peppers. What the heck for?? New Zealanders have made history on so many levels for Christ's sake!! They've given women the right to vote before America did!!! They've elected their first woman Prime Minister (USA still dicking around). So why be scared of a freakin' pepper????

Here in NZ, I rather enjoy famer's markets. In fact I try to make a weekend of it if it isn't too busy or raining. I frequented a rather nice farmer's market out in Matakana. There I saw a woman selling Rocoto chilis - however she labeled them as "habaneros for sale". Being a chilihead - I was a bit offended that someone can mistake the two varieties. I approached her and informed her that she had it wrong. In a more than emphatic manner she insisted that it was I who had it wrong. She explained that the seed company she purchased these from labeled them as such and by golly if the seed company labeled them...then the seed company must be right! Are Matakanians really that hokey? If they find out that jumping over a bridge lowers your cholesterol - would they actually do it? I find that hard to believe - especially when one has access to Google to find out if these answers are real! Geepers! Broad band in Matakana must be severely limited on various levels ay? Well, next time I'm at Matakana, what I need to do is just sit back and get a kick out of how silly this lady looks selling these fake habaneros.

About the Rocoto -the heat content is less than a habanero. So why am I including this pepper in my blog? Well...it is still hot and still nice to chop up and throw into stews and things. Mind you, the flavor of the Rocoto is less appealing than the Habanero. What gave me awareness to the Rocoto chili were the Peruvian dishes made at local restaraunts in San Mateo and Redwood City (California). These Peruvian dishes put the Rocoto Chili onto the "Chilihead" map. So here...I have a nice fusion dish to share. The recipe below has one Rocoto in it. You can add more - but don't get Matakanian on me and call it a "Habanero".

I've also suggested a nice white to go along with it. Enjoy!

SPICY WOK ROASTED MUSSELS

1 kg NZ green-lipped mussels
One whole Rocoto pepper (seeds and all now) - finely chopped.
2 tsp smashed ginger
1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro
2 large Tbsps of miso paste dissolved in 1/4c water or fish broth.

On medium heat - throw in mussels with 1/4 cup water.
Mix the remainder of the ingredients in a bowl.
After the mussels have been cooking for about 7 minutes, toss in the mixture in the bowl. Combine well and allow for 5 more minutes on stove then turn off stove.

Suggested wine:
Redwood Pass by Vavasour
Marlborough NZ
Sauvignon Blanc 2006

Farouche!

2007-08-18T02:45:00.000-07:00

This recipe is about smooth and flavorful! The spice is all in the habanero. If you don't have the habanero - then you are making plain ol' guacamole. You got it?
This here recipe is for about 4 people who ain't got a spicy bud located on their tongue.
If you have chiliheads in your group - then double this here recipe and add habaneros to suit.

Now mix the following in a glass bowl:

Grab ya'lls a couple o' ripe avocadoes n' mash 'em smooth!
Then add yourselves 1 green onion - chopped.
Squirt/squash a nice clove or two of fresh garlic.
Don't stop there...grab yourselves the hottest habanero (you can find this chili at your local ethnic or speciality store). Using plastic gloves, squash, chop or blend - this lovely pepper in with the rest of the stuff.
Chop yourselves a handful of cilantro (fresh coriander) and mix.
Grab a 1/4 cup full of your favorite salsa.
Mix all o' this together.

Salt to taste. Serve with chips or fresh bread. Mmmmmm!

Oooo I tink dis good mahn!!

Decorate the top with quartered cherry tomatoes and a fresh sprig of cilantro.
Now to round this snack out - have it with a nice cold glass of good quality beer or even a glass of Gurwurtrameiner. Sweet as!

(NOTE: Good covered with cling wrap and refrigerated for up to one week. The fresher the better of course. When covering with cling wrap - place the wrap DIRECTLY ON TOP of preparation. The goal is to minimize contact with air to prevent the avocadoes from turning brown, ay?)