Stuffed Summer Vegetables on a Rotten Day

It’s about to rain…it’s warm of course, but there is a depression over Auckland and it’s blowing a gale. Don’t feel like a salad for lunch. So how about hot vegetables.

I saw Giada deLaurentis cook this stuffed summer vegetable dish this morning and my taste buds went into gear.

This is my take on it.

1 red freshly ground black pepper
1 courgette
½ eggplant

2 tablespoons parsley finely chopped
2 tbs basil finely chopped
2 tablespoons spring onion finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 egg
2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs

200 gms hamburger mince

Olive oil

Tomato ketchup

Cut the pepper in half remove seeds and pith
Cut courgettes in half and remove seeds

Cuy eggplant in half horizontally and in half again and remove seeds
Prick the eggplant to help cooking process.

Brush all of them with olive oil and season well with S & P

Meanwhile make the stuffing
Add herbs, S & P, egg and breadcrumbs to a bowl
Mix well

Add mince knead well with your hands… the best and cheapest tools in the kitchen
It needs good seasoning so be generous.
Have a quick taste

Fill the vegetable with stuffing and top with tomato ketchup

Into 190C oven
I baked the eggplant and pepper for 10 minutes and then added the courgettes (as they were smaller) for another 15 minutes.

Let cool about 15 minutes, thing taste better closer to room temperature.

What an easy and tasty lunch.

We went to the movies saw “Juno”
Excellent choice. The weather has not improved at all.
It’s worse…as we drove around the waterfront to Mission Bay the wind was trying hard to push the car off the road..

But very cosy in the cinema… Nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc and a little box of Pringles.

Very pleasant.

Home. Let’s stick with the comfort winter type food.
This a favourite with our family.
Perfectly poached eggs sitting on a bed on baked beans… with a side order of homemade oven baked chips.

Eaten in front of the latest episode of “House”. What a meal! What a night!

Fish Burgers and Chips - A New Healthy Take on an Old Favourite

It’s the Oscars tomorrow and we are looking forward to watching the ceremony.
Last year we had some people over and I made some tasty bits to accompany wine and the TV,. We haven’t made any plans yet will have to get onto the phone in the morning perhaps it’s always fun to share these experiences.

We have been trying to see as many if the nominated movies as possible and in the last week have seen
“Michael Clayton” Go George – “ Juno” lots of tears and laughter and today we saw the delightful “The Bucket List” with the brilliant talents of Jack Nicolson and Morgan Freeman,. We both loved it. Laughing and crying again.

All wonderful movies/

I have decided to refrain from dairy food for a couple of months.
I have had problems with my feet and my masseuse Arlen. (I spent probably one of the most painful hours with him in a long time…but as they say it’s got to be good for you) Anyway he suggested that I should just cut back on dairy…stop clogging my arteries for a couple of months and see how I feel.
Hopefully I might lose some weight as well.
What's the bet Dale loses heaps and I lose about a pound!!!

So I am being very creative and we have been having some fun food.
So tonight I thought here’s a take on Fish Burger and Chips.

The Burger
300 gms fresh tuna (doesn’t have to be sashimi quality)
5-6 drops sesame oil
1 tablespoon soya sauce
1 tablespoon fish sauce
Zest 1 lime
Juice 1 lime
2 tablespoons spring onions finely chopped
2 tablespoons ginger grated
2 tablespoons parsley finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper
Good shake chili flakes
Olive oil

First chop the tuna into little dice
Place in bowl
Add rest of ingredients let sit about 30 minutes to meld the flavours

Shape into 2 patties


Now the Kumara Chips
Peel 1 large kumara

Cut 4 thick slices
Pop into the microwave for 5mins with a little water

Dry and spray with olive oil both sides
Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper

Into 200C oven 10 minutes
Turn and back for another 10 minutes

They should be nice and golden

Remove and set aside

Heat a grill pan to smoking hot
Spray with olive oil

Place on pan cook 1 minute 1 side
Turn and cook for another 1 minutes
This should be enough don't over cook them

To serve

Put on piece of roasted Kumara Chip on your plate
Top with burger and place the other slice on the top.

I think the corn was a good accompaniment .
Quickly 4 minutes in the microwave in it's skin.
I'm sorry I cheated. Rolled it in a little butter.
It really is the only way for me.

Very satisfying…very healthy

Smoked Marlin Chowder - More Stories from the Far North

Look at that fish!
Our friends Geoff and Laurian caught this out at sea off the Bay of Islands, in their boat Silverado. Isn’t it amazing?

After it was weighed (229.1 kilos)… it was sent off to the smoker.That’s a lot of Marlin. We have been the recipients of several packages. It really is beautiful just served cold on bread or a cracker. Maybe a little lemon juice or maybe that Japanese mayonnaise (that I am really keen on...they now have a mustard version which is excellent.) Little piquancy- yum.

But there are many other ways to consume this wonderful fish.
How about Smoked Fish Chowder

An aside - I have posted chowders before and reiterate…please use full cream milk.
I have used lesser milks and somehow they seem stick to the pot not good!

So, back to the recipe.

2 rashers bacon chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1 large potato peeled and chopped into cubes
1 chili finely sliced
1 corn cob kernels removed

2 tablespoons butter
1 glass white wine
1 litre milk

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

200gms flaked marlin
2 spring onions finely chopped Melt butter in pan
Add bacon, fry till crispy, remove

Add onions and chili sauté till translucent

Add potatoes and corn

Add about 100 mls of water and simmer till the potatoes are just fork tender

Add white wine
Bring to boil and evaporate wine
Add milk
Season to taste.

Bring to simmer and gently cook about 5 minutes

Meanwhile flake the marlin

Add to chowder
Let sit about 5 minutes for flavours to meld
Serve in your pretty bowls and garnish with spring onions

Delicous.

(What do you think about this big snapper? We were lucky enough to be recipients of that old granddaddy on New Years Eve)

Crumbed filets. Very good

Geoff is not only a great fisherman/person

He has taken this excellent shot of our boat in
Whangaroa Harbour.

That’s the good ship Cajun Moon in front and behind us the beautiful Zulu,.
More about Zulu and it’s crew later.

Happy Birthday Dan-Here’s a Salmon Feast for You

It’s our son Daniel’s birthday…that very first birthday seems like only yesterday…where has that time gone…Anyway the staff have been waiting for another lunch so what better time.

We usually bake a cake for anyone’s special day but I pulled out all stops and made this divine Asian Salmon with A Crunchy Noodle Salad.

Mrs. Ina Garten The Barefoot Contessa has come up trumps yet again

A wonderful filet of marinated salmon baked in a very hot oven

Served with a colourful crunchy vegetable noodle saladThe aroma was intoxicating

You will need the following

The Salad
1 red pepper sliced in batons
Sugar snap peas 500 gms
4 spring onions sliced vertically and rough chop
60 gms spaghettini per person

Blanch the sugar snap peas and shock them in ice cold water

Make the dressing
1 cup rice bran oil
¼ cup rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons Sesame oil
1 tablespoons honey
2 cloves chopped garlic
1 teaspoon grated ginger
½ cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1 extra tablespoons toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Toss the vege with about 1/3 of the dressing

Meanwhile cook the noodles, drain.

In a salad bowl add another 1/3 of the dressing
Add the warm noodles then the rest of the dressing and toss.

Add vege and toss again
Dressing in stages like this is a better distribution of the sauce.

Add 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
And sprinkle the extra sesame seeds and toss just before serving.

Asian Salmon

Heat oven 260C

Line roasting dish with foil (makes for easier washing up)

1 side salmon

1 cup Soy sauce

¼ cup rice wine vinegar

¼ cup lemon juice

2 tablespoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoons Fish sauce

1 tablespoons sesame oil

1 ½ teaspoon chili paste

2 chopped spring onions

2 tablespoons chopped Garlic

2 tablespoons chopped ginger

Stir

Add the salmon to the roasting dish

Pour ½ of the sauce over the salmon
Cover with 1 ½ cups Panko crumbs

And then pour over the remainder of the sauce
Make sure all the breadcrumbs are well covered

Marinate 15 minutes

Into oven for 15 minutes

Cover with foil and let it rest about 10 minutes
Sprinkle with chopped parsley

Serve with The Crunchy Noodle Salad

A nice little bottle or 2 of a nice Malborough Methode Champagnoise

Katie made Birthday Cup Cakes

350gm butter
450gm dark chocolate, chopped
2 ½ cups castor sugar
1 ½ cups almond meal
2 cups cocoa
10 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat over to 140C.
Line muffin trays with cupcake cases
By the way she makes half the recipe and it makes 24 cupcakes

Combine butter, chocolate and castor sugar in a heavy based saucepan over low heat.
Mix continuously with a flat bottomed spoon until melted and smooth.
Sift the almond meal and cocoa into a bowl.
Add the chocolate mixture and beat for 1 min on low speed.
The mixture should be thoroughly combined.
Add eggs two at a time, beating well after each addition until the mixture is well combines; do not over beat, or too much air will be incorporated and they will crack during baking.
Add the vanilla and beat until combined

Spoon mixture into cases bake for 30 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean.
Remove from trays and cool on a wire rack for 40 minutes before frosting.

All So Simple…So Divine.

I’m normally not a huge fan of fish from the Supermarket but the Fish department at my local Foodtown, Quay Street Auckland is lucky enough to have as it’s manager Kim.

She is dedicated and really seems to care about her department.
She supplied me with the excellent salmon for the lunch… not only did she get the freshest filets for me she also pin-boned them.

Thank you Kim

PS
Of course there were leftover so what should a good leftover Queen do.

Make Fishcakes

Mashed potato with milk and butter
Flaked leftover salmon
½ cup frozen peas
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Chill make into patty shapes

Roll in Panko Breadcrumbs

Cook over med heat in Olive oil

Just a slice of lemon
Excellent

Summer Healthy Burgers

Just a quick post but a really yummy burger I just had to share.
You could say an oldie but a goodie.
Thought I would work on lower calorie food for a minute…only a minute though!!!
It’s still right in the middle of summer and this burger would sit well on the BBQ but I used my $9 ridged cast iron grill that I bought from the Warehouse a few years back.

So for the 2 of us
2 baking potatoes
Butter
Chives
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pop these potatoes into180C oven…they should take about 1 hour.


Grab some nice hamburger mince about 250 gms
2 knobs blue cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Let the mince come to room temperature
Season well
Give it good knead in the bowl
Form in your hand…make a hole in the middle
Pop in the blue cheese
Seal up the edges slap the burger back and forth in your hands...just for a little extra kneading it does help to tenderize the meat.
Form a nice patty

Set in onto a very hot grill
Should take about 4-5 minutes each side

Meanwhile the mushrooms will take 10 minutes in the oven

4 large Portobello mushrooms
Garlic powder
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chili flakes
Olive oil

Oil a baking tray
Lay on mushrooms
Season with salt, freshly ground black pepper, chili and garlic powder

I just put them in during the last 10 minutes of the potatoes

To serve

One mushroom on the bottom
Hamburger
Nice thick slice of tomato S & P
Mushroom on top

Split the potatoes
Knob of butter
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Few chives chopped on the top

How about that for a healthy dinner

And to top off such a tasty "Good for you meal"

My nice husband brought me in a wonderful, juicy, perfumed white peach...just at their peak
He even sliced it for me.
Lucky me.

Excellent Books and Asha's Papaya and Walnut Scones

I have been beside myself with excitement... I am in the process of reading all these books at once.
“Madeleines in Manhattan” Colette Roussant
“A Year of Eating Dangerously” Tom Parker Bowles
“Kitchen Memoirs” Shonagh Koea
And the wonderful Tamasin Day Lewis “What Shall We Have For Lunch.”
If you can read all or any of them please do, they are wonderful.

Each book is fascinating and I don’t want them to end.
But life must go on and there is cooking to do.

Lovely Asha of Foodies Hope (have a look at her site here. Some of the best Indian Food you will find)... read my Cheddar Date and Orange Scone post and suggested I might like to try her Papaya Scones
I have and they are great.
The difference between what Americans call scones and what we of British stock call scones is probably an egg.
Their scone mixture is a batter where our scones are a dough
The American Scones keep better…our scones need to be eaten on the day just like a baguette.

Asha’s Papaya Scones

You need:
1 ¾ cup Plain flour,1/3 cup packed brown sugar,
2 teaspoons Baking powder,
¼ teaspoons salt,
1/3 cup firm unsalted butter or Margarine,(I used the butter),
1 Egg,
½ cup half and half of full cream milk and cream,
1 cup chopped ripe Papaya,
1/4 cup finely chopped Pecans or Walnuts or any nuts.
To bake Scones: Preheat oven to 200C.
Mix flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.
Add cut up butter and mix with your fingers until they look like bread crumbs.
Add papaya and nuts mix to coat with flour
Add egg and cream beaten together and mix with a wooden spoon just until combined.
.
On an ungreased baking sheet, scoop 1/3 cup of mix and drop them 3" apart from each other.
Put it in the oven and bake for 18 mins or until golden brown on top.
Do not over bake.

Slide them on to a cooling rack gently and immediately and store in a air tight container when cooled for breakfast or light snack.
Serve warm or at room temperature with jam or powdered sugar.
They didn’t need butter or jam they were lovely as they were...but it’s up to you.

Thank you Asha
Had the last one this morning with coffee and even 2 days old were still tasty.

Spaghetti alle Vongole or in this case Cockles alle Vongole

We have just had a wonderful week at Omaha Beach with the family.
New Zealand has had a boomer summer this year except for the Far North where we spent all of January on the boat (enough said)So back to Omaha. Check it out here

The beach house we rented overlooked the Estuary side and this included the best sunsets.

So there was the Big beach which is rolling surf - white sand - fun fun fun
And then the Small beach…the Estuary . Tidal - grey sand but great for foraging.
The children wanted to dig for cockles. Off they went
Kiwi Kids on Holiday
Off to the Beach

The Foragers

Murray, The Marine Ranger checking that they hadn’t picked more than their quota

Sophia washing the catch

And now to the preparation

First soak the shell fish in a bucket of salt water for several hours, to try and remove as much sand as possible They spit it out clever little things.

I had to change the classic recipe. I thought this was a perfect entry for

Ruth from Once Upon a Feast Presto Pasta Night

Have a look at her site here lots of wonderful Pasta recipes

NowI felt as they are quite small and you need at 2 dozen each for a good feed I steamed and opened and removed the meat from all reserving about 30 which I used as the sauce.

Into a hot pan add 100 mls water bring to boil and add big handful of cockles

Cover with lid and shake and cook about 2 minutes till they all open
Any unopened toss away
Remove cockles cool and remove meat and reserve.

There were so mnay it took several batches.
By the way it’s a good liquor which could be worth keeping, would make a good stock.

Salty though so be cautious with amount...

Anyhow I am now down to the last 30.
So now we are really cooking
For 4 people

Cockles as above
2 garlic cloves peeled
1 chilli finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil plus a little extra
Half a glass white wine or vermouth

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Freshly ground black pepper

400 g spaghetti or linguine

Mince the garlic and heat in a large pan with the oil. It must not go brown.
Add the chili to the garlic and oil in the pan.

Meanwhile cook the pasta until just undercooked;

Drain it,

Add a little olive oil to prevent it sticking, and cover to keep warm.

Add cooked cockle meat to the pasta

Add the reserved cockles, bring up the heat and pour in the wine or vermouth;

Cover and shake over the heat for a few minutes until all the cockles have opened

(pick out and discard any that refuse to open).

Add the drained pasta to the pan and mix everything around;

Put the lid on for another minute or so until the pasta is ready to eat

Toss the parsley over, mix and serve.

So so good.