New Zealand West Coast Whitebait – If you haven’t experienced it put it on your Bucket List. Thank you Des Britten

Anyone who lived in Wellington in the 70’s would be familiar with “The Coachman”…
an Amazing Restaurant run and owned by
Des Britten, a onetime Disk Jockey,
one of NZ’s first TV Chefs and now
The Wellington City Missioner.
Out of this place came Tony Astle, owner of another
amazing Restaurant “Antoines” in Auckland.
The Sommelier was Don Hewitson who went to the UK and opened
another famous establishment… The Cork and Bottle Wine Bar.
Des and his team introduced us (budding gourmets) to such delights as Zabaglione,
Hot Chocolate soufflé…real aioli, delights from the offal department and many more.
It was such a treat to eat there.

One of my favourites, was the way they cooked whitebait.
Prior to this we ate our whitebait in a fritter
Excellent it was as well. BUT at 'The Coachman', it was served as little separate tiny fish lightly flavoured with butter, garlic and a little lemon juice.
Not enough to overpower this delicacy, but an absolutely divine taste treat.
It was tossed in flour and cooked quickly.

Easy peasy, I thought
My first attempt worked well, not quite right, but I was fairly pleased with my attempt.

My second attempt ended up as a big sludgy mess.
I abandoned cooking whitebait in this fashion.
Particularly as the price rose astronomically,
ending up now, at around $110 a kilo.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Julia had acquired
some Thames Whitebait.
It’s not from the West Coast and the price reflects that.
Nevertheless it sounded great and I bought 2 packets.

There is a difference.
It is a bigger than the other variety and consequently is a little stronger in taste,
a bit oilier I think.
Anyway, took one look at it and Eureka, this will be fabulous cooked 'a la The Coachman'.
Thanks to the Internet, I managed to find the recipe along with the recipe for the Hot Chocolate Soufflé but that’s another blog.

I have found out now, where I went wrong and also the little added extras which made it special.
So here we go.

I did clarify the butter I think it lends the maximum flavour.
If you are really worried about your health use oil.


Clarified butter (or oil)
Whitebait
Flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chicken stock - 425mls

Juice of 1 lemon
Crushed garlic
Chopped parsley

Drain the whitebait, then dry as best you can with paper towels.
Put a large heavy fry pan on to heat and add the clarified butter.
Heat the pan until smoking point.
Dust the whitebait with flour and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Toss the whitebait into the pan and stir quickly until the whitebait is cooked.
A minute or two is all that is required.
With a slotted spoon remove from the pan into a serving dish, mounding it up high.
Tip most of the butter from the pan leaving about a teaspoonful.
Add to this half a teaspoon of flour and stir in.
Now add enough chicken stock to make a light sauce.
Squeeze in the lemon juice, the garlic and lots of chopped parsley.
Pour over the whitebait and serve.
Divine.

Gladstone Primary Invades Auckland Botanic Gardens. November 2009

It was a beautiful sunny spring day in Auckland.
Year 3 at Gladstone School were off on a trip to the Auckland Botanic Gardens.
My Granddaughter Mia, invited me to join them.
All the children assembled outside of their classrooms, while we waited for the buses to arrive. There are so many children, they needed 3 buses.
One of them was a double-decker bus.
Great excitement about that.
Mia belongs to Room 33. Mr Lee is her teacher.
I was allocated 3 boys and 3 girls to be in my team.
They were given work sheets, to guide them in their pursuit of knowledge.
They are learning about plants and bees.
A living classroom.

My Motley Crew - Pictured below
From left to right: Freddie, Michalea, Malachy, Mia, D'Angelo and Germain
We all loaded onto the bus. The children were very excited.
Lucky me, I was allowed to sit next to Mia
Across the aisle from us were Freddie and Michaela
D'Angelo popped his head up for me
Germain and Malachy patiently waiting
Hurry up we are ready to go!
We had a lady driver. We were intrigued by the clock at the front, it was stuck on 12.30...good thing we were not relying on it to tell us the correct time
After a long trip on the motorway we arrived at The Gardens.
My little crew regrouped and we set off to get our instructions for the day.
The rest of the children followed us.
Time for a brain snack.


We looked at our Map.
Germain took charge.
First stop The Rock Garden.
Full of succulents. My crew loved the Cacti.
First lesson, don't touch them they Bite!
Such a beautiful plant.
So many Cacti.
They look like the Three Billy Goats Gruff, trudging over the bridge.
Where's the troll?
Off for a wander around the Camellia trees.
An Asian theme
A serene retreat... for contemplation perhaps?
More walking along the Loop road, to the Spring Blossoms area
Very green and leafy.
Unfortunately all of the Spring Blossoms have already flowered.
Pity it must be beautiful in the Spring.
Always fun to walk the plank.
Next, we went to the Potter Children's Garden
The shady walled garden is full of interactive activities and tells the story of the kereru and the püriri tree.
My crew loved the maze and climbing through the tunnel


Time for a break and a drink of water. Looking a little tired.
Look at these lovely painted tiles around the rest area.
Nice big pottery eggs, for kids to play in.
The gardens have several sculptures dotted around the park.
The crew loved this one.
Midday arrived
Time for lunch.
Someone discovered these tiny baby birds just outside of the toilets...
Seems like they could have used a toilet of their own!
While looking around The Edible Garden,
my crew also caught a glimpse of a bridal party.

If there's water,children must walk on it.
The boys having a break in the endangered species garden.
We were luck enough to see this family of ducks...so cute
Just by the duck pond is this wonderful sculpture. Just mirrors our little family of ducks
When you see a grassy slope what do you do?
Roll down it.

Time to get back to the meeting place.
Mr Lee looking very pensive. Hoping all the kids have returned perhaps?
Right Year 3. It's time to load up the bus. Home time.
This time, our crew got to ride on the double decker bus...
Top deck for the kids...
The lucky adults had the lower layer to themselves.

Mia disembarking, Thank you driver.
The long walk back to the classroom.
Time to reflect on the day...All looking a little tired.
Thank you Mia and Mr Lee for inviting me.
Thank you also to Freddie, Michaela, Germain, D'Angelo and Malachy
It was fun.

Rangiriri Pub. A Great Place to Stop for Lunch

If you are traveling out of Auckland, a great place for a breather and a tasty, 'great value for money', lunch. Try the Rangiriri Pub.
Situated just south of the Bombay Hills
This is a real tasty of Kiwiana for New Zealanders and Tourists alike.
We liked it so much, we had lunch on the way down to Hamilton and timed our trip back to Auckland, so that we could lunch there again.
Decorated in that Victorian way, the food is definitely not Victoriana.
First, we got a nice chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc.
Filled to the brim. Perfect!
Dale had the soup of the day, 'Pumpkin with Garlic Bread.' He loved that
I devoured the 'Stack of Pancakes with Smoked Salmon and Salad.'
Delicious.
And we treated ourselves to $5 worth of chips. Crisp, golden and really tasty.
This fab lunch, only set us back $27 plus $17 for the wine.
Good price.
The colourful machine (below) was a little out of place, but probably keeps the kids out of their parents hair, whilst they are imbibing.
So on the way back, I had the 'Pork and Pineapple Sub'. It was delicious.
The pork was so tender and the gravy wonderful.
The canned pineapple went to the side of my plate...other than that I couldn't complain.
Dale repeated his soup experience. Thumbs up from him again.
The lady behind us had the 'Scallop and Bacon Sub.'
You will never go hungry in this Pub.
Top Marks to the Publican and his Staff.
You're on our list of "Top Pubs to Visit" in New Zealand