Black Dog Cottage Cookbook: Sweetcorn, Spring Onion, Feta & Coriander Fritters

As you probably know by now, I am a girl who loves a cookbook. So when the publishers of the second Black Dog Cottage Cookbook by Adie McClelland (released this month throughout New Zealand) asked me if I would like to test drive a couple of recipes I said yes please.

I love fritters as much as I love books, so the Sweetcorn, Spring Onion, Feta & Coriander fritters were calling to me. The trick with a good fritter is to have the minimum of flour, enough to bind but no more, to avoid stodginess. You will think their isn't enough in this recipe, but trust me, it works a treat, and the end result is light, crunchy & moreish.

Sweetcorn, Spring Onion, Feta & Coriander fritters (from the second Black Dog Cottage Cookbook, published August)

3 cobs fresh/2 cups frozen sweetcorn (fresh is best, but these are still fab with frozen)
2 eggs, whisked
2 tbsp flour (yes, just 2!)
4 spring onions, finely chopped
Handful of coriander, finely chopped
80 grams feta, crumbled
Freshly ground pepper
Oil for frying (I used Canola)

If using fresh corn cut the kernels off the cobs. Whisk together the flour and eggs to make a batter. Combine the spring onions, coriander, feta, pepper and corn into the batter and mix well.
Splash some oil into a medium frying-pan and heat over medium. When hot add small spoonfuls of batter to your desired size, and turn over when golden to do the other side.
Drain on kitchen paper.

As you can see, they could not be easier. I served them for lunch with bacon , sour cream and more coriander. I had intended to add avocado also, but of course when I cut it open it was brown, why are so many avocados like that!? They would also be lovely made bite size & topped with sour cream and a flake of hot smoked salmon to have with drinks, yum!

The book also has a recipe for Zucchini , Mint & Feta fritters, which follow the same method, substituting grated zucchini and mint for the corn and coriander. As soon as zucchini come back into season I will be giving these a try also, maybe with a fresh zingy tomato salsa....

I have the first Black Dog Cottage cookbook and it is a cracker, so I am really looking forward to seeing the next one. I am getting around the cookbook buying ban by putting it on my Christmas list, clever no? If it is following the same format as the first book expect light, fresh, easy to prepare recipes full of flavour with minimum fuss. Hard to go wrong really.......

For more information please visit Phantom House Books or the book's Facebook page.

Wishful Wednesday- for kids to read....

The sad passing of the inimitable Margaret Mahy (if you have never read any of her books step away from the computer & go immediatly to the local library, you wont regret it:) got me thinking about books in general, and children’s books in particular. When Mum moved we were under strict instructions to please finally remove the piles of books we had left behind! A few treasures were unearthed, what follows is a completely arbitrary run down on my fav’s……….

For starters, my all time favourites, the Little House series. From The House in the Big Woods right through to Almanzo & Laura’s wedding in These Happy Golden Years I devoured the lot. The wonderful description of the maple dance, the day the family kill the pig, Caroline Ingills making butter, so much fascinating food history (I was all about the food even as a kid…….), I recently reread several of the books and enjoyed them just as much. Again I am not sure the iPod generation would find them as fascinating, I can only hope……..

The Classics: The Little Woman series by Louisa May Alcott, oh how I wanted to be Jo, although I have always suspected I may have more in common with conservative Meg. I read the entire series of these books, growing up with a gaggle of sisters I could certainly relate (although surely none of us were as sweet and kind as Beth!) Do girls still read them? I hope so………

Now I know kids still read these, The Faraway Tree series by Enid Blyton. If you have not read the adventures of Jo, Bessy & Fanny with their friends Silky & Moonface, you must immediately befriend a child with even a modicum of reading taste, they certainly will have. I have the box set, although I realized the other day they actually belong to my sister………whoops

More recent reads: Beverly Cleary’s brilliant Ramona Quimby stories. Poor Ramona has many trails to deal with, not least her bossy older sister Beezus, but she handles everything with her brilliant imagination, even when things don’t go to plan….. I loved these books, so funny and clever; I was surprised to find they had been made into a movie. I watched the first 20 minutes on a flight back from Fiji, but the characters were so far away from the ones in my head I had to switch it off; don’t you hate it when that happens?


My younger sister started reading about Carbonel (the King of Cats!) by Barbara Sleigh and I followed suit. The books have been reissued, and are a great read, especially if, like me, you fully appreciate how clever cats really are……….

Sweet Valley High, yep, I am a child of the 80’s! Francine Pascal series follows the lives of impossibly pretty popular twins Elizabeth & Jessica Wakefield living in Sweet Valley California where it never rained, they never got zits, or chubby, despite living on milk shakes & French fries . Apparently there were 152 books in the series (?!) I got my fix courtesy of my best friend across the road. Looking back the stories are so incredibly American I wonder now what the appeal was, but at the time they were compulsive reading. A follow up book Sweet Valley Confidential, following the lives of grown up Elizabeth & Jessica was released last year, I am reliably informed to give it a miss ……….

I cant not mention Mollie Katzen and her amazing Moosewood Cookbook, and the follow up Enchanted Broccoli Forest, I LOVED these books, I got them out of the Library so many times I should have just brought them………all that wonderful hand lettering, and some of the dishes seemed very exotic to me, tofu, really????

So, what were your favorites??

Wishful Wednesday- feed me/read me

This week I thought I would talk about a couple of books & a website I am enjoying right now (or soon will be!), and a fantastic meal I had this week…

First up, I am very excited as one of my fav authors has a new book out next month. I am already on the waiting list at the Library (38 of 38 so far, I was a bit slow off the mark) for The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. This is number eight in the Armand Gamache series, and they just get better & better.

Set in Montreal and the small village of Three Pines, each book is an ingenious murder mystery, as well as following the relationships with Chief of Police Armand, his deputy Jean-Guy and the various members of the village. I found Montreal beautiful and fascinating (and cold, actually it was the first place I touched snow) the history & relationships between the French & English speaking communities is an interesting theme in the books, and Penny describes the various scenes & characters so well you fell like they are old friends. I have missed them! Roll on August……..

If you want to start at the beginning, Still Life is number one in the series

Speaking of murder mysteries, if you are like me and enjoy a good crime novel, check out Crime Watch, a kiwi blog about all things happening in  crime and thriller fiction. Craig Sisterson chaired an excellent session at the recent Readers & Writers Fest. called A Mind for Murder which I really enjoyed, his blog is updated constantly & is great for finding out about new crime authors, especially those from New Zealand

Next up a few pics from my dinner at Depot last Friday. I met Mairi from over at Toast, and we enjoyed a fabulous meal, I highly recommend dining here if you are in Auckland.
Get there early (we were seated by 5.30pm) as the place gets packed & there is no booking. We scored a fantastic perch right in front of the Kitchen, so enjoyed watching the meals being prepped by the super efficient chefs. Actually the head chef bears more than a passing resemblance to Russell Crowe (ok, if Russ had a north of England accent) and I don’t think that was the (delicious) Chardonnay talking….

So, what did we have?

A meat platter, perfect size for two, with various delicious cold meats, rabbit rillettes, crostini and cherry relish, superb...

Pork Carnitas, tender slow cooked pork with a tangy tomatillo salsa in soft tortillas.....

Potato skins, topped with porcini powder, truffle oil and Gouda.....I went out the next day & brought porcini powder here so I could recreate these at home, completely morish.....

Turbot sliders, with pickled lime mayo......................WOW!

To finish, a gift from the kitchen, a tamarillo compote with the most amazing foam on top, complete with crunch & coffee............
I rolled out out the door completly satisfied, and cant wait to go back..........

On a food theme, here is another book I have really enjoyed, Monsoon Diary, Shoba Narayan's evocative memoir of her time growing up in Madras before moving to the US for college, the food descriptions made my mouth water. My sister found it in a second hand shop, but it is still available new.

And finally, on the subject of books, I have to mention Fifty Shades of Gray. Actually I don’t have to, but I’m going to. Everyone else seems to be talking about it…….


Good on E L James, it is really hard to write (& finish) any novel (I know, I’m trying…….), let alone actually get it published. To do so and have it become such a mega hit is just amazing, who would not want that?
It’s just a shame, in my opinion, it isn’t a better book. I found it far too long (and to be honest I only made it halfway through…..), in desperate need on an edit, and quite frankly, thin and boring. Never mind auto-erotic bedroom gymnastics, I just wanted to give Ana a slap, she is so wet! How Ms James managed to spread the story out over three books I can’t even imagine (actually maybe therein lies the problem, her imagination is clearly more active than mine!) but I wont be purchasing any more. The annoying thing is I brought the book on my Kindle, I can’t even give it away………

Have a great week!

Supperclubs & Sauce....really good sauce

Saturday's supperclub was a grand success, great guests, good food (if I do say so myself....) made for a fun evening, and no nervous breakdowns in the kitchen to be had...I had food bloggers on the guest list, including Alli from Pease Pudding, Mairi from Toast (who took the pics, thanks!) and Becs & Miriam from Lovely Wee Days, so no pressure then........

The menu was based on recipes from the new Supperclub Cookbook, I chose a mix of dishes which would work together as a delicious dinner and also let me cook for 8 people in a very ordinary kitchen with one oven without stress or to much alcohol. My guests enjoyed........

Kir Royale

Chipotle Lime Popcorn

French Onion Soup with Gruyere Toasts

Pork Belly Stuffed with Sage & Fennel

Quince & Apple Sauce

Potato & Celeriac Gratin

Braised Peas with Lettuce

Brussels Sprouts with Hazelnuts

Pavlova with Raspberries & Salted Caramel Sauce

Cheese- Kikorangi Blue

Crescent Dairy Flat White

Mahoe Very Aged Gouda

Oatcakes

Fig & Aniseed Bread

Fig Compote

Coffee & Mini Peanut Slabs





Pork and crackle, mmmmmmm







Can you make Pav better? Yep, add sauce......





How I do love cheese





The cutest little baby Peanut Slabs.........





I have been asked for the Salted Caramel Sauce recipe, this is true ambrosia, I'm pretty sure if you drizzled some on a bit of cardboard it would be a fine pud.

Salted Caramel Sauce (adapted from The Supperclub Cookbook by Kerstin Rodgers)

250gr  Sugar (Could use plain or caster)
1/4 cup of water
1/2 cup cream
1/2 tsp sea salt (don't use iodised table salt for this, if you don't have sea salt beg steal or borrow some)

Put the sugar & water in a heavy saucepan over a medium heat & leave to melt. Don't stir or fiddle, it just needs to melt. If you notice a little graininess say a silent prayer to the God of Sauces & hope it browns and turns to caramel before seizing up. This NEVER happened to me when I was growing up using thin crappy saucepans, now I am a grownup and used cast iron it does occasionally but as long as it isn't full grainy you can recover.
When the sugar turns brown (not black, when it will be bitter) take off the heat & whisking, add the cream. It will bubble and spit so be careful, when it has become a thick silky sauce, add your salt. Taste (carefully, this stuff can strip your tongue when boiling) and when cool store in a jar in the fridge. Administer a large spoonful straight when feeling sad, bored, sunny,  annoyed, happy, irritated, fed up or to decorate a pav or with ice cream. Or anything else.

To finish these are the flowers I had for the table. My mother went out in appalling weather & picked them from her garden. Thank's Mum.





Creamy beans with beef.....

What a busy week, month end, year end, sense of humour end, it's had it all. A quick healthy dinner was in order, something nourishing but maybe a little different? This hit the spot nicely, creamy beans, corn and carrots topped with tangy balsamic marinated beef, yum. The beans would also be great with fish or chicken, and are substantial enough not to require carbs .
This came by way of Jamie's America which I am enjoying on TV at the moment. I brought the book after seeing an episode the first time around, and it is one of my favorites. American food gets such a bad rap, sometimes rightly so. But they also gave us Mac n Cheese, Banana Splits and the Cheeseburger, for that alone I am prepared to cut some slack. This recipe featured on the Georgia episode, and originally contained Venison & Lima beans. Jamie substitutes Broad Beans, but I came across some frozen Edamame beans at the supermarket and used those instead, saves peeling, and they are not only tasty but very good for you.........and they look pretty.

Creamy beans with beef

Serves 2-3

1 large Sirloin steak
Clove crushed garlic
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
good grind of black pepper and salt

2 rashers of bacon (optional)
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 small onion finely chopped
1 stick celery finely chopped
1 carrot, scrubbed and finely chopped
2 cups frozen edamame beans (or use broad beans)
1 cup frozen sweetcorn
1 cup chicken or veg stock
More salt & fresh ground black pepper
big splash of cream

First marinate your steak by mixing together the garlic, oil and vinegar & pouring over the meat. Let rest at room temperature while you prepare your vegetables.

Fry off the bacon rashers if using in a medium non stick pan until crispy. Take out of the pan and place on a paper towel to drain. Pour most of the fat out of the pan, but leave about a tbsp to fry off your onions, celery, carrot & chopped rosemary. Cook for about 15 minutes until the vegetables have softened, then add the beans, corn and stock to the pan, with a good grind of pepper.

At this point I would cook my steak.  I sprinkle my meat with salt, and on a preheated griddle pan, cook over a medium high heat for about 3 minutes a side until med-rare, then pop it in a warm place to rest while you finish your veg
Simmer your bean mix with the lid on for about five minutes, then take the lid off, pour in your cream, stir and let it bubble for a couple of minutes until it thickens. Add more liquid if there is not enough sauce to your taste, stock or extra cream. Taste and add salt if necessary.

To serve portion onto warm plates, slice the meat on an angle and put a few slices on top & sprinkle with your bacon. You may notice a lack of bacon in the picture, this is because I actually forgot about it, so maybe leave it somewhere visible....?

On an entirely different note, I have just finished a great book, written by a new New Zealand author called Tony Price. "Kicking Out" is Tony's first novel and it is a cracker.
If you like thrillers, give this book a go. It has a supernatural element, which isn't normally what I would go for, but the treatment is subtle and never feels unrealistic. I met Tony last year, and he not only can he write a good story, but he is a really  nice guy also. Tony has published this book himself, and if you click on the link it will take you to all the available stockists.

I have the utmost respect for anyone who has the perseverance to write 90,000 words, I have written much less, and it is hard! You write a page, read it the next day, wonder why anyone would want to read such drivel, write it again, read it the next day, and on it goes until you have a finished book or have lost your mind. I am still writing, so I clearly have not reached a decision on that one......

Exciting Supperclub news!

To celebrate the publication of "Supperclub" , the rather gorgeous new cookbook available here by Ms Marmitelover Kerstin Rogers  I am having an Autumn Book Celebration Supperclub , a rather wordy title (how apt) for what will be a rather wonderful evening. I am doubly excited as there is a very delicious Pork Belly recipe in the book which was provided by me! So no prizes for guessing what the main course for dinner will be......

For those of you who are new to the concept, you basically come along to my house where I will feed you a delicious 4 courses (and a cheeky little welcome drink) and not ask you to do the dishes.

You bring your tipple of choice ( I cant sell booze so please BYO), and some cash to make a donation towards the evening.....

I suggest $65 but if you have just won lotto by all means pay more. You can come alone or with friends, seating is communal so you will never feel like Billy no Mates.

Cocktails will be served at 7pm on Saturday 16th April, please email me if you would like further info or to make a booking . Seating is strictly limited (to the size of my lounge) so be in quick....

plumkitchen@hotmail.co.nz

Supperclubs have become increasingly popular in the UK, especially London, and the US. The book provides loads of info on setting up a supperclub, as well as plenty of great recipes. .....for NZ & Australian readers Amazon are doing free shipping out here until Mid May so get in now.

If you are in New Zealand and keen to start your own supperclub please do get in touch! For more info also check out http://supperclubfangroup.ning.com/ which is a directory of all things supperclub around the world.

Plum Kx

PS Please forgive the use of two exclamation marks in this post, but I'm excited ok.......

Pesto pasta with potatos...........and green beans too

I thought after showing off a picture of my Basil plants like a proud Mama the other day it would be sensible to actually make something with them. I have pondered this dish for a while, always thinking it seemed slightly odd to combine pasta and potato in one meal. But having beans, potato, basil and pasta to hand on an evening when I was more hungry than energetic it was an obvious choice. An given how completely smitten I am with potato pizza I cant believe I thought I might not like this. Completely delish, please make again was the verdict. So I shall, and you should too....

Pesto pasta with potato and green beans

First put a large pot of water on to boil, then make your pesto. Now I know you can buy this everywhere, but seriously, you really have not got four minutes to spare? That's how long it takes, I timed it. And that is the hand version, I refuse to use a blender as I hate trying to clean them, a mortar and pestle I can just swish under the tap....

Into a mortar and pestle put a pinch of salt and half a clove of garlic. Pound the garlic a couple of times and it will disintegrate into the salt. Throw in your basil, I use two-three good handfuls for two people.

Pound away until the juices start to run from the basil's leaves and they start to turn into mush, it really only takes a couple of minutes at most. Throw in nuts, I use pinenuts or walnuts, but try what you like and see. I figure on about 40-50 grams of nuts for this amount of basil, which for me is a small handful, but more or less will not hurt.
Pound the nuts into the basil until they come together into a green thick mass, then stir in a couple of tbsp of good olive oil and a grind of pepper. Lastly add a small handful of Parmesan cheese, taste the seasoning and check the thickness, you want a slightly sloppy paste. Add more oil if necessary. Use straight away or store in a jar with a little oil on top to keep the green colour.

For the pasta you need

6-8 new potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
A handful of green beans, sliced into chunks about the same size as your potato
150 grams spaghetti or linguine pasta
Pesto
Extra Parmesan cheese

Add plenty of salt to your boiling water, and add the potatoes. Cook for 7 minutes, then add the beans. Cook a further 5 minutes until the potato is cooked through, and the beans are cooked but not mushy. Take out of the water and set aside.
Now add your pasta to the water, and cook for about 10-12 minutes, until cooked to your liking. I like my pasta cooked slightly more than any Italian ever would, but I also put cheese with fish so am probably beyond redemption........
When the pasta is done, add the beans & potatoes back to the water to just heat up again for a couple of seconds, then drain the whole lot and add a couple of tablespoons of pesto to the pot. Stir and add some of the water the pasta was cooked in to slacken the sauce until you are happy with the consistency.
Dish up as tidily as you can onto serving plates and add a good sprinkle of Parmesan and a grind of pepper.

This sounds like a carbo loaders stodgy dream, but it is much lighter than it sounds. Fragrant with basil, you also have textural interest with the crunch of beans, creamy potato (hence the use of waxy new potatoes) and slightly chewy pasta. Have I convinced you?

A word of warning however, this is not sexy date food. You may cover yourself with sauce as I always do eating spaghetti, or worse. As Mr PK so solemnly pointed out, "the leggings and green stained t-shirt combo is already a winner, but it's that stonking bit of basil in your front tooth really does it for me......." Steady tiger......

Finally got Freedom by Jonathan Franzen from the library at lunch, my first grown up book of the year. Check out My Villa Life for a great 2011 reading list. I don't think I will aspire to quite those dizzy heights, I am so tired at the mo I fall asleep after a few pages, but it is good to have ideas for new books to read.