Soup for dinner

I found some chicken stock in the bottom of the freezer (unlabelled of course, but I was pretty sure......), and soup seemed very appealing. Pumpkin is cheap at the moment, and when roasted takes on a lovely nutty sweetness, which is delicious in soup(another brilliant Delia idea). It also means I dont have to risk life and several digits hacking off the pumpkin skin, instead it peels of f easily when cooked.
Combine with your stock, some sweet browned onions and just a couple of sage leaves (don't go mad or you will have a liquid more akin to tonic than soup) Simmer gently & blitz with a stick blender, for a rich creamy soup with very little cost or effort, yummy.
We are having it with some cheese & chili rolls I picked up at Bakers Delight last week & popped in the freezer, and a Joy Bar for afters....................yes I know, JOY BARS?! Like an Eskimo Pie but with that Jelly Tip stuff through the middle, sooooo good. Don't even look at the ingredient list, just unwrap in the privacy of your own home, preferably with another consenting adult & enjoy:)
If you have a decent cinema nearby go along and see Coco avant Chanel, it is about the life of Gabrielle Chanel from her poverty stricken beginnings as a seamstress to her rise to couture glory in Paris. Audrey Tautou is wonderful as always, and it is fascinating to see how the ideas for Chanel's simple, beautiful clothes (she is credited with creating the LBD no less), when most wealthy women at the time sported more lace & frills than an 80's wedding dress.....tres bon!

How long!?

Ok, I have been very naughty with my posting, the last one was so long ago it is nearly ancient history.........shameful. I am now combining work with studying French & History (one is tres difficult, I'll let you guess which....), and I am BUSY. Which means prep time is shorter, and I have a whole new view of preparing dinner. I have so often heard people complain about not having enough time or energy to prepare a meal at the end of the day, but for the most part I have always enjoyed it as a wind down , with a yummy treat at the end.....
However when five chapters on the Ming dynasty await, plus ample practise required of my appalling french accent, suddenly a lazy 25 minutes stirring risotto seems like wanton extravagance.
So, after a few weeks of thrown together dinners (those plastic pots of flash soup & a pre cooked chicken can only go on for so long....) I have realized a little more planning is in order.
So please bear with me while I find my muse, and come up with yummy treats for the end of the day (and lunch, the student cafe isn't exactly health food) that appear in less time than it takes me to massacre the french alphabet......

I Loved this Resturant So Long

Despite what Mr D promised, we didn't win $16 million on the lotto this weekend.............how surprising. So it was rather clever of me to have booked The Engine Room in Northcote for our tenth wedding anniversary, you don't need to take out a second mortgage to have a really fabulous meal there. Why are their not more restaurants like this in Auckland??
It is always a good sign if I can peruse a menu (and this one was not huge, maybe six options for each course....), and struggle to choose just one of each dish. In fact despite my not insignificant marital weight gain, I often struggle to finish 3 courses. But everything looked so tempting I threw caution to the wind (and a Losec down my throat...) and went for it.
I only discovered after the event I had chosen the exact menu described in Metro, on awarding The Engine Room best local bistro in their annual awards...........the excellent waiter must have thought "what a saddo".
I enjoyed Twice Baked Goats Cheese Souffle , which was a light delight, with just the right amount of "goatness". To follow a delicious Steak Frites, complete with a lovely herby butter sauce. I only ate half my steak, in preparation for the Churros and Chocolate to follow. Natalia Schamroth, who along with partner Carl Koppenhagen own and run the restaurant, then whisked the rest away, and returned it at the end of our meal, to the absolute delight of a certain fat furry feline....
Mr D had a tangy Prawn and Lychee salad, followed by the Duck, which was an evening special. Both produced scraped clean plates and curious lip-smacking sounds, need I say more...
We have spent quite a bit of time in Spain, and I cant go past Churros, deep fried donuts traditionally eaten at breakfast with hot chocolate. Eat these my friend, and you will laugh in the face of muesli, ha ha!
They arrived hot and coated in sugar, to be broken up and dunked in my cream topped chocolate, which had a real hit of orange. Terrys Chocolate Orange for grown-ups. Mr D's Nougat Glace with Turkish Delight was just that, light, packed with pistachios, with a real hit of rosewater. Needless to say I was only quick enough for a small spoonful.
All this , with a couple of wines each came in at $230 incl tip, if you find somewhere else in Auckland with this level of food,service and ambiance, I want to hear about it:) If you get the chance visit, www.engineroom.net.nz

Briefly, I have seen two good French films recently, The Grocers Son, which is playing at the Lido, and I Loved You So Long, with the fantastic Kristen Scott-Thomas at the beautifully refurbished Capital on Dominion Rd. If you have the chance, go and see them. Neither will blow you away with action (they are French after all.....), but both are excellent character studies.

Must away, homemade Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner, and you know Monday is Midsomer Murder night........x

A real French Terrine

It was my birthday this week, ( on a school night, I am of an age when that actually matters....)so I have been out and about and not really keeping my blog updated...........so here I am.

We had a family 80th at the weekend(actually Uncle Laurie looks closer to 70 than 80...), and I was gagging to use my new/old birthday present. A beautiful French terrine dish, which belonged to Anne's in-laws (Anne runs the Antique shop in Paihia, in the beautiful Bay of Islands, go and check it out if you are up that way)

Anyway this lovely dish had spent many years in the production of delicious terrines, a course country-style pate, made from various cuts of meat. My recipe used minced pork & venison, but as I had no luck at all finding venison I used minced Angus beef instead. Along with streaky bacon, juniper berries (I love that Gin sharpness), peppercorns, pistachio nuts, mace, thyme and wine, yummo. The mace was especially interesting, this is the outer covering of the nutmeg, which has a really intriguing flavor, a touch of nutmeg, but spicier yet less medicinal. Yes, you obviously need to go & find some to have any clue about the joy of mace...........

So this is all marinated together, then pressed into my beautiful dish, covered and baked for a couple of hours on low, sitting in a Bain Marie (a water bath, sounds so much better in French non?) If you dont have a terrine a loaf tin will work just as well.

I then popped my beauty in the fridge with a couple of tins of beans on top (which I felt bad about not using before now....) to press it down.

Next day an hour or so out of the fridge and it is ready to roll with some lovely crusty bread, and a little dish of my Spicy Apple & Walnut chutney............I hope I am eating like that on my 80th

xx

It was carnage!

I have come to the conclusion I am just not a very good gardener..........all I seem to grow really well is caterpillars. This would not be quite such a problem but they are one insect (on a long and fairly substantial list) that I find completely gross. They have a purpose (to produce White Butterflies, the point of which I must say does completely elude me), I just wish they would pursue life in someone elses garden. It isn't just that they eat , nigh INHALE any brassica their fat little bodies can wriggle onto (and don't even get me started on the eggs, ugg), but they are so squishy & green & just foul about it, yuk yuk yuk! I will use an exclamation mark on that one, and another, yuk!
As you can probably tell I have had a big session in the garden today, mainly removing ALL my lovely Cauli's, Cabbages & Broccoli to the green bin. If I am honest they were anything but lovely, fully or half eaten, hiding icky green eggs among the minute foliage actually left, but it was still extremely upsetting. Even worse the little buggers had also stripped my parsley and mint plants bare. Now garden is one thing, but to touch the Herbs, that is a wriggle to far buddy, there is a line in the compost and you crossed it. So after a dumping of Derris Dust a napalm bomber would be well impressed with, I systematically remove every last brassica, along with my depleted herb garden.
I have come to the realization I am a cook who gardens (badly), not actually a gardener. Which is ok, the first step to recovery being the ability to self-analyse. So I have scuttled back into the kitchen, and made Leek & Potato soup (nope, neither the leek nor potato originated in my patch) and bread rolls. The rolls I have high hopes for. I have added what herbs I have left standing, thank you hardy Rosemary & Thyme, and also Saffron, which smells gorgeous, and makes the bread a lovely buttery color. The soup is a Darina Allen recipe I picked up on a cooking course at Ballymaloe in Ireland (name dropping, moi?), which I love not least because when I cant actually find the printed version in my tin, even my memory can locate, 1 part onion, 1 part potato, 3 parts vegetables and 5 parts stock. Tonight's is Leek & Potato, so I have upped the potato to 3 parts (3 cups in this case) to two cups of leek, 1 onion, and 5 cups of chicken stock from the freezer (if you are scoffing, please return immediately to Post number Three)
So much easier if you have a stick blender, it always put me off soup, having to put the liquid in a blender, which I then had to clean while nursing the inevitable burn gained in hot-liquid transfer..........a stick blender does the job in the saucepan, genius.
Anyway, the soup is garnished with a scattering of crispy bacon. If I was posh it would be pancetta, if I was more organised it would be Chorizo, I am neither, but have bacon in the freezer, hooray.
I thought I should add a new challenge to my "new ingredient/recipe from the tin thing", as looking back at my posts I can see how I have put on nearly 20kg since I got married (10 years this month, hence I am feeling reflective....), how much do I love cream/bacon/cheese, let me count the ways....?
So I will also be endeavoring to follow Michael Pollan's dictum of "eat food, mostly plants, not to much"....real food, lots of vegetables, watch the portions.
Lets see how we go x

I'm doing it for you.........

I read somewhere that most of us cook the same 12 recipes. Now this is obviously a massive generalisation...........but one look at a bunch of my shopping receipts, which never seem to make it out of the bottom of my reusable shopping bags, would indicate I'm a fully paid up member of the most, churning the same puppies out, week in week out.....at least the ingredients bear a remarkable similarity, leak and bacon anyone?

So, in the interests of variety, and cleaning out my recipe tin, which I am presently unable to close due the volume of paper wodged within, I shall endeavour to cook my way through my box, using at least one new ingredient every week. I haven't got a new tin-recipe as such tonight, my lightening bolt only occurred to me this morning scrabbling around trying to find a Feijoa Chutney recipe (at the bottom, naturally), but I have a new ingredient, Wagyu Beef.

Now I have eaten plenty of beef in my time, but Wagyu is a specific variety , favoured for its flavour, and predisposition to a high unsaturated fat content, supposedly containing Omega 3 & 6, which gives the meat a marbled appearance (nigh on impossible to discern in my picture sorry, will try to get a clue about taking photos I promise....), and a higher degree of flavour & succulence than ordinary beef. It is most revered in Japan, where there are five major breeds: Tottori, Tajima, Shimane, Kochi and Kumamoto (in case you ever get asked at Pub Quiz). Our dinner is from Fresh Meats, purchased vacume packed at Farro. I usually prefer the butcher, but this is pretty specialised stuff. The animals spend the last 300-500 days on a feed lot, eating grain, which increases the fat content, and supposedly the flavour. Of course all this comes at a price, which is high! We are eating half a steak each, although it is a very thick piece of beef, and I imagine quite rich, so I think that will be ample.

I didn't want to drown out the flavour with a sauce, so I will simple give my pampered bovine a good coating of cracked pepper & salt, and griddle till bloody.....even Mr D has promised not to put ketchup on his piece.....alongside a lovely creamy dish of potato & leak baked with stock, cream & a touch of nutmeg, yummo.

I will report back on whether all the fuss & feedlot is worth it in terms of texture and flavour, in the meantime if all this makes you a tad envious remember for every new ingredient like Wagyu there is Tripe......and Liver.

A Quiche....or a Pie?

Hi all

Sorry, I have been a bit busy this week and have not been posting as intended (although according to Glenn I have not been remiss in the talking department.....how rude). Anyway supper tonight, after much deliberation, was going to be a lovely proper Leek & Bacon Quiche .I cant call it Quiche Lorraine as strictly speaking that is only bacon, cream & eggs, but the leeks at the greengrocer were fat & fabulous, (hooray, how ofter do you hear that nowadays?)......anyway Einstein here forgot to get cream on the way home,so consumed was she at remembering the cat biscuits and everything else on the list helpfully still sitting on the fridge.... After a weekend of Apple & Feijoa crumble and Chocolate Mousse (diet central around here cant you tell?) there was only a tiny puddle of cream in the bottom of the bottle. I cant perform magic tricks, so quiche was out , what else to do?

Making pies at 6.30pm on a Monday night probably isn't everyone's idea of relaxing, and even I did think I was being a tad ambitious, but frozen pastry is this girls best friend, and pies it was.

A couple of chicken thighs (I know you have heard it before but they really do taste better than chicken breasts, and they are not as dry) chucked in a small saucepan with a splash of Chard, 5 peppercorns, a bay leaf & some celery leaves, (I used the stalk to fry with the leeks & bacon) covered with water & simmered for 15 mins. Fry a few rashers of bacon , which freezes fantastically well & thaws quickly, hence it always lives in my freezer, in a knob of butter with a sliced leek, a stalk of celery and a bit of spring onion as it was knocking around the crisper. Let it all soften while chicken cooks, then add a splash of wine and let that bubble all the bits on the bottom of the pan, and take off the heat.

Take chicken out of poaching liquid & slice/tear into the leek mix. Let it cool down while you make a bechemel sauce, which means putting about 300ml milk in a saucepan with half an onion and a bay leaf and bring it to the boil on a gentle heat. While that happens melt 25 grams of butter in another saucepan ,(the one you cooked the chicken in maybe?) also gently, and add a couple of teaspoons of plain flour stirring with a whisk or wooden spoon until it looks grainy. Let it cook for about a minute, then add your heated milk , taking out the onion & bay leaf. Stir/whisk until it thickens, let it bubble gently for a minute or two, taste to see if it needs seasoning, and there you go, a bechemel sauce (or in our house white sauce). I added a teaspoon of Dijon mustard at this point, because I love it with chicken, but its up to you. This is also where you would add cheese, if you wanted to cover some steamed cauliflower with love and breadcrumbs....Anyway add sauce to your chicken mix, and stir it all together. You could add some chopped tarragon, or parsley but don't worry if you don't have it.....I use sheets of Edmonds frozen savoury pastry but any brand will do, line your wee pie cases, or a large pie tin, add your filling (better if you can leave it to cool a bit, but don't be eating at midnight just for that) and cook in a 200C oven for 20-25 mins. All that took about 35 mins to get to the oven, including feeding the cat & wandering around the garden in the dark trying to pick lettuce with out touching anything creepy crawly, so not sooooo bad, especially as quite frankly pulling off a crispy, chickeny chock-full of chook pie, well, how fab are you:) Right, dinner and Midsomer Murder calls, bye for now x
P.S I have Feijoa recipes to post, will get onto that this week, before some poor soul actually drowns in Feijoas.....it could happen!