Kapai kai: Good food

Pasifika festival

Kapai kai — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:32:09 +0000

A great day for festivals this sunny Saturday. Wandered down to Out in the Square, where young things carrying big black cooler boxes slung by straps behind the shoulders, like the confectionery vendors who used to emerge at half-time in the cinema, back in the days when Intermission scrolled across the screen while the orchestral theme music surged, were handing out ‘adult’ ice blocks. Adult flavours, that is, not shapes. Ginger beer, lemonade, lime & bitters. B had FIVE! And declared ginger beer the best.

Then across to the waterfront, the harbour a picture, and the Pasifika festival at Waitangi Park. Food stalls on one side, and very busy. Disinclined to queue, I went to one of the quieter outlets. Corned beef & green beans hot roll. In other words, a roll filled with corned beef & green beans. Not sophisticated, but tasty enough.

But probably not healthy. Isn’t corned beef riddled with salt & preservatives? And, I have to say, looking around at the SIZE of many of the people there, there was definitely a case for more healthy food choices. Too much in the naughty but nice category on offer. Three young women seated on the grass nearby were wolfing down pineapple halves topped by a moutain of vanilla ice cream. Just for example.

Still, a fun day.

Karori sanctuary aka Zealandia

Kapai kai — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 07:54:27 +0000

“She wants to take us to lunch,” he said. “Let’s go to the sanctuary.” The Karori Sanctuary, that is. Renamed Zealandia. And so we went.

The selection of counter food looked old, tired, yesterday’s. I chose a BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato … as I’m sure you know) in toasted Turkish bread off the menu. That would be fresh.

It came. The filling soaked in a generous soaking of tomato sauce. OH DEAR!

The Turkish bread tasted like Mother’s Pride. Nothing but the cheapest.

His chicken & mushroom pie casing cracked open like baked clay. The filling a thin base layer under empty hot air.

Her fish & chips looked all right.

But, what a shame. Fantastic location. Crap food. Not recommended.

Pomegranate juice?? Help!

Kapai kai — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 04:34:30 +0000

What on earth could you substitute for pomegranate juice? I have a duck recipe that calls for it. Orange, perhaps? Or is that too 1970s??

Baked custard

Kapai kai — Sun, 30 May 2010 10:16:08 +0000

Packing up a holiday house after a few days’ stay, especially at this time of the year when you know no-one else is likely to be in residence for some time, there’s always the question of what to do with the left-over food. After all, no-one can plan so well that there are no leftovers. Anyway, as I’m not in favour of the next person being greeted by exploding pots of yoghurt and mould-encrusted unidentifiables, I tend to use, take with me, or throw out. So, there was the question of the egg yolks remaining from the pav. And for something different, why not try a baked custard? A little egg-y to taste, but with whipped cream on a wintry night, very agreeable.

3 eggs

¼ cup sugar

2 cups milk, heated

½ tspn vanilla essence

pinch of nutmeg

In a saucepan, whisk eggs, sugar, heated milk & vanilla together. Pour into a 20cm pie plate. Sprinkle with nutmeg. Set pie plate in a shallow pan of water. Bake at 150 C for 1 hour or until set.

This from the Edmonds’ Cookbook. I confess, I wasn’t sure what ‘heated’ milk meant. Luke-warm? Near boiling? Decided that it meant, to me, warmed until steaming slightly and the first vague suggestion of a skin forming, then I added the rest & whisked. Seemed to work okay. And a simpler way of using up yolks than crème brulée. Though not as delicious!

Le Canard

Kapai kai — Tue, 25 May 2010 07:22:54 +0000

A birthday treat, a restaurant specialising in duck. It began on a high note, and swooped downwards. The entrée was very, very good … though perhaps would have been even better if served at room rather than fridge temperature. The main … well, with neither salt nor pepper on the table the message from the kitchen was clear … we season the food around here! And while I’m no salt fiend I did think this would have been improved with a tad more seasoning (though, of course, I didn’t ASK for the salt!). But all was not lost, dessert to come, profiteroles, impossible to go wrong with those. Unless of course you overcook the choux pastry! For some reason they decide to slice the profiteroles into pieces and arrange as swans around the balls of ice cream … cutesy on the plate, but I’d guess they bake them in their shapes. Not a smart idea. And, of course, as I’ve said before, dessert can make or break a meal. This evening’s meal didn’t inspire me to an early return to Le Canard.

LA PLANCHE DU CANARD A trio of duck liver mousse, rillettes and terrine of duck with fig and walnut

MAGRET DE CANARD SAUCE CASSIS Duck breast with blackcurrant sauce, braised red cabbage and bacon

PROFITEROLES AU CHOCOLAT Choux pastries, vanilla ice cream, hot chocolate sauce

Pavlova – the last word

Kapai kai — Sun, 23 May 2010 09:27:28 +0000

Thank goodness for my own blog! Here we are, down the Sounds again, and I could read the signals … a pavlova was wanted. But the recipe I’ve come to trust was in Wellington … this was the first one I used, the one contributed by S. Reynolds to, from memory, the Eastern Southland Hockey Association cookbook … I found that by drawing a 22 cm circle on a piece of moistened baking paper and making sure it all sat inside that, this gave a reliable result, especially if the oven was a little hotter than S. Reynolds suggested. Anyway, so I went online, found the recipe, then looked in the pantry … an electric egg beater, to make life easier; ordinary white sugar, no castor sugar; and a choice of vinegars – balsamic or white wine. Balsamic didn’t seem to be the go (though it might have been interesting). And so I swung into action. With success. Though, to be fair, I’ve a very broad definition of success … we’re not the most discerning of pavlova consumers!

But anyway, this will be my LAST word on pavlovas. Promise.

Tiramisu

Kapai kai — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 02:55:56 +0000

Has been ages since we entertained, but now that I’m back in the country it’s time to be a bit more hospitable. So, friends for dinner on the weekend and as usual going for an Italian-themed meal. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about Italian food that I like. Actually, I do know! It’s the colours, and the flavours, and the redolence of summer. So, we had …

… not Italian, but great colour & flavour, Silver Palate’s minted pea & spinach soup

… beef stew with red wine

… and a second Gabriella Rossi recipe, her tiramisu. The real thing, with mascarpone instead of whipped cream. Here it is, slightly adapted.

3 eggs, separated

450 gms mascarpone, at room temperature

3 tbspn caster sugar

½ tspn vanilla essence

½ cup brandy (or coffee flavoured liqueur)

18 sponge fingers

dark chocolate

Whisk egg whites till stiff peaks form. In a separate large bowl mix mascarpone, sugar, vanilla & egg yolks until evenly combined. Fold in egg whites. Spread some of mix in bottom of a large serving bowl.

Mix coffee and brandy together in a shallow dish. Dip a sponge finger in the mix, turn quickly – aim for saturated rather than sodden. Place on top of the mascarpone mix in the bowl. Add another 5 dipped sponge fingers. Add a layer of mascarpone mix. Add another layer of dipped sponge fingers. And repeat.

Cover & chill overnight. Before serving, grate generous amounts of dark chocolate over top. Serve, and watch disappear.

Blokes’ chicken

Kapai kai — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:58:21 +0000

Not quite sure what to call this dish … I think I copied it into a notebook from a newspaper supplement that was talking about food that blokes could cook, or perhaps it was food that blokes would like to eat. Whatever. It meets all my prerequisites – simple to make, limited ingredients, and good taste. So here goes …

Preheat oven to 200 C. Dry a chicken (I used size 14, free range) and season with salt & pepper, stuff with fresh thyme (happily we have a (now somewhat denuded) thyme hedge). In a cast iron casserole, heat 1 tbspn olive oil & 1 tbspn butter. Then add the chicken and brown on all sides.

Once the chicken is suitably browned (and it does brown beautifully), pour ½ cup white wine, ½ cup chicken stock & ½ cup cream over. Cover, put in oven, and cook for 50 minutes, basting twice.

After 50 minutes, add baby carrots & baby turnips (well, I couldn’t find any in the supermarket & used quartered parsnips instead; it’s the size of the veggies you add rather than the variety that matters). Re-cover, and cook for a further 15 minutes. By which time the veggies will be cooked.

Transfer the chicken & veggies to a serving dish to rest. Reduce the juices a little, if necessary, over a high heat, check seasoning, spoon over the chicken.

And, for an easy, special-looking, mid-week meal, this takes some beating.

Pork chops, Modena style

Kapai kai — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 10:08:22 +0000

Waikanae was a surprise. I’d imagined Zimmer frames and mobility scooters, but nary a one in sight. The resident population’s more retirement village than rest home, it seems, and the place much more attractive than I’d imagined. Leafy, quiet, affluent streets. And, of course, if you drive to the coast there’s the black sand beach and in the distance the striking silhouette of Kapiti Island. Afterwards it struck me as extraordinary that I’ve passed through Waikanae countless times, but never once turned off SH1 to have a look. And if it wasn’t for friends having shifted there, I still wouldn’t have.

Anyway, they were there, and we went to stay. And for dinner the most delicious pork loin braised in milk. From a Marcella Hazan cook book. Afterwards John sent us the recipe, and another. Here’s the other. We had it a couple of nights after I returned from Kiribati. Oh, it was delicious! And, even better, easy. So here it is – braised pork chops with sage & tomatoes, Modena style.

25 gms butter

1 tbspn olive oil

4 pork loin chops flour

6 – 8 fresh sage leaves

salt

black pepper

1 tin chopped Italian plum tomatoes (the recipe called for a 200 gm tin, but I used a 425 gm tin without ill effects)

In a pan that can hold all the chops without overlapping, put butter & oil with heat at medium-high. When the butter foam begins to subside, turn the chops on both side sin flour on a plate, shake off excess and put in pan with sage leaves. Cook for about 1 ½ – 2 minutes each side. Add salt, freshly ground pepper, tomatoes. Leave to simmer on a low heat, covered with lid slightly askew, for about an hour. Turn chops occasionally. Spoon sauce (reduced a little if too thin) over chops. Yummy!

Warm chicken salad

Kapai kai — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 09:57:51 +0000

It does start to seem as though I’m seldom home. Over the past six months it’s been Europe, the Sounds, Timor Leste, Kiribati, and Kiribati again. Home now from my second visit this year and, oh, the joys of a salad. On a whim, threw together a warm chicken salad for dinner … two types of lettuce, Iceberg & Butter crunch, chopped red pepper, lots of home grown tomato, avocado, toasted pine nuts … tossed in a simple vinaigrette (though perhaps a mayonnaise would have been better?) .. pan fried a couple of chicken breasts, thinly sliced and artistically plonked on the salad. With a fresh sour dough loaf on the side, we were both surprised at how simple, satisfying and tasty this was. And, even better, my craving for fresh vegetables after another fortnight in Kiribati was met.