Gingerbread and Champagne Marshmallows
They both went down quite well amongst the people in the street with no real clear favorite. The champagne flavour was quite subtle but there nonetheless and the gingerbread tasted just like you’d expect, just more fluffy in texture.
Mango and Black Pepper Ice Creams
Yeah, black pepper. Ice cream. It’s strangely sweet too, even if it leaves your lips tingling. Give it a go, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with the subtle fruitiness that pepper actually has. Of course, you can always tone down the amount of pepper in the recipe, or if you want, sift out the powder and just use the larger cracked pieces, I didn’t and as such the ice cream looks decidedly chocolate.
Brioche Pudding with Dried Figs
This was meant to just have cherries in it but I forgot to get them that day so I rummaged around the the cupboard and cheated a little with a packet of Whisk & Pin dried fruit compote that was mostly figs which I love so hey, figs it was! They worked really well if I do say so myself.
Brioche Pudding with Dried
Figs
Mixed Berry Jellies and Vanilla Ice Cream
Even better, it is very easy to make, can be made days in advance and you’ve probably got everything in the cupboard anyway.
Mixed Berry Jellies and Vanilla Ice Cream -
Serves 4
1 packet of flavoured jelly crystals (any berry or even
port-wine)
1 packet of frozen berries, thawed (any, or a mix)
Ice Cream
Make jelly as per packet instructions. Put in fridge and chill for
an hour and a half or until the mix is quite thick but not set.
Stir in berries.
If the berries do sink to the bottom before it sets, or you forget
the jelly in the fridge before adding them place the moulds in a
sink and add hot water until it comes half way up the sides. The
jelly will soften enough so you can add the berries or stir them
through again.
Leave to set then serve with ice cream.
Walloon Biscuits
From: Luther
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 10:48:49 PM
To: Will
This weekend's cooking challenge: Belgian biscuits. =P
From: Will
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 11:23:41 PM
To: Luther
Belgian biscuits?
From: Luther
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 24 October 2008 11:58:29 PM
To: Will
Made from real Belgians! (Mind you, at this rate they'll eventually be called Walloon biscuits... depending upon your knowledge of world affairs. =)
http://www.chelsea.co.nz/ViewRecipe.aspx?id=711
From: Will
Subject: Re: Something to sweeten your weekend?
Date: 25 October 2008 2:22:23 AM
To: Luther
I'll see what I can come up with :D
Belgian Biscuits
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with Crushed Hazelnuts
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with
Crushed Hazelnuts
Rich Italian Chocolate Cake with Crushed
Hazelnuts
250g hazelnuts
250g of almond meal
250g of dark chocolate, finely chopped
100mL of brandy
60mL of espresso
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of milk
1 cup of caster sugar
5 large eggs, separated
1 tub of mascarpone
Heat the oven to 180ºC. Grease two 20cm sponge tins and dust with
cocoa. Roast the hazelnuts on an oven tray for 15 minutes until the
skins are blackened, wrap in a tea-towel and let them steam and
cool. Rub off the skins then grind in a food processor.
Mix the first seven ingredients plus half of the sugar and the egg
yolks in a large bowl until well combined. Whisk the egg whites in
a separate bowl to soft peaks then slowly beat in the rest of the
sugar until the egg whites are glossy. In several small batches,
gently mix the egg whites into the cake mix. Divide the mix between
the two sponge tins and bake in the middle shelf of the oven for
45min to an hour or until a skewer comes out clean, or with a few
crumbs. Leave it to cool .
Spread the mascarpone on the top of one of the cakes then squish
the second one on top, dusk with icing sugar and serve with either
more mascarpone or some ice cream.
UPDATE: I gave the rest of this cake to some friends the following day and it tasted even better once the flavours had time to properly mingle with each other. So I’d recommend making the cakes, leaving them wrapped in plastic in the fridge for 24 hours and then spreading them with mascarpone and serving it with ice cream.
White Degustation and the Hilton Auckland
The second night I stayed I went to White, the hotel’s restaurant with Italian chef Cristiano De Martin running the show. You can see his European training and years of dedicated practice in the way every dish was executed, starting with the produce then preparation and cooking then finally the presentation. De Martin’s dedication to his food extends to joint venture called Homegrown with NZ primary producers to source the best ingredients. I can’t see any losers here, especially as I get presented with my first course.
The Assistant Manager (who did an amazing job all night) disagreed with the chef on his choice of wine for a number of dishes and I either saw her point or agreed completely. This time I only saw her point. She gave me some of the listed wine, a Cloudy Bay ‘08 Sauvignon Blanc, and the wine she thought was best, a Brancott ‘07 Sauvignon Blanc, both from the Malborough. I’m sorry to say I wouldn’t have said either were a perfect match but then I can’t say what would have been either. The Cloudy Bay was good at balancing the glaze and pancetta but destroyed the apple and scallop where as the Brancott was obliterated by the fat. Given the focus of this dish was scallops, not pancetta I’d have erred on the side of caution and taken the Bancott as the manager suggested.
All in all, I really quite enjoyed visiting (and not as their guest, this was fully funded by The Red Whisk). Next time I visit Auckland I’m going to have to stay at the Hilton again. As far as international standards go the Hilton here is above the average. Sure there are some things that could be done better but they’re probably not going to be picked up or worried over by your average consumer. As for the restaurant, the service of the assistant manager scored herself a very generous tip for her friendly yet professional service keeping the person dining alone who didn’t bring a book to read company, her generosity in pouring wine and offering not only and alternative to the listed wines, but both!
Hilton Auckland and White Restaurant
Princess Wharf. 147 Quay Street
Auckland. 1010
NEW ZEALAND
Mills Reef Winery
Mills Reef is hardly a stable but if the attitude of the staff on the restaurant is anything to go by then jebus himself was born here and it was our privilege to be on sacred ground but more on that in a minute. Going along Moffat Road and seeing the grounds appear before you is impressive with manicured lawns and rows of trees all leading up to the main building and it's own formal gardens but this is a working site. All of the processing, bottling and distribution happen here even though all of the grapes are bought and shipped from the not so far away Hawks Bay.
As you walk up from the car park the first door on the left is the tasting room so we went there first. As a tip for those visiting a winery with it's own restaurant, here's a good place to try a sip of a few things before you try and match them to your lunch and give you a chance to mull over which bottles you pick up.
Mills Reef Winery, 143 Moffat Road,
Bethlahem New Zealand
In the tasting room we met Ken, the cellar manager who ever so
patiently walked my family through not only their range but the
tasting process (lightest and brightest to heaviest and darkest).
From what I could tell all of the prices for the wine were quite
reasonable where as the souvenirs had souvenir prices.
After a few uhms and ahs we took a price list and headed for the
empty restaurant. There was a choice of the outdoor terrace or
inside a dining/function room. The enormous main dining room was
having the air-conditioning replaced before summer. Not to worry
because ir was spring after all and we chose a table on the terrace
in the shade. Just like everyone else did but being outside the
noise wasn't an issue and the tables were well spaced anyway. After
the stop-off in the tasting room I picked my entrée and main based
on their recommended wines and everyone else chose the recommended
glass. I wanted to see how they stood up to good quality food and
thankfully what came out of the kitchen was great. Luckily I was
really only interest in their red wine because the restaurants fish
order hadn't arrived to meet the demand of their predominantly fish
based menu.
Going around the table my mother had their seafood trio and the
Pinot Gris, a slight alteration due to the lack of fish she had a
king prawn, scallops and a piece of salmon; my brother had the
oysters and my aunt had the bread and dukka which surprised me. For
such a simple sounding entrée the chef added a bit of flair
throwing in a couple of different types of cibatta and more than
just a simple dukka, there was some great avocado oil, tapenade and
homemade pesto too. I had the chicken liver paté with truffles
crostini and the Cab Melot, or at least that's what I ordered.
Instead I got garlic crostini that worked very well and I wouldn't
have had any complaints if only I hadn't ordered truffles. That and
if I didn't have to wait 10 minutes and actually need to get up
from by seat, walk through a construction site and find the wait
staff and ask them for our wine. Even though there were a few
people in the restaurant by that stage I find it hard to believe a
winery restaurant forgot to bring the wine.
Seafood Trio - Prawn, Salmon and
Scallop
Cibatta with Dukka, Avocado Oil, Tapenade and Pesto
Chicken Liver and Cognac Paté and Fig Jam with Garlic
Crostini
Main course ran smoother, Mum had the strawberry and asparagus
salad with Kaimai Brie and a glass of
the Sav Blanc which was tasty and exploration in vegetarian texture
more than flavour, my brother had two giant lamb shanks that were
cut above the knee and were so tender the meat would have literally
fallen off the bone if he'd picked it up washed down with the Cab
Sav. The meat was good quality lamb but seemed a little bland on
it's own and relied in the jus to carry it. Mind you I only picked
at his leftovers, so the most of the meat could have been fine. My
Aunts Cajun chicken Caesar salad was generous, well seasoned. I had
the lamb fillet that was cooked to a perfect pink with a blue
cheese and pear salad with a walderberry jus, much like my
favourite duck salad. The lamb itself seemed under seasoned but
balanced out with some cracked pepper and the jus. The Merlot
Malbec was a perfect match.
Asparagus, Strawberry, Avocado and
Kaimai Brie
Warm Lamb Fillet, Watercress and Baby Spinach Salad with Pear,
Cashew, Kikorangi Blue and Walderberry Syrup
Lamb Shanks Braised with Wholegrain Mustard on Green Pea and Potato
Mash
Dessert. Only mother and I had dessert, her with the mandarin and
cinnamon spring rolls which looked delicious and I had the 'ode to
the lemon' which was a set of three lemon desserts starting with a
lemon curd in a bitter chocolate case the size of a patty-pan, a
lemon cremé brûlée in an espresso cup and a scoop of lemon ice
cream in a parfait glass. All of which matched brilliantly in their
own way to the riesling ice wine. If only it was delivered with the
course. As the waitress walked off I called out "um, and our wine?"
She flicked her nose up and walked off in acknowledgement. I
waited. I waited. Again I got up and asked for my wine yet again.
The excuse was they were waiting for the others coffee to be made
before they bought out all of the drinks. Pity my ice cream had
melted and my crem brule was cold by the time it arrived.
The location, food and wine at Mills Reef are nothing to complain
about but the attitude and service of the restaurant wait staff
really left more a lot to be desired.
Nectarine and Honey Spring Rolls
rolled in Cinnamon Sugar served with Blueberry Syrup and Vanilla
Ice Cream
Burnt Lemon Curd, Lemon Crem Brule and Lemon Ice
Cream
Oatmeal and Blueberry Cookies
Not long afterwards they invited me to their house for dinner to meet some of the other people from the street. It was a dinner party, a real dinner party with linen table cloths, napkins and the good silver.
Oatmeal and Blueberry Cookies
As a thank-you I thought I’d make a
small batch of cookies for them, but what? They had to be
wholesome, they were a gift for a neighbor afterall and you can’t
get any more wholesome than oatmeal cookies but of course I had to
jazz it up a little. Forget the raisins. Blueberries were the go! I
was going to use dried cherries but I couldn’t find them anywhere.
Of course the week after I found them at David Jones.
To give them a bit of extra depth you don’t usually find in oatmeal
cookies I used rolled oats and rolled rye that have an earthier
flavour that isn’t overpowering. If you cant find or cant be
bothered, just use all oat.
Oatmeal and Blueberry
Cookies - makes 24
150
grams unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup of brown sugar
⅓ castor sugar
1 large egg
¾ cups of rolled oats
¾ cups of rolled rye
¾ cups of flour
1 teaspoon of bicarb
½ teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of dried blueberries (or any other dried fruit)
Preheat your oven to 200ºC. Beat together the butter and sugars
until they are light and fluffy. It won’t be as pale as regular
creamed butter and sugar because of the brown sugar so don’t worry
about that. On a lower speed, add the egg and vanilla. Sift the
flour and mix in the dry ingredients.
When well combined, but not over mixed, place dessert spoonfuls of
the mix on a greased or properly lined baking tray about 4 or 5 cm
apart. Learn from my mistake - if you use cookie sheets be prepared
for the excess butter melting out of the cookies and going all over
the place!
If you’ve got an even temp oven, bake two sheets at a time for 12
minutes. Mine isn’t so good so I did 1 sheet at a time checking
after 10 min and rotating the tray.
Apple and Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake
Hazelnut and Apple Cake with
Chocolate Ganache
This isn't any ordinary cake, it's more of a dacquoise which is a meringue or cream
with ground nuts mixed in. Today I used Hazelnuts left over from
the torte
I made a few weeks ago. The tricky things with this cake is the
air bubbles from the beaten eggs is what gives this cake its light
and delicate structure, and probably explains why mine sunk a
little in the middle and broke apart as it cooled. Chocolate to the
rescue to cover those bits up though!
Apple and Hazelnut and
Brown Butter Cake
1 Cup of Hazelnuts
3 Apples
250g Unsalted Butter
1 Vanilla Bean
1⅓
Cups of Icing Sugar
⅓
Cups of Flour
5 Egg Whites
3 Tablespoons of Castor Sugar
100 grams Dark Chocolate
⅓
Cup of Thickened Cream
Pre-heat the oven to 170°C
Place the hazelnuts on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes. When
done wrap them in a tea-towel and let them steam until cool. Rub
them in the towel to remove all of the skins.
Line the bottom of a 10" cake tin with baking paper and butter the
edges. Slice the apples thinly and layer evenly on the bottom of
the cake tin.
Place the butter and seeds from the vanilla bean in a saucepan and
melt together, stirring often until the butter has browned.
Grind the hazelnuts and icing sugar together until the nuts are
fine, mix with the flour and set aside.
In a stand mixer, whisk together the egg whites and castor sugar
until stiff-peaks are formed in the egg whites. Alternating between
the nut mixture and the butter in thirds, combine with the egg
whites. Pour the final mixture over the apples in the cake tin and
bake in the oven for 40 minutes.
Let the cake cool completely and turn out, upside down on the
platter you're going to serve it on so the apples are on top.
While the cake is cooling, over a double boiler melt the chocolate
and then whisk in the cream. Pour the ganache over the cake and
spread evenly. Allow to cool and set.
Update:
Actually, after typing out the recipe, I think I forgot to add the
flour! It still looks and tastes okay but it would add to the
reason the cake was so delicate.
Plum and Hazelnut Torte
Bowl of Angena Plums
Plum and Hazelnut Torte -
Serves 8 or more
700g of Plums, quartered and pitted
1 Cup of Sugar
¾ Cup of Hazelnuts
1¼ Cup of Flour
¼ teaspoon of Salt
1½ teaspoons of Baking Powder
½ teaspoon of Allspice
¾ Cups of Butter
3 large Eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
Preheat your oven to 175°C. Butter and flour a 9" spring form cake
tin.
Quarter and pit plums.
Coarsely chop half of plums and in a bowl toss with 2 tablespoons
sugar. In another bowl combine remaining plums with 2 tablespoons
sugar. The chopped plums will go into the batter, and the quartered
plums will decorate the top. On a baking sheet in middle of oven
lightly toast hazelnuts until fragrant and insides are golden, 10
to 15 minutes. Put all of the nuts into a clean tea-towel and rub
them together to remove the burnt loose papery skins and when cool,
grind them in a food processor until fine.
In a bowl whisk together
hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, salt, and allspice. In a bowl with
an electric mixer beat butter and remaining ¾ cup sugar until light
and fluffy, the colour will change to a very pale yellow. Add eggs,
1 at a time, beating after each addition, and beat in vanilla and
flour mixture until batter is just combined. Note, add the flour to
the batter, and not the other way around.
Drain chopped plums in a
sieve, pressing on fruit, and pat dry with paper towels. Stir plums
into batter and spread evenly in pan.
Drain quartered plums in
sieve, pressing on fruit, and arrange, skin sides up, over batter.
Bake torte in middle of oven 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until golden
brown and a tester comes out clean. Cool torte in pan on a rack 30
minutes. Remove side of pan and cool completely.
Maggie Beer Makes Some Very Adult Ice Cream
As I said, the range is small, four flavours. Vanilla and
Elderflower being the most pedestrian. What makes this special is
the use of real vanilla, when you open the tub your confronted with
a pastel orange with millions of flecks of real vanilla that run
through the entire tub. For those of you that haven't had
elderflower before, it's got a slight floral/orange taste. The
berries from the same bush are actually used for sambucca, but
that's mixed with anise so they have a very different flavour from
each other. Personally I prefer bergamot to elderflower, but that's just me. No
judgement on Maggie because this is still a nice variation on
vanilla. I'd go with Maggie's serving suggestion and throw a dash
of liqueur or an espresso.
Next off the bat is the passionfruit. It's made with real
passionfruit (16%) so there is none of that sickly artificial
flavour that comes with some passionfruit ice cream. It delivers
what it promises, a clean refreshing and somehow honest
passionfruit flavour, although that's let down by the lack of
crunch from black passionfruit pips you'd otherwise expect from a
real passionfruit. Your call if that's a good thing or a bad thing.
Again, as Maggie suggests, a pavlova with fresh passionfruit pulp
would be ideal.
Then, you have the real adult flavours. I wouldn't suggest serving
these to the kids. For those that have even a single cookbook by
Maggie Beer you will know she has a few obsessions. Pheasants,
verjuice and quinces. Her quince and bitter almond ice cream is
great but it needs a counterpoint. To me it had an odd chemical
taste to it, nothing like her quince paste. In fact, I think it's
the almonds that let it down. Anyone that's had processed almond
milk will know what I mean. Quince works well with fresh, roasted
and honey almonds, but I'd describe it more as "Quince & Unripe
Almond" if anything. Try it though, it'd work well with something
to counter balance the almonds. Maggie suggests Amaretto and
chocolate to compliment the quince but I'd try a glass of Muscat to
contrast the almond, I really think it needs it.
Last but not least has to be the crowing glory of her range - Burnt
Fig Jam with Honeycomb & Caramel. Heaven. I really don't have
to say anything else here I don't think. Unless you want one of the
others to match something else in a meal I'd just get this one.
It's got everything going for it except pheasant and
verjuice.
A
list of stockists can be found at Maggie's website
Fruit Mince Pie Ice Cream
No recipe as such, just a half dozen chopped up mince pies mixed in with some store bought vanilla ice cream, optionally, some praline and chocolate.
