Too easy and so delicious

I just have to share my newest creation. I had an amazing smoothie/juice the other day at Reka in the Dowse. I forget what was in it, other then cranberries and mint. Anyway, I decided that I would have a go at creating my own delicious smoothie.

I hauled my blender out of it's hiding place in the back of my cupboard and got creating. I had some mixed berries in the freezer, so in went a good cup full of frozen berries. Next, a good slug of orange juice (I imagine you could use any type of juice you liked - pineapple would be super tasty). I went and raided my mint plant and added two good sprigs of mint (maybe 6-8 big leaves) as well as half a lemon (just the flesh, not the skin).

After a thorough blend, I was left with a wonderful, cold, delicious smoothie. Not too sweet, and with a refreshing kick from the mint.

I like my smoothies much thicker than Paul, this is easily fixed. I made the smoothie to the thickness I like, then added extra juice to Paul's to thin it out. Done! Usually smoothies are full of dairy (yoghurt and/or milk) and banana, but this is a great alternative for those who can't/won't eat much dairy, and don't like banana.

You could totally use any mixture of berries, juice and other fruit. Ice cubes would make it cold and add thickness if you didn't have frozen fruit.

And the best news of all - it's super healthy! Bonus!

Wellington on a Plate - Gusto

Part two of Wellington on a Plate saw us head off to Gusto Bistro in Petone.

Gusto's blurb advises us, "Inspired by the ingredients, techniques and wines of the Mediterranean region, Gusto Bistro's menu is littered with classic dishes and some more contemporary interpretations".

The Wellington on a Plate menu was as follows:

Three courses with matched wines for $60. For full serve wine matches, $80.
Starter
Wairarapa onion soup with Kingsmeade Opaki manchego cheese crouton
or
Lighthouse Gin-soaked Salmon gravlax with Prana baby leaves and Zany Zeus smoked yoghurt

Main
Market fish with Te Horo Jerusalem artichoke purée, sunflower seeds and Lot Eight citrus oil
or
Braised PrimeStar osso bucco with Greytown Gold saffron risotto and parsley gremolata

Dessert
Whittaker's chocolate mousse with Stanmore Farms blackberry sorbet, jelly, jam and powder
or
Wairarapa apple and Zorganic panna cotta with Crooked Cider and Pinnacle Grove walnuts

Seven of us were dining at Gusto, on a Tuesday night. Gusto is full of nooks and smaller rooms and we were fortunate to be in our own little room - quite nice for a larger group, we could be as raucous as we liked. We all decided on the Wellington on a Plate menu. I went for the salmon gravlax, fish, then the chocolate mousse.

Our first wine match was served up - a delicious chardonnay with the salmon, and interestingly, a sherry with the onion soup.

While we waited for our starters, we were delivered a morsel of smoked snapper wrapped in courgette. Although tiny (the size of my little finger) it packed a punch of flavour and deliciousness. Yum. It left me wanting more.

Unfortunately, we were left wanting and waiting. After 40 minutes of waiting, we had all almost polished off our wine and out starters were finally served. I actually think I am being generous with the 40 minute wait, Paul reckons it was closer to an hour of waiting. Anyway, it was a long time, and we were hungry by the time our starters finally arrived.

Our starters were nice. However, I really can't see how they took so long to arrive, nothing required any cooking as such. And on top of all that, Paul's soup was warm, not hot. My dish was a cold dish (salmon with some foam and a smear of the smoked yoghurt, which really was delicious), so I'm not sure how the soup could possibly not have been piping hot. We had managed to save a mouthful of wine, and we agreed that the wine match was lovely, really well done.

Another wait for the main ensued, but thankfully this was not as long as the starter wait. My fish was beautifully cooked and the puree was tasty. Although, here I have another gripe. Almost all of us ordered the fish, and the size of each portion of fish varied massively. Size might vary between tables, and if you don't know it's happening you can't get grumpy about it, that's fine. But, when one person gets a piece of fish almost three times the size of another and they are sitting next to each other, well, you're going to notice. The same thing happened with our wine, massively inconsistent pours. Now, I know this is picky and a bit miserable of me, but when you are all paying the same, you expect consistency, or close to it. If it was close enough I wouldn't have noticed, and wouldn't be moaning about it. But, the difference was enough for us all to notice, and more importantly, to comment about it.

Dessert was the highlight of the meal. We all chose the chocolate mousse, and it was an excellent choice. All the components of the dish were incredible. The mousse was chocolatey and rich, the sorbet was the right mix of sweet and tart, and the jelly, jam and powder rounded it off beautifully. The wine match with the dessert was also a winner. Again, it was another sherry, but this one was totally different to the first. It was like drinking raisins. Sweet, sticky, moreish, we savoured every mouthful.

While dessert was amazing, I'm not hanging out to return to Gusto. I think overall I would rate it perhaps a 6, helped mostly by the faultless dessert. I think my overall impression was that Gusto takes itself a bit seriously, and perhaps tries a bit hard. It let itself down with extremely slow service, almost-cold soup, and uneven portions.

Wellington on a Plate - Caucus

It's Wellington on a Plate time again, and I am in foodie heaven. Like last year, this year I am using WOAP as a fantastic excuse to try as many new places to eat as possible. Restaurants put on special menus and deals, and it's a great opportunity to step out of the tried and true comfort zone of my favourite places to eat, and to also try places where I would normally steer clear of due to the price.

On Thursday we went along at the invitation of a friend to Caucus restaurant in the Novotel Hotel on the Terrace. Like many restaurants participating in WOAP, Caucus has a set menu plus glass of wine deal.

Paul and I arrived early, so we had a drink while waiting for our friend to arrive. Pleasantly, while we were sitting with our drinks, the staff served us a small bowl of nacho chips. This was just what we felt like - a little something to nibble on to stave those after-work cravings. Good stuff.

The Caucus deal is as follows:
Choose any two courses plus a glass of regional Wellington wine for $35
Starter
Fried Ōtaki potato and thyme gnocchi with mizuna and feta–tomato fondue
Main
Roast Kapiti pork sirloin with Granny Smith purée, potato and kūmara mash and mustard jus
or
Wagyu beef sirloin with blue cheese, potato croquette, spinach and red wine jus
Dessert
Waikanae raspberry and white chocolate crème brûlée.

The three of us dining all chose the same from the set menu. Gnocchi plus the wagyu beef. It was a shame that we didn't get to see the pork, but not to worry. While we were waiting for our entrees to arrive, we were each served a bread roll and butter; another nice touch.

The gnocchi was interesting. It was fried, which I have not had before. I thought it was quite tasty. It was served surrounding a bit of tomato sauce and a salad. We all felt we needed more sauce. I wanted way more sauce actually. I felt I needed to carefully ration my sauce with each piece of gnocchi, and I'm not a fan of having to ration. As a rule gnocchi is pretty dry, it craves sauce to soak up and compliment it. Give me more sauce than I need, rather than less. It wasn't like it was truffle or something else scarily expensive, it was a tomato sauce, plain and simple. But, on balance, it was a satisfactory starter.

On to the main where we all chose the steak. I ordered my steak medium-rare, leaning more towards the rare than the medium (this is word-for-word how I ordered my steak). I don't like a well-cooked steak. My two companions ordered their steak medium-rare and medium.

Our steaks arrived and they were all well overcooked. My steak was bordering on medium-well done, as was the other medium-rare steak. The medium steak was well-done. Not a spot of red to been seen on any of our steaks. That was a shame, as the flavour of the steak was otherwise very nice.

It turns out there is a mistake on the menu, and the steak was served with the blue potato croquette rather than blue cheese and a potato croquette. Also, and no where to be seen on the menu, the steak was served on a bed of long mung bean sprouts. Tasty, but totally unexpected.

The waitress came over (as she did during our entree course) to ask how our main meals were. I commented that our steaks were all well overcooked. In response, she looked distinctly uncomfortable and said she was sorry to hear that and retreated rapidly from our table. I thought this was a strange reaction. Why bother to ask how our meals are if you don't intend to do anything if we say we're not happy? Either don't ask, or, if you do ask and something's wrong, offer a remedy.

I do understand if one steak happens to be overcooked. These things happen. But to have all three of us unhappy with how our steaks were cooked was pretty poor I felt.

On to dessert. We all decided that we would like to try dessert on top of our set menu selection. And I'm glad we did. Dessert was the highlight of the meal for me. I ordered a white chocolate and raspberry creme brulee and it was fantastic. A thick layer of brulee that cracked satisfyingly when I whacked my spoon on it. Underneath was a delicious custard laced with raspberries. I am a very harsh critic when it comes to creme brulee - the best I have ever had was in a restaurant in Paris. Every one I have eaten since, I have compared to Paris. Everyone who has been to Paris knows that anything struggles when compared to Paris!

Anyway, I would be happy to eat this creme brulee any time, any where. It was sensational. My friends ordered a chocolate tart, and an orange cheesecake. Both reported these dishes were also delicious.

Overall, I gave Caucus a 6.5 out of 10. The food was ok, but the steak was a real let down. It was overcooked, and the menu didn't represent what was actually served up on my plate. Dessert made up for things though. Following a straw poll, my friends both gave a 7 out of 10. In the spirit of the recently ended Olympics, I'll remove the top and bottom scores, leaving a solid 7 out of 10. On balance, I think this score is a little generous, but that's what we went with, so that's what will have to stand.

I'm report on some more WOAP dinners in the next little while.

Some cakes and a competition

I went along with two friends to a cake competition and exhibition at the New Dowse in Lower Hutt last weekend. I had seen this advertised along the main street of the suburb I live in, so decided to check it out.

The Wellington Regional Sugarcraft Guilds hosted this event, and if you're interested you can find out more information here. But, I thought I would try and give a quick run down.

There were lots of different categories - the ones I expected such as wedding cake, celebration cake and novelty cake; and others I wasn't expecting such as bonsai tree (I'll explain soon), miniature cake, and floral spray.

Overall, the cakes on show were not really to my taste. They were a bit, well, old fashioned. While I don't argue that an awful lot of skill and love has gone into them, they are something that I'm sure my 80-something year old Nan would appreciate but they are not very appealing to me. I took lots of photos of the cakes I really liked and will talk about a few of them here.

We got to vote for our favourite cake, and this was mine. I loved the simplicity and the colour, although I would ditch the terrible vase and flowers on top.

It was closely followed by this cake. How adorable! The figures were just so well done.

These were my favourites from the floral spray category. Although again, I'm not sure how relevant these are in 2012. But still very clever bearing mind it's pretty much all edible sugar work.

Now onto the bonsai tree. Everything but the container had to be edible, and the tree could not be deciduous, i.e. it had to have leaves. None of this bare twigs business with the excuse that it's winter! Why there is a bonsai category in a cake decorating competition I couldn't quite figure out, but they were pretty cool nevertheless. Remember, everything is edible.

In celebration of the Year of the Dragon, there was a mini cake category. I loved the scales on the first dragon.

There was another random floral arrangement category. Again, random but very well done.

Finally, I just had to share this cake. Is it a cake or is it something else? Half cake, half light show. Again, random. But a cool random. The icing was so well done. Perfectly smooth, not a hint of a crinkle, and so clean.

Engagement cupcakes

Engagement cupcakes? What on earth are engagement cupcakes? Well, this is my take on an engagement cupcake.

I wanted to celebrate four engagements over the last week. (Four!) What better way than with cupcakes, especially when only one couple lives in the same city as me! Congratulations to those four happy couples, I'm so pleased for you! These cupcakes are for you.

Nothing says romance better than chocolate, so I made a delicious chocolate cupcake from the Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Book (I admired this cookbook here). The recipe has a tablespoon of instant coffee in it - I'm a real fan of coffee in chocolate cake/cupcakes, it really brings out the intensity of the chocolate. You can't taste the coffee at all - believe me, I think coffee is yuck, so I wouldn't put it in there if you could taste it.

Anyway, the star of these cupcakes was the icing. Sticking with my theme, the icing needed to be something special, not your ordinary icing. With that in mind, I decided to do a bit of experimenting. A while ago I purchased some Fresh As freeze-dried powdered raspberries, and I have been thinking about different ways to use it. (It's amazing mixed with a chocolate ganache to make truffles).

There are lots of different yummy flavours - blackcurrant, mango, passionfruit, pineapple, plum, strawberry; as well as freeze-dried chunks of feijoa, lychee, mandarin, pineapple and blueberry. Yummo. In Wellington you can buy it from Moore Wilson; outside Wellington from the Kiwicakes website. (Kiwicakes is Whangarei-based, therefore close to my heart. I totally recommend you check out the website, you could spend hours trawling through all the goodies).

Back to my icing. I made a standard buttercream icing and added a couple of spoonfuls of the raspberry powder. This gave my buttercream an incredibly intense, zingy, wonderful raspberry flavour. As well as a beautiful pink colour. This icing was delicious, I was so pleased with how it turned out.

But, I'm biased, so I needed an independent opinion. Or 24. I took the cupcakes to work for taste-testing (one half of one of the four happy couples is my workmate, so it was only fitting). Unfortunately my workmate was away (should have checked that!) Not to worry, everyone else happily obliged!

Apparently the cupcakes were a winner, the icing especially!! A touch of glitter topped off the cupcakes. I'm off to Moore Wilson this weekend to buy some more flavours!

Wild pork roast

My Dad went on a hunting trip to the South Island recently. On his way back through Wellington he stopped to drop off some wild pork. Lucky me!

My poor, poor freezer though! I had to resort to carefully stacking everything in until there wasn't a speck of space left, and then quickly slamming the door shut to hold everything in there. This worked well until my partner opened the door to get something out, only to have half the contents of the freezer collapse on him. Oops. (Of course, it was his fault for opening the freezer - what was he thinking? He he).

Anyway, a giant leg roast was taking up the most room, so it had to go. And by go, I mean it was time for dinner.

As with all wild meats, wild pork needs to be treated carefully. It generally has little fat on it, so you can easily wreck it by drying it out. You skin a wild pig, so wild pork does not have that protective layer of skin and fat that supermarket pork has.

I made my roast a nice little bed of veges to sit on - apples, yams and garlic as well as some rosemary, salt and pepper.

Into the tray I poured some wine, water and pineapple juice. All of these things I thought would give the pork a lovely flavour and tenderness.

I covered this tightly with tinfoil and put it into a really hot oven (250 degrees) and immediately turned it down to 150 degrees for about three and a half hours.

Now, I was so excited about how my roast turned out, that I forgot to take photos! Mind you, as delicious as it was, it just looked like a big hunk of cooked meat, so you're not missing out on too much!

As I carved the meat, I spooned over some of the juices left over in the pan - this helps to ensure it stays lovely and tender as you serve it.

There are only two of us to feed, and despite me piling our plates high - pork is such a treat as I rarely buy supermarket pork (and only ever free-range) - we had a lot left over. So, I thought I would share my ideas for the leftovers.

On the first night of leftovers we had pork fried noodles with Chinese-inspired flavours - I used a marinade of sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli, rice wine vinegar, worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. (As an aside, worcestershire is the most ridiculously hard word to spell!! Not to mention that you don't pronounce it anything like it looks, but don't get me started on that one).

I quickly stir-fried some carrot, broccoli and mushrooms, and added the pork as it only needed to be heated through. Some more sauce plus the cooked rice noodles, and dinner was done!

The next night we had tacos - this time I didn't flavour the pork directly, but added a delicious chilli salsa to the pork and salad on the tacos. The meat was still so tender and delicious, yum, yum, yum.

There was even enough left over for lunch the next day!

So, thanks very much Dad!!!

The Quest for the Perfect Fudge, part 2

I'm on a mission to find the perfect fudge. Part 1 was not so successful. Oh well, on to part 2.

Following my request for fudge recipes, my wonderful cousin Kelli sent me a recipe to try. And try I did. The result? Yum!

This fudge was a winner! Creamy, no grainy texture at all and a beautiful colour too. And so easy to make! Bung everything in a bowl and zap it in the microwave, stirring now and then.

The recipe called for the fudge to be cooked on medium-high, but my microwave, like my stovetop, has one temperature - scalding hot. So, I adapted and only cooked it for one minute at a time. This seemed to work just fine. I also halved the recipe - with my track record of fudge-making, I didn't trust myself to make a full recipe and run the risk of ruining it all.

Even half a batch made enough for me and my Paul to take to work. An all-round great recipe!

At work, the general consensus was that it was smooth and creamy, and that you could taste the chocolate. I guess my only critisism was that it was quite hard to cut - it tended to crumble rather than cut smoothly. To be fair though, I didn't put it in the fridge as the recipe instructed.

Bring on part 3!!

Creamy Caramel Fudge

2x 395g cans sweetened condensed milk
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
250g butter, chopped
1/3 cup liquid glucose
1/4 cup golden syrup
400g good-quality white chocolate, chopped

1. Grease a 3.5cm deep, 16.5cm x 26cm (base) slab pan. Line with baking paper, allowing a 2cm overhang at both long ends.
2. Place condensed milk, sugar, butter, glucose and golden syrup in a large (14-cup capacity), heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring with a balloon whisk every 2 minutes, or until mixture comes to the boil.
3. Microwave, uncovered, on MEDIUM-HIGH (70%) for a further 5 to 6 minutes, stirring every minute with a wooden spoon, or until thick and golden.
4. Place bowl on a board. Stand for 2 minutes or until bubbles subside. Add white chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Pour hot fudge mixture into prepared pan. Smooth surface. Stand at room temperature for 3 hours. Refrigerate until firm. Lift out onto a board. Cut into squares.
Notes
• Note: You can make fudge ahead, wrap it in wax paper and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 month.