beach salad special

It seems trivial to be thinking about my recent long weekend beach holiday, and food, and blogging, given the recent events that have unfolded following the Christchurch Earthquake. My thoughts are with all of those down there, and everybody knows someone who has been affected. One friend described Tuesday as hands down the worst day of his life; it's just unfathomable. Relief efforts are in place though, and there have been some pretty incredible stories that have come out of the carnage. It's good to see that the entire country seems keen and ready to do whatever they can.

  

Last week I road tripped up the country to Auckland, the city which has taken in three close friends as new residents recently. After a stopover in Hawke's Bay, which included peaches, nectarines, plums and apples, we had a bubbly-fuelled catch up on Friday night. On Saturday morning one said friend prepared us a vegetarian feast of balsamic mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, wilted baby spinach and scrambled eggs. I love brunch!

It was then to the beach. My darling friend Shannon was over from London, and we headed up to Matapouri Bay, on the Tutukaka coast. Whenever people ask me where in NZ they should go if planning travel, I always declare "Go north of Auckland!". The winterless north turned on the sunshine for us and it was the perfect spot for a long overdue catch up. We: ate delicious salads, enjoyed 5pm (at the latest!) gins in the sun, made wildly outlandish plans for the future, read trashy magazines, read good magazines, and I started and finished a tragic but brilliant novel by Phillip Meyer. We swam, we sunbathed, we yarned, it was awesome.

Food wise, we embraced salads with that passion that comes when the end of Summer is impending. We had a simple and tasty Insalata Caprese of buffalo mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, olive oil and plenty of salt and pepper. We also had what has become my stock-standard dish to impress with - ripe nectarine, ripe avocado, thinly sliced red onion, lemon juice and olive oil.

We also had a delicious Greek Salad. Having been to Greece lately, Shannon bemoaned our lack of fresh dill - something I'm keen to try next time. We simply chopped up fresh tomato, cucumber, red onion, kalamata olives and chunks of hard feta cheese, then seasoned well with salt and pepper and olive oil. With roast veges and rye bread it was a tasty and healthy summer dinner.

I'm cooking on Good Morning again this Tuesday, so my weekend plans currently extend to coffees, sun and perfecting my plum cake. Whether Saturday night interrupts those plans remains to be seen!

cheesy carby goodness

I had tentatively planned a quiet Saturday evening of nail painting and maybe a movie, but any plans were shortlived with the arrival of my new flatmate's cricket team, beers in hand. Included amongst the guests was a very cute rugby playing lawyer, who I ended up in deep discussion with about cooking and snacks and perfect in-between-meal bites. He was animatedly telling me that when the rugby season was all go, he'd have only a few hours between trainings and didn't want to fill up on entire meals. I was singing the praises of homemade gourmet toasted sandwiches, which recently I've been filling with capers and slathering in rocket fuel sauce.

I was also raving about the toasted sandwich I'd enjoyed at Maranui Cafe earlier in the day - vogels bread with roasted zucchini, feta, rocket and mint which was served with rocket fuel and rocket on the side. I love the way rocket and baby spinach wilt in toasted sandwiches, and I am big on condiments, so it was a very welcome late lunch by the beach.

By the time Sunday afternoon lazily rolled around, I was craving a dose of gluten-filled carbohydrates. Having been on a bit of a bread baking buzz of late (and it seems to be infectious amongst other food bloggers too) I decided to whip up some cheesy scrolls. The filling was chosen simply because it was what we had in the fridge, and you really could fill these with anything. The only essential element (after the dough is made) is cheese. And although I had blue vein, parmesan and standard mild, you could use whatever you have. Easy, quick and so good. You just have to be patient while your dough rises. 

3-Cheese and Spinach scrolls

Dough

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tblsp olive oil
1 tsp active dried yeast
1 cup lukewarm water

Place flour, salt, yeast and oil in a bowl. Add oil and water, and knead to form a soft dough. Place on a well-floured bench and knead for two minutes.

Place about a tablespoon of oil in a bowl and swirl it round. Add dough and cover in glad wrap (or cling film, if you're American, or a plastic bag and a 3 rubber bands tied together if you're like me and have run out of glad wrap and are feeling thrifty). Leave somewhere warm to double in size - this should take just under an hour.

When dough has doubled, take it out and knead on a floured bench again for about 2 minutes. Then, roll it out into a big square. It should be about 30-40cm each side.

Cover with fillings! I used some nearly-too-old spinach, some blue cheese, a little parmesan, some red onion, smoked paprika and then grated over standard mild cheese. Other ideas include olives, caramelised onion, marinated capsicum, chutney or relish, pesto, bacon, ham - pretty much anything goes.

Roll it up carefully, and slice into about 3cm slices. Lay them all out cut side up, together in a baking tray. Grate over a little more cheese, then cook in a 190*C oven for about 25 minutes. When golden, remove from oven and brush with olive oil. Enjoy warm.

I have a friend, who was innocently eating a white bread roll with cheese on top at a certain corporate work place, and was asked by a colleague if she was "treating herself" (ridiculous!). I don't think you'd get that reaction if you were seen eating these. In fact, I posted the above photo on my facebook page just before these buns' swift destruction, and I was promtply asked by a friend if I'd marry him. Go figure!     

Good Morning!

I was the guest "chef" on the Good Morning show this morning! Cooking on live TV was pretty much a dream come true. It was all very exciting, and once I got the hang of the timing thing I had a lot of fun. Some memorable quotes included presenter Brendon Pongia asking if my blog "was all because of the ex" and me screwing up my face and declaring "I don't want to give him all the credit" which is true! I also asked if he'd like to "get in there" with the peach crumble mixture, after Sarah Bradley had declared me "on the market" and I told her to stop it.

As a disclaimer I would just like to clarify that Yes I would like to cook on TV for a living; Yes I find height attractive, but I am currently pretty much the biggest campaigner for being single; And, whilst heartbroken when I started the blog, I cooked my way to happiness! It's starting to look like heartbreak was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I made a roast broccoli and kumara salad, with rocket, homemade basil pesto and avocado and feta. I then made fresh spring rolls with prawns, and a dipping sauce I learnt in Cambodia. That was followed by roasted peaches with coconut crumble topping, and the orange mascarpone I served them with was particularly luscious.

I should be getting amongst Good Morning again soon, and I've learned my lessons regarding not turning my back to the camera, and sorting the timing of each segment. The feedback has been wonderfully positive, and to check out the recipes just click on  the links above, or just right here.

For the show, I was dressed by the lovely Emma Wallace of Emma Boutique in Berhampore, Wellington. Thanks Emma! She has an adorable little shop full of sassy dresses, including the one I wore today.

images from tvnz.co.nz/goodmorning

And coming up? A road trip, a beach holiday, a party and food related treats to go with all of them. I still have a few more stories from my recent travels to indulge in as well, so stay tuned!

Valentines Schmalentines

I know what you're all thinking. "Oh Delaney, you're so predictable doing a bitter post about Valentine's Day being a big pile of over-commercialised rubbish".

Well, maybe I am predictable. But it's true. I detest Valentine's Day. I like love, and I like being nice to people. I would positively squirm with excitement if I received a big bunch of fresh flowers at my doorstep or on my desk some day. But on February 14? Blergh. Not only does it force people to be unoriginal, it also leads to inevitable scornful waves of hatred when little blonde promo-girls hand me flyers about couples massage with the tag line: "Can't stand to be apart from your loved one for a whole hour? Try couples massage!" while I'm innocently walking down the street. Eww. Likewise, I couldn't care less that Michelle Obama thinks happiness is the key to a happy marriage, and I care even less that our Prime Minister still loves his wife, and is having dinner with her tonight. Come on people!

I did however, five years ago, have quite the memorable February the 14th. I'd just come back to Wellington after a summer at home, and had just started working at a restaurant and bar. We realised, once the bookings were full of tables of two, that it was all ladies working that Tuesday, and we were all (some happily, some not so much) single.

Instead of filling with dread, we decided we'd do a secret-santa type gift exchange. The four of us pulled each others names out of a pint glass and each spent $20 on making our nights not-crap. I gave my recipient a rice tin with a plant in it, and the plant lives to this day I'm told. I received a fresh flower pot, and chocolates and a card with a poem in it. That night we served bored looking couples who didn't look like they went out for dinner too often, and once they all emptied out we got on the bubbles.We were joined by a friend of one of the girls - another single waitress who had spent the evening at a nearby restaurant, then headed to another bar and proceeded to have one of the best nights ever.

Having just met these ladies, it proved to be quite the bonding session. We threw quotes at each other from favourite movies and TV shows, including but not limited to Super Troopers and Old School, as well as The Office, Ricky Gervais stand up and The Secret Life of Us, before we sealed the friendship deal over music. The friend I met for the very first time that night collected CDs, and had every Loop Select CD compilation in her collection except one. The only one I'd ever heard of and had been given, incidentally. I agreed to give her my copy and a friendship was born.

We met on Valentine's Day and today is our five year friendship anniversary. We went out for morning tea today and I made her heart shaped orange cookies with fresh passion fruit icing.

Orange zesty cookies with fresh passion fruit icing
125g softened butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Orange zest, and the juice of half a orange (one of those really juicy NZ navel oranges if possible)


Cream butter, sugar and vanilla well. Add egg and beat well. Add zest and juice. Sift over flour and baking powder and stir to combine. Roll into balls, or sprinkle some flour on the bench and roll some dough flat and use a heart shaped cutter to carefully make shapes. The dough is pretty soft though, so they work really well as just rounds pressed down lightly with the back of a spoon, and then sandwiched with icing (in the style of melting moments).

Bake at 190*C for 15-20 minutes until golden.

Icing is made by filling a bowl with icing sugar, adding a knob of butter, a dash of vanilla, the insides of 1 and a half passionfruit (leaving yourself a half to taste test while making it) and stirring together with a spoonful or two of boiling hot water.

The non-heart shaped ones have been consumed by me and my lovely flatmates, with an appropriately anti-Valentines day themed playlist in the background, including this absolute boomer of a tune by Eamon which I had totally forgotten existed.

And just to prove I do actually still have feelings, this post is dedicated to my wonderful wonderful friends. I LOVE YOU!

tea and tomatoes

My friend Laura and I christened my christmas-gifted teapot yesterday. It was a glorious morning in the capital city, and we'd had a successful and relaxing barbecue on my deck the night before.

Just before enjoying about 3 cups of tea from said-teapot, I ventured to the shops to grab some ripe tomatoes and a fresh baguette.

I chopped the tomatoes into chunks, and cooked them in the frying pan with a little chilli oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar and some salt and pepper. Once they were done, I sprinkled over some freshly torn basil. I warmed the baguette in the oven, and a tasty vegetarian brunch was born.

 It was perfect.

sneak peek plum treat

I'm not much of a pudding person, no wait, that's a lie. I love dessert, but we didn't have it on a regular basis growing up. It was a real treat, and that's probably why I'm such a sweet tooth now (making up for lost time and all that). One thing I was particularly fond of growing up though, and when they appeared in the grocery box it was like all my Christmases had come at once, was Black Doris plums. The canned variety are still a favourite (remember those plum meringues?) but what gets me really excited is when these bad boys are fresh in season. Like now! Dark plums from the market were cheap so I stocked up. On Monday after eating cheese on toast (with rocket fuel sauce, fresh tomato, spinach and capers on vogel's) for dinner (amazing!), when a couple of friends popped in I made a very sassy dessert indeed.  

Roasted Plums with coconut crumble topping
1-3 plum halves per person (cut in half, remove the stone - be careful with the knife if the stone doesn't slip out easily. I'm just speaking from slightly-stabbing-myself experience).

In a bowl, crumble together about a heaped tablespoon of brown sugar, a heaped tablespoon of coconut threads, about a tablespoon of flour and a big knob of butter. Sprinkle in some cinnamon and a little orange zest if you have it.

Place the fruit cut side up on a roasting tray, and crumble over the topping. Roast in the oven for about 10 minutes at about 200*C.

I served it with some fancy ice cream that someone had left in our freezer, and garnished it with fresh mint from the garden. It was adorable (and it tasted really good as well).

Why did I want to make a simple dessert with seasonal fruit as the star on a casual midweek evening? Something simple and impressive? Practice! I'm taking Heartbreak Pie to daytime television next week - I'll be cooking on the Good Morning show on Tuesday 15 February (TV One at 9am if you're in New Zealand!). If there's time, I'll probably be making this with peaches, as well as some other tasty delights. I'll be wearing a sassy dress from Emma boutique and I'm even treating myself to a (much needed post-travelling) haircut before then. Stay tuned!

flavour of the month

In Thailand, I fell in love for about 5 minutes with a well-travelled Frenchman whose parents make documentaries about the slaughter of dolphins. We met at an Irish pub with about an hour left of 2010, and after tequila shots and dancing to live reggae, had a very happy new year indeed. 

I like new years and I like new beginnings. I like changes in attitude, and appreciating that how you felt once can be looked upon as an isolated point in history. I like catching up with someone after ages and it being awesome over awkward. I like realising that how you feel about someone or something has changed. It hits you in a kind of subtle "huh!", like you haven't even realised until now that you're really really happy. I feel completely liberated and free of 2010; I haven't felt this liberated since I had my first brazilian wax. And liberation feels good. 

French was definitely a recurring flavour of my recent travels, and I enjoyed quizzing all the Frenchies I met about their various hometown cuisines. And if I thought my desire to have a black bob and learn to speak french just like Audrey Tatou was strong after watching Coco avant Chanel, it sure is a whole lot stronger now.

Attempting a little life sortage (laundry, vacuuming, unpacking etc) home alone on a Sunday evening, I turned to Damien Pignolet for some french-style food inspiration. Damien Pignolet and En Vogue (although En Vogue's inspiration was neither French nor food-related. It was just me singing this song at full volume three times in a row before dinner. Hugely inspirational). 

What I found in his book French, which coincided nicely with the fresh eggs in the fridge, was a step by step guide to making one of the frenchest of foods, the omelette. Damien dedicates an entire chapter to eggs, and it was with slight surprise that I realised I had never in fact made an omelette properly. I decided that if faced with it as a challenge on Masterchef I'd totally lose, because isn't it the thing that anyone who professes to know anything about cooking should have mastered? Um, yes.

True to style though, I acted confident and thereafter enjoyed the tastiest solo Sunday night dinner imaginable! I backed up Damien's step by step photos by also watching Jamie Oliver whip one up on you tube. I followed his advice and left out creme fraiche, cream or milk. Mine went like this:

Omelette


*Place a knob of butter and a drizzle of olive oil in a shallow sided smallish frypan, over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt, and spin the pan around to get even coverage.

*Lightly whisk two eggs (three if you're protein loading, or really hungry) in a bowl with a fork.

*Pour eggs into the pan and swirl the pan to get even coverage. Allow it to set for a minute, then I used a fork to swirl it a bit more. I then left it a little longer, then got a rubber spatula and swirled that around the circumference.

*Turn down the heat slightly, and add whatever topping takes your fancy. Damien suggests prawns, garlic and sorrel. I can highly recommend grated cheese and a little chopped tomato, since they're in season and cheap. Sprinkle over a little salt and some cracked pepper.

*Give it a minute, and when the cheese has melted a bit, fold. I went in-half and in-half again.  

And that patch on the plate there next to the toast? Gooey luxurious melted cheese. The texture was great; soft in the middle but hard and thin enough around the edges to just use a fork to cut each mouthful and reveal the soft inside. Having lost at laundry, and having failed at my goal of having a kebab-free weekend, perfecting an omelette was a very satisfying win.

book club bread

This evening (now last night, actually) I had the pleasure of entertaining 5 lovely ladies for the first book-club-without-the-books of the year. An excuse to just eat and drink really, it was good to catch up and drip-feed further stories of my recent travels (of which I am now having withdrawls, obviously). I also heard summer stories and the odd grumble about work, boys, and the weather.

The food is usually a sideline to the wine (or duty free gin) and sometimes it's just crackers, cheese and chippies for dinner. I decided to make bread, since my bare pantry still contained flour, yeast and olive oil. I'd also stocked up on red onions at the market last week, so I caramelised them to create a variation on that bread from Dish magazine a while back. Caramelised onion and blue cheese bread was born, and it was good.

Blue cheese and caramelised onion bread (adapted from Dish magazine #32) 

2 cups plain flour

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp instant yeast 

3/4 cup - 1 cup lukewarm water

2 tblsp oil

Combine flour and salt and yeast in a bowl. Make a well in the centre, and add 3/4 cup water and oil. Mix to form a soft dough, adding more water if required. Place on a floured bench and knead lightly for 2 minutes.

Place in an oiled bowl and leave to (roughly) double in size (up to an hour - ideally while you caramelise the onions). 

For the caramelised onions, see the recipe here. Although this time I substituted balsamic vinegar for white wine vinegar - the only type I had in the cupboard  - and it didn't make a difference.

Knead out the dough for a minute or two. Roll it out into a big square. Spread over the onions, leaving about a 2cm border around the edge. Crumble over about 150g of blue cheese. Fold carefully into three, lightly pressing down the sides. 

Place in an oven tray (preferably with shallow sides) and rub over a little oil, and sprinkle with some rock salt. Bake for 25-30mins at 200*C until hollow. Take out of oven and brush over a little more oil while it's still hot.

Serve warm.   

It was very well received, and alongside a summer salad (courtesy of my friend Anne) of chunks of 2 ripe nectarines, a ripe avocado, some thinly slice red onion, lemon juice and olive oil, it was a flavoursome snacky dinner. We also had a green salad that I whipped up a dressing for, and because one delightful friend announced "amazing - everything else was shit - but the dressing - amazing" I share it for you now. 

Simple salad dressing

About 100mls olive oil

Juice of half a juicy lemon 

1 tsp dijon mustard

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

Cracked pepper

Salt

Put it all together in a jug or bowl. Whisk with a fork.

And now, the weekend! My one goal being that it remains kebab-free. Who knows what excitement it will bring? All I know is there will be food. Food, friends and tanqueray.