Clevedon Village Market

Clevedon Village Market
A&P Showgrounds, Monument Rd, Clevedon
Open Sundays 8:30am-12:00noon

I have been meaning to make the trip to the farming community of Clevedon (South of Auckland) to check out their Farmers Market for quite some time, and so finally made the trip with a friend today. Now I say farming, but actually there is an array of products being produced out of this region now and it is not just cows and sheep! It now grows award winning olive oil at the River Estate, wine at Puriri Hills and Vin Alto, and award winnng buffalo mozzarella, ricotta and yogurt at the Clevedon Valley Buffalo Company just to name a few.

What got me excited at this farmers market was the freshly made pasta available from Pasta Nostra, which is owned by, don't quote me on this, Sage Restaurant in Mission Bay.  It looked fantastic, but since I'm on my own pasta making mission these days, I refrained from purchasing any and just took home some buffalo ricotta to make my own.

There are a number of food options available, from Cornish pasties, Hungarian twisters, fresh juice and coffee, Paella, crepes, chocolate, fudge, fresh bread, and bagels. We chose to try the I Love Pies chicken and leek pie at $6.50 each.  This company prides itself on pies and I'm sure are a step above the pie you will find in any service station, but we did need to ask where the chicken was! Shame really, but no point cutting corners if you pride yourself on being the best.

What makes this farmers market different from any other I have been to so far is that it has a lovely relaxed environment, very friendly people on the stalls, a great area to sit and eat, and pony rides for the kiddies.

There are quite a few produce places selling organic fruit and vegetables and meat, including a stall selling Maori potatoes. My only other purchases today were 3 plants for the garden - spring onions, rhubarb, and sage (3 for $5) and a real bargain!

This is definitely worth a visit, and my only recommendation is to take a map, as it is not a direct route to get to.

Zucchini Parmesan

Well I am now cutting 2-3 zucchini a day and so need to start finding some recipes.

Tonight I made a simple side dish to have with my chicken ravioli and pasta sauce.

Zucchini Parmesan

Ingredients (for 2 people)
1 zucchini
parmesan grated
rock salt

Method
1 Blanch the whole zucchini. (Two minutes in boiling water). Rinse under cold water.
2 Slice the zucchini into strips making sure it keeps connected at one end.  Then separate and flatten like a fan onto an oven-proof dish.
3 Sprinkle with a little rock salt (optional) and grated parmesan.
4 Put under the grill untill golden.

And serve.  It is delicious!

Spinach and Two Cheese Ravioli

I know, they are not pretty, but I did get better at it and they tasted superb!  Next purchase will be a proper ravioli maker. I was told once you start making your own pasta you never go back to the bought stuff... and I think they are right.

So, if you need the recipe for the dough, it is on the page with the pasta maker.  You can always, buy your own pasta sheets and roll it out yourself also.

These were made using the pasta maker to the thickness of 6. Because I was trialing a few different options, I made a small batch, but here are the ingredients for a bigger batch (24-30 depending on how big you make them).

Ingredients
1 bag baby spinach
150 grams ricotta cheese (I used the Clevedon Valley Buffalo Ricotta and it was amazing).
1 cup grated parmesan
1/4 red onion chopped up finely
1 clove garlic chopped finely (optional)
1 pinch of nutmeg (optional, if not using garlic)

Method
1 Saute the garlic and onion for 2 minutes and then add the spinach until wilted. Let cool.
2 In a food processor combine the spinach mixture with the parmesan and ricotta.
3 Now, don't improvise and make them like I did, find a ravioli maker so you can't be embarrassed by the way they look!
4  Let dry on a lightly floured piece of kitchen paper. Alternatively, if you are going to freeze them, they can go directly into the freezer on the sheet.  Once frozen they can be put in a snap-lock bag.
5 If you are cooking them, boil a pot of lightly salted water and add the ravioli.  They should take approximately 5 mins. Drain carefully before adding to sauce for serving.

Today I served them with the Sabato Pasta Sauce with Rocket, which is delicious - yes, I cheated, and also a sprinking of parmesan.   But who wants to be in the kitchen all day, right???!!!

The Mercato Atlas Pasta Maker

Another New Year's Resolution was to make my own pasta, particularly ravioli.  So my new gadget is the Marcato Atlas pasta maker, which is made in Italy.

You can find one of these in Stevens for $149, or The House of Knives for $142.

I must admit, the instructions that come with it are pretty poor.  No-where can you find how thick the pasta should be for any type of pasta you are making. So, my first efforts have been a bit of trial and error.

However, saying that, the pasta maker works well, and although there is a bit of technique needed to master (wait till you see the picture of my first attempt!), one afternoon's effort from one batch of dough has made enough fettucini for 2 meals for 2 people, and enough ravioli for two meals for 2 people as well.  Check out the what's cooking tonight - pasta section for the recipes.

For a simple pasta dough recipe, use 2 cups and 2 Tbsp 00 flour, a pinch of salt and 3 large room temperature eggs. Create a well in you flour and add the eggs.  Mix with a blunt knife, mixing in the flour gradually.  Use your hands to form a ball and knead for 5 mins.  Alternatively, you can put the eggs into your food processor and gradually add the flour to it (which is what I did). But still follow the kneading process.  Add a little flour if it gets sticky. Have fun!

Tanuki's cave

Tanuki's Cave
319 Queen Street, Central Auckland
Opening hours: From 5:30pm daily

Overall Rating: 5/5 Price: $$-$$$
Cuisine: Japanese - Yakitori

Food: 9 Drinks: 9 Ambience: 9 Service: 9

Tanuki's Cave is my favourite Izakaya (Sake bar) style Japanese restaurant in Auckland.  It has a traditional Japanese feel to it, and even though a noisy restaurant, it also is quite intimate due to the seating and lighting.  Tanuki's is a great place to go before a show or movie, and the staff will always ask you if you need to be out of there by a certain time.

The menu consists of an extensive selection of yakitori (skewered meats and veges of the same size, grilled over charcoal) , and  kushiage (skewered and deep fried) items.  There are very cheap set menu items as well, which is no wonder why it seems to be full of university students at times. 

Keeping with the Japanese tradition of sharing dishes, we had the bacon and spinach salad (delicious), chicken and leek yakitori, rice balls (always a must have), beef steak with butter yakitori. and a couple of the specials for the week, incuding mozzarella spring rolls, and salmon wrapped in filo pastry (a kiwi touch) - and all fabulous.  Tanuki's serve great Japanese beer by the tap and bottle and right now for $15 you can 'Sumo Size Me' and get a litre glass of beer! I try to stay away from Sake, but Tanuki's has a wide range if you care to indulge.

This restaurant does not take reservations, so you need to arrive early unless you don't mind to wait.  It is a great place for a small group and is high on my list for recommendations.

Toto' Restaurant Review

TOTO' Restaurant
53 Nelson Street, Auckland CBD
Ph 09 302 2665

Overall Rating: 5/5 Price: $$$
Cuisine: Italian

Food: 9 Drinks: ? (Wasn't drinking!) Ambience: 9 Service: 10

To be honest, I checked some reviews before going to Toto this week and found quite a mixture of reviews. 

We were a party of 11 girls, and so lots of dishes were tried.  
For entrees, the ones that stood out were: 
GAMBERI AL POMODORO - Prawns w chilli, garlic, cherry tomato sauce & toasted bruschetta   $21.50 - fabulous (see pictire)
FRITTURA DI CALAMARI - Aromatic lightly fried baby calamari w crispy vegetables & ”agrodolce” sauce $19.50
BUFALA E PROSCIUTTO - Fresh buffalo mozzarella w tomatoes, basil & extra virgin olive oil  $18.50
You can see they were all quite expensive, but were very big dishes and almost big enough to not have a main.  Most of us had two entrees instead as many of the mains came in entree size.

For mains, particular favourites were:
RAVIOLI ALLE ERBE CON PESTO ALLE NOCI  - Stuffed homemade ravioli w mix herbs, Swiss chard & ricotta on walnut pesto & fresh tomato $18.50 / 22.50
FUSILLI AL CARTOCCIO  - Fusilli pasta baked in a paper parcel w eggplant, zucchini & capsicum sauce, parmesan & fresh basil $18.50 / 22.50
POLLO  - Chicken wrapped in speck, stuffed w ricotta, pecorino & pistachio on a capsicum peponata  $32.50

And finally, a PIZZA - CALABRESE - Tomato, mozzarella, salami, oregano, chilli & olives $20.50.  This was delicious, even though it was slightly over salted.

Unfortunately I chose the gnoochi and was disappointed, this was removed from the bill as our wonderful waiter Frank, spotted my dislike and offered a choice of an alternative dish.  I didn't want anything else so he did not charge for it - I was very impressed with this kind of service.
  
Frank is certainly as asset to this restaurant and I certainly give it my full recommendation.
 
Check out the restaurant's website at: Toto Restaurant