Leek and Bacon Tart

A delicious tart/pie that you must try. Great for pot luck dinners and lunch with friends.

Ingredients
375g shortcrust pastry
2 Tbsp olive oil
30g butter
1 onion, finely chopped
150g bacon, chopped
2 leeks, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
200g sour cream
4 Tbsp milk
6 eggs, beaten
50g parmesan cheese
large handful flat-leaf parsley

Method
1 On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry. Line 27 x 4 cm deep loose bottomed tart tin. Chill the pastry for 20 mins.
2 Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the pastry with baking paper and baking beans and bake for 15 mins. Remove the paper and beans and return to the over for 5 mins or until golden.
3 For the filling: In a large heavy-based saucepan heat the oil and butter. Add the onion, bacon and leeks and sweat until cooked and starting to caramelise.  Stir in the garlic for a further minute then remove from the heat.
4 Lightly beat together the cream, milk and eggs. Add the leek mixture, parmesan and parsley and stir. Season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Pour the filling into the warm pastry case and bake for 30-35 mins until set and golden.

Serve with relish and salad.

Lamb Shanks with red wine and rosemary

This is an extemely easy and delicious slow-cooker recipe by Joan Bishop that has been adjusted slightly.  I have cooked it a number of times and think the key is buying good quality shanks from the butcher rather than the supermarket.

Ingredients
4 lamb shanks
2 medium onions, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup flour
2.5 tsp ground corriander
1/4 cup beef stock
3/4 cup red wine
2 Tbsp tomato paste
grated zest and juice of 1 orange
2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

Method
1 Trim any excess fat from the shanks.  Place the onions and garlic in the cooker.  Toss the shanks in flour. Sprinkle the remaining flour over the onions and garlic in the cooker and place the shanks on top.
2 Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl and stir until thoroughly mixed. Spoon this over the lamb shanks.
3 Cover with lid and cook on low for 8-9 hours, or on high for 4.5 hours. Once cooked remove the shanks and thicken the gravy in the cooker. Serve with mashed potato and a green vegetable or salad.

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.