PIE PIE PIE

Strawberry Pie.. 

Enough said. 

Recipe:

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

6 cups of strawberries

2 small apples

2 tbsp lemon juice 

zest of a lemon 

splash of bitters 

1/4 cup brown sugar 

3 tsp chopped ginger

3 tsp arrowroot 

1/2 tsp alspice 

1/2 tsp pink salt 

Egg wash 

Demerara sugar to dust 

Egg wash. 

1 egg whisked with 1tbsp water and pinch of salt

Line a pie dish with sweet short pastry of your own recipe or store bought. Place in the fridge for at least an hour. 

Sprinkle the granulated sugar over the sliced strawberries and leave to sit for at least 30 minutes. 

Grate apples and then mix with the strawberries draining all the liquid that comes off them. Mix in lemon juice, rind and bitters. 

Mix together in a different bowl brown sugar, ginger, arrowroot, all spice and salt. Gently combine with the strawberry mix. Pour it all into the pie shell and decorate the top as you like. My lattice work  is pretty uggggly Im sure anyone could do better. 

Place pie back into the fridge for at least 15 mins.

Brush the top of the pastry (avoiding filling)with the egg wash.   

Then chuck in a pre heated oven (170 degrees) for about 15-20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 110 degrees and continue cooking for an extra 30 mins or so until golden brown and bubbling. 

Serve with cream.. we had ours with rosewater clotted cream.

It was christmas, so why the hell not. 

x 

Abbey 

Pineapple Salsa

 Because everyone needs an go to salsa recipe. 

This goes especially good with pork. 

Recipe.

1 ripe pineapple

1/2 small red onion 

2 cloves of garlic 

2 tomatoes 

1 ripe avocado 

1 cucumber

1 red chilli 

bunch of coriander

bunch of mint  

juice and zest of 2 limes

s&p

Mince onion, garlic and chilli. 

Chop the rest of the ingredients into similar sized pieces. 

Toss squeeze over limes, season. 

Let this sit at room temp for at least an hour to let all of the flavours develop. AND your done. 

Hurrah. 

x 

Abbey  

R I L E Y

I have been doing ALOT of cooking the last few weeks, though I'm lacking in photographic evidence. 

Firstly my camera, memory card, laptop and recipe notebook have been scattered between different family members homes making it almost impossible. 

Secondly I just haven't felt like it. 

Capturing images of food we are about to shove into our mouths with complete indifference, not tasting, just surviving and fuelling our bodies, has been the last thing on my mind. 

I am blessed to have an incredibly close family, who's constant gatherings always centre around food. 

Sharing together a plethora of dishes often straight from the garden or off the boat is one of the many ways we show we care.

We eat like kings.

In huge amounts.

 Feasting to excess.

Always. 

The heartbreak and loss in our family was in no way more evident too me in our attitudes towards food. 

No one cared. 

We even under catered one night and believe me this has never happened in Looker history. 

Which isn't to say that beautiful meals were prepared (they always were) or incredible dishes would turn up at the doorstep every day (they would) or that these gestures of kindness and support from friends, family and community were unnoticed (far from it). 

The joy of it all was missing, our hearts numb by the devastating loss of a life so young. For me there was nothing to capture, the spirit of what I love in food missing. 

Things are getting better and we again eat together to celebrate every day the beautiful life of Riley and our incredible good fortune for all that we still have in each other.

So back to it. 

Abbey 

x

Salmon Hash Cakes.

TIME OUT.

  

Gah so slack. 

We know it.

Life and loss have got in the way. 

When things stop being so hard I promise i'll be right back into it. 

x

Abbey  

      

Smug

This little beauty was inspired from the owner of my favourite antique store in New Plymouth called Chads. Chad himself was given the stern word from his wife to trim down on his (I can only imagine) magically beautiful personal collection.  It just so happened my weekly visit in store timed perfectly with this kitchenware cull. 

I managed to get my greasy little paws (much to his despair) on some of his favourite pieces including this petite enamel slice baking tray and the gorgeous 1970's cooling rack. The tray was his favourite- he listed off several of his go to recipes for pies and tarts he himself used to make in it,

 I left the store feeling both smug and inspired from his descriptive flavour combinations, for this chickpea flour, ricotta and vegetable flan.

Recipe:

Filling. 

2 Duck eggs 

2 Chicken eggs 

(both happy)

(if you cant get duck 5 chicken eggs will do)

handful of basil

3 sprigs of thyme 

1/4 cup pinenuts 

2 cups of chopped mixed dark greens

(i used spinach, kale, silverbeet and beet tips)

3/4 cup chickpea flour

200g ricotta

1/4 cup grated parmesan 

1 ts za'atar spice mix

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

s&p

Topping. 

1 large tomato sliced 

2 zucchini sliced

2 sprigs oregeno stalks removed 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Grease and line with baking paper a thin baking tray.  

Beat eggs until combined then add all of the remaining filling   ingredients together except for the flour. Mix until everything is evenly distributed then siv the flour until just coming together in a wet batter. Pour into the prepared tin and make a lattice with tomatoes and zucchini sprinkling over the oregano leaves at the end. 

Bake for 20-30 minutes until golden, puffed and cooked through. 

x

Abbey  

  

   

    

Tis the Season

I love the festive season, almost entirely because there is always hoards of family and friends floating around to feed.
Not to mention the never ending satisfaction of harvesting  straight from our little garden, which is currently offering an abundance of summer vegetables. 
Such a satisfying combo. 
From your garden, to plate, to nourish the people you love. 

This was a last minute, kind of deal. The most simplest form of cooking where you take whats ripe and what you have and do something with it. 
The freshest the best kind of eating.

The results were a sticky roast chook, ginger/peanut/everything slaw and a zucchini and corn salad.  

My sister also brought an amazing slow cooked wild pork roast from a local all organic rare breeds farmer in Taranaki. Weekly stall holders at the market here they always offer a refreshing enthusiasm for the quality organic products they supply including a seasonal bounty of produce. They also offer the community a wealth of knowledge on sustainable living, self sufficiency, permaculture, biodynamics, organic agriculture, farming and loads more. Check out there website http://avonstour.co.nz its pretty amazing.

  The wild pork farmed pork was to say the least, incredible! The unusually dark red coloured meat was full of flavour and melt in your mouth tender.
 The crackling was well, cracking.
 As always the best thing in the world.  

Recipes:

Sticky Chook.

For the Marinade:
1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/8 cup sweet soy
4 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp runny honey 
tsp of chilli oil
splash of vinegar 
thumb of ginger grated
tsp of Chinese Five Spice
tsp of sesame seeds

Szechuan pepper

1 Free range organic chook
2 heads of giant elephant garlic 
or 6 head of regular garlic

Combine all of the marinade ingredients. 
Butterfly the chicken laying flat in your cooking dish, rub in 1/2 of the marinade with your hands forcing under the skin.
Cover and place back in the fridge for at least an hour ideally over night. 

Preheat oven to 225 degrees. 
Spoon the marinade back over the chicken from the bottom of the pan and place in the oven for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 130 degrees and leave to cook for another 70 minutes re-basting with the marinade every 15 minutes or so. 
Remove from the oven and portion into tasty little morsels. 

Zucchini and Corn Salad. 

knob of butter
glug of olive oil 
2 cloves of garlic
2 medium heat red chillies 
2 heads of spring onion 
6 small mixed colour zucchini's
4 cops of corn 
pinch of Za'atar 
pinch of sumac 
100g-ish of danish feta 
zest and juice of 1 lime
bunch of mint & coriander 
S&P

In a heavy bottomed fry pan sauté  garlic, chilli and spices in the butter until fragrant over a medium heat. Add the chopped vegetables and crank up the heat fry until the vegetables are just tender. Remove from the heat and stir through feta, herbs and lime. Season to your taste. 

As for the slaw, its a pretty hefty looking list of ingredients but most you will have in the recesses of your pantry. In saying that you dont have to put in everything. But you should, because its awesome. 

Ginger Slaw.

2 cups of grated red cabbage
2 cups of chopped mixed greens
(I used kale, baby beet tops, silverbeet and spinach)
1 sweet red pepper
1 orange pepper
1 hot red chilli
4 spring onions
1/2 cup of mixed sprouts
1/2 cup of golden raisins
thumb of ginger chopped 
 a generous handful of parsley and mint
1/2 cup of homemade lemon aioli 
1/4 cup of sprouted sesame seeds
1/4 cup sprouted sunflower seeds 
1/2 cup of peanuts

Chop and combine all the vegetable/herbs/leafy components and mix together. Toast nuts and seeds, retoss with anything/everything else.
 Hey presto. 

x
Abbey