Fresh!The best of New Zealand – from market to table

Peter & Anne BlakewayPhotographs by Simon Young

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Fresh! is to drool for! Quite simply, this is a New Zealand cookbook like no other. Join Peter and Anne Blakeway on an extraordinary journey as they explore the culinary delights of New Zealand, discovering wonderful regional ingredients, both new and traditional. Peter Blakeway then uses these ingredients to create his delicious recipes. From tarte Tatin made with Otago apricots to chocolate tart made with Bay of Plenty avocado; from Nelson scallops with chorizo risotto to Westland wild pork and sage pie, Fresh! has something for everyone and every occasion, and refl ects a passion for our local produce. This food adventure is photographed by Simon Young, whose stunning landscape shots sit alongside his gorgeous food photography. Fresh! doesn’t just capture the eye; it engages all the senses.

Fresh Cover.indd 1 21/07/10 9:32 AM

Fresh!18 Fresh!

Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Line a Swiss roll tray with

baking paper. Whisk egg whites until very stiff. Gradually

add sugar a little at a time. Spread on the lined tray and

sprinkle with flaked almonds. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Clean and destalk fruit for the coulis, add sugar and

heat in a saucepan over a low heat for 30 minutes

with water or alcohol. Cool and blitz in a liquidiser,

then strain through a sieve.

Sprinkle top of meringue with icing sugar to prevent

sticking and place a new sheet of baking paper on

top. Invert meringue onto the new sheet of baking

paper, carefully removing used baking paper while

meringue is still warm (the paper can be torn off in

strips). Allow to cool. Spread with whipped cream,

orange segments and passionfruit pulp and roll, using

the paper as a guide so that your fingers don’t touch

the meringue. Serve with berry coulis.

Serves 10

6 egg whites

150 g castor sugar

50 g flaked almonds

300 ml cream, whipped

2 oranges, cut into segments

2 passionfruit

Berry coulis (optional)225 g berry fruit, such as

raspberries, strawberries,

blackcurrants and

blueberries

50 ml water or alcohol, e.g.

fruit liqueur or red wine

75 g castor sugar

The perfect stand-by dessert when you have surprise dinner guests, this takes ten minutes to make and ten minutes to bake. It is delicious topped with the wonderfully aromatic combination of oranges and passionfruit — especially if they have been picked straight from the garden — but is equally yummy with any berry fruit in season.

Meringue Roulade with Passionfruit and Orange

Fresh!Fresh!

Savoury Tarte Tatin with Goat’s Cheese Ice Cream (see page 32)

Fresh!32 Fresh!

Goat’s cheese ice cream8 egg yolks

150 g castor sugar

300 ml cream

300 ml milk

400 g strongly flavoured goat’s cheese

salt, pepper and nutmeg to season

Tarte Tatin600 g shallots

50 g butter

1 large sprig rosemary

salt and pepper to season

50 g castor sugar

2 tablespoons water

3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

250 g small plum tomatoes, sprinkled with

thyme (optional) and oven-dried

500 g puff pastry

small basil leaves to garnish

A mouth-wateringly intriguing dish that turns on its head the usual concept of the tarte Tatin — a caramelised fruit tart baked upside down that is served with ice cream as a dessert — and makes it a savoury entrée or vegetarian main course. The goat’s cheese ice cream goes on at the last second so that it starts to melt over the caramelised onions and acts as a sauce. All ice creams are better made in an ice-cream machine if you have one. However, a pretty good result can be achieved by putting the ice cream in a bowl in the freezer and whisking every fifteen minutes until frozen to prevent crystallisation.

Savoury Tarte Tatin with Goat’s Cheese Ice Cream

Coromandel

Coromandel 49

Boil garlic, shallots, lemongrass, chilli, ginger in a

large saucepan with the wine for 8 minutes.

Add mussels and steam for 3–5 minutes, shaking

saucepan occasionally. Discarding any mussels that

don’t open, spoon into a deep bowl.

Carefully pour the liquid into a different saucepan,

leaving the sandy residue behind. Bring this liquid to

the boil and add coconut cream. Cook till the amount

of liquid reduces a little and pour over the mussels.

Season and, to add the classic Thai flavours, garnish

with coriander, basil, kaffir lime leaves and red chilli.

Serve immediately.

Serves 4

1 clove crushed garlic

3–4 chopped shallots

½ lemongrass stalk, crushed

and finely chopped

1 mild green Asian cayenne

chilli, de-seeded and

chopped finely

I teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

100 ml dry white wine

1.8 kg mussels, scrubbed and

de-bearded

1 can coconut cream

seasoning

finely chopped coriander,

basil, kaffir lime leaves and

red bird’s-eye chilli (hot),

to garnish

This is the Pacific version of the classic Moules Marinière recipe. Unlike their smaller Atlantic cousins, Green-lipped mussels will not be overpowered by the strong Thai flavours.

Thai Scented Green-lipped Mussels

Fresh!Fresh!56

But if you take your catch into many of the local restaurants they will cook it for you.

Trout is delicious lightly grilled, barbecued or home-smoked. Simply remove the

head and guts, split down the backbone but leave the skin intact. Wash and pat the fish

dry. Sprinkle on a dessertspoon of plain salt and a couple of spoonfuls of brown sugar,

and rub in. Cover in plastic wrap on a tray one to two centimetres deep and leave it

in the fridge flesh side up for a few hours. Using a portable hot-smoker with manuka

sawdust, smoke it for about 20 to 25 minutes or until the flesh just starts to break away

from the bones. While it’s still hot and moist, all the bones can be easily removed.

The Department of Agriculture introduced blueberries to Waikato’s acidic peat lands in 1950 and the area remains the centre of blueberry production, with over 340 hectares in cultivation in the region.

The blueberry is one of the few fruits native to North America. Revered by

Northeast Native American tribes, blueberries, leaves and roots were used

for medicinal purposes while the juice made an excellent dye for baskets and

cloth. Dried blueberries were also added to stews, soups and meats.

Two kinds of blueberry, highbush and rabbit-eye, are grown in New Zealand.

Highbush are woody deciduous shrubs which may grow to six metres high,

producing early-season fruit and thriving in places with winter chilling. Rabbit-eye

blueberries grow in the warmer regions of the North Island, producing late-season fruit.

New Zealand blueberries are prospering due to interest in the health attributes

associated with the blue pigments. Studies from Tufts University in the USA claim

blueberries as the ‘miracle berry’. Research shows half a cup per person per day has

enough antioxidants to reverse the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, reduce or reverse

arthritis and skin ageing, and have some positive effect on cancers. Blueberries

may also be effective at lowering cholesterol and they have fewer side effects than

commercial drugs.

Blue

berr

ies

Fresh!Fresh!

Blueberry Frangipane Tart with Vanilla Sauce (see page 64)

Bay

of P

lent

yThe famous 18th-century navigator Captain James Cook named this sweeping stretch of coastline the Bay of Plenty, and its mild climate and fertile soil continue to produce an abundance of culinary gems.

In the first half of the 20th century the ‘fruit bowl of New Zealand’ was well- known for its citrus, passionfruit and tamarillos, but more recently it has become prosperous from its kiwifruit and avocado orchards, as well as boasting the first vanilla plantation in New Zealand.

Rather surprisingly considering its coast-line, the Bay of Plenty is less well known for its seafood. However, the lakes and rivers around Rotorua produce some wonderful freshwater fish, as well as an Aladdin’s cave of native herbs and plants.

The city of Tauranga and neighbouring Mount Maunganui enjoy a climate and life-style that continues to draw new residents and holidaymakers from all over the country. With about half of the population of the region, Tauranga now dominates the western part of the bay, while Whakatane plays a similar role, on a smaller scale, in the east.

The region’s rural towns struggled after jobs were lost when milk processing was moved to a single plant in Edgecumbe. Both Katikati and Te Puke have worked hard at developing summer crowd-pullers such as the Avocado Festival and Kiwi Festival.

Fresh!102 Fresh!

Cover ham with water in a large saucepan and bring

to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes per 450 g plus an

extra 15 minutes.

Remove from the pan, and trim and score the fat. Stud

with cloves. Cover with apple syrup or honey and

sugar. Pour over the red wine.

Roast at 190˚C for approximately 45 minutes or until

golden brown, basting regularly.

Serve hot or cold with apple chutney and salads.

To make the spiced apple chutney

Place all the ingredients in a large pan, bring to the boil

and cook for at least 2 hours on a medium-low heat.

Allow to cool a little and spoon into sterile jars with

twist-top lids. Leave to mature for at least 10 weeks.

Serves 25

1 raw half ham (about 5 kg)

25 cloves

100 g honey or apple syrup

100 g dark brown sugar

50 ml red wine

Spiced apple chutney900 g apples, peeled, cored

and grated

350 g brown sugar

225 g sultanas and raisins

25 g ground ginger

25 g garlic, peeled and chopped

50 g mustard seeds

420 ml spiced vinegar

420 ml white vinegar

As ham is usually eaten for a special occasion like Christmas, you can afford to splash out on a really high-quality ham and encourage the good farmers out there to carry on doing the excellent job that they do. You might want to personally check out your source as a humanely raised, happy pig will inevitably taste better. If the leg doesn’t look leg-shaped, it probably means it has been pumped with water, or worse!

Roast Ham with Spiced Apple Chutney

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Fresh!168 Fresh!

Mix together salt, sugar, pepper, brandy and dill.

Spread the mixture over both sides of the salmon.

Cover with tinfoil and place in a long, rectangular,

high-sided dish — an oven dish will do. Place

a smaller rectangular tray on top of the salmon

and weight it down with a couple of cans of food.

Refrigerate, turning daily, for up to 5 days.

Serves 10

1 whole side fresh salmon,

pin-boned and skin

removed (ask your

fishmonger to do this

for you)

2 heaped tablespoons

sea salt

2 rounded tablespoons

granulated sugar

2 teaspoons crushed

black pepper

2 tablespoons brandy

2 rounded tablespoons

fresh dill

There are as many recipes for this as there are spellings for it throughout Scandinavia — this spelling is the Danish version. Gravadlax is a fantastic alternative to smoked salmon and has a fresh and subtle flavour.

Gravadlax

Fresh!Fresh!

Nelson & Tasman

Nelson & Tasman 171

Line one loaf tin with plastic wrap.

Mix fruits gently together in a large bowl. Soak

gelatine sheets in water until soft.

Heat half the wine till it begins to simmer, then whisk

sugar into it. Squeeze out gelatine and whisk into the

wine mix until dissolved. Add remaining wine and

lime juice, pour liquid into a jug and allow to cool.

Meanwhile, lay mixed fruit into lined loaf tin,

arranging bottom layer decoratively, as this will be the

top when turned out.

Pour all but 150 ml of the liquid over the fruit. Lay a

sheet of plastic wrap over the tin, place the other loaf

tin directly on top, then weight down with heavy cans

and refrigerate for about 1 hour until set.

Reheat remaining 150 ml wine mixture and pour over

surface of the jelly. Re-cover with plastic wrap and

refrigerate overnight until set firm.

Turn out by dipping tin in hot water and inverting over a

plate. Cut into slices with a sharp knife dipped into hot

water. Serve with cream, yoghurt or fruit coulis.

Serves 8

2 x 900 g loaf tins (one to be

used as a weight)

350 g strawberries, hulled

and halved

225 g fresh raspberries

200 g fresh blueberries

6 leaves gelatine

425 ml sparkling rosé wine

50 g castor sugar

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Who doesn’t love jelly? This recipe is a fruity adult version that includes alcohol.

Sparkling Berry Fruit Jelly