Non-Vichy carrots and a pineapple party

Before my all day meeting, I took a quick wander around the Chaffers Market for some inspiration for dinner. I spied some lamb fillets from Wai-Ora Farm Lamb and wandered off happy. These guys bring lamb from their own farm to the market and I'm a fan. www.wai-orafarmlamb.co.nz

What to have with the lamb?  I love veges, but I've not been very adventurous with cooking them. I guess because of the quality of the vegetables available in NZ, they don't need to be cooked elaborately to make them taste good. A quick steam or flick around a wok to release the flavour or caramalise the edges is usually enough for me. But I've decided to become more adventurous with them. Let's see how that plays out, eh.

When I got home I gently rolled one of the lamb fillets in fresh thyme, oil, salt and pepper and let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes. And then focused on the veges. 

I decided on two separate vegetables to accompany the lamb: pea puree and honeyed carrots. To make pureed peas, you simply boil peas in water with mint leaves and when just cooked puree until preferred consistency is achieved. I like it pretty chunky so you can still tell they're peas. I love the colour too. You might need to add some of the boiling water or stock (whichever you have).

(This honeyed carrot recipe is slightly related to carrots a la Vichy, which are a bit more complicated to cook. But I do like the name – Vichy for the water they're supposed to be cooked with in France. The water is named after spa town Vichy where the water is naturally effervescent and an alleged cure-all. I don't have any French water lying around the house, so I just use quite salty water.)

Boil the sliced carrots in salty water until tender and then drain and return them to the dry pot over a very low heat with a little honey and butter. Roll around in melted honey and butter and serve.

The lamb is simply fried on a really hot pan for a couple of minutes each side (no additional oil required). Best to under cook fillet rather than risk over cooking.

Super supper. 

No leftovers with that dish, but I was lucky to have dessert from leftovers from the pineapple party a few days earlier.

I'm used to people I live with not liking pineapple. My father and sister both can't stand it. And neither can Pav. The only problem of course is that eating a whole pineapple by myself is a bit of a challenge. So last weekend, with Pav away, I threw a pineapple party.  Two pineapple paramours came around with wine and a savoury course as a prelude to the pineapple dessert which was the planned centrepiece.

It's probably the simplest dessert possible. Are you ready? Bake whole pineapple for 2 hours at 180C in a baking tray. Longer would be fine if the pineapple's big. Slice up and serve with cream, gingernuts (your favourite recipe or buy some), any juice that escaped from the pineapple during cooking and syrup.  I made the syrup with 2 cups of apple juice, 100g sugar and 1 tablespoon of finely diced ginger (hurrah, ginger) simmered for 15 minutes or so to reduce. I used fresh ginger, but I bet it would be grand with crystalised or preserved ginger instead. The pineapple paramours loved it and so did I reheated a few days later!

 Happy eating.

Some Like it Hot

It's been a week of chillis.

People know about my chilli obsession.  So much so, that I am often presented with them when there are too many in someone's garden. Suits me fine.  These from my friend's mum!

Chilli 1 - sausage
During a visit to the Harbourside Market beside Te Papa on Sunday, we purchased a piece of chilli sausage from the caravan of Milan Malivuk – branded Little Wolf (a translation of his surname). It's lovely dried spicy pork sausage which can be eaten as is or cooked in meals. So Pav stirred it into a stock, onion, chickpea and canned tomato soup. No need for other flavours as the sausage releases its spices (mainly paprika and garlic I think, but it's a secret of course) to flavour the entire soup. Marvelous, fuss-free eating. These are handmade, preservative-free and worth finding at the market, Moore Wilson's or the Mediterranean Food Warehouse.

Chilli 2 - sorbet
Then, after Pav went on tour, I went back to the Boys of Breaker Bay and made dessert again. This time poached pears and chocolate chilli sorbet (dairy free). The recipe as written doesn't contain chilli, but that's never stopped me.

Poaching pears is simple – peel fairly ripe pears, trim the bottom so the pears will sit up unaided, poach in flavoursome, preferably sweet, liquid (almost anything will do) until tender. You can scoop out the core of the pear from the bottom, but I never do. I'm not that posh.

I poached these beurre bosc pears in sugar and water and a pinch each of cinnamon, ginger (of course!) and chilli powder.

I love dark chocolate and chilli and so should you! Chilli and chocolate are double fun – the double aphrodisiac of the chocolate and the chilli justifies this combination alone. However, I believe that chilli is also an anti-inflammatory, a pain killer and an anti-depressant. Added to what we know about the revitalizing powers of chocolate, what more excuses do you need!?

This is the easiest 'ice' I've ever made. Sugar (1/3 cups brown, 1 and 2/3 cups white), water (4 cups), cocoa (2 cup) and vanilla (1 tablespoon). Melt the sugar in the water over heat, then add the cocoa and simmer for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. It thickens slightly. Add the vanilla and then chill for at least 2 hours. Then churn in your available method – machine or by hand (freeze in flat metal dish for 2 hours, break up firmly with whisk or fork, freeze for 2 hours, break up, repeat a few times). Churning in a machine produces a smoother mixture, but it's not so much better that you shouldn't do the other if you're an ice cream maker-free household. I added the chocolate/chilli nibs as the mix churned. A good half teaspoon ground up, I'd say.  See picture of chocolate/chilli nibs.

I served the pears with the sorbet and some of the left over syrup reduced by fast boiling. The more the sorbet melted, the more the essential oils of the chillis were released. Essentially it got more exciting as the temperature increased. As it should. Tee hee.

Chilli 3 - Larb Plaa
Then, a few days later, my chilli-enthusiast friend and I snuck into Ban Mai Thai at 111 Vivian St for a quick dinner. We only stayed for a main-course-sharing session, so I can't give you a full review, but suffice to say I've been about 4 times over the last few years and these guys never fail to deliver great tasting food for good prices.

This was no exception. We ordered two hot and spicy dishes and the outstanding one was the Larb Plaa, which was fish fillet with chilli, lemongrass, onion, kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lime juice and herbs. It was hot-spicy-hot, but layered with levels of flavour so that there was still something to roll around the tongue. The fish had been shredded and mixed with the other flavours to make the dish like a warm salad. The beef and pepper dish was also tasty, but the fish was the winner on the night.

Hot flavours for a cold mid-winter week. I wonder how I can get chillis into my breakfast next week?