Ode to Asparagus

For me there is no better way to eat asparagus than with my fingers, dripping with butter and lemon juice and seasoned generously with sea salt and freshly ground pepper! And with the growing season for this most unusual of vegetables being a short one – mid/late September to just after Christmas -we make the most of it while we can.

For the last few weeks I’ve had to be at my local farmers market extra early to be sure not to miss out on the first of the season’s crop. The vendor there has new beds so the spears are thin and spindly. These are what I enjoy the most although I know others prefer the fattest spears they can find. Each week though the supply has gradually increased and I can now have an extra half hour in bed.

Other than butter and lemon, asparagus goes with many other wonderful flavours which include but are not limited to:

anchovies ▪ avocado ▪ bacon, prosciutto and pancetta ▪ eggs ▪ fennel ▪ garlic ▪ hollandaise sauce ▪ mushrooms ▪ mustard ▪ olive oil ▪ olives ▪ Parmesan, gruyere and goats cheeses ▪ potatoes ▪ smoked salmon, scallops ▪ tarragon, parsley, rosemary ▪ toast ▪ tomatoes ▪ walnuts, pinenuts.

Use asparagus as soon as possible after it is picked or purchased. The best way to store it until you need it is to stand it upright in a container with a little water in the bottom and cover the whole with a plastic bag. If the spears get wet they will spoil rapidly. 

When you are ready to cook it, snap off the woody ends (each spear will break at the right point between the tough end and tender part) or, if you prefer them all the same length, trim with a knife and even peel the end with a vegetable peeler. Personally I leave this to the restaurants.

Finally wash the spears well in cold water to remove any grit or sand.

Blanch asparagus using one of two methods:

1/ Stand upright in an asparagus basket so only the thick ends are in salted, simmering water. Cover and steam.

2/ Bring a shallow, wide pan of salted water, about an inch deep, to the boil and lay the asparagus spears flat in a single layer. Simmer gently until the asparagus is just tender.

Whichever method you choose drain and serve the asparagus immediately or if you wish to use it cold, refresh it in iced water to halt the cooking process. Once cool, remove from the water and lay on kitchen towels. If you leave it in the water too long the asparagus may start to break down.

This salad is an easy way to ‘dress’ asparagus up. Prepared this way it is delicious with barbecued lamb and baby new potatoes just like we had for dinner last night

Grilled Asparagus Salad

500 grams asparagus

olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Dressing

50 ml extra virgin olive oil

1-2 tablespoons chardonnay vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

lemon juice

1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed

1 egg, hard boiled and chopped

1 red onion, sliced

150 grams firm feta cheese, crumbled

a small handful Italian parsley, chopped

Blanch the asparagus quickly in boiling water to set the colour, remove and refresh under cold water. Transfer to paper kitchen towels to drain.

Preheat a barbecue or ridged grill.

Toss the asparagus gently with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill on the barbecue until nicely coloured and tender. Remove to a platter.

Toss the sliced onion with a little olive oil and salt and grill until golden and tender. Make a vinaigrette from the olive oil, vinegar and mustard and salt. Add a squeeze of lemon juice if more acid is required. Season with pepper and add the other ingredients. Combine gently and spoon on top of the asparagus.  Serve at room temperature.

Time to bake - Christmas is coming!

It’s the end of October and the other day my thoughts suddenly turned to Christmas. I was wandering through my local cookware store and spied the gorgeous wooden cake boxes that I used to sell hundreds of at The Epicurean Workshop all those years ago.

Time to bake the Christmas cake!

It’s been a few years since I baked a Christmas cake, as I’m the only one in the family that enjoys it, but this year I’ll bake a big one, cut it into four squares, keep one for myself and give the other three away as gifts.

My favorite recipe calls for lots of glace fruits so it’s not the cheapest cake to make. For several years in the earlier days of the Epicurean I used to make mini versions of this cake to sell - using large tuna tins that were about 12cm in diameter. We decorated the tops with more glace fruits, glued on with apricot jam. They looked sensational.

Sadly the recipe for this cake is not to be found anywhere so instead I will bake the family recipe. This is a great cake too but more traditional in its ingredients and result. You’ll find the recipe at the end.  My mother always decorated the cake very simply with whole blanched almonds, pushed into the cake batter just as it went in the oven so that they toasted to a golden hue as the cake baked. And that is exactly what I shall do.

One curious aspect to the recipe is the caramelised sugar and butter that is called for. I can only assume this has the effect of darkening the cake slightly. These days Parisienne essence (gravy browning) is often called for.

Getting back to the wooden cake boxes though; these are quite unique in that the wood (kahikatea) insulates the cake mixture as it bakes which means you don’t have to go to all the trouble of lining it with brown paper as you do with a tin. Anthea Dunning, who produces the range, took a family tradition and now has a successful business selling them in four sizes. Each comes with her own family recipe and her website  has a great explanation on how to use them and produce a perfect cake. Over the years, with each consecutive use, the boxes darken and age and become quite beautiful.

I should add that these boxes are square for obvious reasons and to me a Christmas cake should always be square. I wonder what others think about this – round or square? 

The metal bake ware of today no longer has the quality of yesteryear. You need to look hard to find something that looks like it will last. I am lucky enough still have my mother’s heavy Christmas cake tin which is also dark and with a lovely worn patina. But if you are looking to buy one avoid all the lightweight tins out there and seek out one with some weight. Don’t bother about non-stick coatings – you’ll be lining it anyway.

One great brand from the UK that I have found is Silverwood – sold in New Zealand by F.L.Bone – the AGA oven people. The range is extensive but what I like is that it still offers traditional things like pie plates and square Christmas cake tins as well as all the clever new inventions. I love the oblong tart tin with the option of a fluted insert so you can have either a straight sided tart case or a fluted one.

At F.L.Bone they also have a range of Bake-O-Glide Teflon liners for the bases and sides of square and round cake tins - already cut to size. So clever!

So to make my mother Robin’s ( which was originally her mother Ines’) Christmas cake you will need:

450 grams butter, softened

450 grams brown sugar

10 eggs

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup brandy or whisky

450 grams raisins

450 grams sultanas

900 grams other mixed dried fruits and nuts such as dates, currants, cherries, glace peel and almonds

675 grams plain flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

whole blanched almonds to decorate

24cm square x 12cm (approximately) deep cake tin

 

Preheat the oven to 150°C, no fan. Line the base and sides of the cake tin with several layers of brown paper with a top layer of baking paper. Weigh or measure all the ingredients. Combine the fruits well and sift the dry ingredients.

Cream the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer until pale and smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Melt the 2 tablespoons of butter with the sugar in a small pot and cook until the sugar has caramelised to a nut brown. Remove from the heat and add the brandy. Simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved. Add this immediately to the butter and egg mixture, pouring it in, in a steady stream, while beating fast. (Don’t worry if it looks like it is curdling)

At this point you will need to transfer the mixture to a larger bowl, especially if you are using a stand mixer.

Add the fruit and flour alternately to the mixture, mixing gently with each addition. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and tap the tin gently on the bench once or twice to disburse any air pockets. Decorate the top with the blanched almonds, pushing each one slightly into the cake. Bake for 5 hours.  If the cake starts to brown too much cover it with a piece of foil.

Remove from the oven and pour over a little more brandy or whisky while still warm. Cool, remove from the tin and store airtight until Christmas, or earlier if you can't wait.

Culinary Highs

Some months I hardly dine out at all and then all of a sudden there is a flurry of invitations or new places to try. Here are a few recent highlights .

Firstly I was one of about eighty very lucky people to enjoy a superb three course dinner of Canterbury produce, including freshly smoked Akaroa Salmon and bush honey and Mt Cass Waipara Spring Lamb. The event, a fund-raiser by The New Zealand School of Food and Wine was largely cooked by owner Celia Hay with the help of Masterchef winner Nadia Lim and some generous volunteers. The dishes were paired with Waipara wines including the luscious Greystone Pinot Noir.

Celia’s school has relocated to Auckland in the aftermath of the Christchurch earthquakes.  This event raised funds to bus children from schools in the east of the city (the most damaged area) out to Duvauchelle on Banks Peninsular for a day’s cooking and some fun where Celia’s other business, a café and store there, is still standing and operating as usual.

I find it heartwarming, that in spite of the fact Celia has lost her home and her business, has had to move herself and her family to a new city and completely re-establish both, she finds the time and the energy to do something to help others affected by the same disaster. If you’d like to help too contact Celia.

A few nights later I found myself at the unique and rather sumptuous Mollies hotel for a special dinner to celebrate the hotel’s recent change of ownership. Chef Lance Tripp’s classical background and his ability to innovate was evident in the exceptional degustation menu he prepared for a raft of celebrities from the fashion, food and media worlds, all matched with carefully selected wines. Five finely honed dishes included his confit duck tortellini on butternut pumpkin with a poached quail egg and a visually beautiful dish of Raukumara venison with beetroot, crumbed ricotta, macadamia and white chocolate. Auckland isn’t exactly awash with elegant dining spaces such as Mollies. I love the effect achieved by massed white orchids and candles. Luckily Mollies dining room is open to the public. 

In August it was off down to the capital for a long weekend of wining and dining during Wellington on a Plate. I am always looking for an excuse to get to Wellington. I find the dining culture there very ‘outside the box’ compared to Auckland.

First up were some excellent demonstrations at the inaugural Fisher & Paykel Masterclass. A host of Wellington’s best shared their knowledge and skills in all things ranging from smoking yoghurt (Des Harris) to roasting snapper heads (Martin Bosley) and making old fashioned blancmange (Alexa Johnston).

We enjoyed a gorgeous high tea at Hippopotamus in the Museum Hotel with a showing of Alexandra Owen’s summer collection, a terrific children’s market held as part of the Hill Street farmer’s market and to top it all off a Malaysian Night Market held in a lantern strung Opera Lane by the Malaysian Kitchen Programme and which featured some of the city’s best Malaysian restaurants and their fragrant dishes.

Dining highlights came from two exceptional kitchens. Mark Limacher’s Ortega Fish Shack literally hummed with the who’s who of the current film scene. They obviously know where to find some of the best plates and service in town. Primarily fish focussed, as the restaurant’s name suggests, the menu is punchy and inviting, the flavours big and rewarding.

The newest hot spot is Ancestral – a stylish Shanghai-esque establishment on Courtney Place serving modern but at the same time seriously authentically based dishes from Sichuan and Guangzhou (Canton). I love the Eastern inspired cocktails, the extensive list of whiskeys and the yakitori garden bar out back. Although we experienced it at lunch this is very much a night time place, when, I am told, the bar becomes very lively.

Back in Auckland we have been witnessing the birth of a whole raft of new eateries over the last month. Wynyard Wharf has sprung up across from the Viaduct bringing new life to that part of downtown. And now, under the Sky Tower, we have our own mini version of Southbank in Melbourne with three new drinking and dining options in Federal Street.

One of them, Al Brown’s Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar, brings a touch of New York (finally!, I want to say) to the big little city. It’s slick and the food is so simple and the locals love it already. On offer is an oyster bar and sharing plates such as turbot sliders, a great version of the fish taco, kingfish belly and a to-die-for crisp pork hock - all washed down with wine on tap. What a breath of fresh air! 

And to finish, a brickbat and a bouquet. After all what would my column be without an issue or two? Briefly though;

The bouquet goes to RNZSPCA Blue Tick for their inaugural Good Egg Awards – championing those who produce, use or sell cage-free eggs.

The brickbat is for Fonterra - for canceling the contracts for organic milk in Northland.

I will say no more.