Bright green sweet bean within…

After a hard days soaking up some sun and going for a snorkel at the beach it was time for a snack, and I have jamie oliver to thank for this one. Its a great way of using up some of those broad beans whilst they are growing like mad in the vege patch. Yep, I think I am starting to over do it with the broad beans, but I don’t care, thats what food is in season for, so you can eat, in excess, something that is at its best for one month of the year, then, for the rest of the year, you can’t wait for the next time when you get to experiment with new ideas that you’ve dream’t of over the long winter months. Eating food seasonally is what gets me excited about food, fruit ripened on the plant just around the corner from where you live will taste a million times better than anything ripened in a refridgerated plane flown half way round the world, I reckon its worth the wait….

Anyway, back to the snack. Although pretty time consuming for what you get, it is definately worth it for the taste and colour of these gorgeous spicy bean fritters. The beans were poded, blanched, then peeled of their skins to reveal the bright green sweet bean within.  The beans where then thrown into a processor with some mint, coriander, cumin, chilli powder, a tad of flour to help stick it all together and some S and P to bring it all alive. The bright green chunky paste that results is incredible. It was then formed into quenelles with 2 spoons.

Next they got deep fried until the outside is crispy and brown and the inside is sweet, spicy and the epitome of spring. Simply served with yogurt and some chopped mint to add a cooling taste to the pallet, it was an awesome snack to share, even if some did get stolen before steph had time to photo it (hmm hmm Ian). Yeah I know, I fried something last night, but the oil was still in the pan, so it would have been rude not to use it again……excuses excuses…..

I like me some Italian food…..

so, again, its been a little while since my last post, and I’ve actually had a few days off and have been cooked for by our lovely hosts here in NZ for the last couple of nights! Although I love to cook and could happily be in the kitchen all day, im not going to say ‘no’ to someone offering to cook me dinner. Fortunately for me, I had part of tonights dinner already cooked, there was some leftover sticky rice to use up and what better way to use it up than the Italian ‘arancini’. If you hadn’t already figured out, I like me some italian food. So to jazz up the sticky rice, I made a simple tomato sauce with onions and garlic and tossed in a load of basil for a fresh summer feel and mixed it altogether.

I then formed the tomato flavoured rice into balls and moulded them around a good chunk of mozzarella.

I breaded the balls first by dusting in flour, then dipping in egg, then into breadcrumbs. Then for good measure, back into the egg and breadcrumbs again, this gives the arancini a thicker crunchier layer on the outside…

The balls were then deepfried until the outside was golden and crispy and the inside was a warm gooey ball of mozzarella goodness, YUM.

Now thats its the summer, the salads are coming into full play and will go with just about anything, so thats what I served the arancini with to finish it all off. Some broad beans (not sick of them yet), cucumber, tomatoes, avocado and some mustard streak lettuce, all dressed with a minty lemony dressing!

So why worry if you cooked to much rice for your dinner, why not do it on purpose, it’ll give you the perfect excuse to wrap it around some cheese and deepfry it for tomorrows lunch, or dinner. You could even make tiny arancini for a canape at a dinner party, ooooo fancy….

Just because its called Sunday roast……

Oops, sorry, missed a day, but that doesn’t mean I wasnt cooking! Didn’t get any picks of last nights Sunday roast either but I can assure you it was delicious! Yeah, I know it wasn’t Sunday yesterday, but just because its called a Sunday Roast doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of any other day in the week. As ever with a roast there were leftovers, I think its always worth cooking too much, then the next days meal is already half way done! I hate to see leftover food wasted, especially when an animal was sacrificed to feed our hunger. There were tatties and some lovely pork to use up, and what better way to use them up than to fry them all together into a hash.

But of course I wasnt happy with just that, although a fried egg on it would have been awesome, i’d already tucked into a few poached eggs for brekky so thought that might be a bit too much. Instead I opted for the healthier option, a salad. The salad was more of those lovely bright green broad beans, some freshly picked fennel and mustard streak lettuce, and some apples from the fruit bowl. Now to dress the salad, a simple dressing of cider vinegar, lemon zest, honey from the hives and mint from the garden, another awesome spring lunch, done….

Stick a stick into it…..

Well the sunny day lasted all but 12 hours! Back to the wind and sideways rain. It was another indoor day, although I did manage to get into the greenhouse for an hour or so and do some planting, the chilis are on their way!

So, whats on the menu today! Todays tasty treat was something made by the little guys who help pollinate the plants that feed us. The farm here has a couple of hives and Ian, the owner of the farm has been a Bee keeper for centuries (although thats what he tells us), well a long time anyway. So with a jar of honey, some sugar and some fresh ginger for some warmth, I set about making some taffy pops to sell down the market and give away with the cordials.

So heres the recipe for this one, as its too sweet to keep to myself:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup water (thats been infused with grated fresh ginger, then strained)

Mix all the ingredients together in a pan and gently heat until all the sugar is dissolved, then up the heat until the honey goodness hits 300°F.

Stop the cooking process by plunging the base of the pan into cold water, then when its cooled a bit, pour into lollipop shapes and stick a stick into it!

I’ve opted for the free form lollies, but if your feeling clever, i’m sure you could do something thats fancier. I had to make 100 of them so this way was easy.

Not only was I hassling the misses to take cool pics again, I was also getting her to stick the sticks in before they set to much, thanks again Steph for putting up with a food crazed chef xxx

Leftovers aren’t just for dogs!!!

So yesterdays nasty weather has past us by and we are left with some lovely sunshine, that means it out to tend the vege patch! Its been a bit neglected recently due to other tasks, so first was some recreational weed wacking, then some up-rooting of plants that had gone to seed (past their best before…) and then, down on my hands and knees to weed around the onions that are shooting up. It was a dawnting task, but a quick break for an ice cold ginger beer, helped me on me way! We had been invited out to dinner at a neighbours for the evening, so todays foodie post is a lunchtime quickie! Whilst getting muddy in the garden all I think about is what can I use this for, or this, or this even. Today was the turn of the red kale, along with some of those broad beans which we are going to have to start giving away soon, or not if I have anything to say about it!

I blanched the kale and broad beans, then added them to the left over gnocchi from last night that I fried in some freshly picked sage and some of those garlic shoots, and of course a good chunk of butter, any left over butter was poured over the dish to finish it off, and most importantly not to waste the butter.

Even the Boy (the dog) was trying to get in on the action, leftovers aren’t just for dogs!!!

For those of you who haven’t been following Stephs blog, this is Minty (her twin is called sauce). We adopted her about a month ago as her mum had abandoned her and she was on deaths door. With a bit of looking after, and a lot of milk, she is thriving and will eventually join the rest of the sheep, although i’m pretty sure she thinks shes a human! I must admit, if this was my farm and lamb, this one would probably not be ear marked for roasted saddle and lamb shanks but would most certainly be used to increase the herd in the future. Sauce on the other hand……..

Big thanks again to my awesome wife for the photos, without those this blog would just be a bunch of writing….

www.stephanieosmond.com

Wouldn’t say no to a glass of wine with that either……

So today we woke up to windy wellington at its best, the rain was blowing sideways! Needless to say it wasnt inspiring me to get into the garden and see what was about! Today, im going to hit up the dry store, with maybe a few fresh bits harvested from the garden during the dry spells. I was in the mood for some rhubarb. The other day I was clearing the overgrown patch of weeds and giving it some much needed care, so it was fresh in my mind. When the rain stopped for a sec, I grabbed a knife and headed straight for the dark red stalks with their poisonous leaves, hmmmm, doesnt seem to appetizing! Anyway, we all know rhubarb and custard is a classic combo, so thats what I’m going to do, with a twist of course. I first poached the rhubarb in a strawberry honey cordial, produced here at the farm by Bees Blessings, along with a stem of cinamon and some lemon zest. Only for a short time though, as I wanted the stalks to stay together. The poached rhubarb was then folded gently into a basic sweet muffin mixture. If only I’d check that there were muffin moulds here first, duh! So instead I improvised and used an angel cake mould, you know the one with the whole in the middle…. To finish off the muffin cake, I sprinkled an oaty crumble mixture on top to give it a final crunchy texture.

Like I said, rhubarb goes with custard, so I made a standard creme patissiere (thick set custard) to dollop on the side. Yum Yum!!!

Before tucking into the muffin cake and custard, I guess I better cook something savoury for dinner. Now, along with making bread and pasta, one of the most satisfying things I like to make is potato gnocchi, its cooked potato, mixed with some flour, cheese, an egg, S and P, kneaded to a dough, rolled into a sausage, cut into mouth size nuggets, and thrown into some boiling water till they float, Easy! Well, maybe not so easy, but with a bit of practice, a fluffly pillow of potato is yours to fry in some butter or mix with a sauce! I decided to make a tomato sauce from some cans in the store cupboard, onion, garlic and some sage. I placed the blanched Gnocchi into the sauce with some more of the cavolo nero I raided from the garden, and topped it all with cheese and baked till golden brown and crispy on top. Nothing like a gnocchi bake on a cold evening!

Wouldn’t say no to a glass of wine with that either!!!

Any excuse for garlic butter!

Hard days work at the market, now for a rewarding snack. Not a quick snack by any means but simpler than beans on toast! One of my favourite things at this time of year down in this hemisphere is the humble artichoke, scary looking bugger when you first see it with it thistle like leaves but turns out to be a tasty, time consuming, conversation starter at any table, even if the first conversation is, “how the hell do I eat this”.

Before throwing it into a pot of simmering water, I snipped off the spikes at the end of the leaves with some scissors, as to prevent any bloodshed at the table. I squeezed some lemons into the pot with them and let them simmer away for 30-40 mins, until the leaves pull away easily from the body, its as simple as that. Now, its delicious enough as it is but this snack is the perfect excuse for some garlic butter to dip the leaves in and scrape away the tiny morsel of artichoke that resides on the inside of each leaf with your teeth.

Put the artichokes on a plate in front of your guests and a big bowl of garlic butter in the middle of the table and nibble at the leaf ends and talk away. Slowly but surely you’ll make your way to the heart of the artichoke, where the big reward lies. Nothing pleases me more as a chef than watching people eat good food, talking and having a good time.

Now go forth, eat and converse!!

Everything tastes better with an egg on it!

So, seeing as the freezer supply of the recently butchered pig is slowly dwindling, I thought about doing a vege dinner. With a sack off spuds in the kitchen I hit the garden to see what was around for tonights simple supper. The broad beans are going mad, cavolo nero is a deep green and the odd carrot was to be found. I also discovered that the flowering stems of the garlic makes for a sweet suttle garlicy addition to what was going to be a yummy fried vege fritter.

I sweated some onions with the garlic stems and a bit of ground cumin, blanched the broad beans (and peeled them) and cavolo nero, chopped some fresh picked parsley, grated potatoes (squeezed them out) and carrots and threw it all in a bowl with a couple of eggs to bind it all together. A bit of S and P and a hot fry pan and bobs your uncle. Now to get a bit of extra richness to the dinner, an EGG, everything tastes better with an egg on it. Poached eggs laid today hold together perfectly with no spinning of  the water or vinegar, easy!

Nom Nom Nom…..

Bloggin’

everyones doing it nowadays, bloggin’! So why cant I!? I love food, I’m a chef in training, so my blogs going to be about two things, me and my food. I like simple, no fuss, rustic food, but I also like to step it up occassionally and do something fancy, but the main thing is that it tastes awesome. Tasty food is easy if you get good ingredients and i’m currently living on a farm in New Zealand, getting the best produce we can grow. Nothing tastes better than food picked from the garden, walked to the kitchen and cooked up within minutes of it leaving the ground. It doesnt even have to be cooked, alot of the eating goes on in the garden. As soon as the strawberries ripen, i’m bringing the bowl, spoon and the ice cream to the strawberry patch, I cant wait. I’ve always been excited by cooking and food, but now that I get to watch it grow from seed to fruit it seems to install a deeper passion and understanding of food and where it comes from, and especially when it is available….

With the help of my gorgeous wife, Steph (www.stephanieosmond.com), i’m going to be posting pictures of whats going on in the kitchen here at the farm, because, lets face it, we eat with our eyes first so you want to see some great photography and then maybe read a bit of this blah blah if you cant figure out exactly what it is in the picture…..

So, without further ado, heres some pics of me do a guest chef thingy for the Bees Blessing cordial launch. I had to come up with some tasty recipes that you could use their honey based cordial in, and then demo them to the guests at the party…