Saturday, March 31, 2012

Smoked Fish Pate

I was 21 when I got my first proper fishing rod, my boyfriend at the time bought it for me and we embarked on numerous trips, trying different bait, different locations, by boat, on wharf, surfcasting from the beach and all were pretty miserable - not one fish was caught that year, so my love affair of fishing ended and so did my romance.

Takes only a few minutes to prepare but tastes like you've spent the whole day making it


These days, I envy those who can fish, I never realised how aligned everything needs to be in order to hook a 'big in'. Weather patterns, moon phases, the right hook, bait, sinker. . . now I just leave it up to the experts, which is usually the Auckland Fish Market - which is exciting in itself just to visit and see the different species, colors, shapes as well as a great place for fish n chips, and a cold beer.


It was also recommended in our Best eating places to take the kids list, as it has a massive courtyard with a sandpit, and also the marine inspired playground across the road.




The whole reason for this post, is because my neighbour, Steve, turned up with some Smoked Kingfish, caught from a recent trip to Whananaki, (40 minutes drive northeast of Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand) he hooked a 35lb Kingfish and my, what a catch! It's was quite a dry texture, so I decided the best thing to do was to make a quick pate/ dip for lunch. 


Because the pate was so easy to make, and I'm never one to rest on any success, I decided to make the bread as well, which unfortunately went the same way as my fishing - lets just say it was super crunchy, and enjoyed as soon as it exited the oven, but a few hours later, it was used for cricket balls in a match in the backyard.


So what went wrong with my bread? 
Type of bread: Italian style Cottage Loaf from the book Italian Home Baking by Gino D'Acampo 


Ingredients: 680g strong white flour, extra for dusting: 2 tsp salt : 10g fast-action dried yeast : 400ml water, warm : Olive oil for brushing


How to make: Brush tray with oil. Mix flour, salt, yeast in a bowl. Make well in centre. Pour in water and mix to a firm dough. Add more flour if necessary. Transfer to floured surface and knead for 10mins until smooth and elastic. Brush inside of another bowl with oil and place dough. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in warm place for an hour (I used my hot water cupboard and I left it for 3 hours!!!). Turn the dough out on floured surface and punch down. Knead for 3 mins and divide into two thirds and one-third, shape each into a ball (I divided the dough into 12 rolls). Place on oiled tray. Brush the tops with oil (I also added sesame seeds) Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for a further 30 mins. (I left it for about an hour and when I saw how much they had risen, I thought, my rolls were way too BIG, so I re-sized them into smaller rolls - round shaped and oblong, not really kneading the dough much again, just reshaping). Preheat oven to 220C. Bake on the bottom of the oven for 40mins until loaf is golden. Serve warm.

The Outcome: My rolls were too hard and too dense.
So folks, if you have any answers, let me know in the comments below


Steve's wife and ex chef, Johanna recommended: Use the dough hook on your kitchen mix, you may not have kneaded the bread enough.


Moving on to my pate, which thankfully was a triumph and as I said so simple to whip up, if your lucky enough to have a smoked fish dropped off at the front door. However this would also work with supermarket bought smoked fish, or even tinned salmon, tuna or sardines. Enjoy, Ingrid




Smoked Kingfish Pate or dip
What you need
200g kingfish (or any smoked fish or a tin of salmon, tuna, sardines)
250g cream cheese (softened - i.e. leave it out of the fridge for awhile)
4 tbsp milk
50g capers 
1/2 lemon (juice of, and grate some zest)
salt and pepper (to taste)


How to make
In a bowl, put cream cheese, milk, lemon juice, zest and fold through flaked fish and capers. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chill until needed. Serve with crackers or crusty bread.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Fig and Honey Tarts

Fresh figs from the neighbours tree
Figs, love em or hate em? They don't seem to be the most popular fruit on the block but they do have a certain romantic and sensual quality. They always seem to be paired with blue cheese and oozing juice. Mine unfortunately, didn't ooze and because the birds get there before me, were picked a little under ripe.
According my buddy Google, you can't ripen them off the tree, I thought its worth a try so left them in a bowl for a few days. I also read that they are ripe when the stud at the bottom starts to open.

Fig and Manuka honey tarts
My figs started to seep a fragrant liquid but never reached the beautiful deep ruby colour I was expecting. They were soft and edible but the taste was rather neutral. The dilemma was what to do with them?  I even googled "what to do with un-ripe figs."
I decided EASY was the way to go and happened to have some sweet pastry in the fridge from a failed attempt at jammy pinwheels for morning tea at school. I also decided that the figs needed, as they say in France a little bit of "Je ne sais quois"...
A type of syrup would work but keeping it EASY, I though why not honey - its syrupy, sweet and even better I had a pot of delicious Manuka honey sitting in my fridge.
Delicious with Greek yoghurt
What you need
1 packet of sweet short crust pastry
Fresh figs 1 small one per tart
Honey 2 teaspoons per tart

How to make 
Put the pastry into muffin trays and smooth up the side - no need to line or butter.
There is no need to blind bake either
Chop up the figs in cubes and place into the pastry parcels.
Drizzle 2 teaspoons of melted honey onto each tart.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees or until the pastry is golden.
Remove form the trays after about 5-10 minutes. (If you leave them in the trays the honey sets like toffee so they may stick!)

If you are lucky enough to discover a fig tree you can raid - get cracking and give these treats ago!
If you get beautiful ripe figs, make a BIG tart and slice the figs into quarters and arrange in a stunning circular pattern. Serve with yogurt, ice cream or custard.
Vanessa
Hosted this month by Emma @ www.mydarlinglemonthyme.com
Check out her beautiful blog and if you live in NZ get involved in  the monthly blogging event - Sweet New Zealand...

Thursday, March 15, 2012

Apple puffs with passionfruit custard

FLAKY PUFF PASTRY has to be the best pastry to have on hand in your freezer. It's so simple to use, you can make a multitude of different dishes - fruit pies, custard squares, vanilla slices, danishes, Vanessa's peach pastries, and savoury dishes such as Vanessa's smoked fish pie, pinwheels, turnovers, empanadas or my leftover's mexican pie but I find the best thing about this type of pastry is you don't feel like you've eaten a whole load of fat. It's light and airy and fools you into thinking, you could get away with eating more than one! Ingrid


NO TIME? USE STORE BOUGHT CUSTARD AND MIX THROUGH PASSIONFRUIT PULP


APPLE PUFFS WITH 
PASSIONFRUIT CUSTARD
MAKES 12
WHAT YOU NEED
400g flaky puff pastry (thawed and rolled out flat)
3 egg yolks (separated from the egg whites*)
1 egg (for egg wash)
100mls milk
25mls cream
75g castor sugar
4 passionfruit (pulp of)
1 apple (sliced thinly)


HOW TO MAKE
APPLE PUFFS:  Set oven temperature to 200C. Roll out pastry on a floured surface. Using a cookie cutter or a glass, cut 12 circle shapes. Brush each circle shape with egg wash (1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of water). Add 2 slices of apple to each circle. Bake in oven for 15-20mins until pastry has puffed up and is golden. Serve hot or cold.


PASSIONFRUIT CUSTARD: In a saucepan bring milk and cream slowly to the boil. Take off the heat and reduce element to a low heat. In a bowl whisk three egg yolks and sugar until pale. Add egg mix to hot milk and stir quickly. Put saucepan back on low heat and stir until it thickens. Take off heat and add passionfruit pulp. Mix through. Pour over apple puffs.
TIP: If your stretched for time, just buy store-bought custard and mix through passionfruit pulp.


*WHAT TO DO WITH THE LEFTOVER EGG WHITES?
FREEZE: Pour into freezer bags for future use, make sure you label the bag so you know how much is in there. Alternatively you could store each egg white in an ice cube tray so you can pop one out when you need it.
MAKE: Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Chocolate macaroons or Pistachio Baked Meringues from foodblog Cannelle Et Vanille




1 BEATEN EGG + 1 TBSP WATER = EGG WASH




MORE PUFF PASTRY RECIPES FROM FOODOPERA
NO FRESH FRUIT? Check out Vanessa's recipe using puff pastry and tinned peaches. 
"when you can buy pastry for about $2.00 (NZ) a block who would bother making it?"
www.foodopera.peachpastries.com


GREAT USE OF LEFTOVERS Turn leftovers into a simple mexican puff pastry pie
"So I ended up going around in circles, stressing out about cheese all week, (who does that?) only to end up whipping up a puff pastry Mexican pie using leftovers from the night before. "
www.foodopera.mexicanpie.com


HEALTHY PIE No milk or cream
"A change from the usual fish pie with mash and chock a block filled with healthy green veges, its a pie using half the amount of pastry."
www.foodopera.smokedfishpie.com