Writing and thoughts from NE Scotland
This cooking lark is easy. Well, sometimes it is anyway. This paté is a case in point. It’s almost ludicrous how simple it is to knock this up in a couple of minutes. I had a day off today so for lunch I threw a few spoonfuls of crowdie and a few smoked mackerel fillets into a small food processor with some horseradish, parsley and smoked paprika. Blitz it for a minute or so then spread it on hot buttered toast. Ridiculously good lunch in minutes.
One of the things I was most looking forward to about visiting New Zealand was the wine. We arranged to stay overnight at a small vineyard in Martinborough where we could relax and really enjoy some of New Zealand’s finest. After driving down from Lake Taupo we pulled up alongside Gladstone Vineyard on a sunny afternoon, just in time for a tasting! Continue reading “Gladstone Vineyard”
I’ve wanted to try my hand at the mysterious arts of curing and smoking that make up charcuterie for a while now. Luckily for a recent birthday I was given Michael Ruhlman’s excellent book on the subject. This bacon is my first attempt at home curing using just a simple dry cure mix of salt, sugar and prague powder (a mix of salt and sodium nitrate, which prevents botulism). The pork belly is left to cure for a week then slowly roasted in the oven to replicate a hot smoked process.
I had to try a piece as soon as it came out of the oven. If you’ve never tried fresh bacon you’re missing out on an absolute treat! Once it cooled I sliced off another piece and grilled it to check the final flavour. It really is superb and I can’t wait to try it at the weekend with some eggs.
I’ve mentioned Tui beer in another post, well this is the bird it gets the name from. The first time we saw one of these, or should I say heard one, we stopped dead in the street to just listen to the amazingly musical wild song that was coming out of one little bird. The Tui has two voice boxes enabling great feats of mimicry and elaborate song.
Aside from its vocals the Tui is a beautiful bird which we quickly discovered was found all over the country.
In the couple of weeks we spent in New Zealand we managed to visit most corners of the North Island and one thing stood out to me with regards to the beer down there. Good beer is everywhere! Surprisingly every bar and restaurant we visited had its taps dominated by New Zealand brews and not big multi-national brands (although Guinness was widely available in many bars as well). Continue reading “New Zealand – Beer”
Mince and Skirlie 