Recipe of the week: Chicken and leek pies

This is a great spring time recipe, best served with a light side salad of wild rocket and lemon vinaigrette. This recipe will make 1 large pie or 4-5 smaller individual pies.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons canola oil
4 chicken breasts, cut into 3cm pieces
1 leek, cut into 1cm-thick pieces
2 garlic cloves, crushed
50g (1/3 cup) plain flour
500ml (2 cups) chicken stock
4 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 x 375g puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, lightly whisked

Method:
1. Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add half the chicken and cook, turning occasionally, for 2-3 minutes or until browned. Transfer to a plate. Repeat with remaining oil and chicken, reheating pan between batches.

2. Add the leek and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until the leek softens. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Gradually stir in the stock until well combined. Add the chicken and thyme to the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes or until the mixture thickens and comes to the boil. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley. Allow to cool slightly before using.

3. Preheat oven to 200°C. Place pastry sheets in one big pie dish or if making individual pies use smaller pie tins and cut both tops and bottoms out of the pastry.

4. Oil pie dish and place pastry on the bottom. Spoon the chicken mixture into the pie dish and place the other pastry disc on top of the dish. Press the edges to seal. Use a knife to create ridges around the edge of the pastry at 1cm intervals. Brush the top of the pastry with remaining egg. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until puffed and golden.

Spring fruit and vege

This week marks the first week of spring! One of the great things about different seasons is that they provide us with a variety of produce. It is important to cook with fruit and vegetables that are in season because it is when they taste their best, when they are most economic and they provide variety in our diets.

Fruit and vegetables that are in season at the moment are:

• Avocados
• Grapefruit
• Kiwifruit
• Mangoes
• Parsnips
• Rhubarb
• Witloof
• Tamarillos
• Yams
• Tangelos
• Swedes
• Leeks
• Asparagus (late September)

Recipe of the week: Date and Walnut loaf

You may have tried our date and walnut loaf in the cabinet? Well here is the recipe! It is best served warm with a generous serving of butter!

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped dates
1 cup boiling water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Method:
1. Put dates, water, soda and butter into a bowl and stir until butter has melted. Set aside for 15 min so that the dates soak up the majority of the water.

2. Beat sugar, egg, walnuts and vanilla into date mixture.

3. Sift flour and baking powder into date mixture, and stir to combine.

4. Pour mixture into a greased loaf tin (it is also a good idea to line tin with baking paper).

5. Bake at 180°C for 45 minutes or until loaf springs back when touched. Leave in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

Food for thought

We have all heard the ‘horror stories’ of fast food brands selling food that was undercooked, not fresh, or that contained foreign objects that were discovered half way through consumption. But is there any truth in these stories?

A few weeks ago there was a news story claiming that several fast food companies in China had allegedly used meat from a firm that had been repacking and selling expired meat. Now even though this happened on the other side of the world, how does this make you feel about fast food? Does a credible story like this one change your fast food purchase decisions?

In New Zealand we have very strict regulations around the preparation, storage and packaging of freshly prepared foods and it would be very unlikely that a scandal such as this would occur here. But, it does pose the following questions:
As a developed nation, do we actually know where our food comes from? AND
What is really in our food?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/world/10294180/Starbucks-embroiled-in-China-food-scandal

Recipe of the week: Mulled Wine

The weather has increasingly become colder over the last few weeks and what better than a nice glass of mulled wine after work to warm you up. Some countries associate mulled wine with Christmas, however, being the lucky country that we are, at Christmas time we are at the beach or in our backyards drinking a nice cold beer or wine instead!

Mulled wine is full of different flavours and is a great way to use up opened wine. This recipe involves making a syrup first before adding the wine and the great thing about that is you can store this syrup in your fridge and have it ready for a cold winters day when it arises.

Ingredients:
2 oranges
1 lemon
200g sugar
5 cloves
2 cinnamon quills
1 bay leaf
1 vanilla pod (halved)
2 star anise
1 bottle of red wine

Method:
Cut the peel off the oranges and lemon. Put the sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the pieces of peel and the juice from the oranges and lemon. Add the cloves, cinnamon quills, bay leaf, star anise and vanilla pod. Pour in enough red wine to just cover the sugar, stir briefly.

Simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved into the red wine and bring to the boil for about 5 minutes, or until it has reduced into a thick syrup.

When the syrup is made, turn the heat down to low and add the rest of the wine. Gently heat the wine for about 5 minutes. Once heated, strain and then pour into glasses and serve.

Note: If you are making the syrup to use later, make sure it is heated before adding the wine. The syrup will keep for a month if refrigerated. This recipe can also be doubled.

Top 10 Winter warmers

Winter can be a cold, dark time of the year however, there is good news………… We have put together a list of 10 dishes that are exciting, easy to make, and will warm you up during this cold period. And don’t worry, good ol’ pumpkin soup is not on the list! If you have been into Elements recently you may have even tried some of these dishes.

 

1. Apple, rhubarb and coconut crumble

2. Roast sirloin with herb crumb

3. Kumara, thyme and pecorino gratin

4. Spiced doughnuts with warm chocolate sauce

5. Louisiana Gumbo with corn bread

6. Braised beef cheek with truffle mash

7. Roast beetroot and goats cheese risotto

8. Mexican hot chocolate with vanilla marshmallows (although this is not ‘food’, it will definitely will warm you up)

9. Lamb Moussaka

10. Caramelised onion, Gruyere and herb tart

 

If there is a dish that you would like to make, please contact us for the recipe! Or, if you have any favourites that you would like to share with us please comment below.    

Recipe of the week: White chocolate and honey mousse

Most of us have made a chocolate mousse before but it creates a point of difference when using white chocolate. Also, the honey in the mousse is a natural sweetener meaning no extra sugar is added. This mousse can be served in individual glasses or in a large bowl. To create colour and texture in this dish, you can add simple ingredients such as fresh berries or crushed chocolate biscuits on top or between layers. This recipe serves 6.

 

 

Ingredients:

170g White chocolate (milky bars are good)

60g butter

2 eggs

30ml honey

220ml whipped cream

Method:

Melt butter and chocolate together over a water bath, once melted remove from heat and mix. Beat eggs and honey together in a separate bowl until light and fluffy. Fold chocolate into eggs, then fold in whipped cream. Pour into containers you would like to use and leave to set in fridge for at least 2 hours.

Defining food moments

You know those moments in your life that take you to another place. Anthony Bourdain talks about his first taste of an oyster, for others it is something simple like the first juicy strawberry of summer. For many it’s a memorable dining experience at one of the world’s great restaurants. I have had some great meals in some amazing restaurants but for me there are a couple of distinct memories that relate to the simple things in life.

The first was during a particularly brutal Christmas season. Short staffed and incredibly busy, each 15 hour day just stretched into the next. You eventually reached the point where you couldn’t be bothered to eat. Approaching midnight after clean down one of my young chefs said – “Do you know what I really feel like? – Bacon and eggs” So followed one of the most memorable meals of my life. Smoked bacon, poached free range eggs, toasted sourdough and lashings of butter. I can still taste it. At the time it was the perfect meal.

The second moment was a humble potato. I had been in New Zealand for about 6 months and someone asked me if I had tasted a Jersey Benne potato. Now to me a spud was a spud but I was persuaded to give one a try. Simply boiled, salted and some olive oil – amazing. It was like someone had taken this ordinary every day vegetable and turned it into something incredible. I still look forward to every Christmas season and my fruit and vegetable supplier still gets me the first box from the markets, wraps it in a bow and delivers it to the cafe – Thanks Vanessa and Kim!!

As much as food such as truffles and Wagyu beef are incredible in their own right, sometimes the greatest things are the simplest.

Recipe of the week: Chocolate dipped almond biscotti

Biscotti is a handy recipe to have up your sleeve and a perfect accompaniment to have with your tea or coffee. Biscotti can also be a great homemade gift and it keeps a long time. The recipe below will make roughly 16 individual biscotti. This recipe is for almond biscotti but you can use any kind of nuts you like.

 

Ingredients:

100g almonds (can be substituted for other nuts)

200g flour

180g sugar

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla

250g melted dark chocolate

 

Method: 

Chop almonds into smaller pieces. Place all dry ingredients in a bowl. Lightly beat eggs and vanilla and combine with dry. Shape onto a tray. Cook at 160 for 40 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes then cut into slices and place back in 140 oven for a further 15 minutes. Allow to biscotti to cool then half dip  in melted chocolate. Dry on a clean piece of baking paper. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe of the week: Lemon curd

Need a recipe for something to make with those left over egg yolks? Try our lemon curd! This recipe will make enough curd for a large tart tin. There are heaps of things to do with lemon curd, the most obvious being lemon meringue pie. However, lemon curd can be put on your toast (or crumpets), used as a trifle filling or put between the layers of a cake! The great thing about lemon curd is it also has a long shelf life.

Ingredients:
270 ml lemon juice (about 9 lemons)
240g sugar
250g butter chopped into cubes
5 whole eggs
6 egg yolks

Method:
Combine all the ingredients except the butter and whisk until combined. Place in a pot over a low heat and once the sugar has dissolved add half the butter (cube by cube) while continuing to whisk. When the mixture starts to thicken, add the remaining butter. The curd is ready when it coats the back of a spoon without being too runny. If your curd has lumps in it, pass it through a sieve. Store in a airtight container in the fridge up for up to 2 weeks.