Category Archives: Recipes – All About – Tried and Tested

Cooking for Family and Friends

Rombo

3B09D62C-AE5C-49D3-A31D-AAD4C0A10FC3.jpeg
My neighbour caught some flounder (Rombo in Italian) locally. He generously gave me two lovely firm, fresh fish caught that day. We cooked them as soon as we could manage, being chronically over fed, we had to wait until the next day. Mrs BYF decided to fry the fish in pig fat that I rendered from the organic Kunekune last year. The fish looked fantastic and was delicious.  The fat contributed to the taste as well as the appearance, not sure why, but things fried in fat look more golden brown to me. The side was spinach and smashed potatoes, and roast pumpkin.
Flounder (Rombo)
1 cup of flour generously seasoned with salt and pepper
6 tablespoons of pig fat or vegetable oil about 10 mm deep for frying

Heat the oil in a pan big enough to hold the entire fish lying on its side. The oil must be hot enough to sizzle when the fish goes in. Use kitchen paper to dry the fish very well. Drench the fish in flour, make sure every bit of it is covered. Shake off excess flour and slide the fish into the pan, skin down. After about 5 minutes, when the skin is crispy and brown, turn over and fry for 5 minutes more.

Serve immediately with some cut lemon and a vegetable of your choice.

Love living in New Zealand!

LEAVE THE GUN – BRING THE CANNOLI

8126B439-03E5-4521-8B4C-178D133DC01F

SHELLS

150 g Standard Flour

20 g Cocoa Powder

25 g Castor Sugar

25 g Grated Frozen Butter

50 ml Espresso

50 ml Dry White Wine

20 ml Marsala

1 Beaten Egg

Sift the dry components and rub the butter into it. Ad the fluids and egg and mix until you have a stiff dough. Roll out and cut into 100 mm squares. Wrap around Cannoli molds and deep fry in oil. Let it dry on absorbent paper.

FILLING

400 g Good Ricotta

200 g Good Mascarpone

80 g Castor Sugar

100 g Chocolate Chips

50 g Chopped Pistachio Nuts

Icing Sugar for coating

Blend together Ricotta and Mascarpone cheese. Fold in sugar. Fold in chocolate chips and Pistachios. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Pour into a piping bag and fill the shells.

 

 

Salami and Sausage making time

There is no better way to spend a Sunday, with a few good friends, to convert the pig and stag that crossed our way a few days earlier, into some delicious products.

The temperature in my “Meat Curing Room” is ideal at 8 – 10 C at this time of the year, but I would have preferred the humidity to be less than 60% to allow for proper curing and drying – hopefully it will get a bit less humid over the next few days.

 

DEFYING WINTER / PASTA CON BROCCOLI

F4C3750D-884C-4C80-905D-5620F6F5CF0CIrrespective of the cold winter weather Dunedin is encountering at present, the garden seems to defy the seasons and continues to produce, which keeps me healthy and out of the supermarkets with some spare change in my pocket.

BROCCOLI PASTA

This is a quick, very easy and delicious Garden Meal

  • 1 Head of Broccoli – Washed, dried and broken into pieces of about 25 mm in diameter
  • 2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 Clove of Garlic – Chopped finely
  • 1 Fresh Chili – Chopped finely
  • Salt and Black Pepper
  • Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padana Cheese – Grated

While you boil the water and cook the pasta in salted water, prepare the Broccoli sauce. In a large cast iron pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat until hot. Add the garlic and fresh chili and cook for a few n minutes until soft, but not coloured (about 1 minute), then add the Broccoli and toss well in the oil and cook until the Broccoli is soft but still crispy and not mushy (about 2 – 3 minutes). Ad salt and black pepper to taste. Add the cooked pasta al dente to the pan with the Broccoli, garlic and chili and toss well.  Serve immediately while still hot and dress with a dash of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, grated Parmigiano and crushed Black Pepper

ENJOY !!

Do not forget the homemade red to wash it all down.

 

 

 

PRIMO PIATTO

35492F00-6BDD-45AC-B95D-6BA46514696FWhile I was cooking the Secondo Piatto, which in this case was Lepre alla Cacciatora (Hunter’s style Hare), I became peckish and looked around what I could do for a Primo Piatto. I had a few Radish leaves and some Polenta from the day before.

Polenta

Ad a few spoons of good extra virgin olive oil to a cast iron pan and heat on medium to high. Cut the polenta  in slices of about 20 mm thick and fry until lightly brown, then flip them over and fry the other side.

Radish Leaves

This is the same recipe we use for spinaci, silverbeet, and many other leaves. Wash the leaves and shake dry. Ad a tablespoon of good extra virgin olive oil to a heavy cast iron pan, then ad the leaves, some chopped garlic and some chilli, if wanted. Fry until all is nice and soft.

The above was made within a few minutes and some black pepper and parmigiano cheese finished it well. It was beautiful and went down well with some home made red.