July 6th, 2010
Belgian Biscuits Newstalk ZB Recipe
This is the recipe (with my metric adjustments) as heard on Newstalk ZB Thursday 1st July.
4 oz butter (softened) 115g
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 large cup (1 1/4 cups) plain flour
1 sm cup (3/4 cup) cornflour
1 tsp Baking Powder
2 desspn (1 1/2 Tablespoons each of cinnamon and cocoa
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat again. Sift in dry ingredients and combine. If it is too soft (though mine wasn’t) chill for an hour or so until it can be rolled out to 1/8th inch thickness (dont ask me for the metric version of that!) Cut into rounds with a cutter or glass and bake on a tray lined with baking paper at about 160 fan or 180 non-fan for 12-15 mins or until nearly firm and smelling good.Cool slightly and sandwich together with raspberry or plum jam (if you are like me and hate raspberry seeds in your teeth!) Ice with a simple lemon icing if desired but they are quite sweet so be warned.Makes about a dozen or more joined biscuits depending on size.They will soften on standing so keep them unjoined until you want them, if you like crisper biscuits!Your call.
Sue Story
Posted by Sue Story // Filed in Recipes, Uncategorized
September 4th, 2009
Weekend treat
Apple Pancakes with grilled bacon and apple syrup
This is a breakfast treat I devised when a generous friend gave me heaps of Golden Delicious apples a while ago.I have become very fond of it lately as a weekend treat. The organic apple syrup is great but non-organic versions are cheaper if price is an issue. The pork and apple match is well known.I love Freedom Farms Streaky bacon for this .
4 apples
1 Tablsp. butter
2 Tablsp.apple syrup
Pancakes
1 1/4 cups plain flour
1 Tablsp. baking powder
2 Tablsp. sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup milk or 1/2 milk 1/2 yoghourt
2 Tablsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tablsp. butter
To garnish , grilled bacon ,more apple syrup and optional yoghourt.
Peel,core and thinly slice apples. Heat butter in a frying pan and add the apples.Cook until they start to colour then add apple syrup to aid that process. When tender and golden, set aside and keep warm.
Sift dry ingredients into a bowl and mix wet ingredients in another.Combine the two mixtures carefully. Dont overmix. Rest the batter for 10 mins or so.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan and add the second tablespoon of butter then fry spoonfuls of batter to make 12 pancakes of 8-10cm size. Add more butter for each batch if you like.When they start to bubble on top and brown around the edges, turn over and finish cooking.Grill the bacon and serve pancakes with the apples in a stack, with more apple syrup and a dollop of yoghourt if you fancy it. Serves 4.
Posted by Sue Story // Filed in Recipes, Uncategorized
July 22nd, 2009
A side trip to Vancouver
Isn’t it funny how, when something happens that you think is a problem, suddenly turns out to be a great bonus!This happened on my way to Chicago in June when the flight from LA to Chicago was cancelled and the only way a standby passenger could get there was via Vancouver! I have never been so unprepared to visit somewhere. Normally I do lots of homework before I go to a new city but this was a true adventure.
What to do with 7 hours in a strange city? Well it was nearly dinner time so I sought out a fish restaurant. I won’t bore you with the details of why I chose Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop house but lets say it was serendipity at work again.
My waitress Cole set the tone for the evening with her knowledge and understanding of the various fish choices and the wine to go with that. I discovered Joe Fortes follows the Ocean-wise programme which promotes the use of safe (as opposed to overfished) fish choices so I tried Sablefish (a black cod I understand)served blackened with a side of squeaky fresh asparagus and rice. She brought me a taste of a Canadian Gewurztraminer which I agreed was just right so I had that with my meal and then had a lemon tart and a short black before hopping back on the airport bus for my 11pm flight to Chicago!
I had a chance to get a feel for the city and it certainly piqued my interest in returning. It may just become my new route to Chicago each year.I have been told it has the feel of Auckland and there is an element of that and it certainly felt very safe for a woman on her own so next time at Joes I will look at the huge range of oysters and compare them to the Bluff variety. see the link to the restaurant on the links column.
Posted by Sue Story // Filed in Gourmet travel, Uncategorized
March 24th, 2009
South Island Sojourn Part 1
Raupo’s Vegetable Stack.Blenheim.
I have just returned from 10 days away and what an amazing 10 days they were! Having chosen to see NZ, (on my son’s air dollars) instead of going to the Melbourne Wine and Food Festival, I have to say I don’t feel I was shortchanged. I met so many interesting people in so many fields from artists to winemakers and bed and breakfast hosts that I feel extremely stimulated and have taken on board the sign I saw in an Akaroa general store.” We would like everyone to know we are not participating in the recession!”
Undiscovered parts of Christchurch such as Sol Square were revealed to me and there were so many small acts of kindness bestowed on me that I felt very spoiled. Having visited the Foundation Foods’ Factory whose wonderful stocks and glazes I have used for some time, I was loaded up with product and driven to my next two stops as I was on foot that day. After buying some blue cod for dinner then Morbier cheese at Mercato (a bit like Sabato) I was offered a ride back into town by yet another kind store owner. I did have a Wheelie bag but I appreciated the offer and accepted! Had some exceptionally good homemade crumpets with a finger lickin’ lime and ginger syrup at the Crumpet Club in Durham St. That is one idea worth recipe testing!
Next stop, Governor’s Bay with a pit stop at the Lyttleton Farmers Market to stock up on supplies for a few days of cooking for my sister who is Line Producer on a new TV drama series being filmed on Banks Peninsula.I found a new variety of potato like Agria , fluffy mashing type. Unfortunately I cant remember it but it was a Maori name which I will try and find out soon. The venison rack we bought was expensive but we were feeding the producer so we lashed out! The produce is really good at the Lyttleton Market (there is no supermarket there but an excellent food store called Ground Culinary Centre at 44 London St which stocks a number of things sold at the market plus Rachel Scott bread). In fact Lyttleton seems to be almost all cafes and not much else.
I had some research to do for an article and so headed over to Akaroa .I called in to see Bruce and Carol Hyland at Maison de la Mer, a gorgeous B and B www.maisondelamer.co.nzI was enjoying myself so much I forgot to take any pictures but the website has plenty.Had a glass of wine at a cafe on the water’s edge called Truby’s (as it used to be the Plunket rooms) and did take a photo of that. I had been introduced to the owners of No 83 (another B and B ) by my sister and spent a very happy evening there in their company. They have some splendid sculpture in the garden and a bush fringed property just up the hill from town.
My return to Governor’s Bay was hair raising to say the least as my sister telephoned to ask if I could take some items to the production location in remote Okain’s Bay. Now I’m not that fond of high winding roads, particularly with sheer drops, no matter how good the view is, as I’m usually too scared to notice. Let’s just say this was a mission and a half to get down there. I hugged the centre line (yes, there was one of those, amazingly!) in fact crossed it a few times on the really scary bits and no cars came up the other way, thank heavens. Got a fright when A HUGE truck appeared just as I got to the bottom of the hill!By the time I got to Blenheim I was buzzing so when my hosts Toni and Terry Gillan told me the social calendar for the next few days I was ready to go! Five days of meeting new people, dinner parties and the like kept me humming. I put on a dinner for Toni and Terry. We had whitebait fritters where all I had to do to find whitebait was stroll across the road to the little market and pick some up from a stall . Delia Smith’s tomato-stuffed capsicums were the first course, Duck Breast with cherries, mushroom risotto cakes and beans followed and we finished with nectarines topped with a macaroon mixture and baked served with a passionfruit flavoured mascarpone and creme fraiche combo.
Raupo is one of the new cafes in Blenheim and Toni and I had coffee there after our walks! Jan Bilton and I had lunch there too and the photo above was my selection. It was topped with bacon but could be a good vegetarian option without bacon. I really enjoyed it .
I must mention a wonderful garden I visited with Toni and Terry. They told me we were going to Domaine Georg Michel’s for dinner and it didn’t hit me till we drove up the drive that this was a “garden” to visit. In fact when I spotted the Monet inspired bridge and the river running through the property I realised I had seen it on television many years ago. I hadn’t brought my camera, as one doesn’t normally do so when going for dinner.Needless to say I growled at my hosts (nicely) for not warning me about just where we were going that evening.Do visit the website www.hortensiahouse.com and then the garden when in the area, as it is worth it, particularly if you like hydrangeas.
As I was doing some work on an article about breakfast trends in B and B’s, Toni introduced me to two delightful couples who owned Brookhurst and The Peppertree. Brookhurst is a newish house but has a luxurious feel to it and charming hosts Brian and Helen understand how to spoil their guests. Peppertree is very old ( see below).Werner and Heidi Pluss, originally from Switzerland, live on this 10 acre block with fruit trees, miniature cattle, sheep, olives and grape vines. They use much of the produce in preserves which are served at breakfast and even make their own wine. 
I had missed the cherry season but Blenheim is a lovely place to visit anytime particularly if you love food and wine.My next trip is to see the Autumn colours in Queenstown in April.
Posted by Sue Story // Filed in Gourmet travel, Uncategorized