Blueberry Pancakes with Yoghurt and Maple Syrup

Pancakes always seen like an indulgence but they don't need to be all that fattening if you use trim milk, add only one tablespoon of sugar to the batter and top with Greek yoghurt and fresh blueberries. You could stop there but to make these really delicious a dribble of pure maple syrup makes for perfection.

John came back from skiing in Canada this week and brought back a bottle of genuine maple syrup so I just had to make these for breakfast. This recipe is for two people but it can easily be doubled or trebled to feed more.  I like to make small pancakes with a little silver ladle that came from my Mum is what I use. It holds 1/8 of a cup and this recipe will make 6-8.

Why is it that the first pancake is often a disaster? No matter, the rest turned out perfectly.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of flour
1 large free range egg
150 ml of trim milk
1 tablespoon of castor sugar
a few drops of vanilla essence ( optional)

Whisk altogether and leave to stand for 1/2 hour
Grease a non stick frypan lightly with cooking oil/butter or olivani
Pour 1/8 cup of batter into the pan and swirl it to spread it. It will only cover part of it, Let it brown underneath and then flip it over to cook the other side.
You won't need to grease the pan again for the rest of the batch.
Serve while still warm with yoghurt, blueberries and a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Why is it that the first pancake is often a disaster? No matter, the rest turned out perfectly





 

Inspired by a La Cigale Salad

My sister in law Alison brought a huge salad platter over for a barbecue last night and it was one of those salads that isn't just beautiful to look at but just as good to eat.It was inspired by a recipe from Elizabeth Lind's La Cigale cookbook. It was composed of:

halved cherry tomatoes
spring onions
baby spinach leaves
blanched broccoli florets
blanched green beans
mesclun salad leaves

all tossed together in a garlicky vinaigrette

and scattered with plenty of cooked orzo and toasted sliced almonds

She'd found it on the net so I googled it and here is the original at:

http://www.lacigale.co.nz/wawcs0111834/idDetails=294/Green%20Vegetable%20Salad

It is very flexible salad. No exact quantities are given and different vegetables are used each time according to what's available which will change with each season. It's suggested you think green , white and red for a splash of colour.

I loved the combination of fresh salad leaves and blanched vegetables with the orzo and sliced almonds.

Now that I have found one of the lovely recipes from this book on the net,  I'm looking forward to trying my own variation on it as well as reading the actual book to see what other culinary treasures lie within.


 

 

 

Mushroom and Pea Curry

 

 

 

 

I cooked this lightly spiced curry from Madjur Jaffrey's Simple Indian Cooking  to go with a roast leg of lamb and oven potato chips. It sounds rather an odd combination but it tasted good, although I do think it would have been even better if instead of my ususal flavouring of rosemary and garlic I had rubbed the lamb with a more spicy mix. Or had tossed the potato chips in a little oil, cumin seeds and turmeric before roasting.As the curry was juicy there was no need to make any gravy which was a time saver for an easy family dinner.

This dish is one of her party favourites and she would serve it with dal and a flavoursome meat dish like Rogan Josh.

I made only a few small changes. I used the chopped coriander to garnish the dish, rather than simmer it with the vegetables so as to retain its bright green colour and fresh flavour. And after the recommended 5 minutes of cooking with a lid it was too soupy so I cooked it for a few more minutes ( lidless). I didn't have any sour cream so I thickened it with a little cornflour. 



Mushroom and Pea Curry

Ingredients

4 tb of olive or groundnut oil  ( I used olive)
1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of finely chopped garlic
350 gm of mushrooms , cut lengthwise into quarters.
2 teaspoons of very finely chopped grated fresh ginger
2-3 hot green chillies , deseeded and finely chopped
1 teaspoon of freshly toasted ground coriander
1 teaspoon of garam masala
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1/2-1 teaspoon of salt
150 gm of peas
2 tbsp of finely chopped fresh coriander
300 ml of water
2 tablspoons of sour cream

Method:

Put the oil in a large oreferably non stick fry pan
When hot put in the cumin seeds and let them sizzle for 10 seconds
Add the garlic, stir once and then add the mushrooms, ginger and chillies
Cook stirring until the mushrooms are silken
Put in the ground coriander and garam masala and stir for about 30 seconds
Then add the tomato puree, salt, peas, fresh coriander and water
Stir well and bring to the boil
Cover, turn the heat to low and simmer gently for 5 minutes
Stir in the sour cream and cook gently for another minute, then serve.

I cooked this recipe for the I Heart Madjur Jaffrey Cooking Club weekly challenge. This week the theme was Potluck.

Have a look at what the other participants have cooked up and enjoy their recipes at

http://iheartcookingclubs.blogspot.co.nz/

 

Waiheke Island: Sculpture on the Gulf

We packed up a picnic lunch today and headed across the harbour on the Waiheke Ferry  to see Headland: Sculpture on the Gulf .
It was a 2.5 km coastal walk in brilliant sunshine with sculptures by well known New Zealanders strategically placed along the way. The sculptures said a lot about who we are as New Zealanders, some taking a dig at us in a humorous way.
Headland: Sculpture on the Gulf has made it onto the New York Times  list of "Top 50 Places to go in 2013." which is a huge honour for an event ( which is now in its tenth year)  in which there has been a great deal of input by the local community.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Quinoa: Should we eat it?

 

We were hiking  in Peru last year when our guide stopped and pointed to a field of golden flowering quinoa plants on long stalks.It was a special experience seeing this ancient grain, one of the world's most nutritious plants.He told us that Quinoa( pronounced as  keen-wa) is very healthy but as it is expensive so they don't eat it very often at his house.

."We like it as well, but it's not cheap at home either, so for us also its an occasional treat." I told him.

I  gave no more thought to our conversation until I read a recent article in the Guardian " Can Vegans Stomach the Unpalatable Truth about Quinoa." by Joanna Blythman. She made the accusation that ethical consumers should be aware that poor Bolivians can no longer afford their staple grain, due to western demand raising prices. She wrote:

"But there is an unpalatable truth to face for those of us with a bag of quinoa in the larder. The appetite of countries such as ours for this grain has pushed up the prices to such an extent that poorer people in Peru and Bolivia, for whom it was once a nourishing staple food, can no longer afford to eat it. Imported junk food is cheaper. In Lima, quinoa now costs more than chicken. Outside the cities, and fuelled by overseas demand, the pressure is on to turn land that once produced a portfolio of diverse crops into quinoa monoculture."

" Global demand means less quinoa is being eaten in Bolivia and Peru, the countries of origin, as the price has tripled. There are concerns this could cause malnutrition as producers, who have long relied on the superfood to supplement their meagre diets, would rather sell their entire crop than eat it. The rocketing international price is also creating land disputes."

Her comments sent shockwaves across the Internet and sparked many a conversations on Twitter and Facebook.
 

I think that she not only pointed the finger unfairly at vegans (as many non vegans like me also enjoy quinoa) but also misrepresented the situation.

The high prices may well have lifted quite a few families above the poverty line. And if Westen consumers stopped buying quinoa there could be an adverse effect on the standard of living of quinoa farming families.

Some have also commented that many quinoa farmers are now able to afford a different kind of diet and are now choosing a more Western and less nutritious diet : rice, noodles, candies and coke.

And although the price of quinoa is high the growing middle classes are still consuming  sizeable quantities of quinoa -based products such as pizza crusts, hamburgers and breakfast cereals.

But as the price has tripled in recent years Quinoa has become unaffordable for many people. However I don't think that the answer is  for us to stop eating it or to eat less of it. I'm not an expert in economics but it would seem that a more positive solution would be for their governments to both encourage exports but also to put systems in place to sell quinoa at a lower and more affordable price locally.

I don't plan to stop eating quinoa occasionally but I would very much like to find a brand which is Fair Trade so that I could be sure that the farmer who grew it gets a fair return for their labour.

This whole debate has made me think again how we are all part of a global village. Although  the chronic malnutrition which is stil prevalent in poorer Andean Countries may not be attributable to us eating quinoa we should  care about where the food on our plates come from, who produced it and whether exporting it overseas is affecting their livelihood.

Below is the original guardian article that has sparked a great deal of discussion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa
and since I wrote this a really good feature appeared in the Guardian, well worth reading
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/25/quinoa-good-evil-complicated


 

Rhubarb Orange and Ginger Soup

In the sixties chilled fruit soups were fashionable at dinner parties but soon they went out of vogue again. This afternoon I picked some rhubarb from the garden and decided to revive the idea and create a rhubarb soup. It made a very refreshing starter before we had our barbecued steak, corn,green salad and baked potatoes. But any leftover soup is equally good for dessert. For this you can whizz some strawberries into it leaving them slightly chunky to add some texture

It is usually a good idea to remove the stringy bits from the rhubarb with a potato peeler but  because it was fresh out of the garden I didn't bother and once whizzed in the food processor it was quite smooth.

Ingredients:

1 orange
500 grams of rhubarb ( chopped)
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of grated ginger ( or more to taste)
2 cups of water
Greek yoghurt
Mint to garnish

Method

Using a fine grater remove the rind from the orange
Juice the orange
Bring the zest of the orange, the orange juice , the chopped rhubarb, the brown sugar and the water to the boil. Then cook for about 10-15 minuts until the rhubarb starts to fall apart.
Let cool slightly before whizzing until smooth in a food processor/blender.
Put into a bowl and put it into the fridge until it is chilled.
Serve in bowls with a dollop of thick Greek Yoghurt on top and garnish with chopped mint.


 

Pacific Showcase : Foodie Treats

There is a lot more on offer than food at the Pacific Showcase which is on in Auckland's Cloud for the next few weekends: like art, fashion, cosmetics and dance. I enjoyed these as much as the food, but as this is a food blog I'll focus  on the food you can eat or buy there in this post.

 

As I walked into the Cloud I was handed  a packet of Banana Ripple Cut Chips  with a True Pacific Sticker on the front. This label is the one to look for; It shows that a business has been awarded the True Pacific quality mark (a stylised flower symbolising cooperation and unity) for producing  ‘quality Pacific products’ of ‘genuine Pacific origin’.”

 

The Pacific is right on our doorstep and to be good neighbours I'd like to think kiwis will support these businesses (often village based) and help them to grow. The range of food and drink products is still quite small  but it's expanding and already includes coffee, coco, noni juice, wraps, naan, coconut oil, chutneys,pickles and honey. Heilala Vanilla is the culinary star with an international reputation. Others like Hot Samoan Boy's Chili Sauce are growing in popularity not just in New Zealand but Australia.

 

After checking out what is being produced, and buying some to try at home, I headed for some of the food stalls to sample fresh pineapple, mozarella "sushi", a gourmet icecream, and a muffin and coffee from the cafe. 

 

I thought I might steal their idea of using my banana chips to decorate some muffins, so easy,  they just poked a couple into the icing. Unfortunately I had munched my way through the whole packet before I left the show, I'll have to go back for more before I start baking.

 

Heilala vanilla has created a baking club which features some great recipes

http://www.heilalavanilla.co.nz/baking_club. And in previous posts I've used Hot Samoan Boys Chilli Sauce as an ingredient. A really useful sauce to have on hand especially if you can't lay your hands on fresh chillies and want to add some heat.

 

I took home a packet of Savante cumin and coriander wraps. We enjoyed them just brushed lightly with avocado olivani and crisped in the oven for a few minutes till they were toasty and lightly browned. Good with a cucumber and mint dip. Next I'm going to use them to make the Tandoori Chicken kebab recipe which is in their leaflet.

 

The Pacific Showcase runs for a few more weekends . I enjoyed  seeing what was on offer and talking to the producers who are full of enthusiasm. Here are a few of my pics. To find out more go to:

 

http://www.pacificshowcase.co.nz/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pacific Showcase: A Feast of Food, Art and Music

Here are a few of the pics I took on Saturday morning at the Pacific Showcase at the Cloud in Auckland. It was a lot of fun talking, looking, tasting and buying. It's a friendly relaxed atmosphere. The gorgeous black and white screenprinted Nautilus Surf Yaya Tote went home with me to carry the other goodies I bought to share with my family. Go if you can! .

 

http://www.pacificshowcase.co.nz/