Journey west

Travelling from Dunedin to Karamea, December 2015

Proscuitto with Havoc Farm Pork

I put a good leg of pork away to cure last week so that we can hopefully enjoy some Proscuitto in the New Year of 2016. It takes at least 6 months to hang and dry-cure properly. A good time to start is now (May/Autumn) so I can start the dry-hanging process in my front sunroom while I have cold days and nights that aren't above maximum temperatures of 15C.

Step 1: Salt cure

Ingredients/materials
Really good quality free range pork leg between 7-10 kilograms, aitch bone removed, and 'trimmed so it looks like a fine instrument'.
3kg salt and a good container with a lid

Place some salt in an esky or chilli bin that can be secured tightly with a lid

sit the pork leg on the bed of salt

salt it really well

Salt the pork leg making sure salt gets right around the hip bone as this is the most likely spot for problems to occur later.  Weight it down with something heavy that is clean (I used my pasta roller with a plastic bag). Leave it to sit curing for 3 weeks, turning it over every few days.

Step 2: Preserving and hanging

Ingredients/materials

Muslin cloth

Pork lard

cayenne pepper

black pepper

horopito leaves dried and crushed (native NZ pepper tree)

hanging twine

20 June 2015 

Today I washed the leg in water and dried it with an offcut piece of new muslin. I hung itcto dry for a couple of hours then proceeded to paste on the lard and spices, then wrap in muslin and twine, then hang from the rafters in the front room of the studio. This location is ideal as I am right next to a beautiful rainforest creek, and humidity is important as well as cool airflow. The photos show the steps today.

Now to wait six months! 



~ to be updated

Caramelized Garlic Bread

 

I planted some garlic the other day on Jon and Kristina's property and was so excited about garlic I made some bread for them with about 50 cloves in it.

 

Method

Prepare a Ciabatta dough, or a Foccacia dough.

Peel the cloves and fry in some butter on very low heat for about an hour.

After this, add a pinch of salt and pepper, 2 tbsp. brown sugar, 1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar and stir not to let the sugar burn.

Fold the caramelized cloves into the ciabatta dough. They should be like caramel with a bit of sauce.

 

Shape bread and bake according to the dough recipe.

The Studio at Purakaunui

This is the studio at Jon and Kristina's property in Purakaunui TOm and I moved to for a little while.

back door to the native bush

There is a beautiful rainforest creek next to us with old Rimu, Totara, Fuschia, Horopito...

Local sand flats

The inlet is tidal and has nice track beside it that winds around to the open ocean past little bays

Manuka looking back south towards Mount Mopanui

Purakaunui inlet main channel

Purakaunui inlet meeting the ocean

Bitter chocolate, almond and coconut tart

A really nice rich bitter chocolate tart to have on a special occasion with some double or thick whipped cream.

 

Ingredients and method

 

Mix the following together for the crust, then press into a nice flat bottomed pottery dish (can cook for a drier crust in the oven, otherwise just use raw)

• ½ cup (40g) unsweetened shredded coconut, toasted
• 1 ½ cups (190g) almond meal
• 2 tablespoons (30g) coconut oil, melted
• 2 tablespoons (30g) maple syrup
• ¼ tsp salt

Whisk the following together for the ganache, pour over crust, then refridgerate

• 1 cup (240ml) canned coconut milk, refridgerated, cream scooped out and heated (drink the leftover coconut water)
• 340g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sprinkle on top

• handful toasted coconut flakes
• handful roasted unsalted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
• pinch of sea salt flakes

 

 

Lebanese Easter cookies - maa’moul

My friend Jean-Luc gave me a wonderful sweet pastry last week, made all the way in France by his mother. It is a Lebanese Easter cookie called 'maa’moul'. A lovely delicate pastry with nuts or dates inside.

I found some recipes and while not essential, traditionally a maa’moul mould is used to shape them, which is made out of wood. I am making one with Rimu wood and my dremel. I made some maa'moul on the weekend.


Ingredients

400 grams fine semolina,

200 grams frozen butter,

10 grams refined flour,

1 tsp baking powder,

100 grams icing sugar + extra for dusting,

2 tbsp milk,

1 /2tsp orange rind,

Filling 1:

175 grams of a mixture or walnuts and pistachios,

50 grams sugar,

¼ tsp cinnamon powder

1 tbsp. rose water

Filling 2:

300g  pitted dates (if dry, soak them with some hot water for 30 minutes then drain)
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of cardamom
1 tbsp. rosewater

Method

Mix together the semolina, flour, baking powder and icing sugar in a bowl.

 

Cut the frozen butter into cubes and add it to the dry ingredients and work it in with your fingers till it resembles bread crumbs. Add the milk and orange rind and make a dough. Let it stand covered for about 3-4 hours. This is an important step as it makes the dough workable.

Preheat the oven to 180^oC.

 

Filling 1: Blend the nuts, rosewater, cinnamon powder and sugar 

Filling 2: Blend the dates, rosewater, cardamom and cinnamon

Take two dough balls one small and one big. Take the bigger dough ball and flatten it into a disc and make a slight depression in the centre. Flatten the smaller dough ball into a disc too. Place some filling in the depression of the bigger disc and place the smaller disc on top and seal the edges. Shape into a flat cookie.

If you want to dust the finished cookies with cinnamon sugar (for a sweeter cookie) then make ridges on the cookie using a fork or traditional maamoul wooden mould.

 Bake for 25 minutes at 180^oC

Paua from the Catlins coast

Jacks bay

Tom and I went exploring and got some Paua from Jacks bay down the south coast and cooking them nicely this way.

Ingredients
3 Paua
butter
salt and pepper
juice of 3 lemons
6 cloves garlic chopped finely
1 small onion diced
100ml chardonnay
300ml cream
200ml chicken stock

Method
salt and pepper the Paua
heat butter till browned in a skillet and sear the Paua for 1 minute on both sides
Set aside then slice thinly.
Saute the onion and garlic in a pan with olive oil and then add the other ingredients.
Reduce the sauce while cooking some fettucini
add the Paua back into the cream sauce and mix with the fettucini
garnish with parsley and parmesan