For years now I’ve been watching cooking shows, the last four years of which has been shared with Ross my boyfriend who is a Chef. We watch everything from Rick Stein to Barefoot Contessa to Hell’s Kitchen. Some of these shows, such as Barefoot Contessa or Nigella are almost unbearable to watch, and result in a quick flick of the channel for relief. I struggle watching a ridiculously posh English woman slap together ‘lovely‘ meals, who one day just decided she wanted to be a television Chef. More than likely achieved with a fat cheque from her husband, never having to work her way up as real Chefs do.

Which leads nicely into to what I want to discuss in this post, only in regards to reality cooking shows, where amateurs compete in cooking competitions to become a ‘Master Chef’.  For the past six months I’ve been living in New Zealand, so we’ve been following the 2011 New Zealand Master Chef, which just came to a close on Sunday night. The winner of Master Chef New Zealand becomes a representative of Countdown (one of the show’s sponsors, as well as one of the largest grocery store chains in NZ). The Master Chef then plays the role of a ‘Chef’ in television adverts in the style of cooking demos using Countdown products, they also get a cook book deal. Master Chef did not originate in NZ, but in the UK, where the winners usually go on to have their own restaurants, quite the prize!

Where I’m going with this, is in response to something Ross said to me the other night while watching one of the final episodes. He said that he feels, as a Chef, that these types of shows devalue being a professional Chef.

There is no denying that there has been a HUGE increase in cooking shows on television in the past few years, especially  reality styled ones. I’ve often thought about the fact that there is NO way that a contestant could leave Master Chef and be prepared to work in a real live kitchen. It takes Chefs years of experience and sometimes formal studies to reach a certain level to be able to handle the pressures of a kitchen. Do these contestants not realise this? I know they LOVE food, and can be quite good cooks, but to actually claim they have the skills to be called a ‘Chef’, that is quite unbelievable. Despite enjoying these shows for their entertainment value, I now can’t help but feel a little disappointed with the professional Chefs working as judges on these programs, devaluing their profession that they undoubtedly worked so hard to achieve.

Maybe they should try ‘Master Surgeon’ or ‘Master Builder’ as the next big hit?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Caitlin

It is a rainy day, and because my time outside will be limited, and too much time inside can get incredibly boring, I’ve decided to spend my time baking. Seeing as Easter is approaching, and for some reason Ross asked me to make hot cross buns, I figured I would give it a go. For the most part, I have to be honest here, I have never really liked hot cross buns. I think it’s because of my hate for raisins. I’m not sure why I can’t learn to like them, but for as long as I can remember I have picked them out of any baked good that has been ruined by containing them. Luckily, the definition of Hot Cross Bun that I’m going with states that raisins aren’t included in an authentic recipe, but currants are – great!

Overall I was pleased with the results, but I did over bake them slightly, the oven was too hot, and as a result they were quite dry and not nice and soft. However, being dry isn’t so bad when they taste so good toasted with butter, overall a good effort, I’ll be sure to give them a go next year.

The recipe I used did ask for raisins as well as currants, which as you know I ignored and went for 100% currants, and instead of going to the trouble of making pastry crosses for each bun, I used a flour and water mixture, which I put into a plastic bag and squirted over the buns. There are lots of different methods for making the crosses, it all comes down to what you prefer.

Baking is something I love to do, but feel that I never quite get it right, but alas, I must keep trying!

Hope you had a good Easter!

Caitlin

Once back home from my run, we checked the tide schedule for that day, and were pleased to see that we had until 3:45pm before the tide would come in, giving us more than enough time to get to Marahau and dig up some clams. Immediately, I started day dreaming about what dish we could cook up with our clams, and the one dish that came to mind was – spaghetti vongole -one of my all time favourite dishes!

As you can see from the photos our dig was incredibly successful. There were thousands of clams for us to help ourselves to, which we did. There is so much pleasure in gathering things from nature, that are so delicious, and free! We headed home with our bucket of clams kept in salt water, which we saved until Sunday night, giving them time to filter out the sand.

Spaghetti alle Vongole literally means spaghetti with clams, which is a fantastically simple dish originating from Naples Italy. Recipes for this dish vary, it really does come down to personal preference, there are only 2 essential ingredients Live Clams & Pasta.  There is some debate whether tomatoes should be included in the dish or not, but as I mentioned before it really does come down to what you prefer, and of course what you have kicking around your kitchen.

This was truly the best spaghetti vongole i have ever eaten, which I think comes down to the freshness of the clams, they were absolutely amazing. Seeing as I am currently doing the harvest at Neudorf Vineyards, we thought it would be a good opportunity to crack open a bottle of their 2008 Nelson Chardonnay.  I wouldn’t normally match an oaked Chardonnay with a dish that has fresh chili going through it, however it did work quite well together. Neudorf make exceptional wines overall, and despite the wine being oaked, it is well integrated, and not too overpowering, which lets the wines incredible mineral flavours come through, which worked very well with the saltiness of the clams. Overall it was a successful match, and such an amazing dinner!

Ross’ Sunday Night Spaghetti Alle Vongole

Good quality dried Spaghetti - however much you are prepared to eat

Put a large pot of water on to boil for your pasta, be sure to salt the water. You want your pasta to be finished before your clams (which take not time at all).

Live fresh clams – however many you are prepared to eat, in our case we had an abundance so Ross used loads of them.

- Into a hot pan add a glug of white wine & a glug of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic diced

2 medium onions (use shallots if you have them) finely chopped

- Sweat the garlic and the onions in the olive oil & white wine

- Add the clams, and cover the pan with a lid to steam them, once they have opened they are done cooking.

-Take off the heat and to the cooked clams add the following:

Fresh Chopped parsley – a generous handful

2 Diced fresh chillies

2 medium chopped fresh tomatoes

1 tsp.Chili Sauce

Fresh chopped basil – a generous handful

Salt & Pepper

Cooked spaghetti

Toss all together.

Finish the dish with fresh squeezed lemon juice and olive oil

Enjoy!

*When digging for your own clams you have to be careful because shellfish can be contaminated due to local pollution, which can make you sick, so be sure to ask the locals before eating any.

I went for a good walk today, and had some time to enjoy the new addition to my life – The Ocean.

I am always so taken by the Ocean, I could sit there for hours and just take it all in. I was thinking today that what makes The Ocean so incredible, is the way it touches so many senses at once – Watching the mesmerizing waves, while taking in it’s impressive vastness. The smell of the ocean air, which brings you back to delicious memories of slurping oysters. But possibly I think above all the thing that makes sitting by the Ocean such an enjoyable experience is the roaring, yet soothing sound of the waves. I remember once a friend told me that their Mom had said that if she had to choose between losing her sight or her hearing she would choose her sight, because then she could still hear the Ocean. I can understand that choice.

I’m glad to have the Ocean in my life, and look forward to spending more time beside it in 2011.

Happy New Year Everyone!

x Caitlin

Ross has told me about pāua many times, which is the Maori name for these strange looking sea snails, also know as abalone in Spain, mutton fish in Australia or Venus’ ear in South Africa (according to Wikipedia). I have also seen them on cooking shows about Japan, where they are served raw and sliced very thinly, or slow cooked for hours. I’ve done a bit of research on these strange creatures, and according to the Harold McGee in his brilliant food encyclopedia ‘On Food and Cooking‘, he explains that:

“Abalone/Paua meat can be quite tough, in part because they apparently accumulate connective-tissue collagen as an energy reserve! Either very gentle or prolonged heating is essential; the meat toughens badly when it exceeds 120 degrees ferenheit/50 degress celsius, and the collagen shrinks and compacts the tissue. Once this happens, continued simmering will eventually dissolve the collagen into gelatin and make the meat densely silken”.

I am intrigued by these strange creatures, and have been lucky enough to enjoy them twice already during my time in New Zealand. Both times we’ve had ‘Paua Patties’ (a secret Goodall family recipe), which involves grinding the paua up, mixing them with bread crumbs, and herbs. They were then fried in a pan and served in a bun, just like a burger.  I can’t really explain the flavour, it is quite subtle, and I believe that their delicacy status is due to their texture. Our ‘Paua Patties’ were quite chewy, but in a good way. I look forward to trying them raw, or even slow cooked when they take on a more silken form. Another interesting thing about Paua is despite their rather ugly out of shell appearance, the inner shell they leave behind is decorated with brilliantly coloured mother-of-pearl, which are commonly used as souvenir ashtrays or to make jewelry.

By law, Kiwis are limited to the amount of paua they can catch each day, this is a sign on the beach reminding people about the laws.

Paua Shell I found on the Beach this afternoon.

Paua on the cutting board

Grinding the pāua

Pāua Patty

Inside the pāua patty, as you can see it has a blue colour, which reminds me of squid ink.

I have posted some photos below of the food we were serving throughout our time there, which you will see moves with the seasons, and was so incredibly fresh.

Cherry & Almont Tart - May

Tartare de Veau - May (and throughout the season)

Suckling Goat with potatoes & black olives - May

Roast Duckling - throughout the season

Cep – June

Making Elderflower Cordial - July

Vacherin Glace, Summer fruits - July

Girolles - July

Charcuterie de la maison - Cured by Harry last winter, served throughout the season

Poached Chicken - July

Panzanella Salad - August (my Birthday dinner)

Wild Blackberries - September

Wood Sorrel - which covers the local forest floors

Piedmontese Peppers - September

Tart Tatin - September/October

Beignet des Champignons (Cauliflower mushrooms) - September/October

Raw Cepes - October the second time around

Pan Fried Cepes - October

The Auberge acts as a mushroom depot, where local people bring their mushroom harvests – which we check for quality, weigh & buy based on the current rate for each type of mushroom, we then sell them onto an even bigger mushroom depot. Currently, the main mushroom that is in season are cepes (they also had a short season when we first arrived here in the spring), this time of year is when hundreds of kilos of them should be rolling through the door each day. This season hasn’t been as plentiful as some in the past. However, we did have one day this week when cars were constantly pulling up with trunks full of mushrooms, it was quite exciting!

Seeing as our chances seemed higher at finding some ceps that day we decided to head out for a few hours, just to see what we could find. On the way down the road, a neighbour tipped us off that ceps like the same growing conditions as the inedible big spotted red mushrooms (they look like something straight out of the Smurfs!). We headed off with the advice, and finally had some luck! We ate one fore dinner that night, and it was delicious, as fresh as you could ever get them!

Just before we hit the cep jackpot - such a beautiful autumn afternoon!

A little cep hiding in the forest

This is the beautiful cep blanc that we ate for dinner, which as you can see is growing alongside the 'smurf mushrooms' as our neighbour suggested

She's a beaut! The highest quality 'cep blanc'

This is he largest one we found, see how well they blend in.

This is the largest one we found, and as you can see the underside is yellow, which means it is a 'cep jaune' which fetches only 2 euros per kilo, opposed to the 7 euros the cepes blancs are worth. Cepes jaunes are good for frying or drying.

Our yields, not a lot, but not bad for only 1.5 hours of uneducated hunting!

Ross cooking up our cepes

Cepes on a plate

Ross’ Pan-fried Cepes -

For the best flavour use ‘Cepes blancs’

Slice the cepes into 1/2 centimetre thick slices

Fry the cepes in olive oil (3 Tablespoons) over medium heat, until they are lightly coloured and when they just begin to soften.

Then add a knob of butter

Season with Salt & Pepper

Add Gremolata (Parsley, garlic & lemon zest) toss it through.

Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice

The locals eating Ragu

Semonlina gnocchi, courgette, tomato & speck

Tagliatelle Ragu

Spinach Ravioli

Spinach ravioli

Me eating Spaghetti & Tomato Sauce

Tomato, mozzarella & tuna salad

Proscuitto di Parma, Melon

Caprese Salad

This summer has been quite exceptional for me, especially when it comes to food. I have been serving some of the freshest, and most delicious food I’ve ever come across, and I believe that this standard of quality food can easily be achieved at any restaurant in France, only because the country’s produce is so outstanding. Unfortunately, most of our attempts at eating in rural France have been a disappointment. The chefs seem to fuss with the ingredients too much, offering awkward, and what seem to be ‘out of date’ dishes. Randomly pulling up for lunch at a restaurant in France seems to be a bit like Russian roulette, where you might get something quite nice, or alternatively one of the worst meals of your life! It is sad for this to be the case in one of the world’s top gastronomic countries.

As a result, I have a fear of randomly choosing restaurants, there needs to be extensive internet research (chowhound), or alternatively a fellow foodie’s recommendation. I have had much better luck with this in Spain than in France, and had been told that the general quality of food in restaurants in Italy is quite high, making random stops a much less scary experience.

So, on a recent trip to Tuscany for a friend’s wedding I was excited to get back to Italy (I’d only been to Milan for a weekend years ago), we planned to pack in as much eating as possible. We rented a car and drove from Chassignolles, going via Northern Italy, where we would break up the 11 hour journey with a night in Piedmont. Piedmont is the Slow Food capital, and food in the region is of a high quality, but seeing as this post is about random eating, I’ll leave Verduno for another time.

On our second day of driving, we got off to quite a late start, and only a few hours into our drive we started to get hungry. My job as navigator was to find a town that would be close to the autostrada (easily accessible), while also being big enough that they would have a shopping centre where we could pick up some beer/Prosecco for our next few days celebrating in the Tuscan countryside. I chose Reggio Emilia, the home of Parmesan cheese. We easily found the town centre, but of course it is hard to choose a place to eat from the car window.  Passing pizza place, after pizza place, we finally spotted the word Trattoria, and pulled into the parking lot, where it was decided that we will eat there no matter what. We were meant to be in Tuscany in a few hours time, there was no going back.

We grabbed a table for three, and were instantly happy with our choice. The restaurant was full of locals, the kitchen was doorless, immaculate, and staffed by older men & women (always a good sign!).  The food being eaten at the tables around us looked promising. So we ordered, I went for the 14 euro fixed lunch menu, which included a primo, seccondi, wine & coffee. Good value to say the least.

I went for spaghetti with tomato sauce, which was perfectly simple, homemade & fresh. All of our pasta dishes had these things in common. It was agreed that Marty’s taglitelle ragu was the best, the homemade tagliatelle, and deeply flavoured sauce were just perfect. We noticed a man next to us eating ravioli, which look exceptional, so we ordered one to share. We were not disappointed, it was the best ravioli of my life! What made them so exceptional was their simplicity. No sauce was needed just the texture of the homemade pasta (perfectly cooked of course), spinach filling & Parmesan cheese. We were all extremely happy with our lunch, and so impressed that this was just a random find for us.

As you can see in the photographs of the meal, these are all familiar dishes, who hasn’t had a bowl of spaghetti or a Caprese salad? The difference here was that they let the quality of the produce shine through, they kept it simple. More and more I am starting to realise that this is how food should be. All of our meals in Italy that week were like this, they really know how to pare it down, letting you enjoy the simplicity of the dish.

Antica Trattoria del Tondo

Via F.lli Manfredi, 49  – 42100 Reggio Emilia

Tel 0522921782

Word on the street was that the wild blueberries were in, but for some reason, I just couldn’t see them. Apparently, they were everywhere, but for the life of me I just couldn’t find them! Finally, on a run last week, after a friend explaining what their leaves looked like (tiny & bright green) they appeared in abundance! Once I knew what I was looking for patches of wild blueberries seemed to be everywhere! With a large patch staked out, I was keen to get back out there amongst them, and bring some home. So, I recruited my colleague Amy to help, and borrowed the apparently illegal ‘blueberry brushes’ from a local old lady, and we were off. Because the berries are so tiny (nothing like the blueberries you come across in he supermarket), after two hours of picking we only ended up with four punnets!

It’s a great moment in life when you open your eyes to a something new. I really appreciate that nature has provided us with these little gems, and all for free, you just need to know what you’re looking for!

You may not be able to see them, but I can!

There they are, wild blueberries

'Blueberry brush'

Amy with our four punnets