Monday, January 31, 2011

Tart, Sumner, Christchurch

It is a given that when one has free time on holiday and the opportunity to catch up with friends over lunch presents itself, one will sieze it! Even better when the friend is also a discerning foodie and can make great cafe recommendations.


The cafe of choice for a lazy lunch in the sun was Tart, located in Sumner with plenty of outdoor seating for lapping up the rays (not that lapping up the rays is something I should ever do, with my very fair skin - as evidenced by sunburnt arms that are still a bit red, a month after the fact) (and I am appalled that it has taken me a whole month to write about it, but then I would hardly be able to shock you with my still-red arms otherwise, would I?).

There's a tree in the patio area pointing to Taylors Mistake, New Brighton, and the cafe - this sign curiously labelled "nothingsallowedexceptonfeet," perhaps to deter the ever-present cyclists from bringing their bikes in?


The cabinet is full of salads, sandwiches, slices and other tasty looking treats, and the menu also has appeal, and I'm tempted by the pancakes but after a pleasantly exhausting gym class the pies in the cabinet win me over - perhaps I should stay virtuous and have a salad, but that's just not how I roll. ;-)


My friend had the amazing-looking vegetable roll - like a sausage roll (and they do also have sausage rolls), but filled with a mixture of beans and other vegetables to make a savoury filling. It was wolfed down and the tangy relish served alongside made a great accompaniment - I think this is a great vegetarian dish, hearty and indulgent. My pie was also great - with a well spiced lamb filling and very buttery pastry, it definitely hit the spot.

We got caught up chatting and before we knew it I was beginning to get a bit too pink and we decided we'd best depart - but it's a lovely location for a drawn-out lunch in the sun, with a wide array of cafe treats (not too well represented by us!) and I will look for another opportunity to pay it a visit - though perhaps with sunscreen next time! I find I will get burnt once per summer - and then I remember how easily I burn, and how painful it is. Are you good at remembering to slather on the SPF35+, or are you like me and just a teeny bit forgetful?




Tart is located at 25 Marriner Street, Sumner, Christchurch, ph 03 326 711

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Q&A with Mrs Cake

Back in December I wrote some answers to questions asked by people who'd visited me via search engines - thanks to the magic of Google Analytics, which tells me how people found my site.

I thought it might be time to do a few more of these - firstly, though, a special mention to people who must think I have higher powers than I do.

To whoever found me by searching "weather for christmas day 2010" I'm sorry, but I'm definitely not a meteorologist - though I could have given you the forecast for our Christmas Day dinner as far back as about September, if that counts for anything! ;-)

And to the person looking for "culinary escapes Italy 2011 nz" I'm also unable to help - but feel free to take me along for the ride when you figure it out, it does sound like something I would enjoy...

Can you make buttercream icing the day before you need it?
Yes you can - but you will have to beat it again to get it back to spreading/piping consistency. I prefer to make it when I need it for this reason (beating again means extra dirty dishes!) but it's perfectly viable to cover it and pop it in the fridge overnight, or even for a couple of days - just pull it out 30 minutes before beating it, beat it, and use as normal.

Can you cook two pavlovas in the same oven on fanbake?
This is a tricky one - it will depend on your oven and probably the only way to find out is by testing. In most cases this should be possible, though ovens do tend to be different temperatures in different places so they may cook at different speeds. Because I don't mind too much if my pavs crack a bit (I tend to pile cream and fruit on top so you can't tell anyway) if I was doing this I would swap their position midway through - but this will make them likely to crack. 

How many cupcakes does a 20cm cake make? 
This is going to vary depending on how tall a cake the batter is designed to make - they can vary quite a lot - and how big you make your cupcakes. Based on my experience I would guess about 18 cupcakes from batter for a 20cm cake - I usually get about 24 from my lemon yoghurt cake recipe, which makes a 23cm cake.

Can you use Special K instead of cornflakes in afghans? 
Absolutely - you can use any flakey cereal. If you use a sweetened one it will add sweetness, obviously, but I'm sure in some cases that wouldn't be a bad thing (I'm thinking Crunchy Nut, which I consider more candy than breakfast, would be delicious). Special K or even bran flakes would probably taste just the same as cornflakes.

Can I use lemon honey to make a pie?
Lemon honey, or lemon curd, is what is used in lemon meringue pie - but the stuff used in the pie is usually thickened with cornflour. You are best to make a pie-specific curd if that's what you want it for - I love the one in the Edmonds cookbook, and use that for my lemon meringue pie - but if you already have the curd and want to thicken it you can try very slowly bringing it to a gentle simmer in a saucepan and stirring through a small amount of cornflour. Another option might be to fold the curd through whipped cream or marscapone to get a thicker, creamier filling.

If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments, on my Facebook page, or by emailing mrscake.nz@gmail.com. :-)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Strawberry Sour Cream Ice-cream

As if I haven't made enough ice-cream lately, here's another one! I blame our slightly too-hot apartment and my impossible daily hankering for dessert. And also that black pepper ice-cream I made, which I though would go fabulously with something light and fruity.


This is a really easy ice-cream, and though you need a bit of planning ahead you can (and in fact are best to) start within a few hours of serving - none of this "chill overnight before churning" rubbish. ;-)

Fresh strawberries are best but since I've rather inconveniently waited until strawberry season is all but done for the year frozen might be a more affordable and accessible option (and are what I used). If you're using frozen ones you'll want to allow a little more time for them to defrost so they can macerate properly - maybe an extra half hour on the bench. Macerating brings out the maximum amount of flavour - and you don't have to use alcohol: just leave it out if you prefer.


When the strawberries have thunk for a while you want to combine with all the other ingredients and blend them till they're mostly smooth - leave a few chunky bits as it's quite nice to get a bit of strawberry in your ice-cream - and then chill for an hour. I pulped the strawberry before adding the other stuff - it doesn't make a difference, except if you do it the "right" way you won't have to do any extra stirring to combine the strawberries with the creamy stuff.


After the requisite hour in the fridge pop it in the ice-cream maker, then when churned give it another 30-60 minutes in the freezer to firm up before serving yourself a lovely big bowl of it. ;-) I found this a delicious summery treat, and love the tang of the sour cream. It went wonderfully with the black pepper ice-cream (although caramelised pineapple takes the award for #1 black pepper ice-cream accompaniment, so thanks to those of you who suggested pineapple-y things to go with it!) and also happens to be delicious on its own - as evidenced by the now-empty ice-cream container. ;-)


Strawberry Sour Cream Ice-cream (from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz)
Ingredients
450g strawberries, fresh or defrosted from frozen
3/4 cup / 150g sugar
1 Tbsp vodka or kirsch
1 cup (240g) sour cream
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Slice the strawberries and toss them in a bowl with the sugar and vodka or kirsch, stirring until the sugar begins to dissolve. Cover and let stand at room temperature for an hour, stirring occasionally.

Pulse the strawberries, their liquid, the sour cream, cream and lemon juice in a blender or food processor or mash until almost smooth but still slightly chunky.

Chill in the fridge for an hour, then freeze in your ice-cream maker according to the instructions. Freeze until firm - about an hour. Best served the day it's churned (though it's definitely still good later!).

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Scopa, Wellington and a prizewinner!

Last Thursday we had dinner with some friends who were up from Christchurch for the weekend.We spent quite a while trying to decide on a fitting spot for dinner, as between us we had a Coeliac, a vegetarian and someone with a pepper allergy. None of these things are exceptionally hard to work around on their own, but working them all in together plus getting somewhere handy to our place (as I was dashing there a bit late) and not too pricey for the studentfolk was a bit of a challenge. The real problem with eating out with food allergies is that it can be hard to know how a given restaurant handles them until you've tried it out - and if you have a bad allergy you don't really want to find out that way! Anyway, restaurants are definitely getting better at accommodating special requirements, and Scopa did a fine job.


Scopa is pretty renowned among Wellingtonians, I'm led to believe, and they tick the Italian pizza/pasta box. Somewhat amusingly (I've never done this before!) I managed to come away with photos of other people's food but not my own - oops! Anyway, we had some calamari fritte, which were the only appetiser for the table so the waitress asked about timing and we had everything arrive together - it's the little things that make the difference! The calamari were lovely, nicely peppered batter and juicy calamari inside - and yummy tartare sauce. My main was the intriguing sounding beef cheek ravioli, which was full-flavoured, though a little too rich for me - it would have been perfect as a starter or with something else, though. Mr Cake chose the Gamberetti pizza, which featured prawns under the mountain of rocket. He really loved this - the prawns were succulent and the rocket made it less like a plate full of bread and more like a balanced meal, maybe. ;-) Baby Sister Cake, who happened to be visiting us, had the Salsiccia, with Italian sausage, capsicum and red onion, and assured me it was very tasty - it certainly looked and smelled good.


Having caught a glimpse of the dessert menu it was a compulsory course. Mr Cake chose the tiramisu, which was lovely and creamy and not too strongly coffee flavoured. My pick was the almond olive oil cake, which I found pleasant but a little on the dry side. The poached grapes and marscapone were lovely accompaniments, but I wouldn't have this again. Baby Sister Cake chose the affogato, with hot chocolate instead of espresso, and I was a bit jealous I have to say - the chocolate was sooo thick. Yum!


Aside from having great service, and doing a great job of accommodating the dietary requirements of our group (the vegetarian commented it was difficult to choose, as there were quite a few options for him where there are often only one or two) Scopa has another great feature; you can watch the pizzas being made. The pizza prep area is basically in the middle of the restaurant, behind the counter, so you can watch the dough being spun and stretched and see them flinging ingredients on in a seemingly random fashion but turning out great-looking pizzas.

Anyway, I bet you're dying to know who won my chocolate competition! Firstly, thanks so much to everyone who did the survey - there were so many lovely comments and also some great ideas that I can hopefully build into upcoming posts. There were exactly 50 entrants, so I told random.org to give me a number between 1 and 50:


And then checked against the list of email addresses to see who was number 21:


To protect Debbie from you lot begging her for chocolate I've obscured the rest of her email address, but if your name is Debbie and you entered the competition I may be sending you a congratulatory email shortly. ;-) And thanks again to everyone for sharing your opinions!



Scopa is located on the corner of Cuba Street and Ghuznee Street, Wellington, ph 04 384 6020, www.scopa.co.nz

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Last chance to win chocolate!

Just a quick reminder that you only have until 8pm tomorrow (Wednesday) to complete my survey and go in the draw to win some scrummy Chocolate Brown chocolate. All the details are here, or skip straight to the survey if you're ready to tell me what you think. Just make sure to put your email address in on the last page to get your competition entry!

Start survey

Monday, January 24, 2011

Coconut Macaroons

I'd like to clear something up - it's something that bothers me far more than it should but thought I'd make sure all of you understand the distinction, even though it's probably a futile battle since the distinction seems to be becoming increasingly muddy.

It's a little niggle, really - the matter of a single letter. It's only become an issue in the last couple of years, with a bit of a foodie trend sweeping through the baking world. The issue is the differentiation between macarons and macaroons - see, very similar in name. They are also similar in that both are types of cookie, small dainty morsels, and both use egg whites and are generally gluten free. But then a line must be drawn. The macaron (shown on the left below) is the trendy one - you know, the cute, multicoloured confections, baked as two shells and filled with buttercream or ganache.


The macaroon (on the right) is the classic coconut confection, the less refined but still delicious and much simpler to make. If you want to split hairs the name was derived from the same word and might as well be the same, but the convention has predominently been to use the French spelling (macaron) for the prior version, to differentiate. Lately, though, I've noticed a couple of uses of the double o version for the pretty variety, which is my niggle - it's confusing! So I thought I'd straighten things out by making some macaroons. ;-)


It's a simple recipe - four ingredients, and if you consider coconut a pantry staple (I do) you'll probably have them all on hand. 


It's definitely a kid-friendly recipe - as well as the simple ingredient list, the method is very straightforward. Separating eggs is the most difficult part by far. And as an added bonus you get to squelch your hands around in the mixture to make the cookies, and we all know that kids (and big kids!) like an excuse to nibble on unbaked cookie. ;-)



 I've most often seen these as little mounds, often with a pointed top. I made one tray like that, and one where I rolled the mixture into balls.


The balls were more compacted and I preferred their texture, and also like that they're a bit neater, but that's just my inner OCD coming out.


If you like you can dip them in chocolate once they're done - I dipped some of mine, though I quite like them unadorned too, so chewy and dense.

I have also made flat versions in the base of muffin tins, to act as a serving device (sort of like a little cup) for coconut ice-cream for a dinner party - you can play around with these to suit your purpose.

Tell me, do you ever get irritated by silly little things like my macaron/macaroon issue? 

Macaroons
Ingredients
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups coconut
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla essence 

Preheat oven to 180 C and line a baking tray with baking paper. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until you can form a ball in your hand. Place balls or mounds of the mixture on the baking paper and bake for 14-17 minutes, or until golden brown. Dip in chocolate once cool if desired. Makes about 15.


Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Meandering Vineyard Lunch

Yesterday Mr Cake and I took a day trip with Mr Cake's parents to Martinborough for an excellent annual event called The Meandering Vineyard Lunch. We invited them up last year and they enjoyed it so much they gave us tickets so we could all go again this year. What a great gift!


The lunch comprises visits to four vineyards around Martinborough, with wine tastings, an entree-sized meal and entertainment at each. Everyone meets in the Martinborough Square for a 10.30am departure, and we are handed a glass of bubbly and mingle for a little while before picking a bus to hop on. There are four buses and each starts at a different vineyard, so that our huge crowd isn't too unmanageable - 45 per bus.


We found ourselves a bus (we checked which vineyard it was visiting first, to make sure we'd get a different sequence of vineyards from last year, to spice things up a bit), and settled in for the ride.


Our first stop was Croft, where we were given wine glasses immediately after we hopped off the bus, and while we mingled Croft staff circulated, filling these up. May Croft welcomes us, and she and husband Peter tell us about the wines as we try their sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot gris and pinot noir. The pinot gris was the clear favourite at our table, and when we get to charge our glasses to accompany our meal that's everyone's pick. I must say at this point that I am not a big drinker and though I do try all the wines I may not have finished all of them. ;-)


Our first meal is prawn cocktail, which seems an appropriate starter course. It is quite delicious, with a great variety of flavours and textures. The avocado is beautiful, wonderfully tangy with lemon, and the salad has crisp fennel lending flavour and crunch.


Chef Des Britten came out to talk to us about the food - apparently the mayonnaise is flavoured with a large helping of brandy, and the secret to delicious prawns (and they were delicious) is to brine them first - just soak in salt water with a bit of sugar for a couple of hours before cooking.

It seems like we're not been there for all that long before it's time to hop back on our bus - next stop Julicher.




Julicher was definitely a favourite last year (the 2008 pinot noir was quite something), and are renowned for their generous pouring, as well as having a band with a dance floor, so are a popular last stop. They also have lovely table settings and super cool "chandeliers" made from wine bottles.


The lovely Sue Darling welcomes us warmly and we are invited to try their wines - which are nice, though the pinot noir is not quite so good at the 2008 vintage we so enjoyed last time. And I do like the names they've given to their wine vats:


(Mr Cake, being the true Simpsons fan of the Cake family I think appreciated them more than I, but it is pretty cool to name them. There were also vats named Marge, Bart, Lisa and Moe)


Our meal at Julicher was tuna, served with tapenade (made from Julicher's own olives), and served on a salad of lovely fresh vegetables. This was the let-down dish of the day for me - the tuna was quite dry, with barely a hint of pink. The vegetables were well cooked - very fresh - but as they were chilled and with the tuna the only hot element on the plate it cooled down quickly. The tapenade was nice enough but didn't really seem to suit the dish well - so overall I wasn't a huge fan. The folk at Julicher are great hosts, though, and even though we were only on vineyard number two most of our busload got up and had a dance before being sent on our merry way.


Stop three was Coney, where the irreverent and marvellous Tim Coney was wonderfully entertaining. He reminds me a great deal of John Cleese, in both humour and stature, and manages to impart a great deal of information about the wine without it becoming the least bit boring. Each of the Coney wines has a musical name (Pizzicato Pinot Noir; Ragtime Reisling) and a little poem on the back of the bottle.

Coney is the only one of the four vineyards on our itinerary with its own restaurant - the others set up tables in sheds or marquees, which means each stop is quite unique.


Our meal is the Turkish-inspired Circassian Chicken - a lemony chicken with a breaded crust, served on a pistachio pilaf. Though the chicken was a little dry, I thoroughly enjoyed this meal, along with a glass of Rambin' Rose - the lemon flavour was fresh, the rice was nicely nutty. And as if that wasn't enough:


Our meal was accompanied by a special Coney rendition of "Mamma Mia," with somewhat adapted lyrics, including "my my, have we got botrytis" among others. It really is quite special to be serenaded by the winemakers as you eat and drink!



After another stint on the bus we were delivered to Te Hera, where winemaker John Douglas ushered us into our dining area. Another lively host, and more wonderful wine. I really enjoyed their pinot noir - in fact it was my favourite of the day, although I willingly admit it was getting difficult to really taste the wine by this point - the tastebuds can only take so much!


The food on offer at Te Hera was a game terrine of pork, venison and duck, served with a lentil vinaigrette and pickled cherries. This was a nice dish but by this point I wouldn't have been the only one craving carbs. ;-) There were bread rolls on the table which went down a treat... And as for the terrine, well, it was nicely spiced (a hint of chilli), though I am not the hugest fan of terrine so perhaps didn't appreciate it as well as I might have. I was also a little disappointed at the prevalence of cold food - I understand that it is vastly easier to prepare food for 45 if it can be pre-plated, but I quite like hot stuff so that made me a little sad.


The last vineyard of the day also provides petit fours and tea and coffee - the coffee was very welcome for many of us by then! The petit fours were a meringue with a raspberry, a blueberry, and a little piece of Turkish delight (yummy!); a very dark chocolate ganache truffle (decadent; a good balance for the sweet meringue); and a chewy almond biscuit (delicious, gone in a trice).

This also came with a quiz, with wine-centred questions. This was a good bit of riotous fun (especially as a couple of people were perhaps a little more rowdy and disagreeing than normal ;-) ) and I copped a little bit of mocking from John when I got the second question wrong, thus removing myself from the competition - I had mentioned I write a blog to check it was okay I took photos, and apparently that means I should be more knowledgable about New Zealand's biggest wine export markets. ;-) Ah well, I am a little more knowledgable now!

All in all it was a marvellous day - and at $140 per person for four dishes, transport, entertainment and pretty much as much wine as you can drink it's great value (if this is the sort of thing you're into). Because your group is limited to the number of people who can sit on one bus it's a very friendly thing, and you end up chatting to most of the others on your bus. It's an annual thing so there will be another one next year, I presume, so keep your eyes peeled - I believe it always sells out, so you have to be in quick. Thanks to Mr Cake's parents for the wonderful Christmas pressie!

The four hosting vineyards were: Coney, Croft, Julicher and Te Hera
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