Ever wondered how to eat Yams?

Our tenth food fight, Wow! We started with eggplants in February licked our lips over peach sweets in March, made good use of a bucket load of basil, decided chokos were actually quite special and mastered some homemade pasta in June and we are still enjoying the healthy competition every fortnight.

We have even upgraded our setup, with some fancy pancy lights (a new studio light kit, with standy uppy lights and a free sand bag! very important when your clumsy) and a really expensive lens to add to our shared photography kit, a Canon 100m 2.8m. Thank you to a very helpful Graeme Buckingham from http://www.photowarehouse.co.nz/.

We aren't really sure yet quite what it does,or whether it will make us look better than we actually are! but all the food bloggers who are anyone have one, so that seemed like a good enough reason. So we are amped to experiment and see what we discover. So look out for some experimental food photos coming your way soon. 

I've never ever cooked with Yams, but I fell in love with their colour on a recent trip to the Avondale Markets (Auckland). So that's a good enough reason to make them the subject of our next food fight.

Quick snack: poke a few holes in skin and microwave for five mins (turning halfway)

Yam facts

• Despite a physical similarity and a frequent confusion with their names, yams and sweet potatoes are not even distantly related. They are in two different botanical families. Yams are actually related to grasses and lillies.
• Estrogens (sex hormones) were first made from a similar compound in yams. Yams were used commercially to produce hormones for contraceptive pills, and steroids. (Don't let this put you off!)
• New Zealand yams are better known as ocas.

Ingrid's dish: Chilli and lime yam wedges

I love potato and kumara wedges, you can take your french fries or chips back, give them to someone else, I don't want your skinny strips. Yams are the right size and super easy to make into a wedge, and they lend themselves well to a bit of spice. I thought these would look great as an appetiser for a party, you could add a creamy aioli or a dip.

Chilli and lime yam wedges

What you need

Makes enough for 2

500g of yams (sliced lengthways)

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 Lime (for serving)

Seasoning

1 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 lime zest grated

1/4 tsp garlic powder or throw a couple of peeled garlic cloves on baking tray
1/2 tsp cumin
pinch of brown sugar

1/2 tsp sea salt (to taste)

How to make
Line a baking tray with baking paper, brush with olive oil, lay yams skins down. Brush with olive oil. Combine all seasoning ingredients or grind in a mortar and pestle until you have a fine powder. Scatter over yams. Bake at 180C for 35 mins (turn half way) or until golden. Serve with lime.

Raw Yams - Try roasting them with a honey spice...

Vanessa Dish: Honey baked yams
Most of us stick to the usual veges in our winter roasts. We often comment "I wonder how you would cook those? or they look interesting". Yams look pretty weird, they are small and knobbly but like Ingrid said have an appealing yellow/pink colour.

They are super simple to cook and cook quite fast because they are so small. I decided to throw them in with a roast dinner, but jazz them up a bit with a honey and spice coating.

Don't be scared and give them ago. If your kids like potato, they are sure to like the sweet sticky cute yams!

Yams - A cross between a potato and a kumara taste wise (Sweet potato)

Honey baked yams

What you need
500grams Yams
2 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Olive oil (or vegetable)
Salt/pepper
2 tsp spice mix - try chili, ginger, lemon pepper, harrissa mix, chili and lime seasoning. (I used ginger)

How to cook
Melt the honey and add about 2 tsp of spice mix to the honey. Drizzle over the yams and season with salt/pepper to taste.

Bake in the oven along side your roast meat for about 20 - 30 minutes. They are ready when soft. (just like potatoes, stick your fork in to test)

Enjoy, Vanessa

PS - I love Ingrid's idea of serving them with aioli - go the whole hog and serve this with your roast too. Make sure it's extra garlicky!

Honey spiced yams - surprise the family!

For pizza and pie lovers

Even though we are sisters, we have a very different approach to food and photography. Each fortnight we are going to choose the same ingredient or theme and post the result. These are the results...of our 'cheese food fight'


Vanessa's handmade mozzarella turned into Sardine, mozzarella and tomato pizzettes

Handmade mozzarella - not bad for a first attempt but still needs refining

When we decided our next food fight was going to be cheese it was the perfect motivation to get stuck into using my cheese making kit. My friends bought it for my recent birthday on the proviso I make cheese and have a tasting party! It was a beginner Italian kit featuring Ricotta, Mozzarella and Marscapone. I decided to give the Mozzarella a try and follow up with handmade pizzas.

The first challenge was the cheese, I raced down to my local dairy to get full cream milk (who has that today?) and got chatting with the owner who hails from India. I told him what I was up to and he looked at my 2 litre and told me to buy at least double - how right was he. He makes Panneer, an Indian cheese often fried and added to curry.

Thanks to Mad Millie beginners' Italian cheese kit www.madmillie.com and the girl in the youtube clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTJTxF1-ASs these are the steps I followed to make my Mozzarella. 

Mine tasted fine, but was rough on the surface and quite dense.  I think the combination of homogenized milk and working it like play doh rather than stretching it made it that way. If you know the reason why - please post us a message.   

Boutique cheese - worth every penny! (Homemade mozzarella)

Mozzarella cheese (recipe from the Mad Millie cheese kit)

What you need

4 litres of un-homogenized milk (I used homogenized so that may be where I went wrong?)

2ml calcium chloride 

2 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup of cool water

1/2 tablet of rennet dissolved in 1/4 cup of un-chlorinated water (once again I used regular tap water and I think its chlorinated so maybe that's also where I went wrong?)

Salt to taste

Equipment  

Large pot

Slotted draining spoon

Thermometer

Large knife

Rubber gloves (I didn't  as the girl in the you tube clip didn't wear them!)

2 large bowls

Butter muslin

How to make

• Put milk into large pot and add calcium chloride.
• Heat milk to 13 degrees C (55.5 F) before mixing in the diluted citric acid.
• Heat the milk to 32 degrees C (89.5 F) whilst constantly stirring to prevent scolding the bottom.
• Once the temperature is at 32 degrees C (89.5 F) remove the pot from the heat and stir in the diluted rennet.
• Cover the pot and leave to sit for 25-30 minutes.
• Check the curd. It should be firm with a clean break. If ready cut the curd with a knife into 3cm (1 inch) cubes. 
• Place the pot back on the stove and heat the curds and whey to 42 degrees C ( 107.6 F) Stir the curds carefully while heating. 
• Scoop out the curds and place into a butter muslin lined colander. Let it drip for 5 minutes. 
• Prepare 2 bowls, one hot 70 degrees C (158 F) and one cool salty ice water.
• Put rubber gloves on. 
• Take a handful of Mozzarella curd and place it under the hot water for 20 seconds. I used the slotted spoon for this stage - like the girl in the you tube clip. 
• Carefully stretch the curd until it is smooth and flexible. (I found this stage difficult)
• Work the curd into a ball and plunge into the salty ice water. 
• Continue with the rest of the curd. 
• Eat fresh or put in the fridge in a sealed container.

pizzette with red wine and spicy sauce

Now what do I do with the stuff?

Mozzarella isn't really my cup of tea, I like strong flavours like anchovies, the stinkiest blue around, spices and aged Cheddars. Mozzarella is rather bland. Its more of a cooking cheese and synonymous with pizza so problem solved. 

Made from things in my cupboard and the dough made with help from my three year old! A perfect way to include your kids and they love the finished product.  

Sardine, mozzarella and tomato pizzette 

Pizza dough

You will need
2 tsp yeast (instant dried)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp Olive oil
1 1/2 cups of plain flour
1/2 cup warm water


How to make

• In a bowl add the warm water, yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil. Leave for about 10 minutes until its activated and a bit bubbly. 
• Add the yeast mixture to the flour by making a well in the centre and mixing it with your hands to form a dough ball. 
• Knead it until its smooth - this takes about 10 mins - using the heel of your hand works well and you get in to a rhythm. Great exercise!
• Put into a bowl coated in a bit of Olive oil and place some where warm to let it prove (rise) to double its original size. I leave it for an hour or so. 
• When ready punch the dough as its quite light and re-work it into a ball. 
• Its now ready to use. 
• Roll it out to the desired thinness/thickness - I always go thin.
• Place on to a floured dish or pizza stone and add toppings. 
• All I added was tomato sauce, tinned sardines broken up, cheese and a sprinkle of coriander once cooked. 
• Bake at 200 degrees for about 10 minutes. 

Once you have the dough made - its really quick and easy!
Vanessa x

Delicious -  sardines, mozzarella and tomato pizzette

Ingrid's dish: How to turn leftovers into a simple puff pastry pie

I really struggled with this post, as I felt a bit of competitiveness when Vanessa revealed she was going to make cheese. How could I top that! Its a bloody cheese post and she's going to make the stuff from scratch.

So I began some research into what I could make that could topple her mozzarella off its cute pizzette. I had some asparagus and some Gruyere,and puff pastry in the freezer and I thought, I like the combo, could I make a really posh asparagus roll, with some homemade mustard, and flaky pastry. Could I wrap it in a fancy pancy way? Could I balance out the nuttiness of the Gruyere with a dash of homemade relish?

Then I did my usual google search (my starting point for everything), and every chef around that used that combo seemed to have created a tart, they looked really good but I didn't want to copy. I even asked a colleague who was interviewing Julie Le Clerc for a story, if he could ask her what I could do with asparagus and Gruyere that wasn't a tart! (I forgot to tell him ...and puff pastry), and he came back to me, saying Julie would make a salad and toss some macadamia nuts in with it too. Nice one Julie, sounds delicious, however I don't have that on hand, and I wanted this to be simple, and straight from my cupboard.

So I ended up going around in circles, stressing out about cheese all week long, (who does that?) only to end up whipping up a puff pastry Mexican pie using leftovers from the night before. Not quite the competitive edge I was hoping for, but never the less, I thought it was such a great idea for transforming last nights dinner into a completely different dish altogether.

Avocados are in season, so make the most of them.

So basically all it is, is take your leftover casserole, bolognese sauce, roasted vegetables, or even a stir fry, sprinkle some cheese and wrap it in puff pastry and bake it for 25-30 mins on 180C. Job done!

I used leftover mince bolognese, added some kidney beans and made a mexican style pie. I picked rocket from my garden, grabbed a few avo's from my neighbour Johanna's tree (fellow food blogger for Continental Fresh Ideas) http://nz.lifestyle.yahoo.com/food/freshideas/blogs/ to make a guacamole and had a little winter picnic with my son Rhys in the backyard. Enjoy. Ingrid

Winter in Auckland sometimes feels just like summer.  

Mexican puff pastry pie with guacamole 

What you need
Makes 6
Leftover bolognese sauce 

Store-bought puff pastry (defrosted)

1 egg + tsp of water (lightly beaten with a fork)  

1/2 can kidney beans

1 cup of Gruyere cheese

How to assemble:

Defrost puff pastry. Set oven temp to 180C. Cut the pastry sheet into six even rectangle strips. Mix bolognese sauce with kidney beans. Spoon bolognese mixture into the middle of one side of the pastry strip, sprinkle grated cheese and fold over to meet the other side. Using a fork press down the edges on all three sides. Brush each side with egg wash (it helps it to go golden brown) and sprinkle some more cheese on top. Bake in oven for 25 - 30 mins. Serve with rocket and guacamole.

Guacamole
1 red onion (chopped)
2 soft avocados (mashed)
1/2 tsp chilli (to taste)
1 tablespoon lime or lemon (squeezed)
Salt to taste 
1 ripe tomato (diced finely)

How to make
Simply mix everything together to make a smooth dip. Fold diced tomato through just before serving.