Christmas sweet wontons

I love Christmas mince pies! It almost an addiction, I'm always on the search for a good one - (Pandoro's Italian Bakeries, have the best one, in my opinion) and I eat them in a most peculiar way. I love them frozen! The pastry goes nice and hard and crunchy, whilst the fruit mince remains sticky (I suspect due to the alcohol content?). And I eat them, the same way each time, biting around the edges of the crust, taking the top off and eating it, before getting stuck into the sticky centre.

I've never had any inclination to make them, sometimes the process, especially a long one, can ruin my appetite - and I doubt I would have the patience to get through to the end. But I wanted to be creative and try out a new twist on my all time Christmas favourite. I'm also aware, at this time of year, that everybody seems time-poor! So this post is intended to be easy and all about the assembly.

Everything can be bought from your local supermarket (wonton wrappers from your local asian supermarket). However I did make the sauce from Boysenberry and Rhubarb Jam that I had made a little while ago but you could use store bought jam also. But the jam sauce is optional, they were delicious just as is.

What shape? I couldn't decide which shape worked best so I tried them all out - Triangles turned out the best, the stars weren't as successful - the fruit mince oozed out of the star shape. To make the stars work, I needed a bigger star cutter.

I love how Christmas and New Year gets everybody thinking about resolutions and new challenges for the coming year, so I thought it would be a nice touch to have some paper fortunes scattered around the plate.

I used brown parchment paper, and wrote wishes on them - I'm not a crafty person, so everything needed to be super easy. But you could go all Martha Stewart with this idea, using crinkle cut snips to cut the paper edges or cut the fortunes into Christmas shapes.

For the next five weeks, Vanessa and I are going to bring you all sorts of Christmas ideas - all simple and easy to make or assemble, and I promise nothing will be frozen! I'll keep that quirk to myself. Enjoy, Ingrid

Christmas fruit mince wontons
Makes 24
What you need
24 wonton wrappers (bought from your local asian supermarket)
200g Fruit mince (store-bought or homemade)
50g melted butter
icing sugar (to dust)

How to make
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a tray with baking paper.

Have a bit of fun and try out different shapes by laying out each rectangle of wonton wrapper, place a teaspoon of fruit mince, and see what shapes work out for you. An easy place to start is folding the wonton wrapper diagonally into a triangle, brush edges with melted butter and fold edges over pressing to seal in the fruit mince. Then brush the entire wonton with melted butter. Bake in oven for around 10mins or until golden and crunchy. Dust over with icing sugar to serve. 

Jam sauce (optional)
1/2 jar of Store bought or homemade jam (any type)
water


How to make
Put the jam in a saucepan, add a tablespoon of water and simmer adding water until it becomes a sauce consistency.

Asian style snapper

If only we caught it ourselves...

Fishy facts 

• Fish have been on the earth for more than 450 million years and were well established long before dinosaurs roamed the earth.
• Fish is a good source of protein, low in saturated fat, and filled with omega-3 fatty acids which are good for the heart and brain.
• Populations that eat fish regularly live longer and have less chronic disease than populations that do not.
• Recent research suggests that supplementing the diet with omega-3 fatty acids not only can reduce these risks but can also help treat depression, bipolar disorder, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Fish is, indeed, a brain food.

We have been shooting, eating and posting images to our flickr site in the hope that we can tap into photo libraries and publications buying our images. We realised if New Zealand based companies wanted our images we needed more New Zealand stuff which is why we decided to tackle fish for this food fight. 

We are blessed to live very close to beaches both East and West coast and and you would think that fish would be plentiful. Fish is of course available, however New Zealand fish is expensive. A fish we remember as kids and our parents too is Snapper. Our Mum remembers her father after work taking the dingy out and catching a bucket load for dinner. Today its a day event, usually chartering a boat for a hefty fee and there is never the guarantee of anything never mind the prime snapper. 

Snapper used to be de rigure at the fish n chip shop, now is the premium option battered or crumbed for a tidy $6-8 dollars per piece. Snapper fillets are usually $30 - $35 dollars per kg! Maybe chartering the boat isn't such a bad option!

Whenever Ingrid and I come up with an idea we are both itching to get started. With work and kids its often difficult so when I decided to drive tired Jake around the place looking for the perfect fish to shoot I opted for the most convenient option, a gourmet supermarket en route home. At the local mega supermarket the previous weekend, I noticed lots of interesting types of fish both whole and fillets so thought a gourmet supermarket will also stock the range however the price will be ridiculous.  

How wrong was I! They had fillets of white fleshy fish, large tiger prawns, Morten bay bugs, scampi, fish roe, salmon, oysters and even paua. Where were the ice-trays of glistening and shiny whole fish? 

Me: 'Have you got any whole fish?"

Fishmonger: "HUH whole fish, we don't usually do whole fish here" 

Me: "What, why not?"

Fishmonger: "You are on the North Shore love, the people here want fillets"  

Fishmonger: " Its your lucky day though, we have a few baby snappers if you want them"

Me: "Are they fresh?" (I laugh at this question as of course he's going to say yes even if its not!"

Fishmonger: "Yeah, they came in this morning" (I am thinking where from?)

He shows me 2 baby snapper barely legal size

Me: "OK just one please"

Me:  " Make it 2, I feel sorry for the one left behind"

So I walk out of the shop with 2 baby snapper in a fancy gourmet supermarket bag and $20 lighter in the pocket and a grizzly child. 

The plan - early to bed for Jake so I can cook, shoot and eat.

Fresh snapper 

Grilled baby Snapper Asian style

Asian style snapper

What you need

Whole fish, gutted and scaled (1 per person or a large one for the table)

Olive oil

Sea salt

Fresh lemons

Coriander 

Oyster sauce

Seasoning - I added a touch of chili and lime store bought seasoning

How to make 

Score the fish on both sides (deep cuts) This makes it look good, shortens the grilling time and gives you a look in to see if its cooked. 

Place on baking paper and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with seasoning/salt.

Turn the grill on and when its hot cook the the fish for about 5 mins on a tray close to the element. 

When its brown and cooked through, gently turn and do the same to the other side. 

When cooked, transfer to serving plates and squeeze lemon juice on to the fish, drizzle with oyster sauce and sprinkle with chopped coriander.

Suggestion -You could warm the oyster or soy or chili sauce and serve as condiments on the side.  

How to eat

Eat one side first, off the bone but be careful of the small bones. When done remove the entire bone and discard and start on the second side. If you are game like Lewis, tuck into the head too!

Before and After - be careful of the bones!

Cooking with aubergines

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 results of our first food fight.

Beautiful Thai round aubergines, so easy to cook and cute to display in a bowl on the table.

Aubergines
Aubergines or eggplants, love or hate? These underused and under rated vegetables are the food for our first food fight. The common aubergine in NZ is the large purple oval shaped one (See Ingrid's dish) but if you check out the Asian fruit and vege markets you will find the thin small purple ones and the round, green Thai ones above. 

Food facts 

The Italians call it "melanzane," which means "crazy apple."

China is the top aubergine producer in the world.

An aubergine is almost 95% water.       

Aubergines may worsen the symptoms of arthritis.

An aubergine is actually a fruit.

Thai green chicken curry with aubergines and button mushrooms

Vanessa's dish

Aubergines are often synonymous with Italy (as Ingrid mentions in her blog  below) however I opted for one of my favs "Thai Green Chicken Curry". It actually started when I saw the cutest aubergines at the Asian fruit shop, then found large bags of the smallest button mushrooms - I was in heaven!  Many people I know don't use the Asian fruit and veg shops because they feel a bit out of their comfort zone with all the weird (yes some stuff is) but mostly wonderful products. They really are fantastic, better and more authentic, and even cheaper than the supermarkets. Take a chance and give something new ago.  

Thai green curry with aubergine, chicken and mushrooms

You will need...

Splash of vegetable oil

1 Tbsp Thai  green chicken paste

2 Tbsp Thai fish sauce (it might not smell great but trust me, its delicious and worth using - it gives the salt taste)

2 onions (I used red) 

1 tin coconut milk

water to thin if desired

500grams Chicken Thais oops mean thighs (actually any boneless bits will do, I just prefer the moistness of the thighs) 

Aubergines - one large purple or 8 small green Thai

Mushrooms - a couple of handfuls 

A bunch or two of chopped coriander

How to make

In a deep pan or wok heat the oil and fry the onions, add the green curry paste and fry for a minute or so to release the flavours. ( this bit might make your eyes water so open windows and shut door if kids around).

Add the fish sauce and fry for a minute longer. 

Add the coconut cream, aubergines and mushrooms, simmer gently.

After about 5 minutes add the thinly sliced or chopped chicken. The aim is that the chicken is white rather than golden and that it's really tender hence not over cooking. (its a bit of a juggle getting the cooking time right for the three ingredients but there is leeway and just taste along the way). 

If its thickening up too much, just add water. I used to prefer the thicker creamer curry but now like it better watered down. 

The main tip is not to add too much curry paste at the beginning - its pretty potent and if you are using a low fat option instead of coconut cream there is the potential to split/curdle. I have used evaporated milk and curry paste and it does a pretty good job but heed the advice above and cook on a lower heat. 

To assemble      

Serve with hot jasmine rice and garnished with lots of coriander. 

Small bowls work well as does an icy cold Thai beers such as Tiger or Singa.   

Enjoy!   Vanessa   

These button mushrooms were too cute to leave out of the blog, I didn't even cut all of them and just left them whole.

Ingrid's dish

 

A great way to use up tomatoes, aubergines and basil, all in abundance in your gardens or at supermarkets right now.

I'm always a little bit embarrassed when people find out that I'm half Italian, and then find out I can't speak a word of it. I'm convinced people think that its compulsory if you grow up with a Papa Guerrino you should speak the lingo. But, you see, my papa was trying to do the 'right thing'. He was immersing himself in New Zealand culture with his kiwi bride, and apart from the Ciao's and the Bella's we all spoke English.

That’s not to say, Vanessa and I completely missed out on the Italian side of things. We were brought up by an accomplished cook who learnt from his mama how to make things the traditional way. We grew up with freshly rolled pasta, handmade gnocchi and lightly dusted crostili.

So for our first food fight challenge, I decided to stick with what I know, Although I changed the Mozzarella (creamy cheese that melts), and went for ricotta. Why? well because it was cheaper (and lower in fat, not that I much care for that) It might not have photographed as well, white blogs instead of sticky cheesy swirls but who wants to add another $10 to a dish. Enjoy…Ingrid

Aubergines are very filling, and have virtually no fat, which makes it a perfect main dish.

Baked aubergine with tomatoes, ricotta and Parmesan

You will need
Serves 6
3 Eggplants
salt/ pepper
flour
3 eggs, beaten
Oil

1 onion
1 garlic clove
2 cans, diced tomatoes, or if like me, you have tomatoes growing out of your ears, 12 red tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp tomato paste
bunch of basil
ricotta (this dish traditionally uses bocconcini, or mozzarella, but have you checked out the prices!!!, so I opted for ricotta, it worked well)
Parmesan


How to make
Slice eggplant into 1cm slices, and sprinkle salt. Leave covered in a colander for around an hour. This will draw the liquid out. Pat dry with paper towel. Dip in Flour, then beaten egg and shallow fry each side until golden. Drain on paper towel.

Sauce
In a pan, add chopped onion and garlic. Add tomatoes, tomato paste and bring to boil. Season. When it starts to thicken, reduce heat and add chopped basil.

To assemble
In a ovenproof dish, coat bottom of dish with sauce and first layer of eggplant on top. Add dots of ricotta and grated Parmesan. Repeat layers and finish with sauce and grated Parmesan on top. Bake at 180C for 30mins. Let it cool for 5-10 mins before serving.

Harvest Moon Festival (Chinese and Korean)

The food cooked on the streets of - wait for it - Northcote - Northshore, Auckland! Everything is streetfood, even the pic of the Korean dish with the orange background. What a fantastic placing of orange signage! The BBQ in the top pic came all the way from China, others made theirs here in NZ. The beef sticks were cooked over charcoal.

"When people wore hats and gloves, nobody would dream of eating on the street. Then white golves went out of style and, suddenly, eating just about anything in the street became OK."
Jane Addison,quoted in the 'Great Food Almanac' by Irena Chalmers