Balsamic Mushrooms

Balsamic Mushrooms - Delicious

Every so often Ingrid and I (OK often) head out sans kids to a cafe for most of the morning. Dizzengoff on Ponsonby Road has been a regular favourite for years, in fact I have been frequenting the place for nearly 10 years and that's pretty amazing for cafe culture.
They do strong coffee and the most amazing and addictive mushrooms (LOL). No matter what I order I always get a side of mushrooms. Re-creating this dish was actually pretty easy, I think I nailed it the second time.
Now if there is anyone from Dizzengoff reading this, I know you wont want to part with the recipe but please please please let me know if I am close...

What you need (recipe for one person - double for two)
About 12 button mushrooms per person
1-2 garlic cloves finely chopped
Olive oil for cooking mushrooms
1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar
50mls cream
Salt/pepper to taste

How to make
Add the oil, garlic and mushrooms to a frying pan and saute for a few minutes.
Add half the balsamic vinegar to the pan and turn up the heat so it bubbles and reduces, when its reduced quite a bit, add the rest of the vinegar. Keep it bubbling but don't let it reduce to nothing.
Take it off the heat and add the cream and salt/pepper.
Reduce the heat and cook until the cream is hot - you may want to reduce it a bit more.
Pour over crunchy ciabatta bread or serve as a side dish.

So good you could easily eat two...

Smoked Fish Pate

I was 21 when I got my first proper fishing rod, my boyfriend at the time bought it for me and we embarked on numerous trips, trying different bait, different locations, by boat, on wharf, surfcasting from the beach and all were pretty miserable - not one fish was caught that year, so my love affair of fishing ended and so did my romance.

Takes only a few minutes to prepare but tastes like you've spent the whole day making it

These days, I envy those who can fish, I never realised how aligned everything needs to be in order to hook a 'big in'. Weather patterns, moon phases, the right hook, bait, sinker. . . now I just leave it up to the experts, which is usually the Auckland Fish Market - which is exciting in itself just to visit and see the different species, colors, shapes as well as a great place for fish n chips, and a cold beer.


It was also recommended in our Best eating places to take the kids list, as it has a massive courtyard with a sandpit, and also the marine inspired playground across the road.

The whole reason for this post, is because my neighbour, Steve, turned up with some Smoked Kingfish, caught from a recent trip to Whananaki, (40 minutes drive northeast of Whangarei, North Island, New Zealand) he hooked a 35lb Kingfish and my, what a catch! It's was quite a dry texture, so I decided the best thing to do was to make a quick pate/ dip for lunch. 


Because the pate was so easy to make, and I'm never one to rest on any success, I decided to make the bread as well, which unfortunately went the same way as my fishing - lets just say it was super crunchy, and enjoyed as soon as it exited the oven, but a few hours later, it was used for cricket balls in a match in the backyard.


So what went wrong with my bread? 
Type of bread: Italian style Cottage Loaf from the book Italian Home Baking by Gino D'Acampo 


Ingredients: 680g strong white flour, extra for dusting: 2 tsp salt : 10g fast-action dried yeast : 400ml water, warm : Olive oil for brushing

How to make: Brush tray with oil. Mix flour, salt, yeast in a bowl. Make well in centre. Pour in water and mix to a firm dough. Add more flour if necessary. Transfer to floured surface and knead for 10mins until smooth and elastic. Brush inside of another bowl with oil and place dough. Cover with cling film and leave to rise in warm place for an hour (I used my hot water cupboard and I left it for 3 hours!!!). Turn the dough out on floured surface and punch down. Knead for 3 mins and divide into two thirds and one-third, shape each into a ball (I divided the dough into 12 rolls). Place on oiled tray. Brush the tops with oil (I also added sesame seeds) Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for a further 30 mins. (I left it for about an hour and when I saw how much they had risen, I thought, my rolls were way too BIG, so I re-sized them into smaller rolls - round shaped and oblong, not really kneading the dough much again, just reshaping). Preheat oven to 220C. Bake on the bottom of the oven for 40mins until loaf is golden. Serve warm.

The Outcome: My rolls were too hard and too dense.
So folks, if you have any answers, let me know in the comments below


Steve's wife and ex chef, Johanna recommended: Use the dough hook on your kitchen mix, you may not have kneaded the bread enough.


Moving on to my pate, which thankfully was a triumph and as I said so simple to whip up, if your lucky enough to have a smoked fish dropped off at the front door. However this would also work with supermarket bought smoked fish, or even tinned salmon, tuna or sardines. Enjoy, Ingrid

Smoked Kingfish Pate or dip
What you need
200g kingfish (or any smoked fish or a tin of salmon, tuna, sardines)
250g cream cheese (softened - i.e. leave it out of the fridge for awhile)
4 tbsp milk
50g capers 
1/2 lemon (juice of, and grate some zest)
salt and pepper (to taste)


How to make
In a bowl, put cream cheese, milk, lemon juice, zest and fold through flaked fish and capers. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chill until needed. Serve with crackers or crusty bread.

Fig and Honey Tarts

Fresh figs from the neighbours tree

Figs, love em or hate em? They don't seem to be the most popular fruit on the block but they do have a certain romantic and sensual quality. They always seem to be paired with blue cheese and oozing juice. Mine unfortunately, didn't ooze and because the birds get there before me, were picked a little under ripe.
According my buddy Google, you can't ripen them off the tree, I thought its worth a try so left them in a bowl for a few days. I also read that they are ripe when the stud at the bottom starts to open.

Fig and Manuka honey tarts

My figs started to seep a fragrant liquid but never reached the beautiful deep ruby colour I was expecting. They were soft and edible but the taste was rather neutral. The dilemma was what to do with them?  I even googled "what to do with un-ripe figs."
I decided EASY was the way to go and happened to have some sweet pastry in the fridge from a failed attempt at jammy pinwheels for morning tea at school. I also decided that the figs needed, as they say in France a little bit of "Je ne sais quois"...
A type of syrup would work but keeping it EASY, I though why not honey - its syrupy, sweet and even better I had a pot of delicious Manuka honey sitting in my fridge.

Delicious with Greek yoghurt

What you need
1 packet of sweet short crust pastry
Fresh figs 1 small one per tart
Honey 2 teaspoons per tart

How to make 
Put the pastry into muffin trays and smooth up the side - no need to line or butter.
There is no need to blind bake either
Chop up the figs in cubes and place into the pastry parcels.
Drizzle 2 teaspoons of melted honey onto each tart.
Bake for about 20 minutes at 180 degrees or until the pastry is golden.
Remove form the trays after about 5-10 minutes. (If you leave them in the trays the honey sets like toffee so they may stick!)

If you are lucky enough to discover a fig tree you can raid - get cracking and give these treats ago!
If you get beautiful ripe figs, make a BIG tart and slice the figs into quarters and arrange in a stunning circular pattern. Serve with yogurt, ice cream or custard.
Vanessa

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