NEW ZEALAND - Fush and Chups

Fush & Chups
Surrounded by water, seafood is big in NZ! As well as a real taste for whitebait patties, good old fish & chips is on every menu!!

Eaten the good traditional way - out of newspaper!

Yumm!!

The chocolate version!!

Whitebait Patties
The small fish white bait is a bit of a NZ delicacy, especially along the West coast. Unfortunately we never managed to sample these, but they must be good - there are signs at cafes all along the west coast.

3 eggs , beaten
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
500 g whitebait
2 tablespoons light vegetable oil (for frying) or 2 tablespoons butter (for frying)
Directions:

1. Beat the eggs in a large bowl, then mix in the milk.
2. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
3. Lightly beat through the flour & baking powder to ensure there are no lumps. Add the flour slowly - the mixture should be thick & runny but not too gloopy.
4. In a colander, rinse the whitebait and pick out any river stones or other debris.
5. Drain, and mix into the egg mixture until well combined.
6. Heat a frying pan on medium-high heat, and once heated, add the butter/olive oil.
7. Drop in dessert-spoonfuls of the whitebait mixture, and cook until the pattie is set (& starts to go golden on the underside). The whitebait will normally have gone white at this stage.
8. Turn, and cook on the other side until golden.
9. Keep warm in the oven until ready to serve, in my house they get eaten as fast as they are cooked!


From  http://www.food.com/recipe/west-coast-whitebait-patties-125438#ixzz1iIyFkQ78

NEW ZEALAND - Cakes and slices

Lollies and slices
Every street seems to have a host of bakehouses and cafes selling pies (of course) and a range of delicious looking cakes and slices. Here are recipes from some of my favourites - Russian slices, Lolly cakes, and Afghans.

Lolly cake

Recipe for Afghans
New Zealanders have a real soft spot for the chocolate and cornflake Afghan biscuit. Not quite sure where the name comes from!? but here's the recipe -

Ingredients:
200 grams of butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup of castor sugar
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups of unsweetened corn flakes (Kellogg's)


ICING
1 cup of icing sugar
2 Tbsp of unsweetened cocoa powder
3 Tbsp water
1/4 cup of flaked almonds (optional)

Preparation:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F (180C). Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Sift together the flour and cocoa powder and mix into butter mixture with a wooden spoon. Fold in cornflakes and don't worry if they crumble.
4. Roll or press 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of the dough into balls and flatten them slightly. Place them about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
5. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
6. Prepare the icing by combining the icing sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder and water in a bowl. Mix well until the mixture is free of lumps and of a creamy consistency.
7. Spoon a little icing on each cookie and then decorate with flaked almonds.  

Another fav Kiwi slice -

Russian Squares


250g butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tbspns golden syrup
2 eggs beaten
2 small cups sultanas
2 cups plain flour
2 tspns baking powder


Method - 
1. heat the first 3 ingredients together in a saucepan and mix well. Allow to cool.
2. add the remaining 4 ingredients and mix until combined.
3. Spread into a flat 20 x 30cm slice tin and bake for 20 - 25 mins at 180 c.

And another .....

Edmond's is the Kiwi equivalent of the Bero book. Used by housewives for generations, it has all the staple recipes including many good cakes and slices! Another Kiwi fave is Melting Moments.

http://www.edmondscooking.co.nz/recipebook.htm

Melting Moments

Ingredients
200g butter, softened
¾ cup icing sugar
1 cup Edmonds standard plain flour
1 cup Edmonds Fielder’s cornflour
½ teaspoon Edmonds baking powder
Butter icing or raspberry jam

Instructions
Cream butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy. Sift flour, cornflour and baking powder together. Mix into creamed mixture, mixing well. Roll dough into small balls the size of large marbles and place on a greased oven tray. Flatten slightly with a floured fork. Bake at 180°C for 20 minutes or until cooked. Cool and sandwich two biscuits together with Butter Icing and raspberry jam.

Makes 16

Oh, ok and just one more !!

Ginger Crunch
Thanks to Katrina for a look at her recipe books for this one.

Base
150g butter
2 tbsp golden syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup wholemeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 tsp ground ginger
1 cup chopped crystalised ginger

Topping
100g butter
6 tbsp golden syrup
2 1/4 cups icing sugar
3 tsp ground ginger

To serve  -
50g chocolate

Method
Preheat oven to 180 c.
Line a 20 x 30cm tin with greaseproof paper.

For base - melt butter, golden syrup and sugar together in a large saucepan. Mix in the other ingredients and press into tin.

Bake for 20 mins until lightly golden, then remove from oven.

Meanwhile make the topping. Melt the butter and golden syrup together, then beat in the icing sugar and ginger. Spread topping on to the warm slice.

Chill, then cut in to pieces.

To serve, melt 50g chocolate and drizzle over top.

(Will keep for 4 - 5 days in an airtight container)


So many other recipes for NZ slices on the good old NZ Woman's Weekly website!!

http://www.nzwomansweekly.co.nz/food/recipes/search/?q=slice

NEW ZEALAND - The PAV and other puddings

HOKEY-POKEY Ice cream
Apparently New Zealand's favourite flavour of ice cream! Basically broken up bits of crunchie or Violet Crumble sprinkled on vanilla ice cream!! Easy!

Kiwi Fruit
Did you know? Kiwifruit is not native to New Zealand,They are in fact Chines gooseberries which only became known as kiwi's when New Zealand began to export them in the 1950’s.

The Pavlova 
So, who does own the Pav? The Kiwi's or the Aussies?????
There is  great debate between Australians and New Zealanders who both lay claim to its invention. The Pavlova is New Zealand's national dessert.

The Pavlova is a meringue shell with a marshmallowy center. It is topped with whipped cream and fruit. The Pavlova was named after Russian prima ballerina, Anna Pavlova, who visited New Zealand in 1926 and Australia in 1929.

Australian chef Bert Sachse was credited with inventing the Pavolva at the Esplanade Hotel in Perth in 1935. However, a recipe similar to that of the Pavolva appears in the 1933 Rangiora Mothers’ Union Cookery Book.

An even eariler version was found by Dr. Helen Leach, Food Historian at the University of Otago, in rural New Zealand magazine printed in 1929.

 I felt it was therefore my duty to try out one in each country!!

The kiwi version at the Cockerell house

Let's see what the Aussie version is like?!

CHILE - There's something fishy going on!

And so now on to Chile, our final country in South America!

The shape of Chile is a distinctive ribbon of land 4,300 kilometres (2,700 mi) long and on average 175 kilometres (109 mi) wide, stretching from the world’s driest desert – the Atacama in the north, to the ice fields of Patagonia in the south. With the Pacific ocean off it’s west coast and the Andes on the east, seafood is a prime part of the diet.

There’s something fishy going on in Chile!

Arriving from the icy cold glaciers of Patagonia, we spent 3 days aboard the good ship NAVIMAG ( a cargo ship converted to carry passengers) with our destination of Puerto Montt in Chiles Lake district. The harbour town is famed for it’s seafood, caught fresh each day and brought in to the fish market. A wander round there was certainly an experience! Lots of weird and wonderful shellfish, crustaceans and fish. The stallholders keenly give you samples as you go round, so we braved some (others we politely skipped!!)

Quite a selection of shellfish!

Giant mussels

King Crab

What on earth is that?!

and look what comes out the middle!!

Dry it, string it up and there you have the local delicacy - Picorocos

Curanto
One of the local specialities of Puerto Montt is a seafood dish called Curanto. It is traditionally made by digging a big hole in the ground and adding heated stones and then layers of mussels, cockles and other seafood,  covered with a huge leaf on the plant Nalca, then  a layer of chicken, sausage, another layer of leaves, then vegetables and cakes of sausage and seaweed. Covered over with more leaves it is than cooked away for hours to make a tasty soup. Served with lemon and bread, it was a pretty hearty lunch!!

CHILE - Coffee with legs (Cafés con piernas)

Another particular Santiago custom is Coffee on Legs.  There are lots of coffee shops around the city and business district, mainly favoured by male clientele due to the coffee being served by waitresses in very short skirts!! Maybe we went too early in the morning, or went to the wrong one, but Dean was a bit disappointed by the  glamorous grannies! Sorry no photos!!!

I did find this on Youtube though!! We didn't go anywhere quite like this!

WARNING - This contains explicit footage!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHjih8qr0pY

CHILE - Hearty snacks in Santiago

And so here we were, our final stop in South America – Santiago. Again being in a big city food was available everywhere!! One of the favourites in Santiago was the good old Empanada. A wee bit different from the Argentinian and Bolivian version, the Chilean ones - apart from being folded in a different way, have spices as well as olives, raisins and a hard boiled egg.

Recipe for Chilean Empanadas -

makes 12 (from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/chilean-empanada/detail.aspx)


Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound ground pork
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped black olives
1 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 cup lukewarm milk
1 cup shortening, melted
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, beaten

Directions
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat; cook the onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper in the melted butter until the onion is golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the ground pork and cook until completely browned, 7 to 10 minutes more; drain the fat from the skillet. Stir the eggs, raisins, and olives into the mixture. Whisk the water and cornstarch together in a small bowl; pour into the skillet and stir until the liquid thickens. Remove from heat and set aside.
Whisk the milk and melted shortening together in a bowl until evenly blended. Stir the flour and salt together in a separate large bowl. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and whisk until well mixed into a dough. Set aside to rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
Place the dough onto a lightly-floured board and roll to about 1/8-inch thick; cut into circles with a round cookie cutter or glass. Drop equal portions of the pork mixture into the center of each circle. Fold each circle in half and press edges with a fork to seal. Brush the tops of the empanadas with beaten egg.
Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes.


Other Chilean dishes we tried -

Carne los pobres - basically steak, chips topped with fried eggs! Dean was in heaven!

Pastela de choclo - a huge bowl of maize, chicken, minced beef, olives and cheese baked in the oven. There was no way I was finished this, it was bigger than my head!!

Italiano – basically a hot dog with avocado, mayo and tomato ketchup – the colours of the Italian flag!

CHILE - A light refreshment

To beat the heat of the city, stalls over town sell the refreshing drink Mote con Huesillo.  We'd first seen this in street stalls in Bolivia and had wondered what on earth it was, some shrivelled potato at the bottom of a glass of foosty looking water! Didn't look too appetising! The Chilean version was much more inviting, especially on a hot day!!

JJ and Dean enjoy a mote in the park

Here is it's definition courtesy of Wikipedia -

Mote con huesillo is a traditional Chilean summer-time drink, known as the “refreshing national drink.” It is a non-alcoholic beverage consisting of a sweet clear nectar like liquid made with dried peaches (huesillo) cooked in sugar,water and cinnamon, and then once cooled mixed with fresh cooked husked wheat (mote).[1] The sweet clear nectar is usually made with sugar, but can also be supplemented or replaced with honey. When the drink is served without the dried peaches, it is called a “descarozados.” On occasion, it may also be served with dried prunes, however this is less common.


Our last helados from Rosa’s famous heladeria. This was THE best dulche de leche ice cream I’d tasted!!

Worth the wait?

This was THE best dulche de leche ice cream I’d tasted!!

And our last Pisco sour!!

Well, that's us for South America, many a new dish sampled from frogs to llama, chocolates, ice cream, steak, wine and lots and lots of cakes!! Many ideas to try out back home!!


So now on to the Antipodes, first stop New Zealand, famous for lamb, pies and the great debate of who is the owner of the Pavlova - The Kiwis or the Aussies?? Will just have to sample them both to find out which is best!!