Christmas Eve Dinner 2012

It has been a while since I posted any of my cooking, so I thought I would take this opportunity to share with you what our family was feasting on Christmas Eve.  For many years now, Christmas Eve to me has meant cooking up a wonderful feast for my family and spend hours enjoying it with a couple of glasses of wine, and this year was no exception.  With careful planning in advance I made it easy and straightforward, and everything was a hit with everyone's tummy.  Enjoy :)

Entree

	Smoked Salmon Terrine and Baked Camembert The smoked salmon was served with capers and thinly sliced apple.
	Garlic Bread This was served with the Baked Le Rustique Camembert, the strong garlic flavour goes very well with the cheese.

Acompanied Wine: Pegasus Bay Bel Canto (Dry Riesling) 2010.  This is a newly released dry Riesling which I find matching very well with seafood and cheese, it just takes off the oiliness of the fatty salmon and the creaminess Camembert, leaving your palette nice and refresh.

Main

	Roasted Duck Butterflied, de-boned and cherry and pinot noir marinated (for 2 days) duck that was then gently simmer in the marinate in a pot in low heat.  For th finish touch, the duck was then grill in the oven (to crispy up the skin).
	Side Dishes The duck was accompanied with creamy mashed potatoes, caramalised onions and carrots, garlic butter asparagus, fresh cherries and duck jus.

Acompanied Wine: Rockburn Pinot Noir 2010.  The pinot noir from Rockburn has always been my favourite, although the 2010 vintage is delicious, but I find the 2007 and 2008 much better.  It is quite a fruity pinot noir and goes very well with the duck.

Dessert

	Praline Souffle Served with chilled Creme Anglaise.  I made my praline with macadamia nuts and it was delicious.
	Pavalova Served with fresh whipped cream, strawberries and blueberries.  Christmas in NZ will not be the same without one of this :)

Acompanied Wine: Alana Estate L'Aperitif 2007.  This is a slightly sweet Riesling, not your traditionally late harvest Riesling and it accompanies very well with the sweet Pavalova and nutty praline.

If you would like any of the recipes that is not on my site, keep an eye out for my future blogs :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE AND I HOPE EVERYONE HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!

Affogato

Now that summer has finally arrived in NZ (sorry for those in the Northern Hemisphere), it is time for my all time favourite Italian desert: Affogato.  It is so simple that it'll be a crime not to go and make it right now! Affogato in Italian means "drowned", basically you just drown the ice cream or gelato with a shot of hot espresso. Some people like to make this with a shot of liqueur like Amaretto or my personal favourite Baileys, and obviously this is the"big kids version". Yes I know what you're thinking, what can go wrong with the combination of ice cream, coffee and liqueur :D

To be honest, I love eating Affogato even on a cold wintery night...while sitting very close to the heater or a fire place of course! I know not everyone has a fire place at home or have the luxury to crank up the heater in the middle of winter to enjoy a tasty late-night treat, but oh boy, this is so worth it!

Fear you may not sleep afterwards, then why not use decaffeinated coffee? It is fun to try out different flavours of ice cream, you may be very surprised by how some weird combinations works like a charm, for example: mint chocolate chips ice cream with espresso - weird huh! But I assure you, if you love mint like I do, this combination is the great union of strong flavours! With this recipe, you never have to slave hours in the kitchen to make a WOW ending for your dinner parties!

Affogato

2 generous scoops of ice cream 1 shot of espresso 1 shot of liqueur (optional)

Place the ice cream in a cup. Add espresso (and liqueur if you choose to). Done! Now eat it before the ice cream melts!

Enjoy :)

Chocolate Boutique - Parnell

The delicious Italian Denso!
Served with whipped cream 

Chocolate Boutique is a well hidden treasure on 1/323 Parnell Road, Parnell, Auckland and specialises in...CHOCOLATE!  From hand-made chocolate to chocolate drinks and desserts, ice cream and lollies, you won't be disappointed here.  I thoroughly enjoy having my 'guilty pleasures' here after a meal in Parnell with their traditional Italian Denso - which is basically a thick melted dark chocolate drink with cream, oh it's heavenly!  The smooth warm rich dark chocolate contrasting the cool light whipped cream, it is so good that words cannot describe how good it is.  For the adventurous type, they do the chocolate drink with chilli and it's really lovely to have in the winter times.  If dark chocolate or chilli isn't your thing, worry not, they have a wide range of other chocolate drinks available as well as sundaes for a hot summer day, so why not try them all, no all at once of course ;)

The shop is surprisingly small and the layout just doesn't make sense resulting in big queues and chaos in the shop, reasons why I dislike sitting inside - unfortunately outdoor area isn't as pleasant on a cold and/or raining day.  NOTE, do not go have a hot chocolate first thing in the morning, had a couple of very bad experiences as they weren't prepared, instead of refusing the order they ended up making very bad chocolate Italian denso...other than that, every other times when I had their chocolate, it has been delicious and I ensure you the chocolate is worth every minute of your waiting time!

From the left: Hazelnut Chocolate; Lemoncello Cup; Bailey Cone

I have never left this shop empty handed, taking home with me a couple of my little bro's favourite chocolates; hazelnut chocolate, lemoncello cup and bailey cone.  There is a huge variety of hand-made chocolates on offer and you need to be lucky to get this delightful lemoncello cup, as it is an all time favourite and their supply is limited! These little chocolate treats are really great gifts for special occasions and especially with Christmas coming soon!

For a lazy afternoon indulgence, there is no option other then their cake, LOVE their chocolate mud cake, moist and dense on the inside with not overly sweetened chocolate icing served with fresh whipped cream - it is heavenly!    Be sure to try out their Tiramisu as well, equally delicious.  Coffee with a piece of chocolate cake, what else would you need on a sunny lazy afternoon?

So if you're in Parnell next time, be sure to check out this little chocolate shop and I'm all your guilty pleasures will be satisfied and be left wanting for more! :D

OVERALL

FOOD: Good

PRICE: Moderate

SERVICE: Good and can be improved

ATMOSPHERE: Cosy with limited seating

Summary: A great place to fulfill you guilty pleasures, but do take-out unless you're lucky enough to find seats.

Delicious Tiramisu with fresh cream

Ooh La La - St Tropez Restaurant

I am very sad to say that my all time favourite French restaurant in Auckland has closed :( but Jean Christophe is now the head chef of the Orbit Restaurant at the top of Auckland Sky Tower so all are not lost there.  St Tropez was opened for 12 years and I've been their loyal customer for 6 of those 12 years, so now I have to venture to the Orbit to sample their latest and I am super excited about it :) though to be honest, I won't be going as often just because Orbit isn't as home-y and cosy as St Tropez was.

It was back in 2007 when I was first introduced to St Tropez, to celebrate the successful defense of a PhD Oral Exam from my laboratory.  As a large group, many quality things attracted us to choose the restaurant.  St. Tropez was in Parnell, Auckland.  It was an affordable cuisine with BYO, friendly staffs and AMAZING French food to die for!  My favourite part of the restaurant was their menu, which changed frenquently and meant I always get a pleasant surprise when I haven't been for a while, or alternatively find my favourite dish is not longer on the menu, but they always replace it with something equally delicious!

Their menu was short and concise, each dish is followed with detailed descriptions what will be on your plate - which is crucial as not all of us are equally familiar with the French Cuisine or read French..  I love when a menu includes their own native language, I get to learn French and eat delicious food - Bonus!  They use to share their delightful recipes on their website, since their closure, I'll share their amazing "Apple Tarte Tatin".

Without babbling on further, here is a trip down memory lane for me with a selection of dishes I sampled back in January 2012 before I went to Europe to sample the real French food, Enjoy!

	Poisson Cru Salad of Marinate White Fish in Coconut Cream, Coriander, Ginger
	Charcuterie Peppercon Chicken Liver Pate, Pork Rillettes, Red Onion Confit, Toasted Brioche
	Filet de Boeuf Eye Fillet with pate, red wine jus, vegetables and potatoes
	Porc Pork Medallions wrapped in bacon with Parmesan, chablis cream sauce, white haricots beans
	Apple Tart Tatin Upside down apple tarte served with vanilla ice cream and creme fraiche (my all time favourite!)
	Creme Brulee French pot of cream with caramlised coating served with vanilla ice cream

Wintry Soup - Creamy Tomato

As winter approaching fast, it daunt on me the other day that it is soup time!  There are so many variety of soups, my favourite has to be the more creamy soup like chowders or creamy chicken corn soup.  Although with noodles a clear hearty beef/pork soup goes very well with a dash of seasame oil and touch of coriander.  These days with the advancement of technology, soup comes in ready to eat cans or instant powder to fit into the busy working lifestyles of the people in this modern era.  However, I never found them to be the same as the one you make at home.  Nevertheless, this recipe calls for canned tomato soup and chunky tomatoes.  Even though the canned soup isn't the same as the one you make, with this version, you can turn the canned soup into something deliciously divine!  It is fast and easy to make, perfect if you have a busy lifestyle like myself.  I usually serve this dish with some toasted bread, or with something more flavourful like garlic croutons/bread. 

Here I will show you the ratio of cream and coriander that is to my taste, if you prefer something creamier, then add more cream.  If you like Asian flavour like myself, then add a lot of coriander!  It is a very flexible recipe.  Enjoy :D

Creamy Tomato Soup

1 can condensed tomato soup (~420g) 1 can diced tomatoes (~420g) 2 bunches of coriander 1 cup cream Salt

1.       Place the condensed tomato soup in a medium pot, warm with low heat until just boiled.  Stir regularly. 2.       Meanwhile, finely dice the coriander stem and roughly chop the coriander leafs, but leaves a handful of leafs aside un-chopped for decoration later. 3.       Drain the diced tomatoes and add to the tomato soup, bring to boil.  Add the cream and coriander, stir regularly.  Add salt to taste (depending how the canned soup/tomatoes are salted). 4.       Divide soup among bowls.  Garnish with coriander leaves and top with garlic croutons, if desired.

Hint: be careful not to warm the soup up too quickly and burn the bottom.  This recipe calls for a lot of coriander because I just heart this delicious herb.  However, it may be too strong for many people, so just add a handful in at a time, taste it as you incorporate the coriander into the soup until it is to your liking.  Same apply to the salt since every canned soup and tomato is different.

Near finished product, incorporating the chopped coriander into the soup - delicious!

TriBeCa - Chef's Tasting Menu

This is the 7th Course: Silere Merino Lamb: I put this picture here first to seduce you
and tempt you what is more to come!  This was master piece of artwork that I did felt
was a shame to eat it, but was also glad that I ate it as it was just so...DELICIOUS!

TriBeCa is a little gem well hidden in Parnell, located in the historic Foundation Building.  If you've been to famous restaurants such as Meredith's, French Cafe and Vinnies and really enjoy the food there then you'll be enchanted here at TriBeCa.  The Head Chef, Hayden McMillan who has worked at these delightful restaurants shows off his talent and experience in his wonderful creations at TriBeCa, which I sampled with some great friends over a couple  of equally delicious wine.

The menu changes with season which I love seeing at any restaurant, this keeps the price down and food at its prime, plus you get to sample different dishes overtime so you'll never get bored.  What is even better, according to whoever wrote the wine list, the wines are compiled together to help match the wonderful seasonal dishes created by the Chef.  There are many menues on offer, from the simple bar menu to the party choice canapé menu, and if you like degustation like myself there is a Five Course or Chef's Tasting Menu.  Unfortunately when it comes to degustation it is usually designed for the whole table, so if you were like me, where your friends have made the choice to have the Chef's tasting menu before you arrived, you sort of go along with it (you wouldn't want to sit there and have a 3-course dinner while they have an 7 course degustation!), nevertheless, there was no fight from me as I wanted to try out the Chef's Tasting Menu any way, so they must've read my mind!

Checkout the awesome glass on the right - fit for a mighty Cloudy Bays Chardonnay.

I love reading the menu before going to a restaurant for many different reasons.  Firstly, I get to have an idea what is the type of restaurant I am going to and the possible dishes I would like to have if there isn't anything better from "today's menu".  Secondly, sometimes whoever those menu writers are, like to use "fancy" or "technical" words in the menu and it adds difficulty in deciding on the dish since you'll probably spend more time deciphering what the word means and most likely will have to ask the waiter for an explanation, sometimes from past experience not always the most informative.  Doing a little research online in advance is always good in that I read the review of dishes other people have sampled, what dish they found good etc...Surprisingly, I think this is the first time I've read ALL POSITIVE reviews from a restaurant - for TriBeCa and I'll be definitely adding another positive review to it too!

So a little bit of history about TriBeCa, and why I keep the name formatting this way.  TriBeCa is actually an acronym based on "Triangle Below Canal" Street.  The restaurant owners, Mark and Pauline Walynetz were first brought together from this neighbourhood in Lower Manhattan, New York, USA and has owned TriBeCa on 8 George St, Parnell, Auckland since 1997.  This is a delightful place, it is advertised as informal, which could be why one of our friend did turn up with a t-shirt.  The rest of us did dressed up for the occasion to match for the beautiful glass and serve wares as well as the elegant and yet simple decor, most importantly we were all relaxed and enjoyed the evening with our different attire.  Now, wearing a fancy shirt to a restaurant doesn't always the smartest idea.  TriBeCa was unique in their style of welcoming guests by showering them with expensive champagne!  Yes you read right, the guy with the fanciest shirt on our table ended up wearing most of his champagne for the rest of the night.  We were more sorry for the waitress who did tried very hard to balance the two glasses of champagne after she offloaded the bottle of Pegasus Bay Riesling, but eventually failed epically and we didn't see her for the rest of the night on our table...Usually this is when the restaurant should offer free drinks (besides from the one that was tipped over) for this unfortunately incidence...but they didn't...which was a shame as the gesture/token is what it matters as none of us were there to be covered by champagne.

First Course: Southern Glory Oysters with clams, bacon and in
what I assume is either lobster/scampi bisque flavoured with saffron.

Now to get into the business part: The Chef's Tasting Menu!  Now something interesting, usually when you have a degustation menu there is usually the 'matching wine' option, but you won't find it here at TriBeCa's menu which I do not find it a good/bad thing to be honest!  You can order what you prefer or you can ask for matching wine suggesting which is pretty much the same thing!

Second Course: Mount Cook Alpine Salmon with deep dried nori, wasabi ice cream,
celery and coriander celery, pumpkin seeds and meringue.  I have to apologise that
this photo is a bit out of focus, the dish look so delicious I just couldn't wait to eat it! 

Third Course: South Island Scampi with heirloom tomatoes, watermelon gazpacho,
crackling and basil ice cream on a tomato consommé.

To awaken our taste buds, the first course was quite extraordinary - Southern Glory Oysters.  The freshness of the oysters and the clams, the richness of the saffron broth and finished off with the hearty bacon bites, it was a union of heavenly flavours.  This went very well with my Cloudy Bays Sauvignon Blanc.  Now a confession, I am not really a big Sauvignon fan, I usually opt for more bold and big red wine or the sweet white wines.  However, over the years I have found that the dryness of the Sauvignon Blanc goes very well with seafood and since the first three courses were going to be seafood, I did thought it was a very well matched wine for me.

Following the lovely oysters we were served with the exquisite Mount Cook Alpine Salmon with deep fried nori, wasabi ice cream, celery, coriander and pumpkin seeds.  For those who are unfamiliar with nori, it is basically Japanese for seaweed while wasabi is their horseradish.  Now you're thinking did I really say deep-fried nori and wasabi ice cream?  Yes I did!  The pan-fried Salmon and the wasabi ice cream played very well with the contrast and also played down the intense spiciness of the wasabi.  For wasabi lover like myself, you'll find it on the dull side, nevertheless it complemented the salmon very well.  The deep fried nori was AMAZING!  It was coated with icing sugar and played a key role for providing the all and important texture.  The intense, concentrated flavour of the seaweed lightened slightly with the icing sugar stole the show on the plate for me.  Overall, a great dish, but with all the other intense flavour it did shadowed the salmon, which was suppose to be the star.

The last seafood dish and the third course was the South Island Scampi with heirloom tomatoes, watermelon gazpacho, crackling and basil ice cream.  WOW for the divine tomatoes, these were the sweetest and most intense tomatoes I have ever tasted!  I am a huge fan of scampi, sadly like the previous dish, it was shadowed by the other intense flavours on the plate.  The tomatoes and basil are the classic Italian duo, but together overpowered the delicate, sweet and fresh scampi.  This course was overall very light and refreshing, a great way to end the sea journey before migrating onto the land.

It was time to change wine to go with the rest of the
delicious courses - Coal Pit Pinot Noir 2006.

Fourth Course: Homemade 3 month Aged Beef Bresaola
with white and purple beetroot, pickled tiny radish
purple radish, port and horseradish cream.

The first meaty dish was the stylish plated Homemade 3-months-Aged Beef Bresaola with white and purple beetroot, pickled tiny radish, purple radish, port and horseradish cream, this was a beautiful dish to admire and to sample.  Subtle taste of the aged beef, creamy horseradish, balanced out with the citrousy pickled tiny radish and complemented with the crunchy purple radish textures.  I changed my wine to the 2006 Coal Pit Pinot Noir for this dish, but found it a bit overpowering and should have gone for the Cloudy Bays Chardonnay for this and the following dish, afterwards then change to the Pinot Noir for the sixth and seventh course.

Fifth Course: "Caprese" with buffalo mozzarella fettuccine, live herbs, green tomato
and schezuan sorbet and sourdough crostini.

Now for one of the most sensational dish, be warned, if you have sensitive teeth like I do, you may find it the coldness hurts your teeth a bit, nevertheless, absolutely delicious!  The fifth course, "Caprese" with buffalo mozzarella fettuccine, live herbs, green tomato and schezuan sorbet and sourdough crostini.  What intrigues me is what they meant by "live herbs", how does that differ from the other herbs used?  Does that also applied to the tomatoes - live fruits?  I think they may have gone a little bit overboard on the "fancy wording" side!  Schezuan is very famous for their really spicy and sour dishes, if you go to Schezuan you always prepare yourself for the burning palette from their famous chillies.  The name "Schezuan sorbet" was very misleading for me as I was expecting something very spicy and it wasn't...Despite the confusing description from the menu, the textured mozzarella fettuccine, crunchy crostini with the intense sorbet and sweet tomatoes, what a heavenly union there!  Everything is so well balanced, just absolutely incredible!  Kudos to the chef!

Sixth Course: Manuka Smoked Duck Breast with Liver Parfait, buttercup purée,

fresh figs, roasted hazelnuts, freeze dried apricots and autumn leaves.

Seventh Course: "Silere Merino Lamb "eye of round", goat's cheese cream,
heirloom baby carrot, sweet onion, roquette and dried olive

For the meat lovers, be prepared to salivate!  The next two dishes were matched very well by my glass of pinot noir.  The Manuka Smoked Duck Breast with Liver Parfait, buttercup purée, fresh figs, roasted hazelnuts, freeze-dried apricots and autumn leaves.  I wonder from the scientific point of view how they freeze-dried the apricots, whether it was done with dry-ice or with liquid nitrogen?  Hmm...do you think work would mind if I borrow some dry-ice/liquid nitrogen to find out?  The freeze-dried apricot gave an interesting texture but very intense apricot flavour.  I love the smoothness of the buttercup purée, top notch!  Hmm for the roasted hazelnut, it went incredibly well with the hearty duck breast and fresh figs, impeccable combination there and definitely the favourite of most of us!

The last meaty dish was the Silere Merino Lamb "eye of round", goats cheese cream, heirloom baby carrot, sweet onion, roquette and dried olive.  Architecturally, this was an impressive dish.  Having the round lamb standing tall with the halved carrots surrounding the sandy dried olive, overall a very dramatically laid-out dish.  Not everyone liked the dried olive, I did not find it too olive-y in taste and it was more like eating salt flavoured with olive...aside from this the lamb was cooked to perfection!

Throughout the evening, the staff make sure everyone is served at the same time, spending a short time explaining what the dishes are before disappearing away.  The waitress promptly refilled our water and wine, and dishes were cleared away efficiently but not too speedily, which made the evening very enjoyable.  While one of the Port we ordered was not available, the waitress brought over another equally delicious 20 years Port and what is even better, because this was not what we ordered, she gave us just that much more in the glass, now that is what you called service!

Left: my delicious 2009 Spy Valley Nobel Savuignon.  Checkout
the difference between this and the 2007 De Bortoli Noble
one Semillon, such intense dark orange colour!

The usual refresher you find at the restaurants is some form of citrousy sorbet which I have sampled a variety  of over the years.  Here at TriBeCa, something very different was on offer.  Freeze dried plum with green tea sorbet and meringue.  I like the plum, the freeze dried process did wonders to retain the deliciousness of the plum while giving it a funky texture.  This is well contrasted with the green tea ice cream.  I did felt the meringue didn't need to be there as I am preparing myself for desert so do not need my refresher over-sweet.  Nevertheless, a very successful dish!

Refresher: Freeze dried fruit with green tea sorbet and meringue.

Eighth Course: "Crunchie Bar" valrhona chocolates mousse and ice cream,
honey comb, honey and mandarin

Lastly chocolate! who can refuse chocolate...crunchy honeycomb (or hokey pokey) accompanying the rich dark velvet chocolate ice cream which was lightened by the chocolate mousse!  The only thing bad about this dish is there wasn't enough!  Well...for us it wasn't enough so while the boys indulged in some cheese and 20 years old port and we girls ordered more deserts and some more desert wine.  I really love my desert wine sweet if I was only having the wine for desert.  But more often these days I like my desert one a little bit citriousy to accompany the mouth-watering desert I am indulging.  For this purpose I ordered the 2009 Spy Valley Nobel Sauvignon, definitely a lot lesser sweet than the Noble one Semillon, but equally delicious and has a fine fruity aroma with it, a great accompaniment with my extra desert I ordered!

The last dish I ordered was also the most impressive dish.  It wasn't part of the Chef's Tasting Menu but oh boy was I glad that I ordered it!  I was first impressed by the size of the fejioa.  If you take into account that the fruit would've shrunken during pan-frying and baking, it was still ~4cm in diameter after all that, I did wonder how big it was to begin with?  One would think with such big fejioa, it would've been quite sour and tart, but it wasn't, it was delightful!  Crunchy buttery pastry encasing the juicy sweet fejioa that has been caramelised in sugar and butter and baked to perfection, and accompanied with the smooth honey ice cream and the citriousy passion fruit pulp - altogether, like poetry in your mouth!  not sure the idea of the banana there, didn't really do anything for me.  If you're a fejioa lover like me, you would've gone to heaven and back after you eat this...nom!

Fejioa Tarte Tatin with passion fruit pulp, bananas, honey ice cream and meringue
I would tell you what was underneath all that, but I don't remember and they've
changed their menu since I went so can't even find out from the website...but it was
DELICIOUS nevertheless!

OVERALL

FOOD: Excellent.

PRICE: Reasonable ($100 for the 7 courses + refresher), but the a la carte would've been pricey.

WINE SELECTION: Very good selection.

SERVICE: Excellent!

ATMOSPHERE: Elegant and yet cosy.

Summary: Great food and service, with equally great company.  While you are admiring the piece of artwork, and indulging in the sensational smell from the plate you also get to satisfy that important stomach of yours - what more could you ask for?  :)

Omega 3 - Smoked Salmon Terrine

Sweet and sour style salmon, pan-fried, then added with soy sauce, lemon,
ginger slices and spring onions!  Serve well with rice.

Oh the glorious salmon!  I haven't heard from many whom aren't a vegetarian, vegan, fruitarian or allergic to seafood that they do not like salmon.  What is the attraction of this delicious creature?  It is such a versatile protein, you can make it into sashimi, sushi, salad, terrine and many other delicious dishes through smoking, curing, pan frying, poaching or just leaving it raw.  Salmon is rich in "omega-3" (that is supposedly good for reducing the likely-hood of cardiovascular diseases) as well as protein and vitamin D.  In saying so, if looking at the studies conducted carefully, if you do not have any potential in developing cardiovascular diseases, or have any forms of cardiovascular diseases, then eating Omega-3 really wouldn't do you any "benefits"...  Also studies have suggested that the farmed salmon may contain lesser omega-3 than the wild-type, so something to watch out for!  Nevertheless, these days, living in food heaven with readily available produce, most of us will eat salmon just because it tastes so good!  Growing up, one of my favourite salmon dish is the one made by mum.  Sweet and sour pan-fried salmon steak!  Sweet and sour from the lemon juice used and usually there are a lot of yummy sauces made from this dish which I love to drizzle lots over my steamed rice while I eat it - nom nom...

So far having shared my more rustic and simple dishes, I thought I would throw you guys into the deep end and challenge you to try and make this following recipe.  It is taken out of one of my favourite cookbook: Gary Rhodes: New British Classics.  I have to admit, I normally do not buy celebrity chef's cookbook, however, Chef Gary Rhodes and Masaharu Morimoto are my only exceptions :D  This recipe is fabulous; you can make it days in advance and will eally wow your families and friends.  Only a few ingredients are needed and other than that is some patients and artistic skills.  I first made this two Christmas ago and it was an absolute hit.  It helped having fresh dill in my mother's garden and being Christmas, the smoked salmon was on special.  I found there isn't many "long" slices of smoked salmon in New Zealand, so instead of using one large loaf tin/terrine dish, I used two smaller ones instead.  Having two smaller ones is great as I find it easier to slice the terrine afterwards.  One thing to watch out for when buying smoked salmon is the "cuts" where it is taken from.  Be sure to get the "belly" portions of the smoked salmon so each slice is more uniform in size, whereas the portion near the tail tends to be "thinner and longer" so you'll need more slices to cover the terrine.  When most people think of Christmas, they think of hearty dishes like roast turkey, hot chocolate and English pudding.  However, being in good old New Zealand, our Christmas is in the middle of summer, so I hope this dish offers a refreshing take on appertizer for hot summery Christmas meals, enjoy!

Smoked Salmon Terrine

175g butter 50g marinated anchovies Finely grated zest of 1 lemon Juice of ½ lemon 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill 1-1.5kg sliced smoked salmon Salt and fresh ground black pepper

1.           Line a 1.4L terrine dish or a 900g loaf tin with cling film.  Soften the butter.  Cut the anchovy fillets into small 2-3mm dice and stir into the butter, along with the finely grated lemon zest.  Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper.  To finish, simply fold in the chopped dill.  This will now need to be used at room temperature, making it easy to spread. 2.           Place 3-4 slices of the salmon widthways in the terrine, creating a lining for the filling.  It is important to make sure large slices are used, leaving a 3-4cm overhang on each side. 3.           Spread a very thin layer of butter over the base and cover with slices of salmon.  Now repeat until the terrine is absolutely full. 4.           This will have used the majority, if not all, of the butter.  Once full, fold over the original slices to cover the top.  Cover with cling film and refrigerate, using another terrine, or something similar as a weight.  This will help press the layers of the terrine together.  This needs to be left for several hours. 5.           The butter when cold will set, making the terrine a lot easier to slice. 6.           Once set, simply turn out and, while still wrapped in cling film, the terrine can be portioned.  This guarantees that the slices keep their shape.  To eat this dish at its best, the terrine can be put on a plate, cling film removed, and allowed to become just lightly chilled, giving the butter spread a softer texture.

I know the ingredients calls for "anchovies", but fear not, it is only there to enhance the subtle flavour and you won't taste it with the rich smoked salmon (as long as you've mixed in the anchovies well).  If you do not have fresh dill, then dried dill is also adequate, but you may need to use a bit more though.  Always taste the butter mixture at the end before commencing the layering.  I find that I like my butter more acidic so added extra 1 lemon of zest and juice of 1/2 lemon, but that is more of a personal thing.  I have a miniature offset spatula that is triangular rather than the traditional straight one, this helps spread the butter well in the corner of the container.  It is important to spread the butter evenly, otherwise one side may collapse after you put the weight on.  I served this with thin and plain wafers, cornichons and lemon wedges -t'was DELICIOUS (if you don't mind me saying so myself!) ^.^

A slice of  smoked salmon terrine, left at room temperature for 5-10 min and
garnished with more  freshly chopped dills.

Everybody's Bar & Bistro - Imperial Lane

Looking at the bar.  Entrance on the left and dining area to the

right.  Note the sudden change into the wooden flooring on a

downhill slope - I nearly fell over TWICE! They need to stop

polishing the floor :p so be careful if you wear high heels like

I do, ladies and gents!

Looking for something hip and yet retro with a twist of glamour to relax with your group of friends?  Look no further!  Come to Everybody's at the newly opened Imperial Building, Auckland CBD.  You can access through 44 Queen Street or 7 Fort Lane.  After an afternoon spent looking at the exhibition "Degas to Dali" at the Auckland Art Gallery, this was a lovely place to chillaxe and finish off the Sun afternoon/evening.  Although I have to admit, I only had drinks and tapas there, so cannot comment about their dinner, but the drinks and service was excellent!  Everybody's and Roxy's Executive Chef is Sean Marshall who was the Head Chef at Wellington's iconic Matterhorn while the drinks are designed by Riki carter, who also according to the website is the Cocktail and Spirits Ambassador of Matterhorn, which could help explain why their menu design, layout and style looked familiar...like the one I saw in Matterhorn, Cuba St. Wellignton!

The first impression to anything or anyone is always the most important.  My first impression was that the place is elegant, fashionable and yet not too posh.  The overall experience was top rated, helped by the excellent service.  When we arrived and were offered to be seated, and water was brought over to our table promptly.  The waitress after hearing that this was our first visit took the time to explain to us the history of the Imperial Building - it once housed the Roxy and Everybody's Theatre and recently had a $13-million makeover.  The Imperial Building now houses the Imperial Lane (cafe on the ground level), Roxy (fine dining restaurant) and Everybody's Bar and Bistro.  If you're interested in the new architecture check it out here.  The waitress then offered us to take a look around the upstairs area even though it was reserved for a wedding photo shoot later.  I have to note, we did arrive about 3pm, when it was pretty quiet so we were well attended to.  Even saying so, it was great to see the staffs taking the time to make sure you're settled and more importantly, we had a very entertaining waitress!  She even bought over free sample of Pinot Noir that she became infatuated with recently and introduced to us a little about the wine, which was great as I hadn't try that particular wine before.  I was drinking the 2010 Mt Difficulty 'Roaring Meg' Pinot Noir, delicious!

One of the six bar seating areas.  The seats were leather and comfy, just needing it some

back support there.  I like how they "closed" this little area with just a simple design

featuring a row of plants, an attempt to make it outdoor without deterring from the

glamorous vibe. 

When outing with friends, I really enjoy a good quality wine, and here at Everybody's the wine menu didn't disappoint.  They stock mostly local NZ wines and also added a few overseas varieties that you can have in individual "glass" rather than having to buy a whole bottle.  Sometimes when you're out with a group of friends, everyone has different liking and taste for wine and so you find that you have to opt for your second choice just because your first choice only comes in a bottle,  however, you probably won't find this to be a problem at Everybody's.

Now comes to the only negative part of my review...I didn't 100% enjoy their tapas.  We ordered the "Crab Toastie", "Duck liver & cognac parfait, brioche, pear chutney" and "Tokyo Chicken".  Soon after we received our food, the manager came around once and check that everything was to our satisfaction and anything else we were in need of, which I believe is very important part of hospitality that are lacking in many "posh" restaurants in New Zealand, so kudos on that part.  Aside from this, it is very disappointing when you're at a place drinking delicious wine to be then accompanied with food that do not match the quality wine selection, friendly staff or great atmosphere.  I am sure the chef used the freshest crab in the "Crab Toasties", made their own brioche, but for $14 per dish that was an okay price for size of the food but not for the delivery of the food.  Okay I ADORE CRAB!  Crab is light and delicate and I found by putting it in the butter-rich brioche then "toast" it, I couldn't really enjoy the crab.  It was very nicely toasted, well done on that.  However, if the bistro did indeed have fresh quality crabs, wouldn't it be better turning into other succulent dishes that will bring out the natural sweetness and the delicate texture of the crab?  It was about this time when we need another glass of wine.  T'was great to see the waitress watching our glasses attentively and promptly asked whether we would like another one and collected the empty glasses swiftly.

Upstairs: Love the rich red coloured couches and that luxurious teal couch on the right

hand side, a great contrast yet fitting with the wooden flooring.  When I go back next

time, I want to sit on those couches!

Oh the duck liver & cognac parfait...I heart parfait and I think the chef did very well here.  The parfait was smooth and light textured with intense liver flavour that was not overpowering, as it can sometimes happen when they get the balance wrong.  I just wished there were more brioches to go with it... or should I say better brioches... I wouldn't say I am a brioche expert, but I've had enough brioches in my time to say the one I had from Everybody's bistro was below par.  There are many styles of brioches, some are savoury and some are sweet.  The accompanied brioche for the parfait was thin, and so crumbly that I spent more times picking up the crumbles from the table than eating it.  I didn't really feel the "richness" that usually comes with brioches.  The parfait was slightly sweet; together with the pear chutney just did not match well with the brioche which was also slightly sweet.

Cute and cosy two-person seating for people who just 

want to enjoy a couple of drinks and nibbles.  The 

seating allows you to look down into the dining area,

I think this is a fabulous design and great use of space.

Lastly the Tokyo Chicken - the friend I was there with was as puzzled as I was about what exactly is a Tokyo chicken?  On the menu there was no description of what it is, a very negative part of their menu as there are other items that you would not be able to guess from its name alone.  When we asked the waitress she described it, as I quote "like popcorn chicken from KFC"...I thought it was cute and humours but why would I want to pay $12 for popcorn chicken when I can get it for $5.50 from KFC?  Also the description was not very helpful from the waitress.  Wished she knew more about the dish.  It was basically bite size chicken meat, lightly coated with flour and herbs, deep fried and served with what I suspect was Japanese mayo.  The dish was good, not mind blowing but not bad.

At the end of the evening there was a DJ entertaining us with some hip music, wish they would play Jazz...but that's just me!  Not sure how loud this place will become with the music and people chattering, with a high roof and wooden flooring I suspect there isn't  much sound dampening available here so you may struggle to hear when the crowd gets bigger.  So if you finding it hard to hear for all sort of reasons or just like to enjoy chit-chatting rather yelling at your friends, there is an outdoor option for the clear and sunny occasions.  Nevertheless, I think this is a lovely place to hang out whether you're in a small or large group.

OVERALL

FOOD: The tapas were okay.

PRICE: Reasonable.

WINE SELECTION: Very good selection.

SERVICE: Excellent!

ATMOSPHERE: Glamorous! and I really enjoyed the grandeur design of this place with tasteful furniture.

Summary: So here you go my personal review.  I have also read reviews from others on the website and unfortunately, majority aren't so good so far, however, it is still early days!  Personally, I would return and be soaked up in the atmosphere with excellent service and drink my wine but will try out other tapas dish.  For the next visit I would like to sit on the comfy couches upstairs and try out the duck fat potatoes, surely you cannot go wrong with anything fried in duck fat especially potatoes!

Soft-Centred Chunky Chocolate Cookies

Freshly baked Soft-Centred Chunky Chocolate Cookies - YUM!

I have been baking a lot lately in an attempt to help fundraise for my little brother's Ice Speed Skating Club: Hauraki Racing Club at Paradice Ice,  Avondale.  The cookies have been an absolute hit and raised lots of money for the club.  So I thought I would take this opportunity to share this mouth-watering Soft-Centred Chunky Chocolate Cookies recipe with you.

Who doesn't love chocolate chip cookies?  I didn't grew up with chocolate chip cookies, I know how shocking!  In Taiwan, we have many delicious cookies that are mainly short-bread based and coated with sugar or chocolates, and many varieties of wafers.  Growing up in Taiwan also meant eating many traditional snacks that seems to be a lost art these days, so I didn't really needed a fix from the Western cookies at the time.  It wasn't until the mid 90s, when my family immigrated to New Zealand that I was slowly introduced and later hooked on by these delicious chocolate chippy cookies.  First introduction was your normal supermarket brand cookies that you'll have during morning teas, or at camps.  Later in primary, we had "technology" days were we went out to Orewa North Primary School and learnt different skills such as woodworking, sewing and of course cooking.  I will always my first encounter with the Vanilla Chocolate Cookies, I still have the recipe!  Over the years, as I was busy concentrating on important things rather than "how to make myself a good house wife or baker", I began to buy the Double or Triple Chocolate Cookie Times!  During my varsity years it was the chocolate cookies from Subway just down the road.  However, none of which is or will ever be as good as the ones bake at home.

It has been a year since the life-changing earthquake first struck on our beloved garden city, Christchurch in the south Island, and it will be a year since I first tasted these "Soft-Centre Chunky Chocolate Cookies" made by Nishani Dayaratne.  Many of us put our science into good use and created delightful baked goodies to fundraise for the people in Christchurch, this was when Nishani made her cookies.  Come to think of it, she hasn't made the cookies since, where I have for multiple occasions - what can I say?  I HEART COOKIES!  I later discovered the recipe is very similar or near exact to the one I already had from the "Taste" magazines I ordered one year, the differences are the types of sugar and how the ingredients were measured - one by weight and the other by volume.  Not sure how many of you are keen bakers out there, although from a scientific point-of-view, I do have to agree that measuring dry ingredients by weight is more accurate than by volume.  However, it is so much quicker to do it by volume and if you're only baking something like cookies, a slight error wouldn't matter too much!  So this is the recipe I like to share with you today - the one measured out by volume.  It is delicious!  If you warm up the cookies in the microwave for 10sec, it'll become heavenly!  Enjoy :)

Soft-Centred Chunky Chocolate Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted 1 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar 1/2 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs 2 tsp vanilla extract 250-280g dark chocolate, cut into approx. 1cm2

Preheat the oven to 160°C.  Line 2 baking sheets with baking parchment.  In a medium bowl, sift through and mix together the flour, salt and baking soda. In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and sugar.  I tend to cream the butter with sugar until it becomes paler (Image 1).  Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until well blended (Image 2).  Whisk in the vanilla.  Using a wooden spoon, stir in the dry ingredients until combined (Image 3).  Stir in the chocolate (Image 4). Using a spoon, scoop up some dough and roll it into a ball and place it onto the baking sheets leave a 5cm gap between each doughs (Image 5).  I make sure there’s at least 2 pieces of chocolate chunks in each cookie and weigh them (32g per ball).  It is important to make sure the chocolate chunks are on the top, so it won’t melt away from the side or burn at the bottom of the cookie. Bake for 12min and check (depending on your oven) until the centre has melted and slight colouring in the edges (Image 6).  Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets or a wire rack.

How do you know if you made a good cookie dough in this particular recipe?  By hand actually!  When you roll the dough out in your hand, it should not stick and all it should leave on your hand is layer of glossy butter and melted chocolate afterwards.  If your dough is too wet, adjusts slightly with some more flour, but be careful not to add too much!  When you whisk in the eggs, don't overdo it - just enough to incorporate the eggs into the mixture.  When I do it, I whisk it slightly to breakdown the egg and then mix it in by stirring.  I tend to bake cookies one tray at a time since I like them evenly browned, however if you're short on time, baking two trays in one go still yields good results.  If you like your cookies to spread out more, then press it down gently before you bake them, I like my cookies chunky as it tend to retain moisture better.  You can also try making the cookies in 40g, they are also quite good but I wouldn't make it bigger than 50g each.

Bœuf Bourguignon aka Beef Burgundy

Since the New Zealand weather has becoming less and less predictable, and getting colder by the day, it almost feels like WINTER even though it is still only March.  I thought I would prepare everyone for the winter to come with this hearty Bœuf Bourguignon recipe!

Bœuf Bourguignon just like its name is a beef dish from the famous wine region Burgundy in the eastern part of France.  It was very popular back in the 1960s at dinner parties.  This rustic and rich comfort food is slowly creeping back onto the restaurant menus and into our homes.  Bœuf Bourguignon is one of those classic peasant dishes that have been refined slowly through time.  Since it was a peasant dish of origin, back then tougher cuts of beef were used and then slowly tenderised through slow and low simmering.  Nowadays, more luxury cuts are used so shorter cooking time is required.  However, thanks to the recession and inflation, maybe slowly we'll return back to the peasant days...which will make this dish even more perfect!

In my possessions I have 3 different versions of Bœuf Bourguignon; these are not "Julia Child's" version (which is Sauté de Boeuf à la Bourguignonne) that seems to be very popular since the release of the movie Julie and Julia which is slightly different from the original recipe described by Auguste Escoffier.  In my possession I have one from The Cook's Companion: The Complete Book of Ingredients and Recipes for the Australian Kitchen, the other from Cook: How to Cook Absolutely Everything (Australian Women's Weekly) and lastly for those read Chinese from this book 高級法式料理. One may think it is only a simple casserole dish, how different can the recipes be?  Well...they are VERY DIFFERENT!  The one from "The Cook's Companion" uses blade/chuck steak brandy, orange zest, flat mushrooms, shallots and bacon cooked slowly in a 170°C oven for 2 and 1/2 hours.  While the one from "Cook" uses gravy beef, bacon, mushrooms and shallots, it is cooked slowly on a stove for 2 hours.  The one from 高級法是料理 uses celery, carrots, tomato and tomato paste, and cooked in a 180-200°C oven for 1 and 1/2 hours.  

Bœuf Bourguignon - this is what it should look like at the end.  NOTE: this was made 

with Chicken stock as I didn't have beef stock or 8 hours to cook my own veal stock,  

so the colour is a lot lighter than you would expect a bœuf Bourguignon to be.  

It should be a dark rich reddish brown colour, closer to the colour of your red wine.

The recipe I'm providing here is from the 高級法是料理 recipe book in Chinese that I bought in Taiwan written by three famous French Chef whom apparently are "Professors of French Cuisine"...this makes my PhD in Bioengineering and Physiology so minuscule...However, I am unable to say whether this is the "authentic" version or closer to Julia Child's version or some other modernised version since I don't have Julia Child's book nor read French.  I enjoy this particular recipe because personally I don't believe in using brandy in this dish and don't like putting bacon into a beef dish, and lastly am not a fan of mushrooms, but these are not the mains reason why I chose the 高級法是料理 recipe.  The colour from this recipe is impeccable thanks to the part where you reduce the red wine into a thick sauce and then added into the casserole, and also there's a recipe at the back of the book that allows you to make the rich veal stock (fond de veau) - if you want amazing flavour then definitely make the stock.  Nevertheless, we are all pretty busy and cannot spend 8 hours making this - yes you read it correctly 8 hours!!!  This is when a handy dandy slower cooker comes in handy or supermarket pre-made beef stock :)

This recipe uses beef belly - and it was on special the other day ($9.99 per kg) so I just had to buy some.  I originally intended to make another dish, however after realising that I didn't have beer at home (yes, the Chinese Braised Beef Belly uses draft beer and yes it was also shocking to find that I didn't have any beer at home!), so I decided to make Bœuf Bourguignon instead - t'was equally delicious, though would be even more AMAZING if I had used the veal/beef stock!  It is on rare occasions that I didn't stock any beef stocks in my pantry so I had to use chicken stock...  I served this later with creamy and fluffy mashed potatoes and garlic butter zucchinis/courgettes and accompanied by a good bottle of Shiraz! (this was the left over wine - I used a cheap bottle for the 750mL part and good bottle for the 250mL part).  The Cabernet Merlot also goes well with this recipe.  I hope you will all enjoy this recipe!  Bon Appétit!

Bœuf Bourguignon

800g beef belly (cut into 4 pieces) 200 g onion, cubed 100g carrot, cubed 100g celery, cubed 30g butter 20g flour 130g tomato, skinned and chopped 25g tomato paste 1L red wine 500mL Veal/Beef Stock 2 cloves garlic, crushed 1 bouquet garini*

Preheat oven to 180°C.  In a pan, heat some oil (preferably vegetable oil like canola as it has a higher smoking point).  Salt and pepper the beef, place in the hot pan and brown the outside of the beef well.  Remove and drip dry the oil on a wire rack.  Make sure not to crowd the pan with the beef as it will not sear but instead stew. Tip away the excess fat from the pan then add in about 250mL of red wine and reduce (I tend to reduce it to 1/3 of its original volume or more). In a heat proof pot (like a casserole pot), heat the pot then add the butter.  Stir fry the onions, carrots and celery in the butter until a slight change in colour or slightly softened.  Add the flour and mix well (make sure you don't burn the flour). Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beef and 750mL red wine into the pot.  Boil the mixture for about 5min until the alcohols are burnt off. Add the reduced red wine from Step 3 and the veal/beef stock turn the heat on high and boil.  Reduce the heat after the mixture has boiled and skim off the debris from the top. Add the bouquet garini, garlic, and salt and pepper, place the lid on and cook in the preheated 180°C oven.  After 1hr and 30min, remove the bouquet garini and check the seasoning and adjust with more salt and pepper accordingly.  Serve with creamy mash potatoes or fettuccine.

* Bouquet Garini - 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig of thyme and 2-3 stalks tie together in a string.  Not all of us will have these fresh herbs in stock, so if you don't, omit the bay leave and use dried thyme.  It is vital that you use "European" celery and not the "Chinese" celery, as the Chinese celery fragrance overpowers the stock.

As you've noticed, this recipe requires 1L of red wine.  Most wine comes in a 750mL bottle, so what to do with the remaining wine?  I tend to drink a glass while I am cooking, but you can always save the rest and serve it with the Bœuf Bourguignon.  Depending on your oven, the recipe suggests a range of 180-200°C, I suppose this will depend on the type of beef you use and how well you know your oven.  My new oven tends to increase in heat over time, so I usually use the lower temperature as it will heat up later any way.