24 July 2012

New Zealand: Overview of Absence I

I think the past 18 months can be best broken up into three segments:
Hence, I will provide some general overview of the food we ate in each of those places, with a few featured meals.  First, New Zealand:
New Zealand
  We were kept busy most of the time toiling away in the winery.  However, Hastings had an awesome farmer's market, and we also found great Indian, South-East Asian, and health food grocery stores.
  Brown rice and various (frequently curried) lentil- and bean- based stews dominated many of our meals, usually supplemented by sauces I would make every week or two.  These types of meals were great because they provided a lot of nutritional content and calories in forms that we could largely make ahead of time.  You can tell that plate presentation was not a top priority!
  We also discovered Maltobella (malted sorghum), which we often had for breakfast with stewed fruit.
  We made about 20 gallons of Pinot Noir rosé during our stay as well, which was more than enough for the consumption of us and all of our coworkers.  And, of course, we visited as many wineries as we could on our days off to do tastings, and bought a lot of local wine to enjoy as well.  Favorite places we tasted include (Hawke's Bay) Te Mata and Ash Ridge, and (Martinborough) Ata Rangi, and Alana Estate.
  Anyway, following is a smattering of food photos from that time:
  • First snack upon arrival: instant coffee (little did we know how our feelings about it would change on this trip... for the better!), cashew clusters, rice cake.  Then we went out for sushi.

First meal (at the hotel in Auckland): brown rice and tomato salad
 
Another first meal: Green Zebra Mussels with Garlic Butter and Craggy Range Chardonnay.  The fish market was quite fun to visit.

The kiwis serve marshmallows with their coffee (often strawberry, and often in the shape of fish, dipped in chocolate--in which case they're called "chocolate fish").  It is a nice addition.  Pictured is a "flat white".
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And, to the winery:
Nori-wrapped sweet potatoes with chickpea curry, broccoli, pan-fried potatoes, broccoli

Tofu Thai-inspired curry

Golden kiwi: the custardy, soft-skinned cousin to the more commonly known (in the US) brown kiwi
 
Feijoas!  A fruit that tastes minty and limey, kind of like a mojito.  Everybody seems to have a feijoa tree, so when they're in season they always seemed to be in ample supply. To the side is one of our coworker's dinners (five sausages and a chicken breast!).

Roasted tomato sauce, veggies, potatoes, avocado...
 
Potato and white bean stew, with local Camembert-style cheese, tomato, basil
 
"Cheek peas" (as they were labelled at the store) with hull: curry with brown rice (typical lunch) 

Rice noodles, tofu, veggies, fried egg (typical dinner)
 
Mashed potatoes, caramelized onion, tofu, zucchini
  
Kumara (the other great NZ produce--a flavorful sweet potato) curry and brown rice
 
"Tasty cheese" (NZ parlance for  aged white cheddar), tomato coconut milk sauce with rice noodles and veges (NZ for vegetables)
 
The following two photos are from one of our favorite meals we had at a restaurant during our trip--at Black Barn, a nearby winery.  
  • Passion fruit tart and sorbet
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  • Gelato (Cassis, Strawberry, and lemon, I think?)
 
Roasted eggplant slices with tofu and ??, plus deglazed coconut cream sauce
 
Typical night stand: 
  • instant coffee, matcha, hot water kettle, mochi, Whittaker's chocolate
  • Also featured: a feijoa spritzer I concocted (Fresh feijoa, reduced pinot noir juice, soda water) 
 
Jordi, our Catalan friend, cooking us his speciality: seafood paella 
 
The view we had to deal with every meal (also featuring the pinot rosé Jeremy and I made)
 
One of the paellas 
 
One of the great things we learned about while in New Zealand: Heston Blumenthal's chocolate mousse (23:27 boiling water:chocolate... mix and whip).  So, Jeremy chopped us a lot of chocolate while I tested the boundaries of that recipe.
 
Easter dinner with friends: snapper
 
And, the snapper with saffron béarnaise, stuffed zucchini blossoms, roasted butternut purée
 
The brown sugar pavlova Abby made for dessert (with whipped cream, golden kiwis, mandarins, and passion fruit)
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Half a hoggett (one year older than a lamb) that our English coworker, Marcus, bought
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Bringing the spirit of Mexico to New Zealand (a new experience for all of our coworkers, I think): Chiles Rellenos!
  • Roasted poblanos and anaheims, peeled/seeded, stuffed with tasty cheese, then battered and fried
  • Brown rice with tomatoes and vegetables
  • Slow-cooked spicy black beans
  • Guacamole
  • Salsa verde and pico de gaillo
  • Sour cream, lettuce
 
Yet another cool new fruit: tamarillos!  Similar in flavor to gooseberries, but more luscious and not quite as acidic.  About the size of roma tomatoes.  Here they are, poached and peeled:
 
Tamarillos baked with sabayon.
 
These are fish Jeremy and I caught while visiting Abby's family on Waiheke, where her dad took us fishing (Jeremy got the red snapper on top, and I got the Kahawai on the bottom).  We took them back to the house and lightly sautéed them.

We also got these wild mushrooms on the shore of Lake Taupo (directed by someone who knew how to ID them).  They tasted kind of like cherries.
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