Who needs Twitter?

When I first started investigating what this Twitter thing was all about, I deduced that the 'Serious' users took umbrage with the 'Frivolous' users, whom they accused of wasting precious bandwidth by posting worthless junk like "Hey Look I'm having a bagel for breakfast", and "On the Tube, with a coffee and a danish".

Far better, the Serious users would argue, that Twitter be used for Useful Things, like the [Insert Product or Service Here] that the Serious user is peddling.

Truth be told, I still haven't quite figured Twitter out. I don't know how to follow #streams yet, and I seem to have a lot of people following me who just want to sell me stuff. So I ignore them.

Am I a Serious Twitter user? I use Twitter as an additional tool to keep an ear to the ground in the publishing world mainly, but it's so full of noise that it's hard to know what you're hearing that's worthwhile and what's not. Twitter is, for me, a mild diversion at the very most. I'm sure there's some real value to it, but I haven't had to the time to really get to grips with it yet.

I do, however, pop links to Freshly Ground up there from time to time. I haven't yet posted what I had for breakfast on Twitter, but there's a first time for everything.

Even though this is a scheduled post, when I get back online I'll be sure to let all my 30-odd followers know that if they'd like a look at what a Fantasy writer cum-Weekend Chef eats for breakfast on a Sunday, they can get a glimpse, in full living colour, with the simple click of a mouse.

So when it comes to posting on Twitter about what you had for breakfast, who needs it? That's what I've got a blog for!

French Toast with Bacon and Maple Syrup

(Serves 3, or 2 if you're slow)

Start with 3 large free range eggs.
In a large bowl, mix up the eggs with 3T Milk, and season with freshly ground pepper and salt.
Add a little grate of fresh nutmeg. (Ah, freshly grated nutmeg. How you brighten my days and warm my nights.)
Start frying up some bacon in a hot pan, preferably greased with the bacon rind.
Soak a piece of bread in the egg mixture while a slab of butter sizzles in a nearby pan. I have two pans on the go at a time like this; there's no point letting it get cold. Fry each piece of French Toast for about 3-4 minutes a side, until brown and crispy and cooked through.
Dish up with crispy fried bacon and maple syrup, with a pot of fresh coffee near at hand. Best eaten with the sun pouring in on the kitchen table, or rain running down the window while you're cozy inside.

A Day to Remember

What a weekend it was. It was such a weekend, it's taken me until now to catch up. The Big Deal was the civil union/wedding of my good friends, Morgue and StrongerLight. Congratulations to you both!
Yes, that's the handsome groom in the kilt and the lovely bride in white, and the official photographer lurking under their feet.Once it got dark, you could even see some of my handiwork in the background against the walls! Thanks to Jenni for letting me use her photo, since I was silly enough to put our camera away rather early in the piece.

I was also lucky enough to meet Giffy for the first time, and hopefully we'll be able to have them down for dinner sometime soon.

Wellington turned on the most beautiful day for the wedding couple and the almost 300 guests who turned up to attend. I betcha they felt popular.

To put that number in perspective, the Civil Union was an open invitation to everyone the bride and groom knew, and the catering was a bring-a-plate/pot-luck affair. And you know what? It really, really worked.

So what did the crew at Freshly Ground contribute to help feed such a mass? Well, full credit goes to Dessert Chef who whipped up a batch of mini-quiches, and they were so nice we made them again for dinner. But the salsa was just something I whipped up at home. Apologies to any of the guests reading this, who may have had one of Dessert Chef's delicious creations but now feels they were shortchanged by not getting a drizzle of this lovely fresh dressing. Now, you can try it yourself!

Bacon Quiche with Fresh Spicy Salsa

(Makes 1 Large or 2 Medium Quiches)

Quiche Ingredients (I'm doing this because my big sister told me to...)
400g bacon, chopped and fried
1 onion, also chopped and fried
3 large Free Range Eggs
1 Cup Grated Cheese
1 Cup Self-Raising Flour
1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Peas (Frozen ones are fine)
In a bowl, mix up the fried bacon, onions, cheese, peas, and flour.
Add the eggs and milk and mix well.

Pour into a greased and floured pie dish, and place into the oven at 200C for 25-30mins.
Check the quiche is cooked by putting a knife through the centre. If it comes out clean, it's all done. If not, pop it back in for a few more minutes and check again.

Meanwhile, whip up your salsa (Warning: Uncharacteristic cheat methods ahead).
In a small bowl, chop up 1 inch of cucumber, 1 tomato, 1/8 of a red capsicum, and about 1/4 Cup of Sweet Thai Chilli Sauce. Mix well and leave to sit for a while, preferably in the fridge.
Spoon the salsa over the hot quiche, for a cool, spicy, crunchy contrast to the hot savoury eggy thing on the plate. It's like a salad in disguise.

The Taste of Pork

It seems that pork just isn't what it used to be.

Twice in the past month or so I've had conversations with family members from older generations who have lamented the decline in the taste of pork from how they remember it. As I understand it, the old adage that you are what you eat applies to livestock as well. I've commented before on the way free range meat tastes so much more real than bulk-produced stuff. We're lucky in NZ that our beef, lamb and mutton are pretty much free range by default, and it's only our chickens and pigs that are raised in confinement and fed grain.

Much as I take issue with pen-bred meat, I've also discussed on this blog the dilemmas of trying to eat well, and trying to retain some sort of ethical compass while keeping ourselves nutritionally healthy on a budget that we can afford. I imagine that I'll draw some criticism just by raising the issue of animal rights, but that's OK. Debate is healthy.

Like I've said before, if we could afford to eat all organic free range meat and produce we would, just like if I could grow all the fruit and veges I needed to feed my family I would. No doubt if we were forced into the situation of having to keep animals as a food source we would find ourselves eating a whole lot less meat overall. But the social and economic realities are that I only have so much time in a day, and while I make an effort to do what I can to support humane and sustainable food production, there comes a point when we have to look at what's on the shelf and what's in the wallet, and take what we can for what we can afford.

We all find different ways to manage the minefield of existing as an omnivore in a social order where our eating habits are largely driven by profit-geared corporations, their market placement and their advertising machines. I'm aware that we don't co-exist with our food sources, but exploit them and the land (or sea) that they live and grow on, not simply to survive but to fully enjoy the bounty that agribusiness can supply us with. However, for all my good intentions, I can't provide my family with protein and nutrients simply out of goodwill. And I've listened to all the arguments in favour of vegetarianism, and while I agree with a lot of it, particularly the stuff that relates to how we treat animals, I'm still an omnivore. I feel guilty only when I think about it too much, but never when I'm eating.

As a rule, we only buy free range eggs, and that's a win all round, since good FR eggs have more taste and thicker contents than cage eggs. I also get them from the market, where they're cheaper than similar products at the supermarket. I also buy lamb from the Wai-Ora stall at the market every week, as I've posted several times. I've been pleased to see these guys are bringing more product to the market now than they had been previously, which hopefully means that word-of-mouth advertising like mine in support of suppliers like them is working. And that in itself is a step in the right direction.

I've also made the point before, and I'll make it again: We all (and I mean all of us, not just the Kiwis reading this) need to learn how much is enough when it comes to eating meat in particular, and cut down. There are so many good reasons to do this that it would make a post all of its own, but suffice to say that it's better for the land, the animals, our wallets and our bowels to eat less meat. (I don't shy away from that image - after all, we're all animals made of meat and offal too, remember).

So far this summer, we've only had leftover meat after one barbeque, rather than after every one like we used to have, and those leftovers were eaten up the next day. Reduce the excess, reduce the waste, cook what you need, and enjoy it. And your finances will appreciate it too.

Which brings me back to my original point: If our pork is raised in pens now and is accordingly of a much lower quality and inferior taste to what it used to be, then that might go some way towards explaining why the old methods of cooking pork were fairly simple, letting the meat speak for itself (apologies for the bad imagery), while nowadays there seems to be a fixation with dressing pork up with chilli, herbs, spices, nuts, fruits, and other bits and pieces to give it flavour. Instead of being a taste explosion all its own, pork has become a blank canvas for a good chef to demonstrate his skills on.

It seems a shame. But until free range pork becomes affordable, I'll still eat what they stock in the supermarket (we have a butcher across the road from where I work who stocks organic, free range meats, but at $16.00 for 2 pork steaks, you can see why I'd prefer to pay $6.00 at the supermarket for unethically raised, bland, but affordable meat).

There's always wild pork, of course, but that's just as expensive, and a completely different flavour that Dessert Chef can't abide, so we won't be going down that road anytime soon.

And on that note, here's one of my most recent entries in the Dollying up the Pork stakes.

Pork Chops with Sage and Apple Crust

(Serves 2, with a bit sliced off for the little fella)

In a small pan, heat some olive oil and fry the following:
2 Cloves of Garlic, minced;
1 Onion, finely chopped;
1 small Apple, finely diced;

Once the apple and onion have started to soften, add a splash of worcester sauce and 3T of brown sugar. As this reduces, add the leaves stripped from 3 stalks of fresh sage and 3 stems of fresh mint, roughly chopped. Once this has heated through and is a bit saucy, remove to a bowl and heat fresh oil in the pan.
Season two large pork chops with freshly ground pepper and salt, and place in the hot oil. Allow the chops to brown a little, then add a splash of white wine. Shake, and allow the wine to be absorbed. When the underside of the chops is nice and brown, turn over and repeat. Cook until there is no pink in the juices.

Spoon the apple mixture over one side of the chops, grate some parmesan cheese over top, and place under the grill to brown.
Serve with couscous cooked in chicken stock, fried mushrooms, and fresh veges.

Guilty of Poaching

I've got a lot going on right now, so the blogging has been a bit thin. Besides all the busy-ness of family life and work, I've been making good on my commitment to write something creative every day (at least 12 sentences, thanks Jane), gearing up for shooting the first instalment in a webTV series, working with Morgue on a campaign to put pressure on John Key to keep the ETS in place, redrafting the obituary for Hugh Cook (the Herald didn't run it this Saturday, but they hope to this weekend - how inconsiderate, those local notaries passing away at a time like that!), and on the weekend I finally got out in the garden and put down some onions, potatoes and pumpkins. To be honest, some of the pumpkins are self-sown, as well as one potato plant I found amongst the weeds, and among those are a number of self-sown tomato plants as well. Pictures will follow at some stage, I promise.

But I won't complain. Now I just have to stay on top of the weeding and watering duties. Meanwhile, out the front, the herbs are going wild and we have a single brocolli that survived the ravages of the neighbourhood cats, one strawberry plant, and a few cultivated tomato seedlings. Looking good for the summer season.

Anyway, I got a call on the weekend from Uncle H asking how to poach an egg. Apparently Uncle H never used to like poached eggs, but since working on the boat and being fed catered meals for two weeks at a time, he has acquired the taste. And it just so happened that I had very recently made myself poached eggs for breakfast in anticipation of posting here (Dessert Chef doesn't seem to like them - why not is beyond me), and I had also been listening to a chap on Radio NZ describing how best to poach an egg, so I guess this post was inevitable.

As it turns out Uncle H and Liz E. Bear were missing the key ingredient required to make this dish a success: Vinegar. And as it also turns out, my wild suggestion to substitute the vinegar with wine was also ill-advised. Not to worry. They weren't my eggs.

The chap on the radio seemed to think this was best done in a deep pot, so I must try that one day.

Normally, I poach my eggs in a pan. Get the water rapidly simmering, add a generous pinch of salt and about 2T of vinegar; I tend to use balsamic, but white, brown or even cider are OK, as is red wine vinegar. If you're not sure, just use 1T the first time you make it.
Next, crack in your nice fresh free range eggs and put down your bread in the toaster. Keep the heat under the pan at a constant level, maintaining that simmer, and by the time your toast is popped and buttered, the eggs will be done. Drain the water and scoop onto your toast, dressing with freshly ground black pepper and a little salt.

A Change of Seasons

I can't believe how busy I've suddenly become. Winter is gone and the days are getting longer, but it seems that there is more and more going on to fill them up. I barely even have time to blog anymore! Gone are those cold winter nights when it was OK to sit at the table with the fire roaring and waffle on about sustainable gardening and the guilt of eating bad food. Work is going nuts and since I published Urban Driftwood, that has been keeping me busy as well. It was meant to be a job off my plate, not create more work! Oh well, its good we've been generating interest. We even sold a copy!

Daylight Savings didn't help. It took more like two weeks rather than the usual one to get over the inevitable jetlag, but now that it's normal we're loving the extra sunshiney hour. It means that Isaac is staying up later too, just enough to chew into our sanity time in the evening and deny us time to get important things - like blogging - done. Mind you, I seem to have had an awful lot of television to catch up on lately, mainly because I was ignoring it all while I completed the third draft of my novel. Now I'm at a bit of a loose end in that regard. I have this hankering to start on my next one, but Dessert Chef has rapped me over the knuckles and told me to bl*@dy well DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT first. For that I must turn to my good friend Morgue, he of the sly wit and the golden wink, who knows all about this getting-a-book-published business. So alas, there will be no mad launch into a wild new adventure with all my favourite characters just yet. Patience, my friends.

I spent all day today out in the sun. Went to the Hutt Riverbank Market this morning, and it was packed. Heaps of people out in the gorgeous spring air hunting for new season asparagus and other delicious goodies among the cacophony of greengrocers and fishmongers. I doled out my coins very carefully, and was rewarded with enough change at the end of the circuit to afford some more of my favourite lamb. I got the sausages this time, and I'll be sure to let you know how that goes. Then I went up to Aunty L's where I spent another afternoon with Uncle B building playhouses for their kids and Isaac. What amazed us was that when we came to put all the bits together, it actually looked like a little house. There's something to be said for measuring before you cut, then. Who would've guessed?

Tomorrow we have to bring the frames we built at Aunty L's for Isaac's one home and assemble them into his playhouse. Going to be another long day in the sun. So much for getting any gardening done. Oh well, it's Labour Weekend next weekend, so we can do it all then. Fingers crossed for sunshine.

And I hear that people come here because I write about food sometimes. OK, lets see what I can pull out of my chef's hat today.

Cheese Hash (with Leftover Roast Veges)

This is a great way to use up those pesky leftover veges that seem to hang around the kitchen after a big roast dinner, and aren't quite enough to make into soup.
Grate up as many leftover veges as you need to feed the hungry mouths present. I used potato and kumera, about 8 pieces in total. If you have a some roast onion, chop that up raggedly and add all this to a bowl. Grate in a hunk of Cheddar cheese and a generous shaving of parmesan cheese, add freshly ground salt and pepper, and break in 2-3 eggs, or as many as you need to avoid open revolution.

Fry in hot ricebran oil (no cholesterol!) turning once or twice to prevent burning. Slice up a tomato or two and fry at the same time. When the hash is cooked, serve with sour cream and a sprinkle of paprika, along with the obligatory hot coffee.
Not only is that a brilliant way to start a weekend morning, its also making the most of the food in your pantry and therefore the money in your wallet. Nyummy.

First of the Summer Burgers

Spring is an awfully two-faced creature. Yesterday we were basking in the sun, discussing how it actually felt hot outside, and today the country is battening down the hatches as gale force winds close Wellington airport and rip rooves off houses. Oh, and it's raining and cold. The fire is burning at home, while here at work the yard is a hazardous place to be without a hardhat. I would love to point out how this must be a sign of climate change, but I've lived in Wellington for 20 years now. Nothing about this change of heart surprises me. I just feel sorry for the lighting guy that I know is out in this soup up a 45' boom lifter wrapped up in a tarp and desperately needing to pee, waiting for the First AD to call lunch. Chin up, Saxon, this is the glamour of the film industry.
Anyway, we're willing to take any hint of spring as an excuse to get back into summery food. Dessert Chef made fresh bread rolls using our standard pizza dough recipe, rising them in Texas muffin tins so they kept their shape, and we had Bacon and Egg burgers to welcome burger season to our house for the year.
I'm sure I don't need to pretend this is a recipe. Fry the bacon. Fry the eggs until the the whites are set and the yolks are still running. Dress with garlic aioli and pile on top of shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, beetroot, cucumber, pineapple and cheese.
Welcome back to summer! (Let's keep up the illusion, anyway, shall we?)

Just like your Tuck Shop used to make, only better.

Righto, back to the food.

Like any red-blooded kiwi lad, I like a nice pie. Especially when you can pull some leftovers out of the freezer , grate some cheese and roll out some pastry and away you go.

Ok, I'll be honest. Dessert Chef C made this one, and the filling was actually from Liz E. Bear's Bolognaise. I even think that the cheese was pre-grated! So given all those conditions, I'll try to represent as accurately as I can how to whip up a luverly Mince 'n' Cheese Pie from scratch. Of course, if you too have Liz E. Bear's leftovers in the freezer then you can just use them!

Mince and Cheese Pie

(Serves 4)

For the filling, fry up an onion and some garlic, then add 400g of Beef Mince. Brown and cook well. Add a handful of chopped mushrooms and courgettes towards the end. Add about 400g of pasta sauce, preferably a thick one. Heat through and reduce until the sauce is nice and thick. In other words, make up a Bolognaise sauce and thicken it. Put aside to cool.

Grease a 30cm pie dish, then sprinkle it with flour. On a floured bench, roll out a sheet of flaky puff pastry. Drape the pastry over the dish and ease into the corners of the dish without tearing it. Roll out a second sheet and stand by.
Spoon in the filling. Grate 1 1/2C of cheddar cheese and a 1/4C of parmesan cheese over the mince, followed by a few twists of freshly ground pepper. Place the top sheet of pastry on the pie and press the edges into the base firmly with a fork. Brush lightly with milk. Trim away the excess pastry and poke the top with a few airholes to let the steam escape.
Place in the oven at 200C on the centre rack for about 40-45 mins. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for at least 5 mins.
Dish with care. Filling will be hot and delicious.

Isaac doesn't seem to do too well with mince, so Dessert Chef C made him little bacon and egg pies instead. Lucky Boy!

Mmmm... Pie...

I can't claim responsibility for this masterpiece. I'll be the first to tell you that Dessert Chef C has more tricks up her sleeve than just jelly and trifle. This one's not even a dessert! I believe the recipe is straight from the Dollars & Sense Cookbook, with a few minor tweaks. And for anyone who ever thought that a service station could dish up a bacon and egg pie, try this and you'll never eat a dodgy old servo B&E ever again.

If you're a keen baker, feel free to make your own pastry. We just use the frozen stuff, which is perfectly fine, and cheap too.

Bacon & Egg Pie

Roll out about 300g of pastry to line a greased oven dish, about 27cm round. Roll the remainder out to go on top and pop back in the fridge.

Chop up 4 rashers of bacon and 1 onion, then fry until lightly browned in the bacon rind. Place half the bacon and onion on the bottom of the pie, and put 1 cup of cooked frozen veges on top. Break the eggs over these and as you prefer, either break up the yolks or leave them whole. Grate about 1/2C of cheddar cheese over the eggs, then place the rest of the bacon and onion on top of the cheese.

Place the top layer of pastry on, press the edges down with a fork, and punch it with several air holes. Brush with a little milk. Bake at 200C for about 40mins. Ensure the filling is cooked before serving.

Ham and Vegetable Fritattas

Can you spell Vege Overload? This dish could just as easily be a vegetarian option simply by omitting the Ham. This is a great way to sneak a bunch of veges onto the kids' plates, and also a fantastic way of enjoying really fresh produce. Strange, you might say, it wouldn't seem that putting veges in a fry pan covered in egg would do anything for them, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Ham and Vegetable Fritattas (serves 4)

Cube and boil a kumara and two potatoes in lightly salted water.

Slice a handful of mushrooms, one red onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 1/4 of a capsicum, and 3 or 4 leaves of silverbeet. Cut a few florets of brocolli and cauli. Cut 3 slices of ham into small pieces (if you're not set on the vege rush).
When the potato and kumera are just cooked, drain through a colander, reserving the cooking water. Allow to cool slightly (so that the heat of the veges doesn't start cooking the egg prematurely). Return the water to the pot and put the pot back on the heat, bringing the water to the boil. Put the brocolli and cauli in a colander and place in the boiling water, blanching for about 4 minutes. This will heat the florets but leave them crunchy and full of flavour.

In a small non-stick frying pan, heat 1T of olive oil.

For each fritatta:
In a small bowl, add a portion of everything you now have ready, including a scattering of ham if you're using it, and 1-2 eggs (I always think I need to do 2, and it always ends up being too much for the pan, greedy boy!). Mix well. When the oil is hot (but not smoking) scrape in the fritatta mixture. Allow the egg to set on the bottom, then keep the fritatta moving by jiggling the pan frequently. When the upper side of the fritatta is semi-solid, flip the fritatta. If you're not confident that you can do this without destroying the meal (as I so often do), slide the fritatta out onto a plate, then place the frying pan upside-down over the uncooked side, hold it all carefully with a tea towel or two, and flip it over. Brown on the underside and dish with a bit of pepper and your favourite sauce or relish.
Repeat until you have cooked enough for everyone, or else some people might get a bit titchy at being forgotten.

Feeding the Sick

The dreaded Winter Flu has run its path through our house. First Isaac, then me, and now C have all been knocked down by the bug. Thus, attention to cooking and, by association, this blog, have both been neglected. Suffice to say that there have been several repeats of the usual fare, including Chicken and Corn Soup and Curry. Meals have ticked away in the slow cooker, and leftovers have been defrosted. But there is one good thing about the raw throat, chesty cough, unexpected bouts of sneezing, aching joints and muscles, and alternately blocked or running sinuses: that thing is called Scrambled Eggs.

I was taught how to make proper Scrambled Eggs by a Doctor in Amsterdam, of all places. Its not the usual New Zealand way, and for that I make no apology. These eggs come out moist, fluffy, and silky, perfect for sore throats, and the only difference is in the technique. For a start, leave the frying pan in the cupboard.

Dutch Scrambled Eggs

Break 4 large Free Range Eggs into a small pot. Add 4T of milk and freshly ground salt and pepper. Whisk up with a fork and heat gently over a low heat, 2 - 3 on the dial. As the egg on the bottom starts to cook, whisk it gently, allowing the uncooked egg to run down the bottom of the pot. Meanwhile, cook some toast. Keep gently whisking the egg until it has cooked through but it still moist. Grate in a tiny bit of either cheddar or a hard salty cheese like parmesan. Allow the cheese to melt through and dish on toast. Great with avocado and sweet chilli sauce.