CARAMEL HAZELNUT SLICE and CARAMEL SHORTBREAD SQUARES

18 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in bars and cookies, Recipes

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It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago on July the 18th, I arrived in the United States, from the middle of a New Zealand winter to the middle of an extremely hot and humid summer in New Orleans, temporarily (or so I had planned) to work as an Occupational Therapist.

On our first trip back to New Zealand, my boyfriend at the time, husband now, claimed to have gained 15 pounds, most of which he attributed to the abundance of Caramel Slices, that he insisted on sampling at every bakery we passed, each one being just a little different from the last.

CARAMEL HAZELNUT SLICE

BASE

250 grams vanilla wine biscuits, finely crushed

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

250 grams unsalted butter, melted

CARAMEL FILLING

25 grams butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

395 gram can sweetened condensed milk

TOPPING

100 grams toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Line a 20cm by 30cm baking pan with baking paper.

Combine the biscuit crumbs and coconut in a large bowl. Stir in the melted butter. Press the mixture into the pan. Refrigerate to set.

To make the filling, combine the butter, golden syrup and condensed milk in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir constantly over a low heat for about 5 minutes, until the mixture boils and lightly browns. Pour the mixture over the base and allow to cool slightly.

Sprinkle the hazelnuts over the caramel and refrigerate overnight before cutting.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from The Foodtown Magazine

www.foodmag.co.nz/

CARAMEL SHORTBREAD SQUARES

FOR CRUST

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

1 1/4 cups flour

FOR TOPPING

1 stick butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips

FOR CRUST

Heat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Stir together butter, sugar and flour in a bowl until crumbly. Press evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake until pale golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes.

MAKE TOPPING

Stir together butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring frequently, until stiff, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat and beat vigorously with a wooden spoon 3 minutes.

Pour caramel over crust and spread evenly. Let cool until it begins to firm, about 30 minutes.

Melt chocolate chips, pour chocolate over caramel and spread evenly to cover. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from allrecipes

allrecipes.com/

CLASSIC MARGARITA

15 Friday Jul 2016

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in Cocktails, Recipes

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easy, favorite, Mum, New Zealand, quick, simple, summer

I picked up my oldest son from his weeklong camp a little early, so he would have time to say goodbye to his Grandma, who was traveling back to New Zealand.

saying Goodbye to Grandma at the airport

Before she left I made sure and mixed up a fresh and tasty Classic Margarita, as it is one of her favorite cocktails.

CLASSIC MARGARITA

Mix 1 1/2 cups tequila, 1 cup orange liqueur and 1 cup fresh lime juice. Add agave nectar to taste. Fill glasses with ice, add the margarita.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Rachael Ray, May 2016

www.rachaelray.com/recipes

SHEPHERDS PIE

26 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in Beef, Recipes

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cheddar, delicious, easy, New Zealand, potato, quick

A hectic, early morning taking my daughter to her horse show, cooking and grocery shopping, culminated in saying a quick goodbye to my husband who was leaving for a conference for the week. I was in need of quiet, calm time and couldn’t think of anything more wonderful than sitting out on the back deck after the requested Shepherds Pie dinner that evening, relaxing and reading with my kids while sipping a glass of wine.

SHEPHERDS PIE

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, chopped

500 grams ground beef

2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons ketchup

3/4 cup beef stock

3 potatoes chopped

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar

salt

black pepper

Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and cook until clear. Add ground beef and cook until well browned, stirring constantly. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Add ketchup and stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Set aside. Cook potatoes in boiling, salted water until tender. Drain and heat for a few minutes to dry off excess moisture, shaking the pan frequently. Mash potato, add butter, onion and half of the cheese, mixing until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Put ground beef mixture into a pie dish. Top with potato mixture, Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until golden and heated through.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from the Edmonds Cookery Book, 1992

www.edmondscooking.co.nz/

POTTED SMOKED FISH WITH TOAST and GREEK SALAD WITH OLIVE DRESSING and FEIJOA CAKE

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in Appetizers, Dessert, Recipes, Salad

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almonds, appetizer, cake, capers, capsicum, feijoa, feta, figs, fritters, greek salad, horseradish, New Zealand, olive dressing, pipis, smoked fish, Uncategorized

Naturally, after all the outdoor activities we engaged in while at our beach house in New Zealand last Spring Break, (http://recipedoodle.com, 3/3/15) we very much looked forward to mealtimes.

I really enjoyed looking at the New Zealand magazines for recipe ideas, and incorporating into our meals, lots of beautiful fresh produce, seafood, and foods that are harder or impossible to find here.

Steamed Mussels, picked fresh from the bay

Steaming Pipis

Bowl of cooked Pipis

Pipi fritters

I mainly made appetizers and sides to go along with the main meals and great New Zealand wines, and a little something sweet to finish off the evening.

– Figs fresh from the garden at the bach

Appetizer with ricotta, fig, crispy bacon and arugula

POTTED SMOKED FISH WITH TOAST

150 grams butter, melted
500 grams flaked smoked fish (I used trevally)
1/2 cup sour cream
3 teaspoons horseradish
1 tablespoon capers, drained well and coarsely chopped
1 lemon, juice and finely grated zest
toasted bread for serving

Place melted butter, smoked fish, sour cream, horseradish, capers, lemon juice and zest in a bowl and mix well. Season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place mixture in a serving dish, cover and refrigerate until set.
Remove potted fish from fridge 15 minutes before serving, garnish with extra capers and lemon zest, if desired, serve with fingers of toasted bread.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from NZ House and Garden, March 2014
nzhouseandgarden.co.nz/category/food/‎

GREEK SALAD WITH OLIVE DRESSING

1/4 cup finely chopped, pitted kalamata olives
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, crushed
pinch of sugar
400 grams cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 red capsicum, sliced
1 cucumber, thinly sliced
100 grams feta, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

Whisk the olives, oil, vinegar, garlic and sugar in a jug. Season with salt and pepper. Combine tomato, capsicum and cucumber in a shallow serving bowl. Top with feta. Drizzle dressing over salad. Sprinkle with oregano.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from recipes+, March 2014

FEIJOA CAKE

Freshly peeled and sliced feijoas

125 grams butter

3/4 cup sugar

125 grams butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon almond essence

1 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/3 teaspoon salt

225 grams sour cream

3 tablespoons ground almonds

4 to 5 feijoas

1 tablespoon demerara sugar

pinch of ground ginger

Heat oven to 200C.
Line the base of a 23 cm cake tin with baking paper. Grease baking paper and sides with baking spray.
Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time until well combined, then add essence.
Sift dry ingredients into mixture. Add sour cream and ground almonds. Fold in carefully until well combined. Mixture should be quite thick. Carefully scoop feijoa pulp out of skins and cut into thin slices.
Spoon mixture into cake tin and very lightly press in cut fruit. Sprinkle demerara sugar and ginger evenly over fruit.
Place cake in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 180C. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, turn oven off and leave cake in oven for 1 hour or overnight.
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from the Hamilton News, September 2012
www.nzherald.co.nz/hamilton-news/news/headli..

TRAVEL TUESDAY – WHITIANGA, NEW ZEALAND

03 Tuesday Mar 2015

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in Travel Tuesday

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bach, eel, Mercury Bay, New Zealand, pipi, summer vacation, Whitianga

When I think about going back to New Zealand, Whitianga is the place I most want to be. Our family has a bach, or holiday home there, and we savored the many childhood weeks each summer we were able to spend enjoying the area.

The beaches around Mercury Bay are most dear to me, and we dedicated a lot of time right across the road from our bach, building sand castles, swimming and catching the baby flounder and crab under “the bridge”.

Beach right across the road from our bach

When not playing in sand and sea, we spent hours hiking in the native forest and splashing and catching creatures in the creek running behind the bach.

Mud Eel caught in the creek behind the bach

A short walk along the beach or road, depending on our mood, would bring us to Old Mother Browns creek (not sure if thats the official name!!), where, if we were on the beach we would wade across, and depending on the tide, would get either a little or a lot wet, and where this past Spring Break, our kids had a great time swimming, and paddling around in an inflatable row-boat.

– Old Mother Browns Creek

Whitianga has a deepwater harbor, with many boats coming and going – often returning from a deep sea fishing expedition. Another favorite past time during my childhood summers, was fishing off the wharf – although we would rarely catch anything exciting enough to eat, unlike the boats we would see unloading their bountiful cargo of snapper and kawawai.

Young fisherman

Cousins on the playground right beside the wharf

Also close to the wharf, are the prime pipi digging grounds, and we make sure to collect these abundant shellfish each time we are at the beach house.

Wading out to dig Pipis

TRAVEL TUESDAY – FRONT BEACH and FLAXMILL BAY, NEW ZEALAND

24 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in Travel Tuesday

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Flaxmill Bay, Front Beach, New Zealand, The Eggsentric Cafe

TRAVEL TUESDAY – FRONT BEACH and FLAXMILL BAY, NEW ZEALAND

One of the many wonderful aspects of a vacation is being able to reminisce and remember it – and it is especially wonderful when it involves envisioning a beach while there is snow on the ground outside.

I was transported back in time, to the warm and sunny days on Front Beach, a short ferry ride across the Estuary from Whitianga, where our family spent many summer holidays.

It has been a long time since my Mums Uncle lived right on the beach, and it was great to revisit a place I have so many wonderful memories of!! Not only the short ride on the ferry, but the walk over the hill, the dairy where we would sometimes buy a cool drink or ice-cream, the first glimpse of the beautiful ocean, the rope swing that always terrified me, the shelly sand, devonshire tea and crafts at what used to be a cafe, picnics complete with bacon and egg pie, and in more recent times, meals at the Eggscentric Cafe, in Flaxmill Bay – a short walk from Front Beach.

My daughter isn’t as terrified of the rope swing as I used to be!

The Eggsentric Cafe (http://www.eggsentriccafe.co.nz/menu.html) opened in 1998, and is a feast for all the senses. Not only due to the excellent and innovative food, and cleverly placed art throughout the garden and hanging on walls, but also because of the regularly scheduled live music. We sat outside, soaking in the charming atmosphere and the sun, and enjoying the deliciousness of it all.

The sign outside the Eggsentric Cafe

TRAVEL TUESDAY – COROMANDEL, NEW ZEALAND

10 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in Travel Tuesday

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Coromandel, Coromandel Mussel Kitchen, New Zealand

TRAVEL TUESDAY – COROMANDEL, NEW ZEALAND

Passing through the pleasant town of Coromandel, we stopped at the Coromandel Cafe for lunch, then the picturesque Coromandel Mussel Kitchen for a second irresistible bite to eat. They have a great and very interesting menu, with the focus, aptly, on mussels. We sat outside in the lovely park-like setting, enjoying the gorgeousness of the day and their specialty, shellfish.

– The Grilled Half Shell Mussels with Garlic Butter at the Coromandel Mussel Kitchen

Our next stop was in Thames, where we encountered a disappointing bakery, but found a scenic seagull.

RASPBERRY AND MACADAMIA BLONDIES

09 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in bars and cookies, Recipes

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family, macadamia nuts, New Zealand, raspberries, Uncategorized, white chocolate

While visiting with family in New Zealand, we had a really lovely dinner at my younger brothers home. He and his beautiful family had recently moved to a lifestyle block, right outside of town, complete with cows and chickens and a pig on the way.

It was so wonderful to be with our family, have fabulous conversation in comfortable, gorgeous surrounds, and an incredible array of delectable dinner dishes – which these Raspberry and Macadamia Blondies followed.

Charming display of plates and cutlery

Delectable dinner dishes

RASPBERRY AND MACADAMIA BLONDIES

125 grams butter, chopped
2 x 180 gram blocks of white chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup macadamia nuts, toasted and chopped
125 gram punnet of raspberries
icing sugar for dusting, optional

Heat oven to moderate, 180C. Lightly grease a 20 centimeter square cake pan. Line base and sides with baking paper, extending paper 2 centimeters above the edge of the pan.
Place butter and half the chocolate in a saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted. Cool for 10 minutes.
Stir in flour, sugar, eggs, macadamias and remaining chocolate until combined. Fold raspberries through. Spread into pan.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until cooked when tested with a skewer. Cool in pan before cutting into squares.
Serve dusted with icing sugar, if desired
Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Woman’s Day
recipefinder.msn.co.nz/womans-day-recipes/‎ MSN

TRAVEL TUESDAY – SALT RESTAURANT AND BAR – WHITIANGA, NEW ZEALAND

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in Recipes, Travel Tuesday

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duck, lamb, New Zealand, pumpkin, Salt Restaurant and Bar, Whitianga

SALT RESTAURANT AND BAR – WHITIANGA, NEW ZEALAND

While in New Zealand visiting family, my husband and I were able to get away for a dinner by ourselves. We left the kids in Grandmas capable hands, along with a large package of fish and chips and were on our way.

We chose the highly recommended Salt Restaurant and Bar, situated by the marina with beautiful water and boat views. Although I recall several different restaurants occupying the same space over the years, until now, none has been able to claim the fine Pacific Rim Cuisine, or brought the same passion to the plate as Chef Alfred Hivatoa Peterson. Enjoy!

A glass of bubbles to start the evening

Then we shared an exquisite appetizer –

Smoked Duck Breast with Confit Duck Tortellini, Nectarine, Fennel and Cherry Jus

And sampled each others stunning main dishes –

Pumpkin Rissoni with Zucchini Flower filled with Asparagus Mousse, Pumpkin Seed and Herb Oil – for me

and

Lamb Mixed Grill of Backstrap, Cutlet, Merguez Sausage and Sweetbreads with Mixed Beans, Kumara and Eggplant Puree – for my husband.

TRAVEL TUESDAY – GOOD GEORGE BREWING – HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND

09 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by Ceri Wilkin in Recipes, Travel Tuesday

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Good George, Hamilton, New Zealand, pizza, pork belly, St Georges Church

Once a hallowed place of worship, St. Georges Church, was converted to a brewery and restaurant, after standing empty for many years.

Outside Good George

Since its transformation in 2011, Good George has created a great reputation for outstanding craft beer and cider. Brewed on the premises at Somerset Street in Frankton, the beers and ciders are served abundantly in bars and restaurants around Hamilton, and other cities of note, including Hobbiton.

The Daily Special

Brewery tours are available, as well as a great selection of food, seating areas, good cheer, friendly service and an extensive and exceptional choice of divine libations.

The beginning of the brewery tour

The tasting at the end of the tour

Good Things Come To Those Who Wait!

Good George napkin

Smoked chicken, prosciutto, aioli and pesto stone baked pizza – DELICIOUS!!

The pork belly at Good George

Recipe Doodle

Tag Archives: New Zealand

CARAMEL HAZELNUT SLICE and CARAMEL SHORTBREAD SQUARES

CLASSIC MARGARITA

SHEPHERDS PIE

POTTED SMOKED FISH WITH TOAST and GREEK SALAD WITH OLIVE DRESSING and FEIJOA CAKE

TRAVEL TUESDAY – WHITIANGA, NEW ZEALAND

TRAVEL TUESDAY – FRONT BEACH and FLAXMILL BAY, NEW ZEALAND

TRAVEL TUESDAY – COROMANDEL, NEW ZEALAND

RASPBERRY AND MACADAMIA BLONDIES

TRAVEL TUESDAY – SALT RESTAURANT AND BAR – WHITIANGA, NEW ZEALAND

TRAVEL TUESDAY – GOOD GEORGE BREWING – HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND