Bright and Light Perk up your aste buds
If brighter days are seeing you tire of soups and stews, these dishes should perk up your taste buds, says NZ House & Garden’s Sally Butters.
Weekend kitchen Fish kebabs with lemon leaves & garlicky feta mash Don’t think kebabs are just for barbecue season. They always look impressive on the plate.
Mash
700g floury potatoes, such as Agria,
peeled, cut into chunks
6 cloves garlic
1⁄2 cup olive oil
1⁄2 cup milk
100g feta, crumbled
Kebabs
600g skinless, boneless firm-fleshed
fish, cut into 3 cm pieces
2 cloves garlic, mashed with salt 2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsps dried oregano Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon 32 lemon leaves (or use fresh
bay leaves)
24 black olives, pitted
Cook the potatoes and peeled whole garlic cloves in boiling salted water until the potatoes are tender. Drain and mash. Stir in the oil and milk. Crumble through the feta and season to taste.
For the kebabs, mix fish with garlic, oil, oregano and lemon zest and juice. Thread on skewers with lemon leaves and olives and fry for 3 minutes on each side or until cooked through. Don’t eat the lemon leaves – they are there to impart flavour. Serve kebabs on a pile of the mash. A shaved fennel salad is good on the side. Serves 4 Bread rolls with harissa, fennel & chorizo No need to butter these bread rolls – they have a tasty surprise inside.
Bread rolls
2 tsp active dried yeast 220ml warm water
1 cup (140g) wholemeal flour 140ml cold water
1⁄3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus
some for drizzling
21⁄2 cups (360g) high-grade flour 2 tsp sea salt, plus extra for
sprinkling
Filling
1 tbsp olive oil 2 onions, chopped 200g chorizo, chopped 1 tsp fennel seeds 1 tbsp harissa paste 1 tbsp tomato paste
Combine yeast and warm water in a large bowl (ideally the bowl of an electric mixer) and leave for 10 minutes or until creamy. Stir in wholemeal flour, cover and set aside for 50 minutes or until bubbling.
If you have an electric mixer with a dough hook attachment, use this to mix in the cold water and oil. Add high-grade flour and salt, and mix until it comes together. Continue mixing for 3-4 minutes. The dough should be soft but not wet – remove from the bowl and knead by hand with a little flour if necessary. If mixing and kneading by hand, it can be useful to use a dough scraper and a little flour as the dough can be quite wet initially. Knead for 6-8 minutes until smooth.
Put dough into an oiled bowl, cover and leave to double in size – which should take about an hour, or put in the fridge overnight for a slower rise. Filling: Heat oil in a pan, add onions and cook until soft. Add chorizo and fennel seeds and cook for a few minutes then add harissa and tomato paste. Set aside to cool.
Divide risen dough into 16 pieces, flatten slightly, add a tablespoon of filling, bring the edges together and pinch to seal. Place sealed side down on a lined baking tray. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise for about 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200C. Once risen, brush rolls with milk and bake for 20-30 minutes until browned. Makes 16 Korean spiced beef patties with pear pickle Think of these as bread-free burger bites, combining sweetness, spice and crunch.
Pickle
2 tbsp boiling water 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1 tsp sugar
Pinch of chilli flakes Pinch of salt
2 pears, sliced into thin
matchsticks (skin on) Patties
500g beef mince
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil 2 spring onions, thinly sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced 3cm piece fresh ginger, peeled
and grated
Oil for frying
To serve
16 small lettuce leaves, susch as buttercrunch or cos Kimchi
Chopped peanuts
For the pickle, combine boiling water, vinegar, sugar, chilli and salt in a small saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Gently mix in the pears. Set aside until ready to serve.
For the patties, combine all ingredients apart from the oil and shape mixture into 16 patties. Fry in a little oil over moderate heat for 3 minutes each side then rest for 3 minutes.
Serve each patty in a lettuce leaf topped with the pear pickle, a little kimchi and a sprinkle of chopped peanuts. Makes 16