Currying favour with the kids
Denise Irvine talks to Lisa and Brent Quarrie, who normally cook for hundreds of hungry Hamilton patrons at Hayes Common, but for now just cater for four.
Lisa Quarrie had a fridge full of restaurant leftovers at home, and says her family were able to eat like kings from it for three days. ‘‘We’ve got heaps of eggs and some amazing bacon from Magills Butchery in Te Awamutu. We’re also living off prawn slaw for lunch. When that runs out, we’ll be looking to other things.’’
Quarrie and husband Brent are both chefs, the owners of Hamilton restaurant Hayes Common.
They marked their business’ fourth birthday just a few days before shutting the doors to comply with the Government’s Covid-19 pandemic regulations that saw eateries and other nonessential businesses close nationwide.
‘‘In the end, it was a relief to close,’’ Quarrie says, ‘‘there was so much stress to keep trading – and to look after our staff and customers.’’
On their last day, the Hayes Common team loaded food bags with surplus items, contacted their Hamilton East neighbourhood customers and distributed the bags among those who registered interest. Payment was by koha.
Quarrie says they simply didn’t want food to go to waste, and they’ve truly appreciated all the support they’ve had from their customers in such difficult times.
‘‘Community and people have become so important,’’ she says.
Now she and Brent are at home with their daughters Ruth, 8, and Lucy, 5, and – now the leftovers in the fridge are running out – they’ll turn to their garden to help feed their family.
Quarrie says they have courgettes and herbs growing at the restaurant and, at home, they have butternuts literally going nuts.
‘‘Because we’re busy owner-operators, we don’t spend a lot of time in our garden. Things go wild and the butternuts are self-seeded, we must have about 50 of them. We’ve given some away and some we’ll store until the restaurant reopens.’’
In the next few weeks of lockdown, they’ll make variations of a mildly spicy Balinese butternut curry. There is a strong DIY component to it that Quarrie says her children enjoy. Along with the curry and steamed rice, she puts out bowls of accompaniments, such as cucumber, toasted coconut, cherry tomatoes, and crispy shallots. ‘‘You dress up your own dish,’’she says. She’ll also get the children involved in making tacos or rice paper rolls, with plenty of ingredients for them to assemble their own meal.
‘‘They like doing this and it’s a good way to use up bits and pieces. You can set up a grazing table.’’
Quarrie adds other ideas for making the most of your resources:
■ When you’re cooking, make extra portions for the freezer.
■ Reinvent leftovers: turn roast vegetables into soup or frittata; stir leftover chopped sausages through risotto; fry mashed potatoes with a bit of sausage or chorizo for a hash.
■ Store leftovers carefully in the fridge and keep fresh items separate from cooked foods. They’ll last longer.
Quarrie also plans to do some baking with her girls.
‘‘After all the stress, I’ve had this epiphany that I’ve been handed four weeks to spend with my family. The kids are over the moon to have us around. It will be nice to do some baking with them.’’
There are also all those leftover eggs to use up and this gets a bit complicated in her family.
‘‘We all like them cooked differently – boiled, poached and scrambled.’’ Balinese butternut curry Serves 4 Spice paste You can use 3-4 tablespoons of packaged red or
yellow curry paste, but it is fun to make your own. Don’t worry if you don’t have everything on the list, you can omit, substitute and create. Use what you have on hand. Butternut soaks up flavours like a sponge.
■ 3 garlic cloves
■ 1 long red chilli, seeded and chopped
■ 1 large tomato, chopped
■ 1cm piece fresh turmeric, or 2 teaspoons ground turmeric ■ 2 macadamias, almonds or brazil nuts
■ 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
■ 1 piece lemongrass stalk, roughly chopped
■ 2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger
■ Half an onion, diced
■ 3 teaspoons maple syrup
■ A pinch of salt Other ingredients
■ 3 tablespoons coconut (or vegetable) oil ■ 1 bay leaf
■ 2 pieces lemongrass, knotted (or lemon zest, or lemongrass in a jar)
■ 3 kaffir lime leaves
■ 650g butternut (or pumpkin, ku¯ mara or potato), chopped into 2-3cm cubes
■ 400ml water
■ 120ml coconut milk
■ 1 tablespoon fried shallots
■ 2 tablespoons soy sauce or fish sauce Start by making the spice paste. Blitz all of ingredients in a food processor until well combined into a golden yellow paste flecked with chilli and tomato skin. Heat the oil in a heavy-based pot or a wok over medium heat, and fry the spice paste for 30 seconds. Add the bay leaf, lemongrass and lime leaves, and toss for 30 seconds. Add chopped butternut to the pot and fry for one minute, then add the water and simmer until the butternut has softened and cooked through – about 30 minutes. Add coconut milk and fried shallots, and soy or fish sauce, and gently simmer for one minute, until slightly thickened. Serve with steamed rice and any of the following accompaniments for an interactive family meal: chopped cucumber, roasted cashews, toasted coconut, eggplant or tomato sambal, cherry tomatoes, fresh coriander, sliced spring onion, crispy shallots, sliced chilli, grilled chicken, or tempeh, or meatballs.