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Another Bloody Round

 

I indulged in a sleep in this morning, when I first got up at 5.30 it seemed dumb, so back to bed I went. Then I worked all day, paying no attention to my menu planning. Scoffed a splendid pulled pork pie for breakfast, donated along with a bag full of meat last night (only a madman went to the supermarket) by my mate Linc, fair swap for 4 liters of plum wine mind you. So by 5.30 I was starving no time for planning ,I cranked up the coal range cooked a steak and ate it with some salad, with a first course of somewhat splendid Coromandel Smoking Co mussels, you can get those boys from Egmont Seafoods. So here is Saturday nights offering as steak and greens is hardly a menu!

A couple of months ago I made a foray to Auckland to see Tim Minchen, I was nervous that we would not get in to my favourite dinner joint Depot, so I went for lunch just for insurance. I got a seat on the pass, talked to the chefs and clocked the goings on in the kitchen with an eagle eye. Discovery of the day Taro Chips, yep I know and you can scoff but I bloody tell you, they are the businesses. Trust old Al to turn something almost inedible into a masterpiece. Bonus move, getting a table for dinner, twice in one day a dream for sure! So I managed to have a crack at most of the menu over the day, another highlight is the parsnip puree. So the thing about Al is he is not all precious and protective, he shares the love by the way of a book, Depot, yep you got it, the recipes from the joint. Kyle Street who was the first head chef there is a master of turning average and cheap cuts into haute bloody cuisine, it is one of my most thumbed books, and of course dealt up the parsnip puree secrets. Hence this recipe.

Panfried Gurnard with Parsnip Puree, Roasted Tomatoes and Greens

Serves 3

3 Parsnips

1 potato

2 cloves garlic

100ml cream

500 grams gurnard fillets

The oil from the aforementioned mussels,

Butter

Salad leaves (I used Roebuck Farm greens)

Fresh coriander or other fresh herb if you are one of the many who turn you nose up at this splendid herb

2 t Pomegranate Molasses

2 t Lime juice

A truss of tomatoes, yep eyewateringly expensive, at least they taste of something

Olive Oil

A Lemon

 

Peel and slice the parsnip, potato an garlic, sweat in a pan with a knob of butter, don’t let them brown. Once softening around the edges add the cream and salt to suit, simmer until soft with a lid on. Transfer to the food processor and blitz, hold in a glass or stainless bowl.

Meanwhile put some salt & olive oil on the truss of tomatoes and fire them in the oven. Mix together the pomegranate and lime juice and mix together with the salad and herbs.

Once the tomatoes are nearly ready, salt the fish, pan fry in the oil from the mussels mixed with a knob of butter. Reheat the parsnip over a pan of boiling water.  Share the puree between bowls, lay the fish on top and squeeze over the lemon juice, serve with the roasted tomatoes and greens.

 

A few notes on the coal range

I have wanted one of these old cookers for a very long time, this one came from Middlemarch, it has been reconditioned and re enamelled in this splendiferous red. What a treat, it heats the water, keeps the room warm and is excellent to cook in or on. You need to be in a bit less of a rush, but the top gets up to temperature fast so you can cook on it about 10 minutes after throwing the match in. It heats 180 litres of water in an hour and it takes a similar time for the oven to be really hot. I have now mastered the art of damping it down over night and it is marvellous with your bum on a stool and your back against the oven door on a cold morning. I would never go back to an electric or gas oven. I do still have a very small electric oven and it rarely get used these days.



 

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