Chicken roasted with red wine & grapes

I am normally a bit suspicious of fruit with meat. But when I invited my friend Emily and her partner Mark over for lunch a while ago, I decided to test out this recipe on them. They had no idea they were being my guinea pigs. Fortunately, despite my general aversion to the fruit and meat combo, it was delicious! Maybe I could be a fruit and meat convert after all.

Roasted grapes may sound strange but I can now vouch for their tastiness. They become tender and sweet in the oven, and also a bit tangy from the balsamic vinegar in the recipe. I served the dish with mashed potato and mashed celeriac. See the pink petal like things at the back of the plate? They were a failed attempt on beetroot chips (as they were mostly burnt).

If you're going to try this recipe, do use a relatively good quality balsamic vinegar (though obviously not one of the highest quality!). The vinegar affects the flavour in the final dish so you don't want to use something that tastes cheap and nasty.



Chicken roasted with red wine & grapes

From Delicious magazine - March 2008

Serves 4

2 red onions, cut into wedges
350g large seedless red grapes, cut into small bunches
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, plus extra to drizzle
4 rosemary sprigs
2 tbs olive oil
3 chicken thigh culets (with skin on and bone in)
200ml light red wine (such as pinor noir or merlot)
2 fresh bay leaves
creamy mashed potato, to serve

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Scatter the onion wedges and grapes in a lightly oiled roasting pan, then toss with the balsamic vinegar, rosemary, 1 tablespoon of the oil, and sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast for 20 minutes or until the onions are tinged golden and the grapes have wilted.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a heavy-based frypan over high heat and brown the chicken skin-side down for 15 minutes or until deep golden.

Add the chicken, skin up, to the roasting pan with the onion and grapes. Add the red wine and bay leaves and roast for 20 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and tender.

Serve the chicken, grapes and onion with mash, drizzled with the pan juices and a little extra balsamic vinegar.

Waffles with cinnamon poached pears

Mhmmmm maple syrup...

We had an indulgent breakfast on Sunday. I should've let us sleep in later to make it super indulgent. Instead, I made us get up early so I could make waffles!

Unlike the last time I made waffles, I used a recipe that had baking powder instead of yeast. It was quick, easy, and actually pretty good! I don't think I'll bother with a yeast batter again, not with this particular waffle maker.

I googled for a recipe that used baking powder, and settled on this one. The only thing that I did differently was to add a teaspoon of ground cinnamon to my batter.

The waffles were quite light, and also a bit sensitive to being overcooked. They were best when they were golden and not too well done. They weren't very sweet, but it was perfect with icing sugar and maple syrup.

I served the waffles with half a poached pear. I had a lonely corella pear sitting around that I knew I wasn't going to eat. Rather than waste it, I poached it in a sugar syrup with a cinnamon quill and a couple of pieces of lemon peel. Below is the recipe that I used - increase the amount of sugar and water if making more than one pear.

If a breakfast like this isn't worth getting out of bed for, I don't know what is.


Thanks to Alastair for being my patient syrup pourer. :)

Cinnamon poached pear

1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup water
1 cinnamon quill
2 pieces of lemon peel
1 large pear, peeled and cut in half

Mix together the sugar and water in a saucepan, and place on to a low heat.

Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Add the cinnamon quill, lemon peel and pear.

Simmer until the pear is soft and tender (about 10 minutes). Turn the pear over half way through if it isn't fully submerged.

Chocolate cake

Yet another cake post. It's starting to look like all I do is eat cake! I assure you it's not the case.

These cakes were for a special occasion – one of my "pod mates" at work had a birthday recently. Not just any birthday, but his 65th birthday! He is the loveliest person, so I couldn't let his birthday go by without cake. Everybody deserves cake for their birthday - particularly for such an important one!



I had thought that the chocolate cake would be more popular, but surprisingly, the rather large lime and poppy seed syrup cake disappeared first. The recipe for the lime and poppy seed syrup cake came from (surprise surprise) the Australian Women's Weekly's "Bake". It has become my baking go to book, but I'm making a resolution to use some different books for a while.

The chocolate cake recipe came from a colleague at my previous job. The recipe is brilliant because it's the easiest cake in the world. All the ingredients are mixed up in a bowl, and then it goes into the oven. The only thing you need to be aware of is that it can take a while to bake as the batter. But for so little effort, it's a great cake. It looks like it might be dry, but it's surprisingly moist and with a light texture. It's also not too sweet, which I really like.

With the cake pictured, I topped it with chocolate ganache, but it's just as good with just icing sugar sifted over.



Easy peasy chocolate cake

200g self raising flour
5 tablespoons cocoa powder
250g brown sugar
125g butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
160mls water

Preheat oven to 170°C. Brush tin with butter and line 20cm round cake pan.

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and beat for 2-4 minutes or until mixture is pale and smooth. (I'm not sure whether the butter should be melted, or just softened - I normally melt it and it turns out okay).

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50-55 minutes.

New Zealand: Wairau River Wines, Blenheim

As mentioned previously, our weekend was spent in New Zealand for my father in law's 60th birthday. Alastair's sisters had organised the weekend, and had kept the fact that we were coming along a surprise. Malcolm was very moved when we showed up, which made the trip completely worth it. :)

View from a random winery

Alastair's sisters had booked Macolm's birthday lunch at a local winery – Wairau River Wines in Blenheim. Blenheim is located near the top of the South Island, in the Marlborough region, which is the largest wine area in New Zealand. Marlborough produces about half of New Zealand wines, with (surprise surprise) Sauvignon blanc being the predominant wine produced.



Lunch was a three course meal with two choices for each course. For entree, Alastair had the Marlborough mussel chowder and toasted herb bread. I stole a taste (as per usual) - it was creamy with chunks of fennel, potatoes and of course, mussels! But I thought that it was just a touch on the salty side.



I had the cauliflower and blue cheese soup with toasted herb bread. Ooooh boy, this was good! It was definitely the better of the two soups. It was super creamy, with a lovely smooth texture, and just a hint of cauliflower and blue cheese. I completely cleaned my bowl!



For mains, Alastair had the individual chicken, leek and tarragon pie with a mixed green leaf salad. Under the pastry lid were large chunks of chicken in a pale sauce. Does anyone else think that the best part of a pie is that skin between the lid and the filling? When Alastair pried off the pastry, he found that skin! Yummo.



I had the smoked fish and potato cakes with a soft boiled egg, proscuitto, caper and parsley salsa and watercress. The fish and potato cakes were soft inside, and slightly crusty on the outside. There was a distinct "smoked fish" flavour and I particularly liked eating the fish cake with a bit of boiled egg.



The desserts were a rhubarb and apple crumble with vanilla ice cream or a crème brulee with poached plums. Both Alastair and I had the crème brulee. It was perfect – the caramel on top cracked under my spoon and the custard underneath was smooth and creamy with specks of vanilla seeds.



Strangely though, other people found all the vanilla seeds all at the bottom of the custard while mine were scattered through the custard. The poached plums were very tart, but good eaten with a bit of custard. I noticed that most people left their plums behind (I ate mine because I'm a glutton).

It was a very pleasant lunch and very filling. So filling that there was no need to eat dinner that evening. And I'm not usually the type to skip dinner (glutton).

Blenheim seemed like a nice town and I'm astounded that I lived in NZ for 20 years and had never been there before. Isn't that always the way - seeing the country you live in isn't as attractive as seeing other countries? Fortunately some of Alastair's family live in Blenheim so I'm sure there will be reason to visit again in the near future!

Wairau River Wines
Rapaura Road, RD3, Blenheim, Marlborough, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 572 7950

New Zealand: Blenheim

We got back yesterday from a very brief three day visit to New Zealand. We were there for a special occasion - to attend Alastair's father, Malcolm's, 60th birthday party.

We flew Jetstar (a budget airline) so there's no plane food to show you, but I do have some random bits from our trip. The flights were okay, but the plane felt very, very cramped. Fortunately it was only a few hours across the ditch and I had freecell and ABC vodcasts to entertain me.

We flew to Christchurch on Saturday morning and had breakfast at Melbourne airport. Once you pass customs, the food options are very limited. It was rather disappointing.

I had a bacon, egg and cheese foccacia ($6.50). Not a very healthy breakfast but it tasted okay and was reasonably priced (for airport food, that is).



Alastair had a chicken pie ($6.50). A pie for breakfast!

Once we reached Christchurch, we picked up a rental car and headed to Blenheim. On the journey there, we stopped in Kaikoura for a late lunch/early dinner.

It was 5.30pm when we reached Kaikoura - and the town was dead. Admittedly, it was wet and cold, so perhaps it was quieter than it would normally be. We decided to eat at a pub called The Whaler, as it was the first one we came across. There was no one in there apart from us and the staff! I imagine that it would be much busier in the warmer months. It was quite a nice place – all dark wood and a blazing fireplace in the middle of the room.



Alastair had the lamb shanks which were braised and served with a sweet pea potato mash with caramelised onion, green beans and jus ($27). It was a whopper of a meal, with two large shanks that had been cooked until the flesh was falling off the bone.



I choose a smaller meal and had the baked catch of the day served on an onion potato cake with a blue cheese and avocado sauce ($15). I don't know what the fish was (and I didn't ask) but I wasn't that taken with it - it had a very firm, heavy flesh, which wasn't overcooked or dried out but still really solid. It had a strong fishy flavour. Now I wish that I had asked what it was so I can steer clear of it in the future! Anyway, the avocado and blue cheese sauce was good, creamy and with only a hint of blue cheese flavour. The pink stripey thing in the salad had me stumped, but the little salad was good with a sweetish, tangy dressing. (Oh! Google tells me that the pink stripey thing is a Chioggia beet. Gosh I love the internets.)

The Whaler
49-51 West End, Kaikoura 7300, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 319 3333



The next day was Malcolm's birthday lunch at a winery (post to come), so Alastair and I only had a small breakfast. We opted for a savoury muffin, which was full of bacon, capsicum, cheese and corn. Mhmm tasty. It was pretty good, but would've been even better if it had been warm. The red sauce on top was a tangy chutney.



The coffees came with a little biscuit mushroom. Cute!

Giorgios
71 High St, Blenheim, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 578 3828



We left Blenheim the next day, getting up early as we had to drive back to Christchurch. When we got into the car at 7ish, the temperature was -2°C. Brrrr! We went into town and had breakfast at the first open cafe we came across.



Alastair had the open omelette with tomato, rocket and mozzarella ($15).



I had the scrambled eggs with a corn fritter and bavarian sausage ($16). The eggs were fairly light and not overcooked.



The coffee was really very good - the initial taste was quite sour, but it had a aftertaste that was smooth and very pleasant. I had two....

Raupo Riverside Café
2 Symons St, Blenheim, New Zealand
Phone: +64 3 577 8822

After breakfast we headed back to Christchurch. The road out of Blenheim was quite twisty, and as we drove back on the inside of the mountain I felt the effect of the windiness more than the drive in. The winding road, along with the coffees, and a full stomach from breakfast meant that soon I was feeling a lot less than average. After fighting it for a while, eventually I asked Alastair to pull over - and let's just say that breakfast tasted a lot worse coming up than it had going down!



It was a shame I was feeling so car sick because the drive back to Christchurch was beautiful, with snow capped mountains and ocean views along the way. We stopped in Kaikoura briefly on the way back to Christchurch. Not a great pic - I blame the car sickness. I was obviously feeling better though because I wanted to take a photo!