It’s that time of year again, finally! We have survived the cold, quiet (not too mention quaky-shaky) winter season. The daffodils have popped and the lambs are gambolling in the fields (jumping wildly, NOT playing poker, Gderr!). The Man’s greenhouse is on the verge of exploding – three types of tomatoes, plus courgettes, cucumbers, eggplants, tomatillos, numerous varieties of chillies, and, of course, herbs and micro-greens, all from seed! He has done a particularly good job this year, starting his seeds in the sunny kitchen bay-type window, then moving the small seedlings to the greenhouse and eventually planting out the plants when they are ready. They are his babies!

Rhododendron in Bloom

Crabapple in Bloom - Next Season's Jelly!

Now, we’ve always had herbs, with moderate success. But this year, we’ve re-doubled our efforts and are keen to have an ample supply of mint, rosemary, dill and especially coriander. The mint and rosemary are not a problem – they grow like weeds. We’ve done pretty well with dill before, but have always failed in the coriander department. Coriander is my most favourite herb, and dang it, I WANT fresh coriander!

The rosemary goes into the lamb-burger patties, and the mint goes into the minted mayo that we drizzle on top of them! The dill is to garnish the beautiful Akaroa Salmon that we grill and serve over a warm potato salad.

The Coriander WILL be an important flavour in the Asparagus and Goat Cheese Quesadilla this summer

But, enough about herbs! The real reason I’ve invited you here today is MICROGREENS! Again, it’s that time of year again, when we get re-inspired and vow to up our game, do more, do better, do fresher, do interesting and do exciting. Last year, it was ‘Project Bread’. This year it is Micro-greens! Thanks to a certain AR master gardener (Cathill), I learned about ‘amaranth’ a few months ago. Upon research, I found it was commonly used as a micro-green, and with the red varieties, it not only flavours up a dish, but adds a zing of colour, too. Then, at a recent food show, I spied a box of the most gorgeous looking green ‘fluff’, labelled ‘pea feathers’. Now, this particular greens vendor has refused to do business with me; at least, after many phone calls to him, he just can’t be bothered to work with me! Well, OK, one of my chef’s did work for him until he quit, to come to work for me… Anyway, I researched the pea feathers to find that they are called ‘Fiji Pea Feathers’ and are a variety of pea bred specifically for their shoots, as a micro-green

So, it was The Man’s task to find the amaranth seed and Fiji pea feather peas to cultivate. Along the way, he also picked up some ‘Bull’s Blood Beets’, which are also grown as a micro-green.

Seeds were planted, seeds grew, and we now have the beginnings of our own micro-green garden.

Mixed Tray of Micro-Greens in Greenhouse

Last week, the first trays went up to the Hilltop to live in the sunny laundry room window. The laundry room is just next to the kitchen and handy for snipping! This weekend, the hanging basket of dill also went up to the kitchen to hang-out outside the kitchen door! And, next week the ‘slowbolt coriander’ will be sturdy enough and ready for regular snipping, to join its botanical cousins.

Dill in Hanging Basket

Slow Bolt Coriander, from seed

The pea feathers are my favourite! They are so delicate and interesting looking, and they taste just like baby peas, sweet and tender.

'Fiji Pea Feathers very young, close up...

The Bull’s Blood is growing strong and has a gorgeous color and just a faint beetroot flavour. I’m not a big fan of beets, but the mild flavour of the greens is a nice addition to a salad or garnish.

'Bull's Blood Beetroot' Sprouts

The amaranth has taken the longest to get to a good snippable stage, but is now ready, and again offers a special burst of color to the plate with a mild spinach-like taste.

'Red Mekong Amaranth' Sprouts

Now, while Project Bread was a bit of a tough sell last year, the greens seem to have been met with positive reactions! I have had to continuously remind them to use the micro-greens, but I think they just aren’t in the habit yet. It will come…

So, how is Project Bread fairing a year on??? Yesterday, we needed rolls for the steak sandwich. Lucky came running to me, almost panicked, saying “I don’t have a recipe card for them! Can you tell me the recipe or find it for me?” Well, I punched up Soft and Fluffy Hamburger Buns and copied it off for him. About 2 ½ hours later we had the most gorgeous, oval shaped, golden brown steak sammie rolls you can imagine.

Remembering 'Project Bread'

Even better, though? There was NO suggestion that we should buy rolls. There was no ‘YOU need to make rolls’. There were not 17 reasons why it was too hard/bothersome/time-consuming, etc. Today, Vojta happily made Raisin Bread with no problem. I asked if he need any other bread, and he simply replied, you can make some soup rolls, if you want. HIP HIP HOORAY!!!

SHAKEN, and Stirred by AR, or YOU Rock My World!!!

The last four days have been bumpy, scary and thought provoking. On Saturday morning at 4:36 AM, we were awakened by what what felt like someone thrashing our bed-frame. It would ease up and then come back with a vengeance. On about the third wave, we started to hearing crashing. Yes, it was an earthquake, and it was a big one, 7.1 on the Richter Scale.

We jumped out of bed and noticed the power was off. Poor Bessie was barking and confused. We made our way to the kitchen where we have a wall mounted torch (flashlight) that glows in the dark without power. We quickly surveyed the damage in the house, and in spite of the crashes we'd heard, very little was broken - at least nothing of importance, and the house seemed to be okay. We got dressed quickly and then hooked up the hard-wired 'land-line' we keep handy for power outages. I called Chef Vojta on his iPhone -- the poor kid was at the Hilltop; he'd climbed out his bedroom window and was sitting on the fire escape in 3 degree C weather (about 37 F?), scared to death.

We arrived at the Hilltop about 15 minutes later and quickly surveyed the damage. Impressive, but not as bad as it could have been. We sat in the car, listening to the radio for the next few hours waiting for the light of day and eager for news about what was happening. Aftershocks kept coming every few minutes. It was also very windy and we tried to convince ourselves that the aftershocks were wind. But, wind gusts don't make the car go up and down... Or make the chimney on the building sway...

So, this was the beginning to a long and terrifying day. We cleaned up as much as we could without power. It was a stunningly beautiful spring day, and had we been able to open (No power = no food or coffee) we would have been very busy. Our catering event for 100 that evening was cancelled. So, we came home and worked in the garden, which was good for the soul, plus we didn't really want to be inside listening to the rattle of aftershocks. As we weeded the soon to be veggie bed (Flo & Myrtle were happy help, of course!), we discussed how fortunate we'd been, how much worse it could have been and at the end of the day, all would be fine. About 3 PM our power came on. I'd already phoned my sister in California, but I was eager to get an e-mail out and post on Facebook.

Imagine my surprise when I found e-mails not only from my 'real' friends, but a number of AR peeps! Then, when I got to FB, it was alive with "Are you OK? We are worried." and so forth. I felt touched. Then I saw a post that referenced 'talking' about me on the Recipe Exchange. Sure enough, I went back and found a thread where everyone was wondering about me, as well as Chicken, who lives right in Christchurch. Now, I was really feeling the emotion! I kept telling The Man, "These guys are really concerned about us!" He was impressed.

Now, by this time, I was tired, I was stressed and frankly, I needed an 'earthquake free' five minutes. So, I decided to look at the blogs for a few minutes. First blog I see? Mike Harvey: New Zealand Earthquake. Okay, that's when my heart quaked, my water mains burst and as I'd long suspected, YOU GUYS rock my world!

Thanks to each and everyone of you who thought of us, posted on AR or FB, sent me an e-mail, or wrote a blog of concern for us! During difficult times, your love and support has been a huge help! (And The Man now 'gets' my obsession!)

Here are a few of the pictures from the Hilltop that morning...

The back entry way into the kitchen... A few small butter/sauce ramekins broken,

but just a mess, really.

The Baking Room: again, mostly a mess. The Magi-Mix food processor

bowl/lid was damaged, though

The Deli Area: Chef Gino is scheduled for re-constructive surgery next week.

The Dining Room: A patch of ceiling open up where an old chimney used to be

and dumped rubble, and ummm, a worse for wear small mammal...

More debris from the ceiling -- I was choking on the dust...

A pile of espresso saucers toppled...

The Big Chiller: A bit dark, but broken beer, juice, soda and wine bottles...

The Big Chiller: The rear of the beer fridge; it's amazing more didn't fall out.

The Front of the Beer Chiller

The Bar: A bottle of Brandy and Galliano -- that's all!

The Front of the Building: We are pretty certain these cracks are superficial,

but there are a lot of them!

Hmmm... A bit of a fissure in the parking lot!

Actually, there are a few of them...

And the sun rose on a beautiful day!

The View From The Floor, or Singing for My Supper!!!

Well, Mom’s been busy lately and I know she feels bad about not updating her blog recently, so I thought I might just sneak in and give her a hand. I know she doesn’t want all of her loyal readers to feel neglected. And, believe me, I know about things like being loyal!

Speaking of feeling neglected… Part of the reason Mom’s been so busy lately is that she is spending quite a bit of time in the kitchen at the Hilltop. She is filling in for Chef Vojta on his days off, usually 2 – 3 day a week in the winter time. Plus, he was really sick with the flue a few weeks ago, and I reckon she was stuck in that kitchen for about 10 days straight. Well, it just isn’t right! She is in the kitchen and The Man and I are out front; I MISS her! Plus, The Man can, and does, go back to see her, but I am STRICTLY not allowed in the kitchen. So, sometimes, I am out front, all alone, for like minutes, all by my lonely all alone self! And, it doesn’t help that they are in the KITCHEN, you know the FOOD ROOM! Like today, she was back there for awhile, and then she comes out smelling all beefy and chickeny! I say, it just ain’t fair! The PACK needs to stay together, doggone it!

ME! Staying out of the Hilltop Kitchen! Yes, that REALLY is our carpet!

But, they keep telling me how good I am! They seem to be trying to get me to do things different, like come when I’m called instead of pretending I don’t hear them. Well, on the plus side, Mom has been bringing little special treats home, like those tasty bits of brown chicken that people don’t seem to like nearly SO MUCH as I do. If she has a few of those on hand, my hearing is suddenly extremely GOOD!

On another positive note, part of the reason she has let her blog slip is that there is a new Telly show on around the time she is usually AR’ing. It is ‘Masterchef Australia’. Well, I have to say that the whole family is NUTS about it, including ME! The American version with Gordon just started here and we aren’t sure if it will be as good, but BOY, the Aussie one is fantastic. At about 5PM every night, I hear the Channel One music start and it gently nudges me out of my post-dinner nap on the sofa.

Relaxing on the sofa! From here I can keep and eye on Mom, the Kitchen and the Telly!

Next, the Masterchef music starts!!!!!!! It is the BEST music ever (it takes awhile for the music to start here, but it was the best I could find!)– even better than opera, and that’s saying a lot! I go to my special place on the sofa, proudly stretch out my neck and HOWL WITH JOY! And, it’s a long intro! I get to sing for a good minute or two! And, sometimes, they re-wind it and let me have a second go!

"OW-OOOooo! Come On, Let's Go!" The Masterchef Australia Song!

"OOOooo-EEeee" It's STILL Playing!

Sometimes I get off the sofa and dance a little, too!

Then, Mom sits down on the sofa and The Man brings her a glass of the not-so-fresh grape juice, I snuggle up on her lap, The Man sits down in his chair, and we all watch. But, they pause the show, like every two seconds, and discuss what is happening. They talk like they just met each other. It’s so definitely my favourite time of the day. The Pack is all together, just like we should be. Sometimes, I get up from Mom and go jump up on The Man’s tummy so he doesn’t feel left out!

So, in spite of what they keep calling a bad re-session, life is good. Yesterday, we all went to town. Mom and The Man have a big birthday party they are catering on Saturday, so we had SO many errands: bank, wholesale grocery, stationary store, fruit & veg shop, fishmonger, first butcher, second butcher, normal grocery… but I was a patient girl, knowing that the second butcher has the BEST bones, and The Man would get me one for dinnies! I was so good, that when we stopped at the grocery (last stop) I didn’t even try to find the other butcher foods. I still remember how disappointed they were with me after that massive steak incident last year…

By the way, a little tip from me! It is very, VERY difficult to sing the Masterchef Song while working on a big bone! I tried the other day but it's really hard!

Til next time, gentle readers!

Bessie Cocker

(PS: Mom has spent heaps of time trying to figure out exactly what the Masterchef Song is, but apparently it is different on the NZ version than the Aussie one, so the credits aren't helpful. She thinks it's a Kylie Minogue song. If anyone has any ideas, please let her know so I can sing it more often!)

It's a Wrap! or, Fiddling with Won Tons and Rice Paper

No matter what kind of restaurant you find yourself in, there is bound to be at least one type of 'wrapped' food on offer, Asian restaurants in particular. Whether it's Thai, Chinese, Japanese or Vietnamese cuisine, you will be tempted by lovely little spring rolls, pot stickers, Gyoza, dumplings and endless other dishes with endless other names. I have been making these types of things for years, without much thought apart from following a recipe, but last week, I decided to delve into things a bit deeper.

Asian 'wraps' tend to involve two main types of 'wrapper': Won Tons skins and Rice Paper. Purists and Dim Sum masters would add Shui Mai skins to the list. Shui Mai skins are very similar to Won Tons skins, just slightly thinner and more delicate. Won Ton skins come in small and large squares, as well as small rounds. The dough is very similar to pasta dough, in fact I have used won tons skins to make ravioli before! Rice Paper generally comes in the larger size, but can be either square or round. Rice Paper is very thin and dry, like, well, paper! When placed in warm water the sheets quickly soften and become pliable. Both are easily found in Asian markets or well-stocked grocery stores, and are inexpensive. Won Ton skins must be kept refrigerated and have a relatively short shelf life, but they can be frozen for a much longer period of time.

The list of ingredients that can go into the fillings is almost limitless. Ground pork and chicken are the most common meats used. Shrimp is very common, too. Tofu is common, as are vermicelli (rice noodles), bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, shredded cabbage, grated carrots and spring onions.

Seasonings include all the great Asian flavors of fresh herbs and roots, combined with sesame oil, soy sauce, fish sauce, Chinese Rice Wine and other Asian sauces.

Clockwise, from top left: lemon grass, chilli peppers, coriander/cilantro, ginger, galangal and kaffir lime leaves

To start with, I looked at lots of recipes, both on AllRecipes.com and in my vast library of cookbooks. What I quickly came to realize, is that while there are 'traditional' dishes, there is lots of variation and no hard, set rules. For example, the cooking technique for pot stickers doesn't really vary, but the fillings can vary greatly.

For my pot stickers, I used ground pork, finely chopped spring onion, sesame oil and a bit of corn starch. I thoroughly mixed the filling, and then laid out about 6 small, square wonton wrappers on my cutting board. I put a spoonful of filling on each wrapper, and using my fingers, brushed some water around the edges of each wrapper to help them stick, or seal. I pulled the corners together above the filling and gently twisted and squeezed to seal the packet. If you want to be fancy, you can use a bit of spring onion or rice noodle to 'tie' up the little bundles. These are sometimes called 'moneybags' because they look like little sacks of cash, and are considered 'auspicious' or lucky in some cultures.

Making the Pot Stickers, six at a time...

The Pot Sticker Army! At this stage, these little guys can be frozen. When un-expected guests turn up, you can have them thawed and cooked in very little time. Way better than cheese and crackers!

Next, the Pot Stickers are fried in a little peanut oil, just until their bottoms begin to brown. They are called potstickers, because at this stage, they tend to 'stick to the pot'.

Pot Stickers Beginning to Fry...

...just until they're bottoms are browned. Then, I added about 1/2 inch of water to the pan, (WARNING: It WILL splatter! Be Prepared!) covered it and let the pot stickers steam for about 8 minutes. (I used an instant read thermometer to check the internal temperture for doneness.)

Plated and served with Soy-Sesame Sauce, Sweet Chilli Sauce and Soy Ginger Sauce

For my next dish, I decided to try an open topped steamed dumpling. Purists (and I'm sure this will be pointed out) would use a shao mai wrapper or dumpling skin rather than a won ton skin, which is a bit thicker. Many Asian markets do stock these, as well.

For my filling I used ground chicken, finely chopped mushrooms, spring onion, garlic and soy sauce. I filled the wrappers the same way I did for the pot stickers, but instead of pulling the corners all the way together at the top, I 'pleated' them together.

I also decided to try some other shapes and styles of dumplings
This 'fold' is decsribed in Mr. Kirk's Won Ton recipe on AR - a bit like a tortelini.

My variety of dumplings:

I steamed them in a traditional bamboo steam basket, but you can use a vegetable steamer or your rice maker.

Steamed and Plated!

This blog is proudly supported and sponsored by The Man's Veggie Garden! All carrots, spring onions and Bok Choy used were created there.

Now, a vegetarian Vietnamese Spring roll. I have briefly (20 seconds) soaked the sheet of rice paper in some warm water and placed it on my cutting board. I had also soaked some vermicelli noodles. I took a small handful of the noodles and cut them a bit shorter than the width of the paper and laid them down. Next, I added some grated carrot, fresh mint, fresh coriander, pea shoots and bok choy.

To roll, take the bottom edge or the sheet and fold in over the veggies.

Next, fold the sides in...

And, then fold the top down. Slice on the diagonal and plate! We had these with a Soy Dipping Sauce.

The Man, who is a strict Carnivore actually LOVED these vegetarian rolls!

Next, I wanted to try a fried rice paper roll. For the filling, I used ground chicken, finely grated ginger, finely chopped kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped red pepper, toasted sesame oil and a bit of corn starch.

Unlike the pot stickers and dumplings, I cooked the chicken mix before making the rolls.

I fried the rolls in some peanut oil in the wok and until they were nicely browned.

We enjoyed these with some Sweet Chilli Sauce. They were very good. In fact, it was lucky that the filling made it into the rice paper before someone ate it all!

And, finally, my favorite! I cut my rice paper in half, beacuse I am making small parcels. I have placed a few coriander/cilantro leaves in the center...

Then, I placed a small piece(about 1 inch square) of fresh salmon down, and folded up the sides.

Then, I steamed these on the steam rack in my rice cooker for about 4 minutes.

They look fantastic and taste even better! We enjoyed these with a Soy-Sesame Sauce, but my recipe calls for an Asian Pesto made of garlic, cashews. coriander/cilantro, basil and peanut oil.

So, next time you are planning an 'appy' night or a finger-food get-together, why not get fiddly with some Asian appetizers? The won-tons/potstickers/dumplings can be done ahead and frozen, and then just steamed on the day. The rice paper rolls can be done ahead and held in the fridge for a few hours. The 'fresh' roll can be served as is, the fried one would only require a few minutes to fry and would hold well in the oven.

Have fun!