Highlights from the Auckland Food Show

At the Southern Clams Stall I watched how quick and easy these were to prepare

By Lyn Potter

Each year the Auckland Food Show is growing and changing. This year some of the highlights for me on the preview day were:

• The all day sessions at the new Loaf and Weston Milling Baking Theatre on how to make scones, ciabatta, sausage rolls and their hilarious biscuit tower competition.

• The growing number of International Foods on offer such as Russian dumplings, Sri Lankan Teas, spicy food from the Malaysian kitchen, and Pomegranate sauce from Azerbaijan.

• Seeing just how many exhibitors were using words like Fair Trade, sustainable, organic, free range, locally grown, and SPCA ticks as part of their marketing strategy.

Only complaint: The lack of seating. It’s tiring to eat and drink on the run all day.

After several years at the food show I have also found it is all too easy to overindulge. It’s more pleasurable to be discerning and to take the time to look around and chat to the exhibitors before trying.

I set a limit on how much I spend. My focus each year is to collect the ingredients for a special dinner so I can share some of the foods I enjoyed tasting with family or friends.With such a wide range of foods on offer it’s always a challenge to narrow it down to one meal. Here’s my menu for this year’s dinner.

The entrée: Southern Littleneck Clams Marinier

At the Southern Clams Stall I watched how quick and easy these were to prepare. I liked the fact that these littleneck clams are only found in New Zealand and are harvested sustainably by body dredging in Otago Coastal waters.

At home I added some grated ginger, chopped tomato and peppers to the original recipe. And for a skinnier version I omitted the cream. The salty seawater juices made seasoning unnecessary. I served steaming bowls of clams with crusty bread to soak up the juices.

The Main: Silver Fern Mediterranean Lamb Rumps

After sampling some juicy char grilled Silver Fern Lamb this was my choice for dinner. A rump is a sleek, lean cut of meat so not too many calories!   

I cooked their recipe for Mediterranean lamb with flavours of cumin, coriander, mint, coriander, orange and honey. And served it with a garlicky potato mash and some lightly wilted spinach greens.

A good match for this dish was an Ostler “Blue House Vines “Pinot Noir 2010 from the Waitaki Valley which has a thymey herby flavour.

The Dessert: Elderflower cheesecake

I chose Kate Addis’s signature dessert which she often serves at home when entertaining. A key ingredient is her Cuisine Artisan Award winning Elderflower cordial which she developed from a closely guarded family recipe confided to her on a visit to Dorset.

Cheesecakes with an unbaked crust were a signature sixties dessert, and are now making a retro comeback. The rich creamy filling in this one is infused with the floral elderberry fragrance and as a finishing touch more of the sweet cordial is dribbled over the top.

It’s easy to make, but needs time in the fridge as it tastes nicest well chilled. I served it with a mixed berry coulis. Its startling colour and sharp refreshing flavour contrasted well with the creamy cheesecake filling.

Here are the recipes:

Clams Marinièr

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1.5-2 kg Southern Clams

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

½ cup of fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 bay leaf (optional)

½ cup of dry wine

1 tablespoon of butter

freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup of cream

Scrub the clams thoroughly and place in a large saucepan with onion, garlic, three-quarters of the parsley, and the bay leaf. Add wine and 1 Tbsp of butter, and then grind a little black pepper on top. Cover tightly and steam until the clams open. Remove the clams to a warm serving dish. Strain clam liquid and add extra pepper to taste. Add cream and the rest of the parsley. Reheat the clam sauce but do not boil. Pour the sauce over the clams and serve immediately as they are, or on bed of rice or pasta. Clams being naturally salty there is no need to add salt.

Mediterranean Lamb:

Serves 4

Ingredients:

400g Silver Fern Farms Lamb Rumps

Marinade:

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tsp ground cumin

2 Tbsp chopped mint

2 Tbsp chopped coriander

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp runny honey

1/2 orange, zest and juice

Place the marinade ingredients into a bowl and whisk to combine.

Place the Silver Fern Farms Lamb Rumps in a non-metallic dish. Pour over the marinade. Cover. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Remove lamb from marinade and place in a roasting dish. Roast meat for 15-25 minutes depending on desired rareness. Rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

Elderflower and Lime Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1 packet of wine biscuits or digestives

90 gm of butter

300 gm of full fat cream cheese

icing sugar to taste

160 ml of cream lightly whipped

1 lime

7 tablespoons of Addmore Elderberry Cordial, plus extra for drizzling

Method:

Crush the wine biscuits or digestives. Melt the butter and add the crushed biscuits to the melted butter.

Press mixture firmly into an 8 “round tin with a lift up base.

Place the cream cheese, icing sugar, zest and juice of lime in a food processor and mix.

Then slowly add the cream and Addmore Elderflower Cordial. Spread this mixture on the biscuit base.

Refrigerate until required.

At serving dribble extra Addmore Elderflower Cordial over the top.

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