A good friend of ours gave some beautiful fillets of kingfish after a day out on the boat in Raglan. I love kingfish and decided to give this new recipe a go.
Ingredients
500 - 750 grams of filled kingfish
2 x garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
1 x lemon
Some fresh thyme
Cracked pepper
Sea salt
Chilli Flakes
Splash of Olive Oil
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Cut the fillets into serving pieces and give them a thin coating of olive oil. Place them into a lined baking tray, skin down, then sprinkle with lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic slices and chilli flakes.
Bake uncovered in the oven for approximately 15-20 minutes or until cooked.
Serve with a beautiful green salad with watercress, baby spinach and kale, and a mild vinaigrette dressing.
Serves 2-4 people
Happy living peeps!
I make no secret that I am a fan of Nigella and her no fuss way of cooking. When I had a chicken in the fridge and wanted to try something different that required very little effort, I gave my spin on her slow roasted garlic and lemon chicken a go.
It really does take a matter of minutes to prepare, and then you let the oven do the rest of the work. The intense lemon flavour is amazing although try to use unwaxed lemons so the flavour isn't too tart.
You may want to serve it with some mashed potatoes or kumara to soak up all those lovely juices although I simply served it with a beautiful green leafy salad, using the juices as a dressing.
If you don't have a whole chicken, then simply use chicken pieces.
Ingredients
1 x whole chicken cut into 10 pieces
Unpeeled garlic cloves from 1 large head of garlic
2 lemons roughly cut
Some fresh thyme
Enough Olive Oil to coat
1/2 - 2/3 cup of white wine (extras you can drink while you wait)
Black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 160°C.
Place the first 5 ingredients into a roasted dish and toss until the chicken is nicely coated. Sprinkle over the white wine followed by the black pepper, then cover tightly with foil and place into the oven for approximately 2 hours.
Remove the foil, increase the heat to 200°C and cook uncovered for a further 20-30 minutes. Keep an eye on the chicken at this stage as the smaller pieces of chicken can dry out.
Serve and devour!
Happy living peeps!
This is such a easy and delicious salad. The sweetness of the strawberries works so well with the heat of the rocket and the creaminess of the feta cheese.
It is such a fabulous salad to serve at a BBQ with a nice piece of fish or steak or simply by itself with a nice glass of wine.
Ingredients
200 grams of fresh strawberries - quartered
100 grams of feta cheese
125 grams of rocket
1 x spring onion finely chopped
Salt & pepper
1/4 cup Balsamic vinegar
Method
Place the rocket and spring onion into a bowl. Place half the strawberries and half the feta cheese with into the rocket mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
Just before serving, add the balsamic vinegar and toss quickly. Add the remaining strawberries and feta, tossing slightly, but ensuring they remain on top of the salad for presentation.
Devour!
Serves 4-6 people
I have had a number of requests come through to me asking about the recipe for the fruit syrup that I use on my COCONUT PANNA COTTA so thought I would post it up for everyone. It's pretty simple and very very tasty.
Ingredients
1/4 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup of lime juice
1/4 cup of maple syrup
2 stalks of lemongrass, thinly chopped
3 whole star anise
Method
Put everything into a pot and bring it to a boil over a medium heat, stirry to dissolve the syrup. Simmer for 2 mintues then cool, cover and chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.
When you are ready to serve, strain the syrup, discarding the lemongrass. Pour over your fruit and let it sit for at least 30 mintues to let the flavours mingle.
Alternatively you can poach your fruit in the syrup. Just make sure to strain it properly before serving onto the panna cotta.
Happy living peeps!
Last night my husband walked inside with a huge bucket of feijoas he had picked from our trees saying "what will we do with these?" I knew my family would want to have some but with Gig's friend over for dinner, I immediately decided to try this new recipe for dessert. Simple decision turned into a challenge considering he told me after I started the dish he had never tried feijoas in his life.
The coconut sugar is what makes the syrup brown. If you don't have any then simply use normal sugar, or for a healthier option use maple syrup or honey. You won't need a lot if you are using a sweet wine. If you don't have a sweet wine, or prefer not to use it, then just use water with your sugar, honey or maple syrup. Whatever you do, don't leave out the bay leaves as this is what balances the whole dish.
I used my paleo version of my homemade GRANOLA but you can simply use toasted nuts.
This dish was a huge success with Gig and his friend demolishing it!!
Ingredients
16-20 feijoas peeled
1 1/2 cup of sweet wine
2 bay leaves
1 vanilla pod, split and scraped
Juice of one lemon
1/4 - 1/2 cup of coconut sugar (depending on your sweet tooth)
Method
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and simmer for about 10 mintues.
Take the fruit out, then turn the heat up until the syrup reduces by half.
Pour the juice over the fruit and serve with greek yohurt & toasted nuts.
Serves 4
Happy living peeps!
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I first made this recipe as a result of trying to find some "paleo" friendly desserts for my whanau. It is very easy to make using only 5 ingredients and super healthy as it's dairy free, gluten free and only uses natural sugars from maple syrup. If you prefer to use honey, then by all means go ahead but make sure to test for your level of sweetness you prefer.
To help cut through the richness of the coconut cream, I paired it with fruit poached in a fruit syrup made of orange juice, lime juice, maple syrup, lemongrass and star anise. The recipe can be found HERE
I serve this in dishes as opposed to turning it out onto a plate. I place the cold poached fruit straight on top of the panna cotta, then pour the cold fruit syrup on top. Absolutely delicious!!!
Ingredients
500 mls of coconut cream
10 grames of powdered gelatin
1 teaspoon of vanilla or the seeds of a vanilla pod
5 tablespoons of maple syrup
1/4 cup of water
Method
Heat the coconut cream, vanilla and maple syrup until it's only just boiling, then turn off the heat and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix the water and gelatin until it doesn't have any lumps. Pour this into the coconut mix and stir until the gelatin is dissolved completely.
Pour into your serving dishes and refridgerate for at least four hours or overnight.
Makes 6-8 dependant on how hungry you are.
Happy living peeps!
Sometimes during the hot summer weather, I find I can't enjoy heavy meals as much so this recipe is perfect for me when I feel like something. PLUS it's healthy!!
Ingredients
1/2 to 1 can of coconut water (no more than 350 mls)
6 - 12 raw almonds
1 apple, cored
One handful of frozen berries you
1 teaspoon of manuka honey
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Method
Place everything in a blender and blend until smooth.
Pour and enjoy!
Happy living peeps!
I made this a little while ago and it really is so easy to make. It melts in your mouth and jam packed with flavour. It is a perfect dish to prepare the night before, place into the crockpot the next morning and it's all ready to devour that night - not to mention the aroma that fills the house while it's cooking.
If you don't have a blender, then don't worry. Simply chop everything up and throw it all together. As long as the flavours get into the pork that's all that matters.
Ingredients
1.5 - 2 kg pork shoulder
2 tablespoons of fennel seeds
2 cups of fresh orange juice
1 red chilli - deseeded
2 cloves of garlic
1 knobs of ginger
Sea salt & cracked pepper
Method
Blend all the ingredients (except the pork) in a blender until everything is smooth.
Remove any skin from the pork and pierce as many times as possible. Place the pork into an oven dish OR crockpot and add the marinade making sure all those wonderful flavours get into the pork.
Cover and cook on 140 c for 6-8 hours until the pork begins to pull apart nicely. Alternatively you can place on low on the crockpot for 8 hours.
In the same dish, pull the meat apart with two forks then cover and leave warm until ready to serve.
Serves 8-10 people
Happy living peeps!!
I made this recipe years ago when I was experimenting. I wanted a nice refreshing side to go with some cajun fish and this was perfect! It's light, tasty, extremely refreshing and delicious.
Ingredients
2 cups diced pineapple
1 cup chopped coriander
1 avocado, diced
1 red chilli, seeded, finely chopped OR a pinch of chilli flakes
1 red capsium - diced
1/2 cup diced red onion
2 Tbsp. lime juice
Salt & pepper
Method
Place everything in a bowl and toss gently. Season with salt and pepper.
Serves 4
Happy living peeps!
Nigella has to be one of my favourite cooks, mainly because she's all about the flavour and less about the fancy stuff. My thoughts are, just get it done so you can sit down and enjoy the food with great company.
This is a prime example of one of her recipes that just so happened to pop up on my instagram feed. I looked it up online and it had 4 ingredients. Simple so based on all the great feedback I immediately thought I have got to try this.
As always, I didn't quite have what she asked in her recipe so I had to improvise. Her recipe calls for chicken schnitzel, which is simply chicken breasts flattened but I much prefer the boneless thigh because it has so much more flavour. I also didn't have any garlic infused olive oil so my recipe has 5 ingredients as opposed to her 4.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic - thinly sliced
4 rashes of streaky bacon - thinly sliced
4 boneless chicken thighs
100 mlx of white wine
Method
Add the olive oil to a pan then throw in your sliced bacon and garlic. Cook until the bacon is nice and crisp, then take out of the pan and set aside leaving as much of the pan juices in the pan.
Making sure the pan is hot, throw in your chicken thighs and cook until the juices run clear. Make sure you turn so that both sides are nice and golden. Take the chicken out of the pan and place on a serving platter.
Place the pan back on the heat and add the wine and bacon making sure to deglaze the pan with all the goodness from the bottom of the pan. Pour everything over the the chicken and serve immediately.
Serves 4
Happy loving peeps!
I do a little bit of work for
my marae and after serving some herbed potatoes for an event late last year, I
decided to change that recipe up a bit over the xmas period and invent this
variation for my whanau.
It's quick, easy and very tasty!
If you are not a fan of butter, then replace with some olive oil or avocado oil
but please DO NOT use margarine.
Ingredients
10-12 baby or gourmet
potatoes - halved if necessary
1 cup fresh Spinach - finely
chopped
1/4 cup of fresh italian
Parsley
Pinch of chilli flakes
Fresh ground pepper
Sea salt
50 grams of butter - cubed
Method
Boil the potatoes in salted
water until cooked and turn off the element. Drain the water, then
replace the lid on the pot and place back on the element for about 2-5 minutes
until most of the liquid is evaporated from the potatoes, watching they don't
catch.
Place the potatoes in a
serving bowl, then throw in the spinach, parsley, butter and chilli
flakes. Toss quickly until butter is melted, then season with salt and
pepper to your liking.
Serve and enjoy!
Serves 4.
Happy living peeps!
