Family, food and photos

Well, as predicted, week one back at work has been manic. The week outside work has been just as busy with whanau here from Wellington and Dunedin which means family gatherings. That also for me means cooking and hosting which I love. With my two sisters, brother-in-law, two nephews and Mams here I was looking forward to putting on a feast for Sunday lunch.

I had to make something kiwi and filling for the boys which was bacon and egg pie and something a little fancier for the sophisticated ladies of the family, and an absolute fav - asparagus roulade.

This is a recipe from Alison and Simon Holst's Meals Without Meat cookbook which Mams first made years and years ago and I instantly fell in love with.

I made it yesterday which was perfect as needed this morning for the pie (and other goodies). It is a good and impressive vegetarian dish for a dinner party but can be fiddley and time consuming. Definitely worth a try though.

Ingredients

Roulade:

• 50g butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 3/4 cup milk
• 3 tb tomato paste
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

Filling:

• 1 (about 400g) can asparagus spears
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

Method

• Melt the butter in a pan. Stir in the flour until it bubbles.
• Add the milk gradually, stirring continuously, until the sauce boils and thickens.
• Stir in the tomato paste and bring to the boil again. Remove from heat.
• Separate the eggs and add the yolks to the hot sauce and stir quickly to combine. Stir in the grated cheese.
• Beat in the egg whiles until the soft peaks form (thank God Elliot was here as I only had a hand beater). Fold into the cheese mixture.

It's a bizarre goopy and stringy mixture

• Pour the mixture onto a baking paper lined sponge roll tin (about 20cm x 30cm).
• Bake at 200°C for about 12 minutes until puffed and golden brown (it is cooked when the centre springs back after being lightly pressed).
• Remove from the oven and turn out onto a rack covered with a tea towel. Carefully remove the baking paper.

• Make the filling while the roulade cooks. Drain the asparagus liquid into a pan. Chop the asparagus and press gently to remove more liquid.
• Boil the asparagus liquid and chopped garlic down to 1 tablespoon and stir into the asparagus.
• Fold together the asparagus, cream cheese, parsley and a bit of black pepper.
• Spread the filling evenly over the room-temperature roulade, leaving one long side uncovered.

• Holding the tea towel, roll the roulade starting with the side nearest to you and finishing with the uncovered side.
• Wrap the roll in Gladwrap (have this cut and sitting ready to use) and refrigerate (up to 24 hours).

• When needed use a serrated knife to slice into 2cm-ish pieces.
• You can serve it warm by heating in the microwave but I LOVE it cold.

The bacon and egg pie I made doesn't really need a recipe. I am a firm believer in a bacon and egg pie being pastry, bacon and egg. No tomato. No chutney. No onion . And most certainly no mixed veges!

I used bought pre-rolled pastry and lined a greased dish, chopped some cheap bacon up roughly and sprinkled it over the pastry, top with 6-8 eggs depending on the size of the dish, prick the yolks once so they run slightly, season and top with another sheet of pastry. Prick some holes in it and brush the top with milk. Bake at 200°C for 40 minutes. Yum Yum. Serve with tomato sauce out of a squeezy tomato.

My other culinary achievement today was chocolate eclairs. I have never made choux pastry before but I found it rather easy (getting it into the piping bag was another story) and they turned out really well (they were dry and crusty on the outside and golden brown). For the first time in my life I had issues with chocolate icing being too runny but all in all they were a success and all who had enjoyed.

I used the trusty Edmonds recipe. The indication that it makes 30 7cm ones is far from accurate and I wanted to make bigger ones so the recipe made about 10 of the size I wanted.

Ingredients

• 100g butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 3 eggs
• whipped cream

Icing

• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1 tb cocoa
• 1/4 tsp softened butter
• 3 tb water approximately

Method

• Combine butter and water in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil.
• Remove from heat and quickly add flour. Beat with a wooden spoon until mixture leaves the side of the pan.
• Allow to cool for 5 minutes then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg, until mixture is glossy (after 2 eggs get the boyfriend to do it or your arm will fall off).
• Pipe the mixture into lengths the size you want onto a tray lined with baking paper.
• Bake at 200°C for 30 minutes or until they are puffy and golden, then lower heat to 120°C and continue to bake for 15 minutes. Cool thoroughly.
• Cut eclairs in half and fill with whipped cream and top with chocolate icing (sift the cocoa and icing sugar into a bowl, add the butter, add sufficient water to make it spreadable consistency).
• Devour.

So the bacon and egg pie, asparagus roulade, chocolate eclairs, along with a a few other bits and bobs including a salad with homegrown red onion and tomatoes (and of course chipotle mayo which went down a treat) equalled a feast fit for, well, the Dally/Brooks/Elliott/O'Callaghan clan.

The highlight of my day (apart from Mams pushing Elliot into the mowen grass and leaf pile during the backyard soccer game) was my gorgeous nephews Caelan and Ayrton agreeing to eat half a Thai chilli each. As far as the hot hot chillies go these are far from up there, but don't get me wrong these little beauties pack quite the punch (I ate one yesterday and they were rather hot - not as hot as the half a Wildfire Elliot and Hunt ate each and well, seemed a tad in pain) and certainly burns the mouth for a while, especially when you are 11 and 8 and do not eat spicy food. They were brave (well, by brave I mean will do anything for $2) and a few glasses of ice cold soft drink and a Fruju later, not much damage was done.

All smiles before..

Caelan's second glass of sparkling duet with ice

Frujus, and I can't help notice the smiles have gone

They did recover enough to have a game of darts
Caelan "The Millionaire" Elliot
versus
Ayrton "Flippin Whippin" darts champion of the world

In the final news of the weekend, I bought myself a new camera and am looking forward to being able to take much better photos of my chilli and foodie adventures.

A couple of point and shoot ones below which were really Elliot and I just playing around, before I get used to all the functions and start getting all arty on it (for those of you who have seen my art skills - especially those employed during Pictionary - I know you are excited).

Our view

Marigolds we plant to attract bees and ladybugs to eat the aphids

Moneymaker tomatoes

Still to ripen Thai chillies

Random Jamaican pepper (we think) 

Habanero

Bhut Jolokia

Fatalii

Jamaican Red Hot

Oh, and just an update on the happenings on Sunset Road - fish are great and growing well, the tank getting smelly and pooey - but that's how it is meant to be apparently (full aquaponics update to come), chillies are growing MENTALLY well and I am scared just looking at them, the rest of the garden is loving the sun we have had and all growing well, and the light box is back housing the germinated seeds which are germinating really well - rates far better than the Kings seeds we used previously.