Best Pad Thai in Wellington?

A challenge of sorts if you will- where do you think the best Pad Thai in Wellington can be found?

My vote goes to somewhere fairly obscure and unusual but boy do they do a great Pad Thai; Khmer Satay Noodle House in The Reading Cinemas Complex on Courtenay Place. It is an exceptional Pad Thai. Generously proportioned, spicy, sweet, sour and crunchy from the smattering of crushed peanuts.  Everything a good Pad Thai should be. Also, exceptionally good value at $12.90. I fondly remember when I was first year at uni and it was $7.00. Times have changed since 2003. 

Thai Red Curry Fish

Everyone knows they need to eat more fish. I'm pretty awful at getting enough (any) fish into my diet. So I made a herculean effort and purchased some terakihi whilst it was on special and decided to jazz it up with some Thai flavours. 

Thai Red Curry Fish - a recipe by me

You will need:

Fish fillets

Red curry paste

Coconut cream/milk

Thai herbs such as thai basil, lemon grass, coriander 

1. Take out some baking paper or tin foil and place the fish on it. Make sure you have enough to make a parcel that the fish can steam in.  

2. Smear a good tablespoon of the curry paste directly onto the fish fillets 

3. Tear or chop up the thai herbs you're using and place directly onto the fillets.

4. Drizzle the coconut cream or milk over, just enough to make a little bath for the fish to steam in. 

5. Wrap your little parcels up and bake in the oven until done. This is dependent on your oven and other things like the thickness of your fish. Mine took about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius on fan bake.

I served the fish with my fragrant rice which was perfect.

Banoffee Pie

A strong, strong desire for banoffee pie led me to make this delicious desert a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately we didn't think through that we didn't have anyone else to eat it. I had to take drastic action 3 days later after I consumed it for both breakfast and pudding and concluded that it might be sensible to put the remainder in the bin. There was still half left and my pants already felt tighter than they should've. So note to self - next time, halve the recipe if just making it for self and husband. Or better still, invite family and friends round to come and help eat it!!

Banoffee Pie: a recipe by me

A packet of gingernuts - smash them up. Probably best done in a food processor but I loved hitting them with a wooden spoon. Very therapeutic. 

100gm butter, melted

A can of condensed milk caramel (I bought mine as caramel but you can boil a can of condensed milk for 2 - 3 hours to create your own caramel)

A few bananas, sliced (TIP: squeeze lemon juice over the slices so they don't turn brown as quickly)

Whipped cream

1. Smash your gingernuts up in your desired fashion. I should've made mine finer but it still worked a bit chunky. 

2. Add the melted butter to the crumbs and mix. Press into your desired serving vessel and chill in the fridge for at least half an hour. 

3. Spoon over the caramel.





4. Add the sliced bananas, as artfully or not as you like. Squeeze the lemon juice over the top if using.

5. Whip the cream and plop on top of the bananas. Chill in the fridge until ready to serve.

Chicken Tetrazzini

Chicken Tetrazzini - a recipe by Rachael Ray 

• Salt
• 1 small head cauliflower
• 250 grams extra-wide egg noodles
• 8 tablespoons butter
• 250 grams assorted fresh mushrooms or white mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 large or 2 medium onions, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dry sherry (I didn't use this as I didn't have any)
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup cream
• Freshly ground pepper
• Freshly grated nutmeg (I didn't use this, whoops)
• 3 to 4 cups shredded Poached Chicken Breasts, (recipe follows)
• 1 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

POACHED CHICKEN BREASTS:

• 4 whole bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (I used 2 skinless, boneless breasts)
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 8 cloves garlic, smashed (I used 4)
• 4 large bay leaves (I only had 1 so just used that)
• 4 carrots, coarsely chopped (I didn't have any)
• 1 Lemon, sliced into quarters
• Herb bundle (I used rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano)
• Salt

• 
  

Put the chicken in a very large stockpot or divide between 2 pots if necessary. Add the peppercorns, garlic, bay leaves, carrots, lemons and herb bundle and sprinkle with salt. Add enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook at a rolling simmer for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the chicken from the liquid and let cool. Strain the stock.  Shred the meat using your hands or 2 forks.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil in a pot and season with salt. Add the cauliflower, cover and steam until just tender, 7 to 8 minutes. Drain and cut into florets. 

Meanwhile, bring another pot of salted water to a boil and cook the noodles to just shy of al dente, about 5 minutes. Drain. 

Heat 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender and browned. 

Add the garlic and shallots and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the flour and cook, whisking, for 1 minute. Deglaze with the sherry, stirring and scraping up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Whisk in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a few minutes, then stir in the cream. Season with salt, pepper and a few grates of nutmeg. 

Combine the cauliflower, noodles, chicken and sauce. Transfer to a casserole dish. 

Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter in small pan, then drizzle over the panko in a bowl and toss to combine. Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and toss. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the casserole. Bake until hot, bubbling and golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Sprinkle with the parsley. Divide among plates. 

Recipe: Sticky chicken drumsticks

This poor blog post has been loitering about in draft form for weeks. Poor neglected blog. Anyway, these chicken drumsticks are yummy and very easy. They're economical too, which always is helpful in the aftermath of Christmas. 

Sticky Chicken Drumsticks: a recipe my me

You will need:

Chicken drumsticks (my pack had 8 but use however many you have/want)

Soy sauce

Kecap Manis (sweet soy sauce)

Honey

Chilli flakes

Ginger, sliced

Garlic, chopped anyway you like

Spring onions, sliced

Thai herbs such as coriander or thai basil

1. Mix your marinade ingredients together - I don't measure, I just pour. A good few slugs of soy, a squeeze each of the kecap manis and honey, a shake of chilli flakes. I also added about a 1/4 cup of water. Place the chicken drums in a bag or a bowl and pour the marinade over, cover and refrigerate for at least half an hour, preferably longer if you can. 

2. Slice a thumb sized knob of ginger, the spring onions and get the herbs washed and ready to use. 

3. Place the marinated chicken drums into a baking dish, cover with the sliced ginger, spring onions and herbs. Cover with foil and bake for as long as you need until the chicken is thoroughly cooked. 

Recipe: roast chicken with kale and spinach gratin, with roasted kumara

Roast chicken with kale and spinach gratin, with roasted kumara

First, make the roasted garlic that you'll add to the kale and spinach gratin. To roast garlic take a whole bulb of garlic, slice the top 1/3 off until you can see the individual heads are revealed. Place the garlic onto a sheet of foil and cover with a generous splosh to olive oil, some salt and pepper. Fold the foil up to make a pouch and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 30 - 35 minutes. The garlic will be soft and easy to squeeze out after this time. Reserve until you're ready to use it. 

I was watching Rachael Ray recently and she made this recipe with swiss chard, which I think is what we call silverbeet. I decided I could probably do it with the kale and spinach I had in my refrigerator. Here's the link to Rachael's recipe but I have made some modifications.  

• 2 1/4-2 1/2 pounds Swiss chard or rainbow chard (3-4 large bundles) – for a quick shortcut, substitute 4 boxes spinach (10 ounces each), defrosted and wrung dry
• Salt
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup flour
• 2 1/2 cups whole milk (We have lite (2%) so I used that)
• Pepper
• Nutmeg (I didn't use this)
• 1 bulb roasted garlic, cloves squeezed from skins and pasted
• 2 cups Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, freshly shredded (I didn't have any so I used grated tasty cheese)

Serves 4

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Stem the chard (I used a mix of kale and spinach), leaving the leaves whole. Wash them well before use. Salt the boiling water, add the chard and wilt – the pot will be packed at first.

Boil the chard for 10 minutes, then drain it in a colander and run it under cool water. Let the chard drain once again and squeeze out the excess liquid in a clean kitchen towel (I wasn't prepared to lose a towel so I used my hands and squeezed hard). Chop.

Meanwhile, heat the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour, cook 1 minute, then whisk in the milk. Season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg (I didn't because I didn't have any). Stir in the roasted garlic paste. Thicken the sauce to coat the back of a spoon and adjust the seasonings, to taste.

Layer half of the greens in a medium casserole (8-10” long). Top with half of the béchamel sauce and half of the cheese. Repeat the layers, ending with cheese. Bake for 15 minutes and serve.

I served this with some roasted orange kumara (sweet potato for anyone who doesn't live in New Zealand). 

We also had some roast chicken - a lazy roast chicken choice tonight, but a very yummy one.

Yum! This was definitely a hit in my house. I'll happily eat kale again, I might try it without a creamy sauce next time too.

Hot toddy

The best cure in the world for a cold. Lemon, honey, ginger...and scotch! When I was younger my mum would make this for me with an aspirin added. I'm a little dubious about adding an aspirin to this already head clearing concoction so I'll keep it as is. Fingers crossed it clears the cold out of me...

Juice of a lemon

A knob of grated ginger

A squeeze of lemon

A good slug of scotch (whisky)

Boiling water

Mix all in a mug, stir and enjoy.

And, just for fun - something which has perked me right up - my newly lobster coloured husband. You're welcome.