comfort food..

I guess the last post gave some energy to overcome the inertia of not posting for such a long time.. Just a few days ago, dashing through the snow.. (not in a open sleigh) to the supermarket to pick up "any veg will do" for dinner, I chanced upon a pile of beautiful, plump, purple eggplants -  2 for 99c! Who would have thought to get such summer bounty in midwinter?
Grabbed 2 and gleefully drove up the hill, past semi trailer trucks floundering in the slushy snow. So thankful for 4WD.

But, this is a food blog, so back to my eggplants. I've cooked the first using a recipe that I've used over and over because it is so simple and the result is (IMHO) rather yummy. I use dehydrated onion and garlic for the garnish because they crisp up super fast

(Steamed) Eggplant drizzled with soy sauce & sesame oil

Ingredients:

• 1 large eggplant
• coarse salt - several teaspoons
• dehyrdrated onion flakes 1-2 tsp
• dehyrdrated minced garlic 1 tsp
• soy sauce 1 Tabsp
• sesame oil 1 tsp
• peanut oil 2 Tabsp

Method

1. Cut the eggplant into longitudinal strips about 2cm wide (some prefer to peel the skin, but I'm lazy and I don't)
2. Sprinkle salt over the eggplant and make sure all the cut surfaces are coated with salt
3. Leave aside for 15min or until the cut surfaces of the eggplant start weeping
4. Rinse off all the salt and gently squeeze the strips 
5. Place in heatproof dish and either steam till tender or microwave, covered for about 5-8minutes
6. Drizzle with soy sauce and sesame oil
7. Heat the peanut oil in a small saucepan and when the oil is hot, add the dehydrated garlic and onion and fry till brown - watch carefully - they brown and burn very easily
8. Pour hot oil and onion/garlic over hot eggplant - the sizzle is very satisfying!

In a new home.. Rossland

Wow, it's been almost a year since the last post, guess life has been kinda busy. We've moved from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere, leaving in winter and arriving to enjoy some heat (& humidity) in Vancouver before flying across to Rossland to experience a fabulous late Summer and Fall.
Never in our lives have we had such a stretch of sunny days, clear blue skies.
We'll do some catch up hopefully, with some of the hiking, food foraging and cooking that has taken place since then.

In the meantime, a brief offering of improvisation - trying to do a chinese steamed fish in our temp accomodation showed that we could do the same with the microwave and less mess!

Tyler St. Garage

Over the weekend North Island, or should I say lower and mid North Island was hit by what the weathermen called a "weather bomb". High winds tore through Taranaki and my old hometown; Whanganui. Roofs were torn off, trees felled, power supply disrupted. Up here in Auckland we caught just the fringe of the system and escaped with relatively minor stuff.

Tyler St. Lager

Just as quickly as it turned horrible, the weather became absolutely perfect. If Saturday was a precipitous low pressure sweeping across Taranaki and Manawatu, Sunday brought a fabulous high.. clear blues skies not a cloud in sight. Winds were still moderate, sail boats out in force in Auckland harbour.


And so we found ourselves strolling down to the waterfront after church, looking for a spot of lunch. Wanderings brought us to the Britomart precinct. Happy people soaking in the sunshine, dogs sniffing about. Poked our noses into 3 Eateries: Mexico - closed on Sunday, Brew on Quay - menu did not appeal, and walking round to Quay Street, Tyler St Garage. I had read reviews of this place and was keen to try it out.

View looking out to Quay Street

One happy lunch party sitting out in the brilliant (hot) sunshine and bracing breeze. Inside, a cavernous space, cool, dim and inviting. Industrial look, black painted steel beams (I would'nt mind a house like this), exposed bricks, high tables (on wheels) with bar stools, strategically positioned so that we could perch and shoot the breeze and watch the traffic go by outside. Picked up a menu and a friendly wait staff engaged us and we decided to eat here. Not a big menu, small plates for sharing, tempting gourmet hot dogs and pizza. Drinks not exorbitant either. We settled for 2 glasses of Tyler St lager - it seemed the right drink for a bright sunny day.. and foodie friend ordered Wild Boar Hot Dog and I ordered hot smoked salmon, broad bean hummus with grilled flat bread. (I had some misgivings about ordering a "small plate" as they are often not quite enough).

Wild Boar Hot Dog

Their eponymous lager was refreshing, well chilled but not outstanding. Went down well though. The Wild Boar sausage came quickly, smelt mouthwatering-ly savoury, on a soft roll. Topped with a serving of "sweet & sour apple sauerkraut with chilli", french fries and 2 small ramekins of ketchup and home-made mayo. Sausage was smoky, juicy and more-ish. My small plate took quite a while longer and to their credit, staff came to apologise and assure us that it would be out soon. And it was well worth the wait.

Grilled Flatbread

It was nothing like what I had expected. It was way better. The flat bread had been quartered, brushed with olive oil and grilled lightly - light crust with warm chewy interior. The smoked salmon and broad beans were presented as giant quenelles - one light tan and the other brilliant jade green. Their flavours complemented each other too - the hot smoked salmon had been mixed with dill, finely minced shallots and topped with Ikura (salmon roe) - smoky, salty, slightly piquant. The broad bean hummus was light, fresh tasting, with a hint of mint. Each component was delicious on its own but together made a very yummy mouthful. Very satisfying.

Hot Smoked Salmon, Broad bean hummus

Yum. We'd love to come back again perhaps in the evening to experience live music and sample more of their food offerings.