Cornwall Park - a haven in the city

View from Acacia Cottage

I absolutely love Cornwall Park. I live next door to it and it is such a green haven in the midst of Auckland city.

Acacia Cottage

It sure feels like a little pocket of countryside, with nearly 200 hectares of rolling hills and pastures, with sheep and cattle grazing. These livestock are from a real working farm at Cornwall Park which occupies about half the combined area of Cornwall Park and the adjacent One Tree Hill Domain. In Spring especially, during lambing season, it's wonderful to see frisky lambs just enjoying themselves.. tails (yet to be docked) a wagging, rooting for a feed at mother's side.

Sheep grazing on rolling hills

When the pressures of city living threaten to overwhelm, walking through the Kauri Grove, listening to the wind in the trees, the sun-dappled ground covered with leaves, breathing in the fresh air... an uplifting experience. I feel such a sense of well-being every time I walk through the park (which is as often as I can). From the wild(er) pastures to the more formal gardens and tree shaded avenues, with BBQ areas for families and a lovely little cafe with splendid views, everyone should visit this place... thank you Sir John Logan Campbell for your foresight in gifting this to the New Zealand people more than a hundred years ago.

Clare Inn, Auckland... what a find!

We went to the Clare Inn one Sunday evening, hungry for good Irish Pub food. Some pubs in NZ are very friendly and welcoming and others look real sleazy or are really a "guy's only" kind of watering hole. However, we had heard a lot of good things about the food here, so off we went.

Not quite sure of what it'd be like, we pushed open the doors and entered into a cool dark hallway Took a while for eyes to adjust after leaving the bright afternoon sun outside on Dominion road, we saw that the walls had dark wood panelling, lots of framed awards for food etc. Straight ahead as you entered was the bar (they had their priorities right) and to the right was a small room where happy people were having a few pints and on the left was what looked like the front room of an old country inn. We had not made any reservations, thinking that arriving at 6pm should find us quite a few empty tables. Wrong. Nearly full. Lots of regulars, having a drink or two and some tables well into their food. It looked as if we had wandered into the home of an extended Irish family.

We had a very friendly and warm welcome, and were seated at a little table for 2 by the fireplace (not lit, since it was summer). Service was quick, efficient, we got our menus and looked through the small but very enticing menu whilst enjoying our drinks from the bar (a Guinness and a lager). I think it's better for a restaurant to have a small menu and do it well, than to have zillions of items and all of them mediocre.

Beef and Guinness Spring Roll, Salad Greens

For starters we shared a beef and guinness spring roll. Very tender and tasty beef in a crispy skin, served with salad greens, followed by Slow Cooked Duck, Courgette fritter, pickled beetroot and Blood Orange marmalata. This has to be their star dish. The skin was crisp and light, meat tender and falling off the bone, full of flavour. Richness nicely balanced by the blood orange marmalade which was sweet but had a good amount of acidity.

Slow cooked Duck, Blood Orange Marmalata

Friend had Beef and Stout Wellington (which turned out to be a larger version of the Spring Roll). The green pea and smoked pork puree that came with it was to die for - just smooth enough, smoky, porky.. if you like mushy peas and smoky bacon, this one's for you!

Beef and Stout Wellington, Pea & Smoked Pork Puree, Whole grain Mustard

After such a feast, we could not manage dessert after that.

As we enjoyed our food, the place more and more crowded and it REALLY felt like some kind of family reunion that we had stumbled into. People seem to know each other, pulled up chairs and chatted. They did not mind us "strangers" and we did'nt feel out of place, and no one rushed us to finish our food and vacate our table.

What a find... we'll be back

The Clare Inn, 274-8 Dominion Road, Auckland, New Zealand. Tel: (09) 623-8233

Sambal Prawn Spaghetti

Sambal Prawn Spaghetti

 I have an enduring love affair with Italian food. It has many elements that resonate with Chinese food. Lots of garlic, quick stir frying of ingredients into a tasty sauce, tossing noodles into the said sauce.
We had a guest over for dinner this long weekend. Being mindful it was still within the Chinese New Year (CNY) fortnight, we wanted to serve something Chinese or Asian or Singaporean. But. Hot summer weather does'nt encourage slaving over a hot stove for hours on end.
...what to eat, what to cook.. can't be too spicy.. something "simple"
Looking back at our CNY Reunion dinner menu, sambal prawns was a winner, so decided to serve it as a one dish meal. (Plus salad).
Note:
1. I marinaded the prawns with cornstarch - a tip handed down from my grandma - keeps the prawns nice and "crunchy", prevents them from hardening up when cooked.
2. Cook sauce and pasta at the same time, if possible. Remove pasta from water whilst very "al dente" as it should finish cooking in the sauce.

Sambal

Ingredients: (serves 4 mains size, 6 entree)

• 36 medium prawns, tail on
• 1 500g pack San Remo No 220 Organic Spaghetti (bronzato style)
• 500ml tomato passata
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon Sambal  Chilli with dried shrimp
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, cut into 3-4mm wide strips
• 6 gloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 inch fresh ginger, finely chopped
• 1 -2 spring onions, very finely sliced
• 1/4 cup Chinese Shao Hsing Cooking wine
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 heaping tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt for boiling pasta
• peanut oil for frying prawns - 1/2 cup
• salt, pepper to taste
• thinly sliced red chillies (optional)

Ingredients: (Clockwise from Top Left) Spring onions, tomato mixture, prawns, white part of spring onion, ginger/garlic. Centre - roasted red pepper

Method

• Marinade the prawns with a quarter of the minced garlic, ginger and cornstarch for 20-30min
• Mix the sambal, tomato paste, tomato passata, Worcestershire sauce, sugar in a bowl, set aside
• Bring 4L of salted water to a boil in a large deep pot, cook pasta according to instructions.
• Meanwhile, heat the peanut oil till smoking, in a deep skillet or wok
• Drain the prawns, add to wok and stir fry till half cooked, about 2min. Set aside
• Add remaining ginger and garlic to oil (add more oil if mixture catches) stir fry briefly, do not allow garlic to burn. Deglaze with Shao Hsing wine.
• Add tomato mixture, bring to boil.
• By this time the pasta should be as cooked as you want it to be - just before the ideal "al dente" texture.
• Scoop pasta into sauce, stir well to mix and finish the pasta cooking in the sauce. (about 2minutes). Add salty pasta water as required. This contains starch and helps to thicken the sauce.
• Add the prawns, spring onions, red pepper and cook for another minute, season to taste with additional salt if necessary.
• Serve immediately