As we prepare to welcome in a new year and make plans to celebrate the beginning of 2012 in style, some of Queenstown's top chefs share their favourite recipes with Queenstown Times readers, designed to impress guests or hosts tomorrow night.
This is a great recipe to impress your guests at your New Year's Eve party - a fantastic, rich ice cream complemented with roasted almonds.
It can be made days in advance, so all you need to do is pull it out on the night, so you can enjoy your evening. It would go well with some warm, roasted Cromwell stonefruit.
WHITE CHOCOLATEAND ROASTED ALMOND ICE CREAM
Creme anglaise
INGREDIENTS
1200ml cream
500ml milk
3 vanilla pods
12 large eggs
150g caster sugar
750g white chocolate buttons
Ice cream
INGREDIENTS
500g blanched almonds
1500ml creme anglaise
45g unsalted butter
90g caster sugar
METHOD
First make the creme anglaise.
Separate eggs. Cut the vanilla pods in half lengthways and scrape out seeds. In a thick-bottomed pan, combine milk, vanilla seeds and cream. Cook until just boiling.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Pour the warm cream/milk slowly into the egg yolks and stir. Return to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly.
When almost at boiling point, remove from heat.
Set aside to cool. Add white chocolate buttons and stir to dissolve.
Preheat oven to 180degC.
Place almonds on flat oven tray and bake until lightly brown.
Add butter and sugar, toss and mix together then bake for a further 10 minutes. Cool.
Put almonds on half a kitchen cloth, fold the other half over, and bash into bits with a rolling pin.
Stir the almonds into the cold creme anglaise and churn in an ice-cream machine.
Tip: You can use an ice cream stabilizer if necessary or four leaves of gelatine soaked and added to the warm anglaise to melt and dissolve.
• Millbrook will be celebrating New Year's Eve at the Millhouse (degustation dinner), Hole in One (a la carte dining) and the Clubhouse (Surf & Turf BBQ) - bookings essential.
Our young tapas chef is Dutch, and I'm delighted that he's given me a recipe for a traditional New Year's Eve treat, one his father always makes.
Oliebollen is a Dutch pastry similar to a doughnut.
It is typically a deep-fried pastry filled with raisins and dusted with powdered sugar.
OLIEBOLLEN
INGREDIENTS
7g active yeast
½ cup lukewarm water
4½ cups flour
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1½ cups milk
1½ cup chopped apple
1 cup raisins (optional)
1 litre vegetable oil for frying
METHOD
Warm oven on lowest possible temperature setting.
Dissolve the yeast in the water in a small mixing bowl. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Add egg, yeast mixture and milk; beat with an electric mixer until blended.
Turn off oven. Cover prepared dough with greased piece of plastic wrap and place the bowl of dough on lowest rack of the warm oven. Allow to rest and rise for an hour.
Heat the oil for frying to 175degC in heavy-bottomed pot.
Mix apples and raisins into the dough. Then carefully slide the dough by heaped teaspoons into preheated oil. Do not crowd the pan.
Fry fritters until they are golden brown, about two minutes per side. They should turn over on their own when they are ready to brown on the other side, but keep an eye on them and flip as necessary.
Remove to a paper towel-lined plate and repeat with the remaining dough. Dust with icing sugar while warm.
Eichardt's is hosting a New Year's Eve cocktail party to celebrate the start of 2012 in style.
• Tickets are $155 per person and include all canapés, a three-hour beverage selection including wine, beer and juice, and a glass of bubbly at midnight. Reservations are essential as numbers are limited to 40.
Tomatoes eaten in the summer, ripened by the sun at their peak of ripeness are without doubt spectacular.
Eaten at any other time they are bland, and bear no resemblance to a tomato.
I call the yellow tomato the shy tomato as it hides behind its big red brother and is not as well liked. It should be, as it's as sweet and versatile.
I once remember a customer sending the message to the kitchen that she couldn't have the Beefsteak tomato tart as she was a vegetarian. There was no convincing her Beefsteak was a variety of tomato.
Between that and trying to pick the larder chef off the floor where he was howling with laughter, I renamed the tomato.
She was happy, but the larder chef was uncontrollable for the rest of service.
CHEESE AND TOMATOON TOAST. PETER THORNLEY-STYLE
- Serves 6 -
INGREDIENTS
1.5kg Russian red tomatoes
4 sprigs thyme
3 cloves garlic finely sliced
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
300g fresh goat's cheese
75ml cream
3 Tbsp finely minced shallots
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
30 golden yellow tomatoes, blanched
2 sprigs tarragon1 sprig thyme
About 2 cups olive oil
18 cape gooseberries cut in half
Opal basil
Green basil
½ a baguette
METHOD
Blanch the Russian Red tomatoes, remove skins, cut into quarters , scoop out and discard seeds. Gently toss tomato quarters with olive oil, thyme and garlic. Season with a little flaky sea salt and freshly milled black pepper.
Place in a dehydrator overnight to semi dry (or a low oven at around 40degC), concentrate flavours and give a sweet moist tartare. Remove from dehydrator, brush lightly with olive oil and store between layers of baking parchment in fridge. Use within two days - the more you dry the tomatoes the longer it will keep.
Warm the cream and blend with the goat's cheese till smooth, pour into a container, cover and place in fridge to set in one to two hours.
Place yellow tomatoes in a small roasting pan, add thyme, tarragon add enough olive oil to just cover. Cover with a baking paper to stop skin forming and place in a 90degC oven for 6 to 8 hours or overnight. Reserve the oil for further poaching and dressings.
Place a sauté pan over a medium heat; add olive oil and shallots sweat until without colour and soft (3 to 4 mins).
Scrape shallots into a bowl and cool. Add vinegar and olive oil and whisk together.
Season with freshly milled black pepper and flaky sea salt.
For the toast cut baguette lengthwise into 6 slices, brush with olive oil, place on baking tray and bake for 6 to 8 minutes at 200degC until golden.
To serve, remove yellow tomatoes from poaching oil, season with salt and pepper and warm in oven for 4 to 5 mins.
Chop the tomatoes as you would steak tartare, add a little shallot dressing to moisten and spread on toasted baguette.
Arrange five poached tomatoes on each along with cape gooseberry halves. Slip in amongst tomatoes tiny teaspoons of goat's cheese.
Scatter over the sweet and opal basils, spoon a little extra virgin olive oil.
• New Year's Eve celebrations at the Wakatipu Grill include a three-course dinner at $130 per person with a complimentary glass of Veuve Cliquot, followed by a boat cruise to watch the legendary Queenstown fireworks display. Limited availability, and bookings are essential on (03) 450-9400.
Crowne Plaza Queenstown executive chef Scott Wyper
This salad is the perfect party food dish. In our restaurant it's served with our tomato gazpacho and seared prawns, and features on our six-course New Year's Eve menu.
CUCUMBER AND FENNEL SLAW
INGREDIENTS
⅓ cucumber
1 small bulb of fennel
½ orange
70ml white wine vinegar
50ml water
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 star anise
A few leaves of fresh basil and mint
METHOD
Wash and cut away all stalks and root from the fennel. Cut in half down the centre and cut into really thin slices. Place in a bowl or airtight container.
Peel off the zest of the orange with a potato peeler and add to fennel with the star anise.
Place the water, vinegar, sugar and salt in a pot and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5min. Pour the hot liquid over the fennel mix.
Let cool to room temperature, then cover with glad wrap or lid and place in fridge. Once cold, lift fennel from juice and mix with equal amounts of very fine cucumber strips. Add fresh chopped herbs.
TO SERVE
Sear the prawns (4 per person entree, 1 for canape) in a very hot pan, turning once.
Season with salt and pepper.
Place a small bundle of slaw in the middle of a bowl, place hot cooked prawns on top of the slaw and pour around the chilled gazpacho.
• Crowne Plaza Queenstown's New Year's Eve dinner is a six-course set menu at $99 per person (includes glass of sparkling wine on arrival). $35 for children 7-12 years old. Children under 7 eat free. Live entertainment from 7.30pm. Bookings essential.
Ultimate Hikes Glade House chef Eddie Vieira
Coming from Brazil, New Year is also a summer event, so we like to spend lots of time on the beach and keep food fresh and simple.
One of my favourites, which can be prepared ahead of time, is tomato salsa on a cracker with smoked fish.
Smoked salmon is a great option or here, on the Milford Track, we often manage to catch a nice rainbow trout which we smoke with manuka chips.
If you want to go all out, have it with a bit of cream cheese.
This makes a great canape.
TOMATO SALSA
INGREDIENTS
500g fresh chopped tomatoes (cherry tomatoes if you can get them)
4 spring onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
Handful of coriander leaves, chopped
Juice of a lemon
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp sesame oil
dash of Tabasco sauce
pinch of sugar
METHOD
Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.
• The 2011-12 Ultimate Hikes Guided Walks season operates throughout summer and will continue until late April with walks available on the Milford, Routeburn and Greenstone tracks.
