Feast Monthly July

JULY AT FARRO | 2017

A TASTE OF FRANCE

FEATURES: Patisserie delights: Little French Pastry Maison Vauron: French Wines Terrine vs Parfait?

What’s in your basket with Simon Wright

FEAST MONTHLY JULY

JULY EATING WITH FARRO

ON OUR TABLE THIS MONTH:

F

rench cuisine offers classics that are hearty, decadent and a clear reminder why French food graces our tables each winter. Uncomplicated cassoulets, confits and soups make the most not just of seasonal produce, but often also of undervalued slow cooking cuts like lamb neck. This month we travel our taste buds to Toulouse for some delicious sausage, to the snowy alps of the Savoy region for a distinctive cheese and to the marshy shores of Arles. The best part is we don’t even have to leave home for this delicious taste of France! We also meet some French natives, who now call NZ home, and are bringing the delicious flavours of France to our shores. Welcome to the French table at Farro.

RECIPE ONLINE

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JULY DIARY DATE

14 FRIDAY

CROQUE MONSIEUR DAY

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Paneton’s ready-to-roll pastry is made with real butter so, let’s face it, it just tastes better. Keep some on hand for a quick tarte tartin, homemade pies or an easy pissaladière (anchovy tart).

Paneton’s puff pastry and L’Authentique’s Toulouse Grind make the perfect homemade sausage rolls (above) – look for the recipe online –www.farrofresh.co.nz French month can’t pass without at least one good Côte de Bœuf.

Cheese! You can’t think French without it, but we are pacing ourselves with tastings by style of cheese so there’s more opportunity to indulge.

French Salt can give a beautiful mineral intensity to what’s on the table. Read about it on our blog www.farrofresh.co.nz/whats-fresh

5 WAYS WITH LIVING GOODNESS

It’s time for our annual Croque Monsieur Day – Friday 14 July, Bastille Day, is our day to celebrate the creation of the Croque Monsieur. “Mister Crunch” is the creamy cheese and ham goodness that feeds the regulars of Parisian bars and cafés and it’s a French taste sensation that just can’t be missed. Come get a taste at our deli on the 14th!

ORDER ONLINE: FRENCH DINNER PARTY

Sauerkraut and fermented foods are amazing for your immune system and taste delicious too. Fermenting food is an age-old technique of food preservation that combines vegetables with salt to create lactic acid, or good bacteria. Our gut health and immune systems are inextricably linked, with approximately 70-80 percent of the immune tissue being located within the digestive system. Peter and Fiona at Living Goodness pride themselves in making the best-quality and tastiest live fermented food. They have a range of flavours that are not only good for your gut, they are fantastic to have in the fridge for so many food matches.

1. Sassy Sauerkraut hot dogs | You can’t beat sausage and sauerkraut as a classic combination. We love a traditional Frank’s Bratwurst’s hot dog with dijon mustard and sauerkraut for a Friday night treat.

2. Sum Yum Kimchi burgers | Spicy Korean kimchi burgers – burger night never tasted so good.

3. Heartbeet Kraut & salmon | Raw red and green cabbage with beetroot, this is a fresh, crunchy and vibrant match with cooked salmon (pictured above).

Order your Farro French dinner party kit now!

We’ve created a complete dinner party for you so all you need to do is order online and follow our easy recipes to make your own French night of deliciousness!

PG 1

4. Super Superkraut soup | If it wasn’t super enough already, this kraut has added kale, seaweed and Himalayan salt for even more goodness. Try sprinkling it into an Asian soup to add complexity of flavour and even more nutritious goodness.

5. Quick Draw Slaw sarnie | All the ingredients for a simple slaw but with added ginger, chilli and garlic. This sets off a chicken mayo sandwich or is fantastic added to a nutritious salad.

L’Authentique’s Terrine vs Parfait

$

9.99

$

9.99

What’s the difference? When do you pick a terrine over a parfait or vice versa and where do rillettes and Pâté e fit into the mix? We asked Phillipe from Auckland’s L’Authentique to give us a run down.

Terrine or Rillette:

A terrine is a soft mixture of finely chopped meat and spices, cooked, pressed into a container (terrine) and served cold. In France, they’re used in gourmet sandwiches or as light supper dish. As a canapé, it’s served with gherkins, a baguette and onion jam.

A rillette is also made in a terrine dish, but is made from meat (not liver) that is more coarsely chopped or shredded, seasoned and preserved slowly, to make a spread for sandwiches or through a pasta.

Our pick:

L’Authentique Pork Rillettes: The traditional French charcuterie – it’s easy to spread and has a delicious rich pork taste.

The savoury quality of the rillettes comes from using quality cuts and a generous hint of salt.

Parfait or Pâté: Parfait is a very

soft mixture of meat, prepared as a paste, cooked, and served cold. In French, parfait means perfect. A parfait is finer (often put through a sieve) than a pâté.

A pâté in France is a little bit closer to a terrine – denser. And the parfait is nearer a mousse – hence the word ‘parfait’ – a parfait is a pâté that is even more perfect!

Both are made with liver – one of the best sources of vitamin A, and are generally served on a French crusty baguette or crackers, with a glass of wine.

Our pick:

L’Authentique Chicken and duck liver parfait: The original, the most popular, the inimitable one! Made with L’Authentique’s French knowledge and love.

The full range of Auckland’s L’Authentique’s terrines, parfaits and pâté are available

From the fromagerie: Tartiflette TARTIFLETTE CHEESE

$17.99 SAVE $4.50

*VALID 3-30 JULY

You can’t have French month without talking about cheese and, being midwinter, we think Tartiflette. The perfect dish for this month is the perfect dish for our cheese of the month.

Tartiflette is a marriage of very good things – potatoes, bacon and cheese. From the snowy alps of the Savoy region, we are guessing this one came about because there is nothing better than hot potato and cheese after a trek in the snow. Historically, this area was shared by France, Switzerland

and Italy. While mentions of tartiflette appear as far back as 170 AD, the present version is thought to be a rather modern one created in the 1980s simply as a way to increase sales of Reblochon, a locally produced, unpasteurised, washed-rind cheese. The tartiflette cheese available this month at Farro is made from pasteurised cow’s milk and is rich and creamy while retaining a slight muskiness thanks to a light washing. Best enjoyed with a beer or cider. For the recipe, visit: www.farrofresh.co.nz/whats-fresh

WHAT’S IN YOUR BASKET? We talk to Simon Wright, from The French Café.

The wonderful thing about a change of season is not just the new exciting ingredients it brings, but also how it reflects on the way we want to eat. Now that winter is well and truly on us, I find I crave more robust food, full of rich flavours that warm your soul.

At my house we seem to be having a 70s revival of late and are really loving the simple chicken casserole again. It’s a great dish to throw together quickly, especially after a busy day, and it lends itself well to a whole variety of spices and flavourings to suit your mood and is the ultimate comfort food on a cold night.

I choose Bostock’s organic chicken, which I break down into thigh, drumstick and breast pieces, cutting the breasts in half and keeping them on the bone so they don’t dry out when cooking. I season the chicken pieces with plenty of salt and pepper and fry them in clarified butter until golden brown. I then fry off some diced onion, garlic cloves, carrots, parsnip and celery until they are nicely caramelised, place the vegetables and chicken pieces into a casserole dish and sprinkle a tablespoon of fennel seeds, a big pinch of chilli flakes and a few sprigs of fresh thyme over the top. Add 250mls of red wine, 500mls of fresh chicken stock, a tin of crushed tomatoes and a small handful of dried porcini mushrooms, cover the casserole with a tight-fitting lid and place in the oven at 200°C for about 60 minutes or until the chicken is cooked.

To finish, I fry off pieces of Harrington’s drycured streaky bacon, rind removed; quartered Swiss brown mushrooms; a big handful of roughly chopped flat leaf parsley; and some toasted breadcrumbs, which I spoon over the top of the casserole to create some texture. I like to serve it with winter greens like sprouting broccoli, curly kale, spinach and Brussels sprout leaves, quickly sautéed in olive oil to retain their freshness and, if you are looking for a delicious alternative to mashed potatoes, why not try some whole-wheat couscous for a change?

Happy shopping, Simon

PG 2

FEAST MONTHLY JULY

‘Hard Roast’ Pork Chops with Mustard and Savoy Cabbage Serves: 4 INGREDIENTS Potatoes ◻ 1 kilogram Agria potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-centimetre pieces ◻ 80 grams butter, unsalted ◻ 1/3 cup full-fat milk Pork ◻ 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, leaves removed and stalk discarded ◻ 1 tablespoon cooking oil ◻ 4 x Fresh Meats pork loin chops, rind and skin on, weighing approximately 250 grams each.

Cabbage ◻ 1/2 large savoy cabbage, cored and finely shredded ◻ 1/4 Farro whole nutmeg, freshly grated

Red Rice and Chicken Salad with Pomegranate and Feta Serves: 4 INGREDIENTS ◻ 250 grams Riz de Camargue French Red Rice ◻ Zest and juice of 2 lemons ◻ 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil ◻ pinch of caster sugar ◻ 1 small ready-roasted chicken, skin discarded and meat shredded ◻ 50 grams almonds, toasted and chopped ◻ 1 medium cucumber, deseeded, cut into diagonal chunky pieces ◻ 1 bunch spring onions, chopped ◻ 100 grams feta cheese, crumbled ◻ 1 tub Sam Agri pomegranate arils ◻ Small handful of dill, finely chopped PG 3

The ‘hard roast’ technique gives these pork chops the much-loved crackling and juiciness. We also felt the French nature of this recipe makes it perfect for our French month celebrations!

METHOD Pre-heat oven to 240°C. Place potatoes in a large saucepan covered with water. Season with a good pinch of salt and place on a high heat to boil. Cook for 15 mins until tender but not falling apart.

Once cooked, drain the potatoes in a colander, return to the pot, cover with a lid and set aside for 5 mins to steam and dry out slightly.

Season a roasting tray with the rosemary, salt and pepper and 1 tablespoon of cooking oil.

Add your pork chops, smearing the oil mixture all over both sides.

Place in pre-heated oven for 15 mins, turning half-way through.

Add 60 grams of the butter to the potatoes and mash well.

Heat the milk until warm, add to the potatoes and, with a wooden spoon, beat until you have a creamy smooth consistency, and set aside.

To sauté the savoy cabbage, heat a frying pan on high until quite hot.

Add the remaining 20 grams

Arles, a city on the Rhone river in southern France, was not only home to Vincent van Gogh for a year, but is also home to a very famous rice known for its nutty taste and beautiful colour. It’s perfect in this winter salad.

METHOD Boil the rice in plenty of salted water until just cooked, about 30 mins.

Meanwhile, make the dressing and prepare the other ingredients. Place the lemon zest, juice and olive oil in a jam jar with a fitted lid. Add seasoning and the sugar and shake well. Drain cooled rice and tip into a large bowl.

Pour the dressing over the warm rice and mix well. Let it soak in a little, then toss through the rest of the ingredients.

of butter. When it starts to foam, add the cabbage and toss to coat, then add 2 tablespoons of water, which should evaporate quite quickly, allowing the cabbage to soften slightly but still retain some crunch.

We have a few go-to rules when cooking pork chops:

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Take the chops out of the fridge at least 30 mins before you start cooking.

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Start hot and then take it down – reduce the heat once you’ve got the sear, so your chops can settle into the cooking.

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Keep that fat on – it melts when cooked and gives extra flavour.

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Rest –don’t rush – give it 10 mins to rest before you get stuck in.

Grate over the nutmeg and mix, season to taste and mix again, then remove from the heat.

Serve the sautéed savoy cabbage with the roasted pork chop on top with a generous helping of the creamy mashed potato.

SAM AGRI POMERGRANATE ARILS

$3.99

*VALID FOR JULY

COOKING 101: THE PERFECT BROTH The French may not have created the art of broths, but they certainly refined it to create consommé, a clear, richly flavoured stock that has been clarified using a rather nifty trick with egg whites. Like any good stock, broth or consommé, it’s all about the bones. The French advocate plenty of gelatin as it gives a fuller mouth feel, so bones rich in cartilage and tendons are an excellent choice and are said to be where all the good stuff lies: collagen, proline, glycine and glutamine, which are excellent for our health.

Now that broth is again the go-to for healing the body, we often get asked what the difference is between a simple broth and a bone broth or even stock.

Broth is a simple bone, water and vegetable combo, cooked for up to 2 hours. It’s a great one to have on hand for all your cooking needs, as it is not so heavy and flavoursome that it will dominate your dish.

Stock often starts with roasting the bones first to get a deeper flavour. With much longer cooking times of 3-4 hours, and often made with beef bones, it’s a hearty base for slow-cooked meals and big soups.

Bone broth With a cooking time of 8 hours or more, the goodness inside those bones is able to be unlocked and accessed. Bones will literally collapse, meaning more of the good stuff in your broth. Bones are often roasted first as well, but not obligatory.

The perfect chicken stock, broth or bone broth starts with quality bones; it’s the one we have on the stove most often, simply because it works across so many dishes. We keep Bostock’s organic chicken frames on hand for just this purpose, but we also never throw away a roast chicken carcass as it can go toward a whole extra meal!

EASY CHICKEN STOCK Makes: about 1 litre | Prep time: 5 mins | Cook time: 2 hours INGREDIENTS ◻ 2 Bostock’s organic free-range chicken frames ◻ 2 celery sticks, washed well and roughly chopped ◻ 1 brown onion, halved ◻ 1 leek, split in half, washed well then roughly chopped ◻ 1 carrot, halved ◻ 1 bay leaf ◻ 3-4 black peppercorns ◻ Salt and pepper to taste

METHOD Place all the ingredients in a large, heavy-based stock pot with enough water to cover.

Place on a high heat and bring to a simmer, skimming as you go to remove any rising scum.

This gives a nice clear stock.

Cover and reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for a further 2 hours.

Remove from the heat, strain well. The vegetables can be used in soup if desired.

Stock can be frozen to use as needed for up to 3 months, or keep covered in your fridge for up to 5 days. Always return to a rapid boil before adding to a dish.

BOSTOCK’S ORGANIC FREE RANGE CHICKEN FRAMES

$7.99/kg

FEAST MONTHLY JULY

WINE PERSONALITY OF THE MONTH: MAISON VAURON

INTRODUCING: DOMENICA HOULIHAN Customer Experience Ambassador, Constellation Drive Domenica (Dom) is our customer experience manager at Constellation Drive. Those regular customers at the store would have spotted her whipping up something delicious to taste, as a professional chef she’s here to offer food advice and inspiration for customers.

What appealed about the role?

So many things! The fact that I could work with customers AND food practically sold it by itself. An opportunity to work for Farro Fresh was absolutely top of that list too, as it’s my ‘happy’ place.

What’s your background?

I’m a trained and qualified chef; I have worked in hospitality for 27 years all over the world (I’m showing my age).

In New Zealand I have run my own company for the best part of 12 years, working as a food stylist, chef consultant, and café owner.

What’s your favourite food?

Can I have two? I love Japanese and Italian. But the last thing I’d eat on earth would be a giant crusty white roll, filled with butter, mayonnaise, lobster and crispy bacon.

What’s your signature dish? Tiramisu.

What do you do in store?

I help customers with anything and everything, but mostly I suggest products, ingredients or ideas for dinner, dinner parties, quick meals and the like.

What do you think are some of the best bits to the role?

I get to experiment with any food product I want, I test it in the demonstration kitchen and play around with new and interesting ingredients, produce and recipes. My colleagues are all foodies. We love to swap stories about what we’ve had for dinner and how we cooked it.

WANT TO WORK WITH US? www.farrofreshcareers.co.nz

PG 5

Y

ou could say, for JeanChristophe (JC) Poizat, co-founder of Maison Vauron wine merchants, wine is in his blood.

His great-great grandfather, Antoine Vauron, founded a business as a négociant in France in 1879 in the town of St Etienne in the northern Rhône region. (A négociant is the French term for a wine merchant who assembles the produce of smaller growers and winemakers and sells the result under its own name).

Nearly 120 years later, JC found himself working in the wine industry on the other side of the world, in Auckland where he’d come for a six-month trip to check out the local wine scene, and ended up meeting his Kiwi wife. He and his business partners spotted a gap in the market and decided they wanted to introduce the best old-world French wines to Kiwis at a time when NZ’s wine palate and local industry were really starting to blossom. When looking for a name for his new business, he didn’t have to look far – Maison Vauron (House of Vauron) is a nod to his family history.

JC, Will and the team at Maison Vauron pride themselves on authenticity. They work directly with about 300 small producers in France, no middle men involved; these are predominantly family-owned wineries not aimed at the mass-market, some less than four to five hectares, and some that have been in the family for generations.

How do you pick your wine?

I once asked a farmer, ‘how do you know a good from an average bull?’. He said, ‘it’s all in the head’. The same is true for how we pick our wine, it’s all in the head. We want to make sure the winemakers have the same philosophy as us: they think the same, [their wines are] natural, not mass-produced, authentic and [the makers] have real integrity throughout the process of how the wine is produced and made.

How do you tell the difference from one bottle to the next?

Telling the story of the wine is what sets it apart. A bottle of wine is the same as a million bottles of wine – it’s what you wrap around it that makes it unique – to see, touch, and hear the story and taste it. We may live in an age

where everyone wants the short version– but some of this wine has 350 years of history. We want to take people through that journey.

What’s the best French wine, in your opinion?

Burgundy – white or red (chardonnay and pinot noir varietals) – without hesitation. It’s the most sophisticated wine region in France and has the potential to produce some of the finest, most complex and elegant wines of all… sometimes the most expensive too!

How do you encourage people to pick up a bottle of French wine over other wines?

I encourage them to step out of their comfort zones, hear the stories and discover a whole new world in the old world of wine making.

Read the full story at farrofresh.co.nz/whatsfresh CHATEAU DE CHAMIREY MERCUREY – BOURGOGNE – FRANCE What a beautiful property – this is fairy-tale like! The chateau was built in the 18th century and the vineyard has been owned by the Devillard family for five generations. The family has always taken pride in planting low yields so that although the quantity of grapes is smaller, the quality is fantastic.

MERCUREY BLANC 2014 This elegant, focused and dry white wine (100% chardonnay) is the result of the diversity and typicity of each plot of land (six of them) that surround the chateau. It shows fine intensity and complexity that is a great match for NZ seafood.

$49.99

MERCUREY ROUGE AC 2014 100% pinot noir – it certainly over-delivers for the appellation!

There’s lots of fruit density that’s still very much at the brooding part of its life. The fruit is well-concentrated, fleshy and balanced with a hint of leather on the finish. It will keep getting better. Match with a beef casserole.

$49.99

PRODUCER OF THE MONTH: LITTLE FRENCH PASTRY Ben trained as a chef in France and over the years he taught himself pastry work.

“I fell in love with pastry and how working with it would be so calm and precise and less stressful than working in cuisine and the hectic pace of the kitchen.”

Ben met Matthieu, who was working as a sommelier at Clooney, and they sparked up a friendship and a mutual love of pastry and the tastes they missed from home.

They would frequent the famous La Cigale markets to get their French fix, and Ben got talking to market founder, Elizabeth Lind, about mille-feuille – a very traditional French pastry layered with pastry cream and different toppings.

“Elizabeth said: ‘can you start selling at the market in two weeks?’,” Ben says. “So we did!”

W

We found a commercial kitchen space and started with traditional French mille-feuille with a modern twist – classic chocolate with cardamon, spice and salt and even some Matcha toppings, La Ciagale was a hit!

hen two young Frenchmen, Ben and Matthieu, found themselves working together on the other side of the world, in Auckland’s Clooney restaurant, they realised they shared a love of patisserie and from this, something very special began to unfold!

Ben found the demand grew so quickly they started selling at the Mt Albert market not long after, and they then started to supply local French cafés including La Fromagerie and then Farro. He was working from 8am to 3am, making mille-feuille by day and working in Clooney by night.

As the duo behind Little French Pastry, their story is one of absolute deliciousness, layered with fine puff pastry, ganache, salted caramel and caramelised pecan nuts.

He gave up his job at Clooney and took on Little French Pastry full-time to keep up with demand.

They now produce not only mille-feuille, but a

delicious range of tarts with their own unique mark – a range we just can’t get enough of on the shelves at Farro.

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For the lemon tart, they add lemon gel and candied lemon in addition to curd to give it a real zing.

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Ben’s Mont Blanc tarts (named after a mountain in France) are completely unique too, combining chestnut cream and pear as a way to introduce people to the chestnut flavour. Then it’s topped with chestnut cream and meringue, oh mon Dieu!

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The classic tarte tartin is given a facelift too. Ben cooks the apple slowly over two hours so the caramel on the bottom forms an almost apple jam texture, he then cuts it into rectangles and layers it on top of puff pastry.

Little French Pastry is now looking for its own retail space to make and sell and celebrate French pastries, where people can come and hang out with friends and enjoy good food. But they will still keep up the markets and tastings at Farro to share the story of their delicious creations with one and all!

Read the full story online at farrofresh.co.nz/whats-fresh

WHAT IS A MILLE-FEUILLE? Traditionally, a mille-feuille is made up of three layers of puff pastry alternating with two layers of pastry cream, but sometimes whipped cream or jam. The top pastry layer is dusted with icing (confectioner’s) sugar and sometimes cocoa, pastry crumbs or roasted nuts.

PG 6

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