FOOD

SUNDAY MARKETS

AMBROSIA

2 course lunch menu including 1 soft drink, for just $21! Changes daily – Monday to Thursday.

Weddings – Birthdays or any special occasions

RED SHED PALAZZO

What could be better than a meal fit for a king? How about meals fit for the gods? Named after a substance the ancient Greeks believed to be ‘the food of the gods’, Ambrosia Bar & Restaurant delivers with more down-to-earth cuisine too. From bar snacks and breakfasts, to lunches and dinners, Ambrosia (open weekdays, 10am-11pm, and 8am-11pm, weekends) offers a wide range of fare from around the world, including a sumptuous Sunday roast – just $21 including any house drink! Check out our winter menu - available from April 1st. 44 Third View Ave, Beachlands Phone 09 536 4151 Email ambrosiabar.beachlands@gmail.com www.theambrosiabar.co.nz

JU1664-v6 WINNER Rural Cafe of the Year. Recommending this cafe is easy – the food and service are that good and directions couldn’t be more straight forward: head along Karaka Rd and look out for the big... red shed! Along with their team, Paul (a chef with 30 years’ experience) and Kristina Smith serve quality food amidst beautiful, family and animal friendly, garden surrounds. Creative breakfasts, morning and afternoon teas, gourmet-style lunches and moreish cakes are all on offer at this fully licensed slice of rural paradise. OPEN 5 days 8.30am-4.00pm Wednesday-Sunday

16 Jesmond Rd (just off Karaka Rd), Drury Phone 09 294 6687 www.redshedpalazzo.co.nz

PalazzoRed Shed

THE LANDMARK BAR & EATERY

HAPPY STAMPEDE BAR & GRILLMOTHER'S DAY

Special women deserve a special day! And mums are special – She deserves the very best! Stampede Bar & Grill is an authentic Western-style Bar and they deserve the very best! So, spoil your mum this Mother’s Spoil Mum this Mother's Day Restaurant in an exciting saloon-style environment. Try our Day, Sunday, May 9, with a fabulous seafood extravaganza at at The Landmark Bar & Eatery on the 9th of May mouth watering menu on western saddle seats in an authentic Panmure’s beautiful historic hotel, The Landmark Bar & Eatery. with a seafood extravaganza! Wild West décor. Let loose with a boot stompin’ boogie to Only $68pp for adults 12 years and over, $34pp for children 4-12 years and free of charge for children under four years. Quote "Times" for $68pp adults 12 years & over $34pp children 4-12 years one of our DJs and bands and enjoy the most elaborately themed bar in town! Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9am till late Bookings are essential. Don’t miss out – reserve a table now – a 10% Children under 4 years free of charge with DJ’s every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For the best and enjoy a family lunch which honours mum! discount! Don’t miss out! Reserve a table now! steaks in town, a fantastic wine list, large open fire and two big screens for sports matches. Come along and enjoy!

163 Queens Road, Panmure For reservations email: laurenm@waipunahotel.co.nz.

BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTI238 Great South Road, PapakuraAL JU2018 Contact us at laurenm@waipunahotel. 163 Queens Road, Panmure Ph 09 297 8991 www.facebook.com/StampedeNZ co.nz

A bite of goodness

With plenty of vitamin-rich autumn fruit on trees and in supermarkets now’s the time to pop apples, pears, passionfruit, feijoas, persimmons and mandarins into lunch boxes or onto the dinner table. Autumn fruits are packed with vitamins and dietary fibre; what’s more they taste delicious and help make the 5+ A Day mantra easy to follow. So, what better way to enjoy autumn fruits for lunch or dinner than with this tempting fresh pear salad?

We’re heading for winter so now’s the time to stay one step ahead of chills and ills.

5+ A DAY FRESH PEAR SALAD

Serves: 3-4 Preparation: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 pears, cored, thinly sliced • 4 cups mixed salad greens • 1/3 cup pecans or sliced almonds • 1/4 cup pistachios

Dressing:

• 2 tbsp olive oil • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard • Juice of 1 lemon • Pinch salt • Freshly ground pepper

Drizzle:

• 1 tsp maple syrup

In a large bowl, combine the pear, mixed greens and nuts. In a small bowl, whisk together dressing ingredients. Gently mix the dressing through the salad – leave in bowl or arrange on a platter.

Drizzle with maple syrup and serve.

Manna from Heaven!

YOUNG CHEF TAKES TOP PRIZE

Business is about to beef up for Sam Heaven who has just cooked, carved and plated his way into the Beef + Lamb New Zealand hall of fame. “New Zealand farmers should be reassured that these young chefs are doing their product proud and I can safely say the future of New Zealand’s foodservice industry is in good hands.”

SamHeaven.

Photo Wayne Martin

Sam featured in EastLife last month as a finalist in the Beef + Lamb Young Ambassador Chef competition. Within days of the magazine going to print he was announced the winner after a 90-minute cook-off against the other two finalists – Ashley Knudsen from No. 7 Balmac in Dunedin and Lyall Minhinnick from Fleurs Place in Moeraki.

Elated at his success Sam said he was hugely excited to have an opportunity to represent Beef + Lamb New Zealand and to be mentored by some great chefs.

“I am looking forward to making the most out of it and learning as much as possible,” he said. “In years to come it will be amazing to look back and know that I was the first Young Ambassador Chef.

“My long term ambition is to move overseas and gain Michelin experience in some of the top restaurants where I can gather knowledge to open my own fine dining restaurant in the future.”

Competition judges, Ambassador Chefs, Tejas Nikam, Phil Clark, Norka Mella Munoz and Jack Crosti were impressed with Sam’s dishes and the thought processes which had gone into creating them.

This, along with his innovative plating and excellent flavour profiles, tipped the judges’ decision to crown him as the winning young chef. Head judge, Norka Mella Munoz said Sam had the whole package and was so well focused on the job of delivering extremely tasty and well executed dishes to the judges table.

“All the elements of his dish connected and the ingredients and flavour combinations were exceptional.”

As a result of his win, Sam will receive mentoring throughout the year from the Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chefs, plus a hands-on paddock to plate experience from Greenstone Creek Beef and Provenance Lamb. Zealand, which has helped shape the careers of head chefs and executive chefs around the country for the past 25 years.

Foodservice manager at Beef + Lamb New Zealand, Lisa Moloney, said with the industry being hit hard by the pandemic over the past year, Beef + Lamb New Zealand wanted to look to the future and provide inspiration for young chefs to remain excited about their careers.

“New Zealand farmers should be reassured that these young chefs are doing their product proud and I can safely say the future of New Zealand’s foodservice industry is in good hands.”

TONY’S CHOCOLONELY VANILLA BEAN AND RASPBERRY ICE CREAM

BY KELLY GIBNEY

Two methods are provided here: A traditional style ice cream (well worth the effort) and a speedy, no-churn method, perfect to get kids making themselves.

This indulgent ice cream which uses Tony’s Chocolonely White Chocolate Raspberry Popping Candy will be an absolute hit with kids of all ages. Feel free to try one of the other Tony’s Chocolonely flavours in this recipe too. We think the dark chocolate, almond and sea salt is also wonderful.

• 300ml cream • 300ml full fat dairy milk • ½ cup caster sugar (we use raw or golden caster sugar but white is fine too) • 1 ½ tsp vanilla paste • 3 free range egg yolks • 10g freeze dried raspberries • 100g Tony’s Chocolonely White

Chocolate Raspberry Popping

Candy – roughly chopped

See page 3 to be in the draw to win a Tony’s Chocolonely prize pack.

Place the bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer the night prior to starting this recipe.

Place cream, milk and half the sugar in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Bring it almost to the boil. Stir through the vanilla paste.

Whisk the eggs yolks and remaining sugar together for 5 minutes until paler in colour.

Take a ½ cup of the hot cream and whisk it into the egg yolks mix. Pour this into saucepan with the rest of the hot cream and place over a lowmedium heat. Cook gently, stirring constantly for about 8 minutes until it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Place the custard in the fridge to cool completely, ideally at least 4 hours. Stir often in the first hour to avoid a skin forming. Turn your ice cream maker on and pour in the cooled custard. Run until the texture of soft serve. This will take 15-30 minutes depending on the machine.

Add the freeze-dried raspberries into the machine (while still running) towards the end of this process once it has thickened but is not quite done yet.

Turn off the machine, remove the lid and stir through the chopped chocolate. The ice cream will be too soft to eat at this stage. Place in an airtight container in the freezer for a couple of hours to freeze thoroughly.

Take from the freezer 5 minutes before serving to ensure easy scooping.

Will last up to two months in the freezer. Makes roughly 1 litre.

NO CHURN METHOD

• 500ml cream • 1 x 395g can sweetened condensed milk • 1 ½ tsp vanilla paste • 10g freeze dried raspberries • 120g Tony’s Chocolonely

White Chocolate Raspberry

Popping Candy – roughly chopped

Place the cream in a large bowl and whip until almost stiff. Fold through the condensed milk, vanilla and freeze dried raspberries.

Place in an airtight container in the freezer for 45 minutes. Stir through the chocolate. Place in the freezer for another 20 minutes.

Stir again to make sure the chocolate is evenly mixed through and doesn’t sink to the bottom. Leave to freeze completely.

Take from the freezer 5 minutes before serving to ensure easy scooping.

Taste Tryourlatestflavoursofthemonthandexperiencearangeof newproductswitharealtastedifference.EastLifeisalwaysonthe lookoutfornewproductstotantalisethetastebudsofourreaders.

WHITTAKER’S PLUNKET PAIR

Whittaker’s has knocked off a couple of new blocks ahead of Mother’s Day, May 9. The iconic Kiwi chocolatiers’ new 100gm blocks of Carrot Cake, and Strawberries and Waffles varieties are crafted to be reminiscent of classic home baking. Twenty cents from the sale of each block (available from supermarkets nationwide while stocks last) will assist the good work of Plunket.

BROWN SAYS IT WITH CHOCOLATE!

Teaming up with Cadbury, artist Bonnie Brown has the perfect present for Kiwi mums, a limited edition box of classic chocs. Ideally presented with a bouquet of living roses – easy to find in time for Mother’s Day, May 9 – these tempting treats never looked better. Cadbury’s 450gm limited-edition box is available (RRP $16.99) from various outlets including supermarkets and dairies while stocks last. However, especially if ‘mum’ is a grand-mum too, we doubt the chocolates will last the day!

SPUDS UP!

Some say ‘potato’ but we think they just lack imagination! While spuds come in many shapes and sizes, T&G’s Lotatoes are among the pick of the bunch when it comes to topping tables around this time of year. Low in carbohydrates, this variety (first released in 2017) doesn’t skimp on fibre and, most definitely not on flavour. New season Lotatoes are in store (Countdown supermarkets) now, and keep an eye out for Baby Lotatoes later in the year.

BELL SIGNALS CHANGE

Ring-a-ding! Bell Tea is sporting a new look! For more than 120 years, Bell has served up top tea by the cup full. From Earl Grey to Kenya Bold, Ceylon Finest, zesty green tea, and a smorgasbord of juicy and invigorating fruit and herbal blends, this brand has been at home in Kiwi kitchens. Although these teas retain the classic flavours for which they have become known, Bell Tea is now releasing its range with a brand-new look.