bright blue

About 4 weeks ago Mark and I were gifted a nice little sum of money thanks to “Fair shake of the sauce bottle” Kevin Rudd. This money is called stimulation, and is supposed to be spent. We put a bit of thought into what to spend it on, and decided on buying a couch. The best thing is this couch is made right here in West Australia, and we did exactly what K-Rudd wanted us to with his stimulation. This is the first time we have actually bought a couch where we put a lot of thought into what we wanted, how it should look, and how big it should be. I did have a panic atack when it turned up, it seemed much smaller in the shop, but we have managed to fit her in and it looks great.

Mark and I recently went to the West Australian Art Gallery, and saw an exhibition of designer furniture. once of the pieces at the exhibition was the ‘Campfire’ table. When I got home a Googled to see where I could get one, but the $2300 price tag was far too prohibitive- that is like over 3 simulations. So we headed off to faithful Bunnings and set about building our own one. It only took a few hours to chisel out the bits, and I am not much of a handy-man, and usually end up making a mess and ending up with a half-finished project, but this was so easy, and I think it looks great.

Butter Chicken is an important meal for our family. On Parnell Road, in Auckland there is a little restaurant called Oh Calcutta. Mark and I used to live down the road from here in 2001, and this is when we discovered Meena’s (the owner of the restaurant) version of Butter Chicken. This is unlike any I have ever had, and has a rick creamy tomato soup-like sauce with chucks of grilled tandoori chicken, we never eat it with rice, it is more like a soup and we simply eat it with naan bread.

Oh Calcutta has become a favourite with our family, when Mark was commuting to Whakatane to Auckland, he would regularly order a take-away butter chicken, in fact he was such a regular that they got to know him by name. After we moved to Australia and had been away for a few years, when we returned Meena recognised Mark, and knew exactly what he was going to order. Oh Calcutta has been the favourite restaurant of choice for birthdays, leaving parties, welcome home dinners, we even had out pre-wedding dinner there. I remember one night ordering the butter chicken, and I exclaimed that the butter chicken is better than sex, one of the petite waitresses overheard this, and said “perhaps you have not found the right woman yet”, if only she knew.

This recipe has been a bit of a collaboration between Greg and myself, Greg and Natasha visited us for a couple weeks on their way to London, and Greg showed us his version of the recipe, which was very good, and probably the closest I have ever had to the famed Oh Calcutta version, the key ingredient he used was Ferns butter chicken paste, this is available from good Indian stores, and Greg found a place in Fremantle that sells it here. After Greg and Natasha left for London I headed back to NZ to see my family for a few days, and of course there was a welcome home dinner at Oh Calcutta, this time I tried very hard to work out the flavours in the dish, and I worked out that the tomato flavour is very similar to tomato soup. I noted this down, and as soon as I got home I set about trying to recreate this delicious meal. Now, I never expect to be able to match the dish exactly to Oh Calcutta, and I would not want to, this restaurant is a special place, and will always be a favourite, but I would be happy with a 9 out of 10 match, for me to have more frequently than once a year when I visit NZ, and this is what we have archived.

Tandoori Marinade
500g chicken thighs (boneless and skinless)
200g natural yoghurt
3tbs Ferns butter chicken paste

Butter Chicken Sauce
2 tsp cumin seeds
15 cardamon pods, lightly crushed (greener cardamon is best)
1 cinnamon quill
1 tbs ghee or vegetable oil
2 punnets ripe mini tomatoes, or 3-4 ripe roma tomatoes
1 tbs Ferns butter chicken paste
1 tbs raw sugar
1 can condensed tomato soup (500g)
500ml milk
100ml single (pouring) cream
2tsp extra ghee
plenty of naan bread (we use frozen naan bread from out local Indian supermarket)

Tandori Marinade
Slice the chicken into bite-size pieces, trim any excess fat and give this to your cats. Combine the yoghurt with the butter chicken paste, add the chicken and combine well. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat grill or barbeque to a high heat, and cook the chicken pieces until slightly charred, and drain off any excess liquid.

Butter Chicken
In a large heavy based pan toast the cumin, cardamon and cinnamon. Once toasted fish out the cardamon and lightly crush the pods further to extract the seeds, discard the husks. Pound the cumin and cardamon in a mortar with a pestle until smooth. In the same pan add ghee or oil, butter chicken paste, spices, cinnamon quill, and tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes are very soft and well cooked, about 10 min. Add the sugar and cook for a further 2-3 min. Discard the cinnamon quill and add the tomato mixture to a food processor and blend until very smooth. Return the tomato mix to the pan, and add can tomato soup, and 1 can of milk. Stir in the grilled chicken and cook for 20 minutes on a low heat, try to prevent the sauce from boiling.

At this point taste the sauce regularly, it will still be a bit spicy, so add the cream until the taste is right, add it slowly, you can always add more but if you add too much it is difficult to get it back. You may also need to add a smidgen more sugar. I guess the tasting is the most important part to tweak the final flavour, but add any extra ingredients slowly in case you over-flavour the sauce.

Melt the extra ghee, and brush the naan lightly, cook the naan in a hot oven for a few minutes until warm. Serve the butter chicken with the naan and enjoy.

In 2007 I spent Easter with my family sailing in on Zinkwazi at Whangaroa Harbour at the top of the North Island in New Zealand. At the end of a fantastic trip, Greg, Doug and myself headed back to Auckland, leaving Mum and Rob on the boat. Northland is one of my favourite parts of New Zealand, and after a trip away, driving back to Auckland there is this point on the Northern Motorway where the city first becomes visible, sparking over the Waitemata Harbour, I have always loved this view of the city.

On this trip back into Auckland the sun was getting low, and casting a lovely warm light. We dropped Greg and back home, and then Doug and I head back to the North Shore to take some photos of the city basking in the warm autumn light. I tooks a series of photos which I have stitched in a massive panorama of the city. I have had this panorama sitting about, not really knowing what do do with it until I came across a picture of a tiny planet on http://thebobblog.com/ and decided to give it a go and see if I could make one (using the instructions on Photojojo), this is my first attempt, and I am quite happy with the result. The final tiny planet imag is not the tine, it is 0.5m x 0.5m, and I am going to print a large version and get it framed.

After six months hard work, Mark and I have published a little recipe book titled Cooking with Tools.

Cooking made easy… written with successful cooking in mind, Cooking with Tools enables anyone to cook with confidence and pride, knowing that this trusted book is a tried and tested source of delicious recipes.

With over 25 copies printed to date, it will provide an essential item for 25 kitchens.

“Cooking with Tools” is the first edition of what we hope to be an annual event where we share with all those dear to us our cooking exploits. Many of the recipes are not only yummy to eat, but also remind us of special times with our family and friends. We have included a small introduction to each recipe describing how we came across it, or a memorable time we made it. So no matter where we relocate to (and we seem to do so quite often), you will always be close to our hearts and stomach.
Oh to the power of food.

If you want a PDF copy, send me an email (ross at chrystall dot co dot nz).

This is a new recipe that we picked up from the May 2009 edition of Delicious Magazine (page 61 for those playing at home). I made it a couple weeks ago and it was divine, and I tried it again last night and is was fantastic again. this is sure to be a new favourite in our house. I have never cooked with squid before really, I know if is yummy, and love salt and pepper squid, I just guess that is reminds me of baiting hooks on Zinkwazi or something. I have tried this with both fresh and frozen squid, and both work well, but of course try get fresh squid if possible.

1/4 cup olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 medium sized red chilli
1 tbs chopped coriander leaves (plus extra sprigs to serve)
1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/2 cup tomato paste
200ml dry white wine
2 (500ml) cups fish stock
2 squid tubes, cleaned
500g fettuccine
lemon wedges to serve

Cut the squid tubes in half and then cut the flat halves into 3cm square pieces. Place each piece on a choppin board with the outside of the squid facing down. On the bias score 2mm strips into the squid, not cutting all the way through, do the same in the opposite direction to create a hatched pattern. Set the squid aside.

Heat half th oil in a frypan over a medium heat. Add garlic, onion and chilli and cook for 3-4 minutes until the onion is translucent. Add herbs and cook for further 3-4 minutes until onion is golden. Add tomato paste and cook stirring for 2 minutes or until the tomato paste deepens in colour. Degalze the pan by adding the wine and allowing it to reduce for 3-4 minutes. Add the fish stock the season with sea salt and freshly gound black pepper. Set aside and keep warm.

Heat the remaining oil in a separate fry pan over medium-high heat. in 2-3 batches cook the calamari until golden. I find that adding it skin-side down helps, and the hatch pattern scored into the calamari causes them ro roll up into cute little twists. Drain the cooked calamari on a paper towel.

Add calamari to the sauce and simmer for 30 minutes over a medium-low heat for 30 minutes until calamari is tender and sauce is reduced.

Meanwhile cook the fettuccine according to packet instructions in boiling salted water. Drain, then return the pasta to the pan and stir though 2-3 spoonfuls of the sauce. Divide the pasta among bowls, top with a generous spoonful of sauce, then serve with coriander and lemon wedges.

After work tonight I went along to a Human Rights consultation on the other side of town. I live just north of Perth, and work in West Perth, so I am very seldom in the actual city, so I took my camera to work, and dawdled along to the Duxton hotel, stopping to photograph anything interesting o the way. I was a bit lazy and had the lensbaby lens on, and did not change it because my camera bag is a bit of a mess, so all the pics below have fuzzy edges. I did come across a new graffiti artist I have not seen before (the first 3 pics below). If you have any info on who this is, and where some other pieces are around the city please post a comment. I love whimsical the Dr Zeuss style of his work! If you want to find these yourself, the images are all linked to my Flickr, and they are geotagged so you can easily find the works.

Pics from the presets concert at Challenge Stadium in Perth Last weekend

The rose season is about to end and this means that winter is coming and these are the last flowers I’ll see until spring. I now have to cut the rose bushes back to the old knobbly trunks, and let them sit dormant over the cooler months waiting from spring.