In my travels Downunder, sometimes a dish is so unique that I’ve requested the recipe. Click on a category above to see a few favorites, modified for American ingredients and measurements.

Appetizers

Rocky Range Wild Thyme Spread

Courtesy of Lisa Strange, owner of Rocky Range Lodge
Central Otago, NZ

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sour cream
½ tsp. minced fresh garlic
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt or ground rock salt (do not substitute)
½ tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbs packed, fresh wild thyme leaves. You may substitute dried thyme, and/or minced parsley, marjoram, or other herbs. Fresh is better! Feel free to add more if you wish, or use a mixture of herbs.

Combine all in a small bowl. Chill well, but allow to soften a bit before serving on crackers.

To use as a dip, increase the sour cream to ½ cup or more to desired consistence, and use as dip with fresh veggies.

Dukka

Dukka hails from the Middle East, but is all the rage in NZ. It is a concoction of ground nuts, herbs and spices. Small bowls of dukka are served with fresh bread and olive oil, before dinner. Just dip the bread in the olive oil, then in the dukka. Yum!

It is sold in packages in gourmet shops, and most good NZ cooks have their own version. It is incredibly easy to make. Feel free to invent your own dukka! Store in fridge. Keeps perhaps a month. Hre are two great versions!


Judy Wrightson Lawson’s Dukka
This dukka is not as hot and spicy as the one below

½ cup roasted almonds
½ cup roasted hazelnuts
1 T. sesame seeds, toasted in oven or frying pan about 10 minutes
1 tbs. cumin seeds
1 tsp sea salt
2 dried red chilli peppers
½ tsp. black pepper

Blend all in food processer, to a coarse mixture. Makes about 1 ½ cups.

Dukka from Arthur Pass Lodge, New Zealand

3 Tb. Ground tumeric
1 ½ tsp ground cloves
1 ½ tsp cayenne
2 Tbs sweet paprika
1/4 cup cumin seed
½ cup coriander seed
¼ cup poppu seeds
2 lb. 3 oz macadamia nuts
2 ob. 3 oz pumpkin seeds

Roast all for 45 minutes in 300 degree oven. The grind in food processor to a coarse mixture.

Breads

Damper

Fiordland Lodge Fig and Macadamia Bread

Fiordland Lodge has one of the most stunning settings of any NZ lodge – overlooking Lake Te Anau. While I was a guest there recently, I especially enjoyed this fantastic whole wheat bread. Here is the recipe – adapted for American kitchens:

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups bread flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
¾ cup boiling water
¾ cup cold milk
2 packages dry yeast
2 Tbs. molasses
1 Tbs. melted butter
1 cup chopped figs (you can also use raisins, dried cranberries, or a mixture of these)
1 cup chopped macadamia nuts (or walnuts)

In a large bowl (with a dough hook, if you have it), mix the boiling water and the cold milk. When the liquid is wrist temperature, stir in the yeast and molasses. Let sit 5 minutes, till bubbly. Add the melted butter.

In another bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Beat half of the flours into the wet ingredients, then with the dough hook on, gradually add the rest of the flour. Then add the fruits and nuts. If you don’t have a dough hook, do this the old fashioned way – stirring and then kneading the dough about 5 minutes. It will be a very soft dough.

Cover and let sit in a warm place till double in size. Punch down. Pat dough out into a rectangle about 10 x 8 inches, and fold over into thirds. Put the seam side down in a lightly buttered loaf pan. Let rise again until double in size.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until loaf makes a hollow sound when tapped.

Old Bakery Beer Bread

Rather than the usual cheese and crackers, try this very easy bread to enjoy with cheese.  Or try it with soup and salad for lunch.  Sue Duncan, of the Old Bakery, in Ophir, New Zealand, gave me the recipe. 

3 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 can beer
½ cup grated cheddar cheese 

Mix dry ingredients.  Stir in the beer until well combined.  Grease a loaf pan and put dough in the pan.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool a bit before slicing. 

Soup

Oriental Pumpkin Soup

Peel the squash, remove seeds, cut into chunks.  Put in soup pot with the stock, butter, and coriander.  Simmer until the squash is tender.  In batches, put in food processor until smooth.  Return to the soup pot and add the coconut milk.  Reheat without boiling.

Makes 8 – 10 bowls.  Fantastic warm or chilled! 

*if you don’t have very good chicken stock on hand: start this recipe by first sautéing a small, finely chopped onion in olive oil.  Add 2 cloves chopped garlic, ½ cup chopped celery.  Then add the 6 cups of water, and 6 chicken bouillon cubes.  To make this a vegetarian dish, just use vegetable bouillon. 

Mains

Gillian Estate Zucchini Frittata

This recipe was brought to my attention by my friend Fran McCullough, a cookbook editor who wanted to use it in an upcoming issue of the Best American Recipes, which she writes every year.  It hails from one of New Zealand’s many wonderful vineyards:

2 Tbs. butter
2 medium zucchini
4 scallions
1 cup cooked rice
6 large eggs
¾ c. feta cheese
2 Tbs. chopped fresh mint
2 Tbs. chopped fresh dill
2 Tbs. water
salt and pepper to taste

Melt the butter in medium non-stick ovenproof skillet over medium heat.  Chop the zucchini (you should have about 1 3/4 cups) and the scallions (include some of the green part) and add to the skillet.  Cook 5 minutes.  Add the rice, mint and dill.    

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, water,  and about 3/4 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper.  Pour egg mixture over the vegetable-rice mixture.  Sprinkle with the crumbled feta cheese.  Cook without stirring until the bottom begins to set - about 3 minutes. Transfer the skillet to a pre-heated 400 degree oven.  Bake about 12 minutes, or until the eggs are set. 

Run a spatula around the sides to loosen, and slide the frittata onto a serving plate.  Cut in to wedges, serve slightly warm or at room temperature.  Serve tomato salsa on the side, if you wish.  Serves 4.

Naigani Island Curried Fish with Toasted Coconut

Sometime culinary delights happen when and where you least expect it – in this case, on a tiny island in Fiji. The Naigani Island Resort is an eco-resort, whose staff live in a nearby native village. One night they served local fish that had been fried in a batter with a bit of curry. It was accompanied by the most unusual coconut dish I’d ever eaten. It is worth the trouble of preparing “from scratch” using a fresh coconut! Prepare the coconut first, then the fish:

Naigani Toasted Coconut
1 fresh coconut, grated (do not use packaged sweetened coconut)
1 small red hot chili
2 cloves garlic
1 medium yellow onion
Canola or light cooking oil
1 Tbs. ground coriander

Grate the coconut but not too fine – you want the dish to have some texture. Set aside.
In a food processor, chop together the onion, garlic and chili. Heat a large skillet with enough oil to cover the bottom. Sauté the vegetables with the coriander. When soft, add the coconut. Stir and cook until the coconut starts to toast or brown a bit. Serves 4 – 6. Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator for several days.

Naigani Curried Fish
1 ¾ lb. firm white fish fillets (flounder, sole, catfish)
1 egg
2 Tbs. milk
1 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbs curry powder (less if you prefer mild curry)

In a bowl, beat the egg with the milk. In another bowl, mix the flour and seasonings. Dip the fish in the egg mixture, then in the flour mixture. Fry in light cooking oil till crispy and done.

Colonial Goose

Unwrap the lamb, remove the strings, wash, and dry with paper towel.  Lay out flat, and pound the lamb so that the thickness is more even.  (if it has one wide section and one narrow section, cut these in half and stuff separately).

Mix the bread, onion, bacon, parsley, herbs, and lemon.  Mix the beaten egg into about half a cup of milk, and toss with the mixture.  Add more milk to make the stuffing quite damp but not mushy.  The amount of milk needed depends on how dry the bread crumbs are.  Place the stuffing in the middle of the lamb, then form a cylinder with the stuffing in the middle.  Tie with string.  Place on a rack in a roasting pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 ½ hours.  Serve in slices. 

Zucchini Slice

Courtesy of Judy Wrightson Lawson
Auckland, NZ

You can find some version of “slice” in nearly every tea and coffee shop in New Zealand. The variations are limited only by your imagination and what ingredients you might have on hand. It is great hot or at room temperature, and can be served in small wedges with drinks; in a larger “slice” with a salad as a starter course or luncheon. This is my favorite version, made by my sister-in-law Judy Lawson.

1 cup self rising flour
1 cup grated cheese – Swiss, or cheddar, or any hard cheese – about 4 oz.
½ cup oil – I prefer olive oil
5 large eggs, well beaten
3 rashers of bacon (for vegetarian dish, use 1 chopped red pepper)
1 large yellow onion, chopped
14 oz. coarsely grated zucchini (or a mixture of veggies. Zuccini and cubes of cooked butternut squash are especially delicions! Just use at least one green veggie. If using frozen spinach, drain well).

Mix the flour and cheese. Beat the oil and eggs, and stir into the flour and cheese. Add the remaining ingredients. Pour into a well-greased baking pan – can be an 8 inch square pan, or 9 inch cake tin, or 12 by 16 inch pan. .

Bake in pre-headed 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes – until knife comes out clean and surface is lightly browned. Can be served immediately, or at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers and re-heat in low oven.

Serves 6 as a luncheon dish with salad and bread. It can be cut into little squares and served at cocktail parties. Or, bake a bit longer in a loaf pan and cut thick slices as a side dish with dinner.

Freezes extremely well! Just thaw and re-heat.

Sweets

“Hide The Tin Biscuits” (that’s Aussie for cookies!)

Late one afternoon Anna Howard of Kangaroo Island Odysseys took us to a stand of thick bush to wait for the wild kangaroos to emerge and feed in a farmer’s pasture.   After spotting a few, we had a delightful chase through the bush that left us tired and hungry.  Anna “boiled the billy” for afternoon tea  and handed me a cookie.  It was the best darn cookie I’d ever eaten. I had another, and another.  “What are these?” I asked.

“Mum calls ‘em ‘Hide the tin Biscuits’,” she said.  Perfect name:  I could have emptied the tin myself.  Mum - Coral Howard -  gladly gave us the recipe:  

1 cup flaked coconut*
3/4 cup sugar
½ cup each raisins & currants
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 Tbs. Karo syrup (light or dark)
1 cup lightly crushed corn flakes
1 cup self rising flour
½ cup chopped dates
half a stick of butter
1 egg, lightly beaten

Mix dry ingredients.  Melt butter and Karo.  Stir into dry ingredients with the egg.  Mix with clean hands!  Butter a baking sheet.  Drop 2-3  Tbs. for each cookie.  Bake at 350 for 15 min.  Makes 30 cookies. 

*the original recipe called for desiccated coconut; the sugar in this recipe has been adjusted  so you can use packaged sweetened coconut. 

Lanarch Castle Pavlova

Using electric mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff.  Add the water, beat again.  Add sugar very gradually, beating well each time.  Add thevinegal, vanilla, and cornstarch and continue to beat until very stiff peaks have formed. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment.  Draw a circle about 7 inches in diameter, and spread the meringue in the circle.  Smooth over the top.  Bake at 250 for 45 minutes or until the meringue just begins to brown a bit.  Leave in oven until complete cool. (overnight is fine)

Carefully put on serving plate.  At serving time, cover top with 1 cup heavy cream that has been whipped, and decorate with fresh fruit.  Kiwi and strawberries are super.  Serves 6.

Oturehua Tavern Afghan Biscuits

Afghan cookies are as standard in New Zealand and Australia as the chocolate chip cookie is in the USA.  I’m not sure whether the recipe was brought over by the Afghans who immigrated to Australia in the early 1800s to build the railroad, or was named after them.  But these crunchy cookies are fabulous!  This recipe is from Oturehua Tavern, in Central Otago, New Zealand.

14 Tbs. butter
½ cup sugar
1 1/5 cups flour
¼ cup cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups cornflakes (measure without crushing)
1 Tbs. butter
2 Tbs. water
¼ cup chocolate chips
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
walnuts

Cream the 14 tbs. butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Sift together flour and cocoa, and stir into creamed mixture.  Add vanilla.  Lightly crush the cornflakes, then gently and thoroughly fold into the batter.  They should be well distributed without crushing them too much – which is what gives this cookie its special crunch!

Grease a cookie sheet.  Form balls about the size of a walnut, and place on sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes, until firm to the touch.  Cool on a rack.

Icing:  melt the 1 tbs. butter, the water and chocolate chips over low heat.  Then stir in the powdered sugar, and beat until it is spreading consistency. Add more sugar if necessary. Ice the cookies and decorate each with a walnut.   Makes 2 dozen.

Rarotongan Beach Resort Coconut Pie

This unusual coconut pie is really more of a torte.  It is the signature desert served at the Rarotongan Beach Resort in the Cook Islands. 

Crust

The resort didn’t supply their recipe for crust.  I used a rich crust, made as follows:
2 cups plain flour
1 cup white sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1 egg
¼ cup ice water

Blend the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor.  Then pulsing the motor, add the very cold butter in small amounts until the mixture is just blended.  Beat the egg until foamy, then add the ice water.   With motor pulsing, add this to the dough and pulse until a dough has formed.  Chill until firm enough to handle, but not too firm. 

Lightly butter a 9 inch spring form cake pan; dust with flour and shake out the excess.  Roll out the dough into a 9 inch circle, then transfer to the pan.  Don’t worry if it breaks apart – you can use floured fingers to patch it together.  Also, press the dough about halfway up the sides of the pan.  Chill 30 minutes. 

Filling

1 ½ cups white sugar
1 ½ cups light brown sugar
1 ½ Tbs. plain flour
3 eggs
1 ½ sticks butter
3 Tbs. milk
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
4 cups dessicated coconut*

Melt the butter and allow it to cool, then add the milk, cinnamon and vanilla. 

In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugars and the flour.  Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Beat this liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Add the coconut and stir well.  Pour into the chilled shell.   Bake at 325 F for 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.   Remove from oven.  Gently run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan so the crust doesn’t stick.  Allow to cool about 10 minutes, then remove the sides.  Cool completely before serving.

*do not use packaged sweetened coconut.  You can find dessicated (dried, flaked) coconut in specialty and health food stores. 

Rocky Range Poached Pears (or Peaches)

Lisa Strang serves guests this fantastic dish for breakfast at her lodge, but it is equally good as a dessert.  Lisa hails from Houston.  “It got crowded, so I moved to Boulder.  One day I was out hiking in the Front Range, and looked around.  Too crowded!  I looked at the globe and decided to go to New Zealand.  I enrolled in an MBA program in Christchurch to see if I’d like New Zealand.”  Lisa found more than a new home: she found her husband, with whom she operates Rocky Range Lodge in Alexandra.

Simmer the fruit in fruit juice. (I like to use Looza brand black currant nectar).  When barely tender and the juice has thickened a bit, remove from the heat.  Liza peels the fruit at this point, but I find it easier to peel before cooking.  Let the fruit sit overnight in the cooking juices.  To serve:  mix plain yogurt with honey (some NZ honey is best!), and serve a dollop with the fruit.

Mountvista Boutique Hotel Fudge

Michael Kelly, General Manager and cook, makes homemade fudge to put in each guest’s room. This is an extremely rich, smooth fudge, and very easy to make! Please don’t omit the figs – you can substitute dried cranberries if you wish.

9 Tbs. butter
4 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup dark rum
5 large dried figs, chopped
½ cup chopped almonds
½ cup hazelnuts cut in half

Heat oven to 400. Lightly toast the nuts, stirring once, about 6 minutes. Cool.

Line a 9” square pan with parchment or wax paper; set aside.

In top of double boiler over simmering water, melt the butter. Add the chocolate chips, and stir gently until melted. Add the rum, stir just until mixed. Don’t beat – the mixture will get a bit grainy if you do.

Remove from heat, and stir in the sweetened condensed milk. The mixture will begin to take on a fudge consistency. Fold in the figs and nuts. Pour into the square pan.

Now comes the hard part: set aside for about 3 days, for the fudge to harden. Do not refrigerate. When firm, keep tightly wrapped. To serve, cut in squares or into slices. This fudge keeps for weeks.