Taste of Spain Friday Jun 18th Dilemma...

Either a wintry delicious "Moorish Lamb & Spinach Pie" (Pastel Moruno de Cordero y Espinacas) or a lighter "Salmon Asturian style in Apple Cider Sauce" (called in Spain -Asturias: "Salmón a la Ribereña"). I like both very much, but if the cold front continues in Northland it might be a better idea to slow cook the Lamb!

Slow Food Movement should arrive some day to New Zealand !

Fast Good Food with Local Ingredients

It was the great Chef Ferrán Adrià who mentioned recently that a Hamburguer for the price and quality of a McDonald's one is a very difficult feat to accomplish. Moreover, it is really difficult to get to the quality of their chips!

But try to follow David Packard's motto: "Do not compete, be different".

We create healthy fast food, with local ingredients from the wonderful vegetable and fruit basket of the Nortland farmers. Healthy like our Oven Roasted Potato wedges, with nothing more than a bit of seasoning, and in the oven with a bit of olive oil! No deep frying... for your health. Our fritters are made everyday, with vegetables from local growers (pumpkins, tomatoes, salads, etc).

And this obliges us to change the menu frequently to reflect the seasonality of Northland's production.

We are glad to be able to trace the origin of our veges and fruits to the farms non farther than 100Km!

Tapas Sampler: Gazpacho, Rosemary Flatbread with Summer Dips & Lamb Meatballs in Sherry Sauce & Almonds

The 2010 Summer is in full swing. The tomatoes season in coming to an end, so our local producer --we do know where our tomatoes come from!--, is supplying us with very ripe and sweet tomatoes. Yesterday it was the hottest day of February in record... so no better occasion to make "Gazpacho", the cold tomato soup, with local tomatoes. In wonderful Moorish Andalusia, Spain, temperatures can get easily as high as 40C in Summer, and Gazpacho and other cold tapas become the favorite tapas.

We served also a freshly baked Rosemary Flatbread with Red Hummus and Artichokes Lemon dips. Finally Minted Lamb meatballs --fresh lamb also from our local provider "Churchills"-- in Sherry and Almonds sauce.

Taste of Mexico: Chicken with Mole on Red Rice with Tortillas

Technically this was not a Taste of Spain, but from Mexico. "Mole" is for me one of the most interesting sauces in the World, with beautiful ingredients from the New World: peppers of different types (pasilla, anchos and mulatos), and cocoa, together with many spices (a good mole has at least 23 different ingredients). It is slightly hot, slightly sweet, very complex. The sauce was made in the Puebla style, although there is another wonderful way from Oaxaca.

In this case, mole is the star, but I made a Laquered Chicken and Red Rice, another example of rice dishes from Mexico (also green --coriander--, and yellow --saffron-- rices).

A very lucky few Kerikerians were brave to try the dish!

Exactly what we did looked like this!

Sunday Closed... religiously!

Beautiful Sunday after the "storm" (i.e. the Rugby game between Northland & Auckland). Visited the wonderful hidden gem of Kaan Zamaan Art Gallery, looking for a exposition of a friend Sandra Suleski. Sandra's work has always impressed us; but the surprise was to discover Julia Reinholt --the owner of the Gallery--, own work, which is also amazing. Currently showing the strong theme of the Middle East, where she lived several years (Beirut - Lebanon, East Jerusalem & Gaza - Palestine). Just to talk to her worth the visit. She also imports and sales goods from the Middle East.

Tapas Sampler II

Today Friday June 05 was another fun "Taste of Spain" day: Made the second Tapas Sampler:

• Castilian Garlic Soup with a poached egg
• Pincho of Grilled Haloumi Cheese with honeyed grilled Pineapple & green Banana
• Ceviche: Fresh white fish marinated in lime & citrus juices, and aromatics
  This is a dish originated in Perú, and one of the great preparations of Hispanic America.
  

Our first Tapas Sampler, a couple of weeks ago, was:

• Marinated White Cheese in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Bay leaf, garlic and Peppercorns
• Papas Arrugadas with Green Mojo - specialty of the region of my father; the Canary Islands (wrinkled potatoes with Coriander Mojo or sauce) of Spain
  
• Maple glazed Bacon wrapped Prawns Pincho

Just having fun and bringing culinary pleasure to our guests in Kerikeri, NZ!

Finally New Signage!

We have been finally able to invest on the new signage for the Café. We hope that it gives a more modern, clean, minimalistic look. We struggle a bit on the name (Posh Nosh), but too many people refer to it, being already a "branding" name. At least the aesthetics is much better. Nice fresh breeze of autumn is starting every morning in lovely Kerikeri,

End of Summer 2009

We also enjoy most of the gastronomic offerings in Kerikeri. Nice Cafés around --including ours!--, and some restaurants favourites of ours (Café Jerusalem, The Italians, Food, Café Cinema).

At Posh Nosh we will be changing our signage and branding, to finally!! make it a bit modern. We dislike the name but it is already a reference everywhere, so will work on the aesthetics.

We continue to produce great coffees, with some nice cakes (Carrot, Gluten free Citrus Gateau) and some small baked sweets.

We are happy to host a private breakfast for Barfoot & Thompson Kerikeri on Tuesday 24 Feb. To request a private function print the Order Form on the left of this web page (LINKS section), fill it, and sent it to us.

Summer is getting here...

Very glad with some of our products, some of them developed with colleagues like Cesare from The Italians in Kerikeri.

First of all, our Seafood Chowder recipe was published in the nationally circulated magazine Foodtown. Since then, I have changed --hopefully improved!-- the recipe by making it Gluten Free (not adding any wheaten flour), and making it a bit more New England although keeping the fusion - New Zealand spirit.

I am also very proud with the Lemon Tart ("Tarte au Citron")

This is made following an original French recipe. I use fresh lemons from Kerikeri, and make a Lemon curd, which fills a Pate Brisée case.

We also introduced a "Canjun spiced Chicken skewers with Sherry creamy sauce and Ciabatta". Our customers clean the plate with the crusty Ciabatta so there is usually little to wash!... I am also serving "Thai Fish Cakes", which is made with Arborio rice and Asian spices and vegetable... completely Gluten Free!.

We continue to have fun at the Café, trying just to do things right and honestly.

We are in the process of defining new dishes for the southern hemisphere summery Christmas!... Gazpacho?... Tapas Frías?...

Winter in Kerikeri

Winter started, but this is the loveliest place in New Zealand to enjoy a Winter!

At the moment most of our clientele enjoy our range of soups: our really famous Seafood Chowder --recipe asked to us and published in NZ magazine Foodtown--, the creamy Pumpkin Soup made with Crème fraîche, Bacon Hock and Watercress and Parsnip soup.

We are also offering the best lamb --Export Quality--, that NZ has to offer, in the form of Lamb Kebabs; lamb which has been marinated in our special sauce for 24 hours.

Finally we continue to make Friday --and the ocassional Saturday-- a Spanish Taste Day, where I cook whatever fresh in the local producer community, into a Spanish dish. Last Friday was a Stewed Squid and Prawns Paella in the style of Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain.