Tamarillos spring to mind. A tamarillo is an egg-shaped, red-skinned fruit. You cut it in half and scoop out the flesh, which looks a little like that of a tomato (in fact tamarillos used to be called tree tomatoes until the marketing boys stepped in). You don't eat the skin, which is quite bitter. The fruit itself can be a little tart. It's a winter fruit and is very high in vitamin C.
We also eat paua fritters. A paua (pronounced pah-wah) is a shellfish
of the abalone type. The flesh is almost black. You whip them
out of the shell and bash the hell out of them or the flesh can
be like old boot leather. Which is why it is invariably minced,
mixed with finely chopped onion, thrown in a batter and cooked
into fritters. Great fare at country food and wine festivals,
a fish and chip shop staple, and sometimes also seen at very upmarket
restaurants.
Here's one of my own originals
Lamb Wellington
- 3 racks lamb
- blanched spinach leaves
- well-flavoured pate
Trim the rack of lamb of all fat. Blanch the spinach leaves in boiling water, dry and spread out two-thick into a square shape on the chopping board. Spread with pate and roll up into thin cigar shapes.
Take a long sharp knife and make a tunnel down the eye of the
meat from one end to the other of the lamb racks. Push in a wooden
spoon handle, basting tube or similar to open out the tunnel and
then push in the spinach and pate rolls into the tunnel. Trim
the ends. Spread french mustard or plum sauce on top of the racks
and cook in a preheated 200C oven for 25 minutes. Allow to rest
for five minute before carving between each bone. Serve garnished
with pastry crescents.
Parts of New Zealand are so infested with rabbits, it's quite
a threat to the farmers' living. Farmers long held that the rabbit
calicivirus disease (RCD) should be deliberately introduced here,
but authorities did nothing.
Last year some farmers decided to attend to the matter themselves
and smuggled in the rabbit calicivirus. Up and down the country
farmers were at it, with kitchen food processors, mixing up bits
of infected rabbits and making RCD-laced baits. The disease soon
started spreading round the country. And then the culprits owned
up.
OR
We've just had the case of a Maori politician, Minister of Maori
Affairs Tau Henare, who, together with a party of tribal elders
(including relatives), flew first class to England and back at
the taxpayer's expense to personally escort the return of some
Maori shrunken heads which had made their way to England last
century. In the ensuing public outcry, he ended up getting dumped
from his job.
Copyright 1998, Thomas L. Mangan
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