Initially I was going to call this a taco but then after researching the difference between taco, burrito, tortilla it seems that tortilla (in Mexican cookery a thin, flat maize pancake, eaten hot or cold, typically with a savoury filling) is more correct. I think the ‘wrap’ or ‘tortilla’ is more transportable and easier to eat than the taco shell so they’re great for taking on a picnic or in the boat for a fishing trip! If you make the pineapple salsa and the avocado cream the night before the flavours will develop more and so your tortilla will be extra tasty.

PINEAPPLE SALSA
1 fresh pineapple, diced
1/2 a fresh chilli, finely chopped
1 small red onion, finely chopped
3 mint leaves, finely chopped
A small handful of coriander, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Juice of one lime
Salt and pepper
Combine all ingredients and refrigerate. Your salsa will stay fresh for 2 – 3 days.

AVOCADO CORIANDER CREAM
1 avocado
Juice of one lemon
A good handful of fresh coriander

Whiz with a stick blender and refrigerate. Your avo cream will stay green and fresh for 2 – 3 days due to the lemon juice content.

SNAPPER TORTILLA
Makes 6

3 fresh snapper fillets
1 tablespoon of flour
1/2 teaspoon of cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon of paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and pepper

Shake all together in a plastic bag to coat the fish fillets evenly. Pan fry your fish over a medium-high heat in a little olive oil and a knob of butter until golden brown on both sides. Set aside.

6 wraps or tortillas, I use the smaller ones, about bread and butter plate size
1/4 of a red cabbage, finely sliced
A good handful of snowpea sprouts (I always chop the ends of them so they are not quite so long and more manageable)
Olive oil

ASSEMBLE TORTILLA
Brush a frypan with olive oil and heat over a medium-high heat, add your tortillas one at a time and cook on both sides till golden. Along the centre of each tortilla add some sliced red cabbage and some snow pea sprouts. Chope the snapper fillets into bite sized chunks and add a few of these to each tortilla. Spoon over pineapple salsa and dollop with the avocado cream. Season with salt and pepper, wrap and serve or wrap and pack.

The great thing about this type of food is it’s very mix and match, use what you have on hand eg. instead of pineapple salsa make a cucumber – tomato salsa or add mango to the pineapple. Layer with lettuce and grated carrot rather than cabbage and sprouts.

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I love New Zealand seafood, there’s just no other way to say it. I grew up on the water, mostly around Northland and watched my father countless times boil the tin for fresh crayfish or prepare the smoke house for today’s catch. Earlier this year I created some dishes for Aquaculture NZ and of the ten this is the one I dream about the most. It’s so vibrant and tasty that it’s a tragedy when it’s all gone! It’s also a very economic family meal, give it a try you won’t regret it.

RECIPE
20 fresh mussels
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, final chopped
2 bay leaves
1 cup of chicken stock
Juice of one lemon
2 390g cans of cannellini beans
6 tomatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons of olive oil
10 rasher of streaky bacon, chopped
2 spring onions, sliced
1/2 cup of parsley chopped
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper

Serves 4-6.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Place the tomatoes in a baking tray lined with baking paper. Drizzle over 1 tablespoon of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Roast for 25 mins or until the tomatoes are a lovely rich red and starting to darken on the edges.

While the tomatoes are cooking scrub and de-beard the mussels. Then heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large frypan and cook the bacon until crispy. Remove from the pan and set aside. Tip any excess bacon fat out of the pan, leaving about one tablespoon in the pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook gently until the onion is soft – about 10 minutes.
Add the chicken stock, lemon juice and bay leaves. Bring to the boil.

Add the mussels and place the lid on the pan. Leave for about 3 minutes and check to see if the shells have opened, if not they may need another minute. Remove the mussels and set aside discarding any unopened ones.

Add the cannelloni beans to the pan and the bacon and tomatoes, heat through for a few minutes over a medium temperature. Remove half the mussels from their shells and stir into the sauce. Remove from the heat.

Ladle the sauce into bowls, add some mussels in their shells, scatter over the spring onion, parsley, parmesans and salt and pepper.

Serve with lemon cheeks and fried or grilled ciabatta.

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At the moment I’m working on a new book with Janine Tait (dermo nutrition guru) which is for the Janesce skincare Vital Cleanse menu. The Vital Cleanse has been part of the Janesce program for many years and so Janine and I decided to present it in a lovely book with new recipes and a meal planner. I especially loved this fish bake beacause it’s seafood and the crust is really good as an alternative to breadcrumbs! The Vital Cleanse book will be launched early next year.

Serves 2 to 3

Crust
¼ cup of pumpkin seeds
¼ cup of sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds
Zest of a lemon
Himalayan or sea salt to taste
Pepper to taste
¼ cup of parsley, finely chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Fish
500 grams of fresh fish
3 medium sized tomatoes, sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
¼ cup of parsley, chopped
Juice of one lemon
Himalayan salt and pepper

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius. Pulse the pumpkin and sunflower seeds in your food processor until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Place in a medium sized bowl and add the sesame seeds, lemon zest, salt, pepper, olive oil and parsley.

Place your fish fillets in an oiled, shallow baking dish. Layer the sliced tomatoes on top of the fish and sprinkle with parsley and garlic. Add salt and pepper and the lemon juice.

Cover with the crust and place in the oven for 20 minutes until crust is golden brown and fish is cooked. Serve with fresh salad and brown rice.

HEALTHYME SHOPPING ESSENTIALS

500 grams of fresh fish (I’ve used snapper)
Tomatoes x 3
Italian parsley
Lemons x 1
Olive oil
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds

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This is a really delicate, flavoursome dish and so easy to do with the added bonus of no messy frying. The rice has a sweet, sticky coconut flavour – very yummy.  The hardest part is knowing whether your salmon is cooked and you don’t want to overcook it. Test one after 10 minutes by checking the flakiness of the middle of the piece of salmon, it should be juicy and just flaking. If it’s not flaking at all in the center then it will need another few minutes.

Serves two

250-300 grams of fresh salmon, cut into two pieces
1 tablespoon of fish sauce
4 tablespoons of coconut milk
1/2 red chilli, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 makrut (kaffir) lime leaf, finely chopped
2 spring onions, chopped
1 cup of black rice or basmati rice
2 tablespoons of fresh coriander and parsley, chopped
Himalayan or sea salt
Ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

Cook the rice according to instructions on the packet.

Mix together the coconut milk, fish sauce, lime juice, chilli and makrut lime.

In a baking tray add two rectangles of baking paper (large enough so you can enclose your salmon parcel). Place half a cup of the cooked rice into the middle of each piece of baking paper and spread a little. Add a salmon piece on each. Spoon over even quantities of the coconut milk mixture on each parcel. Top with half of the spring onion. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the sides over each and then fold the ends and roll them up to enclose your parcels. Bake in oven for 10-15 minutes. Serve with coriander, parsley and extra spring onion.

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It’s that time of year when the taste buds go mad with anticipation of the very first bluff oysters! For those of you not familiar with New Zealand oysters – Bluff is the southern most tip of New Zealand that grows the fattest, sweetest, juiciest oysters on the planet. So I managed to get my hands on some and decided I would try 3 different dressings. I love my oysters raw, to cook them is absolute sacrilege I think. Anyway as I didn’t have any oyster shells to serve them in I had to be a little more inventive. I love the idea of oyster shooters but didn’t have any decent glassware, however I had some gorgeous solid silver spoons! What better way to indulge in one mouthful of fresh, creamy, Bluff oyster heaven…

Dressing 1 – lime/soy
1 tablespoon tamari soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes)
1 teaspoon of fish sauce
1 teaspoon or 1 cube of palm sugar
1/2 red chilli finely chopped

Heat the above ingredients gently in a small saucepan till the sugar melts – stir frequently.

Add 1 tablespoon of rice wine vinegar
Zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon of chopped coriander leaves

Allow to cool.

Dressing 2 – wasabi cream
3 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon of wasabi paste
1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 teaspoon of finely chopped chives

Blend the sour cream, wasabi and lemon juice together to a creamy sauce.

Dressing 3 – Lemon vinaigrette
2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
1 spring onion finely chopped

Mix all together.

Place your gorgeous plump oysters in spoons and dress with the 3 different dressings. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with lime zest, lemon zest, chives, coriander to suit.

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There’s something about mussel fritters that’s very addictive and very New Zealand. I couldn’t imagine life without New Zealand seafood or life without my mum! I’ve watched her make these countless time and I think the trick really is in the prep (see recipe).

RECIPE
12 fresh mussels
1/2 brown onion
a good handful of parsley, chopped finely (I also add some fresh coriander)
1 egg
1 tablespoon of flour
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of curry powder
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of olive oil for frying

You need to place the unopened mussels in a bowl or the kitchen sink and pour hot water over them, this makes them easier to open. Then open the shells, discard the nasty hairy bit (haha), remove the mussel from the shell and place the mussels into a food processor. Add all the other ingredients and pulse to mix. The batter should still be a little on the chunky side. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the olive oil in a fry pan. Fry large tablespoons of mixture gently in the oil until golden brown. Serve with lemon wedges. Because the mussels are not pre-cooked the result is very delicate, fresh tasting fritters!

Other variations may include adding half a grated courgette to the mix and serving with a lemon mayonnaise (see below).

LEMON MAYONNAISE
2 egg yolks (your eggs must be fresh otherwise the mayo won’t thicken)
1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup of oil (olive or rice bran or canola)
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon of parsley, chopped

Using a stick blender or whisk, mix together the egg yolks and lemon juice. While the blender is going slowly trickle in the oil, the emulsion will gradually thicken to a smooth mayonnaise consistency. Place into a small bowl, stir in the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

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This is nice and easy, the dill and fennel add some great flavours. When I was cleaning up I accidentally dropped my vintage glass eggcup and silver teaspoon (see photo below) into the insinkerator while it was going! Glass splinters all over the kitchen. Sad about the loss of my treasured eggcup though

For the salmon:
300g to 500g fresh salmon cut into pieces
1/2 fennel bulb
1/2 beetroot
1/2 telegraph cucumber
1 tablespoon olive oil
Small handful of dill, chopped
Himalayan or sea salt & pepper to taste
1/2 lemon
2 spring onions, sliced

Pan fry the salmon in the olive oil till golden on the outside and just cooked on the inside. Thinly slice the fennel bulb, beetroot and cucumber (use a mandolin if you have one). Mix the salmon and vegetables gently together, squeeze over the lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, garnish with half of the dill – save the other half for the mayo. Dollop with the home made mayo.

For the mayonnaise:
2 egg yolks
1⁄2 teaspoon of mustard powder
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1⁄2 cup of olive oil
Chopped dill (optional)
Himalayan or sea salt & pepper to taste

In a blender add egg yolk, mustard, lemon juice, vinegar and salt/pepper. Blend to combine. With blender running, very slowly add the oil into the mixture. Continue blending until the mixture is thick and forms an emulsion. Season to taste, stir in the leftover dill from the salmon recipe. Will keep up to 2 weeks if stored in a sealed jar in the fridge.

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Fresh mussels are a tasty, healthy and inexpensive meal here in New Zealand. This recipe has awesome flavours and is a favourite of mine – and well worth a try. Have them for a weekend lunch or summer later afternoon light meal with white wine. Enjoy!

1 tablespoon coconut oil
3 spring onions, sliced
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1/2 a kaffir lime leaf, finely chopped
1/2 a red chile, seeded and finely chopped
1 cup unsweetened coconut cream
1/2 a cup of water (add more if you like a thinner broth)
20 fresh mussels, rinsed, scrubbed & de-bearded
Zest and juice of half a lemon
1/2 cup whole coriander leaves
1/2 cup of chopped parsley

Heat the oil in the bottom of a large pot until hot. Add the spring onion, garlic, kaffir lime and chile. Cook over medium heat until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the coconut cream, water and mussels. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and cook until the mussels have opened, 5 to 7 minutes (discard any mussels that remained closed). Remove from heat, and use a slotted spoon to transfer the mussels to a large bowl, leaving the liquid in the pot. Stir the lemon zest and juice, half the coriander and parsley into the pot.

Scoop the mussels into a large serving bowl. Pour the remaining sauce on top. Sprinkle over the rest of the coriander and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
Serve with crusty sour dough bread to soak up the tasty juices.

ALL GONE!

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Having grown up constantly gathering shellfish from Northland West Coast Toheroa to Waihau Bay mussels, I have developed a lifelong love of New Zealand seafood. I’m not sure whether it has been the gathering aspect or the taste that has fueled this culinary passion more. Scallops are a personal favourite though and I have dived for them many times over the years (not so much in recent years). My fondest memory of the best scallops ever is from a trip to Little Barrier island where the scallops were big, fat and plentiful.

This recipe was originally created by friend and chef, James Broad of Cuisine Concepts. It’s a fantastic recipe, simple and flavoursome. If you love scallops it’s really a must to try this recipe!

RECIPE
500g cooked fettucine
200g sliced, fried chorizo sausage
200g chopped, fried bacon
12 fresh scallops quickly pan fried
100g baby spinach
50g capers

Combine the chorizo, bacon, scallops, spinach and capers.

Dressing:
50mls lemon juice
50mls olive oil

Shake the lemon juice and olive oil together. Serve the pasta on a large platter. Top with the scallop mixture and then pour over the dressing.
Season and serve.

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This is a favourite recipe of mine created by Tauranga chef James Broad from Cuisine concepts. It’s simple and delicious. If you can’t find soba noodles then you can use udon or ramen.

500 grams soba noodles
500 grams prawns
Spring onions, sliced
Fresh coriander

Dressing
80 mls Japanese Soy sauce
1 lime – juice and zest
10 mls Fish sauce
50 grams palm sugar
20 mls Bestow Beauty Oil (optional)

Cook noodles till soft, cool.

Add dressing ingredients to saucepan except the Bestow Beauty Oil (if you are using it), heat to dissolve palm sugar, cool, add Bestow Beauty Oil. Combine with noodles and sliced spring onions.

Quickly pan fry prawns in a hot pan with a tbsp of olive oil and a knob of butter. Add to noodles, toss together, season and serve with fresh coriander.

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