I should have been giving you a nice Christmas recipe a few days ago, right? I planned to, but you see this lovely large bowl of Texas Caviar muscled it’s way to the top of my must cook list and I wanted to share it with all of you. I really do fail dismally at giving you all holiday appropriate food. I cooked plenty of it though and I have some photos to share. I’ll leave that for another day. It seems to be a habit of mine sharing seasonal food out of season. But this Texas Caviar is supposed to be good luck for New Years - so you’d better get on to it! The year is running out.

Ambling through the supermarket I spied a small container of little cream coloured dried beans with black dots on them. The label said “Black Eyed Beans”. I can’t help it, as soon as I see something I am unfamiliar with I buy it. So the little *pottle was duly placed into the trolley and tucked into the pantry when I arrived home. After looking them up on Wikipedia I discovered that the beans were also known as Black Eyed Peas or cowpeas. In the US I know these are common, particularly in the southern states where they are used in all manner of dishes, here in NZ they are not well known at all.

They have an interesting history these little peas/beans. Thought to be originally from the African continent; arriving in the US with the slave trade. George Washington encouraged people to grow cowpeas because they were good for the soil and had high nutritional value. They are included in all kinds of southern dishes and at certain times in history they were a staple part of the diet along with corn.

There is a folk tradition around these beans that they are good luck to eat at new years and will bring prosperity. No one is really sure how the tradition originated, with several theories around, but however it started it seems to have stuck. I think these are too delicious to just eat at new years though.

This colourful dish can be eaten as a side or teamed up with corn chips as a salsa. Best eaten the day after it’s made when the flavours have had time to develop.

Texas Caviar

You can use canned or soaked/cooked dried beans for this. I prefer the dried because they have a little more texture and I don’t like soggy beans.

• 2 cups of cooked black eyed beans (canned or dried)
• 1 large red pepper diced
• 1/2 cup of parsley or coriander chopped
• 1 red onion finely sliced (or  3 green spring onions)
• 3-4 Jalapeños finely diced - seeds removed
• 1 finely diced Serrano chilli 
• 2 finely diced tomatoes (optional)

Dressing:

• 2 fat cloves of garlic minced
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tspn ground cumin 
• salt and pepper to taste

If you are using dried beans soak them overnight in water. Drain, cover in fresh water in a saucepan and then cook them over a medium heat before you want to use them. They take roughly 45 minutes to an hour to cook - don’t overcook them.

Once they have soaked they will have plumped up nicely and look like this.

Mix all your dressing ingredients in a bowl and whisk to combine - set aside.

I could not resist taking a photo of the oil and vinegar, it’s so pretty really if you are into looking at food closely.. which I guess I am!

Mix all your other ingredients, including your cooked or canned black eyed peas in a medium sized bowl - pour your dressing over the top and then place in the fridge to chill. This is better after a day or so marinading in it’s dressing. I popped mine in the fridge overnight and gave it couple of stirs.

I’ve never been to Texas, but I can tell you these Texas folk have this one right - a perfect combination.

Looking back over the past year of my life  I want to say thank you all for joining me on my blog - I could not keep this blog going without you all. Your readership and comments have helped me through a very tough time in my life. A special thank you to Bizy, Eddy and Heather who always just seemed to know when I really needed a positive comment. Wishing you all a Happy New Year and good things to come for you and for your families.

*For your interest: When I was writing this post I noticed that the word “pottle” was showing up with a red underline, indicating a spelling error. Quite sure that I was correct I looked it up in a dictionary. I discovered at this point that the word “pottle” is only used in New Zealand in this context! I did not realise this was a word that was only commonly used in NZ. I’d be interested to know if it’s in common usage in other countries.

I’ve had my vegetable garden almost completely planted for a couple of weeks now. One of the first things that went in for the spring was radishes. I love these little bright peppery mouthfuls. The packets of seeds that have the multi-coloured radishes on the front always pull me in. Isaac and Kit planted them in neat little rows in the corner of the vege garden.

As a teen I remember my Aunt Grace cutting radishes into flowers and serving them ice cold with a light sprinkle of salt, they were always in the centre of the table, little red globes with the red skin bleeding into the white ever so slightly. I tried hard to remember my manners and not eat the whole bowl full. I’m pretty sure I failed.

My love affair with radishes started with my grandfathers garden. He would pull one out of the ground, wipe it clean on his trousers and hand it to me. Any last remaining bits of earth were cleaned off by me until the radish was red and shiny. It would be gone in a flash and I’d be sneaking the next one out of the garden. There is nothing quite like a radish straight from the garden. Except maybe a strawberry warm from the sun, or perhaps mouth puckering gooseberries that are not quite ripe, or maybe fresh little baby peas right from the pod.. well you get the idea. Fruit and vegetables freshly picked are da’bomb!

If you don’t have a garden there is no excuse for not growing radishes. They’ll grow very happily in a large pot. They don’t take much room and they grow very fast. Kids love to grow and eat these, as long as you don’t choose a very spicy variety. Having said that, Isaac hates them, I’m not sure what he has against these little beauties, but there you go, some children cannot be pleased!

Radishes are best simple and fresh, I’ve never understood why anyone would want to cook one, they are perfect raw. This is hardly a recipe, more of a suggestion really. Grow radishes, eat them. I made a mixed salad with lettuce, cucumber, a handful of baby spinach leaves, fresh mint and radishes and poured a delicious dressing over the top to make it something special.

It’s not a strongly flavoured dressing despite the potent sounding ingredients, the garlic is roasted so it’s quite gentle and the mustard is lightly peppery - not over-powering at all. Horopito is also sometimes called the pepper tree.

When I was little we had a Horopito hedge next to our house, we used to chew on the leaves. I’m sure Mum would not have been happy about that if she’d known. I’m afraid I was notorious for eating things that I should not have, and doing things like putting peas up my nose… sigh.. there has to be one in every family - and in our family, unfortunately it was me. If I see a Horopito tree now, I can’t help but pull off a leaf and chew it. The first time Kit saw me pull a leaf off someone’s hedge and eat it I think he really started to wonder what kind of woman he’d married. If you cannot get Horopito Mustard any mild and peppery mustard will substitute. You will miss out on the subtle herbiness of the horopito though. Horopito Mustard is made by MustardMakers in Puhoi, it’s really lovely to see such a great local product. You can order it via email or phone from their website.

Honey, Garlic and Horopito Mustard Dressing

• 1/3 cup of olive oil
• 2 cloves of roasted garlic
• 1 tspn honey
• 1 tspn Horopito Mustard (or other mild mustard)
• 2-3 Tblspns white wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Place everything but the oil into the food processor and give it a quick whizz to blend.

Add in the oil in a steady stream. If your dressing looks a little thick thin it down with either more vinegar or a little water.

Taste - adjust seasonings if needed.

Drizzle over salads.

Interesting Radish facts:

• Did you know you can get Black Radishes?
• Radishes have as much potassium as bananas
• They are an excellent source of vitamin C and folate
• Radishes were first cultivated in China.
• Radishes are 90% water
• The heaviest radish was 45 kgs/100 pounds - it was recorded in 1544
• Radishes are thought to be good for digestion, are high in fibre and are thought to be anti-carcinogenic

All that packed into a brightly coloured bundle, love ‘em.

Disclaimer: Mustardmakers have had nothing to do with the promotion of the Horopito mustard on this blog, I just happen to love their product.

I had never heard of smoked eggs until today. I knew about marbled eggs of various kinds and tea eggs, coffee eggs and one thousand year old eggs but not smoked eggs. We went out to the Agricultural and Pastoral Show on the Taieri Plains and there was a chap in a stockmans coat, sporting a leather hat with a pile of small lime green cardboard egg cartons in front of him. He was from the Manuka Smoked Egg Company in Lawrence - Central Otago

He looked as though should be out with a sheep dog and some sheep, not selling eggs in a little tent. I was curious so I ambled over trying not to look nearly as interested as I was. Isaac and Kit headed over to pat the small Fresian calf that was close by and I inspected the eggs.

This was what I saw when I opened the egg carton.

These smoky black, brown and gold eggs with the most amazing aroma wafting out of the egg carton. They were slightly sticky to the touch with smoke residue coming off on my fingers when I touched them. They’ve been smoked over Manuka wood chips, which is really commonly used for smoking salmon, eel, bacon and game here. It gives a rich sweet flavour like nothing else.

I assumed that being smoked the eggs would be cooked but they are in fact raw eggs that have been cold smoked. When I researched a little online I could not find any other results for cold smoked eggs where the egg remains raw after smoking  and ready to be cooked. So they seem quite unusual in that respect.

I thought rather than put them in something that would hide the flavour of the eggs they would be better included in a salad where they could be the star of the show.

This is what I came up with to taste test the eggs.

Just a simple mixed salad with a dollop of aioli on the side. We tried it with a vinaigrette as well, but the creamier dressing was better.

The eggs were reminiscent of bacon! They had a soft smoky savoury taste, and they were really quite stunning in flavour. If you know anyone with a smoker try to tempt them into experimenting with it with some smoked eggs, they were excellent.

I was surprised to see the eggs not coloured at all by the smoking process. They looked the same as an ordinary hard boiled egg sitting in a salad. But the taste was far from ordinary. If you can get hold of these give them a try, surprising and wonderful.

I also wanted to share with you some pictures from the outing. The New Zealand Agricultural and Pastoral shows are something of a tradition here. New Zealand is a country that has always had a strong farming and agricultural community. Many of our primary exports are agriculturally based.

This is such a typical NZ scene

A sheep dog working the sheep, very smart dogs that respond to the merest hint of a whistle, commands or gestures, and the sheep of course scattering everywhere but where they should be going.

The shows are a way for our farmers to show off their prize winning animals, the bakers to bake their pikelets, scones and fruitcakes and the gardeners to gather up an abundance of vegetables and gain the red ribbon for first prize if they are lucky.

Spinners, knitters and weavers usually have a spot out of the sun to show their painstaking and intricate creations. Selling soft bags of wool and fleeces ready to be carded alongside yarns hand spun in all the hues you can imagine.

A Kune Kune, a Silky hen, an Alpaca and a team of ponies. That little Alpaca belongs to Flagstaff Alpacas, they make alpaca yarn in a variety of plys and colour-ways.

It’s a day for the equestrians to groom their horses till they shine, plait their manes and tails and either show their ponies and horses in the ring or put them through their paces for the show jumping.

There are also often massive displays of both vintage and modern machinery, side shows, craft stalls and animals of all varieties, not just sheep, cattle and horses. All manner of local crafters are usually present as well with their stalls dangling with all kinds of wares.

How about this Steam Traction Engine? An amazing piece of machinery and still working as it did when it was first assembled. There was a tiny one too, but this large one was really impressive.

One of Isaac’s favourite parts of the day was watching a science demonstrator make raspberry ice-cream instantly with liquid nitrogen. It was good too! Fresh raspberries and fresh cream.

It’s a slice of real New Zealand, and I just love it. There is nothing better than sitting in the sun on a picnic rug with voices over a loud speaker saying things no one is listening to, drinking a cold drink and eating home-made  bacon and egg pie with a side of magic ice-cream made with liquid nitrogen.

I’ve had enough sugar this week. Although I love to bake and have something sweet in the pantry to have with my evening cup of tea, after all the chocolate in the past week or so I just need some uncluttered and healthy food.

This is a very simple recipe, but one that is flavourful and healthy. The colours in the salad are just beautiful on their own. If it’s not fresh beetroot season where you are, you can use canned beetroot chunks or small whole baby beet if you wish. Sometimes I make this with the fennel, sometimes without, but either way it’s a bright spot on your plate.

We have beetroot growing in the garden at the moment, but they are barely more than a few red speckled leaves and struggling a little. The lovely beets that are in this recipe came from our local farmers market.

Roasting your beetroot tends to give them a richer flavour.

Beetroot, Fennel & Orange Salad

• 4 medium sized beetroot - cooked - you can either roast in the oven until tender or boil in a large pan until they are tender when skewered
• 2 Oranges - sliced
• Fennel - three baby fennel bulbs sliced julienne

Your beets should be cold for the salad

Slice your beets into chunks, oranges into segments and julienne your fennel

Combine gently and drizzle Orange vinaigrette over the top

Orange Vinaigrette

• Juice of one orange
• 1/4 cup of olive oil (can be omitted)
• 3 Tblspns balsamic vinegar
• snipped chives and fennel leaves
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine all the dressing ingredients in a jar with a screw top lid. Shake well to combine.