Riverstone Kitchen

Four weekends ago, S, P and I spent a gorgeous, relaxing afternoon at Riverstone Kitchen in Oamaru, as an early birthday celebration for S. This place is something special - they have quirky, quaint gift shops, an aviary, an awesome fort and playground, a nice big vegetable garden, a large chicken and poultry coop, and some random goats just hanging out. And I haven't even mentioned the casual-chic, sleek, comfortable, well designed restaurant. Clearly, a lot of thought, creativity and effort has been poured into every last detail and now it is one of my favourite spaces in NZ (and I am sure I am not the only one who thinks so).

It turned out to be just one of those days that I will always remember with fondness - simple, good, homegrown food, the beautiful, blue NZ sky, lush green grounds, with lots of entertaining features, and great company. I can't speak for the others, but the afternoon there left me feeling quite content and with a happy memory to keep.

I apologise for the brevity, but this is the simplest way to convey my/our thoughts about each dish:

Potato gnocchi, with roast pumpkin, burnt butter, sage and pinenuts: S's main. She loved the gnocchi, the roast pumpkin and the crispness of the sage. 

Riverstone fish and chips with fresh herbs, lemon and tartare sauce: P's main. All I got out of him was "really good". I like the look of the rustic, hearty chips but I didn't get to taste any. Luckily, C, my co-worker, recently visited Riverstone Kitchen and ordered this very dish and has proclaimed it 'fantastic!'.

Organic chicken pie with mash and onion gravy: My main. I loved the mash and the onion gravy. The filling of the pie was a little unexpected because it was sweetish rather than savoury, but it was still good. The chicken pieces were a little lean and therefore fibrous, but I suppose that comes with cooking with a conscience and using organic or free range chicken and leaner cuts. The pastry was perfect - just the right flavour, thickness and flakiness.

Sautéed brussel sprouts with roast almonds: We all loved this side dish. Perfectly executed. I loved the slight bitterness of the brussel sprouts and was pleasantly surprised by how well the roast almonds complemented the vegetables and lent that bit of sophistication to the dish.

Steamed Riverstone greens with black olive tapenade: Quite interesting. I've never had vegetables served topped with olive tapenade before but it worked well. I am not a fan of olives, generally, so S may have enjoyed this a bit more.

Caramel and macadamia tart: S's dessert. I think she liked it but after a while found it a bit too sweet.

Chocolate sour cream cake: My dessert. This was every bit as amazing as it looks. Beautifully moist, soft and chocolatey with a deliciously thick layer of incredibly decadent, gooey icing. I am not a fan of berry coulis so I just had the cake by itself. It didn't even need the ice cream or cream on the side.

Feijoa open tart: P's dessert. Again, all I got was 'good' and some nodding. 

the chicken coop

the quaint gift shop

the vegetable garden

the awesome fort!

If you need any more convincing, you should also know that Riverstone Kitchen was awarded Cuisine Magazine's Restaurant of the Year for 2010.

Riverstone Kitchen 
1431 State Highway 1 
RD 5H
Oamaru

Seafood Risotto

I love a good risotto, but I haven't had good risotto very often. Fortunately, the first one I ever tried was one of the best that I've had, so I from then on, I had a good idea of what it was supposed to taste like. And S's combination of Jamie Oliver's and Rick Stein’s seafood risotto recipes (and winging it) produced a really tasty, rich dish with nice full flavours. 

We used scallops and snapper instead of mussels and monkfish, and left out the squid. The scallops were terrible because we used frozen ones (don't ask me why, we were just pushing our luck). We seasoned the snapper fillets with salt and cajun spices and pan fried the fish instead of cooking it with the risotto. We also added asparagus, so with all those ingredients, it doesn't look quite as elegant as something you would get in a restaurant but it was incredibly satisfying. Sorry I can't even write a general recipe for this because S did 99.99% of the cooking (I think I stirred the pot a couple of times...maybe) and I don't remember what she did. But if you just go with these recipes and do what makes sense to you, you should be fine. Risottos seem to be pretty straightforward as long as you take the time to cook it slowly, allow the flavours to develop and the rice to naturally turn rich and creamy. It's worth the effort.

Pier 24 - etc

It's no secret that I think that Pier 24 is the best, and my favourite, fine dining restaurant in Dunedin. As I often use just about any excuse to go there, my collection of pictures and thoughts about their various dishes is becoming somewhat scattered. Before it gets completely out of hand, here's a post about some random dishes from different visits, as far back as July/August 2010:

  

This was a amuse bouche made with thai green curry paste and spicy kumara (I think?). It had lovely depth, richness complexity. It's nine months later, and I can still remember the taste.

Vanilla and five spice panna cotta, red wine poached pear, raspberry ice-cream and tuille biscuit - This was absolutely stunning. The perfectly balanced flavours and textures with the slightly acidic, tender, grainy flesh of the wine soaked pear, the pleasantly sourish, smooth ice-cream and the sweet, silky, creamy, luscious, delicate, wobbly, clingy panna cotta, topped with the crunchy, sticky sugar glass shard.....it was so incredibly good, that (after 20 minutes) I can't even think of a suitable way to end this sentence.  

Salt and pepper crisp fried squid - This was my favourite reason to visit St Clair for a delicious afternoon snack and to just relax and enjoy the view. It initially caught my eye as a starter on the evening menu but there were always other irresistible starters that edged the squid out, like the pork belly. Eventually, I realised that they had it on the bar menu, and then I couldn't get enough of it. It doesn't get much better than enjoying hot, freshly fried, tasty, lightly battered and crispy squid, with cool ginger beer and and view of the ocean and the blue, blue New Zealand sky. There was also a hint of a spice in the squid (maybe fennel?) that gave it that extra punch. Delicious. 

Unfortunately, the last few times I visited, the salt and pepper squid was not on either menu and the other squid dishes that I've tried since (Crisp fried gremolata crumbed squid starter from the dinner menu and squid rings from the bar menu) have been good, but not as good as the salt and pepper squid. But I've just checked the menus on their site and it looks like it's back on the bar menu!!! 

Grilled farmed venison noisettes with Parma ham, potato & kumara rosti, avocado hummus, red wine and candied onion pan jus - This is their new venison item, which is good, but the sharp saltiness of the Parma ham is a bit jarring and doesn't seem to quite fit with the rest of the plate. As I have highlighted before, I particularly enjoyed how the sweetish accompaniments enhanced the flavour of the meat in the old venison dish (which was such a favourite that even though I always went with the intention to try something else, I would inevitably order the venison) and have been craving it for a while now. Alas.........perhaps I can hope for it to make a comeback like the salt and pepper squid.

'Claypot' Chicken Rice v2.0

Very sorry about not posting in the last few weeks. The internet at my place STILL hasn't been restored and it is getting quite inconvenient. I am in internet and 'flogging' (food blogging) withdrawal, so I am posting this even though it's not going to be a very long one. 

I've written about making 'Claypot' Chicken Rice once before, but the photo in that post was awful and the recipe was basic. I've taken it up a notch here and the little extras are definitely worth it. This is one of those really easy recipes that will produce a delicious, comforting, and incredibly satisfying, one-pot meal. Great for all you hungry, non-cooks like me.

Random notes: -

I use thigh fillets because: 

1. they contain more fat than breast fillets and are therefore far less fibrous and more moist. 

2. the fat flavours the rice well, and 

3. I am too lazy to deal with chicken pieces even though they would retain more flavour and moisture with the skin on and bone in, AND the fat from the skin would give the dish extra flavour (maybe one day, when I have my dream kitchen - I know, I know, what does a 'non-cook' want with a dream kitchen? Doesn't matter, I still do!). 

Claypot Chicken Rice 

Ingredients 

Rice 

Chicken 

Chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong) 

Ginger

Garlic 

Dark Soy Sauce 

Shallot 

Salted Fish 

Spring Onion 

Method 

1. Steam chinese sausages (as per instructions on packet), then slice (about half a cm thick) and saute in a dry pan until slightly browned and oil is released into pan. 

2. Set aside chinese sausage slices and using the same pan, heat cooking oil (estimate what you would need to coat all the rice you are going to use and add an extra tablespoon) and saute a large (about 2-3 inches) piece of ginger until slightly golden. 

3. Add uncooked rice, saute until translucent, then set aside (with ginger) in rice cooker pot. 

4. Heat some oil and saute garlic cloves (crushed with the side of a knife, but otherwise in one piece) until fragrant. 

5. Add chicken pieces and fry until golden brown. 

6. Add dark soy sauce and sugar to taste and stir fry well. 

7. Add water to the chicken (estimate the amount you would need to cook the rice in a rice cooker, if unsure, use less and add more later). 

8. Taste - sauce/broth should be just a bit too salty because the flavours will mellow considerably when cooked with the rice. 

9. Pour chicken and sauce/broth over the rice in the rice cooker pot and throw in the chinese sausage slices. 

10. Cook in rice cooker as you would cook plain rice. The switch will 'trip' and show that it is done before it actually is but leave it in to continue cooking. Just keep testing the rice to see if it needs more water or if it just needs to be left in longer. 

11. While it is cooking, finely slice shallots and chop spring onions. 

12. Fry sliced shallots until golden brown. 

13. Serve topped with the fried shallots, chopped spring onions and some salted fish.