My square pan is dead! I didn't know it was dead. TF had literally just used it to make brownies. I cleaned the brownie crumbs out of it and put it to use for this crumble. And everything seemed fine until we went to dish it up and found that the fruit had turned strange colours and had a funny aftertaste to them. I think the pan must have reacted with the fruit. Which has me feeling incredibly bummed. I managed to bring fresh feijoas home all the way from NZ and make a crumble immediately while they were still at their peak. To have it ruined by a faulty pan is just heartbreaking! I'm so mad at myself.

I mean, I'm still going to eat the crumble anyway. It's still decent. It's just not nearly as good as it should be. Because my pan failed me!

As far as the recipe itself goes... I found this one very interesting. It is a crumble without oats! The topping is composed almost entirely of ground hazelnuts! With just a bit of flour, honey, and butter to hold it together. It's a tasty combo. And there's enough ginger in it that it actually comes through quite nicely. And I enjoy the sweetened topping with the unsweetened fruit. (Although it would've been even better if the fruit hadn't picked up that slightly nasty pan aftertaste, but... oh well. Not much I can do about that now!)

I'm not sure I'd bother too much with this recipe in the future when the basic crumble is so good. But it was definitely an interesting experiment. And it was fun to try something a bit different.

ETA: So, my feijoa failure is even weirder and more complicated than I'd originally realized. It looks like it's not just that the pan was a little old and scuffed up. It was a reaction between the nuts, the acid in the fruit, and the metal in the pan. If the pan had been in better shape (or I'd used a non-metalic pan), then this wouldn't have happened. Or if I'd made a nut-free crumble, it also would've been just fine. Or even if we'd simply eaten the crumble right away rather than letting it sit all day. But nope! The combination of those three factors caused a chemical reaction -- basically forming iron gall ink in the pan -- and caused my fruit to turn a disturbing purplish-blue and taste funny. Whoops! Oh well... at least it was an interesting failure mode!

Photo goes here.

Feijoa, Apple, and Hazelnut Crumble

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 1 c. hazelnuts¹, ground
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 50g butter
• 1/4 c. honey
• 2-3 apples, peeled and sliced
• 400g feijoa pulp, chopped
• ice cream and/or whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 23cm (9") square pan. (Preferably a glass or stoneware baking dish and not a metal one.)
2. Combine the hazelnuts, flour, and ginger and mix well.
3. Cut in the butter and mix the honey through.
4. Bring the apples to a gentle simmer with a little water and stew until just softened.
5. Drain the apples and mix them with the feijoa pulp.
6. Pour the fruit mixture into the prepared pan and spread in an even layer.
7. Sprinkle the crumble on top.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 30 minutes.
9. Serve topped with ice cream and/or whipped cream.

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¹ The recipe didn't specify skin-on or skin-off for the hazelnuts. Mine were skin-on and peeling them is always a huge pain, so I just used them that way. This was fine, but I do think they probably would've been slightly better peeled. I recommend using skin-off if you can find them. ^Back

Broccoli and Mushroom Frittata

This was meant to be a broccoli, mushroom, and tomato frittata, but seeing as I was trying to avoid poisoning Reiver this trip, I figured I'd just skip the tomatoes this time.

Photo goes here.

Broccoli and Mushrooms Frittata

Slightly adapted from The Big Book of Breakfasts by Maryana Vollstedt

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• ~150g white or cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 shallots (or 1 onion), chopped
• 1 c. (or a bit more) broccoli florettes
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6-8 large eggs
• 2-4 Tbsp. milk
• 1 tsp. Roman or Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. minced fresh basil
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 large tomato, sliced (optional)
• 1 c. grated Havarti¹
• 2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan²

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Melt the butter over medium heat in an oven-safe skillet/pan.
3. Add the mushrooms and saut&eactue; for a few minutes.
4. Add the shallots/onion and cook until softened (3-5 minutes).
5. Add the broccoli and garlic and cook until the broccoli turns bright green.
6. Beat eggs with the milk, mustard, oregano, basil, salt, and pepper.
7. Pour the egg mixture into the pan with the vegetables and cook for a minute or two.
8. Add the tomato slices on top (if using).
9. Sprinkle with the cheese(s) and transfer to the oven.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until eggs are set (20-25 minutes).
11. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.
12. Transfer to a plate, cut into wedges, and serve.

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¹ We didn't have any havarti on hand, so I just used a bit of "tasty cheese"/old cheddar instead. ^Back
2 Since tasty cheese is both stronger and firmer than havarti, I just omitted the Parmesan from my version. Feel free to use both if you'd like though. I was just feeling a bit rushed and lazy and didn't want to get out another cheese or the Microplane. ^Back

Yet another feijoa recipe! This one is very handy if you'd like to save some feijoas to enjoy out of season. And, the really great thing about it is that their feijoa character still comes through really well! They're cooked and lightly spiced, but they still taste like feijoas.

Photo goes here.

Poached Feijoas

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 1L apple juice
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 star anise
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 Tbsp. orange zest
• 20-40 feijoas

Directions

1. Sterlilze some jars by baking them in the oven for 10 minutes at 120°C (250°F). Boil the lids.
2. Combine the apple juice, sugar, star anise, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and orange zest and bring to a boil.
3. Halve and scoop 20 feijoas and add them to the poaching liquid.
4. Reduce heat and simmer until feijoas are just tender (5-8 minutes).
5. Spoon the feijoas into the sterilized jars and pour in enough of the poaching liquid to completely cover them.
6. If desired, reheat the poaching liquid and make a second batch with another 20 feijoas.
7. Place the lids loosely on the jars and boil in a hot water bath for 20-30 minutes.
8. Remove the jars from the hot water bath and seal tightly.
9. If the safety buttons on any of the jars do not go down, store in the fridge and eat within a week. Properly sealed jars may be stored at room temperature until opened.
10. Serve with ice cream, yogurt, brownies, or cereal.

Bangada chi Hooman (Mackerel with Hooman Sauce)

We had Reiver's parents over for dinner on Monday. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to cook until a few hours before they arrived, but I had had vague hopes that it could be something fish-based. And oh boy, were we in luck! They had kahawai fillets on sale. So far I'd only seen kahawai available as whole (ungutted) fish. So having some lovely fillets on hand was very exciting. Especially since a) they were lovely, large, meaty pieces of fish and b) they weren't even that expensive! Very nice!

We came home with five huge fillets and, with Reiver's advice, I decided to use them in this fun-looking mackerel curry. And it was delicious! I would definitely make this one again! (Assuming I could find the fish for it, of course.) It was really tasty and a big hit all 'round.

Photo goes here.

Bangada chi Hooman

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. ginger chile paste¹
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 750-1000g of skinless mackerel, kahawai, or cod fillets
• 1/4 c. oil, divided
• 1 onion, chopped
• ~200mL diced tomato
• 1 tsp. tamarind concentrate
• 2 tsp. Maharashtrian garam masala
• 1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro (or parsley, if you cannot abide the coriander leaves)
• 1/2 c. cream of wheat or dry breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Combine the ginger chile paste with 1 tsp. of the salt and smear it all over the fish. Cover and chill for 30-60 minutes.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. of oil over medium heat.
3. Add the onion and cook until softened (~10 minutes).
4. Add the tomato, tamarind, and masala and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
5. Stir in the cilantro.
6. Meanwhile, heat some of the remaining oil over medium heat and dredge the fish in the cream of wheat/breadcrumbs.
7. Add the fish to the pan and fry until cooked through and crispy on both sides (4-8 minutes per side depending on thickness). Add additional oil as needed during cooking.
8. Dish up the fish and top it with the sauce. Serve with rice or a rice-lentil porridge like elambuchambu shaadum.

---

¹ I didn't have any ginger chile paste and didn't want to either make or buy a whole jar just for this one recipe, so I just minced some fresh jalapeño and stirred it into plain ginger paste. I didn't want it to be too spicy (nor use too much pepper) since I was trying not to poison Keith, so I just used half of a jalapeño and removed the seeds and pith. ^Back

NZ Woman's Weekly calls this a "boozy feijoa and gingernut pudding". But that's a terrible name for it. It's long, unweildy, and -- despite giving you half the ingreient list in the title -- tells you very little about what the dessert is actually like. But, having made it now, it's basically a tiramisu. But with feijoas instead of custard/saboyon, gingernuts instead of ladyfingers, and sherry or feijoa brandy instead of coffee.

Okay, yes, that is a lot of subsitutions and the final result doesn't taste anything like a traditional tiramisu. But the technique, form, and texture is very tiramisu like, even if the flavour profile is very different. So I stand by this being a "feijoamisu".

Photo goes here.

Feijoamisu

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 250mL heavy (35%) cream
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 200g mascarpone cheese
• 500g feijoa pulp, mashed
• 1 packet Gingernuts
• 1/4 c. sherry or feijoa brandy
• 10-20g dark chocolate, grated

Directions

1. Whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla.
2. Stir the mascarpone and feijoa pulp.
3. One at a time, dip the Gingernuts in the sherry, spread each with a generous quantity of the cream mixture, and place it in a 23x13cm loaf tin to make two parallel rows of cookies and feijoa cream.
4. Once all the Gingernuts have been used, scoop the rest of the cream mixture into the pan to cover up the biscuits.
5. Cover and chill for at least an hour.
6. Uncover, dust with grated chocolate, and serve.

This is an unusual flavour pairing that I probably wouldn't have thought of on my own, but it did make for some tasty muffins. That said, I do feel like the flavours could use some re-balancing. The cheese in them was delicious, but I don't feel like the feijoa came through quite as strongly as I would have liked. And, since I was working with dried thyme rather than fresh, I cut it back to only half a teaspoon, but I think it could have done with a bit more in the end.

The original recipe called for a 3:1 ratio of plain flour to whole wheat. I decided to skew it more toward the whole wheat and do a 1:1 mix. But, having tasted the muffins, I think 100% whole wheat would have been even better!

If I were willing to take even more liberties with the recipe, I might try adding a bit of lemon zest to the batter along with the thyme. I think that would provide a nice complement to the other flavours and give a little sharpness to round everything out.

Feijoa Muffins with Blue Cheese and Thyme

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 100g butter, softened
• 100g brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 c. milk
• zest of 1/2 a lemon
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 250g whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. thyme (fresh or dried)
• 5-10 grinds each of salt and black pepper
• 300g feijoa pulp, mashed
• 6 small feijoas, halved and scooped
• 75-100g blue cheese, crumbled

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a muffin tin.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Stir the lemon zest and baking soda into the milk and add the milk mixture to the butter mixture. Mix well.
5. Sift the baking powder into the flour and add the thyme, salt, and pepper.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine.
7. Stir in the feijoa pulp.
8. Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin(s).
9. Press a feijoa half into the top of each muffin and top with a sprinkle of blue cheese and a bit of extra pepper.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 18-20 minutes.

Meen Thenga Paal Kari (Fish and Coconut Milk Curry)

Hooray for discount fish! We found some tarakihi fillets reduced for quick sale at the grocery store and tossed them into this amazing curry. It was fantastic! Definitely a new favourite.

Photo goes here.

Meen Thenga Paal Kari

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 450g halibut, tarakihi, or gurnard fillets
• 2 Tbsp. mustard oil, divided
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• 1 Tbsp. skinned split black lentils (mapte beans/white lentils/urad dal)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 c. coconut milk
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. sambhar masala
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 12 large fresh or frozen curry leaves
• 1/2 c. diced tomato

Directions

1. Rub the turmeric into the fish, cover, and chill for 30-60 minutes.
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium heat.
3. Add the mustard seeds, cover, and cook until they've stopped popping (30-60 seconds).
4. Add the lentils and cook until lightly browned (15-30 seconds).
5. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened (5-10 minutes).
6. Add the coconut milk, cilantro, sambhar masala, salt, and curry leaves and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens (5-10 minutes longer).
7. Stir in the tomato and cook until heated through (2-3 minutes).
8. Heat the remaining oil over medium heat in a large pan.
9. Add the fish to the pan and sear on both sides.
10. Pour the sauce over the fish, cover, and poach until fish is just cooked through.
11. Serve immediately.

More feijoas! I only have a week left, so I'm going to have to kick it into high gear if I want to get through the rest of them before I go!

This cake was delicious! Rich and moist with just a hint of spice. I loved it.

Photo goes here.

Feijoa Walnut Cake

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 100g butter, melted
• 100g sugar¹
• 300g feijoa pulp, chopped
• 1 c. (~120g) chopped walnuts
• 1 c. dried cranberries, sultanas, and/or raisins
• 120g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 2 tsp. mixed spice²
• 2 tsp. baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 20cm (8") springform pan³.
2. Beat the egg with the butter.
3. Add the sugar, feijoa, walnuts, and dried fruit and mix well.
4. Sift in the flour, mixed spice, and baking soda and stir to combine.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~45 minutes.
6. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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¹ The original recipe called for 3/4 c. caster sugar. I opted to use 100g (~1/2 c.) of granulated sugar. I was perfectly happy with the results from doing it this way. I found the cake was sweet enough to taste like a special treat without being cloying. That said, with the raisins/cranberries in, I think you could probably take it as low as 75g if you wanted to. I'd also be tempted to try it with brown sugar next time. Just to see how it compares. That said, I don't think either of these modifications are necessary, they'd just be interesting experiemnts to try. ^Back
2 Reiver didn't have any mixed spice ready to hand, but did have a surplus of pumpkin pie spice, so I just used that. While the two mixes are not the same they are very similar, so I usually find that I can get away with substituting one for the other in most cases. ^Back
3 I didn't have a 20cm springform pan available, so I just used a 23cm (9") one instead. It will bake a little faster in the larger diameter pan, but works fine otherwise. ^Back

The recipe calls for icing these loaves, but I honestly really liked them as-is.

I'm sure they'd be fine with icing. But would require extra time, effort and ingredients. And while they would probably look prettier for it, I'm not convinced they would be significantly tastier, so I just left it off.

Photo goes here.

Feijoa-Ginger-Nut Loaves

Slightly adapted NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 260g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 100g brown sugar
• 1 tsp. mixed (or pumpkin pie) spice
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 c. bran flakes
• 1/2 c. (~60g) chopped nuts (walnuts, pistachios, almonds, pecans, etc.)
• 1 c. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 c. oil
• 1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
• 250g feijoa pulp, chopped
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking soda

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour two small 18x8cm (7x3") loaf pans.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, mixed spice, ginger, bran flakes, and nuts and mix well.
3. Beat the egg with the milk and mix in the oil, applesauce, feijoas, and baking soda.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (~45 minutes).
6. Let cool in pans for 5-10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

I messed this one up. I should've known better, but I was tired and lazy and foolishly assembled my upside down cake in a springform pan. Which, of course, meant that all of the butter and sugar for the topping ran out the bottom of the pan. Very sad.

I thought that I'd gotten the baking paper high enough up the sides that everything would be contained. Evidently, I was wrong.

The cake was great otherwise! I really liked the bit of almond flour in the batter. It gave it a nice flavour and texture. And it was still tasty even without its caramel topping. I just wish that I hadn't wasted the ingredients. Next time I'll do it in a standard 20cm (8") round pan. (Really, I probably should've just done it in a 20cm square baking dish and called it a day. I might not've been able to unmould it from the square casserole dish, but at least it wouldn't've leaked! Oh well... like I said: next time.)

Photo goes here.

Feijoa and Apple Upside Down Cake

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 50g butter, melted
• 1/3 c. brown sugar
• 6-9 large feijoas, halved lengthwise and scooped
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• 125g butter, softened
• 100g sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs
• 180g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 60g ground almonds (almond flour/meal)
• 2 tsp. baking powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease a 20 or 22cm round cake tin, then line the bottom with baking paper.
2. Pour the melted butter into the bottom of the pan and sprinkle with the brown sugar.
3. Arrange the feijoas, cut-side-down, on top.
4. Fill in any gaps with pieces of apple.
5. Cream the softened butter with the sugar until light (~3 minutes).
6. Mix in the vanilla.
7. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
8. Add the flour, ground almonds, and sift in the baking powder, then stir it all together until just combined.
9. Spoon the batter over the fruit and smooth into an even layer.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until cake tests done (45-55 minutes).
11. Let cool in pan for ~15 minutes before inverting onto plate.
12. Serve with yogurt, whipped cream, and/or ice cream (if desired).

Another feijoa recipe! Shocking, I know! But the fruit onslaught continues. And I haven't even tried all of the feijoa recipes yet! So, here's another one for the books.

I will admit that I adulterated this one somewhat. I stuck mostly to the recipe. But I did omit the sprinkle of sugar over the tops of the muffins. And I also added a bit of sourdough starter to the batter. I think I probably ended up adding a bit too much starter. But it was an interesting experiemnt nonetheless.

I think next time I'd try using a bit less starter and/or adding some mashed banana to balance things out. They were still pretty good overall though. And, perhaps most importantly, it was a good way to use up a bunch more feijoas!

Photo goes here.

Feijoa, Lime, and Poppy Seed Muffins

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 125g butter, softened
• 100g brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 250g feijoa pulp, chopped
• zest and juice of 1 lime
• 250g sourdough discard @ 100% hydration (optional)
• 1 banana, mashed
• 1/4 c. milk
• 125g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 90g whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp. poppy seeds
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 11-12 small feijoas, halved and scooped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease your muffin tins.¹
2. Cream the butter with the sugar.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Combine the feijoa pulp, lime zest, and lime juice and stir it into the creamed mixture.
5. Stir in the starter and banana (if using).
6. Mix in the milk.
7. Add the flours and poppy seeds and sift the baking powder and ginger on top, then stir to combine.
8. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins.
9. Press a feijoa half into the top of each muffin.
10. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 18-20 minutes.
11. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

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¹ As originally written, this recipe claimed to make 15 "small" muffins. With the added cup of sourdough starter, I got 22 muffins each with a diameter of ~5cm out of mine (but a couple of them were a bit skimpy). If you also added the banana, then you'd probably be able to get 22 generous muffins or 24 slightly short ones. ^Back

I'm still working my way through all of the feijoa recipes (in an attempt to work through all of the fejoas). Today's recipe was pancakes with a feijoa-based sauce.

Both the pancakes and the sauce were very quick and easy to put together and they made for a nice breakfast. I ended up using old-fashioned rolled oats ("whole grain oats") for my pancakes even though the recipe called for "rolled oats", which I think is the equivalent of what we would call "quick oats" in North America. This worked fine, but I think the quick oats probably would've been better. I debated using instant oats (aka "creamy oats" to you antipodean folks), but the package of "whole grain oats" was already opened and the "creamy oats" were still sealed, so I figured I'd just see how it came out with the more toothsome old-fashioned oats for now.

I cut the sugar in the sauce back to only a 1/4 c., but you may find you need more or less depending on the sweetness of your fruit (and your tooth). The original recipe called for 1/2 c. modulo fruit sweetness.

Photo goes here.

Oat Pancakes with Feijoa-Apple Sauce

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

Pancakes

• 150g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 3/4 c. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Sauce

• 1 large apple, peeled and chopped
• 300g feijoa pulp
• 1/4 c. sugar (or to taste)
• 1/4 c. water

Directions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.
2. Mix in the brown sugar.
3. Beat the egg with the milk and the vanilla.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined.
5. Set aside while you prepare the sauce.
6. Combine apple, feijoa, sugar, and water and bring to a boil over medium heat.
7. Cook until fruit is very tender and easily mashed with a fork (10-15 minutes).
8. While the sauce is cooking, make the pancakes.
9. Heat a pan, tawa, or griddle over medium heat and grease as necessary.
10. Use ~1/4 c. of batter for each pancake and cook until underside is nicely browned and sides are starting to look dry, adjusting heat as necessary during cooking.
11. Flip pancakes and cook until other side is browned and pancakes are cooked through.
12. Repeat process with remaining batter.
13. Serve pancakes topped with the feijoa-apple sauce and plain Greek yogurt.

Not the most appealing name, I know, but this fruit paste was amazing! It looks cool. It was very satisfying to make. It was time-consuming, but not particularly difficult. And it tastes delicious!

I love that it uses the feijoa peels as well as the flesh. I mean, you strain them out after boiling, so they don't get left in the final product. But at least you get to make use of them for their pectin content before you toss them. Very cool.

I also found that I was able to make this with significantly less sugar than the recipe called for. Now, of course, this means that it won't keep nearly as well. But, that's okay! I suspect we'll end up eating it pretty quickly anyway.

Feijoa Paste

Slightly adapted from Twisted Citrus

Ingredients

• 2-3 apples¹
• 500g feijoa pulp + skins
• 400g sugar

Directions

1. Chop the apples. No need to peel or core!
2. Trim the blossom ends off of the feijoas, then halve and scoop them. Measure out 500g of pulp and set it aside. Discard the trimmed ends, but reserve all of the peels.
3. Add the feijoa skins and chopped apples to a pot with just enough water to cover them.
4. Bring to a boil and cook until mushy.
5. Strain and reserve the liquid, pressing down on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids.
6. Return the liquid to the pot and add the feijoa pulp.
7. Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until tender.
8. Mash, stir in sugar, and reduce heat to low.
9. Cook, stirring every few minutes, until mixture thickens and darkens significantly (~2 hours).
10. Line a 20x20cm (8x8") square pan with baking paper and pour the paste into the prepared pan.
11. Set aside to cool and set.
12. Once set, cut the paste into squares and serve with cheese.

---

¹ The original recipe calls for 3 apples. My apples were quite large, however, so I only ended up using two. ^Back

Reiver needed to take a plate to the office the other day. So, of course, I viewed this as an idea opportunity to try out yet another feijoa recipe.

These were lovely little socnes. And because the jam was just a "quick jam" thickened with chia seeds, it didn't require the normal amount of sugar and came out not-too-sweet and deliciously fruity! The low-sugar nature of it means that the jam won't keep the way a traditional jam will. But as long as you eat it relatively quickly, it makes for a delicious (and relatively healthy) way to use up a few feijoas.

Photo goes here.

Feijoa-Ginger Scones with Quick Feijoa-Strawberry Jam

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

Scones

• 375g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 2 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 Tbsp. ginger
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 50g butter
• 3-4 feijoas
• 3/4 c. buttermilk
• 0-2 Tbsp. milk

Jam

• 250g feijoa pulp
• 1 c. frozen strawberries
• 2 Tbsp. maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp. chia seeds
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

Scones

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and ginger.
3. Add sugar and stir to mix.
4. Cut in the butter.
5. Scoop and chop the feijoas.
6. Stir in the feijoas and the buttermilk.
7. Mix to form a shaggy dough. If the dough won't quite come together, add a little milk until it does.
8. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and pat into a disc ~2-3cm thick.
9. Fold the dough into quarters and press flat again.
10. Use a biscuit cutter of your preferred size to cut out your scones and place them on a baking sheet.
11. Combine the scraps, press flat, and cut out a few more scones. Repeat until you can't make any more scones.
12. Bake at 200°C (400°F) until cooked through and just starting to colour on the outside (~15 minutes).

Jam

1. Combine the feijoas, strawberries, and maple syrup and cook over medium heat until very soft.
2. Remove from heat, purée, and stir in the chia seeds and vanilla.
3. Pour into a jar and allow to cool.

Assembly

1. Split scones and serve topped with whipped cream and jam.

We had some lovely home-smoked trout left over from Reiver's birthday and he suggested that it might go well in a soup.

I've made fish chowder plenty of times before, but never with smoked fish. So I went looking for something that was tailored to smoked fish specifically. I found this one on the Food & Wine website. I will admit that I tweaked it slightly, but only slightly. I omitted the water called for. Used a regular commercial chicken broth (rather than low-sodium), but then omitted the salt. Halved the thyme. And, after tasting it at the end of cooking, decided to add in some corn and grated carrot as it seemed like it needed some more veg to balance it out and I usually put those in my chowders anyway.

Photo goes here.

Smoked Trout Chowder

Slightly adapted from Food & Wine

Ingredients

• 1-2 Tbsp. butter
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 3-6 green onions, greens and whites kept separate and chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 450g potatoes, cut into 1cm dice
• 1/4 c. dry white wine
• 4 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 c. frozen corn kernels
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• 2 fillets smoked trout, skin removed and flesh flaked

Directions

1. Melt the butter over medium-low heat.
2. Add the celery, white parts of the green onions, and garlic and cook until softened (5-10 minutes).
3. Add the potatoes, wine, chicken stock, thyme, bay leaf, and pepper.
4. Increase heat to medium-high, bring to a boil, then reduce to medium and cook until potatoes are just tender (~15 minutes).
5. Stir in the corn and carrots.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in the cream.
7. Cook for a few minutes, then stir in the trout.
8. Serve with crusty bread.

The feijoas started ripening a couple of weeks ago. And now the limes on the tree out front are starting to ripen too! And we still have a surplus of coconut in the cupboard, so this cake seemed pretty much perfect. It came out so nice!

The original recipe called for a cream cheese icing to top it with, but I didn't bother to ice it. I'm sure it would have been nice, but it was just lovely as-is without it too.

Feijoa-Coconut-Lime Cake

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 150g butter, softened
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 150g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 c. dessicated coconut
• 250g feijoa pulp, chopped
• zest and juice of 2 limes

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a 20x20cm (8x8") cake tin.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in the vanilla.
5. Add the flour and sift in the baking powder, then mix it in.
6. Stir in the coconut, followed by the feijoa pulp, juice, and lime zest.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
8. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for ~45 minutes.
9. Let cool in tin for 15-20 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Macaroni Cheese (Edmonds)

Last Tuesday was my last Te Reo class. (I can't believe how fast the term went!) And, since it was our last day, we had it as more of a social, take-a-plate event. I really wanted to make butter tarts for everyone, but the instructor had said "no chips, no sweets, no lollies", so I was worried that it was meant to be all savoury, dinner-type stuff. In the end, I decided to make the butter tarts anyway, since they're such a Canadian thing. But I opted to throw together a quick mac & cheese as well, so that I'd have something savoury to contribute to the table. Just in case.

This isn't my favourite mac & cheese. But it's a good, solid stand-by. And it is easy to throw together on short notice. And you could certainly gussy it up with some extra inclusions. Edmonds suggests bacon as an option. (Although I didn't end up adding any since I knew that there were at least a couple of people in the class who couldn't eat pork.) I think a bit of Worcestershire sauce and/or a few veggies (maybe some carrots or peas) wouldn't go amiss either. Just a little something to amp up the flavour a bit and give it a little more variation in each bite. Still, this version was completely fine and a nice, safe, reliable option. And the Kidlet loved it! I'm pretty sure she managed to cram about half the tray into a single bowl and wolf it down all in one sitting. So, definitely no complaints from her!

Photo goes here.

Macaroni Cheese

Slightly adapted from Edmonds

Ingredients

• 2-3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
• 2 c. milk
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne (optional)
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. sweet paprika (optional)
• 2 c. grated cheese¹, divided
• 1 c. frozen peas (optional)
• 1 c. diced carrots (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 300-500g macaroni², cooked
• 2 Tbsp. dry breadcrumbs
• 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsely (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and lightly grease a 23x23cm (9x9") pan.
2. Melt the butter over medium heat.
3. Reduce heat, add the onion, and cook until softened (5-10 minutes).
4. Add the flour and cook until foaming, but not yet browning (2-3 minutes).
5. Add the mustard, sizzle for a few seconds.
6. Whisk in the milk and continue stirring until mixture becomes smooth.
7. Mix in the Worcestershire suace, cayenne, and paprika (if using).
8. Stir in half of the cheese (~1 c.).
9. Add the peas and carrots (if using).
10. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
11. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens.
12. Stir pasta into sauce and mix well.
13. Pour pasta mixture into prepared baking dish.
14. Combine breadcrumbs and parsley (if using) with remaining 1 c. of cheese.
15. Sprinkle the cheese mixture over the pasta.
16. Bake at 190°C (375°F) until top is nicely crispy and pasta is heated through (15-20 minutes).

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¹ Edmonds calls for "tasty cheese", which, as far as I can tell, is New Zealish for "old Cheddar". That said, I think mild Cheddar or even a mix of Cheddar and mozzarella would also work reasonably well here. ^Back
2 Edmonds called for 2 c. of cooked macaroni. I cooked a whole box of noodles (I forget whether it was 400 or 500g) and then, once they were cooked, measured out 2 c. of the cooked pasta and stirred it into the sauce. It was nowhere near enough! I tried adding more pasta, a little at a time, until it looked about right. But, by then, I'd added nearly all of what I'd cooked. So, at that point, I figured I might as well add the whole box! That said, if you're planning to add lots of veggies, I'd probably skip (or at least scale down) the amout of pasta being mixed into the sauce. Maybe just 300g + a bunch of veggies; just to keep the ratio of sauce to everything else nice. ^Back

I decided to try another feijoa bread recipe. The first one was good as a fairly basic, neutral loaf. Not too sweet. Not too rich. Pleasingly straight-forward and simple to put together.

This one is a bit richer and a bit fancier. I mean, still nothing ludicrous, but it definitely feels a little bit more special than the previous one. Something you wouldn't mind serving as dessert (and would possibly feel at least slightly guilty serving for breakfast -- despite the name). We all quite liked this one!

Photo goes here.

Feijoa and Cinnamon Breakfast Bread

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 115g butter, softened
• 100g brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 400g feijoa pulp, mashed
• 1 large banana, mashed
• 1/3 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 125g whole wheat flour
• 125g soft (plain/standard/cake) flour
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans
• 4-5 small feijoas, halved and scooped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a large (23x13cm/9x5") loaf pan.
2. Cream the butter with the sugar until light.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
4. Mix in feijoa, banana, yogurt, and vanilla.
5. Add the flours and cinnamon, then sift in the baking soda on top.
6. Once all the dry ingredients have been added, stir to combine.
7. Stir in the pecans until just mixed.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, decorate with feijoa halves (and a little extra cinnamon, if desired), and bake at 180°C (350°F) until toothpick comes out nearly clean (~1 hour).
9. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

I think there are going to be a lot of feijoa recipes on the blog for the next few weeks!

We spent the day out in Te Awamutu today, so I didn't have much time for baking. But I did at least manage to get a feijoa loaf done before we left.

This is a relatively plain one, but that's not a bad thing here. I like that it's just feijoas. Without any other fruit, no butter or oil, and not too much sugar either. I made it with a mix of plain and whole wheat flour this time, but I think it would also be good done as a 100% whole wheat loaf.

Recipe as written, this only makes a fairly small loaf. I think the pan I used was ~18x8cm (7x3"). And the loaf just filled the pan nicely once it baked up. So, if you're happy with a pint-sized loaf, then this is perfect. I would recommend doubling the recipe for a 23x13 (9x5") pan however.

Feijoa Loaf

Slightly adapted from My Kids Lick the Bowl

Ingredients

• 225g whole wheat flour
• 60g ground almonds (almond flour/meal)
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 60-90g brown sugar
• 1/2 c. milk
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 250g feijoa pulp, mashed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease and flour a small loaf tin.
2. Combine the flour and almonds and sift in the baking powder.
3. Add the sugar and mix well.
4. Beat the egg with the milk and vanilla.
5. Add the wet ingredients and the feijoa pulp to the dry ingredients and stir to combine.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared tin.
7. Bake at 180°C (350°F) until done (~45 minutes).
8. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

This was meant to be a kale gratin. But Reiver has a bunch of silverbeet (Swiss chard) planted out back, so we made it with that instead. Either one will work fine. I would normally default to kale because I like it better and am thus more likely to have it on hand, but I actually quite liked the silverbeet here!

Photo goes here.

Silverbeet Gratin

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 500g silverbeet (or kale), chopped
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. water
• 3/4 c. fresh breadcrumbs (preferably whole wheat)
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Heat 1 Tbsp. of the oil over medium heat.
3. Add the kale, salt, and water.
4. Cover and cook until wilted.
5. Transfer to shallow gratin dish.
6. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of oil and toss to combine.
7. Top the kale with the breadcrumb mixture.
8. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15 minutes.

Pullum Parthicum (Parthian Chicken)

I quite enjoy a bit of historical cooking. Cooking in the Archives has been a lot of fun (even if I don't always agree with their interpretations). And I've quite liked some of the recipes from Shakespeare's Kitchen and Townsends as well.

Reiver was actually the one who originally put me onto Townsends. And now he's shared a few more of his favourite cooking channels. One of which is Max Miller's Tasting History. I'm not necessarily a huge fan of the videos I've watched on his channel, but Reiver has his cookbook and had pointed out that we had all the bits for this chicken recipe. And, unlike some of his other recipes, he actually seems to have a reasonable source for this one and hasn't been overly... "creative" in his interpretation of it.

This was quite a surprising recipe. It honestly didn't really grab me at first. It looked unusual, but not that exciting. But, I have to say, this turned out very nice in the end! I don't think it was quite a favourite for me, but it was nice.

I never would have thought of combining red wine and fish sauce, but the combination works surprisingly well! And the caraway, black pepper, celery, and asafetida is a somewhat bewildering -- but not unpleasant -- way to complete the flavours.

I think I might put somewhat less wine next time. I do feel like using a full cup was a bit heavy-handed and possibly excessive for a recipe that calls for "seasoning" with wine. But otherwise, I really can't complain or suggest any changes or alterations. This was actually quite lovely!

We served our Parthian chicken over a bit of saffron rice with a slice of buttered rye bread and some silverbeet gratin on the side. This turns out to have been an excellent (and fairly thematically appropriate) combination. Would definitely recommend!

Parthian Chicken: Open the chicken and quarter. Pound pepper, lovage, a little caraway, moisten with garum, season with wine. Arrange the chicken in an earthen dish and put the seasoning on top. Dissolve silpuium in warm water, and put it with the chicken and cook. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.
-- Apicus, De re coquinaria

Pullum Parthicum

Slightly adapted from Tasting History by Max Miller

Ingredients

• 1 whole chicken (~1.5kg)¹
• 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
• 2 Tbsp. fresh lovage or 1/4 c. celery leaves²
• 1/2 Tbsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. caraway seeds, ground
• 1/2-3/4 c. dry red wine
• 3/4 tsp. ground asafetida
• 1/4 c. warm water

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F).
2. Quarter the chicken and place the pieces, skin-side-up, in a baking dish.
3. Combine the fish sauce, lovage (or celery), pepper, and caraway and mix well.
4. Stir in the wine.
5. Pour this mixture over the chicken. Try to distribute the spices as evenly as possible and press them into the chicken skin a little.
6. Stir the asafetia into the water and pour it over the chicken as well.
7. Roast at 230°C (450°F) until chicken is cooked through and meat registers ~74°C/165°F (~45 minutes).
8. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.
9. Serve drizzled with the sauce and extra black pepper.

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¹ Honestly, any skin-on, bone-in chicken pieces should work reasonably well for this. I actually ended up using a bunch of thighs for my rendition. ^Back
2 I used both the leaves and the ribs of the celery for my rendition and liked that quite a lot. I only used one rib this time around, but Reiver and I agreed that a bit more would have been even better. Personally, I would recommend 1/4 c. of leaves + 2 ribs of celery if going that route. ^Back

Feijoa season is in full swing and, in addition to just snacking on them daily, I've been trying to use some of them up in baking as well.

I've already made two huge apple-feijoa crumbles. They're great as a quick and easy dessert to use up large quantities of feijoa pulp. But I also didn't want to end up just making crumbles forever. So I went poking around the Internet looking for other recipe ideas. And boy-oh-boy, do I have a lot now! It was hard to decide where to start!

In the end, I opted for a feijoa custard tart. Mostly because Reiver really likes custard, so I figured that might be an agreeable way to use up a few feijoas.

The custard recipe called for egg yolks. I was going to just swap out the yolks for whole eggs, soas not to end up with surplus whites kicking around. But then I saw the note at the bottom suggesting that you use the surplus whites to make these chocloate-feijoa friands.

So, on the one hand, that meant committing to making two desserts tonight. But, on the other hand, it would neatly use up all of the eggs and let me use even more feijoas! And neither recipe looked terribly difficult or complicated to put together, so I figured I'd just go for it and make both of 'em.

I haven't had a chance to try the pie yet, but these friands were incredible! I wasn't entirely sold on chocolate friands. Classic friands are so good as is, I felt like adding chocolate and fruit could only possibly detract from them. But this combination really works! It's definitely quite different from a standard friand, but, I would argue, equally as good.

Chocolate-Feijoa Friands

Slightly adapted from NZ Woman's Weekly

Ingredients

• 5 large egg whites
• 120g ground almonds (almond flour/meal)
• 195g icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1/2 c. soft (plain/standard/cake) or gluten-free flour
• 20g cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 200g butter, melted
• 9 small feijoas, halved and scooped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F) and grease a muffin tin (or two)¹.
2. Beat the egg whites slightly to break them up. (No need to beat until stiff; slightly foamy is fine.)
3. In a separate bowl, combine the almonds, sugar, and flour.
4. Sift in the cocoa and baking powder and mix well.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the egg whites and stir to mix.
6. Pour in the melted butter and stir until just combined.
7. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins. Don't fill them too full; ~2/3 full is plenty!
8. Press a feijoa half into the top of each friand.
9. Bake at 160°C (325°F) for 20-25 minutes.
10. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.

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¹ The recipe claims that this makes 12 friands, but I actually got 18 using standard 5-cm diameter muffin tins. Obviously the exact number you get will depend on the size of your tins and how full you fill them. I felt like 18 was pretty much perfect though. ^Back

I've been continuing to try to work my way through the ridiculous quantity of feijoas that we've suddenly come into. So far I've made two apple-feijoa crumbles, a batch of chocolate-feijoa friands, and a feijoa custard tart. I have a bunch of other feijao recipes queued up as well. But, for today, I decided to give this chutney a try.

It was certainly... interesting.

Recipe as written called for a truly terrifying amount of both vinegar and sugar. I tried it with half the amount of vinegar and no sugar at first. But it tasted a little flat, so I decided to add some of the sugar called for in the recipe and adjust from there.

I actually started with only 1/3 the quantity of sugar called for. I felt like that was being quite conservative. But, having tasted it, I think it probably could have done with even less. I'd probably cut the sugar back to just 50g (1/6 the amount called for in the original recipe) next time.

I also added a few more seasonings after tasting it several times. I think the seasonings helped. A lot. But, I have to admit, this is still not an amazing recipe. It's fine. It's not bad. It's just not great either. All-in-all, I think I'd rather do other things with my feijoas.

Feijoa Chutney

Adapted from RNZ

Ingredients

• 1kg feijoa pulp
• 500g onions
• 300g dates
• 200g raisins
• 400-500mL malt vinegar¹
• 1/4 c. tomato paste
• 50g brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. curry powder
• 1 Tbsp. ground ginger
• 1 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 2 tsp. Maggi liquid seasoning
• 1 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cayenne

Directions

1. Purée the feijoas with the onions, dates, raisins, and vinegar (or blitz in a food processor).
2. Stir in the tomato paste, sugar, curry powder, ginger, garlic, Maggi seasoning, soy sauce, salt, and cayenne and bring to a boil over medium heat.
3. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer, stirring often, until mixutre is heated through and desired conistency is achieved.
4. Adjust seasoning to taste.

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¹ The original recipe called for a whopping 1L of vinegar. I cut this back to 500mL in my rendition. That said, I think it probably could have stood to have been cut back even further. I might try it with just 400mL next time. This would make the vinegar a little less overpowering and hopefully make the chutney a little thicker as well. ^Back

Definitely not for the faint of heart when it comes to sweets! These are sugar bombs. No doubt about it. But they are also a Canadian classic. I like them with pecans in as I find the nuts attenuate the sweetness somewhat. Or, for a less traditional (but no less delicious) option, try adding a little dessicated coconut!

Maple Butter Tarts

Slightly adapted from Fed by Sab

Ingredients

• 1 recipe sourdough pastry
• 1/4 c. butter
• 1/4 c. maple syrup
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• inclusions: pecans, dessicated coconut, dried apple, raisins, etc. (optional)

Directions

1. Make your pastry, wrap, and chill for 20-30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
3. Remove the pastry from the fridge and allow to rest at room temperature while you prepare the filling.
4. Melt the butter over medium-low heat.
5. Remove from heat and add the maple syrup and the brown sugar.
6. Add the eggs and mix very well.
7. Roll out the pastry and cut circles to fit the wells of a muffin tin.
8. Press the pastry rounds into the wells of the muffin tin.
9. If you are adding inclusions, place them in the tart shells now.
10. Spoon a little filling into each tart shell. Be careful not to overfill! Half-full is plenty. The pastry will likely subside slightly and the filling will bubble up as it cooks. If it overflows, it will be very difficult to get the tarts out of the tin.
11. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 20-25 minutes.