Weekend Cooking: Going Native cooking class

At the beginning of June it was my birthday, and it was one that includes a 0 at the end.

When we originally started talking about what our plans might be for this occasion, it was a couple of years ago and our basic plan included something along the lines of a river cruise in Russia or France. That was Plan A! And obviously Plan A wasn't going to happen in this current pandemic world.

So then we moved on to Plan B, which was to spend the long weekend in Auckland which was open to us as part of the Trans Tasman travel bubble.  A long weekend being touristy and having a fancy dinner on the big day. And this is what was going to be my present. Note the use of the word was. Two weeks before we were due to get on the plane, we had a COVID outbreak and therefore the travel bubble was suspended for us. We also intended to have a small get together with friends but that got cancelled as well.

On to Plan C then. There is a service here called Providoor which enables you to choose meals from any number of fancy restaurants and you just finish them off at home. Sounded like a solid plan, right?  Well, except for the fact that they don't deliver on Mondays.

Plan D - Plan D ended up being getting dinner delivered from a local winery on the Sunday night and then my lovely husband cooked us pancakes for breakfast and then a beautiful dinner. Of course, seeing as we didn't get a long weekend away that was my present then leaves the question of what does he get me as a present.  The answer is a cooking class that features native ingredients.

Whilst native ingredients do feature a lot in Masterchef, they are not something that I have explored myself very much so this was a lot of fun. We got to taste many ingredients include saltbush, finger limes 

The first thing that we made was gnocchi. Now, I can hear you thinking that gnocchi isn't really native Australian cuisine, and it's true! I am not generally the biggest fan of gnocchi as I often find it heavy, but I did enjoy this one. The gnocchi was made with a mixture of riced potato and potato starch, along with shredded barilla (also known as bower spinach). It was then topped with a sauce made from strong Australian cheddar and with slices of black garlic. A handy tip for the sauce was to use a small amount of the potato cooking water with the cheese so that it becomes saucy.

I was really interested in trying the black garlic as it used a lot in fancy cooking shows and always seemed a bit cheffy, but having now tasted it, I can see why it is so popular.  It has a sweetness to it but it does have a lingering aftertaste of garlic to it. Even just writing this post has me getting distracted on how to make your own black garlic

Our next course was damper flatbread which was then served up just cooked with a native herb dip and cottage cheese. I remember making damper in primary school, but I have always had it as a roll/loaf. I really enjoyed these, and they are very easy.

The third thing that we made was fish with a herb and macadamia nut marinade, which was steamed in a banana leaf. Whilst we did get a link to some recipes, a lot of the ingredients in the recipe are different to those that we used. Part of the reason for this is that a lot of the herbs were foraged which means that they had to use what they could find.

You may be able to see the little pink pearls on top. They are finger lime, which is another new to me ingredient. These little balls are sharp little bursts of citrus. My husband is now going to see if he can propagate some seeds, although I have been told that even if we are successful it will be a good few years before we will have our own finger limes.

The final course was kangaroo fillet with taro and a sauce which included davidson plums and native plums. On the right hand side you can see a confit king oyster mushroom which was then added to the frying pan for a few minutes to get a bit of colour. 



Kangaroo is a very lean meat and so you can't overcook it because it becomes very tough very quickly. This whole plate of food was delicious, although by the end of it I had way too much to eat. The class also included wine and a killer music soundtrack!

I really enjoyed the class I did. It is interesting that the place that ran it actually runs courses for a lot of different cuisines. Now I am trying to convince Robert that the next time I do a cooking class we do it together, whether it be here or somewhere else!

Weekly menu

Sunday-

Monday-

Tuesday-

Wednesday  - Enchiladas

Thursday - Takeaway

Friday -Takeaway

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