BLOG THE KIWI

This black garlic butter is so easy to whip up! It's delicious generously slathered on warm fresh bread but can be used in place of regular butter to jazz up recipes too. 

Basically, make a lot and use it regularly. It'll keep in the fridge for as long as regular butter would but we challenge you to keep it there for that long. No doubt you'll find yourself reaching for it whenever possible. 

The taste is intense, slightly resembling marmite. It's a little bit liquoricish and finishes sweet. If you think it needs more salt, go for it!

The recipe is simple, the ingredient list short and you can make as much as you'd like. Just use 14 cloves of garlic to every 100g of butter.

We've used our Lewis Road Butter with Sea Salt and our Marlborough Garlic Noir. You'll also need a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and some salt (we've used sea salt flakes). 

1. In a small sauce pan add a drizzle of olive oil and black garlic. 
2. Cook on low for 2-3 minutes to soften the garlic. This helps it to emulsify with the butter. 
3. In a bowl add butter and garlic (leave the oil behind though). Mix together using a food processor or a handheld beater. Add salt to taste. 

Try it on sweet corn, roast baby carrots or use it to make garlic bread. You could also try rubbing it under the skin before roasting chicken or use to baste steak too. If you make this Black Garlic butter let us know how you use it! Pop us an email or tag us on instagram @eatthekiwi 

Enjoy!

Kiwi Summers are sweet as. It's all about relaxing, taking time off work for BBQS, spending extra time at the beach and just generally enjoying the great outdoors. Everyones especially laid back and there are tonnes of simple pleasures to enjoy from the company of friends and family to the fruits (and vegetables) that the sun brings with it. 

Some you love, some you hate. There are classics, while others are a little weird or somewhat familiar. They come in many forms but one things for sure, NZ soils are magic and produce some darn tasty goods, especially in Summer. 

This week there are a few new fresh products joining our basket of Kiwi goodness. Check them out below. 

THE CONTROVERSIAL.

The most controversial vegetable of them all is now in season. These miniature cabbages are packed with goodness and when cooked right, can taste pretty darn good. If you're not so sure about Brussel Sprouts, check out our Instagram story! Maybe we can sway you over to the green side. 

THE UNKNOWN. 

This is a Kiwano. It's also known as a Horned Melon, isn't it glorious. Despite looking like something from space, the Kiwano is grown in NZ. It has a subtle taste resembling cucumber and kiwi fruit and a jelly like texture. They're great for garnishing exotic drinks and making salads a little fancy. 

THE FAMILIAR.

Just like a kiwi fruit, only tiny and furless! These are Kiwi Berries and they've just come into season. Bite sized poppers packed full of kiwi goodness, literally. They won't be around for long so treat yo' self while you can. 

If you use any of these fruity delights be sure to share with us how you're using them! Whether its in a cooked creation or your enjoying as is, we'd love to see what you create, just #eatthekiwi to show us how you eat the kiwi. 

Kiwi Berry photo credit to: Champagne & Paper Planes (whose written an excellent mini guide on Kiwi Berries, check it out!)

Shop our delicious range of sustainable, organic vegetables in Hong Kong with online delivery of all groceries available countrywide!

VENISON
~400g venison tenderloin (at room temperature)
1 tbs butter

CHOCOLATE RED WINE SAUCE
2 x shallots (roughly chopped)
2 x garlic cloves (roughly crushed with back of knife)
1 tbs black pepper corns (crushed, the bottom of a pot works well)
2 x fresh bay leaves
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
200ml red wine
250ml Green Mount 1/6 beef reduction
2 strips of orange peel
¼ cup freshly squeezed orange juice
10g (about 2 squares) of Whittakers 72% Dark Ghana Chocolate, finely grated. 

1. Pat venison dry with paper towels. Season with salt and pepper. 
2. Heat a little olive oil in a pan over a medium - high heat. Sear the venison for 3-4 minutes. Flip and add the butter. Spoon the melted butter onto the steaks to baste. Continue to cook for another 3 minutes for medium rare (this will depend on the thickness, keep a close eye).
3. Set venison aside, cover and leave to rest.
4. Add a dash of olive oil, shallots, garlic, pepper corns, bay leaves and thyme. Cook for 1-2 minutes until soft. 
5. Add red wine and orange peel to deglaze pan. 
6. Reduce by half (this will happen quickly) then add beef reduction. 
7. Simmer on a medium heat for 2-3 minutes until sauce thickens - you want a consistency that nicely coats the back of a spoon. Add orange juice, stir, cook a further 30 seconds. 
8. Strain and gently whisk in chocolate.

TO SERVE
The snappy crunch and freshness of blanched, fresh green beans and simple sweetness of kumara mash go perfectly with this rich, full bodied red wine and chocolate sauce. 

serves 2-3 people.

Make a cheese board and you will be loved. Cheese boarding is very easy, it's quick and makes people think you've really got things together.

Don't take it too seriously, but don't just dump everything on the board either, you're goal is organised chaos. Choose your ingredients wisely, put things together that taste good when eaten in one bite and keep it rustic.

1. Board. Easy right? If you only have one board, that will work just fine...move to step 2. If you've a hoard of boards, the stress kicks in prematurely for you. You have a little more to consider - what is the shape of the table you will be presenting it on? What colour will work best? Round or square? Wood or stone? Just pick one, trust your instinct, you can do it. If you have nothing that suits, visit 'Man Kee chopping boards'. The selection is grand and they can custom make boards for you too, perfection is a possibility. 

2. Cheese. A Soft one, a stinky one, a hard one. Have a range of strengths, colours and shapes. Keep them whole ('keep it rustic'). Our classic 'go to's' are the Kapiti Pakari Cheddar, Kikorangi Blue and Kahikatea Camenbert.

3. Salty. Nuts or olives work well. Put down the bowl, use your hands, make piles. 

4. Crackers. A mix is fun and the textures look great. Wafers and water crackers work, lavosh will snazzy things up. 

5. Condiments. Two words, Raw honeycomb. Try this with the Kikorangi Blue. The amount of pleasure this bite will bring you is almost publicly embarrassing. Be warned it's that good and your life will change at this point. 

6. Sweet. Dried or fresh fruit (strawberries or sliced pear work well to fill gaps).

You could stop here but if you're an over achiever or if you're wanting a really, seriously instagramable cheese board that will launch you in fame continue to Step 7. 

7. Garnish. Secret garden. Is this step the most important? Heck no. Does it look good, absolutely! The garnish is the game changer and where you'll get all those extra 'oohs and ahhs' and 'wow, you shouldn't haves'. The secret garden's edible flowers are perfect for the job, adding colour and wow factor. 

Go forth and cheese board. 5 minutes of effort and a lifetime of memories. 

Curious Croppers are growers of cranky but gorgeous vegetables. Anthony and Angela Tringham are the genius's behind the name and to say that they are passionate about what they do is certainly an understatement. 

The daring couple successfully found a niche market of ‘cranky and curious’ crops following a tough run of selling punnets of simple cherry tomatoes to New Zealands supermarkets. The focus has since changed dramatically. Anthony and Angela are now growers of 'cranky but gorgeous' vegetables. While the scale is not huge, the product sure is delicious.  

They call themselves ‘tiny growers’ as much of what they do just wouldn't be possible on a mass scale. They're work is manual and old fashioned and seems to be the key to achieving such intense flavour.

Simplicity is important too, allowing everything goes to seed naturally. This helps their little ecosystem stay healthy and production plentiful. What's more is that they don’t spray for the usual tomato suspects (whitefly and aphids) instead rely on a parasitic wasp and sticky traps to capture pests. 

They say their key to beautiful, rich and colourful tomatoes is to keep them stressed. Limited space and small volumes of water is their formula, we think that the amount of love and care they give their crops surely has a huge impact on the glorious outcome too. 

Super markets are no longer on their radar, instead the focus is on the local farmers market, top chefs, restaurants and specialty retail outlets in New Zealand. Hong Kong's top restaurants are now able to get their hands of these beautiful tomatoes too and... you!

We think they're the best tomatoes you'll find in Hong Kong, what do you think?

Tuatara (too-ah-tar-ah) - a beer named after a very special creature, unique to New Zealand and as old as the earth it self (almost...ish). 

As a bonafide living fossil, New Zealand's longest resident has been around for ages. It's best mates are no longer here having previously rubbed shoulders (well, toes - it's pretty small) with the likes of stegosaurus and velociraptor over 200 million years ago. This lone ranger is unique and well loved making it's name perfect for such an excellent Kiwi beer.

You'll noticed the bottle's pretty fancy, with a bumpy reptile patterns down it's neck. In Maori, Tuatara means 'peaks on the back' so thats what that cool feature is all about. 

From a low key brewery in the hills behind a small town to a name now known miles off shore, to say that Tuatara has taken off in the last few years is an understatement. If you don't already love it, your just plain old missing out. 

The Tuatara brewing scheme is not difficult for the uninitiated to grasp. They brew true to style, so wherever possible they go direct to the source and use the ingredients that have made that style famous. It says Bohemian Pilsner on the bottle not because it reads poetry and plays the bongos but because that’s where the yeast is from.  

The two brews we've got at Eat The Kiwi are NZ through and through, because that's what we do. Each bottle is full to the brim with New Zealandness, love, care and well, beer.

Enjoy!

Kiwi Onion Dip, what an absolute classic. 

This beauty was invented in 1960 when Rosemary Dempsey, a test kitchen worker at the New Zealand Nestle factory, was given the task of increasing Onion Soup sales. Whilst this may seem an uninspiring place to start, Rosemary clearly made the most of this opportunity quickly getting to work to find what she could pair it with. Something creamy with a little tang was what she was after and one of Nestles more obscure products seemed to fit the bill - reduced cream. Upon mixing the two together, the course of New Zealand history was changed. 

A simple pairing quickly became a favourite across the country and within a few years, a Kiwi icon. Since then, any social event calls for the dip. Whether it's thrown together as a treat for unexpected guests or prepared ahead for a cocktail party you can always be sure it'll be quick to make and devoured quicker. 

New Zealanders love it, expats crave it and the rest of the world is just missing out - we're putting an end to that. Kiwis, your search for a substitute can stop - we all know sour cream does not suffice. The wait is over, the dip is here -it's time to enjoy, impress and share, just like you did back in the land of the long white cloud. Happy dipping!

Instructions: Mix a can of Nestle Reduced Cream with a pack of Maggi Onion Soup and a squeeze of lemon. Pop in the fridge for 30 minutes, then serve! Best paired with fresh veggies, crackers or chips.

In Maori, Te Mana means prestige, status and spiritual power; a perfectly fitting name for a lamb so radically different and unashamedly backed as the worlds best.

 But what makes it so great!?

For a long time, the lamb was bred to be lean. Whether for it's texture, taste or health, fat was bad. Farmers jumped on board to thin down their flocks and in turn consumers became happier, result! ...Right?

Well, the same cannot be said for the lambs. Although at their leanest, they were unhealthy and struggling to survive in New Zealand's tough high country environment. Following this realisation a very special project began involving geneticists and 16 very committed Southland farmers. 

After 10-years of hard work, TE MANA LAMB was born. While breeding sheep to be healthier and better adapted to their environment, something was found that had never before been seen in lamb. A new type of sheep was discovered with a different type of fat, an intramuscular fat, higher in Omega-3. The secret lies in a herb. 

TE MANA LAMB is finished on Chicory, which contains an abundance of goodness. Not only does this give the lamb a beautiful, mild flavour but also naturally elevates the levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids, intramuscular fat and omega-3 fats, now know as 'good fats'.

While beneficial to our health, TE MANA LAMB also tastes unbelievably good thanks to its micro-scale marbling; something never before seen in lamb. It's delicate, sweet and succulent and doesn’t leave a layer of fat on the roof of the mouth, like regular lamb can, resulting in an entirely new mouth feel.

This is not simply lamb, this is TE MANA LAMB. Food from heaven. But don't just take it from us...

Each year, a small selection of leading international chefs visit New Zealand farms and restaurants to learn first hand the story behind TE MANA LAMB.

The tour sees guest chefs from around the world experience first-hand the passion of the farmers, the provenance and terroir of New Zealand and the unique flavours and textures this creates. 

In 2018, Silvio Armanni (Executive Chef of Octavium) and Jim Löfdahl (Executive Chef of Frantzen's Kitchen) ventured to the land of the long white cloud for this annual adventure. Both chefs continue to use TE MANA LAMB in signature dishes in their restaurants. Watch more of their trip below!