Cured Smoked Salmon:
1/4 cup gluten-free soy sauce
3 tbsp each: maple syrup, bourbon
600g Ora King Salmon, bones removed
Cashew Nut Butter:
250g cashew nuts, lightly roasted
sea salt to taste
canola oil
Puffed barley: 250g pearl barley
canola oil for frying
sea salt to taste
Soy Reduction:
1/2 cup gluten-free soy sauce
5 tbsp maple syrup
METHOD
Salmon: combine soy sauce, maple syrup and bourbon. Place salmon in a plastic bag and add the liquid. Vacuum seal or seal tightly. Refrigerate for 24 hours.
Remove the salmon, wash and place on a rack. Chill, uncovered, for 12 hours.
Place some manuka chips in a smoker or a foil-lined wok. Cover and smoke the salmon on a rack for 20 minutes on low heat.
Cashew Nut Butter: combine the cashews and salt and enough canola oil in a blender to make a thick, butter-like paste.
Puffed Barley: Soak the barley overnight in enough water to cover. Next day, boil the barley until cooked, about 25 minutes. Dry on a clean tea towel for 3 hours. Deep-fry in batches in canola oil at 200C, until puffed. Drain on paper towels. Season and store in an airtight container.
Soy reduction: simmer the combined ingredients, until thick.
To serve, place small pieces of salmon in 6 shallow bowls. Add the puffed barely, teaspoons of the cashew nut butter and drizzle with the soy reduction. Adrian also serves small roasted balls of kumara, sliced cucumber, a little pickled cabbage and pickled eggplant with each dish. - Serves 6.
RASPBERRY CORONET
If only skiing Coronet Peak was as easy as making this yummy dessert. Central Otago is renowned for its summer stone fruits and berries but frozen berries are also suitable.
INGREDIENTS
3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1 litre vanilla ice cream
1 & 1/2 cups quartered white marshmallows
1/2 cup chopped toasted almonds or walnuts
6-8 meringues with peaks
METHOD
Puree half the raspberries, sweetening with sugar, if desired, or adding a little orange liqueur. Place to one side.
In 6 or 8 stemmed glasses or dessert dishes, place alternate layers of ice cream, raspberries, marshmallows and nuts. Drizzle with the raspberry puree and top with the meringues. Serve immediately with long spoons. - Serves 6-8.
VENISON OSSO BUCCO
Another Adrian Lowery-inspired dish. He served his with tender dumplings of shrimp and leek.
INGREDIENTS
2kg venison shin
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 each: diced carrot, celery stalk, medium onion, white of leek
3 cups beef stock or to cover, heated
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 cinnamon stick
4 cardamom pods
1/2 cup rock (or 1/3 cup white) sugar
2 star anise
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 150C.
Season the venison and sear in the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Place in an oven pan. Add the vegetables to the frying pan and cook for a few minutes, until coloured. Add to the venison.
Add enough stock to cover, together with the soy sauce, cinnamon and cardamom.
Loosely cover with foil then slow cook for 3 hours or until tender.
Strain the stock through a sieve into a saucepan. Add the rock sugar and liquor and boil until reduced and thickened, about 5 minutes. - Serves 6.