KEY POINTS:
Sauteed paua and smoked kahawai captured and consumed at Castlepoint brought early memories flooding back for a former Wairarapa man and TV chef featured in the Hunger for the Wild DVD released this week.
Episode five of the seven part television series that ran earlier this year centered on the Wairarapa coastal adventures of Steve Logan and former Wairarapa man Al Brown, now successful Wellington restaurateurs, along with Mataikona fisherman Matai Broughton.
Mr Brown said some of his earliest memories are of camping at Castlepoint and he considers the area "his patch".
"I remember when I came here as a kid, everyday we were setting the nets, baiting the craypots and waiting for the most important time, the hour of low tide - that's when the ocean pulled back just far enough for us to gather the paua."
With Mr Broughton acting as a fishing guide while his wife Kura prepares her "famous paua soup", the men snorkel in rock pools for paua as Mr Logan catches kahawai off the Castlepoint reef before visiting a home garden for rocket, coriander and lemons, and taking a trip into Masterton for fresh bread from Breadcraft and a bottle of Paddy Borthwick riesling. The kahawai is smoked and Mr Brown returns with Matai and Kura.
A beach fire is then lit and the paua is thinly sliced and sautéed briefly in a very hot pan with onion, garlic, chili and coriander. A squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper, and it's ready to put between two slices of bread with the fresh rocket.
Mr Logan and Mr Brown share a love for fishing, hunting and the great outdoors and they also run one of the most successful up-market restaurants in the country, Logan Brown in downtown Wellington.
In the TVNZ series Hunger for the Wild they traded the comfort of that restaurant for life on the road, Mr Brown said, as the pair head for the hills to chase down some of "finest and freshest foods" in the land of wild game and seasonal delicacies.
The seven-part series took the pair to some far-flung and spectacular corners of the country, including a West Coast rain forest, the Whanganui River, the Central Otago high country, Kawhia Harbour, and a Rotorua forest.
They drove to each location in Mr Brown's 1964 EH Holden and shortly after arriving, decide who hunts for the main dish and who gathers the other ingredients. They then go their separate ways, hooking up with residents from the areas visited that "help us in our quest and along the way share their stories, their history, and in many cases their favourite fishing and hunting spots".
Mr Brown grew up in Wairarapa on a sheep and cattle property, and his passion for the outdoors and hunting and fishing developed early in life on regular hunting family holidays to the coast, he said. After leaving school Mr Brown worked in the New Zealand hospitality industry, before travelling to North America where he gained his Culinary Arts Degree at the New England Culinary Institute in America.
After working in several restaurants around the world and the country, he teamed up with Steve Logan, to open in 1996 the Logan Brown Restaurant.
Mr Brown's flair in the kitchen has earned him plenty of recognition and won several awards, including helping the Logan Brown Restaurant to capture this year the Cuisine Magazine Runner-up Best Restaurant award.
As a New Zealand Trade & Enterprise Ambassador Chef, Mr Brown has also represented New Zealand cuisine internationally since 2003. In 2005, he cooked for more than 850 guests at the prestigious International Pinot Noir Celebration in Oregon, USA.
This year he presented New Zealand seafood at the Boston Seafood Show. And in 2007, Al is invited to present, along with a handful of leading international chefs, at the highly regarded Melbourne Food and Wine Festival Master Class Series.
Most recently, Mr Brown and his restaurant partner have combined their culinary expertise with their love of barbecuing to create The Original Grillslinger.
Mr Brown said he "loves nothing better than trout fishing, snorkeling for paua and other seafood, then sharing a barbecue with friends and family" including his wife Liz, and daughters Alice and Connie. And when he's not fishing or cooking, he and Mr Logan are indulging in their passion for rugby.
* Hunger for the Wild – the DVD of the series – is available at The Warehouse.
- WAIRARAPA TIMES-AGE
