Cedar Planked Salmon

I found the hardest part of this recipe was finding a piece of Cedar, and even that was pretty easy! I just asked really nicely at our local building supply store for an off-cut, fluttered ye olde lashes a bit and BAM, Cedar. The second hardest part was lighting the pizza oven... such a chore... NOT!
Obviously, if you don't have a wood-fired oven, your normal oven will suffice!
Yet another seriously easy but impress-your-friends style meal from yours truly.

Ingredients:

Salmon Fillets (de-boned - demote a pair of tweezers)
S & P
A piece of Cedar plank, 1-3cm thick
Tin Foil
Oven Tray

Method:

Soak your Cedar plank in water for an hour or so, you'll probably need to weigh it down as it'll want to float.
De-bone you Salmon fillets if your fishmonger hasn't already done the honours.
Place the Salmon fillets skin side down on the Cedar plank in an oven dish, pour water into oven dish to almost cover the plank but not touch the Salmon.
Salt and Pepper the Salmon.
Cover in tin foil (aluminium foil).
Bake in oven till cooked! (About 15-20mins depending on thickness of fillets, and how you like them cooked)

I served ours with a creamy mushroom & parmesan pasta bake, but you could serve with salad and new potatoes, risotto, roast veges & asparagus or pretty much any of your favourite side dishes!

Before it even began...

So I was going through an old diary of mine this morning, and I came across a little 'story' I'd written a couple of years ago, when 'How To Be A Hunter's Wife' was just an idea banging around the corners of my skull. Back then, I'd thought this idea of mine would be a book (and maybe one day it still will?), until I realised it would be much easier to at least get it started online, in the form of a blog/website. I spent a fair bit of time explaining to people what the concept of it was, and the tongue-in-cheek nature of it.
Anyhoo... as you'll see, my writing style has matured somewhat since I first began, and although the umbrella of information remains the same, I guess you could say it's a little less flamboyant than this first piece...
DISCLAIMER: I'm not as much of a dork as the following makes me sound. Quite frankly, it's just too funny not to share.

http://www.chickswithgunsbook.com/

Hunting yourself a Hunter - how to bag the big one.
Tracking down your own hunk of big game can be difficult with the growth of cities and with it Metro-sexual
men! There are less areas that can be considered densely populated pockets of hunters. But with food prices rising more of us are finding ways to be more self-sufficient. And having a man who can hunt in your life will greatly reduce your protein bill, and increase your exercise or, if you choose not to go along on the hunt, boost your "me" time!
The very nature of hunters make them pretty hard to track down for a lot of women. Having said that, they are predictable if you know what the beasts are doing, what are their movements? For example, knowing when the roar (or rut) and duck shooting opening weekend are is vital. If you know when he'll be hunting, you can predict when he'll be shopping. The single hunter will have to shop for supplies in the week (probably the day) before any hunt. And then he's on YOUR turf! At the supermarket check the following aisles - canned goods and instant meals, bread, small goods (bacon, sausages, chops), eggs, beer. And be ready with advice to spark a conversation i.e.: "That other bacon is on special, and much better quality, you should try it? Are you stocking up for the opening weekend?". If you're feeling brave you can venture onto his territory and check out your local hunting & fishing shop. There's loads of interesting stuff in there to browse while you scope for opportunity, you'll be surprised!

http://huntdrop.com/drop/bow-hunting-women

Hunters are rarely around during the weekend, but if they aren't hunting, you might find them at your local country pub, a rugby game, or at a Deer Stalkers' Association  meeting (at the local country pub!). If you're actually interested in learning to hunt, the DSA is probably THE best place to start. Possibly a bit intimidating but if you're brave enough to go, a good hunting gentleman will not be able to say no to a girl with a common interest. And you'll quickly be able to tell a gentleman from a boy. From this point, you really want to sit back and drop the hunt. Put yourself in the right environment, let out a couple of stag roars (metaphorically
speaking, don't do this for real or they'll think you're taking the piss) and allow yourself to be hunted. The rest is 'Pulling a Man 101', and we all know how to do that right!? Flutter the lashes a bit, be cute but fierce, naive but intelligent, be inquisitive and genuinely interested in whatever he's talking about, be confident but not pushy. The rest is up to nature.
Things to consider when ticking off the assets of a potential hunting partner/husband for me are:
Eats what he kills (as much as possible)
Never allow an animal to suffer or be cruel to animals for their own sick enjoyment
Have a good balance of work, play and love
Realise the value of being able to hunt and hold a gun license, in NZ it is a privilege not a right, and one that can be taken away if you act like a dick basically
Patience - in hunting, teaching others (ie you!) how to hunt, and life in general
Realise the value of YOU, again - a privilege not a right, and if he's a dick, you're outta there!

What's in your gun cabinet?
Now, don't think that just because you're trying to snag yourself somewhat of an old-fashioned, chivalrous provider (one who'll literally bring home the bacon!) that you can let yourself go! No no... quite the opposite. I think we need to refer back to the 50's/60's mentality a bit (feminists, hang on to your burning bras and hold your hate mail!). Most good kiwi blokes (and I'll even go so far as to say most men worldwide) want a trophy of sorts, but they don't want Barbie! They want someone who's not afraid to muck in, get up to their elbows in blood, mud and guts, but who scrubs up for when the boys come round for a beer, mum comes round for dinner, or just for him (if he's been a good boy, he probably deserves it). I'm not saying you have to banish your fave comfy trackies and slippers to the back of the wardrobe, they certainly still have their place, and that is DVD night or when you're sick! Couch attire shall we say? I guess what I'm getting at is, in the way that a stag tosses his head and antlers in scrub to 'ornate' himself for his mate, we should do the same. And on that note, it is absolutely acceptable to expect the same from your hunter! And if he doesn't do it naturally, don't despair, it's relatively easy to train him to do so, especially if you use the stag in the roar analogy!
On the subject of hunting talk, it helps to have at least a little interest. You don't have to start spouting tall tales about the huge 18 pointer you shot last year (best not to, they'll know you're stretching the truth, although they'd no doubt appreciate the effort!). You don't even really have to be into the whole hunting/shooting business, just an interest in the outdoors and nature will do in most cases. Most hunters enjoy the solitary and serenity of being in the bush as much as the hunting itself.
I guess one of the most important things (and this goes for attracting ANY man) is to just be yourself! It seems obvious I know, but so many women pretend to be something they're not on day one and then either have to keep up the charade forever after or come clean to the man (in my case - actually I don't love
venison/duck/quail, I'm a vegetarian!). And unless he finds it endearing that you went to such lengths to get a second date, he'll probably just be pissed off that you mislead him! After all, he could have gone on a second date with that bird that shot the 18 pointer last year!

Bacon Wrapped Quail

Californian Quail are small, fast and often elusive birds. They thrive in the semi-arid conditions of Central Otago, and can be found roosting in Matagouri, Broom, Manuka and Gorse. A good bird dog is essential for flushing and retrieving these small birds, especially one who is willing to jump at/into bushes.

Guess who does most of the work!?

Quail hunting is a favourite for my hunter. It's exciting, fast but sneaky hunting that makes best use of our two English Springer Spaniels. It can however be frustrating as Quail numbers in our region have been rather unpredictable this season. So, there's not a lot of Quail in the freezer this year. Having said that, it rarely makes it to the freezer as it's far too yummy to not eat straight away!
It's best not to do too much to Quail meat, as you don't want to over power it's delicate flavour. If you have the patience and steady hand you can de-bone the small birds... but bugger that. Just eat it off the bone like you were born to!

Ingredients:
Quail birds (plucked, beheaded, gutted and checked for shot pellets)
Streaky Bacon
Cranberry Sauce

Method:
Thoroughly check your birds for any shot, nothing ruins a beautiful meal like breaking a tooth on a bit of shot!.
Rinse the cavity after gutting.
Wrap each bird in about 3 strips of streaky bacon.
Glaze with Cranberry Sauce
Roast in an oven preheated to about 180 deg Celsius.
Serve with - roast veges or new potatoes & salad or risotto (I served it with pumpkin & parmesan risotto)

Uncle Aitchy's Baked Trout

Uncle Aitchy is a bit of a classic kiwi bloke. The strong, silent type. Accomplished digger driver. Always has a classic line at the most unexpected times. And in good hunter gatherer style, is a keen fly-fisherman.
Over the years the hunter has often provided Uncle Aitchy with a feed of venison, or duck (or what ever else it was that met it's end over the weekend...), so every now and then we are lucky recipients of a beautiful, fresh Alpine Trout.

This is Aitchy's recipe and a fun way to serve trout, especially to people who think they don't like it.
Note that in this case I used a side of trout, but you can just as easily use a whole trout and just stuff the filling in the gut cavity.
This is a blokes recipe so it's pretty hard to mess this one up.

Ingredients:

A side of Trout
1-2 Tomatoes
1 small red onion or large spring onion
1/2 Red Pepper (Capsicum)
2 mushrooms (any type)
1 Lemon
Olive Oil

Method:
Finely dice the tomatoes, onion, capsicum, and mushrooms.
Pile evenly onto the flesh of the fish. Chuck a few of slices of lemon over the top. Pour on a good glug of quality olive oil.
Bake at 180 deg Celsius until cooked through (20+ mins).
Serve with a fresh green salad.

Baked Spanish Meatballs

Baked Spanish Meatballs

This recipe is easily adapted to pretty much any mince or meat you like, just be sure to brown it first. You could also use chicken pieces (wings, drums, thighs, breasts) or rabbit pieces.

In this case I used rabbit mince, see rabbit burgers recipe for instructions for the mince.
This could also be made in a slow cooker.

Ingredients

Rabbit Mince

3-4 chorizo sticks, sliced about 1cm thick

olive oil

2 peppers, (red, yellow or green mix, not fussy!), chopped chunky

2 red onions, chopped chunky

8 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved

1 can of tomatoes, bash them up a bit with a fork

1 cup of chicken stock, make it in the can the tomatoes were in if you're using powdered

big handful of green or black olives, roughly chopped or whole (pitted ideally)

couple of tablespoons of capers, roughly chopped or whole

1 teaspoon of smoky paprika

1 teaspoon of turmeric

Method 

Preheat the oven to 180 deg Celsius.

Fry the sliced chorizo in a large non stick fry pan until browning and fragrant and set aside.

Form the mince into golf ball sized balls, roll in flour and brown in the same pan with a splash of olive oil. Place them into your roasting dish.

Return the chorizo to the fry pan and add the red onion, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, stock, capers, paprika & turmeric. Bring to the boil and pour over the meat balls.

Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes (check the meat is cooked).

Sprinkle with the olives and serve with rice, pasta, mashed spud or couscous!

'What's in the fridge' Venison Roast

Despite us having a new addition to the family, I've been insisting that the Hunter continue to have his 'man time' in the mountains. Not only is it vital to his mental health (and mine in a way!), but it keeps the freezer full! Unfortunately, I have less time to get creative in the way I used to, and instead have to get creative in a whole new way. A way in which I am bound by the ingredients that are in the fridge. Gone is the luxury of being able to whip in to town to grab some vital ingredient from the super market. Now I have to make do with what I have. Hence, 'What's in the fridge Venison Roast' was born!

Ingredients:
1x Lump of Venison meat (Pretty sure this was shoulder? Not really important)

Photo was taken before I added the stock, oops

1x small jar of basil pesto
Cranberry sauce
Minced garlic
Beef Stock
S & P

Method:
Sear the meat on all sides in a hot frying pan with a little olive oil to seal the meat.
Place in a roasting dish and baste with a sauce made with the pesto, cranberry sauce, minced garlic and S & P.
Pour approx 1 cup of beef stock into the dish, this will help keep the meat moist.
Cover in foil and roast for about an hour at 100 deg Celsius. Continue to baste in any leftover sauce and the juices throughout cooking.
Serve with creamy mashed spuds, or new potatoes and salad. I made a quick jus from the juices in the dish too.

This time and temperature is very approximate, it totally depends on the size of your piece of meat. I recommend using a meat thermometer if you have one. If you don't have one, pierce the meat with a thick skewer, if it the blood oozes out on it's own very quickly it may be too rare, if you have to apply pressure to the meat to get blood out it'll probably be about medium. We like ours medium/rare so cooked ours for about 30-45 minutes, and let it rest wrapped for about 15 minutes. This photo is kind of deceiving, it wasn't actually that bloody, I'd just poured some of the cranberry sauce jus over it.

The Hunter's wife becomes a Hunter's mummy!

This post may explain, for some of you, my recent absence.
It was December 6 2012, the Hunter's birthday ironically, I went to the doctor to get a prescription for folic acid as the Hunter and I had decided to try for a baby hunter, yaaaaay! While I was there, she asked if there was any chance I could be pregnant, I thought probably not, but I was a couple of days 'late', though most women would understand that's not really unusual, especially in the typically busy/stressful time leading up to Christmas. So anyway, long story short and all that, I peed on a stick and low and behold, two lines...! Duuuum dah dum dum...
The nurse was hilarious, she said it had been so long since anyone had taken a pregnancy test like that, she'd forgotten how to read them and she'd have to go away and check it! Bloody Nora I thought, I've seen enough rom-coms to know what two lines means, every hot blooded woman knows what two lines means! Nursey took ages to come back, my heart was racing. I mean, we wanted a baby, but could it really be happening this quickly...? I was doing the math in my head... "December now, so winter baby" (southern hemisphere remember), I was visualising walking along the lake edge with my bubba snuggled up in the buggy, snow on the hills, clear blue skies, bliss.
She finally came back and confirmed "You're pregnant!", my eyes began to well, as did hers, she said she'd never been able to tell someone who was actually WANTING to be pregnant good news! (I didn't know unwanted pregnancy was such an issue in our small town!). I couldn't believe it, I was excited, terrified, overwhelmed, but more than anything... so incredibly ecstatic! This was the best birthday surprise for hubby ever!
So nine months later and 5 days late (and what felt like a hundred midwife visits and antenatal classes), whilst having a hot chocolate at a local bar with my sister who was celebrating early with champagne, much to my envy, I felt a pain radiate through my tummy... I excused myself to the bathroom, it felt like I'd had a bad curry, and to be fair, in an effort to move the wee cherub along I'd had Thai curry pumpkin soup for lunch. The pain went away though so I thought nothing of it. At the table next to us, was a lady with a 6 week old baby, I couldn't take my eyes off the wee bundle, so quiet. I hoped our bubba would be so chilled out! About 10 minutes later, there it was again. I'd been trying to leave for ages anyway, and I thought, if I'm going to get a dose of the shits, I'd rather be at home than in a pub, I'm outta here! Bid my farewells to my sister and her boyfriend, and escaped rather quickly, trying not to show the pain I was in on my face.
When I got to the car, I started the contraction timer app I had on my phone, just in case... The pain seemed to be lasting about a minute.
Pretty much as soon as I pulled into the driveway (7 minutes after leaving town), I had another wave of pain. Hit the contraction timer again. I got inside and realised that not only was my hubby not home, but he'd left his cell phone on the kitchen bench! Luckily I knew he was out hunting with my Dad, and I knew where they were. I figured, if these are really contractions, we've got heaps of time anyway. I rang mum, she said it sounds like the real deal, told me to ring the midwife and gather my things! Yikes, it was all happening, after all this time of planning, running it through in my head what it would feel like to be having contractions and pack the car etc etc. Hubby arrived home about 5 minutes later, he and Dad were chatting away about shotguns and training dogs, and shooting bunnies and blah blah blah... I said, "Umm... hate to interrupt boys, but I'm actually having contractions right now, so you need to go home now Dad and we need to get moving hubby!".
An important side note to this whole giving birth scenario is that we live in a small town, with the nearest hospital with child birthing facilities being 3 and a half hours drive away. We had initially planned on being in the city the week before I was due, but was told by everyone not to bother, that we'd have plenty of time to get there... HA! They couldn't have been more wrong. Luckily there is a birthing unit about 45 minutes away, but their facilities are very basic, no drugs or doctors or anaesthesiologists. Ie: no pethidine or morphine, no epidural, just gas. And if you need a Caesar or any other kind of emergency medical intervention they have to get you a helicopter. And in a Central Otago winter, sometimes they can't land as the region is prone to low lying fog, as some of the other winter mummies unfortunately found out! Scary stuff...
But I digress...! After the midwife called in to confirm I was in labour, we got on the road, planning to drive to the city, where I would have our baby in hospital with all the drugs and assistance I would need available to me if I wanted it. By the time we got to the next town, 45 minutes away, my contractions had gone from 7 minutes apart to 4 minutes apart, and I was getting rather noisy! The midwife suggested we call into the birthing unit so she could check how i was progressing. Sure enough, I was 3 cms dilated already! She basically said we MIGHT make it to the city, but even if we do, we'd probably be too late for an epidural, and it would be an incredibly uncomfortable drive. Was it worth the risk and discomfort? I didn't like the idea of giving birth on the roadside in the middle of a bitterly cold winter's night. So we decided to get comfortable (haha) there and have a baby the way millions of women do and have done since the dawn of time - with no pain relief, no stirrups, just me, my husband, and the midwife. Ok, I did partake in some gas, forgive me!
6 hours later (I'll spare you the gory details), Henry was born. It was amazing. I felt so incredibly empowered to have been able to push our baby out and into this world as nature intended me to. The whole time I told myself, this is what my body is made for, women do this in the bush in Africa, I CAN DO IT. And I was right. My midwife had told me to find my inner animal, get wild and a little bit crazy. She was right too. Feeling like a cave woman actually helped and I think if I'd had beeping machines, and monitors, and foreign surroundings it would have been harder to go to that place in my head.

Henry is 6 months old now, and I can honestly say it has been the most amazing 6 months of my life. He is the coolest wee dude, so chilled out and relaxed. He's been sleeping through the night since about 10 weeks old, and although we had a few hiccups at the start, I wouldn't change a second of it. He came into this world at full speed, and I just know he's going to be a handful eventually, but right now, he's our cruisey little bubba, he eats, sleeps and poops like a wee legend, and he really is the best thing to ever happen to us.
So, from now on, recipes from me may take a bit of a turn... they're definitely much less time consuming, because quite frankly I don't have as much time to be slaving over a hot stove these days! Maybe I'll get into some wild baby food recipes too... who knows!