For the final time this year, Tony Astle joined Kerre Woodham to give his thoughts on where he ate last.

This week, he ate at ‘First Mates, Last Laugh’, an eatery situated on the waterfront in Westhaven, Auckland. He sampled a couple of varieties of Taquitos – the tuna sashimi and the prawn and avocado, and the Lake Ohau Wagyu Picanha, among other dishes.

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Method:

Sear the meat in very hot non-stick oiled pan.

Remove and place in a roasting dish.

Smear with Dijon mustard mixed with ground black pepper and tarragon.

Place in oven preheated to 75C.

Cook for 7 hours.

Cover meat with foil.

Turn oven off and rest meat inside the oven for 30 minutes.

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This week Tony Astle ate at Madame Social, an Asian fusion eatery and bar in Napier.

He sampled the Madame Beef Tataki with ponzu, pickled daikon, and fried garlic, as well as the red braise brisket and shiitake mushroom spring rolls, and the Pork and Pāua dumplings, among others.

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6-8 portions (generous)

Ingredients: Summer Pudding

1.5 kg mixed fresh or frozen berries

1 loaf toast white bread (18-20 slices)

200 g raw brown sugar

200 ml cassis*

*Cassis is a wonderful blackcurrant liquor. If you want an alcohol-free pudding substitute cassis with a good quality blackcurrant syrup.

Method: Summer Pudding

1. Line a 1.5 litre bowl with plastic wrap allowing the wrap to hang well over the outer edges of the bowl.
2. Combine the sugar and the berries. Bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat, strain. Add the cassis to the berry juice.
3. While the berries and sugar cook, remove the crusts from the bread (discard crusts). Flatten the sliced bread using a rolling pin. The toast bead slices should now be the thickness of sandwich bread.
4. In a flat pan containing the berry juice from straining, place 2 or 3 bread slices. Turn them allowing the bread to absorb the berry juice. Lift out and line the prepared bowl with the juice saturated bread. Add a good layer of berries to the bottom of the bowl.
5. Then repeat the saturated bread process and fill the bowl with alternate layers of saturated bread and berries, until the bowl is full.
6. Remember, your last layer must be the saturated bread.
7. Now, fold over the plastic wrap hanging from the sides of the bowl, encasing the top of the pudding.
8. Find a suitable sized plate that fits inside the bowl and cover the pudding. Add a weight on top of the plate to compress the pudding. Put the pudding bowl on a plate to collect any overrun of juices (this should be minimal; the pudding should be sealed by the plastic wrap and the weighted plate.
9. Refrigerate overnight, with the weighted plate compressing the pudding.

Ingredients: Meringue

2 egg whites

½ cup white sugar

Method: Meringue

1. Separate the eggs, keeping the yolks for something else.
2. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy and beginning to hold a peak.
3. Gradually add half of the sugar and continue beating, until the whites are shiny and hold a soft peak.
4. Gradually, add the remaining sugar. Continue beating until the meringue holds a stiff peak.
5. Using a piping bag, or spoons shape 6-8 meringues onto silicon paper.
6. Bake meringue at 110-120 deg C for 60 to 90 minutes, without colouring.
7. Remove from the oven and cool.

Ingredients: Chantilly Cream

400 ml whipping cream

icing sugar

best quality vanilla

Method: Chantilly Cream

1. Combine cream vanilla and icing sugar, beat until it lightly peaks.
2. Chantilly cream should be both sweet and vanillary… so don’t be afraid to add the icing sugar and vanilla!

Assembly:

1. Remove the weight and plate from the top of the pudding.
2. Unfold the plastic wrap from the pudding’s top.
3. Place your serving plate over the exposed pudding, and turn it over so that your pudding is now sitting on its serving plate.
4. Gently lift off the bowl, and then peel away the plastic wrap bowl lining.
5. Your pudding is now ready to be served.
6. On individual plates place a meringue. Add a quenelle of chantilly cream and some strawberries.
7. Either portion the summer pudding onto your plates or allow your guests to serve themselves. Enjoy!

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This week Tony Astle is out east, dining at Napier’s Central Fire Station Bistro.

Located in one of the city’s iconic art deco buildings, the menu puts Hawke’s Bay produce at the heart of their dishes, working with small independent suppliers to offer Italian and French-inspired food.

Tony sampled the Raw Snapper with avocado, orange, horseradish, and crispy shallots, the Gougère, topped with Parmesan Custard, Mortadella, and the house baked sourdough, among others.

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Makes 10 large muffins

Ingredients

1 ¾ cups of gluten-free flour

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp sugar

¾ cup of grated tasty cheddar

¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese

1 egg

½ cup of milk

½ cups of soda water

½ tsp cider (or white) vinegar

¼ cup of melted butter

Method

1. Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and sugar.
2. Add cheese and mix well with a wooden spoon.
3. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture and add the melted butter. Combine the milk, soda water and vinegar - add to the mixture.
4. Add egg and mix well.
5. Grease non-stick muffin moulds and sprinkle with a little grated Parmesan cheese. Spoon mixture into the moulds and sprinkle extra grated cheddar cheese on top.
6. Bake at 205 degrees Celsius for 25 – 30 mins
7. Remove from oven, allow to cool and place on cake rack.
8. Refrigerate in an air-tight container.
9. To reheat, sprinkle with water and place in oven at 170 degrees Celsius for approximately 5 mins until heated through.

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