In tonight's episode Maggie and Simon continue their food Odyssey in the Land of the Long White Cloud. On New Zealand's North Island Maggie discovers a microclimate responsible for some wonderful produce while Simon travels across the beautiful, pristine waters of Marlborough Sound in search of the Green Lipped Mussel.
Hawkes Bay on the east coast of New Zealand’s north island is one of the sunniest regions of New Zealand. Sheltered by ranges to the west, the Hawke's Bay landscape opens up to reveal rolling hills and fertile plains, the perfect environment for orchards and a host of internationally acclaimed wineries.
The city of Napier was devastated by an earthquake in 1931 and was re-built in the art deco style and now has one of the most outstanding collections of 1930’s architecture in the world.
The area is renowned for the range and quality of its artisan food producers and while she was there Maggie visited Silver trail gourmet snails, a snail farm run by Raewynne Achten. Raewynne feeds her snails on Brassicas, Plantain and fresh vegetables, all grown without the use of pesticides, providing a healthy and nutritious pasture for her free range snails which she sells to local restaurants.
From snails Maggie moved to olives, visiting Rose Gresson at her beautiful olive grove overlooking the bay. Rose has over two and a half thousand trees, which she described as growing like mushrooms and very easy to establish given the Hawkes Bay climate and soils. She grows varieties which are suitable for both the table and oil. Her main oil varieties are Barnea and Manzanillo which she blends and Leccino, a tiny little Tuscan olive which makes beautiful peppery oil.
In the kitchen Maggie takes her inspiration from the New Zealand olives and fills a delicious puff pastry with a combination of Kalamata Olives, Olive oil and sweet roasted garlic topped with goat's cheese and oregano. Simon marinates a combination of three different olives and encourages every household to come up with their signature Olive marinade. Simon's marinade is a "very Simon" blend of spices including; fennel, coriander, pepper and chillies.
The idyllic and pristine waters of the Marlborough Sounds at the top of the South Island are perfect for aquaculture. Simon met Mark hones who offered to show him this unique environment of sheltered bays and inlets where the green lipped mussel is farmed. Monitored very closely the waters are some of the cleanest in the world due in a large part to their remoteness and the general lack of heavy industry in New Zealand.
Green lipped mussels are unique to the country. The spat (babies) are harvested by hand from the beaches near Kaitai at the top of the North Island. The spat are washed ashore on weed, harvested in ten kilo bags and sent south in refrigerated trucks where they are seeded at around one hundred and fifty per metre onto nylon ropes and suspended from large barrel like floats in the water. It takes around eighteen months for the mussels to reach maturity.
The green lipped mussel is renowned for its meat to shell ratio which at between twenty five to forty per cent is very high. They're also highly regarded aesthetically because of the colour and of the shell and their decorative appearance.
Mark cooked up a mussel feast for Simon onboard his boat which was anchored in one of Marlborough Sounds most beautiful bays and they shared a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, another Marlborough icon.
In the kitchen Simon steams open Green Lipped mussels then smothers each one with a tasty cooked mix of tomatoes, onion, garlic and toasted bread crumbs before putting them under the grill. Simon has some great tips for not overcooking the mussel and his result is a plump, tasty mussel with a highly flavoured and highly textured stuffing. Maggie uses a smaller and very sweet local mussel to make a light, delicate flavoured mussel and saffron tortilla.
Recipes:
- Mussel & Saffron Tortilla
- Marinated Olives
- Stuffed Green Lip Mussels
- Olive Tart
click here to see where to watch or .
Ready to Watch The Cook and the Chef, Season 3, Episode 22?