February Feast Monthly

FREE ISSUE | FEBRUARY

Celebrating the asian new year!

FEATURES: Crispy Duck Pancakes Join us for our Asian Night Market 22 Feb Celebrating 10 years of Kohu Road

FEBRUARY EATING WITH FARRO

ON OUR TABLE

DIARY DATE 22 FEB

Celebrate the Asian New Year One of the most significant festivals of the year for many, Asian New Year – or spring festival – falls between January 21 and February 20 each year, depending on when the new moon begins, celebrating the turn of the traditional Asian calendar. Lasting for 15 days in total, festivities focus on a week of feasting and activities that celebrate the coming together of the family. China and many different Asian cultures have their own take on New Year celebrations. We’ll also be hosting our very own Asian food celebration on February 22, so join us at Farro Grey Lynn for a feast of some of our favourite dishes.

Happy New Year of the dog!

NEW TO STORE

ON OUR TABLE THIS MONTH FARRO EVENT Asian Food Festival, Grey Lynn 22 Feb Join us for an evening street food market full of Asian delights to celebrate Chinese New Year at Farro Grey Lynn, from 5-8pm. Free Entry

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The season for locally grown onions has started, and we now have red and brown onions direct from Pukekohe. Along with their common bedfellow, garlic, onions are the base ingredient for many savoury dishes. But they can also be the star ingredient; we’re making sweet onion marmalade and onion and chilli jam this month, so we can enjoy these delights on our cheeseboard, slathered on sausages or on a shortcrust pastry tart with feta crumbled on top.

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Melon heaven! There is a bounty of rockmelon and watermelon this month; we’re enjoying them in all their juicy, sweet, chin-dripping glory while the local season lasts. Try throwing chopped watermelon into a blender with a tablespoon of lime juice, blend, and then pour into ice-block moulds. Pop in the freezer and you can enjoy them well into April too.

For information visit farro.co.nz

K4 Cultured Foods We’re loving using the new cultured food range from K4 foods. Not only are they fantastic enhancers for your favourite dishes, they are packed with live probiotics for inner gut health, nutrient rich and banging with flavour! The turmeric paste is fantastic for adding to your favourite dishes or vegetables for a flavour boost, or brew as a tea or turmeric latte. The kombucha vinegar is delicate and herbaceous, with a light salt tang, it’s a beautiful base for a vinaigrette! Vinegar $10.99

NEW TO STORE

WAITANGI DAY: FEB 6

We’re open! Public holiday hours. See our website for details.

RECIPE IDEA

Whaiora Smoothie Mixes

Whaiora has created a delicious range of authentic, real-food smoothie blends made with the finest fruits, vegetables, oats, milk and honey to provide you with a natural, delicious blend to add balance to your day. Whaiora blends are available in gold, green and berry flavours; 12 smoothies per pack. As well as smoothies, these homemade bounty bars with the addition of Whaiora berry powder are a treat for young and old.

Berry Bounty Bars Molly Woppy Artisan Cookies Molly Woppy’s latest artisan cookie range is baked with NZ butter, free-range eggs, and they’re weighed, mixed and scooped just as you would at home.You'll definitely want to give these a try with flavours like Chewy ginger delights, Milk choccy chunk and Sticky date walnut and chia. $7.99/pk (Valid 5/2/18-11/3/18)

Ingredients ◻ 1½ cups shredded coconut ◻ 2 tablespoons Whaiora berry powder ◻ ½ cup Olivado liquid coconut oil (melt if not already liquid) ◻ Pinch of salt ◻ 1 cup mixed berries (chopped) ◻ 150 grams Chocolate Brown dark 72 percent chocolate callets

Method Combine ingredients in a large mixing bowl and press handfuls of mixture into fun-sized bars (approximately 4x1x3 centimetres).

Place bars on a tray lined with baking paper, and freeze for 30 mins. Chop the dark chocolate and add to a saucepan on a gentle heat – stir until melted. Roll bars in chocolate and place back on tray to freeze for a further 30 mins before serving.

PRODUCER PROFILE: FOR THE LOVE OF PIES!

T WHAT’S IN YOUR BASKET

Rebekah Hay, founder Hakanoa Handmade Drinks I was the happiest girl in the hood when Farro Grey Lynn opened just down the road from us, and not just because they’ve been the first retail outlet for every product we make. I love to cook and Farro has pretty much everything the dedicated foodist needs to cook with. You’ll probably see me there staring intently at the stone fruit and eggplants ­— I love them both.

Eggplants have a sponge-like texture that is perfect for sucking up flavour. I brush wedges of eggplant with a little marinade before popping them on the chargriller or under the grill in the oven. The marinade scents the rich melting middle, and nicely caramelises the cut surfaces.

For maximum finger licking umami, brush them with Hakanoa Ginger Chilli Lime Sesame Dressing first – grill till dark brown and soft in the middle. Brush them again with a paste made of Urban Hippy Miso, tamari, mirin and hoisin and grill for a couple more minutes until the paste bubbles. The result is as rich and meaty as sticky ribs.

And nothing beats rich home-made plum sauce. I use a mixture of black and red plums, de-stone them and oven roast them with rice wine vinegar, Hakanoa Ginger Syrup, tamari, star anise and garlic. I ditch the star anise before stick blending the whole mixture. I preserve it in jars because it’s too thick to bottle.

At the same time, I throw a dish of apricot halves tossed with a little Hakanoa Ginger Syrup into the oven to roast. We eat these warm with my latest invention; macadamia cream. Begin with Forty Thieves Salted Macadamia Butter with maple and vanilla. Put the butter into a pyrex jug or similar, trickle in an equal volume of cold water whilst applying a stick blender.

The butter will emulsify into a thick cream.

Scrape down the sides to make sure you get it all blended in. That’s it! Incredibly easy and the most gorgeous velvety vanilla custard you’ve ever tasted. Move over dairy-based dessert toppings, there’s a new kid in town!

en years ago this month, a love affair with pies started out at the local Clevedon farmers’ market, when two friends – Maree Glading and Jessie Stanley – set up their first stall and began selling hand-made gourmet family pies. Not just any pies... I Love Pies!

“We knew we were on to something when we sold all 100 pies in under an hour,” Maree says.

Word quickly spread and just a few months later, we were delighted to give Maree and Jessie their first taste of retail, when we started selling their delicious pies at Farro.

“Looking back, getting into Farro in mid-2008 was one of our key successes [from] our early days. Many of our fans tell us they first came across us in Farro,” Maree says. “We can safely attribute some of our early success to Farro’s support.”

Now, the I Love Pies range has

expanded to include delicious fruit pies and sausage rolls.

They’ve also recently launched an I Love Baking line of baked cookies made with the same philosophy.

As the company grows, the power duo has promised to continue baking their pies in New Zealand with fresh, local produce. “We use top-quality NZ meat, free-range chicken and bacon, and lovely locally grown vegetables in our pies,” Jessie says. “Our cookies also contain less sugar [as we] include date puree and the goodness of oats.” The women are proud to say their products will never contain palm oil or MSG, nor artificial colours, flavours or preservatives: “we like to keep things natural around here,” they say.

“We are incredibly grateful to Farro and, of course, our amazing customers, who have supported us along the way.”

Congratulations Maree and Jessie – here’s to the next 10 years! We’re very proud to see how these two Kiwi mums have built a successful business, one slice at a time.

FROM THE DAIRY: CRESCENT DAIRY CO

S

ince 1979, the Crescent Dairy Company has been producing fresh wholesome goat’s milk and creamy yoghurt, just as nature intended.

Nothing added, nothing removed.

Based in Taupaki, on a 4.4-hectare family farm, are a small herd of 43 goats, each with its own name and personality.

Not only are they the most important ‘staff’ members of the business, they’re also part of the family and keep owners Gavin and Emily Ward and their two children entertained with their daily antics.

Each morning, the goats are milked and treated to a breakfast for champions

– muesli with no added hormones or chemicals, and a daily natural tonic to keep them healthy and happy. The herd is then free to graze and nibble on a variety of lush pasture, fresh hay and shrubs, or play in the sunshine and rest in the barn.

Although Crescent Dairy Co is not certified organic, they do follow organic practices and take a natural, lowimpact approach to farming.

The milk is also pasteurised on the farm with no added chemicals or antibiotics, chilled and then bottled.

The end result? Delicious, wholesome milk and drinking yoghurt, exactly the way it should be. Come in and try for yourself!

NEW TO STORE

This month we also have the new luxury soap range from Crescent Dairy Co.

I LOVE FOOD CO

PANTRY PICK

Know your Greens: Asian vegetables can add a new dimension of flavour, colour and texture to your table. Get to know the varieties and how to cook them.

Hoy sum The most important vegetable of southern China, the whole leaf, stalk and flowers are edible.

Thin stems mean fast cooking for steaming or stir frying. Also known as Chinese broccoli.

Bok choy Having a more fibrous bulbshaped base, the lower stems need longer cooking time than the more delicate tops. The most common of Asian vegetables available, leaves can be eaten raw but are equally good in soups and stir-fries.

Pak choy Thicker stems mean this cabbage is perfect for hot soups and stocks and their longer cooking times. With thinner edges, preparation of leaves for cooking will need separation to cook at different times.

Gai lan With a thicker, often fibrous, stalk and a more bitter flavour, this vegetable is part of the same family as kale and can be treated the same. For its edible flowers, the bitterness eases with

cooking. Introduced to China via Portugal, this vege works well with intense big flavours and fatty meats.

Wong bok Also known as Hakusai or ‘white heart’ in Japanese, and as ‘napa’ cabbage, the head forms in an oval shape with densely packed, rippled leaves. An excellent soft leaf for pickling and adding to soups, the cabbage itself has mild flavour that can become bitter at the end of the season.

Treat like an English cabbage to serve as slaw, in salads or stir fry.

Daikon The crispness of the daikon (radish) is much prized and thus is as often eaten raw as cooked.

Perfect for pickling, it is added to soups for extra flavour.

Daikon will last well in the fridge for weeks – simply trim and peel and you are good to go.

Leaves can also be eaten raw and are pickled and salted to add to soups for intense, powerful flavour.

Pantry picks: Some of our fav Asian ingredients Hakanoa: Ginger chilli lime and sesame dressing This dressing has the perfect balance of ginger punch, lime zing and nutty sesame oil. $13.99/ Bottle NEW Culley’s: Madam Woo Sriracha hot sauce Josh Emmett brings the taste of Madam Woo to the bottle. This hot sauce is packed with a spicy punch and works well with just about any cuisine. $9.99/ Bottle House of Dumplings: Mum’s sauce Made from mum’s recipe, this sauce will bring out the flavours in any meal. Dress your salads, steamed veges or marinate salmon, add to stir-fries and, of course, dip your dumplings in it! $15.50/Bottle (Valid 29/1/18- 25/2/18) Charmaine Solomon Range: Singapore laksa This paste has a flavourful combination of spicy and fragrant ingredients to create an authentic laksa, and it’s equally delicious when using chicken or seafood! $20.00/ Bottle (Valid 29/1/18- 25/2/18) Very Good Dumplings: Chinese pork Jiaozi dumplings A classic pork, chive and pickled ginger dumpling, served with a spring onion, rice malt, ginger and organic tamari dressing. $19.99/pk (Valid 29/1/18- 25/2/18)

COVER RECIPE

Quick ‘n’ Easy Peking Duck Pancakes

Ma Po Doufu

This Chinese tofu and pork dish is packed with so much flavour! Served with rice, this dish will even please those non-tofu eaters.

Serves: 4 | Prep time: 20 mins | Cooking time: 25-30 mins

INGREDIENTS 1. grams firm tofu, cut into 600 3-centimetre cubes 150mls chicken stock 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine 2 teaspoons soy sauce 3½ tablespoons Maeil Shin Gochujang hot red pepper paste 2 teaspoons Maeil Doenjang soybean paste Pinch chilli powder, or to taste 1 teaspoon cornflour 60mls vegetable oil 150 grams minced pork 2 teaspoons Sichuan peppercorns, dry roasted in a pan for 20-30 seconds, crushed in a mortar and pestle, plus extra to serve 3 garlic cloves, peeled, finely chopped 10 grams ginger, peeled, finely chopped 1 teaspoon caster sugar 3 spring onions, cut into 3-centimetre batons To serve: steamed rice

METHOD Cook tofu in a saucepan of simmering water over medium heat until warmed through, about 5 mins.

Drain well in a sieve and set aside.

When oil is hot, add pork and stir fry until browned.

Meanwhile, combine the chicken stock, Shaoxing wine and soy sauce in a small mixing bowl and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the garlic and ginger and stir to combine.

Add the tofu, then the stock mixture and bring to the simmer.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the Gouemujang and the Doenjang and set aside.

In another small bowl, mix the cornflour with 1 teaspoon of water until a paste forms, set aside.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat.

Add the bean paste mixture and crushed Sichuan pepper and stir fry until it starts to caramelise.

Carefully stir in the cornflour paste and the sugar and bring back to the simmer and continue simmering until the sauce thickens, about 3-4 mins.

Stir in the spring onions and divide among serving bowls and scatter with the extra Sichuan pepper and serve with hot steamed rice.

rice paper

Known as Bahn Trang in Vietnamese, rice paper rolls are a common snack staple for summer. You can get really creative with your own fillings. To find out more, read the full article on our blog.

Peking duck is a dish that has been served in China since the imperial times and is one of the country’s most famous, originating from Beijing. This simple version means you can enjoy the flavours of ’shāo yāzi’ any day of the week!

Serves: 2 Prep time: 10 mins Cooking time: 25 mins INGREDIENTS ½ tablespoon cooking oil 1 pack Saveur Peking duck ½ telegraph cucumber, halved lengthways, deseeded 4 spring onions, thinly shredded in long strips 1 pack Miss Wong’s Peking duck wrappers (cook from frozen) 250mls Mum’s plum sauce METHOD Heat the cooking oil in a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.

Add the duck breasts skin-side down and cook for 8-10 mins or until golden.

Turn the duck breasts over and cook for a further 5-8 mins or until the juices run clear.

Remove from the pan to rest for 5 mins.

Meanwhile, cut each half of the deseeded cucumber into two pieces and each piece cut into 2 to 3-millimetre-thick batons and set aside. Add the shredded spring onion to curl in a small bowl filled with iced water for 10 mins. Drain and set aside. Slice the duck breasts in half lengthwise, then slice each half from side to side into thin strips, about 4 millimetres thick. Half fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a gentle boil over a medium heat. Place a piece of baking paper inside a bamboo steamer basket. Add pancakes and place basket on top of saucepan. Steam for 5 mins, flip stack over and serve immediately. Arrange sliced duck on a platter along with spring onions, cucumber, pancakes and plum sauce encouraging guests to help themselves.

Farro Food Hero Kohu Road Ice Cream This month, we’re absolutely delighted to celebrate Kohu Road’s 10th anniversary.

From small beginnings, making home-made ice cream in Mr Snowy, they’ve become one of the best artisan ice cream makers in the country. We are very proud to be a key part in that journey, as the very first stockist of Greg’s ice cream a decade ago.

Ten years ago, in the kitchen of a family home on Kohu Road in Titirangi, Greg Hall decided to give making his own ice cream a crack. Following a very basic recipe and using only natural ingredients, Greg turned the mixture in his Mr Snowy ice cream machine into his firstever, luxuriously decadent, dark chocolate ice cream. All of his friends and family who tried it, as the saying goes, screamed for more of Greg’s ice cream, and so Kohu Road ice cream was born.

When Greg was introduced to Farro co-founder Janene Draper, he was as shocked as he was excited that after just one taste, Janene snapped up the brand and agreed to stock it on the shelves at Farro’s first store on Lunn Avenue in 2008. “I was thinking she would only be wanting our signature flavour, but when I mentioned we had three flavours, she said: ‘we’ll take them all!’,” Greg says. After the meeting, Greg raced back to the kitchen and spent all night and the next day making the ice cream.

Today, the original invoice docket is framed on Greg’s office wall.

“That first order, 10 years ago, was a big celebration for us – and the starting point of everything,” he says. “It even has the first batch code, which says ‘00001’.”

Tens of thousands of orders later, and with more than 25 different flavours, Kohu Road has continued to be a growing success, and the ability to engage with Farro shoppers has been a highlight. “They are really amazing customers who are passionate and love food just as much as we do” Greg says.

The ice cream connoisseurs at Kohu Road have continued to embrace the ideals of sourcing only the best, natural ingredients from local suppliers. “To me, fundamentally, all-natural is simple, real, whole food ingredients,” he says. “We source ingredients like whole chocolate, real vanilla seeds, locally grown fruit and fresh eggs, milk and cream that’s delivered daily from the local dairy farm just an hour away.”

Like their new reduced-sugar, dairy-free range it’s easy and cheap to make dairy-free products with artificial additives, but the art of natural ice cream at Kohu Road is evident in this new range, free

from: chemicals or e-numbers, yet full of flavour and with real ice cream creaminess.

Each ice cream flavour has been inspired by the art of Japanese cuisine. “We’ve channeled the cooking concept ‘umami’, which is considered as a new flavour that gives a satisfying depth to what you’re eating. So, when our ice cream melts in your mouth, you begin to taste all these different elements, textures and flavours, and it becomes a very pleasurable eating experience.” Greg says. His wife, Yayoi – a trained Japanese degustation chef – helps to create the sophistication of each flavour.

“I would make the ice cream and she would be the taste tester and say ‘I think it needs a little more this, and a little less that’!”

So, what’s next for Kohu Road?

Simple. To continue on the path of innovation: “we’re always creating new and exciting flavours that will really wow our customers,” Greg says. The new range of dairy-free coconut and sorbet-based ice creams has proven to be a hit at

Farro over the summer. “We want to continue making the best ice cream because when you taste Kohu Road, it can take you somewhere else or back to a memory. That’s amazing. Not many ice creams or foods can deliver that feeling.”

FACT: Did you know the Kohu Road tree logo symbolises Greg’s children? Each name has a tree-related Kanji character. “My eldest daughter’s name means ‘tree of hope’; my son’s name is ‘the music of the trees’; and my youngest daughter’s name is ‘the red apple tree’,” Greg says. “So, the tree in Kohu Road is my kids.”

Brewer of the Month: Birkenhead Brewing Company For Birkenhead locals, Brad Boult and Steve Simms, what began as a passion for beer was brewed into a bottle of hoppy goodness. We couldn’t turn down the offer to share a few with the BBC boys at their pub and chat about their story… cheers!

The two friends came to discover craft beer through different avenues. Brad was at a Wellington bar where he tried a Mountain Goat beer from Melbourne. “Something clicked inside of me and I haven’t drunk a mainstream beer since.” Steve was trapped at an event serving very bad beer in San Francisco, so being the epicentre of craft beer he undertook a search to find the best beer in the city and his palate for craft beer was awakened.

Combining their passion for craft beer with sales and marketing backgrounds, the duo decided to create their own style of craft beer in their local hood, Birkenhead. With a goal to create quality craft beers with a hyperlocal feel, Birkenhead Brewing Co was born and they’ve been quenching the rest of New Zealand’s thirst for craft beer ever since.

What came first, the beer or the pub?

We started planning the beer and decided we needed somewhere to show it. We made our first batch one Sunday back in November 2015 and found the pub in the heart of Birkenhead on the Monday. We knew we were onto something when, on opening day, there were queues of locals waiting outside our door. We only got the keys 30 minutes before we opened so we had to quickly change the stock out, change the beer and we haven’t looked back! It was really heartening to see the community come to support us.

What’s the best part about having the pub? It gives us a chance to meet our customers, chat to them about craft beer and listen to what styles they like to drink.

We can also transition people across from mainstream beers to a tastier quality beer.

Our beer is designed to share, so our pub is the perfect place to do just that!

What are you trying to create with the BBC range? For us we want make quality beer that people will love and drink again. There is so much more to beer than just an ordinary industrial style. Our range has distinct tastes and styles to offer something for everyone’s palate. When people sit down with a glass of our craft beer, it becomes a conversation piece.

They talk about the beer; the aromas, tastes, flavours and the experience. You don’t get that with industrial beer.

What’s the difference between a craft beer and an industrial beer? When

industrial beer is made, it’s designed for a mass market and the process to brew takes as little as one week. Our craft beers are brewed locally in a small batches. They take up to four weeks to brew and six weeks of conditioning just to get the flavour right!

How do you come up with the names and labels for all the beers? We want to maintain a hyper-local approach so there’s a story behind every beer. Our first beer, Kauri, comes from the local Birkenhead Kauri forest, the second-largest Kauri tree forest in Auckland. Our Rawene stout beer is named after the street that connects Birkenhead village to the iconic Chelsea Sugar factory.

The Bunker APA is blended with three American hops and takes its name and design from the ammunition bunkers at Kauri Point, where US troops were stationed during World War II. The Pilsner is usually the first craft beer our customers will try before then developing a palate for our other beers, so we call this one the Gateway beer. Its image of the Auckland Harbour Bridge, viewed from Birkenhead, is a nod to the fact it’s the gateway into our range.

How do you recommend getting the best out of a beer? Drinking from a glass will give you a full-flavoured experience.

When beer is poured, it’s able to breathe, so everytime a bubble pops from the bottom of the beer, it’s releasing a little burst of aroma, and aroma plays a huge role in how we identify the flavour of beer. Drinking it straight from the bottle or can is essentially cutting off your sense of smell and changes the way the beer tastes. There are many styles of glasses you can use, but that story is for another day! We also recommend drinking it well within three months of brew date to be enjoyed at its freshest.

What are you doing to introduce craft beer to others? Part of the fun that we’ve seen over the past 2½ years is the explosive growth for the industry in general. We have a radio segment on Radio Sport called ‘Which Craft’, where we talk beer, review styles and encourage people to try our craft beer. It’s something that both genders can enjoy too.

There’s a beer for everyone in the fridge!

NEW THIS MONTH is the BBC boys latest

brew, Siri the daughter or Ninkasi. It’s the team’s second collaboration with the Ninkasi Brewing Co. ‘Siris’ (pronounced “suh-rees”).

The Mesopotamian goddess Siris is known as the patron of beer and was daughter of the Sumerian goddess of beer, Ninkasi. A rare one-off beer that craft beer aficionados will no doubt worship.

MARCEL’S RED VELVET PANCAKES 6 PACKS

WILD WHEAT FRENCH STICK

$3.60/PK

$2.60/EACH

SAVE 40C

DOORNUT & SMALL COFFEE COMBO

SAVE 40C

$8.00

* VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

* VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

* VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

VERY GOOD DUMPLINGS 400G

LIVING GOODNESS KIMCHI 500G

SAVEUR PEKING DUCK BREAST

$19.99/PK

SAVE $2.00

$12.99/JAR

SAVE $1.00

$18.99/PK

SAVE $1.00

SAVE $3.00

* VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

* VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

* VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

I LOVE PIES SAUSAGE ROLLS 400G

MOLLY WOPPY ARTISAN COOKIE RANGE

SOLOMON THAI GREEN CURRY 250G

$7.99/PK

$17.50/PK

$7.99/PK * VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

SAVE 50C

* VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

House of dumplings Wellington made. Jam packed with real and ethical ingredients. Only 8 mins to steam from frozen. Our famous mum’s sauce is included!

SAVE 50C

* VALID 29/1/18 - 25/2/18

SAVE $2.50