Local heroes and kedgeree

We have a lot to celebrate in our local food scene. With so many of the growers and food producers in this beautiful and bountiful region just north of Auckland, it is unsurprising to see the results of the recent Outstanding NZ Food Producer Awards. Local food heroes demonstrated their commitment to excellence, innovation and sustainability by being awarded gold, silver or bronze medals in this showcase of what our country does best.

Every Saturday, several of them can be seen at the Matakana Farmers Market with their delicious award-winning foods.

One such local hero is Michael Isbey, who with his wife Sophie Randrup, owns Matakana Smokehouse. They won Gold for their cold smoked salmon, which is carefully sliced by hand after being seasoned and smoked in their smokehouse, on the corner of Matakana and Sharp Roads. Recently, they opened a small retail outlet on that site, where they stock a complete range of their products, including tasty smoked fish, sourced fresh from nearby Leigh Fisheries. I love to warm that fish up, whether it’s the warehou (which also won Gold), gemfish, salmon, kahawai, tuna and more, and eat it with warm with fresh bread and plenty of butter or mayo. I used the gold medal-winning warehou in the kedgeree recipe below. Also in stock in that little shop is a variety of very fresh fish, exactly what the Matakana district has been missing, and some of the other lovely local produce like Salty River Farm herbs, vegetables and their now famous bags of mixed salad leaves, which also won a gold medal in 2022. The shelves are stacked with gourmet essentials too like special pastas, cheeses, sauces and much more.

The awards are an annual event, where around 300 entries from all over the country are assessed and judged by panels of food experts; chefs, food writers, industry specialists, who taste everything blind so no favourites can be singled out. Other winners of medals this year from the district include an exceptional four gold medals for David and Janelle Herrick’s Foundry Chocolate, two golds for Momojo Real Kefir, which is made by Scott Butland and Torben Sorenson in Puhoi, and two of the Perfectly Imperfect Pizza kits, the meat and the vegetarian.

As long as the Farmers Market has been there, the local Matakana olive cooperative has had a stand, and consistency and care saw a gold awarded for their extra virgin olive oil this year. Pickles, sauces and jams could be regarded as a staple of any pantry and we’re fortunate to have some excellent craftspeople making the most of produce in the region. Look out for Jimmy’s Food smoked sweet chilli sauce that won bronze, while a gold medal was awarded to Sharon McNabb’s Get Pickled plum and lemon jam. Sharon can be found with her delicious range of pickles, jams and chutneys in the Matakana Market by the old dairy company building on Saturday mornings.

I was inspired to use local ingredients for this savoury fragrant kedgeree. It’s delicious with everything sourced locally except the rice, curry powder and the salt!

Kedgeree

1 large cup rice (I prefer basmati for its fragrance and lengthy grains, but jasmine rice would be fine)

4 tbsp extra virgin olive

1 large onion or fennel bulb, finely chopped

1 teaspoon curry powder

2 cm fresh ginger, finely chopped

2 fresh eggs

1 lemon, zest and juice

400g hot smoked warehou, gemfish or salmon (Matakana Smokehouse) flaked into neat

Cook the rice first. Wash it well under a running water then tip into a saucepan with 2 cups cold water and half a teaspoon of salt. Bring the rice to a swift boil, turn the temperature to low and cover the pan with a lid. Continue cooking for 10 minutes then take the pan off the heat, leaving the lid on.

Meanwhile heat the oil in a deep frying pan and add the onion or fennel and the ginger with the curry powder and cook over a low heat until it is golden and beginning to crisp up.

Boil the eggs for 7 minutes and immediately plunge into cold water to stop them cooking.

Grate the lemon zest and add the zest and juice, with the cooked rice, to the onion mixture in the pan. Toss

Brick Bay is a land of plenty

From our flourishing vegetable garden, we produce an array of garden greens, herbs and edible flowers Our fruit trees are adorned with peaches, plums, citrus, pecans and macadamias and our lamb comes straight from our farm Combining these truly local ingredients with those from nearby artisan producers, our passionate chefs create inspired seasonal dishes of contemporary New Zealand cuisine

To book a table call 09 425 4690. Open every day. 17 Arabella Lane, Snells Beach.