Slice of Life

By Peter Gordon - June 2009

New menus at dine, the world's largest gourmet hangi to celebrate Matariki and Air New Zealand

May came and went in a whir of assorted events in New Zealand and the UK, and as I write this we’re on to only our fifth really hot sunny day this year. I know the Brits have a terrible reputation for always talking about the weather, but there are times when that seems entirely understandable. Tomorrow we’ve been told that a bracingly cold front is headed down from Scotland. I’m not too worried though as I’m off to Sitges and Barcelona in Spain to celebrate a friend’s 50th – and the weather there will be great. I hope.

We put on our new menus at dine by Peter Gordon and Bellota and it was lovely to work on them with my Auckland teams. It was the last menu change for my head chef at dine, Ben Mills, as he and his wife are heading off overseas to try their luck on the luxury boats that cruise the Med and the Caribbean. However, whilst in New Zealand I was fortunate to interview some very worthwhile candidates to take over the role from Ben and I’m pleased to say that my new head chef will be Bernard Bernabe. I first met Bernard when he was sous chef at White at the Auckland Hilton, under Geoff Scott. Bernard took over as head chef when Geoff went to open his wonderful restaurant Vinnie’s, and has worked in several countries since. I’m really looking forward to working with Bernard and my sous chef Nancye Pirini on our future menu changes.

On May 9, Nancye and I headed to the Turangawaewae marae in Ngaruawahia, home of the Maori King Tuheitia, and one of the best-equipped maraes in New Zealand. We took another of dine’s chefs with us, Tu Fearn, and my friends Felicity, Rebekka, Naomi and Erina were enticed as well. It was to be one of the culinary highlights of my career. We were there to cook a gourmet hangi to celebrate Matariki (Maori ‘new year’) and to raise funds for the Raukatauri Music Therapy Centre - a charity set up by my good friend, and Ngati Kahungunu cuzzy, Hinewehi Mohi.

http://www.rmtc.org.nz/ http://www.taitokerau.co.nz/matariki.htm

We were welcomed on to the marae in true style, with a mini powhiri and then someone had to return a song to the marae elders. Luckily for those assembled, they were serenaded by Felicity, Rebekka, Naomi, Erina and me!! On the way down Felicity thought it might be good if we learnt a song in Maori, so Erina and Naomi taught us one, which we wrote on the bag of a box of oven bags that we were planning on using in the hangi – it came in handy. After all survived that performance, we headed into the state of the art kitchen to begin cooking and it must be said that I have never been made to feel more welcome and at home as we all did over the next two days with the marae cooking team. Glenda, Vickii and their whanau looked after us, we had lots of laughs and fun and the fact that Maori television were filming a two hour documentary about the whole event just means we can all relive it once it has aired.

We paired our ‘Auckland’ team with the marae cooks, each pair working to get one of the many dishes made. Our biggest challenge was that the men who actually cook the hangi weren’t too keen on what we were planning on doing. As one of the guys said to me “we don’t use herbs. This looks too fancy”. But, as I’d been asked to create a gourmet hangi, that would be served between performances by some of New Zealand’s best performers (Dave Dobbyn, Boh Runga, Hinewehi, Nesian Mystik and many others) with a gorgeous backdrop designed by an amazing artist Tracey Tawhiao, to raise funds for this amazing therapy centre, I knew it had to be the most gourmet hangi ever.

www.fernergalleries.co.nz/default,430.sm

Here’s a selection of what we prepared and cooked:

• Pork loin marinated in Thai spices, kawakawa and coconut, wrapped in a banana leaf

• Pork belly stuffed with apples, walnuts and sage

• Chickens rubbed with saffron, cumin, Manuka honey and ginger marinade

• Boned legs of mutton marinated in rosemary, garlic, smoked paprika and lemon

• Whole baby lamb – the belly stuffed with thyme, basil, garlic, fennel seeds and tomato, the body rubbed with kawakawa and garlic paste

• Beef topside marinated in soy, ginger, garlic and horopito.

On top of this Firstlight donated a rather large carton of beautiful wagyu short-rib which we served to the first 15 or so tables until it ran out. That was marinated in miso, Sichuan peppercorns, ginger and a dozen other things and it was fantastic. Anne Thorp, the gorgeous host of Kai Ora and a book of the same name cooked the first course which were the most tasty, large and beautiful surf clams that she’d sourced from Cloudy Bay – a brilliant way to start the meal. Keep your eyes out for coverage on the event on Maori television sometime soon. And I have to say that the guys changed their minds about the kai once we pulled it up – we won them over big time!

http://www.maoritelevision.com/ http://www.randomhouse.co.nz/Book_Display_46.aspx?CategoryId=17933&ProductId=466966

The next two days were spent with the culinary team from Air New Zealand, as well as chefs Geoff Scott and Rex Morgan. As in February, we were brain-storming new ideas for future menus (see my earlier blog) and once we get these new dishes on board we’ll all be very happy.

I flew back to London and things just didn’t stop. We cooked a dinner for The School of Life, which is a fantastic concept, we helped launch Steinlager Pure to the British Press with a series of dinners at The Providores, and I visited Grimsby for the first time and ate the biggest plate of fish and chips I’d ever seen in the seaside town of Cleethorpes. All good. But now I need to pack – Spain calls… http://www.theschooloflife.com/s.nl/sc.10/category.709/.f

This month’s photo is the hardworking hangi team.