"Utter Peanut Butter Nutter"

I love peanut butter! I have since I was really little and sang along to this song. It is so yummy, and so versatile - in a sandwich, on toast, with jam, under tinned spaghetti (try it before you shake your head in disgust!) or best of all, by the spoonful! Whittaker's recently released a 'Peanut Butter' block of chocolate, it is to die for decadent and highly addictive.

Each individual piece of the block is filled with smooth sticky peanut butter that Whittaker's make themselves using cocoa butter - YUM! I had 2 blocks sitting in the pantry calling my name so I decided I needed to make one into 'Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies'. I remembered seeing a recipe using Whittaker's Peanut slabs over on my favourite food blog 'heartbreakpie' so I used this recipe as a starting point. From there I created some rather delicious cookies that I doubt will survive the rest of the day!

'Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies'

110g softened butter
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp golden syrup
2 tbsp milk

¼ cup crunchy peanut butter (slighty heaped)

1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp vanilla paste
1 ½ cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
180g Whittaker's Peanut Butter chocolate

Beat together the softened butter, brown sugar, golden syrup, milk, peanut butter, vanilla extract and vanilla paste for a couple of minutes until fluffy.

Sift over the plain flour ½ cup at a time, stirring each lot in before adding the next. Roughly chop the Whittaker’s Peanut Butter Chocolate and add to the mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon or your hands until it is all mixed together into a yummy cookie dough. Don’t start eating it or you won’t have any left to make the cookies! 

Roll the dough into balls and place on baking papered oven tray, push down gently with a fork. Bake on 180*C for 15-20 minutes or until golden. These cookies magically take on that delightful peanut butter property of slightly sticking to the roof of your mouth, so I recommend enjoying them with a glass of cold milk.

In case you hadn't noticed, this is my second blog post in two days! It may or may not be me procrastinating in doing my lab report...cookies > statistics and anyone who says it's the other way around is completely nutty! Hahaha a blog post about peanut butter that refers to someone being nutty! It amazes me that people don't see how hilarious I am. Well, before I drown in self satisfaction and have to come back red faced in 2 months time full of apologies I'd better sign off. Happy baking!

x Hungry Lab

"Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Days Of Summer"

Oh dear, it seems I am getting into a 'every 2 months' rhythm of blog updates. I am going to endeavour to keep my posts shorter, that way there will be more of them and hopefully more frequent posts! Of course many people have tried to limit my talking over the years...they all failed. But hey, it's worth a try. Wish me luck!

Over the Summer holidays, my boyfriend and I were lucky enough to spend a couple of nights in paradise. This paradise exists in the Coromandel and it is really something else. Here is the view from the front porch:

We spent our time lounging about reading and soaking up the Sun or out on the water fishing or watching our friends free dive spear fishing. Between us we caught kingfish, kahawai and snapper and for dinner we had an entree of kokoda/poisson cru. It's super easy to make and such a nice way to eat fish! There's a range of ways to make it, dependent on personal tastes, but this is how I like to make it:

Kokoda/Poisson Cru

2 fillets of fresh fish
2-3 large lemons
a cucumber
a red capsicum
a red onion and/or 2-3 spring onions
2 tomatoes
a chilli (optional)
some fresh coriander (YUCK!)
a tin of coconut cream

Cut up the fish into roughly 1cm pieces, put them in a bowl, squeeze over enough lemon juice to just cover the fish then cover the bowl and place in the fridge. It depends how cooked you want the fish as to how long you let the lemon juice cook it, I love sashimi so I usually only let it 'cook' for up to 3 hours. When you're ready cut up the cucumber, capsicum, onion, spring onion, tomatoes and chilli (if you're using it), remove the fish from the fridge, pour off 3/4 of the lemon juice and add the chopped ingredients and the coconut cream. Serve with some chopped fresh coriander on the side. Yum!

For our main we had some crispy potatoes and fillets of kingfish that were coated in a thin layer of flour or cajun spiced flour and fried on the barbeque, and a yummy salsa verde inspired salad. Then we rolled ourselves off to bed ready to do it all again the next day - bliss!

Those days seem very far away as I sit here in Wellington as it grows colder by the minute and I am alternating typing hands so I can keep the free hand firmly clasped around my cup of tea for warmth! If you are suffering through the recent cold here in Wellington, you should head down to the recently opened 'August' on Garrett Street for a delicious People's coffee to warm you up.

August is both a cafe and an exhibition space, providing excellent takeaway coffee, yummy filled croissants and baguettes and frequently changing art for you to browse while you wait. It's run by the same lovely trio as 'Milk Crate' and I have had to increase my coffee intake in order to visit both each day - go and check it out!

x Hungry Lab

"Ain't no sunshine when she's gone."

Following on from the title of my first blog, this blog's title comes from the Bill Wither's song 'Ain't No Sunshine' because I haven't shined upon my blog for awhile and also because the literal Sun here in New Zealand has been pretty reluctant to show itself over the last few weeks of "summer". It would appear that it has been over 2 months since my first and only blog post... I could offer a range of excuses (working a 50 hour week looking after Devil children/my boyfriend stopped commuting so I had less lonely time/it has been "summer" holidays) but instead here are some photos of what I've been up to while I've been neglecting my blog:

You can't beat Wellington on a good day!

Crafty Christmas Activities with the kids I'm looking after.

We were really lucky and saw dolphins, whales and baby Hammerhead sharks while out on the boat!

A kingfish, 4 kahawai and 1 of the 4 snapper we caught in the Coromandel. 

Kokoda/Poisson Cru made from the fresh fish - YUM!

I've also eaten some seriously amazing food! We hosted a BBQ at the end of last year, we told our friends to BYO their drinks and some meat and we provided the most AMAZING bruschetta in the world, some salads, and of course I baked! Here is a photo of the spread:

From left: strawberries and chocolate, a Caesar salad, a potato salad, a Greek (ish) salad, Tip Top bread for pigs in blankets, chocolate brownie and 2 kinds of cupcakes - elderflower and raspberry with an elderflower glaze, and American vanilla cupcakes (made with ZUCCHINI!) with vanilla buttercream frosting. 

And of course the very amazing and delicious bruschetta that my boyfriend made:

Both recipes came courtesy of Al Brown's latest cookbook 'Stoked', there was 'Tomato and Thyme Brushetta' and 'Grilled Eggplant with Basil, Lemon Olive Oil and Feta Bruschetta'. They were both amazing and gone in about 30mins and before most of the guests had even arrived...

It was a really good night and we were thrilled we got in a BBQ before the weather closed in for the next month (I wish I was joking). The next night we had my better half's family over for dinner and again Al Brown's book delivered a knock-out recipe, the most delicious marinated chicken nibbles in the world!

Komal's Wings
Step 1 - Marinate the chicken:

1kg chicken wings, halved (I used 1kg of chicken nibbles)
2 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp tumeric
2 tsp garam masala
2 tsp coriander seeds, toasted in a dry pan and ground
2 tsp cumin seeds, toasted in a dry pan and ground
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh garlic
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
chilli powder to taste (I used a slightly heaped 1/2 teaspoon and they had a nice flavour with a little bit of a kick but it's up to you how much you use, if any)

Place the chicken wings in a large Snaplock plastic bag, add the remaining ingredients then use your hands to rub the marinade into the chicken. Seal the bag and refrigerate for 2-3 days.

Step 2 - Cook and Serve:

cooking oil for brushing
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 c roughly chopped coriander leaves
juice of 2 lemons

Preheat the oven to 180*C or heat your BBQ to medium-high heat.
Brush the chicken wings with oil and roast or barbeque until cooked through. Taste and season if required with sea salt and black pepper. Toss the coriander leaves over and squeeze over the juice from the lemons to complete.

I very passionately HATE coriander, if I get a mouthful of fresh coriander I want to vomit and then pour hot chilli sauce all over my mouth to rid it of the vile taste! Apparently it's a genetic thing? Anyway, I find coriander is either something you love or hate so I served the chicken with the fresh coriander in a bowl beside it so people could sprinkle it over if they wanted, and I also served a bowl of lemon wedges in case people wanted extra lemon.

Serve with a lot of serviettes and I recommend you get in their quick because there definitely won't be any left for seconds!

This book rocks! Worth every cent so get your copy today! 

Continuing with this blog's aparent Al Brown infatuation: if you live in Auckland or you are there for a visit, go and check ou his new (ish) restaurant 'Depot' in the CBD. The food is to die for, and although it is quite pricey it is well worth the visit! It's open from 7am everyday serving Havana coffee and delicious treats - if you aren't too full, try the 'sugar pie' it's like Russian fudge, condensed milk and custard pie had a baby... SO GOOD!

In other news, I seem to be the creator of a seriously amazing chocolate brownie recipe... After getting seriously annoyed about all the 'cake brownie' out there, you know that dry spongey brownie that is really cake and makes you angrily question where the fudgey goodness is?! I decided enough was enough and I set about making my own recipe, I read a number of recipes and then I created a couple of different brownies from a mixture of some that looked promising, I tweaked and fiddled and eventually I totally nailed it! It's chocolatey, it's gooey, it's fudgey, it's super bad for you and a total sugar coma inducing treat! I recently made a few to take to a friend's engagement party:

To say it was a hit would be an understatement, I had strangers come up to tell me how amazing it was, I lost count of the number of people who requested the recipe, AND I GOT PROPOSED TO! I assume this girl was joking but she came rushing up and asked if she could marry me so I could make her brownie for the rest of her life... I politely declined and said I had a boyfriend, so she proceed to run over to him and tell him that he needed to propose to me right now. Cue awkward smiles. So I'm feeling pretty awesome about that and I am trying to make myself share the recipe, I'm not quite there yet but I promise that one day soon it will be on here! Thus far I've only given the recipe to my Mum and that was mostly because I just felt sorry for her. My mum is an AMAZING cook! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! But she is not a baker, in fact she once made a chocolate brownie and I am not kidding when I say we could have tiled a roof with it, when she threw it into the rubbish bin, it cracked the bottom of the bin! BAD brownie! REALLY bad brownie! But "my" recipe is not only amazing, it's also really easy to make and if she can make it, ANYONE can! 

So, now that I've written a blog long enough to make me feel a bit less guilty, it's time to sign off. But, keep reading my blog, stick with me even though I'm a terrible person and totally neglected my blog for over 2 months, because one day you shall be rewarded with my brownie recipe!

x Hungry Lab

'Like a virgin, blogging for the very first time.'

I can't believe I just used a line from a Madonna song to title my very first blog entry... But here it is! MY FIRST BLOG POST! I've been meaning to do this for awhile now, and it has sat on my 'to-do list' quietly bugging me for far too long. If you've stumbled across my blog thinking it's anything to do with my hungry dog, I'm sorry for misleading you. The name comes courtesy of my very amazing boyfriend and I will explain it more in my next post. But basically this is a food blog, at least in the sense that my random musings and mumblings will be punctuated by recipes. I talk a lot so I can only assume that my blog posts may follow a similar vein.

I bit about me: I'm 24 years old and I've been living in Wellington for almost a year now, I grew up in Auckland - I can almost feel people clicking the 'x' in the corner when they read that, but bear with me! I'm studying at Victoria University and I spend an awful lot of money on baking and cooking ingredients. I also seem to spend an awful lot of time falling down, often in really embarassing ways (I fell off the cross trainer at the gym the other day, and last year I took out an entire yoga class in a domino sort of way...) so while I'm not going to promise to be a klutz it is likely that my blogs will feature stories for you to point and laugh at.

Also in each blog, aside from far too much talking and a recipe I'm also going to try to give one of my favourite places a 'plug', so here is my first; I get my People's coffee from Milk Crate, and the other day I was feeling like a pick me up so I went there for their delicious muesli and a latte. If you live in Wellington or you pop in for a visit, I recommend you put Milk Crate on your list, and just in case you're not convinced here's a photo of my breakfast:

Earlier this year I fell head first into the cupcake frenzy that has hit everywhere and it was only when a friend jokingly (?) questioned my ability to bake anything else that I emerged from the piped icing haze. It was hard to do, just look at how pretty they are!

I still love making cupcakes, they are something of a speciality of mine so I won't apologise for their frequent occurence in my blog, but I DO bake other things! I also cook, and I'm just getting into preserving which I'm sure will increase as Christmas approaches because preserved treats make great presents! Anyway, enough talking it's time for a recipe! This is a food blog after all! In my opinion, every baker needs a few basic recipes that they swear by, and one of the 'must have' recipes in an AMAZING chocolate chip cookie recipe. I found this recipe here, (my favourite food blog so far) and she got it from this blog. I've made a couple of little changes but it's basically the same recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

3 ½ cups plain flour
1 ¼ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp Maldon sea salt (if you’re using normal salt I’d use a slightly heaped ¼ tsp)
280g unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups brown sugar
1 cup Demerara sugar (you can use raw sugar)
2 free-range eggs (because cages are cruel!)
2 messy teaspoons vanilla extract
600g chocolate chips/chunks

Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder into a bowl and add the salt. Cream the butter and sugars. Add eggs one at a time and then the vanilla. Add the sweet buttery goodness to the dry mixture, then add the chocolate.

I like to make these for my boyfriend and he loves dark chocolate so I usually use blocks of Lindt 85% cocoa, and Cadbury dark chocolate chips. In my most recent batch I made up the 600g of chocolate using a 250g bar of ‘Whittakar’s 62% Cocoa Dark Mocha’, a 100g bar of Lindt 85% and a 250g of  ‘Whittaker’s 33% Creamy Milk’ and they went down a treat. You could try other flavoured chocolates if you felt like experimenting in your own 'lab' and the recipe also works just as well with milk chocolate, just use a wee bit less salt.

Mix until just combined. I use my hands, I think you get a better mixture without any floury lumps AND you get to lick your fingers once you’re done! 

You can cook the cookies straight away, but they get better after a few hours in the fridge, and your cookies will be smaller and fatter (that’s how I like my cookies!). If you want to cook them straight away do so on 180C for about 10 to 15 minutes depending on your oven.  Roll out small balls of dough and flatten just a little using either a fork or a wooden spoon. Otherwise wrap in Gladwrap and leave in the fridge overnight, then cook following the instructions above. Cookie dough will keep in the fridge for about a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed reading it. I'm a total grammar and syntax Nazi so feel free to slam me in the comments if I've made any typos!

x Hungry Lab