Venison Medallions with Honey-poached Tamarillos
Recipe ©copyright Julie Le Clerc 2012
Serves 3-6

3 tbsp Twining's loose-leaf Lapsang Souchong tea leaves
1 tsp Chinese Five Spice powder
Himalayan Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp Matapiro Olive Oil
1/3 cup Airborne Manuka honey
1/3 cup Tastemakers red wine vinegar
4 star anise
6 Tamarillos, peeled
400g NZ Farm-raised Venison Medallions, at room temperature
6 slices Hellers Free-farmed streaky bacon

1 Preheat over to 190°C. To make “Tea Spice Rub”, use a mortar and pestle to grind tea leaves with five spice powder, salt and pepper.

2 To poach tamarillos, place honey, red wine vinegar, star anise, salt and pepper, and 1/2 cup water in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes then add tamarillos and simmer for 5-10 minutes until just tender and infused with flavours. Remove tamarillos to one side and reduce liquid until syrupy.

3 Rub venison medallions all over with “Tea Spice Rub”. Place venison on a board and wrap each one neatly with a rasher of bacon; secure with a toothpick.

4 Heat an ovenproof frying pan, add oil and sear venison quickly on both sides for 1-2 minutes, to brown. Place venison into oven and roast for 5 minutes to finish cooking bacon and cook venison to medium-rare.

5 Remove from oven and allow venison to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes before serving topped with tamarillos. Serve reduced syrup on the side. Serve 1 or 2 medallions per person.

Tip: To remove skins, place tamarillos in a heat-proof bowl. Completely cover with boiling water and leave for 3-4 minutes. Drain and refresh with cold water. Make a small cut with a knife in the skin of each tamarillo and pull off the skin – it should just slip off.


Mexican Slow-roast Pork
Recipe ©copyright Julie Le Clerc 2012
Serves 8-10

5 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup Matapiro olive oil
Salt
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp Orcona Chipotle flakes(dried, smoked jalapeño chillies)
1/3 cup Tastemakers red wine vinegar
2kg Meat Cuisine boneless shoulder of NZ pork, skin scored, at room temperature

1 To make Mexican-style (Adobo) marinade, cook garlic in olive oil for 1 minute. Add 1 tsp salt, tomato paste, Chipotle flakes and vinegar. Cool and store in the fridge and use as a marinade.

2 Preheat oven to 220°C.Place pork on a clean work surface, skin-side up.Rub a little oil and plenty of salt into the scored pork skin. Rub Chipotle marinade all over the (underside) pork meat. Place pork, skin-side up, in a small roasting pan, to fit snugly. Roast for 30 minutes, until skin has started to puff up and turn into crackling.

3 Now, reduce oven to 170°C, cover oven pan with a double layer of foil. Return to roast for a further 4 hours, adding a little water to the pan at intervals, to stop marinade drying out. Remove foil and return to roast, uncovered, for another hour. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender and the cracking crisp.

4 Carefully move the meat to a serving dish, cover again with foil and leave to rest. Slice, or pull into shreds with two forks. Serve with cooking juices from the pan.


Orzo and Cherry Tomato Salad
Recipe ©copyright Julie Le Clerc 2012
Serves 6

1 1/4 cups Orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
1 punnet Beekist Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1/2 cup coarsely chopped basil leaves
3 tbsp Tastemakers Balsamic vinegar
4-5 tbsp Matapiro extra virgin olive oil
Himalayan salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 Cook orzo pasta in plenty of boiling salted water for 10 minutes or according to packet instructions until just tender to the bite.
2 Drain, rinse under cold water, and drain well again. Place in a large salad bowl.
3 Add remaining ingredients and toss well. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.


Super Berry, Yoghurt and Polenta Cake (gluten-free)
Recipe ©copyright Julie Le Clerc 2012
Serves 12

4 large eggs
300g (1 1/4 cups) ‘Strawberries and Cream’ EasiYo yoghurt
1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/3 cup Airborne Manuka honey
70g (1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp) instant polenta, plus extra to dust cake tin
70g (2/3 cup) ground almonds
1/3 cup potato flour (or fine rice flour)
1 1/2 tsp gluten-free baking powder
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
2 cups Orchard Gold frozen Super Fruits Mixed Berries
Gluten free icing sugar, to dust
Extra EasiYo yoghurt, to serve
Extra Airborne Manuka honey, to drizzle

1 Preheat oven to 150°C fan bake. Spray a 20cm bundt tin with oil and dust with polenta.

2 Whisk eggs, yoghurt, sugar and honey together in a bowl.Stir in polenta, almonds, potato flour, baking powder and lemon zest to just combine. Stir in berries.

3 Pour batter into prepared cake tin. Bake for 70 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

4 Remove from oven and stand in tin for 10 minutes to firm. Invert onto a plate and leave to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar. Slice and serve with extra EasiYo yoghurt on the side. Serve drizzled with honey.