Smoked Eel Paté Recipe

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Grant Dixon
Prep:10 minutes Cook:2 minutes Difficulty:1

Ingrediants:

300 grams freshly-smoked eel, shredded
3 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
3 teaspoons red onion, diced finely
½ teaspoon crushed garlic
250 grams sour cream
Cracked pepper, to taste
Parsley, to garnish
25 grams butter.

Directions:

In a mixing bowl add shredded eel.
Add sour cream, sweet chilli sauce, onion, pepper and garlic.
Mix well and then refrigerate before serving with crackers.

Jim’s Goose Roast Recipe

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Jim Hart
Prep:Overnight Cook:2 hours Difficulty:1

Ingrediants:

1 goose, plucked, gutted and washed.
½ cup salt.
3 tablespoons baking soda.
½ bucket of water.
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs.
2 onions, diced.
50 grams butter.
Pinch of sage.
Pinch of thyme.
Garlic salt.
Ground pepper and salt.
Olive oil.
Butter.

Directions:

Mix ½ cup salt and baking soda in the bucket of water.
Soak goose in brine overnight.
Remove, dry well and lightly season the gut cavity with salt and pepper.
In a saucepan sauté onions in butter until translucent.
Remove from the heat and add breadcrumbs, herbs and garlic salt.
Mix thoroughly and stuff cavity, securing with string and skewers.
Brush goose all over with olive oil.
Sprinkle with ground pepper and garlic salt.
Place goose in a covered roasting dish with 3cm of water.
Cook at 200°C for 90 minutes, do not remove cover during steam roast.
Now remove the cover, baste the bird and brown for further 30 minutes.
Dripping will make an excellent gravy.

Canadian Geese
Canada geese were introduced from North America in 1876 for recreational hunting, but did not get established until 1905 when 50 birds were brought into the country and liberated in a number of different regions. The birds flourished in the South Island but had died out in the North Island by the 1930s.
In 1970 another attempt was made to establish the geese in the North Island and this was successful. Now they can be found in the Far North, Waikato, Taupo, Rotorua, Taranaki, northern Hawkes Bay, Manawatu and around Lake Wairarapa.

The geese mainly eat pasture and graze on crops, which has made them the enemy of farmers. It is said that one bird will eat and/or foul the equivalent pasture used to raise two sheep. If you wish to hunt Canada geese you will be welcomed with open arms onto most sheep stations around the country.

Thai Curry Duck Recipe

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from David Robinson
Prep:2 hours Cook:½ hour Difficulty:3

Ingrediants:

1 medium-size duck, plucked, gutted and washed.
2 large potatoes, cubed.
Butter.
230 grams mushrooms, quartered.
120 grams small shallots, sliced in halves.
2 cloves garlic, chopped.
Ground black pepper.
100 grams Thai red curry paste.
1 litre coconut milk.
28 grams liquid honey.
28 grams oyster sauce.
¼ cup finely-chopped fresh sweet basil.
1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Directions:

Place duck in a pot of salted water and simmer for 2 hours.
Remove duck from pot, strip all meat off the carcass.
Cut into bite-size pieces, removing as much fat and skin as possible.
Boil the potatoes to 80% done, drain and set aside.
In a wok, sauté mushrooms, shallots and garlic, add pepper, set aside.
In the wok add olive oil and curry paste.
Fry at medium heat, add additional oil if required.
Before the curry starts to burn add 2 tablespoons of the coconut milk.
Thicken a bit and keep stirring until the red oils slowly separate.
Stir in the honey, then oyster sauce.
Once it starts to thicken again, add all but 2 tablespoons of the milk.
Add the mushrooms, shallots and potatoes.
Bring it to a low simmer for 10 minutes with the lid off.
Five minutes before serving add sweet basil, duck and rest of the milk.
Mix well and cover. Serve on rice accompanied by a cold beer.

Duck
Duck Hunting duck is one of those Kiwi activities steeped in tradition, especially in rural communities.
The first weekend in May is eagerly awaited and has greater status than some religious holidays. In anticipation of opening day considerable preparation will have gone into the maimai, the traditional duck hunter’s lair, and preparing ponds, which are sometimes pre-fed.
Prior to the big event, gun clubs hold shooters’ ‘eye-openers’. A number of clubs and pubs host hunters’ evenings to determine the most realistic duck caller, camouflage and the like. Shotguns are given that extra bit of attention and the faithful gundog gets caught up in all the hype too. The scene is being set for what is a special annual occasion for some 80,000 people around the country.
Like all sports, bird shooting has become more sophisticated as time goes by. The traditional side-by-side shotgun has largely given way to ‘under and overs’. Now semi-automatic guns with magazines capable of up to five rounds are the order of the day. Lead shot over our waterways has been banned to appease the green element – a vocal minority. Decoys are moulded from plastic and can be made to move on the water or to simulate flight, with wings that flap.
Even the species have changed. Areas that were once the domain of the grey duck have been taken over by the mallard, which in turn has been superseded in many regions by the larger, domineering paradise shelduck. But at the end of the day you still have to put shot in the air in the right place to intercept dinner – and that has not changed.
The rewards are worth it. Wild duck is excellent fare and can be prepared in a variety of ways. Traditionally the birds have been hung for a day or two then plucked and drawn, before being roasted or casseroled. More commonly today they are breasted out and presented in a variety of ways, including manufactured into salamis and sausages; recipes for some of which are outlined below.

Pukeko Patties Recipe

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Mark Airey
Prep:12 hours Cook:20 minutes Difficulty:1

Ingrediants:

4 pukeko breasts.
200 grams of streaky bacon, remove rind.
2 onions, diced.
3 tablespoons cheap sherry.
1 egg.
Freshly-ground black pepper to taste.
Garlic salt.
1 cup breadcrumbs.

Directions:

Mince pukeko breasts and bacon together.
Add onion, egg, garlic and seasoning.
Thoroughly mix, using your hands in a bowl.
Add and mix enough sherry to get a nice moist consistency.
Cover bowl and allow to stand in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
Remove mince from the bowl and form into patties.
Heat barbecue plate or frying pan to a medium heat.
Cook for 10 minutes each side or until cooked through.

Pukeko
Pukeko Pukeko is the Maori name for this colourful and cheeky bird. It means ‘swamp hen’, as the same bird is known in Australia. It is believed to have settled here 1,000 years ago, although there is only fossil proof of its existence here going back 400 years or so.
Pukeko are omnivorous; they are ferocious hunters and live in family packs in swamps and wetlands. Both loved and hated, they can destroy a vegetable garden in a night, tear out newly planted seedlings, kill ducklings and eat the eggs of anything they can find. On the other hand, they are very pretty and cheeky with the flashing white tail feathers and their bright-orange beaks and legs. In New Zealand, Pukeko are a protected native game bird, which means they can only be hunted under license from Fish and Game during the duck-shooting season. Bag limits and seasons vary between regions, so please check your local game bird regulations before setting out on a hunt.
Hunting pukeko with dogs and two or three hunters in a drive through a swamp or wetland can be great sport, as they often flush without warning and fly surprisingly fast.
There is an easy trick to breasting a pukeko that takes less than a minute. It involves taking a dead pukeko, lying it face down on the ground with its legs stretched out towards you. Place a foot on each leg, so your boot covers the whole leg, bend down and take hold of the bird at the base of each wing as close to the body as possible, then stand up, pulling until the breast pulls away with the wings. Tuck these into your bag or belt and leave the rest of the carcass to the harrier hawks. Once mastered, this technique can be achieved as you walk with little disruption to the time spent hunting.
Pukeko breasts are great sliced into strips and barbecued, baked, casseroled or made into game soup. There is no reason to hunt them if you don’t intend to eat them.

Swan Breast with Peaches Recipe

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Dave Emery
Prep:20 minutes Cook:1 hour Difficulty:3

Ingrediants:

3 breasts of swan.
1 tablespoon olive oil.
3 medium-size firm mushrooms.
2 tablespoons grated orange rind.
1 teaspoon chicken stock.
¼ cup orange juice.
¾ cup puréed fresh peaches.
½ cup cream, whipped.
½ teaspoon finely-chopped fresh garlic.
1 teaspoon tomato paste.
1 cup strong chicken stock.
1 tablespoon light honey.
1 teaspoon guava or red currant jelly.
4 fresh peaches, quartered.

Directions:

In deep pot, heat oil and 1 tablespoon butter, let it melt and foam.
Add mushrooms and stir over high heat for 2 minutes.
Remove mushrooms with slotted spoon and set aside.
Lightly brown swan breasts on both sides and remove from pan.
Reduce heat to low and add 1 tablespoon butter and melt it.
Add garlic and orange rind, stir over low heat for 2 minutes.
Add tomato paste and chicken stock, blend.
Add and stir in orange juice and honey.
Stir over moderate heat until mixture boils.
Add peach purée and jelly then bring to the boil.
Place breasts in pot and coat with sauce.
Cook over low heat about 20 minutes or until done.
Arrange breasts on heat-proof serving platter or gratin dish.
Whisk whipped cream into sauce, add mushrooms and peaches.
Spoon sauce mixture over breasts and brown lightly under a grill.

Swan
Swan There are seven species of swans in the world, all pure white, except for the Australian black swan and the South American black-necked swan. The black swan is an Australian bird that flew to New Zealand around 1860 at the same time as acclimatization societies were releasing it as a game bird, resulting in an explosion of swan numbers.
The population peaked in the 1960s at around 100,000 birds; the bulk of the national population are resident at Lake Ellesmere in Canterbury, with numbers estimated in excess of 60,000. This number dropped dramatically to 10,000 following the Wahine storm in 1968. A combination of habitat change and silting from neighbouring farms has seen the population stabilise at this number. The main concentrations of the birds are now to be found on coastal lakes and lagoons around the South Island, and in the North Island, in the Wairarapa, Hawkes Bay, as well as on inland lakes in the Waikato and Rotorua. The Kaipara Harbour in the north also has a large population of swans with a good spread throughout Northland’s lakes.

Chamois 'n' Pork Crockpot Recipe

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Derek Meyer
Prep:24 hour Cook:10 hour Difficulty:1

Ingrediants:

Chamois meat, cubed.
Cheap sherry.
1 medium onion, chopped.
100 grams chopped streaky-bacon rashers.
100 grams mixed green and black olives.
1 clove garlic, crushed.
Pinch chopped rosemary.
Pinch chopped parsley.
Pinch chopped thyme.
300ml white wine.
Flour.
Oil.
Freshly-ground black pepper and ground salt.

Directions:

Place chamois in a bowl and cover with sherry.
Cover bowl and refrigerate for 24 hours.
Remove meat from marinade and pat dry with paper towels.
Sauté in moderately hot oil, browning on all sides.
Place in a crockpot.
Fry onion and bacon in a pan until half cooked.
Add to crockpot.
Add garlic, liquids and herbs, then pour into crockpot.
Cook on high for 8 hours, or until tender.

Chamois
Chamois A native to central and southern Europe and a member of the antelope family, chamois were introduced into New Zealand in 1907.
Released in the Mount Cook area they adapted to their new habitat with ease, and without natural predators their population exploded. Many animals are shot from helicopters and on foot by recreational hunters in an effort to control their numbers.
There are no chamois in the North Island; their natural habitat is the steep, inaccessible, southern-alpine mountain ranges. With the increase in numbers, resident herds have been found in the lowlands of the West Coast and in the forests behind Kaikoura.

Mum’s Hawaiian Rabbit Recipe

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Margaret Dixon
Prep:30 minutes Cook:30 minutes Difficulty:2

Ingrediants:

2 rabbits, skinned, drawn and jointed.
1 cup flour, seasoned to taste.
1 onion, coarsely chopped.
1 teaspoon crushed garlic.
2 carrots, peeled and cut in slivers.
3 stalks celery, sliced.
1 pepper, any colour, sliced and diced.
2 tablespoons vinegar.
1 cup white wine.
1 tablespoon brown sugar.
1 teaspoon soy sauce.
340 grams pineapple pieces in syrup.
1 tablespoon cornflour.
Sea salt and ground pepper to suit.
2 tablespoons olive oil.

Directions:

Place meat in plastic bag with seasoned flour and coat.
In a heavy pan brown the rabbit, remove to one side and drain pieces.
In the same oil sauté carrot, celery, pepper, garlic and onion.
Add soy sauce, sugar, pineapple and juice, vinegar and seasonings.
Add white wine.
Stir well.
Place browned rabbit into a casserole dish or crockpot.
Cover with mixture, topping up with a little white wine.
If casseroling, do so on a low heat 160° C for two hours.
When ready meat should start to come away from the bone.
If using a crockpot, put on high for an hour.
Followed by 6-7 hours on low heat.

Rabbit
Rabbit Captain James Cook first released rabbits in New Zealand in 1777 as a source of meat and fur. With limited habitat they spread slowly until farmers started to clear the land. As the extent of suitable habitat expanded, so did the rabbit population, and by 1890 they were present throughout most of the country.
The male and female rabbit are similar in appearance with the female having a narrower head. Females are called does, males are known as bucks and baby rabbits are kittens.
Rabbits are nocturnal; they spend most of their day underground in the safety of their burrow, coming out in the evening to feed through the night. When rabbits are observed out and about during the day, it often indicates a high population.
Unlike pheasant and hare, rabbits need to be gutted in the field as soon as they have been killed so as not to taint the meat. Check the liver for cysts – it should be an even blood-red colour. If there are cysts or white spots on the liver discard the rabbit. Take special care not to get rabbit urine on the meat. Young does (under eight months old) provide the best meat. Avoid lactating does. After skinning, check for and remove the scent glands from under the front legs at the natural seam where the legs join the body. They are small waxy-looking lumps – do not cut.
Generally the rabbit is butchered into seven pieces: legs, back straps and the carcass for stock. The legs are easy to remove – the front legs are not attached by bone and are removed by following the natural seam with a sharp knife. The hind legs need to be cut all the way around the base of the muscle, then folded over and dislocated from the hip joint. To remove the back strap, run a sharp knife down beside the spine to the hip joint then out. Simply grab the end of the back strap and it will peel straight off the rib cage.
A young, tender rabbit is now ready to cook, but if you are not so keen on the gamey taste you can remove the bones and soak the meat in a pot of salty water overnight to blanch it. Then simmer for two hours until a fork can pierce the meat. Do not overcook. At this stage you can cook the meat as you would chicken and can replace most chicken recipes with rabbit meat, remembering that wild rabbit meat is very lean and will dry out quickly.

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Marinated Roast Pork Recipe

(SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Barbara Simmons)
Prep:30 minutes Cook:3 hours Difficulty:1

Ingrediants:

1 wild pork roast.
2 cups of red wine (or port, or a mixture).
2 spring onions, minced.
1 stalk of celery, finely chopped.
1 carrot, finely chopped.
2 cloves of garlic, minced.
2 sprigs of thyme or 1 teaspoon dried thyme.
¼ cup olive oil.
2 teaspoons juniper berries.
Salt and pepper to taste.
2 tablespoons red currant jelly or jam.
Orange juice or lemon juice.

Directions:

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients.
Rub into pork and marinade for a couple of hours in the fridge.
Cook the pork at 180°C in the marinade, basting regularly.
Allow 25 minutes per 500 grams, plus an extra 30 minutes.
Check with a skewer to see if pork is cooked.
Juice should run clear when speared.
Take meat from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.
Strain the marinade, reduce it and add cream to thicken.
Serve it as a sauce.

Wild Pig
Those who have hunted wild pigs using dogs will appreciate the significance of that first bark after the pack has got a whiff of the prey.
All the senses are heightened as the hunter determines the direction of the initial chase and hopefully where the bail is about to take place. He has confidence his holders will do the job until he crashes through the scrub, heading for his dogs, to administer the coup de grace with a sticking knife designed to dispatch the quarry humanely.
Captain Cook introduced pigs to New Zealand on his 1773 voyage to New Zealand. He hoped they would spread and provide food for sailors on subsequent journeys. Spread they did, and like so much of the flora and fauna introduced to New Zealand, such as rabbits and gorse, they established themselves in plague proportions.
To the Maori, the ‘Captain Cookers’, the black and purest strain of wild pig, became a valued food source. Similarly, the early European colonists were also grateful to harvest them for sustenance and the wild stock soon interbred with domestic animals.
Because of its diet, wild pig meat is darker and has a more distinctive flavour than domestic pork. The taste is ‘shaped’ by the pig’s environment. Meat from a pig feeding on fern and roots in the pine forest is quite different from its counterpart grazing on grass.
Once you have caught your porker, there are two initial ways of dealing with it. One is to singe it, the other to skin it. The latter takes more skill, but when the pork hits the table the effort will have been worthwhile; if the skin is left on it will tend to shrink the meat, making it tougher. Unlike domestic pork, the skin from wild pork does not form ‘crackle’.
When roasting wild pork, do so in a large oven bag to help retain the moisture and flavour. Slow cooking is best and barbecuing wild pork can be tricky to get right. Wild pork, because of its strong, gamey flavour, is ideal with sauces and goes well with fruit-based bastes.

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Kina Fritters Recipe

SpotX Wild Foods Recipe from Polly Were
Prep:5 minutes Cook:5 minutes Difficulty:1

Ingrediants:

1 cup kina roe.
100 grams plain flour.
1 egg.
Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste.
½ cup milk.
1 teaspoon baking powder.
Lemon wedges.
Parsley, chopped.

Directions:

Mix together flour, baking powder and salt and pepper.
Add beaten egg and milk to create a smooth batter-like mixture.
Stir in kina roe and leave to stand for an hour.
Pour enough olive oil for shallow frying into a pan set on medium heat.
Place dollops of mixture in hot oil to create fritters.
Serve with a squeeze of lemon and pinch of parsley.

Kina
Kina While an opened kina does not look particularly appetising, to many people the orange/yellow roe it contains is a true delicacy.
Kina – commonly referred to as ‘sea eggs’ – can be found along the rocky foreshore throughout the country, just below the inter-tidal zone. Found in relatively shallow water and being stationary, it is not difficult to catch. A word of warning though – the animal is protected by an array of sharp spines which can inflict a nasty puncture wound to any skin they encounter, possibly resulting in infection.

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Soused Snapper Recipe

Lemon Crumbed Blue Moki Recipe

Cod and Oysters Recipe

Curried Cod Recipe

Classic Crayfish Mornay Recipe

Moroccan Elephant Fish Recipe

Citrus Flounder Recipe

Gemfish in Chermoula Marinade Recipe

Quick Seafood Medley Recipe

Balinese Bass Recipe

John Dory in White Wine Sauce Recipe

Infused Kahawai Parcels Recipe

Marinated Kingfish Steaks Recipe

Nutty Trout Recipe

Billy Ho’s Flamed Maomao Recipe

Marlin on a Muffin Recipe

Baked Mullet Recipe

Curried Octopus in Coconut Recipe

Piper Stir-fry Recipe

Thai Porae Patties Recipe

Mako in Herb Butter Recipe

Shikkered Salmon Recipe

Stingray Casserole Recipe

Kiwifruit Squid Recipe

Popeye’s Tarakihi Recipe

Mark’s Trevally Kokoda Recipe

Trumpeter Poached in Coconut Milk Recipe

Zambucca Tuna Nibbles Recipe

Blackened Warehou Recipe

Chive and Lemon Whitebait Fritters Recipe

Smoked Eel Paté Recipe

Jim’s Goose Roast Recipe

Thai Curry Duck Recipe

Traditional Mutton Bird Recipe

English Pheasant Recipe

Pukeko Patties Recipe

BBQ Quail Recipe

Swan Breast with Peaches Recipe

Turkey Strips Recipe

Chamois 'n' Pork Crockpot Recipe

Venison Back Steak in Mustard Recipe

Goat Leg Marinade Recipe

Mum’s Hawaiian Rabbit Recipe

Stuffed Possum Recipe

Thai Wallaby Meat Balls Recipe

Marinated Roast Pork Recipe

Kina Fritters Recipe

Oysters Kilpatrick Recipe

Scallops with Dipping Sauce Recipe