Further adventures at the top of the South Island

After Kaikoura, we ventured north to the top of New Zealand's South Island to the Abel Tasman National Park area where the sea continued to be turquoisey blue, and the scenery remained amazing. We opted to stay in a self-contained chalet with cooking facilities, so we were able to have some cooking adventures.

One of the big landmarks of New Zealand is the Split Apple Rock just off a little town called Kaiteriteri.

As we were playing about on the beach, we noticed multiple rocks with mussels growing on them (and this is the bit where New Zealand police might want to arrest me). We were actually a bit disappointed with the huge green lipped mussels which are most popular in NZ, so we were very excited to see that this variety, which were the smaller type similar to those eaten in Europe. Obviously we couldn't let it go to waste, so plucked a kilo or two, and cooked the following recipe:

Moules on the move (serves 2)
2-3kg of small mussels
1 tbsp of oil
1 finely chopped onion
1 glass of white wine

1. Thoroughly wash the mussels, scraping off any barnacles clinging onto the shells, and remove any beards. Discard any mussels which are not closed, and will not close even if you tap them gently
2. Fry onion gently in the oil over a medium heat in a deep pan which will comfortably accommodate all the mussels, until soft but not brown
3. Tip the mussels into the pan, and add in the wine
4. Put a lid tightly onto the pan, and shake.
5. Wait for 3-5 mins until all the mussels have opened up
6. Eat, mopping up the juices with good bread.

If you are doing this at home rather than in an ill-equipped holiday chalet, definitely add some parsley. Other variations I like are to do it with bacon and cider (replacing the wine), and also one with garlic, ginger and coconut milk.

I loved seeing all the beautiful lambs as we were driving all around NZ (there are 40 million sheep to 4 million people), so obviously we had to eat some (hee hee). The lamb was so beautiful that we ate it 4 nights in a row! We were blessed with a barbeque, so we did some very simple barbequed lamb racks which had been marinated in garlic and rosemary. The spring asparagus had also just bloomed, delicious!