From Tree Top to Table Top - a cookbook with a difference

COOKING WITH CHARLES ROYAL    

by Charles Royal and Jenny Kaka Scott

Huia Publishers - $45

Chef Charles Royal uses indigenous NZ ingredients such as kawakawa, pikopiko, wild bush mushrooms and frens to give traditional dishes a contemporary twist. Covering dishes from starters through vegetables and main to sweet treats, he shows how to prepare stunning dishes that have a uniquely New Zealand look and taste.

The book details how to locate, harvest and prepare the indigenous ingredients used and gives phtographs of them up close and in the natural environment. Photographs of the completed dishes accompnay the recipes and these are complimented by sceneic shots of Charles gathjering the ingredients and cooking in outdoor locations.

A recipe follows that will give you a snese of this interesting and unusual book:

Fire-roasted Kahawai

Kahawai is mainly a northern species but may be found in South Island waters in summer and can be found where there are good sea currents around estuaries and river mouths. A shoal of kahawai is easy to spot – the water close to the surface starts bubbling with life.
This recipe is perfect for those times when the fish is plentiful and long summer nights can be spent around a camp fire with family and friends.

This recipe also uses the leaves of mātete or five-finger (Pseudopanax arboreus) to wrap around the fish and prevent it from getting too black on the fire, although some charring is a good look.

Time 45 minutes
Serves 4–6

Ingredients

1 kahawai, scaled, gutted and cleaned
½ cup oil
1 teaspoon Kinaki 3 Pepper Spice
10 mātete or five-finger leaves (to wrap around the fish, optional)

Method

1. Build and light a camp fire in a safe place on a wind-free night or use a barbecue if at home.
2. Score the kahawai skin diagonally with a sharp knife.
3. Open the fish out on a board. Brush it with oil and rub the flesh with Kinaki 3 Pepper Spice.
4. Brush the skin with oil and sprinkle it with Kinaki 3 Pepper Spice.
5. Place the kahawai in a fish basket, close it and place it on hot embers.
6. Cook each side for 20 minutes while regularly brushing with oil.
7. When the fish is cooked, gently open the fish basket and serve the kahawai on hot vegetables.

Charles’s Tip
If you do not have access to mātete, try kiokio fern or banana leaves.

About the author:

Charles Royal trained as a chef in the New Zealand Army, gaining London City and Guilds qualifications. After ten years and having perfected cooking for a thousand people or a small dinner party, he worked in Air New Zealand’s catering service as the chef for business and first-class passengers and travelled the world sampling and cooking different cuisines.

He has been owner chef of two restaurants and has tutored cooking students. A growing interest in the Slow Food movement and experimentation with native plants in cooking led Charles and his wife, Tania, to establish KINAKI NZ®, which produces dried herbs and rubs for cooking.

Charles Royal is a leader in the field of Māori cuisine and is a nationally and internationally known chef. He won the prestigious award of New Zealand Innovative Chef of the Year 2003 and the New Zealand Cuisine Magazine and Matua Valley Wines Award of Innovation and Excellence 2004–2005.