Snapper is one of New Zealand’s most priced and favorite fish to catch. Snapper mostly live in shallow water (10-50 metres), although they are also found down to depths of 200 metres on the continental shelf of the North Island and northern South Island. See more information here

This beauty was caught one evening, surf casting along the shores.
We really enjoyed it as it was cooked to perfection.

This dish was prepared by Matt as he caught the Snapper. Often people will fillet it without the head, bones and all. But cooking fish with its head retains more moisture and the nutritional omega 3 fish oils.

Same ingredients can be use to steam fish.

Ingredients:

• 1 fresh sea bass, snapper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sesame oil + 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp finely-shredded fresh ginger
• 1 small onion
• 1 sprig of basil leaves
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped

Preparaton:

Clean the fish! De-scale, de-gut and de-gill it. Rinse and dry the fish well. Using a sharp knife, score both sides of the fish as far down to the bone, on both side, with a sharp knife. Rub salt and sesame oil all over, inside and outside of the fish

Place fish in a baking tray. Sprinkle the rest of the ingredients on top and inside of the fish. Cover with foil and baked in a preheated over at 200 c. degrees for 15 to 20 mins. (Depend on size of your fish)

For steaming:

Place fish on a platter and in a very hot steamer. (Of inside a wok on a rack) Steam vigorously, under cover or 12 to 15 mins.

Enjoy your fresh fish with steamed rice and vegetables on the side!

I always wondered how fresh wanton taste from the usual prepared wanton skin that you would get from the grocery store.

Decided to try my hand last evening at making my own wanton skin. It was different from the usual wanton, as it was fresh and more chewy, as you would expect with more gluten in the flour, especially since it is prepared fresh.

The challenge was to roll them out real thin, so that the fillings would cook nicely. Half of the dumplings were steamed and half were deep fried.

Recipe for fillings:Prepare the meat fillings 1st. It gives it time to marinate when you prepare the wanton skin. (you can substitute with other meats)

• 500g minced meat (prawns, chicken, beef, or pork)
• 2 bundles of Chinese chives finely chopped (replace with scallion if you can’t get them)
• 2 tsp of sherry or rice win
• 1/4 cup of woodear mushroom diced (dried Chinese mushrooms, shitake or any other to replace)
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• pinch of salt and white pepper to taste

Seasoned mince meat with all ingredients. Set aside when preparing the wanton skin.

Recipe for wanton skin: To make just enough for 500grams of mince meat fillings.

• 1 Egg
• 1 and 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1 tbsp of water
• 1/2 tbsp of vegetable oil
• pinch of salt

Beat the egg first, add salt, 1 cup of flour and water to mix it well. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour gradually, until it is well mixed, nice and firm, but not too tough. The dough should be medium firm. Let it rest for 5 mins, then knead again.

This time roll the pinch out ball sized dough, roll out on a floured surface and rolling pin. As moisture in the air tends to make the wanton skin sticky, keep them nicely dusted with flour after rolling them

A few weeks back, Matt and I took a drive down the coast in search of the look like rocks, often the same color and sticking out in base of bigger rocks or boulders in the water.
It was my second attempt and got about 7 of them.

My first dive and attempt I managed to harvest only 1 abalone. I was still learning to spot them.

That evening, we (mainly Matt:) managed to get about 13 of them, palm-sized Pauas in about 2 hours. The legal limit was 10 per person per day.

10 was plenty good for dinner. We prepared it with pasta-Penne, galic, tomatoes, onion, green peppers and squeeze of half a lemon when almost done.