Catalan delights with chefs Ian and Rhett Hornblow

Moore Wilsons, Wellington's fabulous fresh deli and market, has a series of classes at present and I took  the chance to go to the one last Thursday.

Chef Ian Hornblow assisted by his son Rhett, prepared three tapas dishes for us; dates with roquefort and pine nuts, pork meats balls in red pepper sauce, and catalian creme. What a treat this session was.

Our coffee orders were taken as we arrived - a perfect treat on the chilly Thursday morning. Moore Wilson's has a great air of generosity and hospitality and this welcome was perfect. Ian began sharing some of his experiences of Catalan food, their traditions and their produce. I found his stories completely captivating. Mid winter is a time I dream of being in warmer climates and Spain sounds just fine! Ian pointed out New Zealand is one of the few countries that serves wine as an aperitif, and encourages serving small bites of food with wine. The Spanish tend to eat 3 - 4 small dishes in an evening rather than the larger main course and desert we tend to serve in New Zealand.

Rhett began making the initial tapas of fresh dates, stuffed with roquefort and pine nuts. This tiny appetiser was simply delicious.

As he was preparing the meatballs, Ian talked of dining at Ombre the inviting new and popular eatery on the corner of Cuba and Vivian streets and the Havannah Bar in Wigan Street opposite the new city lighthouse theatre. Both great places. But I digress.

Pork meat balls: Ian combined pork mince, minced bacon pieces, olive oil, panko breadcrumbs, passata, herbs and eggs. These were rolled in fine polenta. Ian recommended this as a gluten free way of crumbing fish and meat.

While Rhett was rolling the meatballs, Ian made the red pepper sauce. He blitzed scorched red peppers with his home made passata (soon to be on the shelves of Moore Wilson's). This was strained then served as a base to the meatballs. Tapas number two looked great and tasted delicious; crunchy on the outside, moist inside and the sauce was completely moorish.
 Left: Rhett rolling the meatballs.

It was great to see Rhett assisting his dad and the two working easily together in the kitchen.

Right: Ian adds olive oil to the meat mixture. 

Immediately after the class, I wandered into the fresh market areas and packed a basket of all the goodies from the recipe and made these at home. They were easy to make and simply delicious.

Next was the creme catalan. This is a custard made of egg yolks, sugar, cinnamon stick and a little cornflour. Ian added finely grated skin of a fresh limes for extra zing. Then 15 - 20 minutes of dedicated stirring with a whisk. His bain-marie was a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water, where the water doesn't touch the base of the bowl - so the whisked eggs don't over cook.

This was served in tiny bamboo tubs and eaten with a wooden stick and was smooth, silky and creamy with the zing of lime zest. Quite fantastic. Ian also showed us how to caramelise the top with sugar and blow torch for creme brûlée. This looked fantastic, and pretty easy too with the tiny blow torch, but too much sugar for me. A definate treat for some time in the future.

The class was informative, had an air of abundance and the recipes were easy to follow. I loved being able to wander the market after choosing some special treats. Almost as good as being in Spain.