As part of Rick Stein’s Food Odyssey Tour they are calling for an homage to Kiwi food, something that speaks tradition, or rather, something that stands for the identity of New Zealand cuisine. I’ve always liked a good boil-up in spite of always knowing that it wasn’t the perfect meal, and that too many of them would quite swiftly lead to a blocked coronary, but it is warming and probably (after the Hangi) the most iconic Kiwi meal. Even though I thoroughly enjoy a Boil Up, there are definitely a few things that have prevented it from becoming a regular feature in my house, first up, the doughboys. A dumpling can be a beautiful thing, but all to often they are heavy, bland, and far too big. Secondly, I’m not a huge fan of soupy meals, and a boil up walks a line between meal and soup that I don’t think has a real classification in traditional cookery.

This is my take on what it I think a Boil Up would want to be when it grew up (in the 21st century). First of all, it became less of a broth and more of a meal. The star of this dish is easily the pork glaze, thick, rich, mouth coatingly excellent, it has the rich pork flavour and the slight peppery flavour from the watercress stalks. A close second are the gnocchi, a little parmesan for savoury effect and a lot of watercress, replacing the heavy doughboys with something light and flavourful. Everything else in the dish is either due to a direct inspiration from the original dish or drawn from other culinary traditions that I associate with Porkdom.

Now, before you tell me that there are burnt bits on my plate, they are the black pudding croutons. Nasturtium leaves are the green lily looking things, they are related to watercress and share the sharp pepper taste with the nasturtium’s effect being somewhat more pronounced in the aftertaste. Rosemary flowers on the pork its self, and viola flowers for colour and lightness. The detergent looking bubbles are an apple foam, light, subtle and clean.

Here you get a better look at the gnocchi and the kumara, I like them turned and roasted. The pork is a simple loin that is pan fried and finished in the oven.

Here are the basic components of how to make this dish.

First up the pork glaze. This one doesn’t really require a lot of finesse, just patience and a watchful eye.

Firstly, make a Pork Stock
½ Leek
½ Celery
1 Onion
2 Carrots
3kg Pork Bones (browned in the oven)
10L Water

Make sure when you brown the bones that you drain the fat that has rendered. You don’t want it in the stock. Here’s a good background on how to prepare a stock, just ignore the part at the top where it says pork isn’t suitable, cause it’s great if you treat it right.

Reduce the stock down to a thick glaze that will coat a spoon, and hopefully your stomach. Put some water cress stalks into the glaze while its reducing.

For the gnocchi

60g Flour
125g Water
25g Butter
2g Salt
2 Eggs
30g Parmesan Cheese (grated)
40g Water Cress (chopped)

Make a pate au choux by mixing flour/parmesan/salt into the boiling water/butter. Beat and continue to cook until glossy and cooked out, cool a bit and then beat in the eggs bit by bit, this part takes some muscle, so get out the stand mixer if you prefer. Mix in the chopped watercress and put into a piping bag. Pipe into hot water and poach until swollen and cooked.

The apple foam isn’t really something that you can do at home without the upfront cost of finding a source of powdered soy lecithin, not hard to track down, but usually in package sizes far greater than you would ever hope to use in a domestic kitchen. Although the adventurous cook could quite happily serve foams and airs for meals instead of solid food to make good use of the powder.

600ml Apple Juice
3g Lecithin

Mix the two ingredients together and then foam with a hand wand. Let it sit and then scoop the top of the foam off with a spoon and dollop it onto the plate.

The other bits and pieces on the plate don’t really require a recipe, just some TLC and a little personalization.