Nautilus

Nautlius Restaurant

Sulphur Point

Tauranga

Enjoyed a really lovely meal at Nautilus this evening.

We started with the 'Artisan breads',

 a platter of fresh bread served with Olive Oil, dips and Olives. 

The perfect sized entree for two.

For mains, I had the Fish of the Day. This is without a doubt the best meal out I have had in ages! Fairly decent sized Tarakihi fillet, poached, 3 scallops, 3 mussels, 3 prawns, and veges - broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, parsnip and potatoes. For someone as indecisive as me this was the perfect meal - a posh seafood medley really. Yummmo!!

My husband had the Scotch fillet, and if I hadn't enjoyed my meal so much I would have been very jealous. This was amazingly presented - a generous portion of steak served with fries, onion rings, and gravy (sorry, pinot noir jus sauce). Also delicious.

The atmosphere at Nautilus was buzzing, obviously plenty of regulars and everyone's meals looked amazing. Good service, good food, good wine. Slightly on the pricey side so probably best saved for a special treat. 

I am well impressed with Nautilus, will definitely be returning again after such a delightful culinary experience! Wow.

Banana and Walnut loaf

I'm a bit useless with bananas. I always promise myself I will eat them before they become past their best, but I never do. So once again I had the dilemma of what to do with over-ripe bananas, left in a sorry state in the fruit bowl. 

I have been meaning to try out banana loaf, or bread for a long while and today I finally got around to it. And as with a lot of things I wish I had got around to this a lot sooner. How many opportunities for delicious banana loaf have I previously missed? One will never know.   

Here is my recipe for banana and walnut loaf, it is a variation from my beloved Edmonds cookbooks' banana loaf recipe. My recipe calls for the addition of walnuts, less butter, brown sugar.

Ingredients:

3.5 cups of self raising flour

half a teaspoon of baking soda

half a teaspoon of salt

1 cup of brown sugar

4 eggs

half a cup of milk

75 grams melted butter

2 mashed bananas

1 cup of chopped walnuts

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl before adding brown sugar. In a second bowl beat the eggs before stir in milk, melted butter, mashed bananas and walnuts (don't forget to set aside a few walnuts for sprinkling on the top of the loaf).

Mix the liquid ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients, stirring until everything is just combined.

Transfer mixture into a greased cake tin, sprinkle with walnuts and bake at 180 degrees for approx 50 minutes (maybe longer, I lost track of time). Test with a skewer until it comes out clean, reassurance that the loaf is cooked right through . . .

Like so.

Spread with butter . . .

 and enjoy!

Mexican Night: Tacquitos

Yes, I love Mexican food. And for good reason . . . this is yet another excellent addition to my repertoire- Tacquitos, which I think are a bit of a cross between burritos and enchiladas.

The three main ingredients are chilli, grated cheese and (store brought) burritos. I used a vegetarian chilli made with beans, chopped onions, capsicum and tomatoes, garlic, coriander, and because I like it to have a bit of a kick: chopped chilli and chilli sauce.

Spread 2-3 tablespoons of chilli across the middle of a tortilla and sprinkle with grated cheese. Then roll it up, as tight as possible without losing chilli out the sides and pop into a greased baking dish. Repeat until your dish is full.

Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 220 degrees
for 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown:

And serve with guacamole
(avocado, chopped tomato and red onion, lime juice and coriander)

Yum!

Red Velvet Layer Cake

I spent most of yesterday in the kitchen with a friend making a Red Velvet Layer Cake for her fiance's birthday. It must be love . . . this took us close to four hours in total, but was so worth it!

We separated the red velvet cake mix into four greased glasses to make sure each layer would be the same size.

Before baking each individually:

Once all layers had cooled they were then wrapped in cling film and popped in the freezer, to make them easier to ice.

Yummmmm this looks (and tasted) just amazing, a work of art!