I am proudly the Ambassador for Avivia (formerly Christchurch Women’s Refuge), which I support wholeheartedly and this Christmas they invited me along to their Xmas function. During the invitation conversation, the subject of Whitebait was bandied about, how to cook it, what’s the best way, ingredients etc, etc.
The lovely, English CEO, Nicola and her husband Percy, go whitebaiting every year and Percy of course has a long reined whitebait recipe, that was passed down from his mother, and so on and so forth. So as you can imagine a whitebait cook off was soon on the table.
So it was all set up, a modern jamaican approach vs years of the traditional way……
So everything was ready, hats, knives, eggs, and secret ingredients, poor Percy was so nervous. Nicola counted us down, a quick slog of Pinot Gris and we were off…
It was such a lovely day, up there high above the streets in the Cashmere Hills, but I was determined, not to be distracted, so I could do my very best…
I served mine, in little canapé mouthfuls, with a lot of fresh herbs, a pinch of chilli a little dollop of lemon cream, and a shaving of lemon zest, delicious.
At the end of the cook off, however, there could be only one champion and by way of stones dropped into socks, the Aviva, Whitebait Cook Off winner was announced…..
Yey!
