Beef + Lamb NZ Ambassador, Ben Batterbury recently cooked Cadrona Merino at one of our RWNZ Cooking Demonstrations held in Winton (recipe below).

Cadrona Merion is a unique product to New Zealand and is receiving great acclaim from chefs across the country. 

After years of poor meat and wool returns, Cardrona Valley farmer Ben Gordon decided to throw a carcass over his shoulder, remove the middleman, and sell his delicate merino lamb direct to chefs. After a lot of hard graft and early on speed wobbles, Cardrona Merino is now performing well.

You can hear more about Cadrona Merino HERE.

RWNZ Beef + Lamb Cooking Demonstrations are taking place around New Zealand over the coming months. Click here to find out more.

Cardrona Merino Lamb “Tagine” with Falafel, Cauliflower Cous Cous and Black Olive
Serves approx 8

Lamb
2 lamb Topsides marinated in oil with cumin seeds, cinnamon, star anise and garlic. To serve just fry the meat in a pan until golden and roast in the oven, leave to rest for 10 mins and carve and serve.
4 lamb short ribs marinated in brine (1ltr water, 100g salt, 20g sugar)
in the brine i add :
20g cumin powder
5g Turmeric
3g Paprika
5g Star anise
10g coriander powder
2 cloves garlic
15g fresh ginger
3g cinnamon powder
Leave the ribs overnight then drain, rinse and dry. Brown these in a pan and reserve.
In another pan take 1 sliced onion and fry this until soft add a tbsp of honey and caramelise this. Add 200ml white wine and a litre of chicken or lamb stock. Add a small amount of fresh spices used in the brine and simmer briefly. Put this and the ribs into a braising dish, cover with tin foil and cook in a 150 0c oven for about 1-1.5 hours until tender. Leave to cool. Gently remove the ribs and chill. Pass the liquor and reduce until sauce consistency reserve. When ready to serve brush the ribs with the sauce and bake in a hot oven (180 0c) until glazed and heated through.

Dried Apricot and Cinnamon Puree
70g Dried Apricots
10g Sugar
250mlr water
½ tsp Cinnamon powder
2g Cumin seeds
10ml Grape seed oil
Boil all except the oil in a pan until the apricots are tender then blend adding more water if needed then add the oil and pass through a fine sieve. Reserve

Falafel (will make about 30)
250g Dried Chick Peas soaked overnight then rinsed and drained
5g chopped garlic
100g chopped onion
1 tbsp butter
Cook the onion and garlic in the butter until soft and leave to cool
12g cumin powder
4g turmeric
12g Coriander powder
Toast the spices in a dry pan
½ bunch coriander chopped
1g chill flakes
1 egg
salt
1-2 limes
1 slice white bread crusts removed
1 red chilli finely diced
Place all into a food processor until it becomes a paste then fry one to check the flavour. When happy shape the falafels and reserve until needed

Olive Paint
Dry in a low oven or dehydrator a handful of pitted black olives until dry then blend with a touch of olive oil to form a paste. reserve

Cauliflower cous cous
200g Cauliflower grated on a cheese grater
chopped coriander
1 tbsp butter
In a hot frying pan add the butter until if foams then add the cauliflower and fry until golden brown add the coriander a pinch of salt and its ready!

To Serve
to garnish this i use a few toasted sliced almonds, some cooked whole chick peas, some buttered cavalo nero cabbage and some fried aubergine.
Brush the plate with olive paint place the cavalo nero at one end and place the carved top side onto this. At the other end spoon the cauliflower and place the ribs. In the middle place the falafel. Sprinkle with almonds, spoon around a few chick peas and aubergine, and dot the apricot puree around the plate. Finish with a spoon of the rib sauce and Enjoy!

A great photo of our Glenorchy Rural Women selling copies of our stunning cookbooks, pickles and jams in -7C at the Remarkables Market in Queenstown!

We were delighted with the feedback we received from RWNZ members and other groups interested in safety issues, following our call for an indication of community support for active 20kmh signs on school buses. Click the link below to see the feedback summary. 

In terms of next steps, TERNZ have been asked by NZTA and the Ministry of Education to apply for funding from the Road Safety Trust for a 50 bus trial of the active 20kmh signs.

Jackie Edkins, RWNZ’s information officer, will be going to the Australasian Road Safety Research, Policing and Education Conference in Wellington in October, co-presenting a paper with TERNZ on its school bus safety research.

School bus safety is an ongoing project for RWNZ and we will keep you updated as the 20kmh signage project develops.

Summary of Community Consultation - Active 20km/hr school bus signs

Read more about the RWNZ School Bus Safety Campaign HERE.

Do you, or does somebody you know, have time to help an agriculture trainee become a successful New Zealand farmer?

AgITO has begun a nationwide initiative to train volunteer mentors to help agriculture trainees complete their qualifications. Many trainees struggle to complete their training for a host of reasons – some have literacy and/or numeracy issues and many have mindset and confidence issues, especially if they did not do well in a school setting.
To be a mentor you don’t need to be a grammar or mathematics expert, the most important skill is empathy and the most important contribution you make is your time. The mentoring process works best when the mentor and mentee meet regularly – about an hour a week.

They’ll train you to do the best job you can – volunteer mentors attend a two day course run by AgITO, usually over a weekend. Once trained, mentors have any costs involved in being a mentor reimbursed.

If you’re keen to be involved or find out more, please contact :

Mike Styles, LLN Adviser
04 381 7827 or 027 445 7225
mikes@agito.ac.nz.

A great podcast from Saturday morning’s Country Life programme, featuring RWNZ member Beverley Forrester. Beverly runs a paddock to catwalk designer wool business called Blackhills and her designer clothing brand Beverley Riverina. 

Click here to listen to the podcast

Award winning executive chef and New Zealand Beef and Lamb Ambassador, Ben Batterbury recently gave a demonstration in sunny Winton, infront of a SOLD OUT and very discerning audience of Rural Women New Zealand members and friends.

RWNZ Beef + Lamb Cooking Demonstrations are taking place around New Zealand over the coming months. Click here to find out more.

Below is the recipe for just one of the fabulous dishes Ben created.

Wakanui Beef Cheek Cannelloni, Braised Lentils, Malted Parsnip Puree and Licorice

Serves approx 8
Beef Cheeks
1kg Beef cheeks (we use Wakanui grain fed)
1 Carrot
1 Onion
1 stick Celery
1 sprig thyme
2 cloves Garlic
1 ltr Chicken stock
1 Bottle Dark malty beer (approx 4-500ml)
200ml Red Wine
100g butter

Chop all the vegetables into large pieces. In a pan add half the butter and wait until it foams then add the vegetables, garlic and herbs. Sweat for five minutes then add all the liquids and simmer until ready to use. Pat the cheeks dry on a cloth and season with salt. In a pan add the other half of butter and wait until it foams then add the cheeks and brown all over then remove and place into a casserole pot, pour over the liquor and cover the pot with a lid or tin foil. Bake at 150 0c for approx 4 hrs until tender. Leave to cool in the liquor. Drain the cheeks through a colander keeping the liquor. Place the liquor into a pan and reduce until sauce consistency. Put the cheeks into a bowl (discard the veg) and squish with your hands to break up and remove any connective tissue. When the liquor is a sauce add a bit back to moisten, season and reserve. 

Cannelloni

Cut the pasta into appox 5x6cm rectangles. Have a pan of boiling salted water and a bowl of iced water ready. Drop the pasta sheets into the boiling water for 30 seconds and then submerge straight into the ice water. Remove and pat dry with a towel. Lay out a piece of cling film and brush with oil. Lay the past onto this and then brush the top side with a little egg, spoon your cheek mix onto this and roll in the pasta into a cylinder then wrap tightly in the cling film and tie both ends. Warm through in simmering water when needed.

Parsnip puree

250g peeled chopped parsnips
50g Unsalted Butter
10g Malt Extract
Place all into a heavy bottomed pan and just cover with water and add a good pinch of salt. Boil rapidly until the water evaporates and the butter emulsifies. Place all into a blender and blend adding a little water if needed (the puree should be turning smoothly but not a soup!) season and then pass through a fine sieve.
Licorice Puree
100g licorice unsweetened (ie.Panda brands)
water
Place both into pan and boil, when the licorice is soft transfer to a blender adding the cooking liquor back to make a smooth paste.
Licorice Froth
250ml Beef Braising Liquor
1 tbsp of the licorice puree
500ml Milk
4g Lechithin
Place all into a tall narrow saucepan and leave for about 30 mins for the lechithin to soak. Then warm on the stove (do not boil) and froth with a stick blender. 

Braised Lentils

100g dried Puy lentils soaked overnight in water
1 carrot
1 Onion
1 Stick Celery
2 Clove Garlic
50g Butter
500ml Chicken stock
sprig of Bay and Thyme
Drain and rinse the lentils after soaking and place into a pan. Add the chicken stock and water if needed to cover. Take half the onion, 1 clove garlic and the herbs and wrap in a cloth and tie and place this into the lentils. Simmer the lentils gently until tender approx 20 mins. Leave them in the liquor to cool slightly. Finely dice all the vegetables and remaining garlic and sweat this off in a pan with the butter until tender. Drain the lentils but keep the liquor, discard the herb bag. Add the lentils to the vegetables. Reduce the cooking liquor until coating consistency and add back to the lentils, season and reserve.

Pasta

5 Egg Yolks
2 Eggs
2Tbsp Olive Oil
2Tbsp Water
1 Sachet of Saffron Powder or A Pinch of Saffron
2 Pinches Salt
500g Pasta Flour
Take a bowl and half fill with ice cubes and then place another bowl on top.
Place the water and the saffron into a pan and boil until it has nearly evaporated then add the olive oil. Whisk and pour into the bowl set above the ice and whisk until emulsified. Then add the eggs and the egg yolks and whisk again. Push this through a fine sieve.
Place half of the flour into the food processor with half the salt and start it turning. Slowly add the egg mix little by little stopping the machine regularly and scraping the sides and bottom of the machine with a spatula. When the dough resembles little beads take a little of the dough and squeeze between your fingers as thin as you can, if the dough has a smooth edge but does not stick to your fingers then it is right, if it is jagged then it is too dry and requires a little more of the egg mix. When the dough is ready remove from the machine and knead until it comes together and then wrap tightly in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of flour.
When rolling the pasta start at the widest setting and work through the machine and repeat reducing the width of the machine each time when you get to the last setting fold the pasta back into a block and repeat. Lay the sheets in between cling film ready to use.

To Serve
Smear the parsnip puree into the middle of a plate in a circle spoon the warmed Lentils into the middle of the puree. Dot the licorice puree around. Gently remove the cannelloni from the cling film with scissors and lay this on top, garnish with a few parsnip crisps, watercress sprigs and re-blend the froth and spoon a little around. Enjoy!

A new briefing paper released by UNICEF NZ, entitled “What Will it Take”, summarises the common themes from 80 organisations’(including Rural Women New Zealand) recent submissions to the Government’s Green Paper on Vulnerable Children. “What Will it Take” is intended to help drive discussion and inform debate ahead of the Government’s White Paper for children.

There are strong similar themes amongst submissions from all organisations. The most common theme in submissions is that the best way to do better for vulnerable children is to do better for all children. In addition, the submissions call for: an Action Plan for all children; priority to be given to investing in children and their wellbeing; increased emphasis on proactively looking for ways to support families and communities in their role of nurturing children; work to eliminate violence in families and communities and address inequities, especially child poverty.

The briefing paper makes 10 recommendations across four broad areas (sharing responsibilities, showing leadership, child-centred policy, child-centred practice). The main recommendations include:
• Government acknowledges and meets its fundamental responsibility by shaping, maintaining and promoting a child and family-friendly society;
• parents are fully supported to meet their responsibilities by having access to a wide range of free or affordable support services;
• community-led initiatives are encouraged and enabled;
• local government is recognized as having a critical social role in local communities;
• an Action Plan for all children in NZ be developed and put in place;
• investment be made in joint workforce development, including the development of a common set of values, standards and protocols, but not at the expense of service delivery to children; and
• positive and effective approaches to service delivery and community building be shared and their use encouraged.

“What Will it Take”, including further background information, can be viewed by clicking HERE

Article Complements Of Our Publication Bulletin Aotearoa - Click Here To Read The July Issue.

Rural Women New Zealand congratulates Pharmac’s decision to provide Iressa as a targeted treatment for non-squamous advanced non-small cell lung cancer. This is a boon for rural patients who will qualify for this simple pill for their treatment.

“Having cancer is distressing enough and for rural patients and their families and having to travel long distances to receive treatment is an added burden”, says RWNZ spokesperson for health, Kerry Maw. “As an organisation that advocates for access and equity we often hear of the difficulties families have in receiving first-line treatment for serious illnesses. So having a simple pill they can take at home will make it that much easier for people to cope with an illness.” 

“However, when people are taking such medication at home we believe it’s really important that they are well supported by practice/district nurses or homecare workers", says Mrs Maw.

Rural Women New Zealand is hopeful that this new treatment option is a lead-in to other similar developments in health service delivery (such as the Integrated Family Health Centres), which gives more choice to rural families, allowing them to receive treatment closer to or at home.

Members of the RWNZ Aoroa branch recently hosted a Beef + Lamb Cooking Demonstration with Ambassador Chef Brenton Low. You can read about the successful event below in a feature in the Northern Advocate.

Click on the image to view a larger version.

We are all smiles today! We are thrilled to share with you the letter below from our Patron Lady Janine Mateparae, congratulating the organisation on the success of our aftersocks project.