Our lovely chef Anne Halson has come up with a tasty treat using John McRae’s eggs from the rolling hills around lake Wanaka. Perfect for a summers picnic or, if you live near Queenstown in January, a snack by the fire (it was 8˚ this morning). Check out more of her great recipes at her food blog – Fresh Kitchen.
Ingredients:
Makes I medium 24 cm tart
GF Tart case
3/4 cup rice flour
1/2 cup almond meal
3 tblsp potato flour, or cornflour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tblsp coconut oil
4 tblsp ice cold water
Fennel custard filling
1 large fennel bulb finely sliced
1/4 preserved lemon or zest of 1 lemon
3 Wanaka Orgainics’ free range eggs
1 cup coconut milk
4 bay leaves
Salt to taste
Method:
• Preheat oven to 190’C
• Sift or whisk together dry ingredients, add coconut oil and ice water and mix lightly together with your hands to form a dough, you may need to add a little more iced water.
• Wrap in cling film and refrigerate 30 minutes.
• Roll pastry between sheets of baking paper then press out into tart tin, this is a gluten free pastry and will need to be pieced in. You could substitute a regular savoury short crust or flakey pastry if you prefer.
• Toss fennel with preserved lemon or lemon zest and put 1/2 of it in to tart shell. Whisk the eggs and coconut milk together and pour over custard filling then pile on remaining fennel and place bay leaves in amongst fennel.
• Bake at 190’c for approximately 35 – 40 minutes
This tart has a very subtle soothing flavour as it is but can also be bumped up a notch by serving with salmon gravlax or hot smoked.
Wanaka Organics’ eggs
There are few things that you can eat which compare to the nutrient value packed into one egg. Especially when it is a pastured organic or free-range egg. I truly value the health benefits of eating eggs that come from chickens that are eating such nutrient dense feed from land that is free of all chemicals and pesticides. Add to that chickens that are roaming around outside all day taking in the sunshine and absorbing vitamin D.
Studies have shown that eggs from these good conditions outweigh the nutrients found in eggs from caged birds.
For example the organic free-range eggs contain:
• Four to six more times vitamin D (needed for the absorption of calcium and phosphorus into the bones)
• Two thirds more vitamin A (good for skin and eye heath)
• Three times more vitamin E (antioxidant that protects and repairs your skin)
• Double the amount of Omega 3
• Seven times more beta-carotene
• Good levels of Iron & Calcium
• Protein – approx. 7g per egg – one of the highest levels found in a singular food.
Therefore, choosing where your eggs come from really does make a difference!