MEAT THE LEADING LADIES
The Hawkes Bay greeted us with a cloudless blue sky and the brilliant sunshine that it is well known for. As we pulled off the main road and drove up the treelined driveway to Mangapapa Hotel, there was an immediate sense of serenity, of slowing down and stepping back in time. The grandeur of the old trees encircling the sweeping lawns and rose gardens gave way to the historic Mangapapa homestead originally built in the late 1800s, once home to Sir James and Lady Wattie.
Perhaps the legacy of such a well-known food producer such as Watties had created anticipation of what was in store for us. It seemed appropriate that Mangapapa was now home to an award-winning restaurant. We had arrived to be part of the Hawkes Bay Summer F.A.W.C festival and our host for the evening was Beef + Lamb Ambassador Chef Norka Mella Munoz and her kitchen team. Joining Norka in the kitchen was head chef, Kate Fay form Cibo in Auckland. Kate, a Beef + Lamb Platinum Ambassador Chef had joined forces with Norka and together had come up with a mouth-watering menu of beef and lamb to showcase the wonderful produce of the Hawkes Bay.
Beef + Lamb New Zealand have been recognising New Zealand top chefs for the past 25 years, and during that time less than a handful of chefs have been females. So, to have two leading ladies in the kitchen at Mangapapa for the evening was going to be something quite special.
Both Kate and Norka agreed that they have never really thought much about their rise to fame in a male dominated industry saying that with the support of their families they just got on with it. They also attributed their success to always surrounding themselves with a great kitchen team who are more like a second family who look after each other.
Norka grew up and trained in Chile where it was very rare to be a female chef but says coming to New Zealand opened up more opportunities for her. She would encourage anyone to be a chef if they have the passion and love for it. “It’s more about the individual than their gender - if you want to be a chef you have to feel it, dream it and live it – you have to work hard and while some just see the glamour of chefs on television, they don’t realise what you have to give up especially spending time at home with your children. So if you don’t have the family support it’s going to be hard.”
Both chefs agree that food is a universal language and is what sparked their interest in becoming chefs. Kate said her passion as a young woman was traveling which she combined with cooking as she travelled. In particular she loved the atmosphere and excitement of street food and working in different kitchens around the world. Norka says travelling and cooking go hand in hand and it was the spark that ignited her journey from the kitchens of Chile to the kitchens of New Zealand.
‘Meat The Leading Ladies’ was all about paying homage to these top female chefs and enjoying their interpretation of New Zealand on a plate using beef and lamb. Sally from Te Mata Peak wines joined the female foray with an impressive array of wine matches throughout the evening.
With 2020 almost behind us, Norka wanted her Ambassador Series dinner to be a celebration and an experience of bringing people back to socialising. She says F.A.W.C is about meeting new people and enjoying the food, wine and beautiful environment of the Hawkes Bay - with the elegant set up of the long tables in the dining room, Mangapapa certainly ticked this box. Norka says she grew up seated at long tables with family and friends socialising together over food – it’s a very important part of community life in Chile and that is what she wanted to recreate for her dinner.
Once seated we were served a selection of canapes. Kate served a Te Mana lamb tartare with an XO sauce and pickled scallop and a beef cheek pastilla with oyster cream. Kate loves to combine beef and lamb with seafood which her Cibo customers love. She says the flavours and textures combine so well, especially the sweetness of the lamb and scallops together. The beef cheek with oyster cream is a modern twist on the iconic carpet bag steak.
Norka’s canapes were a nod to her Chilean roots - a Hawke’s Bay Ovation lamb rib served with the fresh and zingy chimichurri and a beef empanada with Latin American spices with lemon – a nod to the street food from Norka’s South American background. The pastry was made using fat from the beef which took the flavour to another level.
Next up was Norka’s entrée - rose veal tartare with gravlax egg yolk, kalamata soil & potato chips. When you chat to Norka about veal you can’t help but feel her passion for cooking with this underutilised product. She is a big fan of veal and tartare so combining the two was a perfect way to showcase something a little bit different to her guests. The veal is raised on the Takapau plains in Hawkes Bay and is lean, tasty and tender. Matched with the salty kalamata soil and crunchy potato chips and served in a bone, this was a true paddock to plate eating experience. Norka says it’s not a complex dish, but the flavours just work so well together.
Kate’s lamb dish was served next – Hawke’s Bay lamb rump with sticky rib, cauliflower, hazelnut nuts and mint. Kate says this is her version of an upmarket lamb roast, so you really couldn’t get anything more quintessentially Kiwi than this. She had cleverly imparted the lamb flavour into nearly all the elements of the dish, including a petal of burnt onion filled with yoghurt mixed with lamb fat. The dish was also sprinkled with oats also cooked in lamb fat. The creamy cauliflower puree was the perfect foil to the rich sticky rib and the lamb rump with its more subtle flavour, it was lean and tender. Kate’s famous mint gel brought the whole dish together adding the fresh flavours reminiscent of a traditional Sunday roast.
After our palates were suitably cleansed with a tangy Calamansi & Basil sorbet the main course was served. This was another of Norka’s dishes and was full of smoky aromas and rich beefy flavours – Wakanui eye fillet with smoked marrow butter, slow cooked beef cheek, parsnip & black garlic puree with Pommes Anna and jus. Norka loves the flavour of the Wakanui eye fillet which matches beautifully with the rich flavour of the beef cheek. Norka crumbed the cheek to add crunch and served the dish with root vegetables and a black garlic puree with a little bit of charcoal for added colour. The smoked bone marrow butter melted on top of the eye fillet created the most amazing aroma when served and Norka finished the dish with a delicious jus which she personally poured for each guest at the table.
There was just enough room left for the most delicious light summery dessert – Texture of Scott’s Farm Strawberries with callabaut white chocolate cremeux, pistachio sponge & salted honey crumb. This was Norka’s salute to summer in the Hawke’s Bay with the fresh flavours of strawberries picked just down the road.
Both chefs stepped out of the kitchen throughout the evening to introduce each dish and chat to guests. Sally from Te Mata Peak Wines imparted her in-depth knowledge of the wine matches and introduced us to all the intricacies of each wine match.
It was a fabulous evening, but for the chefs it was much more than that. For Norka and her team it was a unique experience to have Kate cooking with them for the night. It wasn’t just about sharing a kitchen but it was sharing ideas, recipes and experiences.
Kate says it was great to be in another kitchen to see what other chefs are doing. Sometimes it might just be the tiniest of things that you can pick up from another chef that can inspire you. Kate was delighted that the young chefs in Norka’s kitchen were keen to learn about her recipes, saying after more than twenty years in the industry, it’s nice to be reassured her knowledge is still relevant for the young chefs coming into the industry.