Māori-Inspired Boil-Up
(Watercress, Fennel & Apples with Kikorangi Blue Cheese Aioli)
Vegetarian | Contains Dairy | Gluten-Free
I’ve been to New Zealand four times, but it was only during this trip with Fonterra that I got to discover more about the Māori culture and cuisine. We met Tara Riri Kore, a half- Māori who worked at the Whareroa Factory. While not conversant in Māori, she could understand the language and yearned for traditional Māori foods (kai Māori) to be more readily available in New Zealand. The boil-up is a dish her father would make regularly, a soup made with smoked pork bone, watercress and potatoes, and interestingly, commonly eaten on weekends as it is usually cooked over a long time and tastes better the next day! This meal is popular amongst the Māori today as a big pot can be prepared to feed large families and as a feast for guests.
I’ve always been partial to food steeped in goodness with deepening flavours, and the Māori boil-up became my inspiration for this vegetarian SouperChef Special! The slightly sharp watercress is puréed and paired with anise-flavoured fennel, roasted potatoes and sweet apples. I’ve omitted the pork ribs, added cream and what truly makes this soup sing – a specially made blue cheese aioli using artisan cheese, Kikorangi Blue, from Fonterra’s Kapiti range.
This is no ordinary blue cheese, but an award-winning intense and decadent triple cream cheese, generous in its network of blue veins! The sweet acidic tang with a piquant taste adds a new dimension to the sharp watercress flavour and I’m pretty sure this will please you, blue cheese fans!
Ingredients: Vegetable stock (water, root vegetables, herbs), watercress, potatoes, apples, fennel, cream, onions, garlic, lemons, grape must extract, salt, sugar, cornstarch, vegetable oil
Condiment: Kapiti Kikorangi blue cheese aioli