Wellington on a Plate lives on

Wellington on a Plate may have retired for 12 months but the taste sensations from New Zealand’s largest and best known food festival live on in the minds of both chefs and diners.

The popular festival again provided some stellar moments for food lovers.  Now locals are expanding their already comprehensive culinary knowledge by following the chefs back to their kitchens.

So what were the big moments among local chefs?  Well, a prominent ingredient in WOAP chef kitchens has been New Zealand King Salmon’s premium brand, Ōra King.

Shaun Clouston of Logan Brown produced an Ōra King salmon with beetroot gnocchi, horseradish cream & baby cress entrée on his lunch menu.  It was, he says, a dish with absolutely amazing flavour.

“We hot smoke the salmon with apple wood and grape vine trimming and then brush it with a little apple syrup once it is finished smoking.  All the other components to the dish are sourced locally and the cress is grown specifically for us,” says Shaun.

Chef Marc Soper featured his sumac and brown sugar spiced Ōra King salmon, local beetroot and feta with poached apple, fresh citrus and shaved fennel in citrus reduction entrée at his pop up Pirinoa Station restaurant.

“The acidic nature of sumac together with the brown sugar works well with the high fat of the salmon and the sweet and tangy textures of the fennel.  Grapefruit and orange work with the soft cheese and the reduction of grapefruit and ginger cuts through all elements of the dish leaving the mouth feeling fresh,” says Marc.

Executive Chef of One80 restaurant, Chetan Pangam, made Ōra King salmon a star of his local degustation menu.

Waikanae crab bon bon, smoked Ōra King Salmon, pickled cucumber, remoulade sauce, carrot saffron oil, Zatar wafer was matched with a Palliser Riesling 2012 to make up the fourth course of the eight course degustation.

Laurent Loudeac of Hippopotamus Restaurant at the Museum Art Hotel included an Ōra King starter on his lunch menu for Wellington on a Plate.  Ōra King salmon sashimi with wasabi, soy jelly, cucumber, wakame salad, seaweed caviar and ginger syrup.

And the team at Hummingbird included an Ōra King starter on their dinner menu. Grilled ciabatta and Olivo extra virgin olive oil, followed by Ōra King salmon, citrus, wasabi, Prana herbs, beetroot.

Over in Petone, Glen Taylor of Taylors on Jackson incorporated Ōra King into both his lunch and dinner menus.  Ōra King Salmon with apple, beet juice, sprouted wheat and charred cucumber adorned the lunch menu as a starter option while a Yellow Brick Road natural plate was created for the dinner entrée and included oysters, Ōra King salmon, line-caught market fish and pickled sea vegetables.

While the festival may be over for another year, chefs in the capital are continuing their love affair with Ōra King salmon with it featuring on many well-read menus around Wellington.