Annabel Langbein - Free Range Cook - New Zealand

8/13/2019 Annabel Langbein - Free Range Cook - New Zealand

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In New Zealand shes adored as the free range cook, now Annabel Langbein is on the verge of international stardom.

Jane Binsley learns her secret to career sustainability

A nnabel Langbein is AWOL.She popped out to buy paua fora recipe shoot and got snarledin the central Aucklandrush-hour traffic.Im given a glass of wine andleft to roam her spacious Remuera home while

I wait the perfect opportunity for some journalistic nose-poking.Earlier, when Id told a friend I was writing

about food writer Annabel Langbein, his eyeswidened and he asked: Is she for real? Wevebeen watching the TV show and it all looks toogood to be true.

He was, of course, talking about the 13-partseries Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook ,which has been drawing up to 500,000 viewersto TV One on Saturday nights. In each show acasually dressed Annabel wafts through anidyllic South Island landscape, plucking fresh

herbs from the garden or ripe fruit from theorchard before venturing inside a rustic kitchento throw together meals that look so deliciousand achievable that youre inspired to rush outthe next morning and buy the ingredients orat least the sumptuous hardcover book thatgoes with the series.

It does all look too utopian to be true, butthis really is the life Annabel and her husband,farmer and businessman Ted Hewetson, havecrafted for themselves.

As I step out into the garden the evidence isincontrovertable. A large chunk of the half-acresection is devoted to a prolic vegetablegarden, abundant with artichokes, broccoli,tomatoes, lettuce, broad beans, beetroot,strawberries and fennel. But this is just theircity garden their real garden is at their cabinin Central Otago, the scenic location for thetelevision series. They divide their time

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between the two homes and grow as much ofheir food as they can themselves.

When she nally does breeze in t he door thisevening, Annabel is completely on-brand ineans, trainers and a slouchy tee. Only her

perfect black-painted nails suggest she hasntbeen digging potatoes this very morning.

Authenticity and integrity are reallymportant to me, she says, pouring herself a

glass of wine and settling down for a chat in theast of the afternoon sun. If it wasnt authenticcouldnt do it.Even the title of the series reects this: I like

he term free range because it hasconnotations of being healthy, outdoorsy andnatural a free-spirited approach to cooking. Ihought I could use that with authenticity

because we are farmers and we do grow ourown food. It wasnt as if we had to fabricateanything we just took a camera and recordedwhat we do down there.

"Our whole day can be spent thinking aboutdinner going to pick cherries, having a picnic,bringing them home for a meal. It has a naturalhythm, and Im trying to bring that rhythm

back into my city life.The message she is trying to get across in the

eries is that rich or poor, rural or urban wecan all bring a little of the good life into our dayhrough cooking and eating well. The closer

you eat to nature the bett er your experience isgoing to be its fresh and in season.

Its a philosophy that has found resonancenot just in New Zealand, but overseas, wherehe TV series has been sold into 72 countriesthe book, self-published by Annabel Langbein

Media, will no doubt follow). Ive just got backrom two weeks in Paris and London, says

Annabel, who is a director on the Susta inability

Council of New Zealand. I wondered whetherhis message could have resonance in theseurban environments, but it can. These peoplemight live in big cities but they are all going toarmers markets and seeking to reconnect with

a more natural way of living.She is a passionate advocate for her country.

New Zealand is a great place to live and I wanto take it out into the world. I believe in us

being successful as a country and if I can bepart of that, that drives me. This is our time.

It was a case of right product, right time,when scouts from the huge international

company FremantleMedia Enterprises, whichmade Jamie Oliver a star, spotted Annabelscooking videos on YouTube just two years ago.

I had made these two-minute clips to gowith my book Eat Fresh , she says. In each oneI started in the garden then I cooked therecipes and ended up eating around the table.They contacted me and said, We think youvegot something here. Why dont you come upwith an idea for a TV series? and they gave mesome seed money to make a pilot.

Her timing was impeccable, with herback-to-nature-without-sacricing-stylemessage perfectly capturing the mood of apopulation recovering from recession whilealso looking for ways to walk more lightly onour beleaguered planet, albeit in their ManoloBlahnik heels.

Im just a busy working mum trying to bethere for my family and live a responsible life,she says. I wanted to show people they couldgrow a bit of their own food, invite friends for ameal, bake a cake when new neighbours movein, take jam to someone when theyre sick.Those are the threads that build a communityand a good life.

When you cook you feel useful and

rewarded, and when you bring people togetheraround the table you have fun. It doesnt matterif youre rich or poor, it can do amazing thingsto your life.

With the TV series I wanted to go beyondthe practical and introduce a feeling of lifestyleby bringing in the sociability element andsharing more of my life and my journey.

And what a journey. In a way, the variousthreads of Annabels colourful life so far cometogether in The Free Range Cook , as though herchildhood baking at her mothers elbow, heradrenalin-fuelled youth as a possum trapper

and jumping out of helicopters to net deer, herhorticulture diploma, her 17 self-publishedrecipe books, her nutritional studies in NewYork, the seven years she spent marketing NewZealand produce to the world, and her roles asa wife and mother of two were all anapprenticeship that gave her the skills a nd theunique perspective to become the face of a newera of stylish sustainability.

And running through all her experiences is acommon touchstone food. She remembersstages of her life by the meals she was cookinat the time. Living on a marae at Rananagrowing vegetables for the local community:We had no electricity but I remember bottlingfruit and making a pavlova in the camp oven.

Trapping possums in the Ureweras at 17: W just lived in the bush, lit a re, cooked dinner.

Living in Gisborne in her early 2 0s: Id setmy craysh pots, shoot pigeons for the pot,stuff a haunch of venison. My mother gave meJulia Childs Mastering the Art of FrenchCooking when I was 17 so Id cook lobsterthermidor and pass it over the back fence tothe neighbours.

Running a croissant business in Brazil:"Croissants, croissants, croissants. I ate allmy prots.

Looking back now, it seems natural t hat foowould form the basis of her career, but in theearly 1980s when the driven young Annabelwas setting out, it wasnt an option. Back theyou could be a caterer or a chef but you couldnever have survived being a food writer.

Then Julia Child changed her life. I wrote ther and said, Im mad about food. Ive been acaterer and Ive started writing for the Listebut I dont want to run a restaurant. What can do? She was nice enough to write back. She

told me the International Association ofCulinary Professionals held a conference oncea year and she thought I should come. So I didand it became apparent there was this wholeworld of opportunity there.

Burdened by extra kilos since her days as aBrazilian croissant queen, Annabel enrolled foa course in nutrition at The Culinary Instituteof America. The rst day of the nutritioncourse was an epiphany. They set out this tabland everything on it was an 100-calorieequivalent, so I could clearly see why eatingmore of one type of food would make me fat

WHEN YOU COOK YOUFEEL USEFUL AND

REWARDED, AND WHENYOU BRING PEOPLE

TOGETHER AROUND THETABLE YOU HAVE FUN

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Annabel, pictured in her lush Remueragarden, is the face

of a new era ofstylish sustainability.


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to use lots of umami, fresh herbs, citrus juices,reduced stocks and bre. Now I dont diet.If Im getting porky I just eat more bre andmake an effort to avoid processed foods generally if it comes with a barcode thatsa bad sign.

Although most of Annabelsrecipes are light and healthy, shetakes care not to force that messagedown peoples throats. You want todo it subliminally otherwise its reallyboring. Watching the televisionseries or icking through the book,youre drawn to cook the dishes notbecause theyre good for you, butbecause she makes it look like somuch fun.

My style of cooking is to get froma set of ingredients to somethingreally delicious in the shortestpossible time so I can get on withdoing something else.

Its hard to imagine Annabelsitting still long enough to put onweight anyway. Blessed withseemingly limitless energy, sheadmits shes something of aworkaholic or would be if she didnthave Ted to keep her in check. Heslots of fun and he brings that out inme because I can take myself far tooseriously. Im driven by the idea ofmaking an idea work. I always haveso many ideas and I used to think ifyou had an idea you had to do it,whereas now I can let things go.

Having Sean, now 18, and Rose, 16,helped teach her to slow down, too.When I rst had the children I kept

working. I had offices in Parnell anda staff of 12.My mother was a home sciences

graduate who made the decision shedidnt want to work, so she stayedhome and cooked delicious mealsand made us beautiful clothes. Icompletely railed against that. Ithought she was a doormat. But laterI realised women of my age made arod for our own backs thinking thatwe could have it all and do it all.Maybe you can for a while, but

I could eat a little bit of butter as opposed to ahuge heap of vegetables.

They taught us to make food that has lots ofavour without a lot of fat. Fat gives asatisfying mouth feel, so if you dont have fatyou have to compensate for that. We learned

eventually something gives and usuallyits you.

When Rose was two Annabel hit a wall, andtook a year off publishing books to be with thechildren. You think you cant take time out,but its such a short window of time, she says.

When she did start to slowly rebuild herwork, she tailored it to t around her children,working from home and sharing parentingwith Ted. I was really lucky to have marriedthe man I married, who was utterly committedto making sure we were a strong family. Hesupported my free spirit and was always homewith the kids while I was away.

Even when Annabel was at her busiest,the family made time to enjoy the ritual ofsharing a meal each night. Even now Ted willlight the candles, even if its just him and I,says Annabel.

With Rose boarding at Kings College andSean studying science at Trinity College inMelbourne, the couple are experiencingsomething of a second honeymoon. Whenyouve got little kids its like a treadmill butwhen your children grow up and leave homeyou can just hang out together again andreally enjoy each others company.

Theyre also enjoying working together forthe rst time. I dragged him in to help withmy business because it has got complicated,says Annabel. If you give me a balance sheetmy eyes glaze over, whereas hes really good atit. Weve been working together a year andwere both surprised at how well its working we havent scrapped at all.

When youre young its much easier to judgeand be critical, whereas when you get older youthink, Im so lucky to have you in my life.

Although she claims Ted is the brains of

the partnership, its clear that Annabel has asmart head for business too. About ve yearsago she received a market development grantfrom New Zealand Trade and Enterprise andused it to rene her brand and form thebusiness plan that has helped guide hercurrent international trajectory.

Before that I was like a rocket going offwithout thinking about what I was doing orwhere I was going. Then I realised if you havea big picture and you want to make it happen,you need a structure and a plan. It doesnt takeaway your creativity or impetus but it does

help you focus that energy.I sometimes think its like a really big

jigsaw puzzle. I feel li ke Ive worked out aboutthis much, she says, marking off with herhands less than a quarter of the 10-seateroutdoor table. I know what that part lookslike but I havent put the pieces in yet.

With The Free Range Cook about to launchher into international stardom and a secondseries in planning, the rest of us are about tosee that picture fall into place.

IF YOU HAVE A BIG PICTURE AND YOWANT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN, YOU NEEDSTRUCTURE AND A PLAN. IT DOESN T

TAKE AWAY YOUR CREATIVITY

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H A I R A N D M A K E U P C L A U D I A R O D R I G U E S S T Y L I S T E M M A A U B I N

Annabel smanaging her ma

ventures is working on a gi

jigsaw puz

The recipes Annabelfavours are light and

healthy withoutbeing obviously so they are also fast!

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These fritters can be made in bulk ahead of time. Quicklybrown them, then nish them in a 180C oven for 8-10minutes until spongy to the touch.

Prep time: 5 mins + 15 minsstanding time

Cook time: 4-5 mins perbatch

Makes: 60 small or 30medium fritters

1 cups plain our 3 tsp baking powder 3 eggs1 cup soda water or water,

chilled1 tsp saltGround black pepper cup nely chopped basil Finely grated zest of 1 lemon2-3 tbsp neutral oil or spray oil

To serve:150g thinly sliced smoked

salmon cup sour cream and sprigs

of dill

1 To make the fritter basebatter, combine the our,

baking powder, eggs, sodawater or water (the sodawater makes the frittersparticularly light), salt andpepper in a mixing bowl,beating to make a smoothbatter. Cover and stand for 15minutes or for up to 4 hoursin the fridge.2 Stir chopped herbs andlemon zest into the restedbatter. Heat a heavy fryingpan over a medium heat andcoat or spray lightly with theoil. Drop small spoonfuls ofmixture into the hot pan andcook until bubbles form inthe mixture, then turn to cookthe other side. Fritters arecooked when they bounceback when pressed gently.Lightly re-oil pan betweenbatches.3 Top each fritter with a sliceof smoked salmon, a littlesour cream and a sprig of dill.

Herb Fritters with Smoked Salmon

Crispy Pork BellyThe key to great pork crackling is to dry the skin side of themeat well before sprinkling it with salt. Blast the pork in a hot

oven to begin with to get the skin crunchy, then slow cook itor a further hour and a half in a bath of milk, which makes iteally moist and tender. This is a very traditional way to cook

pork belly one I learned from Elizabeth Davids books.

Prep time 5 minsCook time 2 hoursServes 6

1-1.2kg pork belly, skinscored

Ground black pepper 1tsp salt

and season the esh sidewith pepper and half thesalt. Sprinkle the sageleaves on the bottom of abaking dish and put the

pork on top, skin side up.Season the top with theremaining salt.2 Roast for 20-30 minutes at240C until the skin isstarting to blister andcrackle. Watch closelyfor burning.3 Pour the milk around themeat to come about half totwo-thirds of the way up thesides of the pork. Reducethe heat to 160C and roast

2-3 sage leaves2-2 cups milk

To serve: Roasted Pepper Pesto

1 Preheat oven to 240C.Pat the skin of the meat dry

for a further 1 hours oruntil the meat is meltinglytender. Check the level ofliquid during cooking and ifit has evaporated add a little

more to the pan.4 Remove the pork from theoven, lift it out of the dishand allow it to cool. Discardthe liquids.5 For easy cutting, place themeat esh side up on achopping board and use aheavy, sharp knife to cut itinto slices about 3-4cmthick. Serve warm or atroom temperature withRoasted Pepper Pesto.

RoastedPepper Pesto

The rich red colour of thispesto sauce looksparticularly festive.

Prep time 20 minsCook time 25 mins + 20

mins coolingMakes 2 cups

6 red peppers cup extra virgin olive oil2 cloves garlic, crushed1 tsp paprika (plain)1 tsp smoked paprika cup almonds, roasted cup fresh coriander,

choppedSalt and ground black pepper

1 Rinse the peppers and patdry. Place them on a bakingtray and roast at 240C forabout 15-20 minutes untilthe skin is blistered andblackened. Remove from theoven and cover with ateatowel or put in a plasticbag to sweat. This will makeit much easier to remove theskins later. Set aside to cool.2 While the peppers cool,heat the oil in a small panand sizzle the garlic andpaprika for a few seconds.This helps bring out their

avour. Place this mixture ina food processor or blender.3 Remove the skins andseeds from the peppers,saving the juices if you can.Place the esh and anyreserved juices in the foodprocessor or blender withthe garlic and paprikamixture. Add the almondsand coriander. Seasonwith salt and pepperand pure

Crunchy NewPotatoes withThymeI love the crunchy texture ofthese new potatoes. You onlyneed to break the skin of thepotatoes with a fork, notmash them fully. This gives alovely scrunched surface thatcrisps up wonderfully andabsorbs the herb avour.

Prep time 5 minsCook time 50 minsServes 6-8

1.5-2kg baby new potatoes,scrubbed

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1

tsp dried thyme

1 tsp aky sea salt

1 Preheat oven to 200C. Boilthe potatoes for 10 minutesin lightly salted water. Drainwell and transfer to aroasting dish. Use a fork tobreak the skins and slightlyatten the potatoes.2 Drizzle with oil, sprinklewith thyme and aky salt androast until crispy and golden about 40 minutes. Serve hot.

2-3 tbsp water Salt and ground black pepper

1 Cut off the stalk ends ofthe green beans and checkfor any strings, running apotato peeler down eachside if required.

2 If you like your beans adente, drop them into a pof boiling water and cookfor 3 minutes. Drain andcool under cold water. Thcan be done ahead of timeIf you prefer your beanscrunchier, skip this step.3 When you are ready toserve the dish, heat the oiin a medium saucepan withe lemon zest. Add thebeans with the water, saltand pepper. Stir-fry for 2-minutes until just tender.

Prep time 5 minsCook time 6 minsServes 6

10-12 handfuls (500-600g)green beans

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil Finely grated zest of 1

lemon

Green Beans with LemonPar-cook the beans ahead of time to ensure you dont end upwith over-cooked, grey beans.

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Starter Herb Fritters with Smoked Salmon

Main Crispy Pork Belly with Roasted Pepper Pesto

Crunchy New Potatoes with Thyme Green Beans with Lemon

Dessert Pistachio and Berry Ice Cream

Annabel's Menu Next asked Annabel to put together afestive menu for readers, using recipesin The Free Range Cook

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Prep time 20 mins +at least 4 hours freezingtime

Makes 2.5 litres

Pistachio avouring:

1 cup currants cup rum, amaretto or

other liqueur or cup fruit juice

1 cup glac pineapple,apricots or paw paw, nelychopped

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon1 cup shelled unsalted

currants in a medium bowland pour over the rum,liqueur or fruit juice. Stir,then set aside to steep for aminimum of 15 minutes ormicrowave for 1 minute. Thealcohol helps to give theice-cream a soft texture, butthe more you use the softerthe ice-cream will be, so dont

overdo it. Stir in thepineapple, apricots or pawpaw, plus the lemon zest andpistachio nuts. Reserve theberries to add later.2 To make the ice-creambase, separate the eggs.Place the egg whites in thelargest bowl and the eggyolks in a smaller bowl,ensuring no yolk gets mixedin with the whites.Add 5 tbsp of the caster sugar

pistachio nuts1 cup fresh or frozen

raspberries

Ice-cream base:

3 eggs10 tbsp caster sugar, divided

in half 2 tbsp boiling water 2 cups cream, chilled

1 Line two 30-cm loaf tins ora 2.5-litre container withbaking paper. To prepare thepistachio avouring, put the

to the egg whites and beatuntil the mixture forms stiffpeaks about 6-7 minutes.

Set aside.3 Add the remaining 5 tbspof caster sugar and theboiling water to the bowlcontaining the three eggyolks. Beat until pale, thickand ribbony. You will know itis ready when it holds a gureof eight.4 In a third bowl, beat thecream to soft peaks. Try notto overwhip it, but if you do,add a bit more cold creamand beat again. Gently foldthe egg yolks and cream intothe beaten egg whites using alarge at spoon.5 Add the pistachio mixtureand fold together. Fold in theraspberries right at the end,reserving a few berries for agarnish. Pour the mixtureinto the prepared loaf tins orcontainer.6 Freeze for at least4 hours, or preferablyovernight, until set.

If youre freezing theice-cream for longer, besure to cover it to preventfreezer burn or avourtaint. To serve, lift theice-cream out of the tinor container, cut it intoslices and garnish withfresh raspberries.

Pistachio and Berry Ice-CreamIf youve never made ice-cream before, this is the one to try.All you need is three bowls and an electric beater. A brilliantrecipe to make a day or two ahead of time.

All recipes from AnnabelLangbein The Free RangeCook . $59.99

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Annabel Langbein - Free Range Cook - New Zealand