Category Archives: PASTA RICE & OTHER LOVELY CARBS

less food waste & more delicious salami

Today on belly, sister T & sister D spend the first hour with the aptly named Aime Green, who travels the country helping
festivals to manage their waste and focus on sustainability. And we'll be talking compost, yei!

Then we are off on a belly safari to Billinudgel, to the Salumi Australia factory, to learn how artisan smallgoods (salumi in Italian) are made, and how they differ from the home made and the big fast factory methods.

To contact Aime Green:

http://greenchief@sustainability.com<mailto:greenchief@sustainability.com>

To find out more about Salumi Australia, especially where they will be next

https://www.facebook.com/SalumiAustralia

And the website, which should have lots of recipes after Easter, they promised

http://www.salumi.com.au/

Meantime, here are a couple from the bellysisters

FROM THE BELLY LAB – PIGGY ROOTS RECIPE – by sister T

small onions, whole, peeled
medium or small potatoes, whole, peeled or unpeeled
mixed roots such as parsnips, carrots, beetroot, cleaned, left whole or halved or quartered lengthways
(opt) whole chillies and halved and seeded capsicum
fresh rosemary or thyme sprigs
smoky pancetta
good olive oil

This is a way to simply dress up veg to accompany roast meats, or makes a very good meal on its own. And if you eat the potatoes on the first night you can mix the rest through cooked rice and reheat in the oven the following night. So you can feel at one with our peasant ancestors, who could make a little bit of 'his majesty the pig' go a very long way.

pre-heat oven to 180-200 degrees C
oil base of a wide oven dish, add veg and herbs, salt, pepper, light drizzle of olive oil
cut pancetta into 1 cm thick slices, then 1cm wide strips (similar to French lardons)
add to veg – the only slight trick to this dish is to have the pancetta on top and not stir the veg until the strips have rendered their fat into the veg and gone crispy, so the roots absorb (and cook in) the fat and smokyness. You don't need a lot of pancetta to make a big difference to the flavour. I used about 3kg of veg to 2 thick slices of pancetta.
The capsicum adds a moist element, but it's not essential, and the chillies are good left whole so they don't burn and can be left to the chilli lovers only.

ITALIAN CLASSIC – BUCATINI ALL'AMATRICIANA RECIPE

translated by sister T from Slow Food Ed 2001 – "Ricette di Osterie d'Italia" – Italian tavern/bistro dishes
recipe from ristorante La Conca, right in the town of Amatrice

This recipe from the mountains of central Italy is as famous within Italy as Ligurian pesto is around the world. Even by Italian standards it gives rise to more growling about "the one and only proper recipe" than most – often because guanciale, cured pig jowl, is supposed to be the one and only piggy bit to use. But if you can't find guanciale, use a good pancetta.

For 4 people

500 g bucatini pasta
1 kg peeled tomatoes
400 g guanciale
1/2 glass (say 100/150 mL) dry white wine
aged pecorino cheese (not Parmesan)
extra virgin olive oil
chilli powder, salt

Cut any hard bits off the guanciale and cut into small dice. Brown in a cast iron pan with a little olive oil and chilli powder. Add the wine, then squashed peeled tomatoes, salt, cook 15 minutes.
Meantime cook bucatini in plenty of salted water. Drain well.
Add to tomato sauce pan and stir with pecorino until well combined.
Serve on hot plates.

Obviously a pretty simple recipe that relies on good ingredients – but you are allowed to use tinned tomatoes I think. Absolutely no garlic or onions according to Mrs Perilli from La Conca.

SALUMI SAFARI

If you would like to listen to the audio of Sister T's belly safari at the Salumi Australia HQ in Billinudgel, please just click on the audio files below, or check out the great pics by the belly photographer, Madam Zaza. You can almost smell the salami! Actually one of the most interesting things is that the aging room, which was simply loaded with all sorts of good things (roughly 10 tons of cured meat), smelled more of pleasant moulds, like a cheese room. I was constantly reminded of the similarity of techniques and natural processes between cured meats and cheeses and winemaking – the magic of fermentation, and the temperature and hygiene control that skilled producers can use to work with nature, rather than bombing our food with chemicals designed to counteract hurried and potentially harmful industrial processes. Though I still have strong doubts about pig fat actually being mostly unsaturated (as Michael says in our interview), I love his idea that animals don't make bad fats, factories make bad fats. If you know who first came up with that one, please let the bellysisters know.

Salumi safari Part 1

Salumi safari Part 2 – drying room

Salumi safari – Part 3 – aging room

Salumi safari Part 4

BELLY BULLETIN

Research out of Duke-NUS Graduate Medical school in Singapore published in the Journal of Hepatology has discovered a link between consumption of coffee and prolonging the lives of those with cirrhosis of the liver.‭ ‬The study found that people living with cirrhosis of the liver caused by non-viral hepatitis were less likely to die if they consumed at least one cup of coffee daily.‭ ‬The research also indicated that the more coffee the patients drank,‭ ‬the better their chances for survival were.‭ ‬The results are not connected solely to caffeine,‭ ‬and tea and caffeinated soft drinks did not have the same benefit.‭ ‬The researchers believe the results are due to coffee lowering the level of enzymes in the blood that cause cell breakdown and inflammation of the liver.‭ ‬It is believed that coffee reduces oxidative stress‭ (‬stress on the body caused by cumulative damage of free radicals over time‭)‬.

Local company Madura Tea Estates is the official sponsor of Cancer Council’s Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea . Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea is a national fundraising event, mostly help in the month of May, that invites Australians to host or attend a morning tea and raise funds for cancer research, prevention, early detection and patient support programs. Over the last two decades, $110 million has been raised for the Cancer Council. Stephen Bright of Madura Tea Estates says : ‘We have made it simple for the host by creating special host kits on our website.’ The company is also going for the Worlds Biggest Tea Bag title. The record currently is 150kg. As host kits and specialty marked packs in store are purchased more tea is added to the tea bag. The Worlds Biggest Tea Bag will be on show at the next public event at the Byron Lighthouse on May 20th. ‘We currently have 79kg in the tea bag’ We hope to have well over 100kg at our Byron Bay event’ said Mr Bright. Host packs are available online at www.maduratea.com.au

The international Union for Conservation of Nature‭ (‬IUCN‭) ‬reported in‭ ‬2010‭ ‬that sturgeon had become the most critically endangered group of animals in the world due to humans desire for caviar.‭ ‬When this report was released,‭ ‬85%‭ ‬of the species was at risk of extinction.‭ ‬It is the usual practice that pregnant sturgeon are killed before their eggs are harvested.‭ ‬As the fish do not reproduce annually,‭ ‬it can take many years for the population to recover from a decline.‭ ‬To continue to fulfil the worlds demand and yet preserve the life of sturgeon,‭ ‬some sturgeon farmers have been using alternative‭ “‬no kill‭” ‬methods of roe collection.‭ ‬Vivace a small farm in Loxstedt Germany has perfected the technique of‭ “‬massage‭” ‬to extract the eggs.‭ ‬The massage method involves first observing a sturgeons eggs by ultrasound,‭ ‬and if ready a signalling protein Is given to the fish several days before the egg harvest,‭ ‬to induce labour,‭ ‬and the roe can then be pumped out of the fish with a gentle massage.‭ ‬There are many benefits to this process,‭ ‬including sustainability and financial viability as the same sturgeon can be‭ “‬massaged‭” ‬several times throughout their lifetime,‭ ‬not just live for‭ ‬7‭ ‬or‭ ‬8‭ ‬years to mature and be killed.

Cheeses Loves You Cheesemaking Classes
Debra Allard from Cheeses Loves You has announced her latest cheese making classes at Burringbar Hall.
Friday, 2^nd May – Drunken Goat, Washed Rind Reblochon, Persian Feta.
Saturday, 3^rd May – Colby, Camembert, Goat Chevre, Cow Cream Cheese/Quark.
email Debra for more information – cheeseslovesyou@bigpond.com

Popular local caterers Open Table are running cooking workshops through May

Middle Eastern Workshop Sunday May 25th. Raw Food- Sunday 4th May
Moroccan Cooking- Sunday 11th May
Gourmet Wholefood- Saturday 17th May: look for Open Table on facebook for more details

And finally, an interesting new publication to check out if you like to think about food issues.
The Graduate Journal of Food Studies is a US based online publication, that publishes food research stories from graduate students of food issues around the world. The first issue includes the social history of the "trophy kitchen", food and agriculture propaganda in North Korea, a Detroit food justice group, and lots of great photos and drawings for those of us who like to look at the pictures – www.graduatefoodjournal.com

MUSIC – For info and videos of tracks we played today go to – http://bayfm.org/programs/belly-/

or at least check out the gorgeous Fabio KoRyu Calabro' on Youtube, singing about everything from veg to salami to managing to fool his cat – all in Italian, just helped out by his uke

SALUMI AUSTRALIA VISUAL TOUR – All images on this post copyright Isabelle Delmotte – id(at)idbytes(dot)net

Thank you very much Michael for a very interesting experience, I only wish internet scratch and sniff technology was available.

belly 22 march 2010 – mullet, gotu kola, cucumbers

TOPICS : the mighty mullet, smokin’, eating your rampant pumpkin vine, healthy traditions – Sri Lanka (gotu kola), dr Siggi’s bad chef recipes – souffle’, Sister Rasela’s Morsels – odd uses for cucumbers

GUESTS/INTERVIEWS : Paul Van Reik, Sri Lankan born wonderful cook and food writer, and youthful father of many children
Dr Siggi Fried, bad cook freedom fighter
Sister Rasela – nutritionist and bellysister

PRESENTER : Sister T

FRESH REPORT

This week sr T is loving pineapples, sea mullet (extra fab to July as it goes North to spawn) and taming the pumpkin vines by shallow frying the flowers and marble size baby pumpkins (in a light flour and water batter).

The mighty Mullet

bake, pickle, smoke, bbq, make fish pastes and pate’, goes with tomatoes, oranges, fennel, mushrooms, onion, garlic, eggplant, all kinds of herbs, substitute for mackerel in Spanish and English recipes (much cheaper)

SMOKED MULLET OPEN SANDWICH – by Sr T

First, smoke yer mullet

1 wok, a metal cake rack, maybe foil, mullet fillets, skin on

Smoke mix :

1/2 cup each brown sugar, rice and tea leaves (I just used tea that was getting a bit old), a few leaves/sprigs of woody herbs, maybe a few fennel seeds, lemon myrtle – experiment

To smoke you need a wok, either an old one, or lined with foil, if you haven’t got a wok lid the foil has to be long enough to cover the fish.

Put the smoke mix in the wok, heaped in the middle. Then the metal rack, high enough to not touch the mix, the fish skin down on the rack. Cover with lid or crimp foil over so it seals the top but doesn’t touch the fish.

Cook on high until it starts to smoke, then 10 to 20 minutes on medium heat depending on size/your preference. If the mix goes out and you need to cook the fish a bit more, finish in a dry frypan, skin down.

Then you can use the mullet in many ways (lovely for pate’)

or make a herby garlicky green sauce – I whizzed olive oil, lemon juice, salt , pepper, garlic, parsley, mint, chives and fennel tops in a food processor

Made sourdough toast, thinly sliced tomatoes on top, then flaked mullet, then drizzled bright green sauce….mmm

And pretty too.

GUEST RECIPES:

HEALTHY TRADITIONS :

* is there a dish in your tradition that is supposed to be extra good for you? Please share it with the bellysisters, either on air or on the website.

In the Sri Lankan tradition, it is said that gotu kola keeps you youthful, and is good for your blood and rheumatism.

GOTU KOLA KANDA – from Paul

1 cup cooked rice (see below)

2 -3 tamped down cups of gotu kola leaves (1 bunch)

Boil rice in a lot of water until grains whole but mushy – a thick starchy soup/porridge consistency.

Pound leaves in a mortar, sieve out solids and keep juice or puree
with a little water in a blender and sieve out solids. Makes 2-4 tbs of bright green juice, add to cooked rice with a pinch of salt. It will have a minty/sharp/peppery flavour. Add jaggery to taste (or honey/plain sugar).

Have a bowl each morning, you can re-cook any leftover dry rice until it is mushy to make this.

The following recipe is from Paul’s website, where you will find many more delicious Sri Lankan recipes

LEAFY VEGETABLE MALLUNG

This is a standard preparation you can make with any leafy green – spinach, silver beet, kankun, amaranth, chrysanthemum, radish and turnip leaves, chickweed and so on. If you can get them, there are two Sri Lankan greens in particular that do well with this treatment – gotukola, also called pennywort, and often available in the growing season from good South East Asian suppliers; mukunawena, a quite specific Sri Lankan herb which you may find at Sri Lankan grocers.

Ingredients:
1 bunch leafy green vegetables
1 tsp black mustard seed
1 tsp turmeric
pinch of salt
1 tbsp grated coconut (fresh is best, frozen is also fine, desiccated is a no-no)
1 tbsp Maldive fish ground fine (you can substitute dried prawns)
vegetable oil

Method:

Wash the leaves and shred them fine.

Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan big enough to hold all the shredded leaves.

Put in the mustard seeds and fry till your hear them pop. Immediately add the leafy vegetables and stir rapidly. You want to try and coat all the leaves with oil and seed.

Add the turmeric, salt and Maldive fish, stirring all the time to prevent the leaves burning, like in a Chinese stir fry.

When the leaves have darkened and gone limp, add the coconut and mix it through for a minute or two at the most. You just want it to take on the colour of the turmeric and be thoroughly integrated with the leaves.

Taste, and adjust the seasoning. If you like, squeeze some lime juice over it. Take it off the stove. You don’t usually serve mallungs hot, so let it cool down a bit before eating.

DOKTOR SIGGI FRIED’S COOKBOOK FOR BAD COOKS

LEYTON’S SOUFFLE’

Look up any good cookbook for a souffle’ recipe. Prepare as suggested but don’t worry about using precise amounts as all souffles will collapse in the end. However, ther is a trick that Leyton Hewitt, the famous tennis player, uses to create perfect souffles (almost) every time…when the souffle is cooking, stare at it intensely and shout : ” Come On” at least 3 times.

EDIBLE QUOTES:

So much said about the poor cucumber (great for cleaning metal according to Sr Rasela – not sure if this is a compliment)

“A cucumber should be well sliced, and dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out, as good for nothing.”
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) English writer

“Raw cucumber makes the churchyards prosperous” – English Proverb

“He had been eight years upon a project for extracting sunbeams out of cucumbers, which were to be put into vials hermetically sealed, and let out to warm the air in raw, inclement summer.” Jonathan Swift (Irish writer)
“Cucumbers are like virgins, they do not keep long” – Dutch Proverb

CONTACTS/LINKS:

good mullet info :

http://www.sea-ex.com/fishphotos/seamullet.htm
http://www.australianseafood.com.au/species.php?f=78&v=f

wok smoking :

http://www.foodista.com/technique/CYZGZ2ZV/wok-smoking
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/pohskitchen/cooking_tips/

http://www.buthkuddeh.com.au/ – Paul Van Reyk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centella_asiatica – lots of good gotu kola info and pictures

www.kopping.com – dr Siggi

belly 8.3.10 – glitter’s glorious grains and cooking with pisces

TOPICS : food labelling laws, tuna, website launch, quinoa, millet and buckwheat, autumn foods, cooking with the stars for pisces

GUESTS: Glitter Girl, bayfm presenter, poet and grain lover
Lilith, astrogourmet and hula dancer

PRESENTERS : Sister B and sister T

GUEST RECIPES:

MILLET AND MUSHROOM BAKE adapted by sister Glitter from: Food for the Seasons : Eat well and stay healthy the traditional Chinese way, by Professor Lun Wong and Kath Knapsey

Serves 4

Like all the grains, millet is fine for any season. But it is particularly good for autumn as it gets rid of heat (that maybe a summer leftover), moistens dryness(the most common autumn problem) and supports yin and kidneys for the upcoming winter. Mushrooms ease coughs and get rid of phlegm as well as strengthening the lungs. If you have a great deal of phlegm, swap the millet for rice.

3 cups millet
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon of olive oil/ or avocado oil
1/2 cup of flour (unrefined) can be millet, rice, buckwheat
1/2 onion, chopped
200 gm mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons tamari
bunch parsley

Soak millet in water overnight. Drain. Add millet, fresh water (8 cups) and salt to a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 35 minutes.

While you prepare other ingredients, preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Place millet in an oiled casserole dish. In a frying pan, saute onions and mushrooms
until soft. Then add flour, and stir in with the mushrooms and onions, before adding 1 1/2 cups of water. Stirring continuously. Bring almost to the boil, then
cover, reduce heat and simmer for five minutes. Add tamari and simmer for a further ten minutes. Pour contents of frying pan into the casserole dish and stir very lightly
with millet. Bake for 20 minutes. Cut into four slices, garnish with parsley and serve with lightly steamed spinach.

This could also be accompanied with steamed carrots, pumpkin, and asparagus

BUCKWHEAT NUT LOAF – a sister Glitter favourite from : The Australian and New Zealand Book of Wholemeals, by Marcea Weber

Serves 4-6

1 1/2 cups of buckwheat (roasted)
3 cups water
1/2 teaspoon of himalayan pink salt
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 tbs minced ginger
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup grated carrot
4 tablespoons of coconut oil/ avocado oil/ ricebran or olive oil (cold
pressed)
6 large cabbage leaves
1 cup roasted, ground almonds or walnuts
3 organic eggs, beaten
2 tbs miso (young)
1/2 teaspoon each thyme, basil, oregano (dried)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3/4 cup of LSA (linseed sunflower and almond) or millet meal

Firstly bake buckwheat kernels in 200 degree C preheated oven until lightly
browned.
Then bring 3 cups of water to the boil. Add buckwheat, salt, cover and lower
heat, simmer 15 minutes. Meanwhile, cut the rest of the vegetables. Heat the 2
tablespoons of chosen oil and saute mushrooms for 5 minutes. Remove from skillet or wok, set aside and add the 2 remaining tablespoons of oil to wok. Saute the rest of the vegetables in order listed above. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Now, bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Add cabbage and blanch 1-2
minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.
Preheat oven to 190 degrees
Roast and grind nuts.
Oil bread tin. Line tin with cabbage leaves, covering the bottom and sides. Leave enough overhang to fold over and cover the top.

Combine half the buckwheat with the cooked vegetables and the roasted nuts.
Beat eggs and miso, combine with buckwheat mixture and add the rest of the ingredients.
Spoon into cabbage-lined loaf tin (9 1/2 cm x 23 cm) ( 4 x 9 inch), press down firmly and fold overhanging leaves over the mixture. Cover the pan with a double layer of oiled paper.
Reserve other half of buckwheat for another recipe ( e.g. stewed fruit and buckwheat )

Place the loaf pan in a baking dish and pour enough water into the
baking dish, so that it reaches halfway up the sides of the loaf pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes or until firm to the touch.
Cool before slicing.

Serve with steamed spinach, bokchoy or kale and steamed squash and sliced
avocado..

LILITH’S COOKING WITH THE STARS – PISCES

Fish live in water and water sign PISCES more than any other sign need
to keep their fluids up, they’re notoriously fond of liquid refreshments
they drink like fish, and are usually partial to liquid rituals around food:
dipping chilled grapes in dessert wine in a pool strewn with rose petals,
sipping exotic liqueurs beside a moonlit sea or eating mangoes in the bath:
undeniably the most appropriate setting.

As you’d imagine they favour sensuous slithery food: oysters, rice noodles, the sexy texture of melting brie, the perfume of lusciously succulent, juicy fruits. Mood is as important as food to a Pisces. They need a feel-good ambience because romantic Pisces likes to feel the luuurve in the cooking,to eat with loved ones and yes, you can open that wine now.

Famous fish foodies include the exuberant “Dances with Saucepans” Ainsley
Harriott of the BBC cooking show More Nosh, Less Dosh among many others –
posh Swiss chef Anton Mossimann who runs his own exclusive private dining
club in London – and the photogenic Hell’s Kitchen gourmet spunk
Jean-Christophe Novelli who became personal chef to the Rothschilds at the
age of 20.

Other well known Fish are Mrs. Beeton, the most famous
cookery writer in British history, and the notorious and formidable Fanny
Craddock. Even though her only claim to culinary fame appears to be the creation of the prawn cocktail she was billed as the Queen Of The Kitchen, probably because she presented her TV shows in ballgowns, big jewels and mega-make up when nineteen-fifties housewifes all wore aprons. One of the pitfalls of being a fabulous Piscean is a constitutional vulnerability to substance abuse,and Fanny had a major amphetamine habit which made her so explosive and rude to her guests the BBC had to sack her.

And another Pisces foodie was Adelle Davis, the American health author who
pioneered the fledgling field of nutrition during the mid-20th century,
advocated whole unprocessed foods , recommended dietary supplements to prevent disease and was an outspoken critic of food additives, but also published in 1961,
under the pen name Jane Dunlap, a classic of psychedelic literature
called Exploring Inner Space: Personal Experiences Under LSD.

Being the sea creatures they are, Pisces are ruled by Neptune and I’ve
chosen one of my personal favorite recipes for the healthy protein of their
totems

GRAVLAX SALMON A Scandinavian recipe for raw salmon cold-cured with salt,
sugar, pepper, dill and alcohol. No cooking is required, but it does take
2-3 days to cure.

Ingredients:
1 fresh salmon, and it must be fresh
3 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 good-size bunch dill, roughly chopped, stems and all
1 tablespoon spirits: aquavit, lemon vodka, your choice..

Method:
Fillet the salmon, or have the fishmonger do it for you; it needn’t be
scaled, but leave skin on.

Lay both halves, skin side down, on a plate. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar
and pepper, spread with all of the dill, splash over all of the spirits.
Sandwich the fillets together, tail to tail, then wrap tightly in plastic
wrap. Cover with another plate and weigh down with something heavy on top.
Refrigerate.

Open the package every 6-12 hours and baste, inside and out, with the
accumulated juices. On the second or third day, when the flesh has lost its
translucence, remove skin and slice thinly on the bias, and serve as you
would smoked salmon – with rye bread or pumpernickel, potatoes and home made
mayo, anything really.

BY Lilith

EDIBLE QUOTE

we ran out of time to tell you our Pisces icon Mrs Beeton quote – we would have had to interrupt Lilith’s hula dance, unthinkable!

but just so good for international women’s day, so here it is:

“The rank which a people occupy in the grand scale may be measured by their way of taking their meals, as well as by their way of treating their women. The nation which knows how to dine has learnt the leading lesson of progress.”

CONTACTS:

http://www.greenpeace.org/australia/issues/overfishing/our-work/save-our-tuna
to find out more about the best brands of tinned tuna and sign the Greenpeace petition

http://www.foodlabellingreview.gov.au/internet/foodlabelling/publishing.nsf/Content/pubconsult
to contribute to the government review of all food labelling issues – submissions due by May 14 – or go to the food label review page of this site

[I have to close comments on this page as it is generating a ridiculous amount of comment spam]