on air on Byron Bay’s community radio bayfm 99.9 on January 7, 2013

 

 

 

For the first belly of the year Sister T & a first time bellysister, sister Michael aka sister Chicken Delight went a little silly.  It was a chooky, pickled, furry & feisty show.  Even Miss January, Alison Drover, got political along with the delicious in season suggestions.  We got into two major issues that will potentially affect our food landscape in the Northern Rivers, as in so many other places – KFC & CSG.  Behind the alphabet soup, everything from our water safety, to our streetscapes and beautiful bountiful hinterland could be churned up for short term profit soon.  Lots of links below to find out more.  We leavened the politics with lots of great recipes, masses of tasty ideas today.  Easy & fun chicken recipes to give kid & health friendly alternatives.  A genuine Southern Soul food chook made a little less fattening but just as delicious by ex-Byronite African American Aussie Dwane Jones.  Lovely cold fruity semifreddo, & mango ripe or green ideas.  To finish, our shaggy dog story, but also our pick for the next booming market business (really truly) – dog baking – woof!

 

TASTY & EASY CHICKEN SUGGESTIONS – FASTER THAN TRYING TO GET A PARKING SPOT  IN IN SUMMER TO GET TAKEAWAY

 

FRANCA’S FLATTENED CHICKEN RECIPE

Franca is my mum.  I think she made this when she couldn’t be bothered cooking and/or needed to soothe her soul with a bit of vigorous bashing.  Though I remember doing most of the animal cutting and bashing from an early age.

 

1 smallish chicken, whole, cut open at the breast, and beaten flat.  It is ok to break a few bones and mush up the skin, just be careful of bone fragments if you are feeding it to very young or very fast eaters.  You can use just leg and thigh pieces if you like, the breast does end up a bit dry.

fresh rosemary sprigs – lots if you like it

a few garlic cloves in their skin

olive oil, butter, salt, pepper

You really need a wide pan for this, or split the chicken between 2 pans.  And a plate or flat lid or oven tray that fits in your pan.

Season the chicken, throw everything else in the pan, add the flattened  chicken skin side down.  Cover straight away with the plate/lid/etc, put a weight on top.  This keeps the chicken flat.  Cook at a medium heat, turn half way through.  The cover will hold some steam in and help keep the chicken moist, if it is too moist you can finish the cooking uncovered.  You want it to be very brown and with lots of bits sticking to the pan by the end.

This is a simpler version of the popular Portuguese chicken, chilli free and kid friendly.  Of course you could add a chilli dipping sauce if you wish.  You can also do it on a bbq between two oven trays.

 

Chicken Delight’s unbelievably easy Moroccan Chicken Tagine RECIPE

Chicken Delight hates following recipes, mainly because he is an Aquarian and prefers to wing it (Chicken joke!).  But here is a general guide for this uber -easy dish:

You can use:

One Whole free range chicken (or pieces if you prefer)

Rice bran oil

1 can Lite Coconut cream (to keep the calories down!)

2 X white onions

1 X Spanish onion

Chermoula, Dukkah, Zatar and a general Moroccan spice mix – all available at your local farmers market. Or use your fave combo.

1 X Can organic Chic Peas

1 Red Capsicum (for colour)

1 or 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small quarters

Whatever else you feel would be yummy!

Couscous to serve with

Sliced lemon or preserved lemon if you have some.

 

Method to the Madness:

Heat oil in Tagine to hot.  Cube onions and add to hot pan with cut potatoes.

Dry chicken, cut into pieces and rub spices all over while humming a mindless tune and imagining you are belly dancing.

Avoid looking in the mirror at this moment

Place chicken pieces in Tagine and let sit for about 3 mins before moving (secret to having them not stick and tearing the flesh).

After 3 mins, turn the chicken to brown all over. Sprinkle with as much spice as you like. I go crazy (not a long journey!) and sprinkle everywhere (but not on the floor).

Slowly pour a little can of the lite coconut cream over the mix. Just do this until the colour starts to look slightly pale- you don’t want to weaken the spices though.

Give a quick stir to combine all the spices and place the Tagine lid on.

Cook on low for about 10 mins and check occasionally- add more coconut cream to avoid drying out and sprinkle more spice over everything, to taste.  You should keep an eye on things while telling your guests about your fabulous holiday in Morocco and all the amazing adventures you had, while sipping something fresh and cool.

Prepare the cous cous- Chicken delight is too lazy to cook it properly in boiled water for 10 mins as you should (just read the packet directions), so chucks it in a saucepan and fills to a decent level with boiling water, puts a lid on it and just leaves it until serving time. You can throw in a few cut dates or sultanas to make it look like you know what you’re doing. Sometimes he even forgets to serve the cous cous but by that stage no one even notices. The next morning though, it’s looking a tad sad.

Serve with some sliced lemon or preserved lemon, yoghurt if you like it, dukkha on top.  And a professional attitude. Enjoy!!!

 

DWONE’S SOUTHERN BAKED CHICKEN RECIPE  – by Dwone Jones

 

750 g of the best chicken you can afford, if whole cut into 8 pieces

2 ‘stalks of escallions’, (shallots) finely chopped

1 sprig fresh thyme, finely chopped

2-4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp vinegar

herb/poultry seasoning – D recommends Herbamare

1 tsp sugar

3 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 cup white breadcrumbs, not brown

 

SAUCE

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup tomato ketchup

2 tbs melted margarine

 

Heat oven to 190 C

Mix sauce ingredients, leave to blend.

Rinse chicken in lime water, i.e. a basin of water in which you have squeezed 2 limes

put the chicken in so it is just covered.

In a blender, blend the vinegar, garlic, scallions (shallots) and thyme. Season the chicken and leave for 10 minutes.

Add the sauce and leave for 30 minutes.

Season the chicken with the dry ingredients, sugar, salt, pepper, Herbamare.

Put the chicken in a greased shallow baking tin, sprinkle on the breadcrumbs.

Bake for no more than about 1 hour but check after 40/45 minutes.

This chicken remains moist and is good hot or cold – fried chicken tends to go dry.

It is still good the next day and it is compulsory to eat it with your fingers.

 

Audio link – listen to Dwone talking about soul food and this recipe on bayfm a few years ago, with sister T & sister Bernadette

From memories of his grandmother’s farm to making soul food a little healthier without stripping out the soul, and the taste, it’s a lovely piece.

Dwone on healthier soul food, squirrel, chicken & those Crisco biscuits

 

KFC INFO

Since as usual it takes me ages to find time to put all the show info online, sister Michael has had time to check the submission to open a KFC right in the middle of Byron Bay.

 

Hello friends,

I’m sending this link to the Keep Byron Free from KFC face book where, if you are inclined, you can copy and post a submission form to Byron Shire Council try to stop it coming to Byron Bay. In their DA submission they want to remove a large tree from the street frontage of Woolies plaza to erect a large flouro KFC barrell sign. Just ugh. We don’t need this ugliness in our beautiful town! Cheers, Michael (aka Chicken Delight).

https://www.facebook.com/KeepByronFreeFromKFC

 

[sister T] – I think this is so ludicrous it may be one of those ambit claims, made to be shot down but allow the rest of the submission through.  The effect on the streetscape was Michael’s main issue – I look forwards to a large bellysister in a chook costume waving a placard in Byron Bay.  Go to the facebook site for lots more info, you don’t need to be on facebook to read the entries.

 

http://www.kfc.com.au/nutrition/index.asp – direct link to KFC Australia’s nutrition info.  See the news tab for initiatives such as using canola oil & taking out kids’ toys – signs that putting pressure on the big boys does have an effect, even if many of us think they have a long way to go.

 

IN SEASON JANUARY BY MISS JANUARY ALISON DROVER

 

This is a particularly good tomato year so make sure you take advantage and roast them to bottle them and store away for winter months. Locally squash are good, capsicums, zucchini, eggplants, red peppers, cucumber, snake beans, chilli. It is a great time to make a cold ratatuille.  Mangoes finally coming into their own and pomegranates and passionfruit.  Herb wise basil, coriander, marjoram, oregano, sage, tarragon, thyme and mint, ginger and turmeric.

Wider to NSW in cooler regions we have : Apricots, raspberry, asparagus, avocado, banana, blueberry, capsicum, cherry, cucumber, eggplant, honey dew melons, lettuce, mangosteen, okra, onions, peach, peas, pineapple, plums, radish, raspberry, rock melon, squash, strawberry, tamarillo, watermelon, zucchini, zucchini flower

Seafood: Atlantic salmon, blue eye, blue swimmer crab, eel, flathead, flounder, garfish, kingfish, leather jacket, marron, mussels, ocean trout, prawns, rock lobster, scallop, snapper, squid, trevally

 

Alison has come up with a refreshing dessert for summer months, passionfruit semifreddo

And she is keen for us all to buy and use fair priced milk, rather than the excessively discounted milk in supermarkets that does not allow farmers to survive. And may result in higher prices in the long run anyway. She has forwarded us a link to a petition in support of dairy farmers that a campaigner called Lisa Claessen is sending to Coles. The link is here if you’d like to participate.

Semifreddo means half cold in Italian, it is half way to an ice cream and half as hard to make, you don’t need any special equipment to make it.  Just a bit of whipping of lovely eggs & cream, a fruity syrup and a night in the the freezer.

 

PASSIONFRUIT SEMIFREDDO, RECIPE BY ALISON DROVER

 

8 egg yolks

250gm caster sugar

250 ml ( 1cup) passion fruit juice

scraped seeds of 1 vanilla bean

juice of one lime

300gm double cream

150ml pouring cream, lightly whipped

pulp of 2 passion fruit plus extra to serve

 

Whisk egg yolks in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (5-7 minutes). Meanwhile, stir sugar, passionfruit juice and vanilla seeds in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves, then simmer until syrupy (4-5 minutes) and add to egg yolks with lime juice, whisking continuously until mixture is cold (5-6 minutes).

Combine creams in a bowl, whisk until soft peaks form. Fold into passionfruit mixture, fold in pulp, spoon into an 8cm x 22cm plastic –lined rectangular cake time, smoothing top. Don’t worry if you have a little over. Freeze overnight until firm. Slice thickly and serve with extra pulp spooned over.  You can add some mangoes on the side if you have these left over.

 

Meantime back in the belly kitchen, sister Michael & sister Tess were in a mango mood…

 

COAL SEAM GAS FREE MANGO DAQUIRIS for Two! by sister Michael

A hefty pour of Bacardi Rum ~ Blend two delicious mangoes, fresh mango juice, one citrus orange and a dash of lime and a dash of Midori (optional) and ice made from pure, unfracked water. Pour into fabulous looking cocktail glasses and garnish with a ‘Lock the Gate’ recycled paper cocktail umbrella. Drink with a clear conscience.

 

100% MANGO SORBET – a belly lab recipe by sister Tess

 

This one is inspired by the way many people make banana ice cream (freeze, peel, whizz, eat)

If you have good knives & spare fingers, and too many lovely ripe mangoes, toss a few in the freezer.  When frozen, peel, cut into chunks, toss into a food processor or blender – perfect fluffy sorbet.

Or do the peeling & cubing while the mango is unfrozen, then freeze etc.  You know which one I did don’t you?  Will try it the sensible way next time.

 

GREEN MANGO PICKLES

 

It looks like a massive mango season coming up, judging by the number of people making green mango pickles.  A great way to use them, along with Thai green mango salad (same as green papaya salad, som tum, very easy & healthy & delicious).

 

My lovely friend Paul has a simple Sri Lankan recipe here (28.12.12 post)

I tried a treatment that I give just about any new veg I come across these days, the impatient quick cure – slice with skin on, layer mango slices with salt,sugar, lemon juice, leave a few hours or a day (taste as you go).  They turned out salty but great as an accent on plain salads or fish.

 

And the Fantons (founders of Seedsavers) took a green mango kasundi to a party which I think was my favourite new taste of 2012 (see top photo).  Jude kindly shared her recipe (I need to check that mustard seed quantity though, use your own judgement in the meantime).  There are many mango kasundi recipes online, mostly done as a mustardy paste, they look great too.

 

GREEN MANGO KASUNDI RECIPE – by Jude Fanton

Pick mangoes very green. You are going to use the whole fruit. Test that each mango is green enough by cutting through it – if the knife goes right through the seed, good. If there is too much fibre around the seed, it is too ripe and should be made into mango salad.

 

For 4kg of green mangoes:

Slice each mango, seed and all, it is up to you what size. [Optional – 200 – 500g red or green chillies split nearly up to the stem]. Put into a bowl with layers of 1kg salt and keep in the sun for one to three days (we like two days).

Drain mangoes, put in a large bowl, and add these spices:

200g ginger whirled in food processor

200g tamarind paste

5 tbspns of chilli powder (or less if you used chillies above)

Optional – 20 – 50 curry leaves

1kg mustard seeds, lightly roasted and ground

[Optional, though we have not tried these: fennel seeds; turmeric – powder or fresh whirled root –, coriander and cummin powder, fenugreek seeds soaked in vinegar overnight, vinegar itself]

Mix the spices around the mango pieces.

[I do this in two to four lots cos of the spitting oil] Heat one litre of mustard oil in a deep pan and add 20 – 50 curry leaves for 30 secs. Add the mango and spice mix and stir, heating for 3 to 20 mins [I give you the widest parameters in all the recipes, seems 5 mins is good]

Meanwhile you have sterilised some jars and they are hot. Spoon the kasaundi in, making sure there are no bubbles and that there is some mustard oil on top. Seal.   You’re supposed to wait a month, but that has been totally impossible and evidently unnecessary.

 

 

BELLY BULLETIN

 

As a web extra on this MASSIVE post, sister Michael has a much more detailed explanation of what CFG is, and why you, a food lover, should care about this issue.

The processes of unconventional mining for gas, which includes fracking , use high pressure gas to fracture coal and rock seams deep underground, to release natural gas. Fracking involves injecting water, sand and chemical additives (including acids, salts, gelatine and enzymes) into the well under extremely high pressure, which then expands the fractures in the coal seams. As the name suggests, the gas is captive in coal seams relatively close to the surface and close to, or in contact with, underground water supplies. Those supplies are a valuable agricultural resource and a significant proportion of the state’s agricultural production is watered by bores tapping into those aquifers. The gas released from the coal beds is methane, and has about four times the impact that carbon dioxide has as a greenhouse gas. People, who live in areas attractive to the coal seam gas industry, are in imminent danger of having their livelihood and way of life destroyed . But that’s not all, fracking has the potential to cause many more serious long term problems, with the loss of valuable water and fertile land for producing food. This is a very important issue that will affect everyone, even those who don’t live in the areas of interest to the CSG companies. Unfortunately the government and mining companies can smell the money, and they are focused on large profits! We can’t afford to let them make arbitrary decisions, which could have such a drastic affect on all our futures. Once our water tables are made toxic through this mining method nothing can be done in the short term to restore water levels in affected wells. It would take many decades – perhaps even centuries – to restore pressures throughout aquifers and the pollution of the water tables would likely be permanent. Some CSG wells, in particular in Queensland, will produce tens of millions of litres of waste water each year. Much of this water is saline and, if released, has the potential to alter the temperature, acidity and chemistry of local streams and lakes, wiping out plants and animals. Even with best practices adopted, accidents still happen. In the Pilliga, for example, thousands of litres of saline water have already been released, killing trees near one CSG drilling site. The chemistry of untreated saline water can cause topsoils to break down and wash away so, in this form, it can’t be recycled for agriculture. To date, most CSG waste has been stored in ponds, but this is an unsatisfactory solution. As the water evaporates, the salts in it concentrate, forming brines. Over time, there’s a risk that the ponds will leak into underlying aquifers, or the brines will escape into the surface water during floods. Our regulatory framework is playing catch-up: creating guidelines on the fly .This isn’t inspiring confidence in the expansion of the sector, and as mistakes are made, the effects will be felt for generations.

And on Monday everything was happening locally on the anti-CSG protest front, with constant news updates of protestors arrested & chaining themselves to equipment – further info on this issue:

csgfree Byron Bay: face book: csgfreebyronbay

e-mail:  csgfree byronbay@gmail.com

Lock the Gate website: https://lockthegate.org.au/

CSGFREE northern Rivers: http://www.csgfreenorthernrivers.org/

 

There are updates on both these issues in the Wed 8.1.13 issue (and probably lots more to come) of the local paper, The Echo

see www.echonetdaily.net.au

 

British chef Jamie Oliver again dominated Australian non-fiction book sales, with 2 cookbooks selling more than 4 times as many copies as the number 3 on the list, the Guinness Book of Records. On the general bestseller list, he was only beaten by the trilogies of 50 Shades of Grey and the Hunger Games. So a starving Jamie being pursued through a forest by a dominatrix, as he whips up 2 minute recipes with grass & the odd ant would be an obvious winner.

Meantime scientists at Newcastle Uni in the UK has found that supermarket ready to eat meals are healthier than the recipes of the top celebrity TV chefs in Britain, including Jamie. The researchers found the recipes of the TV chefs included much more energy, protein, fat and saturated fat, and less fibre. The chefs included Nigella Lawson & a baking book, so no surprise there on fat content, but I am a bit surprised that Jamie Oliver’s recipes were also found to be quite unhealthy.  The researchers however did not examine the micronutrient content or the presence of artificial preservatives, flavours, colourings, or stabilisers. The study also says no recipe from a television chef or any ready-to-cook meal met World Health Organisation guidelines on avoiding diseases caused by diet.

A wonderful mysterious corporate donor has given the Bangalow Museum and Tea Room, a volunteer organisation that runs a bunch of community and charity projects, a new chook pen and raised garden beds. And 14 workers from the company will help out with the project.

Good things happening in Mullum – Dirt Club is a series of fun educational workshops for kids running for three Wednesdays this January at the Mullumbimby Community Garden. At the workshops your children can learn about the garden and the dynamic relationships in nature that create a rich and yummy food patch.

They will learn how we coexist with the creatures in the natural world, how to nurture seedlings, conjure up fantastic compost, and of course share the abundance of the harvest from the garden.

Parents are welcome join in or just be near by. It is ok to tag team with your mates and bring a few kids in. The workshops start on Wednesday January 9 with “dirtgirl day’, get those Dirtgirl fans along, then Wednesdays January 16 and 23

It is $20 for half a day, and $30 for a whole day. If you are really keen, there are ways to get involved in exchange for free places. Ring Saintinna on 0402170846

 

BAKING FOR DOGS

 

Look for this very very pink book in your local library : Baking for your dog, by Ingeborg Pils, Parragon Publishing

Go on youtube for many many videos on baking treats/biscuits at home, I recommend the Divas can Cook video for the great voice alone.

And the Divas can Cook blogger is the one that opened my eyes to a large network of dog bakeries in the USA, it sounds like there is one in every neighbourhood – not a bad idea for a little local business.

Even if you will never in your life cook for your pet, there is an interesting article here on all the foods that could harm your dog, including some local favourites like avocado and macadamias.  Just a few macas could kill your dog apparently.

 

http://divascancook.com/2012/06/easy-dog-treats-recipe-healthy-gourmet-biscuits.html

 

love and chocolate from sister Tess, who has finally worked out why carob was invented – to put in dog food.