TOPICS :

young chef Matthew McKenzie aka Outback Mattie talks about turning his life around, from a tough childhood, to Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen Melbourne program, to a cooking and TV career, and reveals the origin of the lamington!
Mad cook Dr Siggi Fried gives a cooking demonstration as her family demands edible food.
The bellysisters tell stories of fish fondling, paying your restaurant bills by cycling, and the ash cloud that will soon keep asparagus and pre-packed lettuce mixes off British tables

GUEST RECIPE : from Matthew

Bruschetta of Grilled Honey Seeded Mustard Haloumi Cheese with Roasted Vine Ripened Cherry Tomatoes

This is the perfect recipe for a quick afternoon snack or for those unexpected guests. It only takes 15 minutes to prepare and cook. The best bit is you get that delicious sweet & salty flavour from the haloumi cheese, & those mouth watering bursts from the cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients:  for 2 people

100gr Haloumi Cheese
1 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Seeded Mustard

12 Vine Ripened Cherry Tomatoes
1/4 Bunch of Basil

1 Loaf of Ciabatta bread
1 Garlic Clove

1 tbsp Good Olive Oil
Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. In a oven tray place your cherry tomatoes, drizzle with good olive oil, season with sea salt & cracked black pepper. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until skin starts to split away. Remove from oven.

2. Slice your haloumi cheese 1cm thick (4 pieces), spread a layer of seeded mustard, drizzle with honey. Now in a pan on a medium heat cook both sides for 1 minute until golden brown in colour.

3. Slice your ciabatta bread thinly and toast. Once toasted cut your garlic clove in half and rub the garlic clove hard against the crispy toasted bread (garlic bread).

4. To assemble the dish; tear some basil on the base of the toast, next lay the haloumi cheese, tear some more basil, finish by topping with roasted vine ripened cherry tomatoes and a drizzle of good olive oil. Enjoy!

RESTAURANTS that Matthew recommends in Brisbane and the Gold Coast:

Old Government House, Aria, Restaurant Two, or for cheaper options The Thai Bar, or Italian or Asian restaurants in the South Bank area, and Absynthe on the Gold Coast

EDIBLE QUOTE :

By the Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic (I think he was the one who lived in a barrel) – If only it was as easy to banish hunger by rubbing the belly as it is to masturbate.

CONTACTS :

www.belly.net.au – please get in touch with the bellysisters

www.matthewmckenzie.com.au – see videos of Matthew, hear his life story, get lots of recipes

including:

http://www.matthewmckenzie.com.au/lamington.html – the original lamington recipe

invented at Matthew’s restaurant, Old Government House in Brisbane – also a bit of history to settle the great lamington controversy, and the revelation that (shock horror) “the lamington was first whipped up in a hurry to disguise the staleness of the sponge”