on air on bayfm99.9 on May 9, 2011

This was a 4 – sister belly: sister T and sister B with 2 of the 3 Pratten sisters, now Joan Ajala and Ruth MacIntosh, but once girls growing up in Lismore, just before and after WW2, with their other sister and 3 brothers.  Joan and Ruth told us great stories about the beautiful fish their father caught when they stayed at the family beach house in Brunswick Heads, the mud crabs from the river (who tried to climb out of the pot – no fridge or freezer in those days to put them to sleep), the fruit and veg man who came along with his horse and cart, the oysters bought by the hessian sackful.  Mmmm.  And mum’s tea parties, with song performances and proper ladies with proper manners, as the girls giggled under the house.  And a little espionage when one woman would not divulge her wonderful teacake recipe.  Then mother in law’s ever expandable recipes, like the popular Swedish meatballs.  They had a clever signal.   When one of the 7 kids brought home an extra mouth to feed, he or she would loudly call hello from the garden gate and a little extra was in the pot by the time they got inside. And thanks to sister Robert, who regularly listens to belly on www.bayfm.org from Sydney, for explaining that their regular childhood breakfast of home smoked fish and rice is the colonial English classic “kedgeree”.
Now Ruth has put all the recipes from her mother and aunt (another great cook), and mother in law, from scruffy bits of paper onto a digital cookbook.  Her own recipes and experiments end up there too, and she has shared a few with the belly listeners.

 

 

BELLY BULLETIN

Djanbung Gardens, Nimbin

Would you like to grow your own taro, make cassava flour or process arrowroot? It is harvest time again at Djanbung Gardens near Nimbin, where there is a diverse range of subtropical vegetables, making self-reliance so much easier in our culture. Starting this week, so be quick, Permaculture College Australia will  host a series of short courses at Djanbung Gardens . They will teach all aspects of planning, growing, harvesting, storing and preserving your own food for year-round abundance from the garden. For more information please contact the office on 6689 1755 or visit http://permaculture.com.au

The Sustainable Agriculture forums

The free forums held last week were very good and informative.  More about them on belly soon or see

http://www.northernriversfoodlinks.com.au/sustainable-agriculture-projects/

 

RUTH’S RECIPES

DIP: BASIL PESTO DIP (delicious!)

Place in food processor 1 cup fresh basil leaves, 1/4 cup each pine nuts (lightly toasted), parmesan cheese, olive oil, Greek yoghurt & mayonnaise, 1 tbsp garlic, salt & pepper. Process until mixed. Thickens in fridge.

NOTE: quantities are approximate – vary and check taste – probably fine in a blender.

Excellent made with frozen basil – food process fresh basil with oil and freeze in small containers – fresh dip in the depths of winter!

DIP: OLIVE DIP

1/2 small bottle of pitted green or black olives

1/4 cup good quality mayonnaise

small quantity of Greek yoghurt (too much makes the dip yummy but runny)

Process in food processor until mixed. Don’t over-process or olives pieces will be too small.

NOTE: a variety of ingredients can be used in place of olives – a blender is probably just as effective

 

BASIL – how to enjoy basil fresh from the garden all year round!

Pick basil and place in food processor. Process, adding enough olive oil to ensure that all the basil is coated (this preserves the rich colour). Freeze in small containers. During the depths of winter use to make all your favourite pesto recipes, or to flavour soups and casseroles.  It will taste as wonderful as it did when you harvested it!

 

BEEF: SWEDISH MEATBALLS – absolutely scrumptious

A great meal for visitors which they all seem to enjoy – the family always love the leftovers

750g low fat mince (500gr mince + 250gr sausage mince)
1 1/2  cups soft bread, 1/2 cup light sour cream, 1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 teas salt, 1 tables butter, pinch ginger, pepper, nutmeg, 1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tables butter
1 egg

Soak breadcrumbs in cream & milk – cook onion in butter till tender NOT brown
Combine meat, crumbs, egg, onion, parsley & seasonings, beat until fluffy, chill and form into balls.
Brown in butter – half cook (in electric frypan setting 7-8).

Sauce
1 can tomatoes
1-2 sticks chopped celery
1pkt Maggi Spring Vegetable Soup
1 shredded carrot

Remove meatballs from pan – add soup and about 2 cups of water.
In casserole, layer meatballs and other vegetables, pour sauce over.
Bake in moderate oven for 45min – 1 hour – serve over spaghetti or cous cous, with salad and garlic bread.

 

CAKE: CHOCOLATE CAKE – FLOURLESS

[We did not talk about this on the show, but the world always needs more chocolate cake recipes – and I am doing my best to be adopted as a Pratten sister so we can share the teacake recipe]

110g dark chocolate
110g unsalted butter

Melt in microwave and cool

1/2 cup castor sugar
4 eggs, separated
1 packed cup almond meal (110g)

Combine all ingredients except egg whites and mix wel.l
Whip egg whites until soft peaks form; fold in gently.
Place in 20cm greased, lined springform tin; bake at 190ºC for 35-40 mins (170ºC fan-forced).
Cool in tin; run knife around edge; slide onto plate; dust with sifted icing sugar.

Delicious served with a coulis made from frozen berries simmered with a little sugar – mash or blend.

Ruth does really good roasts too, she has promised to come back to belly with her top roast tips on her next trip to visit Joan.

 

FRESH PEPPER – GREEN, BLACK, WHITE AND RED

 

Pepper is native to Kerala, southern India and is extensively cultivated there and  in other tropical regions. Currently Vietnam is by far the world’s largest producer and exporter of pepper, producing about a third of the world’s Piper nigrum.  There’s one commercial large pepper farm in Australia, in north Queensland, near Innisfail, that supplies many of our top restaurants. According to the Innisfail pepper grower, “The imported stuff does lose some of the volatile oils, as it has to be steam-sterilised to get it into Australia,’’ But you can now get fresh pepper at Byron and New Brighton farmers markets, locally grown, so you may want to try your luck growing it too.  It’s only available for another month.  Or do taste it, really interesting, and the flavours change as it ripens week by week.  A little like the picked green, minus the strong vinegar taste of course.

The pepper plant is a perennial woody vine growing to four metres in height on supporting trees, poles, or trellises. It  roots readily where trailing stems touch the ground.
To grow – from seed or cutting, 3-4 years to fruit
– on strong trellis, full sun, mulched (roots like staying cool)
– plenty of food and water
In the wild, pepper flowers are pollinated by rain, so it’s important to irrigate plants so the water flows over them.  Or wait a few minutes for the rain to start, if you live in the Northern Rivers.
Berries that are picked when they’re fat and green can be dried to make black pepper. If you allow the berries to mature and turn red, then peel them to reveal the seed, you’ll get white pepper.

Fresh pepper is very popular in Thai cooking, so try adding it to your favourite red or green curry, or use in a stir fry or Thai salad.

PEPPER SQUID – adapted from www.thai menu.net

Serves 4

In a bowl combine 500 g cleaned squid , 2 tablespoons of oil  and 1 tablespoon of
roughly crushed green peppercorns; allow to stand for 15 minutes.

Heat a large wok or heavy based frying pan until very hot. Add 2 teaspoons of oil from the marinating squid. Add 4 chopped cloves of garlic and 1 teaspoon of chopped red chillies to the pan and cook for 5 seconds.
Add squid to the pan in batches and stir-fry, tossing constantly, for 2 minutes each batch. Transfer each batch to a plate.
Reheat wok between each batch. Add 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and 2 teaspoons of soy sauce to wok. When it is bubbling, pour it over the squid and serve immediately, garnished with 1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves.
Accompany with rice.

 

MUSIC

 

Today all the music on belly was chosen by Joan Ajala, aka the middle Pratten sister.  Joan shared some of the music she has come to love in her many years as a music teacher.

Give me the simple life, sung by Sharny Russell, with George Galla on guitar, from “Velvet Jazz”
Allegro from Vivaldi’s concerto in C, Genevieve Lacey on recorder with the Australian Brandeburg Orchestra, from : “Vivaldi – il flauto dolce”
Va tacito e nascosto Cesare, from the opera ‘Julius Caesar’, by Handel, sung by Margreta Elkins
Concerto for flautino in C major RV443, Largo, by Antonio Vivaldi
Gavotta, allegro, from Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto for flauto no.10 in F major, Maurice Steger , from the CD “Mr Corelli in London”

 

let us know if you enjoyed Joan’s music as much as we did!

Love and peppered chocolate, and remember we’d love to hear your food stories too, call bayfm on 6680 7999, or email belly at belly dot net dot au, or comment below

sister T