Tag Archives: soup

vegan & glam with Anthea

On air on Byron Bay’s Bayfm 99.9 community radio on 13 August 2012

Today Anthea Amore from Organic Passion Catering , Sister Tess, and a cameo appearance by taro fiend Sister Carolyn to launch the 2012 subscriber drive – at least the belly bits – with lots of delicious local ingredients.

Do you have a favourite local ingredient? Something that gets you excited when it comes in season, something that you cook a million ways or you just chomp into before you even get it home. Something you grow maybe. Something you have grown up with or something you have discovered after moving here. Belly is celebrating local ingredients and the things our rainbow tribes do with them during the celebration of local community radio of the bayfm subscriber drive. If you call in to subscribe while belly is on air, tell our volunteers what it is (briefly please – lots of extra people come to help out but the lines get very busy). Or please leave a comment below, or email belly@belly.net.au and we will share your pick with the belly listeners. Mine are kale, macadamias always, pecans right now, dragonfruit, fabulous organic eggs from the market, the lemon myrtle, kaffir lime, bay tree (well, bush) & curry leaf plant in the garden that are always ready with flavoursome leaves no matter what I do to them. And betel leaves for glamorous Thai nibbles, I killed that a few times but now it is going strong. Well worth seeking out.

Anthea Amore (I am so jealous that Amore is her real family name) is a very clever, even sneaky vegan/vegetarian caterer and blogger. Please go to organicpassioncatering.blogspot.com.au

for lots more of her recipes, and details of upcoming events. She proudly sources all local ingredients, mostly from local markets and stores. One of the thinks that struck me about her food, especially the canapes, is how beautiful it is. Anthea keeps meat eaters in mind when putting menus together – the sneaky bit comes from just not telling people they are eating vegetarian, and often vegan, food until they start telling her how good it is, she says. I must admit she lost me a bit at the idea of vegan Parmesan though.

I also like the idea of cooking a basic dish that is vegan, and providing non-vegan condiments, like cubes of feta or other cheeses, on the side. And I look forwards to trying smoked tofu, lots of ideas on her site about using that.

Sister Carolyn, who was in the original hungry sisterhood that set up belly, has been having fun growing (she lives near Nimbin, so plenty of good wet soils) and cooking with taro. Try adding taro to your next lentil dhal, Carolyn says it makes it much more rich and fat in texture.

CURRIED PARSNIP SOUP RECIPE – by Anthea Amore

Anthea's curried parsnip soup

Makes = 4-6 bowls

I’m always on the look out for an interesting new dish. I’m just not satisfied with the same old flavour combinations year in, year out. This soup came about a few years ago while I was cooking for a local cafe. I had to cook a different soup every single day throughout the winter, quite a challenge, especially when using organic and seasonal produce. I’d start most days staring at the same produce and have to come up with a new soup recipe to interest our regular customers, some of whom ate our soups five days a week! This situation forced me to explore different combinations, produce-wise and herb and spice-wise. Some how this recipe unfolded one cool cosy winter lunchtime and it was a serious hit.

Parsnips whisper winter to me. I didn’t really discover them until I lived in England for a year. On those cold wintry English days and nights, parsnips brought comfort and warmth, like a log fire or thick woollen hat and gloves. One of my favourite parsnip dishes back then was to roast them in the oven, doused with vanilla paste, spicy tabasco sauce, olive oil and salt. I whisked those ingredients in a jar or mug and drizzled it over the diced or wildly cut julienne style lengths, leaving the parsnip tails to curl and crisp up. So good. The spiciness of the tabasco with the sweetness of the cooked parsnips and the woody perfume of the vanilla is such a perfect combination. Yum!

This soup has a depth of flavour and a different trio of flavours going on like the above roasted parsnip recipe. It has the earthy bitter flavours of the curry spices as well as the slight tanginess with the lemon and a neat little bite from the Tabasco. That gives you the trio of bitter, sour and spicy, three of the five main flavours. Parsnips themselves have quite a complex and unique flavour ; cooked parsnips taste sweet and aromatic, and slightly earthy as you would expect from a root vegetable. They have a fragrant flavour that reminds me of parsley or even eucalyptus. And they have a soft texture which is almost creamy when cooked to perfection. The colour of this soup is a bright yellow which is both happy and warming – a soup to cheer up a cold winter’s day. Serve it with warm toasted Turkish bread, with a drizzle of good olive oil.

500gm parsnip, roughly cut

200gm potato, diced

1 medium onion, diced

1 small clove garlic

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbs madras curry powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 dsp good salt or season to your taste

1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper

juice of a lemon (right at the end)

splash of tabasco *optional

400ml tin coconut milk or cream

1 1/4 litres filtered water

Put your parsnip and diced potato in to boiling water and allow it to cook for 10 minutes. Then add the onions, garlic, curry spices and seeds, and pepper and simmer. Cook until tender and soft. Then remove the soup from the heat, add the coconut milk and blend with a stick blender. You can add more water to thin the soup to your liking (I like my soups thin with a little body but not watery thin). You may need to add a pinch more salt if you do this. Taste, and you will know.

Serve with warm fresh bread or chunky pieces of Turkish or sour dough toast drizzled with olive oil. Yum.

Please note: if you don’t have a stick blender and think about using your normal blender. BE CAREFUL! Heat creates a pressure and can explode the lid off your blender covering you and your kitchen in HOT soup. Try hand mashing instead, much safer.

CUSTARD APPLE AND VANILLA MOUSSE WITH PASSIONFRUIT RECIPE – by Anthea Amore

Anthea's custard apple and vanilla mousse

Makes = 4-6 tumbler glasses

Looking for desserts in winter? They don’t all have to be cooked or warm, especially with some of these milder winter nights up here on the North Coast or even after a heavy cooked meal, something light and sweet can do the trick! This is a little beauty. Simple as, delicious, and uses a couple of the seasonal fruits.

Custard apples are a well-balanced food having protein, fibre, minerals, vitamins, energy and little fat. They are an excellent source of Vitamin C, a good source of dietary fibre, a useful source of Vitamin B6, magnesium and potassium, and with some B2 and complex carbohydrate.

1 cup of soaked cashews (preferably over night)

2 cups custard apple flesh (remove the seeds)

1 vanilla bean, scrape of it seeds

1/4 cup light agave

pinch good salt

1 1/4 cups filtered water

1/4 cup orange or mandarin juice

4-6 passionfruits (one per dessert)

2 tbs psyllium husks

Place the soaked cashews in a blender with the filtered water and blend until creamy. Add the remaining ingredients and whizz until soft and fluffy.

Please note: this dessert is best made just before you want to eat it or an hour before. The custard apple and cashews can tend to brown. But once topped with passionfruit you can’t really tell.

EVENT – ORGANIC LOVERS SOIREE

If you’d like to experience Anthea and Jonathon’s food & wine :

*Organic Passion Catering and The Organic Wine Merchants would like to invite you to a wonderful celebration of organic food and wine. *

*There will be a wonderful selection of gourmet vegetarian canapes and a selection of wine and beer to taste and experience.*

*Where& When? Friday 24th August at the Santos Mullumbimby Balcony (upstairs) *

*Starts: 6:30 – 9:30pm*

*How much? $55pp ~ **Booking essential* www.organicpassioncatering.com* *M: 0422 383 151*

The theme for the night is Vintage Glamour with Kelly Knight (trio) playing vintage jazz with the decor to match! Feel free to dress up and have a bit of fun. Jonathon will be talking about organic wine.

MUSIC

Julia Rose – Gina

The jukebox joy boys – Do you think I’m pretty

Rebecca Ireland – grandmother

Rebecca Ireland – apples

the lucky wonders – on a night

love & chocolate covered parsnips, sister T

sunshine & soup

Well it just sounds good doesn’t it, sunshine and soup. And that’s what we had on the first belly of August, with a slightly worn out (post Byron Bay Writers Festival) Sister T and the wonderful novelist Charlotte Wood in the belly kitchen, talking food writing and a lovely sunny inspiring festival. We were joined for in season goodness by Miss August, Alison Drover, “wrapped up like a strudel” (many layers). And yes we talked soup, because the nights are still cold enough to enjoy, in Charlotte’s words, the solace of soup.

Charlotte Wood is the author of several beautiful novels, The Submerged Cathedral, Pieces of a Girl, The Children, & Animal People, & has edited the collection of stories Brothers & Sisters. She is now working on her next novel, but her last book is a collection of essays on food and cooking, and simple recipes, called “Love and Hunger – thoughts on the gift of food”. She has just been a guest on several panels at the 2012 Byron Bay Writers Festival. She was the special guest with the wonderful Gail Jones last Saturday in Byron at a dinner entitled ‘Australian literary treasures’.

Charlotte Wood graciously allowing Sister T to point a phone at her, the morning after a very busy Byron bay Writers Festival

SPICY MUSSEL BISQUE RECIPE – by Charlotte Wood

from “Love & Hunger : Thoughts on the gift of food”, Allen & Unwin 2012

Adapted from Jared Ingersoll’s crab bisque recipe.

Serves 4

1 teaspoon each cumin, caraway and coriander seeds

1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds

150 ml vegetable oil

1 & 1/2 large red capsicums, seeded and chopped

4 cloves garlic, squashed

2 ripe tomatoes, chopped

1 stick celery, roughly chopped (It may be worth peeling this first if you can be bothered

1 medium fennel bulb, roughly chopped

1 red onion, chopped

1/3 cup soft brown sugar

Pinch chilli flakes

Salt and pepper

1.5 kg black (or ‘blue’) mussels

1 large glass white wine

600 ml chicken stock ( I use homemade – if you use packaged, omit seasoning the soup until the last minute, if necessary)

1/2 bunch coriander, leaves and stem separated

Crusty bread, to serve

Optional : 2 tablespoons harissa – I love Yalla harissa and keep a pot of it in the freezer for digging into it to add extra kick to all kinds of dishes. If you don’t want this or can’t find it, you could perhaps double the spice mix and chilli at the beginning for some extra kick.

1. Preheat oven to 180 C.

2. Toast the spices in a dry frying pan until fragrant, then grind in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder.

3. Heat a deep roasting tin in the oven or on the stove top and, when hot, add the oil and all the vegetables except coriander leaves.

4. Sprinkle the spices over the vegetables with the sugar, chilli flakes and seasoning, and mix well. Roast in a moderate oven for about 1 hour.

5. Meanwhile, scrub and de-beard the mussels, then place in a covered pan with a big glass of white wine and simmer over a medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the mussels are opened. Remove them from the pan to cool, reserving the cooking liquid. When the shells are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the shells and set aside.

6. When the vegetables are soft, smell good and are a little coloured, remove from oven. Transfer the vegetables and the mussel meat into the large bowl of a food processor and puree until smooth – or keep it coarse if you prefer a more rustic texture.

7. In a sizable pot add the stock to the mussel cooking liquid, then add the puree and simmer gently for about 15 minutes.

8. Add the chopped coriander leaves and harissa if using, stir to combine, and serve with crusty bread.

PHARMACY IN A BOWL SOUP RECIPE – by Charlotte Wood

from “Love & Hunger : Thoughts on the gift of food”, Allen & Unwin 2012

Serves 8

Feed this to anyone who has a cold – they will feel better instantly.

Olive oil

5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 brown onion, finely chopped

2 small red chillies, finely chopped

1 stick celery, finely chopped

1 leek, finely chopped

1/4 white cabbage, finely chopped

1 red capsicum, roughly chopped

3 carrots, roughly chopped

3 litres chicken or vegetable stock

1 head broccoli, roughly chopped

1 x 400g. can tomatoes

1 cup Puy lentils

Salt and pepper

Grated parmesan, to serve

1. Saute’ the garlic, onion, chilli, celery, leek, cabbage, capsicum and carrots in batches in the oil until well browned.

2. Put the chicken stock in a big pot on the stove and bring to the boil, tossing in all the sauteed ingredients.

3. Add broccoli and tomatoes, and simmer until all vegetables are tender.

4. Reserving stock, remove vegetables with a slotted spoon and puree in a food processor or blender until smooth (or roughly blended, depending on how rustic you like your texture).

5. Return pureed vegetables to stock and add lentils. Simmer for 15-20 minutes or until lentils are tender (more if you want them falling apart). Season well with salt and pepper.

6. Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan.

tree cabbages and food forests

On air on Byron Bay community radio bayfm 99.9 on May 14, 2012

Today belly was all about bio-diversity, about getting down and dirty and protecting our food supplies, and sharing our knowledge. And enjoying the delicious fruits of our labours of course. Shortly Jude Fanton, director of Seedsavers, told us about food networks they recently visited in New Zealand, Europe and Malaysia. Portuguese cabbage forests and monkeys that help make our fruit more delicious, among other stories. Then Suveran Dewsnap, head gardener at Starseed, talked about his dream of edible food forests, eating weeds, and adapting to our environment. To finish the show, two more wonderful artists from the very tasty food themed exhibitions at the Ballina Community Gallery.

FRESH REPORT : persimmons finishing, strawberries starting, lots of mandarins, dragonfruit, passionfruit
mint & fresh young ginger -maybe time for healthy cold busting juices. Week 3 markets include Mullumbimby this Saturday, Uki and Nimbin on Sunday.

SEEDSAVERS ON TOUR

Jude Fanton is director with husband Michel of Seedsavers, founded in Byron Bay in 1986 to protect non-hybrid,traditional seeds and plant varieties, and to set up and assist non-profit seed networks and exchanges, here and abroad. These days they travel a lot, learning and teaching ways to protect biodiversity with like minded people all over the world. Their latest journey was to New Zealand, and last summer they travelled in Portugal, Spain, France and Malaysia. There are more than 700 videos of their travels, and lots of seedsaving advice, on the Seedsavers YouTube channel here.

Listen to the Seedsavers travels in Europe and Malaysia

listen to Jude Fanton’s New Zealand travels

CALDO VERDE RECIPE

Jude spoke about caldo verde, the Portuguese national soup, or even national dish. It means green soup, and is based on cabbage, preferably kale (or Portuguese tree cabbages). Even if you can’t get hold of any tree cabbages, kale is pretty easy to get now (at least if you are lucky enough to live around here). Just soften some chopped onion in olive oil, then add chopped garlic. Then potatoes and stock or water. If you like meat, traditionally some chorizo sausage goes in now, and some towards the end. Cook until the potatoes are almost ready and falling apart, whizz the soup smooth if you prefer, then add lots of finely shredded kale and more chorizo. The kale should still keep a bit of texture, not be really soft. You can also add herbs like mint and parsley towards the end of cooking.

FOOD FORESTS

Suveran Dewsnap is head gardener at Starseed Gardens , a non profit organisation with all sorts of interesting projects, on among others, bio-char, aquaculture, hemp, and his passion for many years now, food forests.

Listen to Suveran on belly

Starseed Gardens will have workshops on planting a food forest , in Byron Bay in June. This is what Suveran says about the importance of food forests.

“The beauty of food forests, in my view, is not just that they provide a variety of produce on an ongoing basis, when established, but, more importantly, as a permanent resource ( as opposed to annual cropping ). They are an ongoing propagation resource base that would be so vital in the event of a food supply crisis, with most tropical and subtropical perennial staples being easily reproduced by cuttings and tubers (sweet potato, cassava, Taro, Arrowroot and yam ) or abundant seed (as in the case of perennial legumes such as Lima beans ) Thus with some collaboration and a local knowledge base communities around the shire would be able to provide themselves with abundant food, relatively quickly. This, in my view, is the essence of food security. In the event of a natural disaster or disruption to the transport system there is probably no more than 2-3 days food on the supermarket shelves, and so, in an increasingly uncertain world, I now feel a sense of urgency to share the knowledge I have accumulated, and will be running a series of workshops around the country over the next 12 months, starting at Starseed gardens on the 1st-3rd of June. This workshop will cover various strategies for achieving a secure locally produced food supply including perennial food crops, the development of a food forest network across the shire, edible weeds, community collaboration, planting hardy plants for winter and preparing the ground for spring planting, followed by a comprehensive food forest planting workshop from August 31st to Sep 2nd which will include a range of seeds and cuttings to begin creating other food forests throughout the district.”

RECIPE – TARO WITH MISO AND TOFU, from Suvi

adapted from a recipe on www.justhungry.com

Suveran brought a bag of taro roots – some to plant, some to eat. Lucky subscriber Bridget, who won them, is attempting to goat-proof a spot for the taro patch. He suggests this recipe. You can buy taro easily in local shops and markets.

5 or 6 smallish peeled taro roots

1/2 block firm tofu, crumbled

1 cup Japanese dashi stock or water

2 tbs white miso paste

1 tbs soy sauce

1/2 tbs raw sugar

Cut the taro into chunks. Bring to a boil taro, dashi or water, tofu and sugar. Cook on medium heat until almost all liquid is gone, then add the soy sauce and the miso (thinned to liquid consistency with a little water). Simmer on low heat for a few minutes. Serve hot or cold.

BELLY BULLETIN

Coming up this Thursday 17th & all weekend, the Noosa International Food Festival, chefs from all over Australia, Hong Kong and Turin, lots of good music. On the June long weekend ABC Delicious magazine is organising a Byron Bay gourmet extravaganza, lots of visits to local producers and restaurants. ( See here) They both sound good if you have a fair bit of cash to spare.

On in Ballina right now and free :

From Wednesday 2 May – 27 May 2012 (from the Gallery website)

“Table Manners: a spectacular installation of handmade ceramic dinnerware by ceramic artists Suvira McDonald, Malcolm Greenwood and Sue Fraser; textile artist Kirsten Ingemar; Ikebana artist Di Morison and food stylist Monique Guterres-Harrison (Seaweed Cuisine). Curated by Suvira McDonald.

Short and Sweet: exquisite pastel drawings depicting kitchenware and high tea treats by Katka Adams.

Produce-d: watercolours of farmers market produce by Karena Wynn-Moylan. Each Saturday for one year the artist visited her local farmers market (the Bangalow Farmers Market) and photographed her basket of produce. These were then translated as beautiful watercolour paintings and published in a recipe book, with recipes from market stall holders.

Food for Thought: still life paintings and mixed media by Barbara Zarletti and Peter Mortimore. Their contrasting styles offer exquisite views of quiet arrangements of food and kitchenware.”

Last week on belly we talked about food and painting with the presenter of the Bayfm arts show, Karena Wynn-Moylan. I hope you have a chance to check out last week’s post here with karena’s beautiful paintings and lots of seasonal recipes from her artistst’s cookbook. Today I played interviews I recorded at the exhibition opening night with 2 other artists, Kirsten who works with fabric,and sound, and Peter who made great collages in honour of his mother’s old cookbooks.

Listen to Kirsten

Listen to Peter

MUSIC

Apart from the fado track, all the music today was thanks to the great community radio resource, airit, maintained by Amrap, which supports Australian musicians, and community radio stations. No money at all from the Federal government in this year’s budget, very disappointing, but they say they will keep the music coming. Senator Conroy is the one to contact if you want to support amrap.

Foreign Language by Flight Facilities, from Foreign Language Remixes

Fado Curvo by Mariza, from Nu Europe

Maybe When The Sun Comes Down, XTREMIX By Cloud Control Richard In Your Mind

Forest Eyes by Jinja Safari , from the Jinja Safari EP

Words and images by Great Earthquake, from Drawings

love and chocolate covered cabbages, sister tess

May: mushrooms, mandarins and mystery sounds

on air on Bayfm 99.9 on May 2, 2011

It’s the first belly of May, so as usual we talked about some of the delicious foods in season this month. Ms May (aka Alison Drover) brought some cooler weather recipes, she’s been all over Australia to see what’s in season.
It’s also the first belly of a new bayfm 6 month programming season, so I marked the occasion with our first ever mystery sound – so mysterious that nobody rang in – I would have been very surprised if anybody had recognised it in fact.

MMMMMMISS MAY’S MONTHLY ROUNDUP

Seasonal Fruit And Vegetables in Australia in May

Fruits:

apples : bonza – braeburn – cox’s orange pippins – fuji – gala – golden delicious – granny smith – jonagold – jonathan – mutso – pink lady – red delicious – snow – sundowner
bananas, cumquat, custard apple, feijoa,
grapes : purple cornichon – waltham cross,
kiwifruit, lemons, limes,
mandarins, champagne melons,
nuts : chestnut – hazelnut – peanut – walnut,
pears : howell – josephine – packham – red sensation – williams,
persimmon, quince, rhubarb.

Vegetables:

asian greens – bok choy, – choy sum – gai laan – wonga bok,
avocados : fuerte – sharwill,
beetroot, broccoli, brussels sprout, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, daikon, eggplant, fennel, garlic, ginger, horseradish, leeks, lettuce,
mushrooms : wild – field – pine – slippery jacks,
okra, olives,
onions : brown – spring,
parsnip, peas, potato, pumpkin, shallots, silverbeet, spinach, squash, swede, sweet potato, taro, tomato, turnip, witlof, zucchini.

MANDARIN CAKE

makes one 24 cm cake, serves 10 – 12

3 mandarins
250g (1 cup) caster sugar
6 eggs
230g (2 cups) ground almonds
to serve
60g (¼ cup) caster sugar
zest of 2 oranges

This is a great cake and ideal for all those that need gluten and wheat free. It is a cake that not only tastes good but the vibrancy of the orange mandarins that make it look so good. I often decorate it with nasturtium flowers and serve yogurt with it.

Put the mandarins in a medium saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours, adding water when necessary to keep the mandarins covered at all times.
Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F/Gas 3). Grease a 24 cm (9 inch) springform cake tin well.
Drain the mandarins and cool to room temperature. Once cooled, split them open with your hands and remove any seeds. Puree the mandarins, including the skins, in a food processor. Add the sugar and eggs and mix together until combined. Add the ground almonds to the mandarin purée and stir thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into prepared tin and bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until the cake looks set in the middle, springs back when touched and comes away from the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.
While the cake is cooling, put the extra sugar in a saucepan with 60 ml (¼ cup) of water over a low heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Add the orange zest and boil the mixture until it just starts to caramelise. Lift the zest out with a fork and cool it on a plate.
Serve the cake with caramelised citrus zest and a sprinkling of icing sugar.

MUSHROOM BREAD SOUP

This is an easy mushroom soup. May is a time that mushrooms grow well as the temperature is cooling down. Visit your local farmer market and see what is growing and be adventurous. With your mushroom types.

500g mushrooms – try to buy from Farmers Market as you will taste the difference in flavor and be sure to find varieties that provide all the wonderful textures.
4 cups chicken stock
2 slices sourdough bread, crusts removed

Simmer sliced mushrooms in stock with bread for 10 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender. Blend soup and season to taste. Garnish with chives and creme fraiche.

VEGETABLE STOCK

Celery stalks, coarsely chopped
Carrots coarsely chopped
Leeks white parts only, coarsely chopped
Onion coarsely chopped
Garlic cloves bruised
White peppercorns
Bouquet garni – this is a mixture of herbs used to flavour the stock. You can make this easily by using parsley stalks, thyme sprigs, rosemary, bay leaf, clove of garlic and tying them together so they are enclosed in a piece of muslin. The bag of herbs is placed in the stock and removed afterwards.

For vegetable stock, combine ingredients in a saucepan and add bouquet garni. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil over medium heat, then reduce to low and lightly simmer, skimming occasionally until stock is flavoured (30-40 minutes). Remove from heat, strain through a muslin-lined fine sieve (discard solids). Cool to room temperature then refrigerate stock until chilled (2-4 hours). Makes about 2 litres. Stock will keep refrigerated for up to 3 days and frozen for up to several months

PLANTING IN MAY

Miss May says time is running out so get out in the garden and start planting so that you will have the abundance of vegetables through to winter.
Now is the time to plant broccoli, broad beans, beetroot, coriander, cabbages and Asian greens. Visit the Sustain Food website for a local regional planting guide. http://sustainfood.com.au/index.php?page=grow-what-s-in-season-vegetables.

This is also the time to save seeds from your summer crops so that you have them for the next year. Saving seeds helps safeguard the food security of the plant and is also a great way to ensure that the seeds you sow grow.
I have some heritage tomato seeds that my neighbour gave to me in Sydney and she has had them for over 30years. They grow and are so resistant and produce the juiciest tomatoes.

Alison Drover a.k.a. Miss May

THE MANDARIN POEM

Yes the beautiful mandarin, loved in China for many centuries as much for its scent as for its taste. This is a poem about the first mandarin of the season being presented at the imperial palace.

LIU HSUN – AD 462 -521

On the morning of the first frost,

the gardener plucks and presents it;

its perfume extends to all the seats of the guests,

when opened, its fragrant mist spurts upon the people.

THE MYSTERY SOUND

Apologies to anyone who thought their radio was broken – the mystery sound was very odd

If you’d like to listen, go to

http://austringer.net/wp/index.php/2010/06/25/listening-to-snapping-shrimp/

and for sound + good explanation

http://www.ieee-uffc.org/ultrasonics/symposia/2003/hawaii03/plenary_session.html

The loudest sound under the sea, would you believe, is prawns, or shrimp – usually called snapping shrimp. They make a sound that can be over 200 decibels, louder than a jumbo taking off. They use the sound for hunting, to stun their prey. They are very common in sub-tropical waters, and they are spreading with warming seas, so don’t be surprised if your bucket of prawns makes strange noises.

If you know of any other edible animals (or plants!) that make odd noises, or you have a good cooking sound that doesn’t just sound like static and would be good for a guessing game, please send it to the bellysisters. Next time I will try to organise a prize for the first correct guess. Of course the glory is probably enough.

Love and chocolate covered prawns, sister T

MUSIC

Bellydance, Undercover (with ya lover)

James Grehan, Miss Mayhem

the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, a bunch of whales and dolphins, Jean-Pierre Jacquillat conducting, Danse Lente, from Trois Danses by Durufle’

Burt Bacharach, Another spring will rise

Keren Ann, the end of May

Bianca Meier, Walk the earth

Ronit’s Morocco

On air on bayfm99.9 on Monday 11 April, 2011

Sister B and brother Andrew (A & B!) had a wonderful talk with Ronit Robbaz-Franco about the country and food of Morocco. A big thank you to everyone for keeping the belly show on the road when I could not go on air at the last minute. I am sorry to report the belly cat is now chasing mice in cat heaven, but we had some lovely last few hours together – and some hard ones. A and B tell me Ronit brought all the colours of Morocco into the bayfm studio. Sister T

Ronit setting the scene for a Moroccan banquet

*Ronit’s Story*

My parents were born in Morocco. My mother is from Casablanca and my father
from Marrakech. Both grew up in Morocco but left for Israel in 1950s, where
I was born. My mother was a chef, specializing in pastry, so my upbringing
evolved around food. My Great Grandfather was an Ambassador in Morocco,
that’s how they landed in Morocco initially. I come from a large, colourful
family, where all our family affairs happened around a Moroccan feast. There
was always a hearty celebration taking place, a passionate and dramatic
affair with family & friends. My brother’s wedding lasted for 3-5 days. The
Moroccan women are known to be feisty, colorful and vibrant. I have 5
sisters & 1 brother, so I grew up with many women around me, listening to
their stories.

Growing up in Israel in a Moroccan household, it was infused with Moroccan
culture, heritage and social ethics. When I visited Morocco I felt I had
arrived home.

My mother’s family is scattered all over the world, basically the wandering
Jew. I decided to leave Israel after my military service at 20 years of age.
I lived in South East Asia, India, Japan, South America, mainly Brazil,
where I lived for 5 years, then Central America and finally I arrived on
these shores about 14 years ago. Travelling around the globe, I gained a
wealth of experience in middle eastern, primarily Moroccan cuisine, Indian
and Gourmet Wholefood. I set up my business called Open Table Catering in
Byron Bay and it’s been operating successfully for 7 years.

Moroccan cuisine is extremely diverse, due to Morocco’s interaction with
other cultures and nations over the centuries. Moroccan cuisine has been
subject to Berber, Moorish, Mediterranean and Arab influences. The cooks in
the royal kitchens of Fez, Meknes, Marrakesh, Rabat and Tetouan refined it
over the centuries and created the basis for what is known as Moroccan
cuisine today.

A very traditional Moroccan Recipe by Ronit:

HARIRA SOUP

Harira is a tomato based soup with chick peas, meat, lentils and small
noodles.

It is the most important soup in Morocco as it serves to break the fast
during the whole month of Ramadan. During this month, at the break of the
fast, harira is accompanied by dates, warm milk, juices, bread and
traditional Moroccan pancakes. At the moment of the call to prayer,
Moroccans all over the country utter ‘bismillah’ (in the name of God), bite
into a date and sip a spoonful of harira – their first taste of food after a
long day of fasting.

For 2-3 people

200 grams of meat (lamb or beef) chopped into cubes

150-200g of chickpeas soaked overnight

80g of vermicelli

5 tomatoes

1 cup of chopped celery (krafs)

1/2 cup of chopped coriander

1/2 cup of chopped fresh parsley

2 teaspoons of tomato paste

1 tsp of powdered ginger

1 pinch of saffron (strands or powdered)

1/2 cup of cornflour

1 liter of water

salt

pepper

1 tablespoon of butter

Boil the tomatoes and blend to a puree. In a large pan place the chickpeas,
herbs (parsley and celery but not the coriander), the onions, meat, spices
and butter. Add the tomato puree and 1 litre of water and bring to the boil.
Simmer for 45 minutes or until the chickpeas are soft. Stir in the tomato
paste and thicken by adding water to the cornflour and slowly stirring in.
Add the vermicelli and cook for a further 10 minutes. Take off the heat and
add the fresh coriander. Serve with a wedge of lemon.

Clock tip – for a special treat (especially at Ramadan) serve with dates and
sticky, sweet shebbakiya.

Open Table is running cooking workshops and introducing a new food line: Gourmet Raw Foods called Raw Buzz (from Ronit’s surname ‘Robbaz’)

THE BELLY BULLETIN

Local screenings of the new film “The Economics of Happiness” are on this week.

This is a film on solutions to the problems of unemployment, waste and unhappiness that we see flowing from our current system of trade and production, including things like shipping food across the world just to package it. The film is by Helena Norberg-Hodge, Steven Gorelick & John Page. They say: ‘Going local’ is a powerful strategy to help repair our fractured world – our ecosystems, our societies and our selves. Far from the old institutions of power, people are starting to forge a very different future…

check out “The economics of Happiness” at:

Mullumbimby Civic Hall ,Wednesday, 13th April, 6.30pm

Southern Cross University, Lismore (Main D Block concert space), Thursday 14th April, 6pm

Byron Community Centre, Sunday, 17th April, 6.00pm

more info www.theeconomicsofhappiness.org/

Our local food producers, agricultural industry and community will reap big benefits when some of the Northern River’s most groundbreaking sustainable agriculture projects are showcased in forums across the region in May.

With the focus on sharing knowledge and making food production profitable in a changing climate, the Sustainable Agriculture Forums are scheduled for Murwillumbah and Ballina on May 3 and Casino and Maclean on May 4. They will showcase projects that focus on sustainable greenhouse production, biological farming methods, sustainable grazing and soil health for commercial food production.

The forums are free and open to the public, in particular, representatives from the Northern Rivers agricultural industry, local food producers and community members interested in sustainable agriculture and food security.

For more information, or to register: visit www.northernriversfoodlinks.com.au

or email events@northernriversfoodlinks.com.au

belly 12 July 2010 – tender herbs and starfruit

This was Sister Tess’s first show after a trip to the North and South extremities of Europe, Finland (where they have porridge for lunch) and Sicily (where they have icecream in a bun for breakfast). More about those two fascinating places soon. During this show Sisters T and B talked about the wonderful carambola or starfruit, a delicious and beautiful golden fruit that grows well in our area. And sister T played an interview recorded at the Byron Bay Herb Nursery with Debbie Shortis, the fabulous belly herbologist. Deb talked about ways to use herbs in mixes. The traditional bouquet garni , woody herbs like thyme, sage, rosemary, bay, tied together so they can be easily removed at the end of cooking. Herbes fines, or tender herbs like chervil, tarragon, parsley, fennel tops, dill, that are great chopped together and added at the very end of cooking to zest up winter dishes : soups, mashes, casseroles. And her own invention, an Asian bouquet garni to tie together,add to curries and remove, choosing from kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, cinnamon, ginger, curry leaf, coriander root or horseradish root.

These are a couple of recipes that get Deb’s fresh and herbal seal of approval. The crepe is inspired by one on “The Cook and the Chef” ABC TV show.

HERB CREPE
Serves 4
(To go in any soup)
2 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
3-4 tablespoons milk
Salt and pepper
‘fines herbes’- 1 tablespoon each of parsley, tarragon, chives, chervil and dill frond,
all chopped very finely.
Put flour in a bowl, stir in the eggs and then gradually beat in the milk to make a thin batter. Season, add herbs and let rest for 30 mins. This crepe is about the herbs more than it is about the crepe. The batter is just a boat to carry the herbs upon the soup.
Heat a heavy pan and brush lightly with both a little oil and butter. Add crepe mix and swirl around the pan to form a thin crepe. Cook on very low heat without adding much colour, flip and set aside. Roll the crepe and cut into thin strips.
Place a few strands of crepe ribbon in the bottom of each serving bowl before adding the soup of your choice.

CARROT AND CHERVIL SOUP
50gms butter
275grams chopped carrots
50gms plain flour
1ltre chicken stock
½ cup of chopped chervil
Salt and pepper
Melt butter in saucepan and gently sauté the carrots for 5 mins. Stir in the flour, then stock and seasoning. Bring soup to the boil, cover and simmer gently for 30mins. Allow to cool slightly then purée the soup in a blender. Return to pan add the chervil and gently bring back to the boil. Serve hot or chilled with a swirl of cream or yogurt and a chervil garnish.
(recipe from “ The Complete Book of Herbs” by Lesley Bremness 1990)

For lots more recipes and herb information, go to the Byron Bay Herb Nursery site
www.byronherbs.com.au

FROM THE BELLY LAB : MUSSELS WITH TENDER HERBS by sister T

I made this the night before the interview, inspired by Deb’s enthusiasm for mixing up lots of fresh green things. I just went around the garden and picked lots of whatever was looking good, parsley and chervil and chives, a little nasturtium and a few mustard leaves. There was at least a loosely packed cup of chopped greens. I opened the mussels in a big pot with chopped garlic, butter and a glass of wine (one for the pot, one for the cook), and just tossed the herbs in at the end. Much nicer than plain old parsley moules marinieres.

starfruit photo by Pratheep P S, www.pratheep.com

STAR FRUIT OR CARAMBOLA

The star fruit has been grown in parts of Asia for hundreds of years— it may have originated in Sri Lanka and Indonesian Moluccas.
They are best consumed when ripe, when they are yellow with a light shade of green. It will also have brown ridges at the five edges and feel firm. An overripe fruit will be yellow with brown spots (so the sources say – we still like them that ripe, obviously minus the brown bits).

The fruit is entirely edible, including the slightly waxy skin. It is sweet yet tart, a complex tropical flavour, and extremely juicy.

Carambola is rich in antioxidants and vitamin C , you may need to be careful of overconsumption if you have liver problems possibly cos of their oxalic acid content.

– To grow : tropical, sub tropical small tree, full sun,water, good drainage, fertilise 3 x year, can propagate by air layering – wrap soil around a branch and wait for roots. If you grow them from seed they may bear sour fruit.

– To prepare : wash, remove ends and ridges and seeds

– To cook :
fruit salads – the main way you will see starfruit, but there is so much more you can do! In China and India unripe fruit is used cooked as a veg.
Spicy thai salads (even rosepetal with chicken and prawn http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaisnacks/r/rosepetalsalad.htm) they introduce a sweet/sour element.
Juices, drink decoration, cake topping eg pavlova, upside down cake, muffins – substitute in pineapple recipes, the star slices hold their shape if you are a bit gentle.
Salsas with eg cucumber, mint, chilli to put on fish or chicken
Raita – the yogurt side dish, serve with curry, instead of cucumber raita
Pickle whole