Category Archives: RADIO SHOW POSTS

go North, go cheese

Spring is here and so is lovely rich spring milk and lots of excessively cute baby animals. Last week hungry kids of the goat kind tried to eat my trousers. And my buttons, and my shoelaces. Yes I was wearing them all at the time.

 

glamour goats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belly is heading just a wee bit to the North of Byron Bay this Monday to find out about all the fab food events that are taking over Burringbar, and other deliciousness in the Tweed Shire.  Our guide is cheesemaker Debra Allard, who many of us remember fondly and miss greatly from her days with Tweed Valley Whey.  As of course we miss the ricotta and haloumi and keffir and the little camembert types and… yes stop now before it becomes too painful.  She is no longer making cheese to sell, instead she is teaching many many people how to make cheese, yoghurt, and many other good dairy things at home.

Debbie is also helping to support Burringbar Hall, one of the many beautiful old ‘School of Arts’ buildings that have managed to survive in our villages and need lots of tlc.  And there ain’t no better way to do that than to hold a whole series of great cooking classes!

This is the butter Deb brought to belly. It's ready when the solid butter separates from the liquid buttermik.

We learned how to make butter today on the show.  Buy pure cream, put it into a  jar with a nice tight lid and shake shake shake.  It is a perfectly balanced circle of life – you exercise, use up calories, then put lots of them back on when you drain off the liquid part (buttermilk, use in your baking) and spread the leftover solid butter on your bread.  You can rinse the butter in water before using the butter or just make sure you use the butter within a few days.  Debbie thinks people are learning cheese making as part of a drive to rediscover lost artisan skills, but butter making sounds like a lost home skill.   Sister Rasela remembers her grandfather making butter in his rocking chair, it was his designated job.  And Nicky (bayfm Friday morning presenter), remembers churning butter at primary school.

It certainly seems like a great way to exercise and have an instant reward.

 

Debbie with Annie the calf

 

CHEESY STUFF

Debra Allard has a lot of information and photos on the Cheeses Loves You Facebook page.  Have a look even if you aren’t into Facebook – but are into cheese!

Link to an article about Deb on rabbit radio ( a Gold Coast progressive (their word) online  radio station – yes I had never heard of it either, but there’s good stuff there, and 2 whole weekly food shows).

Direct link to step by step making mozzarella pictures.  Thank you for filling our fridge at bayfm with what looks just like urine specimens but apparently is hard to get liquid non-animal rennet Deb – those lucky winners of the mozzarella making magic please please pick them up soon.

 

 

stretching the mozzarella

 

Burringbar Hall October Cooking Classes and Food Appreciation Courses

 

(This course information comes from the organisers)

The Burringbar Hall is offering the ultimate experience of being able to share the artisan techniques of the experts in their field. The classes being run will use as much local produce as possible to showcase the region and applaud the efforts of the local farmers and embrace the regions Farmers Markets.  In the past the hall has run farmers feasts to showcase local produce and now it’s time to make it yourself. The classes are small and intimate so hands on learning will be essential.  The classes are also being run to showcase the beautiful Burringbar Hall which is well equipped to cater to all events, whether a small boutique cooking class or a wedding for over 100 guests. A fee for the classes is being charged to hire the hall and pay for another 2 months of insurance. Maybe we could use the money raised in October to fix the holes a resident possum has made in the pressed tin ceiling!

For bookings contact Debra Allard on 0404 812 011 or email drallard@bigpond.com

 

Faith Newham  Friday 19th October 9am – 5pm  All things bread and baking Cost $120

Faith Newham, after moving up from Melbourne over 30 years ago  ran the Whian Whian Pottery Restaurant for 20 years. Faith was a regular at Byron Farmers Markets and now is enjoying baking sourdough bread and pastries for the customers at the Lismore Organic Farmers Markets. Faith is also branching out into teaching her much sought after artisan trade from start to finish. This specialised sourdough bread is made from a natural leaven in the true traditional style.  Cost includes all ingredients, morning tea and lunch

 

Grayle Harlequin  Sunday October 21st 10am – 2pm  Find out how chocolate IS a health benefit! Cost $45 per person

Grayle will explain the benefits of chocolate, not just any chocolate but raw and certified organic cocoa. She has products that take chocolate right back to the raw bean itself. Many of the products being sampled on the day are gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free.Grayle’s educational workshop has been created for people to participate in and learn about the energy, history, nutritional benefits and taste of real good quality chocolate.

Web site www.soulfirecocoagenesis.com            Facebook www.facebook.com/soulfirecocoagenesis

 

Debra Allard  Cheeses Loves You Cost $140

Friday 12th October 9am – 3pm and Sunday 28th October 9am – 3pm

What could be better than spending a full day making your own haloumi, whey ricotta, 30 minute mozzarella and butter in a jar?

Debra has been a Cheesemaker commercially for 4 years and is now making the best cheeses at home with small quantities of locally sourced pasteurised milk and a small wine fridge (to mature the cheese and to keep the wine cool!)  Debra teaches you the basic cheese making steps that can be used at home to make an array of cheeses that will impress friends and family. Be amazed when milk turns to curd then cheese right in front of your eyes. You will have your own work station, make your own cheeses and be able to take it all home and share with friends and family at the end of the day.  The cost includes all ingredients, morning tea and farmers market inspired lunch.

facebook http://www.facebook.com/CheeseMakingClasses .

 

Roberto Constanzo Saturday 27th October 10am – 2pm  Cost $120

Roberto is a delight to watch in the portable kitchen at the farmers market.  Robert and his sisters have so much experience in the kitchen having been brought up in a Sicilian family of food producers who have always value added their own home grown and local produce. Roberto has been cooking all over the world, even a two and a half year stint at the famous River Café in London. Roberto will share his vast culinary knowledge using all local produce at the Burringbar Hall.  Cost includes all ingredients and a long lunch of all the food you have cooked on the day.

Web site http://www.thenomadickitchen.com.au/

 

Elodie Attrazic   Tuesday 30th October 10am – 3pm    French inspired High Tea Cost $120

Elodie trained and worked in restaurants for more than 10 years in her native France. Elodie is now residing in Kingscliff and a regular on Rabbit Radio sharing her knowledge of all things French.  Learn how to make an array of cakes and desserts with the expert. At the end of the day enjoy the delicious treats you have made with a high tea of local Madura teas there maybe even a glass of bubbly or two. You will also be taking home an array of goodies to share with family and friends.

Web site http://thefrenchcookup.blogspot.com.au/    Facebook http://www.facebook.com/TheFrenchCookUp

 

FRESH REPORT

In a tree near you, if you are lucky, as many are being removed (too messy, hungry birds, purple spotted washing on the line), lovely juicy plump mulberries.  I had the most gorgeous little tarts made by Eric, a lovely new friend who’d be worth keeping around just for his pastry skills even if he was horrible.  Which he isn’t.  He baked some light small tartlets, let them cool down.  At the last minute before serving filled them with fresh goat’s curd (very easy to make at home, or buy it) mixed with creme fraiche.  Then topped them with 3-4 mulberries, whole, cooked in a little syrup I think.  I think I stopped at 3 tarts only because the plate was empty.  Of course you can use other fruit, strawberries and blueberries are great right now, and  your favourite type of pastry, but try the mix of curd and creme fraiche.  It is rich but light, and really doesn’t need sweetening – the fruit has enough sweetness.

 

BELLY BULLETIN

 

For more learning, in two of the best food gardens I have ever visited, think about visiting Seed  Savers or the Mullumbimby community garden this weekend.

Jude & Michel Fanton bond with some funny vegetables

 

To celebrate International Seed Freedom Fortnight of Action, Seed Savers is holding an Open Garden Day on Sunday 21st Oct.

We shall start early as the garden is nicest then, 8am and finish early too, 3pm.  Tours every half hour (on the hour and on the half-hour) with Michel or Jude Fanton.  Demonstrations of growing and making your own curry powder/paste ingredients, perennial vegetables, seed collecting, self-seeding plants, and root crop staples.  See seven types of clumping bamboo, some with delectable shoots.  Herbal teas (we are a teabag-free zone) from the garden – lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemongrass, mint and lemon myrtle.  Chickens and mulberries as companions.  Orchard planted in themes of continent-of-origin.  All designed on Permaculture principles, to enhance ventilation, shade in summer, light in winter, nutrient cycling and water harvesting.

Cost is $5.         13 Old Bangalow Road, Byron Bay.

Love to see you here!   Best wishes, Jude Fanton

 

Hi Tess and Belly crew,

I’m putting on a workshop called Wild Feast a mix of eating fresh from the garden, edible weeds, wild ferments, bush tukka and herbal elixirs.

Cooking Workshop 20th – 21st October (Sat/Sun), 10am-3pm,  Mullumbimby Community Gardens

Wild Feast is a weekend cooking, eating and celebration using produce directly harvested from the garden and forest.   Andrew Carter and Bunya Halasz  share their passion for local, fresh, organic seasonal abundance and sustainable cooking techniques. Learn the art of eating in the Here and Now.  The workshop is based around harvesting then preparing two lunch-time feasts including:

• weed pie cooked in the cob oven and made from edible weeds ; • a  spicy laksa soup  and banana bell curry  featuring locally grown spices;  fermented foods like sauerkraut and Taro Poi – to increase the nutrition and digestibility of your meals.

•bush tukka chai   •delicious teas with fresh spices and tumeric – a prolifically growing *superfood* prized in medicine as an anti fungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory elixir.

*Cost*- $100.00 (Concession $90.00). Additonal materials cost of $15.

Bookings – www.byroncollege.org.au            Enquiries 02 6684 3374

Cheers, Andrew

This workshop is part of the sustainable living series put on by Byron College, which are usually really useful and good value (that’s where the bellysisters learned to compost!  A major life skill these days.)

 

 

Edible Quote “If you’re afraid of butter, as many people are nowadays, just put in cream!”       Julia Child

 

 

 

 

 

 

MUSIC

 

Club des Belugas – skip to the bip

Yusuf (Cat Stevens) – days of the old school yard

Claudia Allard – ‘stay’ – unreleased lovely song composed and sung by Claudia & recorded at her school.  Claudia is happy to share her song with you if you would like to listen to the audio link below.

Claudia Allard – ‘stay’

 

Caravan – from the Chocolat soundtrack

Gurrumul & Blue King Brown – Gatu Mawula revisited

 

love and cheese & chocolate (I tried to write chocolate coated cheese but my fingers refused)

Sister Tess

 

 

 

Tastes of Sample

On air on Bayfm 99.9 community radio Byron Bay on October 8, 2012

Belly is a program for all food lovers, whether you cook for a living or for the joy of it, or just like to eat. Man or woman, child or grannie, if you are interested in food we’d like you to join the very hungry order of the bellysisters.  I think a young local chef called Blake is definitely a bellysister. Many of us have been to Bali – what did you bring back? Blake brought back the memory of a wonderful Balinese way with curry, he played around trying to recreate it, added local macadamia nuts, a wonderful substitute (better than the original I think) for Balinese candle nuts, and that curry won a prize at the Sample food day last Saturday, against, as they say, but it was really true this time, very stiff competition.

 

BLAKE’S BYRON BAY PORK BALINESE CURRY – by Blake Seymour, sous chef at the
Byron at Byron Resort and Spa

Here’s an audio clip of Blake talking about this recipe : Sister Blake at Sample

 

Serves 4 people.

 

 

CURRY PASTE

1 Spanish onion

4 cloves garlic

5cm knob root ginger

5 red chillies deseeded

1 kaffir lime leaf

1/2 stick lemongrass

5cm knob galangal

1 tbsp tamarind

100g toasted macadamia nuts

100g palm sugar

2tbsp fish sauce

1 lime – juiced

 

CURRY

500 – 600g large diced pork neck

2 cans coconut milk

1 tbsp kecap manis

 

Roughly chop all [curry paste] ingredients (except the macadamia nuts, palm sugar, fish sauce and lime juice), transfer to a large pestle and mortar and beat to a fairly smooth paste. Add the nuts and lightly crush.

[If you travel to Indonesia, or go to a well-stocked Asian supermarket, look out for the very wide, flat Indonesian mortars.  I think they are much easier to use than the regular deep type.  More of a rolling and crushing motion than pounding. Sister T]

Heat a heavy based pan and brown the meat well (in batches). Remove the meat, reheat the pan and add in a little vegetable oil.

Add in a good amount of the curry paste and fry for about 10 minutes – this is to release the flavour ( the smell is amazing). Make sure the temperature is nice and low so the paste will not stick and burn.

Add in the browned meat, 1 cup of stock or water, the coconut milk, palm sugar and kecap manis.

Gently simmer for 3-4 hours, until the meat is completely tender. (You may need to top up the liquid during this time if it’s looking dry).

To achieve the correct seasoning, keep tasting the curry while it is cooking. To finish it off, add the lime juice and any extra palm sugar and fish sauce if required. You are looking for the perfect balance between sweet, salty and sour.

This could also be a vegetarian curry if made with lots of seasonal vegetables and no fish sauce (use soy instead). [Blake also says that this curry is good with fish – so basically you can probably try it with anything you fancy. S.T.].

Great served with a radish and herb salad.

Blake and the Byron at Byron head chef, Gavin Hughes, are among the B at B chefs who are leading FREE tours of the Byron Bay farmers market every Thursday in October only – make sure you get to the Northern entrance of the market (the police station end) by 8am, they can’t wait if you are late – but you can probably spot them as they move around the market and join the tour.

 

AUDIO SAMPLES

There was much more fun and deliciousness at the 2012 Sample day.  Check the audio clips below (written in bold in purple).

Belinda Jeffery at Sample 2012 – Local chef and author Belinda Jeffery was one of the judges of the $5 competition, and also launched her latest cookbook – “Desserts”.

 

I met up with regular guests Alison Drover (Miss flavours of the month)  and Deanna Sudmals (easy as pie baking series), who are also learning to present radio.  One of the great joys of community radio is that it is open to anyone to turn up, learn, share skills and enthusiasm and generally get involved, so contact us please if you’d like to contribute to belly.  You may end up wearing one of the fabulous new range of bellysister caps.  I was going for a flying nun look, but I think we kind of look a bit like nuns and a bit like pirates – flying pirate nuns, how fabulous!

 

Sisters Deanna and Alison ready for takeoff

 

 

A big thank you to everyone who spoke with us about their day,  all the happy samplers, chefs, growers, judges, a cleaner, and all the people who made this a long, busy and very tasty day.  Bring on the 24 hour 2013 Sample day!

The short interviews in the clip below were Sister Deanna’s first ever – she is obviously a natural.

Sister Deanna at Sample

 

 

beef cheek cornette

It's mine

All mine

I was lucky enough this year to taste both the winners of the $10 and $5 plate competition, both gorgeous.  The slow cooked beef cheeks, celeriac and lentils in a light crispy icecream cone (a.k.a. a cornette) by Alphadale 561 was a very clever idea, obviously adaptable to all sorts of fillings.

 

 

Rebecca and Michael from Salumi in "Explorers of the lost Roosciutto"

 

Everything I tried was delicious in fact, and I’m not just saying that.  It is amazing the quality that can come out from these camp kitchens on a boiling hot day.  But my personal favourite was the kangaroo prosciutto – or “roosciutto” – that the Salumi gang prepared for chef Clayton Donovan of the Jaaning Tree.  It looks kind of scary, since kangaroo legs are so long and lean, someone said like it had come out of an ancient Egyptian tomb and that’s pretty right.  But it tastes like heaven, a lot more like a cured beef than pork of course, but with a character all of its own.  probably due to the Salumi curing skills, which are already becoming pretty legendary.  The good news is (if you are a skippy eater) that it should become commercially available in the not too distant future.

 

Two legs of Salumi roosciutto, looking a bit like the Australian outback seen from a plane

 

 

 

 

 

Sister Tess at Sample 2012

The first voice on this audio clip is our new mayor Simon Richardson.  He wonders why a day like this hasn’t been done before, and of course the Taste of Byron food festival has help many successful events over the years.  But Sample is probably the biggest event of this type we’ve had, and brings together lots of farmers and food producers rather than just focusing on the restaurants.

 

Anthea Amore at Sample 2012

 

Anthea was on belly a few weeks ago talking about her organic vegan food, it sounds like she introduced a lot of people to new flavours on Saturday – and even made me like tempeh for the first time (it was the tamarind chutney that did it).  I like what she says because it shows how this type of event flows on to hungry happy interested visitors all year round.

 


Anthea Amore


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grilled scallops with beetroot and ajo blanco from Fat Belly Caf

 

Steve snow's 'Chilli as Anything' seafood dish, brought together on stage from many plastic containers and a wok. Very good but probably much better at Fins restaurant. The leaf in the middle is lotus wrapped rice.

 

 

sample by day

 

 

sample by night

…. or as I overheard one restaurant stallholder say to another, some time mid-afternoon: ” So do people just eat all day then?” Yep!

And chat and catch up and admire and get ideas and listen to music and have fun with friends and family and drink, and eat again.

 

Lots of love and chocolate from all your bellysisters, and a second serve from me, sister T

 

Sample time

On air on bayfm 99.9 community radio Byron Bay, on October 1 2012

 

On belly today, a preview of the 2012 Sample day at Bangalow Showgrounds, this Saturday 6 October, with organiser Remy Tancred.

Twelve hours (8am to 8pm) of cooking demonstrations, music, farmers market and other food producers, and lots of the region’s best restaurants showing off with samples of their food.  Take lots of $5 and $10 notes, we are buying small and large tastings directly from the restaurant stalls this year.  But there is no entry fee to the festival, and plenty of free things to see and do, including plenty for the kids.  Even a cooking session for them.  It was a great day out last year for anybody remotely interested in food, and should be again.  look out for bellysisters wandering around with a mike, I’ll certainly be there if you want to say hi.

Info: samplensw.com

Sample is also a magazine full of local flavours from some of our best producers and chefs.  For spring, there is a very ‘cheffy’ looking lamb recipe which is Remy’s current favourite: “lamb shoulder tourchon with beetroot tarte tatin and salsa verde” from new Byron Bay restaurant the Belongil Bistro.  Check it out here, the beetroot tarte tatin alone looks like a lovely recipe.  The lamb is seared, slow roasted, then shaped with plastic wrap and cooked again, which looks a bit daunting.  I’m sure I’d end up with well-seared plastic.  But you could use something metal, like biscuit cutters if you have enough, or metal tins.   Maybe even a muffin tray and just sear the tops under the grill.

 

And we’re off to the desert with desert sister Rasela.  If you have been missing her voice on belly, check out her desert adventures here.  Would you believe it’s hard to get organic quinoa at outback roadhouses?

 

FRESH REPORT

My pick of the market last week was new season globe artichokes so small & tender you can eat them raw, as a great cleansing spring salad.

Plenty of other new season fruit & veg turning up, so tune in to Miss October next week on belly to get lots of seasonal cooking ideas. All this month there are free Byron farmers market tours, part of the Crave food festival events – by Gavin Hughes head chef at the Byron at Byron resort or one of his sous chefs Blake or Stephen.  Meet at the Northern market entrance at 8am,no need to book.  The Bangalow farmers market on Saturday will be part of the Sample food festival, so it is moving to the Showgrounds, and includes many more stallholders but runs at its usual times 8 to 11am.

 

BABY ARTICHOKE SALAD – from the belly lab – Sister Tess


very small new season globe artichokes (about egg sized or smaller) – as many as you can afford/can be bothered cleaning

green olives, pitted and roughly chopped

parsley, chopped

garlic chives, or green garlic, or shallots, or any member of the garlic or onion family but keep it mild

good olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper

cooked chickpeas (opt)

 

Remove tougher outer leaves of artichokes, slice off the tip of the artichoke with its baby thorns, still prickly though small.  There should be no furry choke in the middle when they are this small, but check.  Basically if you can slice through the artichoke easily with a sharpish knife they should be ok to eat raw.

Whenever you cut artichokes, they should go into a bowl of water with a little lemon juice until you are ready to use them so the cut edges don’t go black.

When you are close to serving time, slice them finely  & dress with  lemon, olive oil, chopped green olives, parsley & garlic chives . Add chickpeas if you want to make the salad go further & mellow the slight bitterness.

 

BELLY BULLETIN

 

Thank you to Quentin Watts for reminding belly that National Organic week begins this Friday October 5 to Sunday 14th.  It’s a ten day week designed to increase awareness of the benefits of organic products and farming production systems and encourage their adoption in Australia.  Details of evens on the website, & lots of organic info. organicweek.net.au Also from Friday you can vote for your favourite organic business on their Facebook page.

Alison Drover, locavore, frugavore & our Monthly Miss who brings you best in season recipes, is doing cooking classes for kids 6 to 12 years old,  this week here at the Byron Bay Community Centre.  Tomorrow and this Wednesday October 3, 10am to 3.30 pm. Call Alison to book or for more details – 0404 304 458

Congratulations to the Federal community for raising the many thousands of dollars needed to buy the Federal Hall from the Anglican Church and keep it going as a vital community hub.  Now the friends of the Burringbar Hall are running a series of very interesting cooking classes to raise funds.  They have been having possum trouble apparently.  Cheesemaker Debbie Allard will come on belly in a couple of weeks to talk about the Hall, and cheese of course, but meantime, classes start this Sunday 7 October with Brett the Burringbar butcher, then on Friday 19 October the gorgeous Faith Newham who  baked for the Byron Farmers Market for many years will teach breadmaking.  Other classes will cover chocolate, cheesemaking, Roberto’s Italian food, French high tea… I think I have to move to Burringbar.  More info from Debbie on 0404 812 011 or email drallard@bigpond.com, or check them out on Facebook

And the Byron Community College spring term is also starting up this month. You can do an accredited course as a barista, or if you’re brave as a food safety supervisor.   Learn Christmas baking with Alison Drover or Christmas cupcakes with Lauren Blong. Asian food with smiling Despina or soft cheese with Debra, or Alison’s popular farm to fork classes. And there is always a wonderful series of partly subsidised sustainable living courses. Lots of gardening, from permaculture to strawbales, a wild feast with the gorgeous Andrew Carter, & my pick – an introduction to beekeeping. We need more beekeepers because our world needs more healthy happy bees. It’s a one day course on Saturday 27 October in Mullumbimby.        www.byroncollege.org.au or 6684 3374

ABC online reports that strawberry growers in Queensland are expecting an early end to the season, with many farmers wrapping up production because of low prices.  The Queensland president of Strawberries Australia,  Bill Sharpe says ideal growing conditions led to a glut this year.  “It’s unfortunate we’ve had the perfect weather conditions,” he said.   Mr Sharpe says strawberry lovers should buy now before prices rise dramatically.  He estimates by this Wednesday or Thursday prices will increase because most farmers will have stopped. So make strawberry jam tomorrow. Or you could buy locally grown berries of course, normally available for many months yet.

AFP reports that a United States chef has been convicted of second degree murder after he admitted slow-cooking his wife‘s body for four days to get rid of the evidence, while claiming she had died accidentally, after he had tied her up to stop her drink driving.  David Viens, 49, a former restaurant owner from Lomita, south of Los Angeles,woke up four hours later to find her dead, and  panicked.  “I cooked her four days. I let her cool, I strained it out,” he told detectives in evidence revealed during the trial.  He said he then threw the remains in the rubbish. Her body was never found.  I do think it is a good idea to follow a mostly vegetarian diet while travelling.  Just in case.

 

MUSIC

 

Abbie Cardwell & her Leading Men – Candystore , The Future’s so bright

Ilona Harker – Pick you up

The Little Sisters – Dirt track girl

The Rusty Datsuns – Tattoo

 

love and chocolate roasted lamb (yes that’s a real recipe),  Sister Tess

 

 

 

 

filo & weeds

On air on bayfm 99.9 community radio Byron Bay on 17 September 2012

On belly today I welcomed back Deanna, the celebrated (drumroll) two time winner of the Mullum farmers market bake-off, who has been sharing the joys and challenges of various types of pastry doughs.  Some she was very familiar with, some, like filo today, she tried to make for the very first time the week before coming on the show.  As with puff pastry, most of us only ever use filo from a packet, so she did a recipe with each type.  But she is very happy with the result of her first time filo.  A couple of hours after telling us she would never make it again, because it turned out well but it is so much work, she went home and made number two.  And she reports that it was much better again than the first dough.  Step by step photos will get posted soon.  She bravely tried to email them last night from “a nightmare of a mess in the kitchen”…mmm, maybe not quite so easy to make.  But it is suck a lovely light way to wrap up all sorts of things, a good dough for spring I think.  And the packet stuff does work really well.

And we have a new bellysister, Sister Cath, who hopefully will be on belly lots in the summer.  She is an organic macadamia and coffee farmer from Rosebank, and used to present the bayfm program “don’t panic, it’s organic”.  She used to advise the government on matters organic, but now hopefully she will talk to and with us about all sorts of delicious belly matters.

Find out more about Cath Ford from:

http://www.training.nsw.gov.au/forms_documents/industry_programs/workforce_development/greenskills/macadamia_casestudy.pdf

http://www.yearofthefarmer.com.au/latest-news/our-stories/55-our-stories/story-submissions/456-organic-coffee-macadamia-farmer-cath-ford-nsw.html

http://www.ruralwomensaward.gov.au/2006Finalists.html

 

DEANNA’S EASY AS PIE – FILO PASTRY

 

mmm - not bad for the first baklava Deanna ever made - but the taste team didn't leave us one skerrick to check if it tastes as good as it looks!

 

Deanna went for one of the most famous dishes you can make with filo pastry, baklava.  Did you know there was a baklava procession in Istanbul, on the 15th day of Ramadan, during the Ottoman empire.  The Janissary regiments of the emperor each had the right to get 2 trays of baklava from the palace, which were then paraded in all their sweet glory back to barracks.  One way to keep the troops on your side.  According to the Oxford Companion to food it was the Turks who invented filo (shh, don’t tell your Greek friends, it’s probably as bad as the great pavlova debate with New Zealand).

Of course filo-type pastry sheets are used for many delicate dishes, sweet and savoury, from strudel to Tunisian pastilla (although brik pastry is a bit stiffer than filo, apparently made by tapping dough onto a hot plate and using the part that sticks and dries to a fine sheet.  But maybe we can just use filo and avoid 3rd degree burns).

 

Filo Pastry from Scratch – by Deanna Sudmals

 

1 1/3 cup bread and pizza flour

1/8 tsp. salt

½ cup water

2tbsp vegetable oil

½ tsp. cider vinegar

In the bowl of electric mixer with paddle attachment, mix flour and salt on low speed.

In a separate bowl combine water, oil, and vinegar. Pour the water mixture slowly into the flour, still mixing on low speed. Continue until in forms a soft dough. Swap the paddle attachment for the dough hook and knead on a medium speed for 10 minutes (or 20 by hand) until have soft, silky dough.

Remove from mixer and knead on flat surface for 2 minutes, whacking it down hard several times during kneading.

Rub with vegetable oil, wrap in plastic and rest for 2 hours minimum. The longer the better

When rested, divide the dough in half, then cut each half into thirds, and then into thirds again to end up with 18 sections. Roll each piece in a ball and place on a plate covered with cling film to rest.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roll out with a floured rolling pin until it is extremely thin (about 9” x5”) picking up the dough and reflouring the surface underneath it often. When it is as thin as you can roll it, carefully lift and stretch it with your fingers from underneath slowly and gently. When it is stretched enough to read through (if a written paper was underneath) then place on a floured baking sheet and flour between each sheet to stop them from sticking to each other.

[SEE END OF THIS POST FOR THE REST OF MAKING FILO IN PICTURES, & HOW TO ROLL SPANAKOPITA]

Above recipe adapted from: korenainthekitchen.com

 

As well as Deanna’s brave first time experiment and report on making filo pastry, we were lucky enough today to have a contribution from Ilias the Greek, and his long line of filo/phyllo/fillo-making ancestressess.

Here is what he sent to  belly, tune in for lots more from Ilias on October 29.

Fillo tips –  Use a teaspoon of olive oil, vinegar with a pinch salt and knead the mixture (with love) till you feel a smooth dough ( the longer the better) 5min minimum and rest the dough well (covered) min 1hr.

Mum and grandma’s technique is to then to roll the dough as fine as possible with a rolling pin the diameter of a curtain rod and then proceed to stretch the thin pastry by hand over a table lined with cloth until you can read a newspaper through the fine sheet of fillo( this requires an intimate connection with the pastry via the hands to avoid tearing it).

Fillings – The regional delicacy of northern Greece( where I come from) is bougatsa it is a baked fillo wrapped spiced semolina custard that is delectable straight from the oven with light crusty pastry and smooth yummy filling. It’s sister Galaktoboureko is similar and has the addition of a citrus scented syrup poured over it and eats well either warm or cooled.

Kali oreksi from the Greek ‘bon appetit

 

As for sister T’s suggestion to try adding 2 teaspoons of baking powder to each kilo of flour, and using corn flour beteween layers that had at least one Greek cook growling at the radio?  Well it came from the beautiful recent cookbook “Vefa’s Kitchen”, that I, sister T, made quite a few good things from.

 

 

Deanna's spanakopita with home-made filo pastry

 

Spinach Feta Filo (Phyllo) Triangles (Spanakopita) – recipe Deanna Sudmals


2 bunches English spinach or 2x 250 packages frozen spinach

2 sprigs fresh dill chopped (or 1-2 tsp. dried)

1 onion, diced

4 spring onions chopped

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

200 g feta cheese, crumbled

175 g fresh ricotta

2 tbsp parmesan or pecorino

3 eggs

Good pinch freshly grated nutmeg

Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Packet of filo pastry (or 18 sheets homemade filo pastry)

150 g melted butter

 

•Chop and wash the spinach, discarding ends. Blanch in hot water.

•OR: Thaw and thoroughly drain frozen spinach, pressing down in colander to get all of the water out.

•Sauté onion and spring onions in a bit of vegetable oil until soft.

• Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly and taste for seasoning. This recipe is an approximate; I taste as I go along and adjust to taste. Some people add garlic to spanakopita, but I don’t think its necessary….feel free to add if you want more of a kick.

•Preheat oven to 180 C

•Cover a baking sheet with baking paper

•Unroll the filo dough on a flat surface and cover with a dry tea towel covered by a damp tea towel on top (this will prevent dough from drying out).

•Cut the filo sheets into 3 strips and recover with tea towels

•Use a pastry brush to brush one sheet with melted butter. Place a spoonful of filling on the end of the strip and then fold the end over the filling to form a triangle, and then continue to fold up the strip in triangles.

•Continue with remaining strips of dough, placing filled triangles on the baking sheet and covering with a towel until ready to bake.

•Baste triangles with butter and then bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and crisp.

 

Alternative option:

Grease a rectangular baking pan and then spread six sheets of filo down, brushing each with melted butter before adding the next sheet. Spoon the filling over and then cover with 6 more sheets, buttering each sheet. Score the top 3 sheets with a knife. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Cool slightly, and then cut into squares and serve warm.

I used homemade filo dough for the spanakopita.

 

 

BAKLAVA – by Deanna Sudmals

Adapted from Korenainthekitchen.com

 

Deanna's beautiful baklava

 


½ cup each: walnuts, pistachios and almonds

¼ cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

Pinch allspice

Honey syrup:

½ cup sugar

½ cup honey

½ cup water

2 whole cloves

1 cinnamon stick

1 strip lemon rind

1 tbsp. lemon juice

½ cup melted butter

 

Process nuts in food processor until finely chopped. Combine with sugar, cinnamon and allspice.

Lightly butter bottom of rectangular (9”x5”) baking pan. Place 5 filo sheets in bottom of pan brushing melted butter between each layer. Sprinkle with 1/3 of the filling. Layer and butter 5 more filo sheets then cover with 1/3 more of the mix. Layer/butter 5 more sheets, cover with last 1/3 of the filling and cover with 5 more filo sheets. Cut the filo into squares or triangles and brush the top with melted butter.

Bake for 90 minutes:

30 minutes at 200 C

30 minutes at 150C

30 minutes at 100C

After the first 30 minutes re-cut the baklava following the cuts already made.

While the baklava bakes, make the syrup and allow to cool.

For the syrup:

Place all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to the boil stirring constantly to melt the sugar. Boil for 10 minutes, then remove from heat and allow to cool. Remove spices and lemon rind.

As soon as baklava is out of the oven, pour the cooled syrup over the hot baklava.

Cool and enjoy!

 

Note by Sister T:  I learned how to make baklava at one of Leah Roland’s classes at the Bangalow Cooking School, very easy & fun if you just use the fresh ready made stuff.  You can play around with the syrup ingredients & the nut mixes (I use pecans & macadamias a lot just because they are the freshest & most local nuts here).  And you can use a standard rectangular oven tray, it fits the ready made sheets more easily.  Also you can control the amount of melted butter you use if you do it yourself, and end up with a much lighter product than the commercial ones – if that is what you want.

 

BELLY BULLETIN

 

In the UK: A report in New Scientist suggests that ‘junk food’ is one of the causes of Alzheimer’s; it explains that some experts are renaming the disease of Alzheimer’s as ‘Type 3 Diabetes’. Excessive eating of junk food has over several decades rendered the anti-junk movement ineffective with their message of human physical deterioration now one of mental deterioration as well. In a report by Viv Groskop in the Independent she quotes “Failure by the ‘Anti Junk Food’ lobby is because junk food is the symptom of a much larger problem. Existing only as part of another vast, spreading disease: the pursuit of profit o, ever common sense, the endless expansion of the work day and the elevation of success over contentment. Ever faster lives; ever bigger debts and ever bigger bellies!

In Australian Food News a website devoted to exposing web-scams called Hoax-Slayer has revealed that there is an email currently doing the rounds purportedly sent by the supermarket chain Woolworths but this time Woollies are not to blame. The email promises you a guaranteed 50 dollar gift voucher, but the scam is designed to trick recipients into revealing sensitive personal and financial information to internet criminals.  Such surveys are becoming quite common and usually target customers of high profile companies including McDonald’s; Coca Cola and Westpac.

In CHINA: According to China’s state media outlet, Xinhua-So far this year China has detected 15,000 cases of substandard food and shut down 5,700 unlicensed businesses since the beginning of the year. Dairy products, edible oils, seasonal foods and alcoholic beverages were among the major food categories targeted by inspectors. The announcement comes just days after the country’s Ministry of Health announced the introduction of more than 200 new national food safety standards under a five year plan.

In ITALY: The Vatican’s permanent observer at the UN in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, claimed market activities such as arbitrage , which is the buying and selling of goods to exploit price differences, and the use of derivatives trading in grain supply chains, are ‘hampering the poorest and the neediest’. In a Vatican radio interview, Archbishop Tomasi said that the worsening crisis in food price volatility ‘will have social consequences’. He said ‘poor countries require not only urgent help, but also investment to change to realities of life and make them more human.” The Vatican’s moral pressure on the G20 follows widespread condemnation of giant commodities trading companies for reportedly seeing drought and the resulting global food insecurity as opportunities for profit.Chris Mahoney, Director of Agricultural products for the Glencore Group said that ‘high prices, lots of volatility, a lot of dislocation, tightness and a lot of arbitrage opportunities; made for a ‘good’ environment for the company, prompting the UN and leading aid agencies to call for a fast track reform of international regulations.

In the USA: Huffington Post reports that concept of ‘food synergy’ has made new inroads identifying so called super foods that when coupled together may give you a ‘bigger bang for your buck’ when benefiting our health in complex ways. After 10 years of research, food synergy has come a long way according to Elaine Magee author of a recent book on the subject detailing how knowledge of phytochemicals like lycopene (making tomatoes famous) or anthocyanins and pterostilbene (which have propelled blueberries into the news) suggest the following foods are better paired together.

They are Tomatoes and Avocados

Rosemary and grilled meat

Oatmeal and Orange Juice

Spinach and lemon

Broccoli and tomatoes

Apples and grapes

Turmeric and black pepper

Garlic and fish.

And of course lovely listeners incredibly delicious!

In Malaysia: Royal watchers in Asia have there eyes peeled for all details concerning Prince William and Duchess Kate. The belly bulletin has done extensive investigations into what our listeners really want to know about the Royals!

Yes! lovely listeners we can confirm that Prince William’s favourite foods are : Cottage Pie and Banana Flan.  Duchess Kate’s favourite is Sticky Toffee Pudding.

And that is the Belly Bulletin for the week of 17.09.2012, compiled by Sister Cath.

 

WEEDS LOVELY WEEDS

To destroy raze to the ground utterly eliminate make like Russia with Napoleon, the scorched earth way to victory…. or see as part of the great natural world, live with, go gently, use.  Well we have done a lot of damage to this area by bringing in all sorts of plants that like it just a bit too much and swamp everything else, so there is lots to be said for both sides of that argument.  So get along to lovely Whian Whian this Saturday 22 September, where Sister Cath is involved in a debate called “to weed or not to weed”.

And let us know which weeds you most like to eat – yes it is all a matter of definition, is it a weed or is it a delicious food.  There are plenty of websites to help you choose the right weeds (aka free & wild plants) to eat.  But basic rules : make sure you know what it is, & I wouldn’t pick something that has has a whole lot of traffic fumes or other nasties around it, in the air or in the ground.

Whian Whian Memorial Hall – 7pm

Whian Whian Road Whian Whian NSW 2480

Ph: (02) 6689 5488 Ph: (02) 6689 5696

Email: menere@ozemail.com.au

 

MUSIC

 

Lanie Lane – Ain’t Hungry

Anouar Brahim – Kerkenah

Kristi Stassinopolou – Waves

Ilios, Akoustic Odyssey

Sian Evans – The definition of

Sarah Blasko and Ajak Kwai  – Nyiir Ienqarr

 

EDIBLE QUOTE :  “Eating is an agricultural act”, Wendell Berry, in “What are people for?”

 

love and chocolate-dipped nasturtium flowers, sister T

 

 

MAKING FILO CONTINUED

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ROLLING SPANAKOPITA (SPINACH TRIANGLES – AND ANY OTHER STUFFED FILO TRIANGLES)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

voila' - only a few hours later...

Roaming Rasela – Audio from The Outback

Here’s the link to the audio version of what is written below – http://soundcloud.com/chopsuey-roaming-radio/roaming-rasela

Pop the kettle on and turn the volume up for a seven minute nibble on the ear of the Outback. The track in the background is Jamaican Mule by Oka and can be found on their latest album Milk and Honey –  http://okamusic.bandcamp.com/music

 

Talofa … sister Rasela the wandering bellysister here, checking in from about 2,000 km’s away  at the moment, in the Outback of Mt Isa, currently en route into the very centre of this humongous  country, to discover some of the magic it holds. I thought it was about time i ventured away from the golden frills of the East coast, that’s been my version of Australia up until now, and started to head as far into the centre of this giant island as possible … that’s right … I’m heading for its belly button.

 

To say my journey began at a specific time or place would be misleading, I feel as though I’ve been travelling my whole life to get to this point. I’m awake AND alive within my personal dream to travel on endless roads, laid out ahead, with minimal definition as to where the side of the road ends, and the flat, vastness of the land around me begins. Out here, the dusty crust of the earth, appears to melt into the cracked surfaces on the land, creating a sunbaked haze that rises much like the blur above bonfire flames. It’s as though nothing lives out here, or even could, but it does and it did.

 

There’s a rather alarming amount of roadkill between Townsville and Mt Isa, heartbreakingly left in all manner of conditions. Some of it’s still fresh and being eaten by other wildlife as we pass, others remains, frozen, like fossils, their skeletons depicting the shape of the animal they once were.
I guess it’s an accepted part of driving on a desert road, I mean, I wouldn’t be here without such a road, and accidents happen I know, some pretty serious, but I just can’t help but feel more for these creatures out here, killed in their own home, than I do for a dented or damaged vehicle. Maybe it’s the vegetarian in me !!

 

Speaking of vegetarianism …. It’s like a foreign language in Queensland’s outback. I daren’t ask for a polenta bake or quinoa patty or a fresh organic salad with an apple cider vinegar and virgin olive oil dressing in any of the roadhouses along the way. There’d be no point anyway. There’s a part of me that wants to stand in the middle of the fried food roadhouse and scream out for my right to eat healthy, wholesome food … but I know my efforts would be either entirely futile or totally misunderstood. I might be taken for some looney that has gone bonkers through lack of meat … YES !!, THAT’S IT !!, the poooor girl hasn’t eaten meat for over thirty years … this was bound to happen. Take her away before this healthy disease spreads like a bed of basil and others out here start talking in that crazed vegetarian language … hmmmm … Lucky I packed my own lunch for the drive in.

 

I popped into the local shops in the small towns whenever we had a food break, just to look around you know, and see what kind of selection is on offer. I found alfalfa sprouts in one and some rice cakes in another, but my love of wholefoods prevents me from getting excited about too much else I’m afraid. I grabbed some bananas and a couple of not so shrivelled mandarins but it soon becomes clear to me that the further you come in, the older and more decrepit the fruit and veg gets in the small shops. Who knows where it’s come from or even when it got here. When a few of the locals appear to be struggling to  exist in these trying conditions, I wonder what chance a fruit tree or vege patch might have. This is barren land, where some day’s the only thing that ever changes, is the actual name of the day !!

 

Some of the small towns we pass through are no more than a concrete strip of road, framed by some old wooden shop fronts, a pub, and the bus stop. They’re reminiscent of unvisited gravestones, left with no other option but to slowly deteriorate in the sweltering heat, that at this time of the year, has nowhere near reached its full and blistering potential.

 

People out here mention that their seasons are, interestingly, quite reversed. The winter months are still hot in the low to mid twenties so it doesn’t prevent people from enjoying all the outdoor activities that we do during our coastal summer. The evenings are cold enough to snuggle under a duvet and still fancy hot meals, soups and warm drinks. When the summer arrives though, it’s a different story. Too hot to even breath at times, in temperatures soaring well above forty, it’s a time to hibernate in
the airconditioning of either a car, workplace or at home and drink plenty of everything, with plenty of ice.

 

Food is a big issue out here if you want to eat organically and you don’t have your own garden. As a traveller, I don’t have time to start up a garden every place I land, so for the first time in many years, I am buying my veges and ingredients from ……. wait for it …… a supermarket. I have to admit that I am pleased to know that one in particular has a great organic isle where I can still get some of my favourite unpronounceable ingredients to whip up a meal. The choices are really limited though, and on certain days of the week there’s hardly anything left to choose from. The majority of people here, do their grocery shopping on a Saturday morning, and the traffic down those isles, is horrendous. The atmosphere is one of near desperation, with people bumping trolleys and politely fighting for the produce that has just arrived in trucks
from far far-away land. I kind of wander through, observing behaviour and clocking what people load into their baskets and trolleys … it’s not a pretty sight most of the time, let me tell you.

 

On a fresh note though, I came across facebook group here, called Mt Isa Fruit and Vege Swap, which is basically a group of people who either grow their own food or have fruit trees growing in their gardens. They post what they have an excess of, online, and leave an address so that you can pop over and grab what you need … for free. How many times have you walked past someones garden and wanted to jump the fence and hoe into a tree, laden with lemons or oranges, grapefruits or even mulberries ? People also swap gardening tips and herbs, an excess of basil perhaps ? A garden full of mint ? or even fruit that’s too high for the owner to pick … BYO ladder !! Fantastic community project. Byron needs one too I reckon !!

 

Mt Isa itself has a small fortnightly market. If you like homemade cakes made by little old ladies, fudge, handmade chocolates, and all manner of sweet treats you’re sorted, but there’s also glass jewellery, beads, doileys, knitted this and crochet that, and children’s clothes and toys.  Frying away, right in the doorway to these inside stalls is the habitual sausage sizzle, the smell alone is enough to make me want to puke but I persevere with my near retching motions and make my way outside to, my now favourite stallholder …. the paw paw and honey man. Laid out on his table beneath the shade cloth, is a small but impressive array of fruits and produce from his garden, tangelos, paw paw, lemons and a variety of herbs. Even though he’s quick to verbalise the organic nature of his goods, I can’t help but question it just quietly, when not that far away – in fact right smack bang in the centre of this mining town – three chimney stacks pelt out some ungodly substance into the environment. Surely this must settle, in varying degrees, on and around the town and into the surrounding soil. I think what he really means is that he doesn’t use pesticides … either way his paw paws are superb … not quite as good as the ones in Samoa, but close … kind of …

 

There’s a part of me that didn’t want to eat anything when I first arrived here, I didn’t even want to breath in the air or swim in the pool for fear of being contaminated by the mining debris that the people here make endless excuses for. It’s a little too close for comfort for me and it’s times like this that I accept my circumstances, even if I don’t agree with them, and realise that there are many ways to live in this world, many choices to be made along the way, and my choice, at the moment, is to experience something out of the bubble I have been enclosed in for the past three and a half years in Byron Bay. In order to know that I have made the right choices, I’m choosing to put myself in different situations, where I have to find an alternative way to survive. I need to eat, so I have to find the best way to do that, against unusual odds at times. It’s a great instinct to develop, and it’s also refreshing to step out of a bubble and be reminded of how other people live, in order to really know that I’ve made the righ choices for ME … In MY life … and for MY body. What you chose to do with ours is entirely 100% up to YOU.

 

I’m outta here in a few days time anyway, leaving behind the smoking stacks, and following the road further inland on my quest to reach Alice Springs and  Uluru. From there I’ll send word of fruitful discoveries and hopefully some organic love if I find some.

 

Meanwhile, if you’re in your vege patch this week, say hello to the herbs and the veges for me won’t you ? Giggle with the ginger, be grateful for the green beans, caress a carrot or two, stroke the silverbeet and spinach, kiss the cauliflower and be thankful for the feast that is available to you in that rich and fragrant soil of the Shire. While you’re at it … give that ocean a good long stare for me,  drink in all of it’s hydrating happiness and whisper to it … that I’ll be back soon. Lots of love xoxo

 

Green September Alchemy

more coming, but recipes & links from today below:

 

GREEN IS GOOD – by Miss September

The month of green and what better recipe to have is Salsa Verde.  Add lemons as much as possible to reduce those gluts.

Indulge in blood oranges they are so good.

Salsa Verde means in Italian “green sauce”. Drizzle it over meat, fish or just a platter of seasonal vegetables it is great. It also has flexibility in the ingredients so you can use up left overs in the fridge to create it.

Basically the best combination is parsley, mint and basil but I often add fennel leaves and spinach and celery. If you have some anchovies in the fridge add a few of these. You can add as much garlic as you like but be careful to balance this so you can taste the freshness of your herbs and their own distinct flavor.

 

Recipes Alison Drover , Fork in the Field

 

SALSA VERDE

 

• 2 shallots, finely diced and soaked in a tablespoon of red wine vinegar for 30 minutes

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• 1 tbsp small capers

• 1 tbsp lemon juice

• 1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

• 1/3 cup chopped chives

• 1/3 cup mint leaves

• extra virgin olive oil

• 1 lemon zested.

 

Put all green items in the blender add lemon juice and olive oil and blend together. If you sauce is a little thick add a few tables spoons of warm water and test as you go. A salsa verde should be smooth and tangy but not too much garlic.

 

KALE & BANANA SMOOTHIE

 

Serves 2

• 2 cups milk

• 6 kale leaves, removed from the center stalk

• 2 frozen bananas or whatever you have available

• 2 tablespoons honey

• Cinnamon

• 1 tablespoon tahini or peanut butter if you have this left over

• parsley – about 3 tablespoons

 

Add kale and milk to the blender, and blend until there are no large bits of kale. Add banana and honey, and all other ingredients blend until smooth.

 

PRIMAVERA SALAD WITH SALSA VERDE

 

• 4 blood oranges – cut of the top and bottom take off the peel by slicing from the top down and going around the orange so that you keep the round shape but remove the white pith. Cut the orange across ways so you have even slices

• 10 kiplfler potatoes – cooked so they can be leftovers from a meal

• Bunch of rocket

• Fennel bulb washed and then remove the green stalk and fronds and slice finely so they are like shavings

• 1 lemon zested finely over the salad

• 1 /2 cup pecans or macadamias

Additions: add other green that you may have left over or growing watercress, radicchio

Take a large platter slice potatoes across ways but randomly so you have different textures in the salad. Add your greens ie rocket, top with fennel and the zest lemon over the salad. Arrange your slices of orange over the salad.

Scatter pecans or your choice of nuts over the salad.

Drizzle salad with salsa verde or serve on the side

 

ASPARAGUS WITH CODDLED EGGS

If asparagus is not ready wait for this one until late September

Tip – excuse the pun have everything ready as to go as fresh is best

 

2 pots of boiling water one for eggs and one for asparagus. The eggs form the basis of your warm dressing so you need to be organized.

 

• 60ml vinegar –

• 8 large organic or free range eggs

• 80ml extra virgin olive oil – local is best

• 16 pieces of asparagus

• salt pepper

• lemon thyme

 

Pop eggs into the water for 4 minutes only. You want the eggs to be runny inside but white on the outside. Take a clean tea towel and scoop out the content of the egg into a bowl. This is going to be your dressing. Add the anchovy dressing and then drizzle in the oil and salt and pepper.

Cook your asparagus in the boiling water for about 5 minutes and then check it. It should be firm but not crunchy otherwise too acidic.

Remove asparagus from the water and place in bowl otherwise they keep on cooking in the hot water.

Take asparagus arrange on a platter drizzle with your egg dressing and then grate your lemon zest over it.

Yum!

 

BELLY BULLETIN

The month of October will be filled with a mass of food events all over NSW, part of the Crave food festival. Many are in Sydney, but quite a few will be held in regional NSW. Go to www.cravesydney.com for full details but here are a few that caught my eyes.

October 14; 5.30-9am – Breakfast on Bondi beach as the sun comes up with thousands of other toast lovers. The music is free – A dawn welcome followed by a full orchestra and soprano Lorina Gore – principal artist for Opera Australia. BYO breakfast, pre-purchase or buy it from surf-side food stalls.

Locally, Byron at Byron chef Gavin Hughes is leading free tours of the Byron Farmers Market. Learn how to select and cook your produce. Since arriving in Byron in 2003 Gavin has been a passionate advocate for the region’s produce and its creators. The tour meeting point is at the Northern entrance to the market, closest to the Police station at 8am. No bookings required. Every Thursday in October, 8 to 9 am.

Sample – A Taste Of Northern NSW  – Local growers, producers and chefs from the whole region will gather at the Bangalow showground for 12 hours of local flavours. There will be tasting plates from more than 30 restaurants, more than 100 local exhibitors, live music, celebrity cooking demonstrations and more – Saturday October 6; 8am-8pm

If you haven’t had enough of tasty food writers at the Byron Writers Festival & belly lately, check out Food & Words, a one day food writers’ festival at  The Mint, Macquarie Street, Sydney October 13, 10am-4.30pm

Advertised as ‘the crema of the Australian food writing community getting together for a lively day of discussion and debate on all things to do with food and words (and quality writing, domesticity, sustainability, history, cooking and more).’  Half of the writers seem to be from this area, and the festival is put together by writer, journalist, & member of the extreme cheesemakers’ club Barbara Sweeney, so it should be good.

The program includes :

Charlotte Wood on oysters,

Belinda Jeffery on the zen of baking,

Gay Bilson on the question of How Much Food Does a Man Need?

Mungo MacCallum on how, where and why to picnic

Chef Alex Herbert and Publisher Catherine Milne on what goes into creating a cookbook ;

Librarian Simon Cootes on quirky cooking and food ephemera from State Library of NSW.

Dee Nolan on food on the road, Laila Ellmoos on fruit and nut stalls

Ewan McEoin on big ideas/small producers

For lunch, you have the choice of bringing your own picnic or ordering a packed picnic ($40) when you purchase your ticket. Full day ticket $155 (includes morning/afternoon tea)

 

If you have been disappointed at the recent local elections, maybe you need to learn from Barack Obama & just seduce the voters with your home brewed beer. More than 12,000 people signed a petition asking for the White House’s special brew on the “We the People” page of the White House web site, which is dedicated to grassroots petitions. Mr Obama has been taking the beer with him on the campaign trail. According to ABC online, people will vote for the person they would most like to have a beer with. Or maybe that’s just journalists.  The beer is made with honey “tapped from the first ever bee-hive” in the White House garden.  Go to the  the White House blog for the complete recipes & brewing video .

Have you ever eaten pigeon? Young ones turn up as ‘squab’ on restaurant menus.  They have been part of the diet in Southern Europe & North Africa for many centuries.  Disappearing now as a food, possibly because of health concerns, or just squeamishness.   A provincial official in Argentina has been suspended over his proposal to feed children pigeon meat to counteract a surge in the bird population.Oscar De Allende, an official at the local environment ministry responsible for wildlife, was suspended over his “controversial statements on pigeon consumption,” Cordoba governor Jose Manuel de la Sota said in a statement. Earlier this week Mr De Allende proposed that Paicor, a government program for distributing food and clothing to poor students, serve pigeon meat at public schools. “We estimate we have 600 million (pigeons) in Cordoba,” Mr De Allende told a local radio station. “Let’s consider that pigeons are an abundant resource, not a pest.  The woodpigeon “columba palumbus’ is the largest & best to eat according to the Oxford Companion to Food.  A bit fatter than the regular pigeons.

 

 

 

 

nasturtiums & strawberry jam with Ros

On air on bayfm 99.9 community radio Byron Bay on 3 September 2012

 

Ros's nasturtiums looking pretty on a rosy wall - photo Ros Elliot

 

A big thank you to sister Ros for doing belly today.  I think I’ll start colour – coding the bellysisters, last time Ros talked about lovely pink hued guavas, this time she shared her way with straberry jam.

See this link if you would like to try

http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/1426/simple-strawberry-jam.aspx

 

Ros also talked about nasturtiums, great things to grow if you have black thumbs.  And all edible.

See

http://www.herbalgardens.com/archives/articles-archive/nasturtiums.html

 

 

Ros's veggy patch - photo Ros Elliot

 

A big thank you too to Diane Hart who was listening to Ros and emailed us to contribute her pickled nasturtium seeds recipe.

 

PICKLED NASTURTIUM SEEDS (FALSE CAPERS) – by Diane Hart

I love capers in pasta, salads and sauces but, I don’t like the fact that they are imported and expensive. Capers are the buds of the caper bush (caper-berries are the fruit) and grows readily in Mediterranean countries – mostly out of rock walls. It has a very pretty flower, but you hardly ever find a plant with lots of buds and flowers as they are harvested by the locals and pickled in brine at home – it’s a fairly laborious process. They say that necessity is the mother of invention so I was very happy to come across this recipe for ‘false capers’ in a book of early Australian cooking that is over 150 years old. They don’t taste like capers – they taste like pickled nasturtium seeds, but they are surprisingly good and are a fantastic substitute.

After the blossom falls off, pick the half-ripened (still green) nasturtium seeds. Continue picking as long as the seed crop continues. Drop them in a boiled, strained and cooled mixture of:

500ml white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/2 lemon, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, smashed

10 peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon fennel/dill seed

 

Simmer ingredients together in saucepan, cool and strain into sealable jar. Add nasturtium seeds. They will be ready to eat in a couple of weeks or so and will keep in the fridge for up to a year. They are ready to eat when they sink into the liquid. You can keep adding to the liquid pickle mix as you pick the seeds – how easy is that?

 

Check out Diane’s blog at:

 

 

 

local flavours

at the bayfm stall you never know who you might meet - even after you've met them sometimes

at the bayfm stall you never know who you might meet - even after you've met them sometimes

 

AN UNRELIABLE BUT DELICIOUS POLL OF FAVOURITE LOCAL INGREDIENTS

Over the last two weeks I have been asking belly-loving bayfm subscribers, who are the most delicious subscribers of them all (& pretty lucky too, lots of prize winners among you) for one or a few favourite local ingredients.  I may have lost one or 2 bits of paper with your suggestions, & I added in a few keen cooks and eaters I just met along the way (mostly at our wonderful markets).  Please leave a comment below with your favourite ingredient.

Sarah Ma – My favourite local ingredient would be macadamia butter.  Fatty but worth every calorie. It’s goes well with Davidson plum jam on toasted rye bread (the thin kind that has a hint of fennel). Also a fave with Nicky – one of bayfm’s office managers & Friday presenter.

Amanda Bannatyne – From the Mullum Farmers market I always buy garlic from the Gourmet Garlic Company, glossy ginger from Sue Mangan, strawberries from Rainbow Fruit Flats and local blueberries by the bucket when in season.

Michael McDougall – Bangalow ducks – Michael cooked 22 duck breasts on his bbq for the family, set them all & bbq on fire – they turned out a bit black but still good!  He is single & looking for a beautiful man with his own fire extingusher.

Avocados – our clear winner as most people’s favourite local ingredient (though macadamia paste was pretty popular)

Liz Ellis, netball champ, new resident & new subscriber, always packs an avocado for daughter Evelyn, who was in her stroller, happily eating as mum subscribed at the Bangalow Farmers Market. avocados are great because they come ready packaged, Evelyn likes them plain or with cumin or yoghurt.

Chris Hauritz, principal of Ocean Shores Public School – the kids make avocado & cheese dishes, especially guacamole, also salads, from New Brighton Farmers Market

Jumping red Ant, spray free grower from Durambah, winner of the bayfm business prize – John & Cathy brought up kids on avocados, never butter, the kids moved to the city & miss dad’s avos, John also loves lychees in summer (this got a chorus of mmms in the studio)

Brad Sarson of Byron Bay Healthy Salt – lemon myrtle

Sister Carolyn – taro, especially in dhal

Jude Burmester – coriander – she grows a lot, but it doesn’t do well in summer, plant now, keep replanting as it goes to seed quickly

Isolde Kopping, aka dr Siggy Fried, passionate champion of bad cooks, her fave local ingredient is stodge

Lyn – local dried black olives from markets

Gay, long time belly listener, at New Brighton farmers market – with emphasys – gooood garlic!

Francisco Smoje – probably a whole side of beef opened up like a butterflied prawn, ready for outdoor cooking – the photo was pretty impressive

Jan & Talen Dilli – parsley – an essential ingredient

Meredith Williams – burdock

Wandercat a.k.a. Phoebe – co-presenter of All at sea w. the owl & miaw – assures me she’s a foodie & proved it – she made an open sandwich of organic donut, Ilias the Greek’s amazing chocolate brownie, & a donated strawberry (thank you Michel) on top – washed down with homemade lemonade – yesterday our fave ingredient was sugar at the Bangalow market – see the results on bayfm’s facebook page

… bit of a headache today, not sure if it was the sugar, the sun or the dancing around our subscribers.

 

AUDIO CLIPS

Take your ears to the Byron Bay Farmers Market and listen to Sister T chatting with chef Clayton Donovan of the Jaaning Tree Restaurant in Neambucca Heads.  And get there this Thursday, August 30 for a FREE taste of Clay’s & Paul Wrightson’s food (8 to 10 am)

Chef Clayton Donovan at the Byron Bay Farmers Markets

 

Or go to the 2012 Byron Bay Writers festival & listen to Jim Hearn read from his first book, “High Season, a memoir of heroin & hospitality”

Jim Hearn reading from High Season

 

love and chocolate donuts,

Sister T

haven, hell, hospitality

The bayfm subscriber drive continues, this year it is a celebration of the local.  At bayfm we have presenters, guests, volunteers, music, stories from all over the world.  But we also very much do our best to link up this community, often with the help of this wonderful global linking tool, the internet.  So you can now listen to us, and many local stations, from all over the world.  But only on community radio stations can you hear the stories that are considered too small, too hidden, too local for national media.  And every day hear interviews with all sorts of  people in your community.  This Monday I am very happy to bring you a man who grew up in Queensland, spent a lot of years of cooking & crazyness in Sydney & Brisbane, then cooked some more, & turned his life around,here in Northern NSW, and is now writing and teaching others to write.  Jim Hearn’s first book, “High Season: a memoir of heroin and hospitality” was launched a few weeks ago in Byron Bay, and he was a guest at the 2012 Byron Bay Writers Festival.  He is also a scriptwriter and lecturer at Southern Cross University in Lismore.

 

Jim Hearn

BIOGRAPHY :  reprinted by permission from the Byron Bay Writers Festival site.

Jim Hearn is a researcher, writer and chef. As a chef, Jim has worked in commercial kitchens for over twenty years. He started life as an apprentice chef at fifteen years of age. As a writer, Jim wrote and produced four films that screened on SBS as well as worked on the screenplay for Chopper and an adaption of Andrew McGahan’s novel Last Drinks. Jim wrote High Season: a memoir of Heroin and Hospitality, after he quit his job as head chef at Rae’s on Watego’s in Byron Bay and enrolled in the writing program at Southern Cross University as a mature-age student. Louise Thurtell picked up the manuscript for High Season through Allen & Unwin’s Friday pitch session. Jim has a BA (Hons) from Southern Cross University and is currently enrolled in a PhD at the University of Technology, Sydney.

 

 

JIM LINKS:

 

http://byronbaywritersfestival.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/cooking-our-way-to-salvation-jim-hearn-and-wayne-macauley/

audio of a Writers Festival panel with Wayne Macauley, author of “The Cook”, and Jim Hearn

 

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2012/07/18/3548527.htm

audio of an interview with Richard Fidler on the ABC’s Local Conversations program

 

http://blogs.abc.net.au/nt/2012/07/jim-hearns-lemongrass-pasted-moreton-bay-bugs-.html

Looks like a really good & easy recipe


http://griffithreview.com/edition-27-food-chain/hospitality

An article by Jim Hearn which is a version of some of the material in ‘High Season’.  Food Chain is an edition of the wonderful Griffith Review which is all about – you’d never guess – food, check out the other articles too


http://www.scu.edu.au/staffdirectory/person_detail.php?person=17431

Jim’s SCU listing – this semester he is teaching auto/biography, writing project and ‘subjects and citizens’

 

If you haven’t done so yet, please subscribe!!!  i.e. give bayfm some money so we can keep bringing you good radio, & go in the belly draw, which includes a copy of Jim’s book.

 

BELLY BULLETIN

 

Buttery Fundraiser -at the Bangalow Farmer’s Market on Saturday, September 15. With Jim Hearn – books for sale and signing on the day, proceeds to the The Buttery.

 

Subscribe to bayfm and meet presenters at the markets this week, Sister T will be at all these markets in a selection of silly wigs.  Did you know cds are great hair accessories?  I’d love to meet some belly listeners, please come and say hello.  Many other presenters and volunteers will be at the bayfm market stall this week.

New Brighton Farmers market, Tuesday 21 August, 7.30 to 11am

Byron Bay Farmers Market, Thursday 23, 7.30 to 11am (hopefully with Audio Chocolate’s Rich singing & playing guitar)

Mullumbimby Farmers Market, Friday 24, 7.30 to 11am

Bangalow Farmers Market, Saturday 25, 7.30 to 11am (music by Mr Paddy)

Bangalow Community Market, Sunday 26, 7.30 to about 1pm – last day of subscriber drive – the lovely Aura-Lea and Phoebe Rose from All at Sea have promised to bring their ukes & sing a special song for each & every subscriber who turns up by 10am

 

Sample Food Festival Launch Dinner – Byron Beach Cafe, Thursday 23rd August from 6.30pm.   Did you get to the excellent Sample Food Festival at the Bangalow Showgrounds last year?  It is on again on Saturday October 6, but to get you in the mood Paul Wrightson from the Byron Beach Cafe and Clayton Donovan from the Jaaning Tree have a menu of indigenous flavours planned.  Crocodile, smoked kangaroo, strawberry gum (no I don’t know what that is either when it’s not chewing gum)…  Pretend it’s your birthday maybe.  Bookings through the Beach Cafe – Andrea 6685 8445

Organic Lovers’ Soiree with Anthea (last week’s guest) of Organic Passion Catering and Jonathon of The Organic Wine Merchants There will be a gourmet vegetarian canapes and a selection of wine and beer to taste .  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. Friday 24th August at the Santos Mullumbimby Balcony (upstairs) ,  6:30 – 9:30pm

$55pp ~ **Booking essential* www.organicpassioncatering.com* *M: 0422 383 151 or through Santos

 

BEEF CHEEKS AT THE BEACH CAFE

This is audio of an interview with Paul Wrightson, head chef at the Byron Beach Cafe, about some of his favourite local ingredients.  It includes a recipe for slow cooked beef cheeks.  You can get them at your local butcher, & Paul says even at large supermarkets.

chef Paul Wrightson’s favourite local ingredients – audio

 

MUSIC

 

Not much today, because I was too greedy to spend lots of time talking with Jim.  The first choice is mine, a Lismore girl in love with a celebrity chef, the next 2 are reminders of a couple of stages in Jim’s life.

Georgina Pollard, How to film a feast

 

love & chocolate,

Sister T

 

 

 

 

 

 

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