In my kitchen - December

This is my second "In my kitchen" post and I'm really enjoying having a look in my cupboards to see what interesting stuff I can share. Thanks very much to Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for introducing me to this concept - if you check out her blog you can see what other bloggers have in their kitchens this month too. 

One of my favourite fruits is mango, so I was really happy to buy a tray to help support my 4yo nephew's preschool fundraising efforts. These have taken a week or so to get to eating stage, but they are absolutely gorgeous now. I've been making frozen mango fruity dream in my thermomix for Mr12 who has just had braces put in, and will be using a few over the next day or so to make some mango chutney. My 7yo niece loves it instead of tomato paste on pizza. Of course, they are perfect eaten over the sink with mango juice dribbling off your chin. 

Mango goes really well with coconut and I've been making a fair bit of coconut milk lately [also in my thermomix]. HUGE thanks to Jo from Quirky Cooking for giving me the idea and telling me how! I've been using the leftover coconut pulp in banana bread. If you're not sure about the wonders of a thermomix, check out Jo's blog - it's full of great meal ideas.

Our local fruit shop has a brilliant seconds table that I scour ever time I go in. Last week it was full of very ripe cherry, mini-Roma and other gourmet baby tomatoes. I grabbed a few packets and slow roasted them with a drizzle of olive oil and maple syrup [inspired by a recipe from Heidi Swanson's STUNNING book Super Natural Every Day. Her blog is one of my absolute favourites and a must read]. Pop them into a glass jar with a bit of olive oil on top and they will last for ages in the fridge.

I did a super cooking class with Jude Blereau a few weeks ago and was thoroughly motivated to eat more creatively. I was really excited to find her out of print book Coming Home to Eat: Wholefood for the family at my local lifeline bookshop about a week later. So many ideas packed in here. 

Thanks very much to Roza's Gourmet Sauces for sending me a sample pack with three of their sauces recently. I've been a fan since first tasting them at the markets about 9 years ago. I think my favourites are their blue cheese dressing, blue cheese and walnut dip and the tomato chutney, but when I tried the smokey mayo I was pretty impressed too. Not opened the remoulade yet - might need a few prawns for that one. I've been dolloping the pesto on toasted chicken wraps - a quick and easy lunch. 

I often wonder why I struggle to lose weight. Then I look at the massive pile of food mags and cookbooks I have. And wonder no more. Sigh. These are two of my favourites and I'm REALLY hoping someone gives me a subscription to Feast for Christmas [hint hint...]. My hubby was given a subscription to Healthy Food a couple of years ago and we've kept it up and it is full of great ideas.

I had a lovely few hours trawling through my favourite food places in Brisbane last Saturday. A quick trip to Inala, the Vietnamese capital of Brisbane, to stock up on fruit, veg and herbs, then home via Balaclava Street, Woollongabba to visit Pennisi and All India Foods. I've never tried paneer so thought I'd grab some. No idea what to make with it, so please let me know if you have any ideas. Finally I stopped at Samios Fine Foods to grab some of their wondrous homemade halva. This has been my favourite sweet treat since I was a little girl of about 5 years of age. It's made with sesame seeds, honey and this one has chocolate and almonds. The missing bit was gobbled in the Samios carpark. I just couldn't wait! I bought it for Christmas but will need to go back and buy more as there is only the teeniest of skerricks left.   

I met Ben from The Stock Merchant at the Good Food and Wine show and had a very enjoyable chat about some of the challenges facing small food producers and suppliers. It certainly made me more aware of many of the challenges they face. I make a lot of my own stock, but I'm looking forward to trying these, especially the Master Stock, as I have heard many rave reviews about it. Ben and Kate have a delectable sounding recipe on their website for a free range chicken or duck braised in master stock, which I simply MUST TRY. 

What is in your kitchen this month? Any new-to-you or exciting ingredients? I'd love to hear. 

Food for thought

December is one of my favourite times of year. Not because it’s nearly Christmas (although that is pretty good too), but because it’s the annual fine amnesty at Brisbane City Council libraries. Yes I confess. I’m a library lover who doesn’t always return my books on time. Smacks on the wrist for me.

How it works is this: return your overdue books and take a donation of canned or other non-perishable food. Any overdue fines, processing and holds fees waived in exchange for your donation. This includes any fees you may have racked up over the year. For the record I only have about $3 outstanding. And this was mainly for holds I had reserved.

This year, the library amnesty will donate all food to Foodbank Queensland, a brilliant organisation that distributes food to charities and community organisations who assist those in need. I was shocked to read that each year two million people rely on food relief – around half of them are children. That’s one in every ten Australians in need. Foodbank is Australia’s largest hunger relief organisation, and in 2011 provided over 32,000,000 meals.

So I did a bit of a pantry clean out the other day to find a few things to donate. Mainly foods we rarely eat [and I have no idea how they ended up in my pantry - cans of pineapple, kidney beans and a packet of Uncle Ben’s instant rice].

Not all that sure where these even came from!

The next day I saw a tweet from ex-Masterchef, all-round great guy Callum Hann.

 What it said was:

For the next seven days my girlfriend Chloe and I are only going to eat foods which appear on the Wesley's Food For Families appeal top ten most donated foods.

Wow, how cool, I thought. Then I read the top ten:

• Baked beans
• Pasta
• 2 minute noodles
• Tinned vegetables
• Tinned tuna
• Rice
• Packet potato mash
• Long life milk
• Tim tams
• Jam and honey

Um, good luck Callum and Chloe. I know that would be a massive challenge for me. No herbs, no spices, no sauces, no tea, coffee, hot chocolate, no cereals, no chips! Let alone nothing fresh!

They are doing this challenge to encourage people to donate food, but also to think about what food specifically they are donating. Well, Callum, you certainly made me think about it. I’m going to donate my canned pineapple, beans and rice, but also going to pop down to my local shops and buy some packets of my favourite spices and a few other foods that aren't on the list to add to my donation.

If you are in Brisbane and want to participate in the amnesty, pop along to your local Brisbane City Council Library between 1-31 December 2012 with your overdue books and a donation of canned food. But maybe go via the supermarket to buy a couple of foods that aren’t on the list.

The Brisbane Library amnesty is also accepting pet food. 

To help Callum and Chloe, what meal ideas can you give them from the list above? 

In my Thermomix: Beetroot and mint pesto

This is one of the best things I have made with beetroot. Ever.

I was a late convert to the wonders of beetroot. Largely because all I knew for many years was the beetroot in a can. With that overly vinegary tartness. Which my tastebuds definitely didn't like [and still don't].

There was also a memorable experience with borscht when I was about 15. Not memorable in a good way I should hasten to add.

And then there was the first time I decided had fresh beetroot in a veggie juice. I was new to veggie juicing but had heard beetroot was healthy. I was determined to give it a go. Clearly it hadn't been cleaned properly as that juice tasted unpleasantly of dirt. Needless to say it was a long time before I tried again.

I can't remember when I did - probably when I started getting loads of freshly grown beetroot in my CSA box from Food Connect. For many weeks they fed the compost worms. Then I decided to experiment. With dips and with roasting mostly. Now I seek it out and buy and eat it all the time. I'm even growing it in my veggie garden! YUM.

And now my beetroot loving-ness has been turned on its head. Again. Thanks to Mel from Vanilla Zulu cooking school.

I met Mel at a workshop on social media that I spoke at about 18 months ago. We had stayed in touch, but sporadically. She was busy setting up her cooking school. I was busy dealing with some of life's unexpected dramas, and going back to uni. We reconnected recently thanks to twitter. Man I love twitter.

Anyway, I digress.

I caught up with Mel for a coffee and she invited hubby and I to one of her cooking classes. She made a simple beetroot pesto. It was quick, it was easy, it was a flavour sensation!

I had to make it.

This is my version. For the Thermomix, but just as easy in a food processor.

Beetroot and mint pesto

Beetroot mint pesto
by Mel Kettle

What you need:
2 decent sized beetroot, scrubbed and peeled, chopped into quarters
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1/3 cup of pine nuts [you could also use cashews]
1 generous handful of mint, leaves only
1/3 cup good olive oil
bit of salt and pepper to taste

What you do:
This is the super-easy Thermomix bit.

Chuck everything into the Thermomix bowl. Whizz on speed 7 for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bowl, whizz again for another 30 seconds or until smooth.

Serve and eat.

Roast beef with beetroot pesto

Mel served hers smeared over roast beef which was amazing [her version had cumin, not mint]. I think it would also be beautiful with roast lamb. Or just on crackers or beautiful sourdough which is how I've been eating it.

What is your favourite pesto? Do you experiment with flavours, or do you stick to the tried and true basil and pine nut version?

Salad lovin' - salmon and potato

One of my favourite things about summer is all the beautiful salad combos that can be made. And once I realised a great salad didn't have to contain lettuce, I was stoked! Especially as I grew up with the standard salad being iceberg lettuce, tomato [usually less than ripe], cucumber, maybe a red onion ring or 3, and a fairly basic vinaigrette. Not even close to interesting. 

I really love a salad with loads of fresh herbs, so when I picked up a beautiful bunch of fresh parsley from our local crop swap recently [and thanks to Fiona from Tiffin for sharing her haul], I knew exactly what I wanted to pair it with. Beautiful new potatoes and some poached salmon. 

Salmon and potato salad

Salmon and potato salad

What you need [serves 2]:
300g chat or new potatoes, cut in half or quarters depending on size
300g fresh salmon
2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves

Dressing:
100g plain yogurt [I like Chobani]
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs lemon juice
zest of 1/2 lemon
1/4 red onion, finely diced
generous bunch of Italian parsley, leaves only, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste


What you do:
Cook the potatoes - put a medium sized saucepan with water with a bit of salt on the stove and bring to the boil. Add the potatoes and cook until just cooked [mine took about 15-20 minutes]. Remove from the heat, drain the potatoes and leave to cool for 10-15 minutes. 

Poach the salmon. To do this, almost fill a skillet or fry pan with water and bring it to the boil [leave about 2cm for the water to rise once the salmon is added]. Once the water is boiling, add the salmon so they are fully submerged in the water. Once the water is boiling again, turn off the stove, put the lid on the pan and leave it. Allow the salmon to cook in the hot water for about 15 minutes (maybe a bit less, depending on how thick it is). Remove salmon from water and pop on a plate with a paper towel. Leave to cool - the salmon will continue to cook. Once cool, break it ip into chunks. 

Make the dressing - add all ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Adjust lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. 

Once the potatoes are cool add the dressing and mix through. 

To serve, arrange the spinach on individual plates, top with potato and the salmon. 

Serve with an extra squeeze of lemon juice.  

What are your favourite salad ingredients?