Food heroes

I was listening to Triple M’s The Cage a few weeks ago, and a listener shared a story about his son’s school project.

The boy’s project topic was “Who is your hero?” His answer? Well, it was:

“Steak!
I love steak because it is yum and it makes me happy. It is nice when well but a bit pink.”

In an era of badly behaved sporting heroes, and hypocritical and untrustworthy politicians, I reckon this kid is spot on the money. Non human heroes are a far safer bet!

My non human hero (besides bubble tea) would have to be carrot cake. It too is yum and makes me happy but I am also astounded by the fact that an ordinary vegetable could be so tasty in cake. Who came up with the idea? Genius.

I love the fact that every bite is like a little party in my mouth and everyone is invited. Come on over nuts, cinnamon, and cream cheese icing….

I only wish my beloved carrot cake was kinder to my thighs BUT I’m sure with all the carroty goodness, one serve of carrot cake would also be equivalent to one serve of vegetables. That’s probably the best justification of them all!

What is your non human hero?

An Ode to Bubble Tea

My work colleagues would appreciate this post more than anyone else because they witness, almost on a daily basis, my addiction to bubble tea.

What is bubble tea? Wikipedia defines bubble tea as “a sweetly flavored tea beverage. Drink recipes may vary, but most bubble teas contain a tea base mixed with fruit (or fruit syrup) and/or milk. Ice blended versions of the drink are also available, usually in fruit flavors.”

To this sweetly flavored tea beverage (I love that definition!) you add a choice of toppings which includes fruit jelly and pearls. Pearls would most accurately be described as little black balls of hard snot, but they are actually tapioca balls.

My bubble tea of choice is the honey milk tea with pearls. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways:

1. It’s sweet
2. It’s tasty
3. It makes me happy
4. It reminds me of a summer’s day
5. It’s an all in one beverage and snack
6. It could be used as a weapon (by shooting the pearls out the straw)

Happy 2010/2011

Happy (belated) new financial year!!! I get really excited around this time of year (probably not as excited as David Koch would be but more excited than the average person!!). Why this madness? Well, why not, there’s a lot to be excited about. There’s the end of financial year sales (hello Myer), tax cuts (thanks K Rudd), and it’s a time to make new financial year resolutions. What are my resolutions? To continue saving for our overseas adventures. We are off to Germany, Poland and France in October this year. We would also like to go to Norway and Denmark in the next couple of years so we will have to save our pennies for that.

I wish you all the best for the next 6 months and beyond!

Best of the Markets

As you all know, Wednesday is my favourite day because it's market day in Brisbane city. This recipe shows off the best produce from the Jan Power's Farmers' Markets. The salmon (beautiful Atlantic Salmon from Tasmania) is from the Princess Charlotte Seafoods,the tomatoes are from Classical Tomatoes*, and the herbs are from Zesty Herbs.

Salmon with tomato and lime salsa

Ingredients (serves 2)
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
2 tsp caster sugar
1 tbs lime juice, plus lime wedges to serve
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 bunch coriander leaves
½ bunch mint leaves
1 punnet grape tomatoes, halved
2 spring onions or ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
2 fillets salmon or ocean trout fillets
2 tbs olive oil

Method
1. Preheat the grill to a medium/high heat
2. Place the chilli, sugar, lime juice, fish sauce and sesame oil in a bowl and stir until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Tear the herbs in a separate bowl and add the tomatoes and onion.
4. Season the salmon fillets with salt and black pepper, then set aside.
5. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick ovenproof frypan over medium-high heat. Add the salmon and cook for 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the salmon to the grill and cook, skin side up until crispy and the salmon is cooked to your liking.
6. Just before serving, toss the dressing with the tomato mixture.
7. Place the salmon on a plate and top with the salsa. Serve with lime wedges.
8. You could serve this with steamed jasmine rice as well.

* Classical Tomatoes: these are the greatest tomatoes I have EVER tasted. The tomatoes are grown on a farm which are organic, poison free, they are pollinated by native bees, and they are grown to classical music.

Asian style chicken and corn soup

It is definitely getting colder so we’re all in need of some warming comfort food. This recipe is a nice twist on the old favourite, chicken and corn soup. The fresh coriander and chilli really freshens up the soup! I guarantee this will keep the winter blues away.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
400g chicken thigh fillets, chopped
1 brown onion, thinly sliced
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
4cm piece of ginger, grated finely
1 litre of good quality chicken stock
420g can creamed corn
310g canned corn kernels. drained
A dash of fish sauce
1 long red chilli, thinly sliced (and deseeded if you prefer)
½ bunch fresh coriander, chopped

Method
1. In a hot deep pan, heat olive oil and add onion. Cook until onion is translucent (do not allow to colour) and add chicken. Cook chicken until sealed all over.
2. Add garlic and ginger to the chicken and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Again, do not allow garlic and ginger to brown (this changes the flavour of the garlic and ginger and may cause them to go bitter).
3. Add the stock, creamed corn, corn kernels and the dash of fish sauce. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the chicken has cooked.
4. Divide soup amongst 4 bowls. Garnish with the coriander and chilli.

Bundy, steak and Belgian delights

My apologies for the hiatus, I’ve been too busy going out and around, in and around! This means that I now have plenty to write about in this blog post.

Last weekend Mark, Colin and I made the trek up to Bundaberg to take advantage of the long weekend and to see the family.

On the way to Bundy, we stopped at Laurel Tree Cottage coffee shop in Childers for a much needed coffee and breakfast stop. Coffee and bread is obviously very rare in Childers as the price of coffee and toast was astronomical! We paid $4.50 for a small (very average) coffee, and $4.50 for 2 pieces of thin toast with vegemite. Definitely by-pass this place if you ever venture for a Bundy or beyond adventure.

We stayed at one of the very few pet friendly accommodation options in Bundy, Absolute Ocean Front Caravan Park at Bargara. As the name suggests, the park is absolute ocean front. Our cabin was right next to the water, if we were any closer, we would have been in the ocean! The cabin was basic but contained everything you need for a weekend away. I highly recommend it. Address is 117 Woongarra Scenic Drive, Bargara.

Unfortunately I didn’t experience any gastronomical delights in Bundy this time but can I just add that I enjoyed 2 local delicacies – a rooster roll from Red Rooster and a fruit flan from the Cheesecake Shop. I will not comment any further...

On Wednesday night, I had dinner at the Regatta Boatshed and can I just say that its steaks definitely give the Breakkie Creek Hotel and the Norman Hotel a run for their money. I ordered the 300g eye fillet. A tasty bit of meat from the Angus, Hereford cross from the southern darling downs farming group. The lucky cow was pasture fed for 30 months and 100 day grain fed before it ended up on my plate. I have not had a steak that tender in a long, long time; it just melted in my mouth. The Regatta Boatshed is located at 543 Coronation Drive, Toowong.

Now what would a post be without some reference to French food. Tomorrow Mark and I are off to the Belgian Beer Café (Ok so it’s technically not French food but it is close enough). Mark and I are also celebrating our 12 month anniversary in our lovely townhouse. We will be cracking a open a bottle of Moet (very French) to celebrate. More on all that next week…

Lets get ethical, ethical. I wanna get ethical…

Ok, it’s soap box time (geez, I’ve blogging for 1 whole month and this is my very first rant!). Shopping for ingredients is obviously an important part of cooking however, how socially responsible is your shopping trolley?

So what does it mean to be an ethical consumer? It means buying products that are cruelty free, socially responsible (eg they support fair trade) and are environmentally sustainable.

It may seem a little overwhelming at first but the best place to start to think of an issue that is important to you and then start from there. For example, an issue close to my heart is animal cruelty. I therefore buy products which are cruelty free, especially chicken products. I buy only eggs that are certified free range and RSPCA approved. Yes, these products are little more expensive but the products are of a higher quality AND you know the animals haven’t suffered for our benefit. I have even convinced my nephew Kallum to buy free range eggs!! I also buy cosmetics that are against animal cruelty too.

Now, I am not saying that I am perfect however, I have taken a pledge to make a genuine effort to buy ethical products. I hope you will take the pledge too. To find out which products you should be buying, check out: http://www.ethical.org.au/