Parsnip wars

Don Burke has come out swinging at the humble parsnip after Donna Hay (Australian’s Martha Stewart) published some recipes in the local rag. Yesterday legendary Margaret Fulton came out defending them. We love them roasted, but probably not every week.

I know many people dislike Brussels sprouts. I agree, they taste terrible when they are boiled to a soggy death in water (as do most vegetables). I can eat them roasted or stir-fried in soy sauce. Don also has a distaste for chokos, which I can sympathise more with. I’ve never liked mushrooms – they taste like dirt to me, and sometime they make my throat all tickley. I suspect I’m intolerant to them. I didn’t like olives growing up, but I love them now. Although there is a world of difference between the salty black ones on a cheap pizza and good quality plump olives. I know broccoli and cauliflower are disliked by many people, but because these vegetables are sprayed 16 times I wonder if it’s not the pesticide taste they don’t like. Organic ones tastes a thousands times better.

Why do we develop these prejudices against such a harmless vegetable?

Inside your cupboards

It was time for a winter clean of our kitchen, which included emptying out our cupboard and fridge. It wasn’t too bad since our recent weevil infestation and we had already thrown out many unwanted boxes and bottles. Although, we did find a roll of marzipan that expired 2 years ago (from my cupcake decorating faze).

Enjoy seeing what other people eat (and try to spot the snake):

• Hungry Planet: What the World Eats provides an illustrated look at how different families around the world eat. I’m going to admit that I didn’t read much of the text in the book, because comparing the photos from each country was more fascinating. Peter Menzel, the photographer, has provided an illustrated preview [PDF 9.6MB].
• Mark Menjivar has taken some very telling photos of fridges in the US.  (Select ‘portfolio’ > ‘you are what you eat’ >’ images’)
• Video of Meghan Telpner (nutritionist)
• Video of Renegade Health snooping on David Wolfe (raw foodie)
• What’s that in your fridge? (Flickr group)

What kind of skeletons do you have in your cupboards?

Mini food

A few years ago I stumbled on Callahan Catering’s website and was blown away by the creative and adorable mini food ideas. I also fell in love with the miniature burger, fries and soft drink on craftster. Ever since then I have wanted to host a mini food party.

Bite sized food is ideal to serve at a cocktail or kids party. If you choose your dishes well, you might even be able to do away with cutlery. Decorate the room with small posies of flowers. Serve food with plenty of cocktail forks and napkins. If you have a vegetable garden you’ll have the added advantage of being able to select small leaves, fruit and vegetables.

Here’s a list of food that would be suitable for a mini food party:

Meat dishes

• Pigs in a blanket
• Sausage rolls made with cocktail sausages and filo pastry
• Lamb cutlets
• Mini quiches
• Swedish meatballs
• Meatloaf baked in mini loaf pans
• Devilled quail’s eggs
• Tiny sushi
• Baby eel, octopus and sardines

Sides

• Cherry tomatoes and micro greens
• Baby carrots, gherkins, cocktail onions, and radish
• Baked baby corn on the cob
• Baked new potatoes with bacon
• Tiny pasta salad

Breads

• Mini bread rolls
• Mini muffins
• Mini toasts

Sweets

• Dollar coin sized pancakes
• Tiny pies
• Mini ice cream cones
• Mini smores using mini marshmallows
• Petit fours
• Single serve cheeses and small biscuits

Drinks

• Mini kegs and half bottles of wine
• Small sized soft drink bottles and kiddie sized juices

There are some small sized cooking equipment that you might find useful: mini muffin tin, and petite loaf pan.

If you are looking for more ideas and inspiration there’s a whole flickr group dedicated to mini food (note: some are not edible). And if you still haven’t got your fix stop by the Mini Food Blog.

Magic beans

Ever since our trip to Kingaroy (peanut and navy bean country), I’ve been trying to make baked beans from scratch. We stayed in a gorgeous little self contained cabin, and breakfast was all prepared in the fridge. The delicious home-made baked beans held their shape and they tasted nothing like what you get in tin.

First I wanted to try Maggie Beer’s recipe, but we couldn’t find any pork speck.

A few months later, I wanted to try Delia Smith’s recipe, which also appears in her new book Frugal Food. But I couldn’t find any streaky belly of pork as required. Big M suggested Kasseler (German ham) could work.

The biggest stumbling block is that beans take for-ever to cook, so there’s no way we can eat them for Sunday breakfast without planning ahead. By the time I decided I want to make them and read the recipe, I ended up disappointed that I should have started the day before.

For my third attempt, I bought some navy beans and shredded coconut (for biscuits) from the health food store. They sat together in the sun on our dining room table for about a week. When I added the beans to a bowl of water for soaking, they shriveled up and sprouted before our very eyes. It was the strangest thing!

Aside – I’m officially retiring from my short baked beans career and going back to tinned beans. (Big M loves Heinz – British recipe only, and I like the organic ones).

Natural whole foods swaps

As we have been moving towards eating more home-grown fruit and vegetables, I’ve been interested in cookbooks and recipes that feature natural and whole foods. It’s opened up a new world of different food products that you may only find in your local health food store. Produce that is organic, locally grown and seasonal.

Julie Blerau defines wholefood as:

“food that is eaten as close as possible to its natural state, without unnecessary processing and refining.”

Type	Natural whole food
Meat and eggs	Organic, free range, wild or lean
Milks	Almond milk, brazil nut milk, coconut milk and cream, hemp milk, oat milk, rice milk
Grains	amaranth, buckwheat, corn, kumut, mesquite, millet, quinoa, rice, teff, wild rice	Gluten: barley, couscous, farro, oats, rye, spelt, wheat
Bread	Corn tortilla, millet roti, nori rolls, pumpernickel bread, rice paper	Gluten: rye bread, spelt bread, whole-wheat bread
Cereal	Buckwheat, millet, quinoa, sprouted buckwheat	Gluten: granola, muesli porridge,
Pasta	Raw veg, rice noodles	Gluten: whole-wheat pasta
Drinks	Herbal tea, green tea, freshly squeezed vegetable and fruit juices, water
Fats and oils	butter, clarified butter and ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil
Accent oils*	almond oil, hazelnut oil, linseed (flaxseed) oil, macadamia oil, peanut oil, pistachio oil, pumpkin seed oil, walnut oil
Sweeteners	agave nectar, barley malt syrup, blackstrap molasses, brown rice syrup, date sugar, honey, natural cane sugars (barbados, demerara, muscovado, rapadura, sucanat, and turbinado), maple sugar, maple syrup, pomegranate molasses, Stevia
Salt	Miso, sea salt, seaweed flakes, tamari
Dessert	Coconut macaroons, coconut ice cream, raw chocolate, rice pudding
Snack food	Dried fruits and leathers, raw nuts, raw chocolate hazelnut spread
Spreads	Guacamole, hummus, olive tapenade

*best used uncooked in salads and smoothies

Save the Bilby chocolate

If you are buying any dark milky products to get you through Chocolate-Lovers weekend, try to buy a Darrell Lea Bilby. These cute little marsupials are endangered in Australia. Buying a chocolate bilby goes towards a fund to help reestablish the population in protected areas and provides money for research.

Mystery melons

We picked four melons off the escaping vines in the fourth bed. We love melons because they weigh a lot and are currently the only thing keeping our fruit score high. Our citrus trees are straggling with yellowing leaves and tease us with green unripe fruit.

Our very first melon turned out to be a jam melon (pictured above), so we had high hopes for these four new ones.

Here’s the results of our mystery melon taste test:

1. We worked out the first one was a mini melon minnesotta. It was the nicest tasting and best looking. It was a nice yellow oval shaped melon but not so sweet.
2. The next one looked hairy and I can see why it doesn’t sell in the shops. I haven’t worked out the variety yet, but when we cut it open it looked like a traditional rockmelon that you buy. Again not so sweet.
3. The last one wins the prize for most interesting looking. We harvested two prescott fond rockmelons, which are a French heirloom. They looked like a pumpkin with blistering thick skin, but it had melon shaped seeds. The flesh was a nice orange in the centre, but it was green for about a centimetre at the outer edge. It dripped juice when cut. This was hard and the second melon looked deceptively better but I couldn’t even sink my teeth in!

Next time we’ll need to leave them to rippen for longer on the vine and not be so hasty to pick them.

Big M closed the taste taste by sweeping the seeds and uneaten slices into the compost bin, saying “Honey, no more silly varieties. Just get the normal stuff, ok?”

Road Trip – Kingaroy

Last week we spent a lovely few days driving up to Kingaroy. We stayed in a self-contained hut at Deshons Retreat. On the way there we discovered a ‘pick your own strawberries’ spot and ended up with more than we could eat! Who knew you could get sick of strawberries!

The Swickers bacon was divine. The olives were outstanding.

If cheese is your thing you can try some either at Kingroy Cheese, or Cheese World a little way out at Goomeri.

If you like old-style biscuits pop into the Endeavour Biscuit Kitchen. They were an absolute bargain at only $2.50 a mixed tray, so I went back and bought a few more!

We visited a number of wineries and discovered purely by chance that we had picked the only ones that were open early in the week!

The most challenging part of visiting Kingaroy was finding out where to get bulk raw peanuts. It was a special request from my father. If you are after flavoured or boiled peanuts you really can’t go past The Peanut Van. Peanuts and navy beans are grown throughout the area, but unfortunately most peanuts sold in Woolies or Coles come from Asia and only “packaged in Australia”. Watch out for these, because they are not as stringently tested. We evently asked the right person at the TIC, and discovered you could buy them from the PCA factory across the road. The raw unshelled peanuts were half the price as retail, so it was worth it. We got some recipes with the sack, but I will warn you the smallest bag was 20kg!

Beer tasting

We discovered a perfect way to fill in a lazy rainy Sunday (a rare event in Brisbane these days!) Brisbane News  featured an article called “Brew-haha” on some of the newer beers on the market. Tony Harper and friends taste tested their way through some 60 beers – I bet there were many volunteers! He whittled it down and recommended a list of top 10. Big M was particular keen to give them all a go, especially since he has been brewing his own beer. I have to admit I’m not such a beer drinker, but what the heck!

We visited a few local liquor stores to get all of the ones on the list, and somehow along the way we gathered a few extras to try. However, we had lots of trouble getting Emerson’sPilsner. The article had created such a demand for Tony’s number one that it seems as if the whole of Brisbane was sold out of this hot bottled kiwi!

Our list turned out completely different – which just goes to show it’s a personal preference thing.

Score (Big M – little m)

1. Hoegaarden (4-4)
2. Cascade Premium (3-4)
3. Knappstein (4-2) fruity South Australian
4. Mountain Goat Pale Ale (3-3) – golden, floral honey aromas from Melbourne
5. WeihenstephanerHafe Weizenbier (3.5-2.5)
6. WeihenstephanerPilsner (3-3)
7. Grand Ridge (3.5-2.5) mild citrus, would appeal to wine drinkers (Vic)
8. Chimay (3-2.5) dark, distinct
9. Roger’s Beer (2.5-3)
10. Red Oak (2.5-2.5) – Sydney hints of bananas and cloves
11. Emerson’s Pale Ale (2.5-1) soapy
12. MilduraStormy Ale (2-1) orangery bitter kick
13. Duvel(2-1) more bubbly then Kerri-Anne Kennerely on e; like champagne

Not shown:
Fuller’s London Pride – always a winner
Emerson’s Pilsner – missing in action

Big M, of course, wants to know – if we can get a full list of the 60 beers tested (but please don’t encourage him), and also when’s the wine tasting start?

Food Destinations #3: My Favorite Chocolate Shop

I am confident that one of my last meals will be chocolate – because I have it at least once a day and have been known to eat it for breakfast! I must admit though, I don’t have a favorite chocolate shop. What is wrong with me?? Am I a fraud who has argued in vain over about whether chocolate should be kept in the cupboard or the fridge? Perhaps I’m not such a chocoholic after all!

The Plan
There are two main chocolate shops in the Brisbane CBD. I decided I was going to work out which one would be my favorite shop by sampling the same type of chocolates from each store. I chose one each of the following: plain dark; orange; peppermint; hazelnut and cherry liqueur for good measure.

Unfortunately I then fell ill with the flu, so I didn’t eat the chocolate for four days! (Unheard of in these parts!) Oh, alright I was still on the Lindt …. I wasn’t that sick!

Anyhow, finally I started to smell things again and I decided it was time to taste the chocolates:

Chocolate Boulevard – (good for foreign lollies)
Dark buddha – 5
Hazelnut cluster – 4
Orange fish – the orange was a bit fake – 2
Peppermint – didn’t taste like mint. I couldn’t identify what it tasted of! – 1
Cherry liqueur – very runny, strong alcoholic – 2

Chocolate to Die For
(Just Chocolate) Dark – 5
Nut – oh no, white (fake) chocolate, gross! – 2
Orange – bit old fashioned, liked boiled lollies – 2.5
Peppermint – 5
Cherry liqueur – runny, alcohol still had a kick to it – 2.5

If Big M had come home from work at his usual time, he might have discovered me rolling around on the floor, clutching my tummy declaring, “I’ve eaten too much chocolate!” A sentence never uttered before in the house.

The lesson
If you ever visit a chocolate factory wear a jacket with large pockets. It’s really best not to mix flavoured chocolates. I still don’t have a favourite chocolate shop, but I will always love my chocolate dark and Swiss.
Written for Chocolate in Context’s premiere blogging event, Food Destinations #3: My Favorite Chocolate Shop.