For all those mums who get dragged to McDonalds for breakfast and have to figure out what they can have without feeling greasy & bloated for the rest of the day, they now do porridge with apple & sultanas. Woohoo!!
It’s a big wrap when Gary Mehigan tells you it’s one of the best curries you’ve ever tasted. And because Jimmy was so talented (and obviously business savvy), he has turned his Masterchef experience in to a great business.
Arta is producing Wholemeal Atta Flour for making flat breads. The grain is imported whole and then the product is produced and packaged in Australia and distributed through Coles, Bi-Lo, Woolworths & Safeway nationally.
Last night on Masterchef’s Masterclass, Gary & George made paratha flatbread using the atta flour. Click here to get the recipe or visit www.arta.net.au for more recipe ideas.
New to Australia in autumn 2011, the Zen & Lock range of ceramic cookware from Lock & Lock are 10 pieces of fine ceramic bakeware with bpa free air-tight lids for storage. Like their borosilicate glass counterparts, they’re oven safe, microwave safe & dishwasher safe – use the same container to cook in, serve in and store left overs in.
Containers are available in round, square and rectangular shapes and come in sizes ranging from 350ml to 920ml.
I was mildly amused (and annoyed) when in Coles supermarket the other day when I saw their “no added hormones” stickers on their chicken. To the best of my knowledge, no-one adds hormones to chickens anymore.
This morning, a story on news.com.au confirmed this (read more ..). For the record, NO-ONE in Australia has added hormones to chickens for over 40 years. You can safely choose any chicken in Australia for hormone safety, but free range chicken and organic chicken will be moister and better for you.
Visit the Lilydale website for some great chicken recipes and taste the difference when you buy free range.
While watching Jamie Oliver’s 30 minute meals, one of his recipes was a 1 minute ice cream. Technically, I don’t really think it’s ice cream, but it’s a fabulous recipe concept for home made frozen yoghurt I thought I’d share.
Ingredients & tools
yoghurtBung the frozen fruit in the blender along with the yoghurt & any other flavours you decide to toss in, blend until smooth (and it really doesn’t take too long) and then pour in to your Lock & Lock glass container and pop it in the freezer. If you don’t eat it all in the one meal, put the seal-proof lid on it to stop the nasty freezer tastes and smells leeching in to your home made frozen yoghurt.
It really did only take him 1 minute to do. I think your washing up afterwards would take longer. Simply fabulous quick idea, and because you use frozen fruit as a base, it doesn’t take long to freeze. Use natural yoghurt for a beautifully sweet, simple dessert with ZERO sugar.
We received our copy of The Hopeful Chef cookbook this week. Before you even open the cover, here’s what this cookbook is:-
From their website
“Whether you, your friends or your family are confident home-cooks, aspiring chefs or interested in trying out some Tanzanian favourites, The Hopeful Chef has something for everyone!
The Hopeful Chef was generously developed by Kemp Strang, a Sydney-based commercial law firm and supporter of the school. The firm enlisted the support of high-profile chefs, food stylists and photographers to create something stylish and truly scrumptious to support our worthy cause. And just in time for Christmas!
The Hopeful Chef features a variety of recipes ranging from home-style lasagne to aged beef with anchovy butter from Neil Perry and Tanzanian dishes which were donated by St Jude’s staff. Several of our long-term supporters also contributed some of their family-favourites making it a truly Australian-Tanzanian effort! You will also find Gemma’s favourite Goat Soup recipe—if you are feeling brave!
All proceeds from the book have been generously donated to St Jude’s by Kemp Strang, for which we are extremely thankful.”
If you can look past the ‘Goat Soup’ recipe that Gemma loves (I guess you have to be in Africa to appreciate that one – a city girl like me can’t possibly think of cooking goat!) this book is full of recipes from St Jude supporters, celebrity chefs and restaurant owners including Matt Moran, all of whom donated their recipes for a worthy cause.
There is some simply spectacular photography in the book too, not only of the food, but of the kids at The School of St Jude that the proceeds of this book help. There’s only 1,000 copies in print, so grab one quickly.
My latest foodie indulgence is the show Good Chef / Bad Chef on the Lifestyle Food Channel of Foxtel. My first thought was “why put someone on TV who can’t cook?” (I joke), then I very quickly noticed who one of the chef’s was and instantly realised that “bad” means, “cooking with way too much processed food and fat and sugar!”.
Enter one of my favourite celeb chef’s, Masterchef’s Gary Mehigan. He’s cuddly, charming and knows a hell of a lot about cooking. His partner in crime isa slightly over the top “healthy” foodie called Janella Purcell.
The premise of the show is simple, Gary cooks a meal you’ll salivate over, Janella makes a version that won’t kill you. Gary does compliment Janella’s cooking quite a lot. Janella, on the other hand, spends a fair bit of the show banging her head up against a brick wall because she can’t convert Gary.
Overall, it’s very entertaining & light hearted, a show that gives you tips on how to indulge AND look after yourself. What a fabulous idea. Start sniffing through the recipe archives for something yummy, or not ……
Last night I found myself a little peckish for something sweet with a pretty bare pantry and not a lot of time on my hands. Here’s my super simple quick pear tart.
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
You can easily substitute apple if you have one. We tried peach but it dried out too much.
Before I review the book, I’d like to make a comment in general about the man that is, Jamie Oliver. As a foodie and a decent human being who cares about giving back, I have the utmost respect for Jamie.
Sure, the man is a commercial Juggernaut and a license to print money, but he gives to the community and is genuinely interested in making the children of the UK and the world healthier, unlike Gordon Ramsey, who’s just an obnoxious twit on so many levels.
What I love about his cookbooks is their simplicity and the types of recipes in them. I can flip through a Jamie Oliver book and find things I would actually cook and eat, and recipes that can be easily performed by me, an average cook with not a lot of spare time. When you get to see a portion of the book cooked out on television for free, even better!
Despite Jamie’s obsession with putting olive oil on almost anything (which we’ll forgive him for, it is actually good for you), Jamie’s 30 Minute Meals is choc-a-block full of quick & easy to make home food with a bit of a fancy twist and lots of quick cheats, including the use of a jar of Patak’s rogan josh curry paste on page 82. The man is a realist, and for this we love this book.
The ingredients aren’t too wild or wacky and will be easily found in most decent supermarkets & deli’s and the list of instructions is written in a 30 minute timeline format so you can actually get everything on the table at the same time.
A brilliant book for the busy home cook with average skills and a few appliances at their fingertips.
With the recent severe flooding in much of Queensland’s food growing regions in early 2011, fresh food prices are unfortunately set to soar over coming weeks & months until these areas recover.
If you’re lucky enough to have a Harris Farm near you, or any other large fruit shop, you’ll notice they always clear out stock cheap in bulk – usually in small buckets at the front of the shop. Whether they have a glut of ripe & over-ripe fruit, vegies that are slightly marked or on the small side, you can often grab yourself a bargain by buying in bulk.
If you’re not going to be able to eat it all before it goes off, there’s a cheap & easy way to store your fruit & veg, and it’s available in the aisle of your local supermarket where you get your Glad Wrap & Aluminium Foil.
Fresh & Crisp bags really do keep your fruit & veg fresher for longer. There’s always a spare couple of boxes of them in my pantry.
The bags are a combination of food grade poly plastic combined with ALL NATURAL crushed and washed volcanic rock. It creates microscopic holes in the plastic bag allowing your fruit & veg to breathe. This allows ethylene (aging) gas to escape from the bag while allowing oxygen in.
Fruit & veg can last up to three weeks longer in these bags. Be sure to read the instructions on the box. Don’t mix items and don’t over fill them. So quick, cheap & simple, you’ll save money in no time.