Yellow Belly and Murray River Cod Sashimi

This is perhaps the most delicious feast we have enjoyed at home EVER!

Home made nigiri and sashimi from yellow belly and cod caught that day from the beautiful Narran river.

There is very little to say other than it was 8pm when I got home and by 840pm we were feasting on this spread!

My nigiri forming skills could use a little work, but it still tasted amazing!

We have eaten some pretty spectacular Japanese in some great places in Sydney and Melbourne and I can tell you, that this definately compares...if not beats!

YUM, my mouth is watering just looking at it again!

An Aussie inspired Japanese FEAST!

Yellow Belly and Murray River Cod sashimi, nigiri and served with rocked (which we then drizzled boiling sesame oil over!)

Wilful Tastelessness

Willful Tastelessness

 Guest Blog by Sally Symonds, Healthy Life Mentor and author of  “50 Steps to Lose 50kg . . . And Keep It Off” & “50+ Recipes to Lose 50kg . . . And Keep It Off”

I’ve just finished reading Margaret Heffernan’s new book, Willful Blindess: why we ignore the obvious at our peril.  Although Heffernan doesn’t consider food at all, it did make me think about willful tastlessness – how society continues to eat food which both tastes bad, and is bad for you, without really confronting the issue.  It’s true that studies have shown that sugar is more addictive than cocaine[1] so certainly part of this phenomenon is chemical, rather than merely logical or emotional.  However, logic and emotion can’t be discounted entirely.  One of the hallmarks of most great chefs is fresh ingredients, not preservatives.  While most chefs agree that fat is flavour, and sugar comes a close second, it’s still so easy to taste the difference between fresh flavours and cardboard cut out dinners.  Or it was.  Now, many people are so used to eating “rotmuck” (as my mum would say) that they’ve lost all sense of what real food tastes like.  Certainly in our busy lifestyles we need to have some fast food options (whether from the food court or our freezer or pantry) on hand, but they still should be real food – not pseudo-imitations of food – and taste accordingly. Willful tastelessness, just like willful blindness, becomes a habit. 
However, the longer we ignore the issues underlying the habit, the worse they become, as anyone who has been on the dieting merry-go-round, getting bigger year after year, most certainly knows.

For more information on weight loss and healthy living visit www.sallysymonds.com.au

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[1] Lenoir M, Serre F, Cantin L, Ahmed SH, 2007 Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward. PLoS ONE 2(8): e698. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000698

Why do we expect so much of ourselves?

Guest Blog by Meg Campbell

I ponder this question often as I know that my expectations of myself do not always serve me. I continue to be surprised at what I try to achieve on any given day. Even as I become more and more aware of my needs and how important it is to nurture myself, I still allow myself to be stretched with commitments. I think women these days put tremendous pressure on themselves to do 'everything'-have a career; keep house; be a caring , loving mother/wife/partner/daughter etc; maintain significant friendships......the list goes on.

Recently I headed away on a family holiday-the last as a family of three! I'm 30 weeks pregnant now and had been looking forward to this break for months. Rather than slow down and prepare myself for our trip, I jammed in as much as I could before our departure. As a result, I found myself sick 2 days before we were due to leave and for the first 4 days of our time away.  The ironic thing is that I always advise people to slow down prior to their holiday to avoid falling in a big heap when they actually stop!

This experience was so disappointing but yet another reminder that I need to honour and respect myself always; I will continue to focus on balance in my life, daily movement and quality nutrition and try not to overcommit myself as I often do. It’s true what they say, “If you don’t have your health, you have nothing”!

Asian Greens

I went away for a week last week and when I got home- the veg patch had gone crazy! The tiny broccolli is now ready to pick, the cabbages are getting hearts, beetroots are finally taking hold and the mulberry tree is abundant with fruit and foliage!!!

The Asian greens were the most prolific though. We had been harvesting the odd leaves from our bok choy for stir fries - but I had to hack into the others to let in some light for the other plants around them!

I picked: Malaysian Lettuce (Armaranth), Chinese broccoli, a whole Bok Choy, Mizuna and another stringy green I can't remember the name of. These are particularly easy to grow and they don't take a lot of care. They would be fab in pots andmake a beautiful looking (not to mention tasting) border in a flower garden! We have even given Bok Choy as thank you gifts instead of flowers!

Along with a big handful of deliciously sweet sno peas, a huge bunch of coriander, a couple of kaffir lime leaves, chilli and lemongrass - and a meal is made!

Asian Green YUM



All I did then was simmer a can of coconut milk (Ayam brand is the ONLY one I will use as it has not additives at all) with some water, the kaffir lime leave, split chilli, lemongrass, coriander root, palm sugar and fish sauce, until it was delicious tasting and had good flavour. I had some broccoli and zucchini in the fridge which I added next, until they were just tender.

I then added the greens and snow peas until they wilted, but still had some crunch (the peas).

To serve I topped with mountains of coriander, shredded Kaffir Lime leaf and chilli and some tofu which I had lightly fried in some olive oil.



Quick, healthy, freshly picked and delicious!

Mushie reflections

I have been searching through my photos from last seasons harvest and realising two things a) how slack I have been on blogging and b) how gorgeous our garden is and how much I can't wait until spring is here with all her abundance!

In the meantime, whilst our crop is growing nicely (which it is by the way, we have new broccolis and cabbage forming, rocket and snow peas going well and tasting great, our artichokes are going to be out of this world and the herbs are all adding fantastic flavour!), I thought I would hit you with a recipe from our wild harvest selection - mushrooms!

My husband found these after rain earlier this year, in abundance and perfect! Often you struggle to beat the bugs to wild mushrooms, resulting in disappointment,or gritty mushies; we lucked in this time!

There was then the decision about what to do with the abundance - we of course enjoyed a few days worth of meals from these!

I did a wonderful mushroom risotto, simply with garlic, onion, vegetable stock, white wine and the musrooms - it was delicious and topped with parsley and a bit of parmasan..perfect!

I also did a gorgeous stuffed mushroom with home made ricotta, tomatoes and basil, served with one of our first golden nugget pumpkins (simply baked), this was a creamy, mushroomy treat!
Not to mention...FREE! (the featured corn and zucchini are also out of the garden)!

Even though we don't live in Utopia as far as fresh produce is concerned, we still glean a lot from our wild larder...mushrooms are a rare treat, but recently we have also enjoyed a wild duck camp oven, yellow belly and murray river cod sashimi and sushi and popcorn yabbies....BLISS!
Stay tuned for the brag!

Plant, Harvest, Cook, Enjoy ;)

Veggie Patch Pesto

Welcome to Autumn!
Well it has been a while since I have posted, mainly because the garden has not provided much eating as we have been in getting it ready for the autumn planting.
We are running about a month behind of schedule, but we do have our snow peas just starting to fruit and some beetroot growing well.
We harvested kilos of pumpkin, so they have kept us in soups and risottos for a while and we harvested lots of okra, which was a first for us this year, but we got them too late and some of them were a bit woody! We did enjoy a few coated in besan flour and deep fried as a nice nibble before a delicious Indian curry!
We have an abundance of rocket at the moment, so last night I thought I would make a pesto to go with some gluten free spaghetti as an easy and quick meal!
I always have a spare bag of nuts in the cupboard, in this case they were walnuts, so that is what I used.
We also still have some basil hanging in there, so I picked a good handful of leaves to toss in as well.
A squeeze of lemon juice, the bag of nuts and a very, very generous handful of rocket and basil leaves was blitzed very well with enough oil to loosen it, I also added a few shavings of Parmesan cheese and sprinkle of salt and pepper.
I thought it wasn't nutrient dense enough, so I added a few florets of broccoli and cauliflower and blitzed them too with the juice of one lemon! I thought this would also be a great way to get kids eating extra veggies without knowing!
Tossed through hot pasta and topped with some extra Parmesan cheese, the pesto was really delicious with a glass of great preservative free red!
Perfect next to the roaring log fire...I do love Autumn!

Ricotta and joyful flowers

We have zucchini and pumpkin plants growing and producing like crazy in the garden which is bringing in the bees, it is divine to hear the sound they make!

However, because of the flood water all around us the mozzies are ferocious and are making gardening almost impossible - you have to rug up so much that you nearly die of heat exhaustion...so, there has been some picking going on, but not much else I have to admit!

But, back to the flowers!
I adore stuffed zucchini flowers, but they are so fiddly so I don't do them very often, but I got the urge and a little time up my sleeve on Saturday so thought I would whip up a batch!
Make sure you only pick the MALE flowers, or you will not end up with any fruit!

First I made the ricotta -
RICOTTA
Ricotta is SO easy and is a million times better than the store bought stuff (unless you can get to a good deli...in which case this stuff is heaps less expensive and just as good) - I will NEVER buy it again!
1 litre UHT milk brought about 90 degrees (just before boiling) and add 50ml lemon juice (or vinegar) and remove from heat. Let it rest for about 10-20 minutes so the milk curdles and strain through a lined sieve. Leave for 30-40 minutes before refrigerating in a container. You can add a tbs of salt and mix through, but I prefer to add this later when I use it for cooking/eating!

I just use clean CHUX to line the sieve!

ZUCCHINI FLOWERS
Ensure that all the bugs etc are gone from the flower and give a good dusting (I don't wash them as it destroys the flower usually).
Mix together ricotta (amount will depend on how many flowers you have, but allow approx 1-2tbs per flower), pinch of salt and pepper, zest of a lemon, squeeze of lemon juice and fresh chopped herbs (I used basil but you could use anything that was fresh and handy and is your favorite!).
Stuff the zucchini flowers with the mixture (be very careful and very patient!)

The little stuffed gems, ready for their next preparation!

TEMPURA BATTER
I like to coat the stuffed flowers with a light tempura...I am afraid I am not very good on measurements with this, I just go by feel and eye...
Approx 100g flour with one egg and enough ice cold water to make a thickish batter (thick enough that it really coats a spoon). IT is important for the water to be cold...not sure why?
Don't get all the lumps out, it adds to the crunch later on.

Coat the flowers and fry (shallow is fine).

Sprinkle with a little sea salt and SERVE HOT!!!
YUM!

Sorry for sideways shot...but you get the picture! Encased
in light crispy batter, soft and zingy inside..Zucchini flowers are delicious!