Shoalhaven Foodies

Chere's Verandah Cafe Lunch

2011-02-13T09:00:00.013+11:00

From left: Christine, Colleen Frances, Kim, Chere

Lunch on the Verandah at Chere's

Even two days before, it was obviously going to be a hot day. So I wanted the food to be light, light, light and delicious and appealing.

This is the menu I chose.

MENU
Champagne Mocktails

Appetisers of
Smoked salmon with crème fraiche and caviar

Local flathead marinated in coriander, lime and ginger with avocado sauce

Watermelon with black pepper

Main
Local prawns, scallops and feta with strawberries, edamame beans, local baby beets, mixed salad leaves & mint and pistachios with a honey and mustard dressing

Dessert
Petite chocolate cake
Peach ice cream with blueberry sauce
Lime coconut and macadamia ice cream

To drink – Mountain Ridge verdelho & light macadamia dessert liqueur

You'll see that I intended to use our lightly enclosed verandah to eat. It turned out that we ate our appetisers in the cool of the house, our main course on the verandah – then we escaped into the cool again for dessert. What else can you expect in the middle of summer?

You'll see from the menu that you can make much of this food without recipes. I've just included the ones you may not know or can't find anywhere else.

Actually the Champagne Mocktails were really just fresh apple juice, (grape would have been nice too), mixed with sparkling mineral water, a touch of lime and mint and lots of ice. For those who wanted it, I added a slurp of the light macadamia dessert liqueur we had on the day, which made a nice difference!

I'd recently bought some lovely spoons from Vinnies (I'm a great Vinnies fan and manage to find many wonderful table accessories there). So I wanted to use them for my appetisers.

The marinated fish I used was fresh local fillets or flathead which I'd marinated overnight in freshly squeezed lime, lemon and grated ginger. Just before the others arrived I chopped the fish into bite sized pieces and topped them with an avocado mashed with a little light whipped cream and sprinkled on some chopped chives from the garden.

The smoked salmon with creme fraiche and caviar speaks for itself.

If you don't have the recipe for crème fraiche, it's easy! Just mix a generous tablespoon of buttermilk with a cup of low or full fat cream (both work). Stir lightly, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place until the mixture thickens. You'll see when it's ready – around 24 hours.

(I drizzled a little good olive oil over both the appetisers just before serving).

The watermelon was local, but was a bit disappointing as there was not much taste! So I sprinkled a good teaspoon of castor sugar over it the night before to bring out the flavour and added freshly ground black pepper to the chilled squares.

The main course was basically an interesting salad of prawns, scallops, local feta, fresh steamed baby beetroot (from my garden) strawberries, edamame beans (steamed and chilled) pistachios, mixed salad leaves and good bunch of individual mint leaves from the garden, with a honey and mustard dressing.

I mixed the salad in a large pot and then dished it onto individual plates, mixing through 2/3 or my dressing, then adding the beetroot last.

I then cooked the green prawns in hot olive oil and a little butter for a couple of minutes and set them aside on a hot plate. I cooked the scallops in the same pan (hot again) for a minute on each side. I added the prawns again and poured in a little lime juice and grated garlic and almost immediately removed the pan from the heat. They were then add to the salad with their sauce and I drizzled the remaining honey mustard dressing over the whole salad.

Honey mustard dressing
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp castor sugar, 1 tbsp dijon mustard, pinch of salt, ½ cup good olive oil (you can vary these quantities according to your taste).

Dessert

Peach ice cream with blueberry sauce

To make the ice cream:

Have your ice-cream making bowl in the freezer overnight.
626 g fresh ripe peaches and nectarine, peeled and stoned. Keep the skins and stones.
(You can just use peaches, but it turned out that only 3 of my peaches were really ripe, but I had some lovely ripe nectarines, so I mixed the two to make up the amount).

¼ cup lemon juice
1 ½ cups thickened cream*
1 ½ cups milk*
¾ cups sugar (I used raw because I like the taste).
3 large room temperature egg yolks.

* I use low fat

Puree the peach and nectarine flesh with the lemon juice. Cover and refrigerate.

Put the skins and stones into a large saucepan with the cream and milk. Simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes, making sure the mixture doesn't boil. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved (the skin and stones are still there). Remove from the heat.

Beat the egg yolks and whisk in about ½ cup of the creamy mixture. Return the pan to the heat and stir in the egg mixture. Continue to cook until the custard coats the back of the spoon, this should take about 8 – 10 minutes. Once again, don't let the mixture boil. Remove from the heat, press some plastic wrap over the custard so that it doesn't form a skin and let it cool.

When the custard is cool, strain it, discarding all the stones and skins, and then combine the custard with the peach & nectarine puree (or just peach). Mix well and chill. Get out your ice-cream maker and make the ice cream according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Transfer to a container to freeze.

Serve with blueberry sauce.

Blueberry sauce:

Puree 1 cup blueberries, sugar to taste and a squeeze of lemon juice. Pass through a strainer.

Lime, Coconut and Macadamia ice cream

2 cups reduced cream
2 cups light coconut milk or cream
¾ cup raw sugar
1 tablespoon of your favourite liqueur (mine was coffee based)
pinch salt
finely grated rind of a lime and a tablespoon of lime juice.
½ cup crushed macadamia nuts roasted with honey

Mix cream and milk, lime juice, sugar, liqueur and salt.

Mix well and chill. Make the ice cream according to the ice cream maker/s instructions.

When it is ready, stir in the macadamias and lime rind and put in a container to freeze.

Petite chocolate cakes

I made up a rich dense chocolate cake and chilled it. I cut mini rounds of the dense cake, spread whipped light cream on the first round, topped with another and then added a very large dollop of the cream on top and sprinkled it with organic ground chocolate.

The frosting on the grapes I'd made to top the lime, coconut and macadamia ice cream melted in the heat!

It was a hot day, but we had a good time!

Chere

Cheesemaking with the Foodies

2010-10-31T10:48:00.016+11:00

By Chere

The Shoalhaven Foodies recently had a cheese making day. All of us had expressed an interest in making our own cheese, so when Frances' sister Rachael offered to share her cheese-making knowledge, we were quick to accept.

Frances stirs the milk.

Kim following Rachael's instructions on cutting the curd

Rachael brought some samples of her own feta, mascarpone and quark cheeses – delicious!

Our efforts produced some excellent feta and quark, which we shared out and took home to savour and make into some dishes of our own.

The feta was truly delicious (both Rachael's feta and the batch we took home). Really creamy and smooth. Not too salty – just right.

What can I say about the mascarpone? Only that it was one of the best I've ever eaten. Also silky and smooth. We made short work of it with fresh strawberries, dates and tamarillos. (The Shoalhaven Foodies never go hungry at our get togethers!). pic

Colleen brought mouth-watering gluten-free rosemary shortbread which we polished off in a flash!

Chere's dishes from the cheese
A sad tale, when I went to make some dishes, I found my oven wasn't working - damn! Obviously that meant nothing oven baked.

I set myself another challenge and decided to only use what I had available at home. I'd brought home some lovely fresh oranges from our cheese-making day (picked from a large tree in the delightful garden). I also had an avocado from Christine's garden (now just ripe) and a large bowl of organic limes and lemons a friend had given me.

Oh yes, and someone had given me a bag of prunes. So, armed with the feta and the quark, I made:

Some delicious avocado mousse by mixing the flesh of the avocado, a dessertspoon of lime juice, a little fresh vegetable stock, a splash of Tabasco sauce, some finely chopped fresh herbs from my herb garden (chives, tarragon and a little basil), about 4 tablespoons of quark, black pepper and some made up agar agar to set it. Into the fridge and …. yum!

I cut the feta into cubes and marinated it overnight with pan roasted cumin seeds, lemon zest and olive oil. Yum too! They went on a platter and my daughter Kimella and I had a very nice little feast.

I made up a mix of red wine and sugar and brought it to the boil, added the juice and zest of an orange and marinated a big cup of prunes in it overnight. (You could add some liqueur to this, but I didn't have any!).
I made a caramel sauce of sugar and water and added some orange zest and finely chopped dates. I poured this over four oranges, (skin and pith removed and cut into slices) and left it overnight too.

The quark went on top of the oranges and dates. The mixture of the caramelised oranges with the quark and the marinated prunes was truly delicious!

Thank you Rachael and thank you Frances for organising the day.

Preserving the summer lusciousness

2010-05-02T14:04:00.021+11:00

by Colleen

Sometimes there are gluts of goodies from the vegie patch, and sometimes I just want to keep something to use later. Going way back to my early days of growing my own food, orchards etc. I've made marmalades and other jams. When I was younger I'd simply preserve using the deep freeze but in my single, more simplified lifestyle now, I don't have a deep freeze other than the top of the frig.

Over the past year I've made lots of different preserves, including the yummy zucchini chutney, beetroot relish, lime marmalade, cape gooseberry syrup, green tomato relish, ripe tomato relish. I've done so many preserves I can't remember them all!

Check out the jars above, from left: picked cumquats, mulberry preserve, lime and ginger marmalade and cape gooseberry sauce.

Last week I harvested the rosellas that grew over summer. Rosellas are a variety of hibiscus, best grown in warmer climates, but reasonably successful in my temperate zone garden. They produce large flowers with a crimson enlarged calyx. I used the fleshy red calyx, without the green seed pod to make my jammy syrup. After stripping the calyxes from the seed pods there wasn't a huge quantity of fruit to work with and I've finished up with about 750mls of the syrup. The colour is fantastic, bright red and the taste is a bit cranberry-ish. This is a keeper and I'll make sure I plant out more seeds next year for more fruit. I'm keeping the syrup to use for sauces with meat etc. And there's also the possibility of a rosella cosmopolitan cocktail for a special occasion.The recipe below is an experiment. If you were to use rosellas for jam, it's best to tie the seed pods into a muslin bag and cook along with the fruit to extract the pectin.

Rosella syrup:

200g rosella calyxes

200g white sugar

a little water

Poach the rosellas until tender, which surprisingly, doesn't take long, then gradually add the sugar, stirring until dissolved and cook gently until thickened. Bottle in sterilised jars while still hot.

Another garden experiment this year were the purple heirloom tomatillos. I'm guilty, I'm afraid, of not looking after these bushes as well as I could have and as a result lost a lot of the fruit. I'm sorry now I didn't pay more attention and harvested the fruit to be used ongoing, for instance like tomatoes.

What attracts me to these little darlings are the papery husks they grow in, similar to but larger than the beautiful husks of the cape gooseberry.

Roasted tomatillo and capsicum salsa

A few tomatillos roasted under the griller until brown

Two large capsicums (peppers) - one red and one green, charred under the griller. Place in plastic bag and when cooler, rub off the skins.

Zest of one lime

Finely chopped red onion

About a cup of chopped coriander

Salt and pepper

Blitz the tomatillos, capsicums, lime zest and coriander in a kitchen whiz, then add to a bowl with the chopped onion, salt and pepper to taste.

This salsa is delicious with steak or other grilled meats, and I also used it as a pasta sauce one night.

That's about the end of the summer crops, with autumn really kicking in now with its chilly mornings, crisp sunny days (sadly no rain) and cool evenings. I sowed garlic and shallots yesterday, along with some onion seedlings. Later today I'll plant out some broccoli and spinach seedings and sow broad bean, sugar snap pea and japanese turnip seeds.

Frances' Croquet Fun Day

2010-05-02T12:21:00.014+11:00

Frances hosted a great croquet and games party in her country garden. The Foodies all turned up to enjoy the great food and company, and contributed some locally sourced goodies ourselves.

Chere's contribution was a delicious and beautiful savoury platter featuring local produce with local watermelon marinated in a little balsamic with black pepper and basin chiffonade. It seemed a shame to spoil the artwork of the food by eating it, but eat it we did!

Kim's platter looked too good to eat as well:

Figs stuffed with Blue cheese, wrapped in prosciutto with Rocket and Walnuts.

Cut figs almost open, then stuff with blue cheese, wrap in prosciutto and secure with a rosemary stalk. Bake for approx. 10 minutes or until prosciutto is crispy and cheese is oozy. Roast walnuts for 1-2 mins. Arrange rocket, top with figs and drizzle Balsamic vinegar and olive oil mixture, sprinkle walnuts and cracked pepper.

Christine's Depot Farm lunch

2010-05-02T10:56:00.016+11:00

by Christine
I’m late, late, late! My lunch was in January and I’ve been procrastinating about writing it up ever since. I’d rather eat than write any day. So here goes….
I was a bit apprehensive about my turn, mainly because of the heat of summer and not used to cooking for more than one or two, not to mention the marvellous food prepared by the others. But I pushed on, wanting to entertain my delightful companions in the beautiful surroundings of Depot Farm Cottage by the Shoalhaven River.

My menu for the day was:

Champagne cocktail and spiced macadamia nuts

Tomato Jelly with crab and chives

Whiting fillets poached in Riesling with grapes and tarragon

Individual pavlovas with rhubarb and mascarpone

Choosing a menu was a challenge due to the limitations of only using local produce. After a lot of running around I opted for whiting from CBD Fish Shop in Nowra. They also provided the crab I needed for my entrée. I neglected to ask the cost and was somewhat horrified when I picked up my order. Good lesson learnt! Other ingredients for the lunch came from Greengold Farm - eggs and rhubarb for dessert, the Terara Veggie Market - dutch cream potatoes (grown on their farm in Kangaroo Valley) and tomatoes from Colleen’s abundant veggie patch. Coolangatta Mountain Ridge Wines provided the poaching wine, the sparkling white and the macadamias.

It was fun testing the dishes beforehand so I ate very well for a few days instead of the usual single person’s fare. However, it was a bit much eating pavlova every night for six nights!

When my lovely guests arrived I treated them to some sparkling white from Mountain Ridge Wines infused with a hibiscus flower and spiced macadamias to nibble on.

The first course was then served.

My main course was on track until I starting making the grape and tarragon sauce. It just would not thicken. So the fish, which was very small to start with, overcooked while keeping warm in the oven. Oh well, these things happen to the best of us.

I think I redeemed myself with dessert as there were loud exclamations of delight when I served the individual pavlovas. The oohs and aahs after the first mouthfuls just made my day! Bliss!

I wondered whether I should have had seconds of dessert available after the plates were nearly licked clean!

To settle our tummies we moved to my little terrace for coffee and to enjoyed the view and cool breeze.

THE RECIPES

Tomato Jelly with Crab and Chives
1 tsp gelatine
250ml tomato juice
300g fresh tomatoes
1 shallot, peeled and sliced
1 tbspn white wine vinegar
1 tblspn extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp caster sugar
Good dash of Tabasco
Sea salt and pepper
50g cucumber finely diced
150g picked crab meat
1 tbspn lemon juice
1 tbspn chives finely snipped

Soak the gelatine in cold water for five minutes. Heat the tomato juice. Add the gelatine to the juice, whisking until the gelatine is dissolved. Cool for 15 minutes.

Cut the tomatoes into half, discard the seeds and juice and chop roughly.
Whiz the tomatoes, shallot, vinegar, oil, sugar, Tabasco, salt and pepper until smooth. Stir the tomato juice, add to blender and mix. Taste for seasoning, pour into individual serving dishes, and refrigerate overnight until set.

Toss the cucumber with the crab, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add a spoonful to each jelly. Decorate with the chives and serve.

Serves 4

Whiting fillets poached in Riesling with Grapes and Tarragon
750g whiting fillets
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
35 ml Riesling or other medium white wine
100g cold butter, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh tarragon leaves
100ml pouring cream
400g sultana grapes

Lemon wedges, Dutch cream potatoes and sautéed zucchini, to serve

Place fish in a lightly greased heavy based frypan or casserole, scatter with onion and garlic, add bay leaves and wine and season to taste. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and poach over medium heat for 10-15 minutes (depending on thickness of fillets), or until the fish is just cooked. Remove pan from heat, carefully lift the fish from the cooking liquid and keep warm.

Return pan to heat and boil until cooking juices are reduced to about _ cup. Strain into a small saucepan and place over low heat, then add butter, a little at a time, whisking after each addition, until incorporated and sauce is smooth. Add tarragon and cream, season to taste and mix well. Add grapes and stir until heated through (do not boil).

Serve fish with sauce spooned over and accompanied by lemon wedges, steamed dutch cream potatoes and sautéed zucchini.

Serves 4

Individual Pavlova with Rhubarb and Mascapone
Pavlova
4 large egg whites
pinch of salt
1 cup of caster sugar
1 dessertspoon cornflour
1 teaspoon verjuice (or white vinegar)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Prepare an oven tray with six circles of baking paper, approximately 10cm in diameter. Dust these with cornflour. Preheat the oven to moderate oven (approximately 140deg C).

Beat egg whites with the salt until stiff and glossy. Slowly add the caster sugar, about a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition, ensuring sugar is dissolved. To test take a little of the egg white and rub between two fingers. If you can feel the sugar, keep beating.

When all the sugar has been absorbed, gently fold in the sifted cornflour, verjuice and vanilla essence. Do not over mix as you will take out the air from the mixture.

Carefully spoon mixture into mounds on the prepared baking paper, shaping and flattening slightly with a metal spatula.

Reduce oven temperature to 110deg C. Bake the pavlovas on the lowest shelf for approximately 1 to 1 and a half hours. Allow to cool in the oven (do not open oven door to do this).

Carefully remove the baking paper from each pavlova and place onto serving plate.
Place a dollop of the mascapone cream on top, smoothing out gently with a knife.
Then add a spoonful or two of the rhubarb and ginger mixture on top.
You may wish to decorate the plate with a dusting of icing sugar and rhubarb glaze.

Rhubard and Mascapone
One large bunch rhubarb
Half cup caster sugar
70g Buderim Ginger Uncrystallised (sweet ginger), chopped finely

400g Mascapone cheese
Half tsp vanilla essence
Half tsp caster sugar

Wash and trim rhubarb and cut into 3cm pieces. Place in pan with the sugar and ginger heat gently until the rhubarb is soft but not mushy. Allow to cool. Drain. The juice can be used to make a rhubarb glaze - optional.

Beat the mascarpone cheese with the vanilla essence and caster sugar until just combined.

A Tale of Six Quinces

2010-03-05T09:07:00.006+11:00

Years ago when I was young and lived in western NSW, I had a wonderful orchard – no fruit fly and a great variety of old fashioned fruit trees. One of my favourites was the fabulous quince tree that offered up a huge crop of yellow fruit each year. Having grown up in the city, I'd never encountered quinces before.

It's taken me over 30 years to finally grow another quince tree in my suburban backyard and imagine my excitement when the first year's crop started to develop. Six beautiful little fruit, covered in the softest downy skin.

Over spring and summer I watched the six quinces grow from their small beginnings until I had large yellow fruit on my small tree. I hadn't lost one during the year, but when a couple of the quinces showed signs of bird attack, I decided they must be ripe. So I picked them, excited to have such a great first crop from the tree.

Okay - that's the good part. When I started to cut them up so I could poach a couple, to my horror, the insides were brown with the odd litle maggot wriggling around. Obviously fruit fly - despite all my efforts to lure and bait the pesky critters.

I did manage to save some fruit, a couple weren't very affected, so I poached a tiny quantity, determined to have at least a small bowl of quince, all pink and delicious. The trick is to poach them slowly, letting that wonderful colour develop. When I turned them off late at night, they weren't pink yet, so in the morning I popped them back on to the stove, I thought to poach for a bit longer while I started work.

An hour later, shut away in my office, my nose started to twitch - smoke.

Yes, the worst had happened, I'd forgotten about the quinces and they'd burned to a crisp. I remember saying to myself as I walked away from the kitchen after seeing the beautiful pink pieces nestled among the black, that there's always next year's crop. No point crying over burned quinces, but what a disappointment.

Frances' winter luncheon

2010-02-08T10:18:00.030+11:00

Left: The wonderful creme brulee with just a hint of lavender. Right: Frances is a cheeky pose.

(Frances was the first to host one of our Shoalhaven Foodie feasts, back in August 2009)

There's nothing quite as lovely as a dinner party amidst the cold of winter.

The Guests

The Shoalhaven Foodies

The Menu
Beetroot and orange soup,

Herb scallion drop biscuits

Rabbit Stiffido, mashed parsnip

Lavender creme brulee.

With hazelnut macroons

When sourcing my produce, I didn't need to go far , I had grown a bumper crop of lovely heirloom variety beetroot , the oranges were just ripening on the trees. My mother an inspired gardener, had some spectacular parsnips which she had grown. The rabbit supplier was a Berry local who breeds rabbits and chickens for the table – beautifully fresh.

Left: The intensely coloured beetroot and orange soup. Right: And here's the menu.

I have four lovely chickens who roam free-range in my garden and, if not detoured, my house! They supplied the eggs for the brulee, the milk came from South Coast dairy, across the field from my house.

So to the organising of the feast.

The day before I marinated the rabbit, which was gutted and still whole , with red wine vinegar and crushed bay leaves

Then I made the creme brulee where the milk is infused with lavender flowers giving the brulee just a hint of lavender flavour.

Handy Hint: if you don't have a torch for browning the toffee, make a toffee mix in a saucepan and pour a light layer over the individual brulees,it's not as fine but works quite well.

Left: Chere looking fabulous in her Chinese silk jacket. Right: Kim enjoying a drop.

Now for the recipes!

Beetroot and orange soup
2 tab olive oil
1 onion
1 celery stick
1 garlic clove
3 large beetroots
100ml orange juice
750ml chicken stock
salt, pepper, yoghurt

Saute onions, garlic, and celery in oil, add diced beetroots and cook 5 mins then add juice, stock and bring to the boil, lower heat and simmer 20mins. Puree the mix, add salt and lots of fresh black pepper, then a spoonful of yoghurt to serve.

Rabbit Stifado,
1 large rabbit ( cleaned)
2 tabs tomato puree
2 bay leaves
4 garlic cloves chopped
4 tab red wine vinegar (balsamic works well)
1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 small cinnamon stick
4 whole allspice
1 sprig rosemary
2/3 cup red wine
1 1/4 cups hot water
8 small while onions
salt
lots of fresh black peper,

Rinse rabbit and cut into sections, place into a bowl with bay leaves and vinegar, leave over night, then pat dry.

Heat half the oil in large ovenproof dish add rabbit and brown, add the tomato paste, red wine,sugar,garlic and spices, then the hot water, place into oven, cook at 170c for around an hour. Saute onions till coloured then add to rabbit, cook for further 15-20 mins, season and serve.

Lavender creme brulee
8 egg yolks
3/4 cup white sugar
4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tab dried lavender flowers

Butter individual bowls.

In a heavy-based saucepan place cream and lavender, bring to simmer, remove and let infuse for 5 mins. Whisk egg yolks, add sugar whisk until light and creamy, slowly add strained cream, blend well and pour into moulds put into a tray filled with water that at least comes half way up the moulds, bake for around 1 hour at 170c.

Make a toffee by dissolving sugar and water, then bring to the boil, remove from heat when it has started to colour, pour a small amount over cooled creme brulees, smooth out with heated spoon.

Chere's Mad Hatter's vegetarian lunch

2010-01-16T16:08:00.022+11:00

Well, my lunch has been and gone and it turned out to be a very pleasant experience. I eventually decided to make a vegetarian menu – not that I'm a vegetarian, but I truly enjoy that food. I'd come across some lovely fresh zucchini flowers at my local food market (Saturday mornings at Shoalhaven Heads Hotel) and decided that they would be a fabulous to include in the menu.

The Shoalhaven grows wonderful produce, but there are certain things that don't grow here, either because it's not hot enough, or because they aren't in season. So it's strange when you are cooking from all local ingredients. You think you've come up with an idea to include in the menu and then realise that this particular ingredient isn't available right now. For example, I was going to make iced pear and raspberry soup, but soon remembered that pears weren't growing in the Shoalhaven at this particular moment!

The menu I decided on was:

Fruit punch with frozen seedless green grapes and watermelon stars.
Chilled cucumber and yoghurt soup.
Exotic summer salad with zucchini flowers in tempura batter (with avocado sauce)
Home made raspberry and strawbery ice cream pudding, chocolate souffle and caramelised oranges.

Strangely, Christine and I had bought the same dessert wine, Sticky Fig, from Two Figs winery nearby (I kept one for her lunch) and Kim bought a light orange liquor from Mountain View Winery (also nearby!) It was all looking a bit sweet, but fortunately Colleen brought a lovely Verdelho from Cupitt's Winery in Milton, so it all worked out.

Recipe for
Exotic summer salad with zucchini flowers in tempura batter (served with an avocado sauce).

Salad: Fresh rocket and watercress, fresh nasturtium leaves and flowers, (rinsed gently) local creamy fetta, baby beetroot, Kiffler potatoes, pomegranate seeds, fresh herbs.

Steam kiffler potatoes and baby beetroot in their skin until they are just tender. Allow to cool and then peel carefully – you can just rub the beetroot skin off. Make up a vinaigrette of extra virgin olive oil, crushed garlic and your favourite vinegar. Add some finely chopped fresh herbs (such as Italian parsley, basil, very small amount of tarragon) salt and black pepper. Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces and toss them in half the vinaigrette. Marinate the beetroot in the other half and set aside ( I also added a little freshly squeezed orange juice to the beetroot. Don't refrigerate the potatoes or the beetroot - they should be at room temperature.

Avocado Sauce: (to be honest, I'm not sure if the avocados were local, but I decided to use them anyway!).
2 small, ripe avocados, seeds removed, peeled and chopped, a cup of crème fraiche (I made overnight with a cup of light South Coast milk and a tablespoon of buttermilk, fresh lime juice, cayenne pepper, ½ teaspoon salt.
Puree the ingredients in a blender until velvety smooth. Adjust seasoning to your taste and cover well (keep in the refrigerator until you almost ready to use it).

Tempura battered zucchini flowers.
I served two flowers for each person. To make the batter, mix 50 gm of corn flour, 150 gm plain flour,
2 free range eggs, a little salt and approx. 400 ml. iced water. Sift the corn flour and plain flour together. Beat the eggs with the salt and iced water, add the flour and stir quickly – don't overmix. Heat olive oil in a large pan. Roll the flowers lightly in cornflour, then into the mix. Shake off excess batter and put into the pan. Cook for about 4 minutes, spooning the oil over the flowers to make sure they are evenly browned.

To assemble:
Mix rocket, watercress (you could use mixed salad leaves) and nasturtium leaves together and place around the edges of large plates. Add potato, beetroot and pieces of fetta around the plate on top of the salad leaves. Drizzle with a little vinaigrette and sprinkle with some pomegranate seeds. Garnish with a few nasturtium flowers decoratively around the plate.

Spoon some of the avocado sauce in the centre of the plate and place the two cooked zucchini flowers on top.

I love hats, so when the girls came for lunch, I opened up the hatbox and we had some fun.

Me wearing my favourite twenties hat - better than a chef's hat, I say! And (right) my daughter, Kimella who was my guest at the lunch, chose this little red number.

Colleen with a bit of attitude and Frances the coquette.

Christine (left) can really wear a hat and Kim (right) went for the wig in the hat box - a totally different look.

Recipe for Rose Ice Granita from Kim Dove's Dinner

2009-12-10T10:23:00.006+11:00

Rose Ice Granita

Ingredients

400ml/14fl oz water
2 Tbsp coconut cream
4 Tbsp sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp rosewater
a few drops pink food colouring (optional)
organic pink rose petals to decorate

1. Place the water in a small pan and add the cocount cream. Heat the mixture gently stirring without boiling.

2. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk, rosewater and food colouring.

3. Pour into freezerproof container and freeze for 1-1 1/2 hours until slushy.

4. Remove from the freezer, and break up the ice crystals with a fork. Return to the freezer and freeze until firm.

5. Spoon the ice roughly into a pile on a serving dish and scatter with rose petals to serve.

Kim's Asian Seafood Lunch

2009-11-02T13:23:00.005+11:00

This is a photo of the fab five Shoalhaven Foodies. Colleen Duncan, Chere Le Page, Christine Radywyl, Kim Dove and Frances Forgan.

Yesterday was my turn to host a dinner party.... it all began when I started thinking locally....wow that is so hard. I didn't realise just how hard it was to have a dinner party with all locally produced food...and to make it different from everyone elses. I started with the idea of seafood, because we had rabbit for our first dinner party then lamb for the second... When I think of seafood, I think Asian...and so the scene was set. Seafood....Asian.....Red....umbrellas....etc...etc..
A trip to the local produce market to buy fresh vegetables, and fruit and some green prawns and blue eyed cod....then to the local organic rose farm for some lovely fresh roses to use in my dessert.

The scene started at 2pm yesterday...the girls arrived, I invited an extra...Emily, a friend who lives part time down here and in the inner city of Sydney. We started with...some lemongrass tea...then Garlic prawns on a bed of fresh lettuce from my garden..then baked blue eyed cod with ginger, chillies, garlic and spring onions, accompanied by stir fried asian vegetables with fried noodles and slivered almonds, and then rose ice ganita and lemon/lime sorbet.

It all tasted great, I was surprised at just how much work was involved. I started at 8am, and had just a very short break, until 2pm came around very quickly. During the dinner party I was in the kitchen, cooking a lot of the time. What a great experience. Good Food Good Friends Good Wine (I think I drank most of it)

Colleen's Moroccan Lunch

2009-11-01T13:41:00.018+11:00

Mezze tastings: Broad Bean Dip - Spiced Pumpkin Dip -Labna Cheese - Dukkah - Persian Figs - Turkish Bread

Main Course: Tagine of Lamb with Prunes and Preserved Lemon - Spiced Cous Cous - Orange,
Beetroot and Cinnamon Salad - Fatoush Salad
Dessert: Mandarin Almond Cake - Saffron Raisin Cardamom Ice Cream - Cape Gooseberry Syrup

Moroccan Mint Tea - Turkish Delight

When it was my turn to host the Foodies lunch, to be honest I was nervous because Frances had set such a high standard as the first hostess. Because some of my favourite flavours are Middle-Eastern, I decided to do a Moroccan inspired shared table.

With our policy of sourcing our ingredients from local produce as much as possible, I was at a loss to find lamb for the tagine. I spent what seemed like hours on the phone, calling Sydney providores until one told me that the Milton meatworks (in the southern Shoalhaven) often produced lamb from Goulburn (inland from here). Then coincidentally, the meatworks told me a butcher at East Nowra (10 minutes drive) had just bought in some of the Goulburn lamb. I felt quite triumphant that I had been able to source the lamb after being told by another butcher that 'everything comes from Cowra'.

For my mezze tastings I was able to use produce from my own garden - seasonal broad beans and the last of my butternut pumpkins from last season.I made the labna from home-made yoghurt using South Coast milk and the dukkah and persian figs, although not being grown in the area, are produced by a local business.

Luckily I had made preseved lemon from my garden just a few months ago and the orange and beetroot for the salad also came from my own backyard.

Other ingredients were sourced from a greengrocer in Nowra who is really making a great effort to supply locally grown fresh produce. The mandarins for the cake and the eggs for the ice-cream came from this supplier. South Coast milk also went into the icecream and the cape gooseberry syrup was made from berries from my garden. This ice-cream is seriously decadent and delicious. Cardamom has to be one of my favourite spices.

I sent my dog Boomer to a kennel for an overnight stay because I just knew he would pester the Foodies with his constant need for love and attention. The cats all hung around and Angie joined us for the experience. The food looked great on the colourful table, covered with a Rajasthan sari I bought on an Indian trip. We accompanied the food with Petit Rouge - a wine from Cambewarra Winery.

Thanks to Kim and Christine for taking photos - I was so busy with the food, I forgot to photograph it.

About Shoalhaven Foodies

2009-10-17T17:50:00.009+11:00

We're a group with a lot in common. There's our love of food of course. Sourcing, cooking, serving, eating and discussing it. Cooking is such a fun and creative thing to do and we all share the passion.

Each of us has chosen to walk an artistic path. Between us, we draw, paint, sculpt, work with clay, paper, create artists' and lifestyle books, write novels, short stories and poetry, take photographs and cook.

We also share a love of caring for the environment and sustainable living. Some of us grow our own vegetables, all grow our own herbs and use locally grown ingredients wherever possible.

This is our doctrine. Source food locally as far as possible and be as creative as we want.

One of the most important aspects of the group is the enthusiasm, friendship and support we share. We hope you enjoy visiting us.

"Frances' lunch was akin to being in a surreal artistic setting, with light streaming into her unique farmhouse filled with her inspiring artworks. With such a wonderful setting, it was a delight to have beautiful food too, with many of the herbs and vegetables picked from her garden. My favourite dish was the lavender crème brulee – so creamy and delicious!

"Next it was Colleen's turn, and this was another artistic experience. Colleen's walls were filled with the art she collects and one of her beautiful cats sat sedately in the background. Colleen also sourced a lot of her food from her garden and I was truly inspired by her loving care and the amazing amount of work she put into all her dishes The tastes of Morocco were truly gorgeous.

"Recently we dined at Kim's house, which is also filled with artworks she has created. Kim set up an Asian experience, with red as the overriding colour. Putting her creativity to work, Kim delighted us with fascinating and beautiful touches at the table and on the food. The food was delicious and, although it was hard (and even silly) to choose, the Rose Ice Granita was my favourite." - Chere

About Kim Dove

2009-10-07T16:33:00.001+11:00

I am interested in many things, my passions are yoga, the environment, the arts, cooking. I have been teaching yoga and meditation for over twenty years, I am an artist and I am involved in local bushcare and sustainable energy forums in my town.
I live with my husband Colin, my children and grandchildren live on the same property, and nearby. I grew up in the inner city, a place called Glebe,where many generations of my family lived. So now I am in a beautiful rural town, and wouldn't live anywhere else. I have met so many wonderful people and made so many friends.

Frances

2009-10-02T13:22:00.001+11:00

About Colleen

2009-10-02T13:13:00.006+11:00

I just love cooking - over the years I've gone from cooking simple fare in a share house, to experimenting and exploring how to serve really healthy, fresh food from scratch to my family. Now I love nothing better than a noisy group of food lovers around my table enjoying a meal that's been cooked with love in my kitchen.

As well as cooking great food I have always had a vegie garden, sometimes with varied results. To me, that's what it's all about - produce harvested from my back yard and cooked at its freshest – the flavours and colours are just fantastic. For me, cooking complements my other creative loves – writing poetry, photography, making hand-made paper and creating beautiful books.

Chere

2009-10-02T12:55:00.008+11:00

No doubt about it, one of my favourite things is cooking and eating great food. I love the smell of food cooking, the challenge to present it artistically - and the tastes - extraordinary! Not ordinary, boring food mind you, but food with flair and imagination, preferably eaten in a gorgeous setting.

Cooking is way up on my creativity list. I rate it along with all the other things I do...writing stories and poetry, painting, drawing, sculpting, producing little books (a recent addiction) photographing everything, travelling to great places – they all fit together perfectly. No wonder I can't decide which one I love best!

I can't tell you how much fun it is to be part of the Shoalhaven Foodies. We've had three get-togethers so far and each has been outstanding. We're so lucky to have such wonderful produce to use and such great cooks to produce the culinary delights they've dished up.

Christine

2009-05-12T10:38:00.002+11:00

I arrived in the Shoalhaven from Melbourne four years ago and having been spoilt for a vast choice of amazing restaurants and produce markets, I was delighted to find an abundance of wonderful locally grown food here.

My background is East European and I had a mother who excelled in the kitchen - so no doubt some influences there! I developed a love of good food in my twenties through some gourmet friends who led me astray every Friday night, after late night shopping. We tried out a different restaurant each week and I was thus exposed to a wondrous variety of cuisines and wine. I don’t know how I managed to stay thin (then) !

Over the years, my own inclinations in the kitchen tended towards baking and hors’d’oeuvres as I just love doing all the fiddly decorative bits. I’m hoping when it’s my turn to prepare ‘The Lunch”, my main course will be up to scratch