Kim's Asian Seafood Lunch

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

MENU

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.