Seafood and Bubbles with Lyndey Milan

Tuesday 18 November 2008 — for Volunteer Life
Seafood and Bubbles with Lyndey Milan
6.30pm – 9.30pm, Class Code: LMS $110 — for full details
Lyndey, renowned for her expertise in food and wine matching, makes Christmas entertaining a breeze.
At this festive 3–hour hands-on class you’ll taste a range of sparkling wines each matched with simple–to–prepare, stylish seafood dishes.

Cooking around the countryside you get to meet a lot of great people and see a lot of interesting things.

This and next month October 31 and November 1 I will be at the new Chadstone Shopping precinct in Melbourne. Please come and introduce yourself and join our newsletter to stay in touch with future free events, special paid cooking classes and lots of fun events throughout Australia to do with food and wine.

Last month an enjoyable day at The Royal Adelaide Show where the traditions of preserving and cake baking remain hard fought over for the best of show. The interest in good food and cooking remains as strong as ever in South Australia.

Gluten Free Expo a huge success
The Gluten Free Expo closes its door on best–ever show
Cooking at the The Gluten Free Expo at Sydney Showground in August — WOW just astounding the interest in gluten free and the thirst for product knowledge. Attracting an outstanding 10,000 plus people the Gluten Free Expo showcased a huge range of gluten free goodies; 80% of which were new products including chocolate coated figs, fruit and honey bars, breads and crackers, guava paste, nougat, pizzas and pasta, Indian and Thai easy meals and Portuguese mousse. This is to name just a few and demonstrate the depth of products on offer. Coeliac and gluten intolerant sufferers attended en masse and bought up big and as a result most exhibitors sold out. I cooked several dishes including Healthy “chicken nuggets” which were simply chicken tenderloins tossed in polenta and grated Romano cheese and baked in the oven. Email me if you would like the recipes.

If you missed all the gluten free action this year, the good news is the Expo will be back in 2009. For more information please visit: www.glutenfreeexpo.com.au or the NSW Coeliac Society

Knowing where our food comes from, how it is grown is the way of the future and we now run Branded Beef and Lamb Competitions at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Shows
A brand that did not enter this year was Edeowie Farm MSA Lamb. Their lamb tastes fabulous and is also an excellent example of good farm management; it is everything a good brand should be. Grass–fed and raised on their own farm in Tamworth. It is guaranteed tender for a true ’paddock to plate’ claim. An MSA (Meat Standards of Australia) graded lamb product sold with the assurance of the MSA brand license agreement for true paddock–to–plate surety. The Edeowie promise is: a guarantee of tender Lamb that is lean, healthy, and naturally raised on local pastures, finished on quality–assured grains for 30 days, and treated humanely throughout its life. Edeowie Farm Lamb is trimmed to exacting specifications and delivers on eating quality with consistency of flavour, juiciness and tenderness. The Edeowie Farm brand is distributed by Top Cut Foods.

In Season
New garlic
I’m just loving the fresh young garlic now available. You may not recognise it because the divisions between the garlic cloves are often less obvious and it is also often sold in bunches with green tops attached.

Buddha’s Hand Citron
Called a Buddha’s Hand Citron, this odd looking fruit is actually one of the oldest members of the citrus family. Although it smells strongly of lemon, it has no juicy pulp hidden beneath its rind. Instead, the Buddha’s Hand is grown commercially for its powerful zest. The aromatic rind is used to flavour lemon liqueurs and specialty vodkas, and provides aroma to lemon–scented cosmetics. Chinese and Japanese households hang it in their homes as a natural air freshener, and it even has a place in some religious ceremonies.
Puzzled by how one might eat this fruit, I asked the vendors at the stall how they usually prepared it. They reported that Chris Cosentino, the chef of Incanto, divides the fruit in quarters and then uses a mandolin to thinly slice raw pieces of the fruit for an innovative (yet familiar lemon tasting) topping for fish. He uses the whole fruit, since Buddha’s Hand lacks the bitter pith of other citrus fruits.
The Frog Hollow Farm bakery, just a few steps away in the Ferry Building, candies the Buddha’s Hand tentacles with simple sugar syrup. Buddha’s Hand can also be used for marmalades, or as a replacement for lemon zest in salad dressings, rice pilaf, and other recipes.

right and bottom middle — new season garlic, left — Barossa Farmers’ Market, South Australia and other of Australia’s fabulous markets
middle top — Buddha’s Fingers Citron — images © copyright www.galaxyguides.com

Iconic markets
Sydney’s iconic Rocks Markets
Sydney’s iconic Rocks Markets has expanded to include an authentic Farmers Market on Fridays and Saturdays and an even bigger and better Weekend Market including a designers section on Saturdays and Sundays.
With a fresh new look, The Rocks Markets now has a truly authentic Farmers’ Market where you can buy fresh produce direct from the local farmers and growers. Fridays and Saturdays, The Rocks Farmers’ Market will be crammed with fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables, free range poultry and meats, cheeses, eggs, dairy, breads and condiments. A perfect place to pick up your weekend ingredients from exotic mushrooms and succulent apples, Jersey butter and wasabi cream to pasture–fed lamb and European style sausages smoked following an age old family recipe.
Come and meet the producers and farmers at this authentic Farmers’ Market and discover the taste of fresh food direct from its source. Saturdays and Sundays will also see the much loved Rocks Weekend Market expanded to include a new designers section with even more stalls offering artisan and designer creations. The designers’ section of the Weekend Market is where you can meet the artist and explore the inspiration behind their artwork. From home wares, hand painted ceramics and furniture to jewellery, designer clothing, handmade linen, original photography, beauty, wellbeing and aromatherapies, the Weekend Markets is the place where you can find that special gift. The Rocks is easy to get to by foot, train and ferry or catch the free shuttle bus from Martin Place to the Friday Farmers Market, which runs every fifteen minutes from 10am to 3.00pm with stops along George Street. The Rocks Farmers’ Market is a plastic bag free zone.

The Rocks Farmers’ Market
Jack Mundey Place (cnr Argyle and George Streets) , The Rocks NSW
Fridays from 10.00 am to 3.00 pm
Saturdays from 9.00 am to 3.00 pm
The Rocks expanded Weekend Market
Playfair and George Streets, The Rocks NSW
Saturdays and Sundays from 10.00 am to 5.00 pm