Cooking on The Morning Show on 7 on 22 December – Air-fryer Pork with Apple & Cranberry Relish.
Welcome to an almost New Year,
I hope you have all had a lovely break and are getting into gear for the year ahead? I had the best Christmas gift – my daughter and family arriving on Christmas morning. It was tiring for them to fly overnight from Singapore but exciting all the same. It was my granddaughter Isabel’s 6th birthday and, as requested, I had made (Uncle) Blair’s Banana Cakefor her. I made two 22cm rounds and then my amazing fabulous niece in Year 12, decorated it as the requested Unicorn cake. Isabel was thrilled and we all devoured it, along with a game of Pass the Parcel. Then we moved into Christmas mode with 23 family members and a lovely couple who recently migrated to Australia from India for a festive dinner.
Do you, like me, still have the last of a leg of ham lurking in your fridge? Soon after Christmas, I published a new Left-Overs Magic blog and although nearly everything you had leftover will be gone, if you still have ham, there are lots of ideas here.
I cooked Crisp Pork Belly with Spiced Cranberry and Apple Relish on the Morning Show on Channel 7 on 22 December. The recipes and techniques are still relevant now, so if you missed the segment you can watch it here. The recipe is here.
May you and yours have a happy, relaxing and delicious time well into the New Year
– Lyndey x
My granddaughter Isabel, beside her Mum Lucy, blowing out the candles on her Unicorn cake.
Recipes of the week
KHMER CHICKEN CURRY WITH PUMPKIN & BEANS A yummy traditional Cambodian curry. GET MY RECIPE HERE
SPICED CHERRIES The Cherry season was late this year, so preserve some now for cooler months. GET MY RECIPE HERE
Lyndey’s Fun with Wine
Introducing ‘Fun with Wine’
This is the first ‘Fun with Wine’ video in a series I created for Instagram. I am progressively adding them to my YouTube channel. If you would like to see more of my videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel HERE.
Looking Ahead
Regular readers will recall that I completed a thesis in 2021 entitled PAIRED AND COMPARED: Teas and Wines Explored as a Match for Chinese Cuisine, for which I received a distinction. As part of this original work, I undertook some blind tastings at the University of Adelaide Sensory Lab with Associate Professor Sue Bastian. As no work has been done like this anywhere else in the world (that we can find), we are presenting a Tea and Tannin masterclass on Saturday, 29 April at 1 pm as part of the fabulous Tasting Australia event which is open to the public.
Together, we will explore the diversity of Chinese teas and their distinct variations, alongside some uniquely Australian wine styles which suit Australia’s multicultural cuisine, climate, lifestyles and dining culture. And, there will be some Chinese snacks to enjoy with this.
The professional tea taster’s notes are similar to those of the wine show judge – they weigh the merits of aroma, fruit, tannin, balance, intensity, complexity and length of finish. In any dining experience, excitement on the palate and refreshment of the taste buds is paramount. This masterclass will explore the richness and diversity of tea through a wine lens – can wine be a guide to successfully marrying diverse food styles with tea and do the principles remain the same?
Tea and Tannin
Saturday 29 May 2023
University of Adelaide Masterclass Pavilion,
Town Square, Victoria Square North/Tarntanyangga, Adelaide
$30 Details and bookings here
A Taste of Streaky Bay I’m getting back into the kitchen to feed 100 people for this annual event. Heldat the town’s beautiful foreshore, overlooking its historic jetty, I will be presenting a four-course meal assisted by local chefs using Streaky Bay’s finest seafood, beef, pork, lamb, grain and delicious honey. Premium wines will be paired with each course. Details and bookings here
A previous example: A Taste of Streaky Bay
Food Diversity Day
The UK is leading the way with the first Food Diversity Day on Friday 3 January. It’s all about creating awareness of food diversity and how important it is to our health and that of our planet. Hopefully Australia will follow but it is something many have been aware of – from seed savers to the Slow Food movement and their Ark of Taste preserving unique foods and traditions and others working to prevent extinction of flora and fauna. Certainly we are seeing global homogenisation of food which is shame for local cultures but also for our palates. Monocultures are limiting and potentially dangerous.
We need variety in our foods for interest, flavour, health and biodiversity. I remember many years ago Professor Mike Archer presented to the Food Media Club Australia on the topic “to save Skippy we need to eat Skippy”. We need to value our food.
On Friday January 13th, from 9am to 7.30pm GMT (remember an 11 hour time difference from the Eastern Seaboard of Australia), some of the UK’s leading scientists, writers, chefs, farmers, campaigners and entrepreneurs will be taking part in a continuous feed of discussions, storytelling and information sharing – all about the wonders and importance of food diversity. These discussions will be made available for free via Eventbrite, live-streamed on YouTube and available to view after the event. Explore the resources for each of the sessionshere. These will also be available after the event.
Food Diversity Day is spearheaded by award-winning BBC Food Programme presenter/producer Dan Saladino, author of the book, Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them. He is inviting us to participate in saving our food diversity by celebrating and learning about neglected (and even endangered) foods, as well as discovering and enjoying foods with a deep connection to the places where we live.
So as my contribution here is a recipe using something we don’t see much lately: Rabbit with Rosemary & Garlic in White Wine. It is such a healthy and delicious protein. Whatever you eat today, think about how diverse your diet is, or isn’t?
Rabbit with Rosemary & Garlic in White Wine
Things to Share
Some of Australia’s best seafood shines at Queen Chow, Narooma. Photo: Nikki To, Sydney Morning Herald
My kids when they were growing up were incensed at kids menus which only offered chicken nuggets, pizza, chips and spaghetti bolognaise. They wanted real food just smaller portions so I often ordered them entrees from the main menu. Here’s a piece on Six of the best new child-friendly dining spots in Sydney.
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