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NEW AUSTRALIAN GLUTEN-FREE DIRECTORY WEBSITE:
To all of our Australian readers who are gluten-intolerant, we'd like to direct you to the new web-site that's been specifically designed for you. The GLUTEN FREE EATING DIRECTORY was born from a need for a resource that provides detailed information about restaurants, cafes, takeaways, shopping outlets, products, manufacturers, services, publications and ‘eat’n’stay’ options that cater for gluten free diets. So if you have coeliac disease, gluten intolerance, dermatitis herpetiformis, or just prefer not to eat gluten, this site is for you.
As all BLUE KITCHEN products are gluten-free (and suitable for the strictest of vegetarian diets), they are also listed on the GLUTEN FREE EATING DIRECTORY website. Check it out.
FORTHCOMING FOOD EVENTS FOR YOUR DIARY:
• The 3rd Annual Sydney Gluten Free Food and Allergy Show: 15-16 November, 2008 - Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre. Australaisa’s largest and most comprehensive event focussing on allergies, gluten-free diets and general health & well being.
• Good Food Affare: 21-23 November, 2008 - Castle Hill Showground, Sydney. An opportunity for food lovers to taste, buy and experience some of the best organic and regional produce and wine available. Not just a produce market, the Good Food Affare will also showcase the talents of some of Australia’s best-known foodies who will cook seasonal favourites. Free admission.
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A LITTLE MORE HISTORY OF THE CHILLI:
Chillies were first cultivated, and used in cooking, in Mexico and Central America, about 9,000 years ago. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus first went to America, he came across a whole bunch of unfamiliar foods. They included pineapples, maize, sweet potato, and the chilli. He brought them back to Spain in 1493, mistakingly thinking they were part of the pepper family, hence the name sometimes used - "peppers". They spread rapidly across Europe, and in 1525, the Portuguese took chillies to India, where they have now become a staple part of the Sub-Continental diet. The cartoon character Homer Simpson had some industrial-grade hallucinations after eating a very hot chilli mix. So remember - no matter how tough (or stupid) you are, one day you will have your 'Date with Destiny', when you meet the chilli that you cannot eat. (Dr Karl S. Kruszelnicki)
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- SPRING RECIPE -
SLOW COOKED MOROCCAN LAMB |
BLUE KITCHEN Harissa is made from an authentic Moroccan recipe, traditionally used as a condiment, in cous-cous dishes, and to enhance fish and meat meals. The following recipe originally featured lean cuts of goat, cubed and slow-cooked in a tagine at low temperature over coals, but it is equally tasty using spring lamb, cooked in a suitable lidded pot in the oven for 3 - 6 hours at about 150ºC. For the dish we made for the Lismore Wine & Food Fair, we used a large commercial slow-cooker, which braised the meat & vegetables overnight, & we served it on a bed of preserved lemon infused cous-cous. Needless to say, it sold out very quickly!
Ingredients (serves 4 - 6): -
400g lean lamb, diced in 1-2cm cubes
200g diced sweet potato
2 med. carrots - diced
2 sticks chopped celery
2 small onions, finely chopped
100g finely sliced small mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped dried prunes & apricots (mixed)
3 tabs. plain flour; 3 tabs. olive oil
1 tab. BLUE KITCHEN Harissa
2 tsp. finely chopped preserved lemon rind
400g diced tomatoes
2 tabs. red wine or balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup red wine
400ml vegetable stock
pepper, salt, bay leaf, basil
Method:
Place the flour, pepper, & salt in a plastic bag & add the diced lamb. Shake until meat thoroughly dusted. Heat oil in heavy based frypan, & brown lamb to seal the juices. Remove & place aside. In the same pan, lightly fry the onion, adding the sweet potato, carrots & celery after a minute or two. When onion is softened & almost cooked, remove & place a layer of these veges into your oven pot (or tagine). Layer the lamb & veges so - you may have to lightly mix to an even distribution. In the frypan, add tomatoes & wine - bring to simmer, add stock, HARISSA, vinegar, lemon rind, herbs & dried fruit. Stir, bring to simmer again & finally add the mushrooms. Simmer a further 5 mins. Pour over meat & vegetables so the liquid just about covers them - add more warmed stock if necessary. Cover & place in 150º oven & slow cook 3 - 6 hours (overnight is best), stirring occasionally & adding more stock if it's drying out. Serve over cous-cous or with dry-baked potatoes.
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THE NEXT RANDOM BIT
Another BLUE KITCHEN inspired painting (emailed to us - artist unknown)
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BLUE KITCHEN is proud to support 'Our Kids' - the charity that raises funds for the Children's Ward and Special Care Nursery
at Lismore Base Hospital |
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