Finding Feasts | Cooking Eating Storytelling

Polish cucumber salad – Mizeria

Polish cucumber salad – mizeria is a simple dish but crunchy cucumbers make it a perfect side dish for any hot meal.

End of last year I decided that I wanted to study nutrition and hence I enrolled in a course called Food as Medicine at Nature Care College. The first vegetable under the microscope was the humble cucumber.

Whilst learning about the nutritional benefits of this simple vegetable, childhood memories came flooding back of long Sunday lunches where mums crunchy mizeria was served as an accompaniment to the many dishes that filled our families lunch table. Did you know that a freshly sliced cucumber will lose up to 49% of its vitamin C content within the first three hours if it is left out in the fresh air! Luckily for the cucumber this dish almost disappears instantly as soon as it hits the table.

Mizeria translates to misery, however there is nothing ugly or miserable about this humble dish which traditionally consists of cucumbers, sour cream, dill and salt and pepper. Other versions call for chives as opposed to dill, sugar and vinegar or lemon. The skin is normally peeled for this salad however given that cucumber skins are high in important vitamins and minerals I keep their skins on. Cucumber skin contains silica which is said to add to the strength of our connective tissue. I think the skin also add to the colour and presentation of the dish.

On this occasion I steered away from the traditional sour cream and made mine with home made plain yogurt. Equally nice and indulgent if you ask me.

Nutritional value aside I’d be happy for a bowl of this salad with some new steamed potatoes. It’s the simple pleasures.

Smacznego! Bella

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Spinach Saag with Handmade Paneer

Spinach Saag with Handmade Paneer, Who doesn’t love Indian, especially when it’s so easy to make a feast of food to satisfy anyone.

As my family chooses to have at least one meat free day a week (part time flexitarians if I choose to hop onto a bandwagon) coming up with tasty, satisfying meals is always fun and inspiring.

What I find though, when doing a cuisine like Indian or asian food, I need to have several dishes – at least two curries with samosas or dumplings and condiments. When I cook with meat I seem to be happy to plate up just one bowl. I don’t know why that is but no one’s complaining 🙂

This spinach saag is creamy, spinachy and full of delicious spices, including my absolute favourite herb, fenugreek aka methi. The aroma is just insane… it gets added to most of my Indian meals. Add the golden panfried, handmade paneer and you have meal that will sit pride of place at the dinner table.

Enjoy with family and friends… Blondie

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Brine For Christmas Turkey Cooked on the BBQ

It’s that time of year again, the feast of food that can either make you giddy with cooking excitement with planning, prepping and designing or leave you completely dreading all the planning, prepping and designing.

How to brine, air dry & BBQ a 4kg Christmas turkey is a fail safe way to have a beautifully tender, succulent turkey with crispy, browned skin at your Christmas table. As an added bonus, the oven is freed up to cook the veggies and ham, casseroles and whatever else is a family classic.

This is a two day process, which involves brining the turkey in a slightly sweetened and spice salt bath for 24 hours then air drying it in the fridge. The brine bath tenderises the meat and the air drying dries out the skin that then enables it to develop a rich brown and crispy skin when cooked.

Merry Christmas and happy BBQing… Blondie 🙂

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Scrumptious Prawn and Chicken Laksa

Scrumptious Prawn & Chicken Laksa, this dish is more than scrumptious, it’s actually mood altering.

Amazing flavours perfectly balanced in a soothing, creamy broth makes this soup a must for when you feel like something uplifting or comforting.

One tip I’m always banging on about is that if you are making a paste from scratch, double or triple the recipe and freeze it in portions. This basically means you have a meal from scratch ready to go when you want it next time. There is barely any extra time involved in making one or three portions but saves you a good amount of time when you have a craving but are completely unmotivated to do the prep work.

Another tip is to never leave your rice noodles to cook in boiling water. I have never been able to get a good result from this method. I prefer to place them in a bowl and pour the hot water over them to soak. They are less likely to go soggy and when they are at your preferred texture, drain them and rinse under cold water. They can sit like this for ages so do it early and they are ready to go when you are.

Slurping permitted! Blondie

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2 Cheese & Spinach Rolls

2 Cheese & Spinach Rolls, I love these sooo much that I make a big batch of them and freeze them for lunches. They work really well as a dinner also! Just leave them the full size rather than cutting them in half or thirds and serve with a crisp garden salad and a Balsamic Mustard Dressing.

Good eating… Blondie

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How to make home made crackers from Flax seed

These home made crackers made from whole flax seeds are super easy to make and best of all healthy.

I love to snack at work, particularly on crackers. I normally take a handful each day to munch on either as a morning snack or afternoon ‘take me through to dinner, little pick me up’. As I get older I have been trying to monitor my salt in take to keep the blood pressure level low as opposed to eventually having take blood pressure medication. My family has a history of hypertension. Don’t get me wrong if the Doc says I need to have the medication then so be it. But in the mean time lets see what I can do naturally to maintain healthy blood pressure levels without having to take nasty medication.

The majority of store bought crackers have heaps of salt and other unhealthy additions. A few crackers daily and you are looking at several grams of salt weekly so this weekend I decided to make my own crackers and was surprised how super easy it was.

I borrowed this recipe from Chef, Pete Evans.

Flax seeds are high in dietary fibre, rich in antioxidants, vitamin B. It can lower cholesterol and blood pressure, prevent arthritis and some cancers. Flax seed has one of the most potent sources of omega 3 fatty acids. Research shows that omega 3 fatty acids can kill human cancel cells on the same culture. Flax seed is also good for the heart!

Health benefits aside, these flax seed crackers were super easy to make. I omitted the sprinkle of salt, added 1 tsp of smoked paprika and ta da, yummy crispy, crunchy crackers that last in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks although judging by how quickly they are disappearing I doubt they will last more then a few days. I have teamed up my flax seed crackers with home made garlic hummus.

Enjoy – Bella 🙂

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Wild mushroom foraging

Autumn means wild mushrooms however with more unseasonably warm temperatures, this years wild mushroom foraging season has been delayed…again!

We were however very fortunate to run a wild mushroom foraging workshop early April and are hoping for cooler temperatures and some much needed rain to get the mycelium going and the mushrooms growing.

Keen foragers learning about Slippery Jack mushrooms

If you are looking to join a workshop in May drop us a line or visit our Facebook page to keep up to date with upcoming dates.

Although we have done little foraging this season we have been fortunate to feature in April’s Jetstar Australia Infilght magazine for things to to in NSW.

We’d love to see you at one of our next wild mushroom foraging workshops.

Blondie and Bella

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