Finding Feasts | Cooking Eating Storytelling

Thai Pork Skewers

Here is another recipe from David Thompson’s, Thai Street Food – one of my all time top 5 favourite cook books.

I have made a couple of minor adjustments and alternative ingredient options if you have trouble sourcing the exact recipe, but it’s basically the same.

These Thai Pork Skewers are beautifully sweet and salty, and with the cooking processing requiring coconut cream and a pandanus leaf brush for basting you can really feel like you’re on the streets of Thailand. Ideally cook these over gentle coals but you can use a grill on the stovetop – I really need to get my self a hibachi for cooking such dishes as the smoke that rises with the dripping juices adds an authenticity that can’t be beaten. I think every house had one 20 years ago!

Enjoy… Blondie 🙂

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Pierogi with Smoked Slippery Jack Mushrooms

Finding Feasts - Pierogi — Click image for recipe

Pierogi, ahh just saying the word takes me back to my childhood.

Pierogi are synonymous with the Polish. My mother would make these every few weeks with different fillings. One of my favourite was a farm cheese filling with burnt butter and cinnamon sugar – a dessert style dish. My other favourite version was filled with Sauerkraut and Slippery Jack Mushrooms that we had picked in autumn during one of the many mushroom foraging tours I did with my parents and many other Polish families.

I loved biting into the fresh pasta to reveal the dark and rich mushroom filling. The Sauerkraut gives the pierogi a bit of zing as well.

Finding Feasts was recently very fortunate to be asked to take the gorgeous Lyndey Milan on a mushroom forage in Oberon for her upcoming Taste of Australia show which is due to air at the end of the year. Talking to her about all my past mushroom picking escapades with my family made me realise that I have been mushroom picking for a very long time! Since the early 1980′s! That is well over 30 years.

My dad recently came across this gorgeous picture of our family mushroom picking down the Southern Highlands, in 1983! I’m the one with the brown hair not looking at the camera and the gorgeous lady sitting in the picnic chair is my beautiful babcia (grandmother) who is no longer with us but was an avid mushroomer!

Pierogi can be made with various different fillings and once you start experimenting there is no limit to the fillings you can make.

Seeing as ’tis the wild mushroom picking season’ I thought I would share this very traditional recipe with you, however with a very FinSki’s twist on it. This recipe calls for smoked mushrooms and where do you get these I hear you ask? Why FinSki’s of course!

Blondie and I have been experimenting in the kitchen for about 2 years now. We have both tried our hand at smoked mushrooms. Drying the mushrooms elevates them to another level, it increases the flavour tenfold and these smoked mushroom and sauerkraut pierogi are full of wintery smokey flavour.

Enjoy!

Bella

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Vietnamese Chicken w/ Red Quinoa Stir Fry

Looking for a ridiculously tasty and healthy dish for dinner tonight? Well go no further… Vietnamese Chicken w/ Red Quinoa Stir Fry is what you’ve been looking for!

This is an outstanding, flavour packed chicken meal that honestly, you can whip up in half an hour… Even quicker the second time round once you have made the big batch of marinade. Just store what’s left in a large jar and it will keep for ages in the fridge.

The Vietnamese marinade is so versatile that you can use it with both red and white meats or fish to baste or marinade with and also as a dipping sauce.

I’m reasonably new to quinoa and fell in love with it from my first taste. The texture is amazing also, particularly with this red quinoa, almost like little caviars that kind of burst in your mouth. This red one is particularly yummy with a slightly sweet taste that complements Asian cooking so well.

A little something you may not know about quinoa is that it’s actually related to green leafy vegetables like spinach. Maybe that’s why it’s such a super food, covers all bases!

If you haven’t had a chance to taste this yummy grain yet, you won’t be disappointed with this dish.

Warming comfort food… Blondie

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FinSki’s first wild mushroom foraging tour

What a fantastic start to the 2013 mushrooming season it has been! Bella and I headed out a few weeks ago to see if mushrooms were about… through the grape vine, or more appropriately, the mycelium (sorry, bad mushroom joke!) we had heard they were appearing. The weather has been a bit warm but NSW did have quite a bit of rain this month so the chance of mushrooms was good.

What a treat it was, the Saffron Milk Caps were in abundance and there were many other eager mushroomers out in force. Lots of them not even making it into the forest but getting caught up early on the road by the beautiful orange fungi strewn across the pine needle floor.

The idea to get the first mushrooming tour going a little sooner than expected came when Bella and I both saw the large amount of Saffron Milk Cap heads breaking through the ground. The tour would be guaranteed to pick plenty of mushrooms the following week to keep everyone happy. Continue reading “FinSki’s first wild mushroom foraging tour” →

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Banana Egg Flip Thick Shake

Banana Egg Flip Thick Shake… Who remembers egg flips? My mum used to make egg flips when my sister and I were kids. A simple milkshake with an egg included, maybe some vanilla and nutmeg added for sweetness. I continued this on for my son when he was a baby who loved them also.

Now that I have restarted gym (after a 2 year break, yikes!) I am looking for healthy meals during the day that are tasty and are full of goodies – dinner is my indulgence, after all, I am a foodie

With a banana too old for me to eat (my bananas have to be just on yellow from green) and an egg in hand, I remembered my mum’s egg flips.

Far better than store bought protein shakes, a Banana Egg Flip Thick Shake is an easy addition to a healthy meal plan.

Although this is a basic recipe, sometimes you just need a little reminder of the simple things…

Drink up!

Blondie

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Baharat and Panko Crusted Salmon Croquettes

I am on a mission to make the perfect Bitterballen, so far without much luck. I know what I’m looking for and the recipes I am experimenting with just aren’t cutting the mustard, but I will get there and will proudly announce my efforts when I do!

In the meantime, here is a gorgeous mid-week meal to serve with a crisp salad and a little yoghurt, Baharat and Panko Crusted Salmon Croquettes. Also works very well for finger food at a party!

How can anyone pass on these little deep fried little flavour bundles? Bite into the crispy outside with the beautiful flavours of the Middle Eastern spice mix then break through to the creamy salmon centre… Heaven!

Enjoy, Blondie 🙂

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Sweetened Yoghurt Dessert with Lemon Curd and Oat Crumble

I love the little yoghurt cups you get at the markets with the cookie crumble and fruit puree that you mix in for a delicious dessert – I like to pretend that I’m eating healthy…

Here I have chosen to do my very own version, Sweetened Yoghurt Dessert with Lemon Curd and Oat Crumble and without being too overtly proud of myself I have to say that this is more awesome than any else I have tried! You could use a natural greek yoghurt but I personally like to have this as a sweet treat so I choose the sweetened yoghurt, the lemon curd gives a lovely tang and then add the crumbs from the Barley and Oat Bars (that you have made previously) adds a nice textural element. In minutes you have yourself a gorgeous dessert or a little indulgence for breakfast.

Buy the yoghurt and lemon curd for convenience – I will be putting my recipe for both the lemon curd and a passionfruit curd shortly – it’s fast and oh so tasty!

Creamy, sweet and tangy crunchiness…. Blondie 🙂

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