Chicken, Goats Cheese and Bean Penne

Preparation time 30 mins
Serves 4

This will please everyone in the family, experiment with different flavours, including herbs and cheeses.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Cloves Garlic lightly crushed in their skins
2 skinless chicken breasts
30 g Butter plus 30g for chicken
300 g dried Penne (we suggest Patificio Mennilli)
1 small red chilli deseeded and chopped
1 tbspn thyme leaves finely chopped
1tspn finely zested lemon
250 g round beans topped, tailed and sliced in half on the diagonal
150 g Goat’s Cheese (we suggest Gentle Goat’s Cheese)
20 g Pine Nuts toasted in a frypan until browned
Sea Salt & freshly ground black pepper
3 tbspns parsley leaves picked and chopped
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to drizzle

Method

Dry chicken breast with paper towel and then season with salt and pepper
Heat 2 tbspn oil with garlic in large frypan over medium heat for two minutes until oil smoking. Add chicken and fry for approximately 5 minutes on each side, make sure pan is large enough so chicken is browning not stewing, keep pan for cooking beans.
Add a 30g butter and keep cooking chicken for approximately 2 minutes spooning butter/oil over chicken, check chicken is just cooked through and remove, it will keep cooking once removed.
Bring large saucepan of salted water to the boil and add penne. Cook until al dente, remove and drain reserving a little of the cooking water.
While penne is cooking heat 75g butter in the pan that was used for the chicken add the chilli and thyme and cook over low heat for a couple of minutes. Turn up the heat, add round beans and cook for approximately 4 minutes, until beans are tender.
Add penne and the reserved cooking water to pan. Remove from heat add sliced chicken, crumbled cheese, and pine nuts.
Season to taste, plate, drizzle with olive oil and top with parsley serve by itself or with a green salad.

Bean, Orange and Hazelnut Salad

Preparation time 15 minutes
Serves 6

A versatile salad with a delicious combination of citrus, nuts and beans.

Ingredients

400g round beans, topped and tailed
400g snow peas, topped, tailed and destringed
70 hazelnuts, unskinned
1 orange zested into long thin strips
1 bunch chives, chopped
1 clove garlic crushed
3 tbspn olive oil
2 tbspn macadamia oil (or other nut oil)
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Place hazelnuts on a baking tray and roast for 10 minutes. Cool slightly, then rub in a tea towel until most of skin removed. Chop roughly.
Bring large pot of unsalted water to the boil. Boil round beans for 3 minutes then add snow peas and boil another minute until just tender.
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Serve with grilled or roasted meats.

Wiffens One Shop Flatbread Pizzas

Preparation time 10 mins, plus cooking
Serves 4

All the ingredients in the pizzas can be brought at Wiffens and many of them can be kept in the pantry or freezer. Naan bread can be frozen then defrosted for 5 minutes before use. It is a perfect last minute family mean that everyone will love, and as pizzas go not too unhealthy. Mix and match toppings but don’t overload pizzas with sauce, toppings or cheese or they wont go crispy. Serve with a green salad.

Ingredients

1 pack Fiji Foods Naan Bread
1 jar Maggie Beer Tomato and Basil Sugo
1 pack La Puglia mozzarella, half grated
150g of Reduced Fat Lemnos feta crumbled
2 tins of El Tonno tuna
1 punnet cherry tomatoes halved or sliced
3/4 of a red onion finely chopped

Method

Preheat oven to 240C
Line a three large baking trays with baking paper and place 2 naan bread on each tray
Add approximately 2 tbspns of sauce to each naan and spread. You want there to be just enough sauce to thinly cover the entire naan
Spread tuna, cherry tomatoes and onion over pizzas (don’t overload)
Spread cheeses lightly over pizzas
Bake for approximately 10 minutes until edges are starting to burn and pizzas are crispy.
Cut into quarters, season and serve with a green salad.

NEW PRODUCT-WOOLOOMOOLOO OLIVE OIL

Imported olive oil brands found in supermarkets are not subject to the same standards as Australian Olive oil. When you buy imported Extra Virgin olive oil it may not be extra virgin, or from the country which it claims. We suggest buying Australian olive oil. We have a number of brands including, La Barre, Penfield, Njoi and local Fedra olive oil. We have a new award winning olive oil, the Robert Oatley Wooloomooloo Frantoio. It has a green almond aroma, with herbaceous notes of artichoke. The palate has a full, well rounded mouth feel and finishes with a light, pleasant peppery pungency. This variety was selected by Ian and Tanya Oatley after they tasted freshly pressed Frantoio oil in Italy and were impressed by the quality and unique flavour of the variety.

AWARDS

2010

Australian National Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show
Silver
Royal Perth Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition
Bronze
Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards
Bronze
2009

Australian National Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show
Bronze
Royal Melbourne Fine Food Awards
Gold
2006

Royal Perth Extra Virgin Olive Oil Competition
Bronze
Royal Canberra Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show
Bronze
Royal Adelaide Extra Virgin Olive Oil Show
Silver

KEEPING OIL FRESH

Olive Oil is fresh juice that is simply derived from squeezing the fruit…

Make sure you keep your oil in a closed bottle, in a dark container or closet, away from sources of heat like your stove. You do not have to refrigerate it, although refrigeration will not hurt the oil.

MARKET UPDATE

There is good supply in the market – so we are having a good lead up to Christmas with good quality and price.

Fruit

Mangoes – Honey Gold’s our favourite mango are good value.
Stonefruit -We have apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines. Yellow peaches are the pick. Apricots good value- Add flavour to apricots by poaching in sugar syrup and a little wine
Cherries – Young was hit by a hailstorm which damaged much of the cherry crop. But we have excellent quality Victorian inside cherries and very good value outside Cherries from South Australia.
Bananas -Alot of supply around. The don’t get any cheaper.
Berries-We have a large range including; loganberries, blackberries, youngberries, raspberries, boysenberries and redcurrants. Blueberries are scarce but prices should fall in the next few weeks. Strawberries have come back in price.
Grapes – Prices have come down for quality grapes. Menindee seedless the pick.
Melons -–NSW Rockmelons are good eating at a very good price. Very good value seedless Qld watermelon, sweet and crunchy.
Figs – First of the Aussie figs.
Lychees- Fayzeesue by far our favourite variety is in season. Lychees don’t get better than right now. Place in a bowl on a table as a table setting and appetiser.
Pineapples – Try topless for low acid or tops on for a more intense flavour.

Vegetables

Asparagus – Coming to the end of the season.
Cabbage -All cabbage good quality and price. Shred red and regular cabbage and mix with olive oil, red wine vinegar (4:1), seeded mustard, salt, pepper and a little sugar for a colourful salad. Good value regular cabbage. Try in Italian coleslaw, just shred and mix with parmesan, olive oil and vinegar.
Tomatoes - Across the board prices are very low and good eating. Grape tomatoes, and vine ripened cherry tomatoes the pick.
Broccollini – Scarce.
Potatoes-New season Dutch Cream and Pink Eye potatoes the pick.
Carrots-Purple carrots, a superfood, they keep their rich colour when cooked.
Capsicums- Plentiful.
Eggplants- Very good quality, long lasting low seed glasshouse eggplants.

Flowers

Native Christmas Bush, and Christmas Bells, Beautiful red and pink Flowering Gum, Dahlia’s, and Peonies.

EAT MORE FRUIT & VEG!- New National Dietary Guidelines

A review of dietary guidelines for Australian adults, infants and children has just been released. The review indicates that we are still not eating enough fruit and vegetables and too many processed and fatty foods. Not only is it important to eat more fruit and vegetables but a larger variety.

Doctor Amanda Lee the head of the review committee says that the new guidelines are based on a comprehensive review of the latest scientific evidence.

“What we have now is greater differentiation between different types of food; for example for the vegetable group we now know that we need to eat a variety of different types and colours to decrease our risk of various kinds of cancer,” she said.

“We need to eat double the amount of vegetables and fruits, double the amount of wholegrain cereals, much more milk, yoghurt and low-fat cheese, and increasing our lean poultry and fish,” she said.

” there’s stronger evidence supporting the benefits of fruit, particularly for cardiovascular disease.”

“For some foods the evidence has strengthened, for example, there’s increasing evidence that consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks is associated with increased risk of weight gain,” she said.

“There’s good evidence now that consumption of milk is associated with decreased risk of heart disease in some cases.

“There’s really good evidence now about the association of whole grain products and decreased risk of heart disease, excessive weight gain and also decreased risk of type-2 diabetes.”

For more information visit.

http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/guidelines/publications/n29-n30-n31-n32-n33-n34

Passionfruit Pannacotta

Preparations time 10 mins, plus at least 4 hours refrigeration
Serves 6 (in small moulds)

Pannacotta are so easy. Any percieved difficulty comes from the confusion about different types of gelatine. This recipe specifies titatium strength gelatine, if using gold gelatine leaves you would need more. Make this recipe when passionfruit are cheap and plentiful. You can experiment with this recipe just keep the ratio of liquids to gelatine the same, omit the passionfruit and add a scraped vanilla bean, substitute some of the milk or cream for yoghurt or melted chocolate and adjust sugar to taste.

Ingrediants

300 ml cream
250 ml milk
70 ml passionfruit puree, see below
2 leaves Titanium strength gelatine
100g caster sugar
Extra Passionfruit to serve
Mint leaves to garnish

Method

For passionfruit puree remove the pulp from approximately 8 small or 6 large passionfruit. Place in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture has boiled and pulp has come away from the seeds. Strain over bowl using a wooden spoon to push as much pulp as possible through the sieve. Discard seeds. This step is very important as an enzyme in the passionfruit would stop the gelatine from setting unless the passionfruit is cooked. If you have more or less pulp you can adjust the other quanities of liquid accordingly, ie if you have 100ml puree reduce the amount of milk by 25g. As long as the ratio of total liquid to gelatine stays the same you can play with the amount of milk, cream and other liquids you use in pannacottas. Excess puree can be used to garnish pannacottas.
Place milk, cream and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil and then remove from heat, again you can adjust the quantity of sugar when adapting this recipe just taste the milk mixture for sweetness and add more or less as desired.
While milk is heating cover gelatine leaves with water to soften, this takes around 5 minutes.
Squeeze gelatine leaves once they are softened and add to hot milk along with passionfruit puree, stir until gelatine is completly dissolved. Strain, make sure there are no gelatine remnants in the strainer or the pannacottas will not set.
Lightly grease small pannacotta moulds with almond oil or rice bran oil cooking spray. You can also use small cups/glasses while on holidays I have allowed the mixture to cool and used disposable plastic cups with good results.
Cover and place in Refrigerator for at least five hours and up to 3 days in advance.
Just before service gently pull a section of the pannacotta away from the mould to create an air pocket then the rest of pannacotta should easily invert onto a small bowl.
Spoon fresh passionfruit and any remaining puree onto and round the pannacotta, garnish with mint leaves and serve.

Lamb Fillets with Quinoa, Baby Spinach and Yoghurt Salad

Preparation time 15 mins, Plus 10 cooking.
Serves 4.

This is very healthy meal using quinoa a low GI, low carb grain. You could replace the quinoa with lentils or chickpeas and play around with different herbs. You can also serve this salad with a selection of other salads.

Ingrediants

Salad
1 1/2 cup cooked quinoa, we suggest Mount Zero Australian Quinoa (stocked at Wiffens)
6 handfuls baby spinach, washed and finely shredded
juice of 2 lime
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1/2 tspn finely grated ginger
1 cup full fat yoghurt
1/2 cup lite sour cream
4 spring onions finely chopped
Small handful coriander chopped
Small handful mint chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Lamb
4 lamb fillets
1 tspn ground cumin
1/2 tspn ground garam marsala
1 clove garlic
2 tbspns Olive oil, plus more for pan
Salt and pepper

Method

Remove lamb from refrigerator, dry and rub ingrediants into lamb, leave to marinate
Mix all salad ingrediants together, season to taste and allow flavour to develop.
Heat large frypan over high heat, add olive oil, when it starts smoking add lamb fillets, cook till browned on each side. Remove from heat allow to rest.
Serve lamb fillets whole or sliced on quinoa and spinach salad.

Plum and Cherry Upside Down Cake

Serves 10
Preparation time 45 mins, cooking 1 hour approximately.

A delicious and Versatile cake. Substitute the plums and cherries for any seasonal fruit.

Ingrediants

250 gm unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
220 gm light brown sugar
700 gm plums cut into even slices
100gm cherries pitted and halved
300 gm plain flour
45 gm polenta
2 tsp baking powder
290 ml milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
360 gm caster sugar
6 eggs, separated

Method

Preheat oven to 170C. Melt 75gm butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add brown sugar, stir occasionally until dissolved (3-4 minutes). Spread in base of a buttered 22cm x 32cm cake tin, arrange plums in slightly overlapping slices with the cherries in the gaps between the plums.

Combine flour, polenta, baking powder and ½ tsp salt in a large bowl and set aside. Combine milk and vanilla in a separate bowl and set aside. Beat remaining butter and 330gm sugar in an electric mixer until pale and fluffy (4-5 minutes). Add egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mixing on low speed, add one-third of the flour mixture then half the milk mixture and mix to just combine. Add remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk mixture, mix to just combine, then transfer to a large bowl.

Whisk eggwhite and a pinch of salt in an electric mixer until foamy (2-3 minutes). Whisking continuously, gradually add remaining sugar and whisk until medium peaks form (2-3 minutes).

Fold half the eggwhite mixture into batter, then fold in remaining eggwhite mixture. Spoon into cake tin over fruit, spreading evenly. Bake until cake is golden and centre springs back when lightly pressed (50 minutes-1 hour), cool in tin (10 minutes).

Using a palette knife go around sides of tin to loosen cake. Place a serving platter on top, carefully invert and gently shake tin to release cake.
Serve with icecream, yoghurt or custard.

Rib Eye with Mashed Swede and Tuscan Cabbage

Preparation Time 15 mins, plus cooking.
Serves 4.

This is a simple dish that lets the rib eye, one of the most delicious steak cuts, to speak for itself.

Ingrediants

4 individual rib eye steaks preferably aged
1 bunch Tuscan cabbage, chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
3 Swedes coarsely chopped
125ml 1/2 cup cream
50g butter
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Method

Remove rib eyes from refrigerator 30 mins before using, remove from plastic wrap/bag and place on plate covered. If desired you can marinate in a couple of whole garlic cloves, a little olive oil and a couple of rosemary sprigs.
Preheat oven to 180c.
Cover swede in a saucepan covered with cold water and boil until tender,drain well and puree either by using a food processor, bamix or in a potato ricer. Return to saucepan add hot cream and butter and stir for a few minutes, season to taste and serve hot. This dish can be reheated if made in advance.
For rib eyes, heat large saucepan over high heat, when hot add rib eyes, if you don’t have a large enough saucepan do this step in two stages 2 steaks at a time. Cook each side until well browned, including the edges and remove to baking dish in oven. Roast for approximately 15-20 mins until rare. Remove and rest for 5 minutes. The rib eyes will continue to cook once they are removed from the oven.
Heat pan steak was cooked in over medium high heat add splash olive oil, saute garlic briefly the add tuscan cabbage for few minutes until cooked, season well with salt.
Serve rib eye, on creamed swede with tuscan cabbage.