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What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:38 pm
by dixiebelle
Sorry for the mass influx of posts by me, but I am very excited!!! But I would really like to know, if there is somewhere we can do a regular "What's for Dinner?" thread... give each other inspiration, show ways to use seasonal produce, fess up when you're eating something naugty, or would like advice on how to replace something for a better SOLE choice etc. etc.

Ie.

Tonight we had Caramelised onion, Tomato and Almond Tart with side salad of fetta, tomatoes, lettuce and avocado. The tart had a gluten free mixed mash base, using organic vege's. I used organic Devondale (non-animal rennet) cheese on top, and Australian fetta, bought in bulk, in the salad. Almonds were Australian made, though not organic. Onions, tomatoes, lettuce and vege's from Organic Express. The avocado is probably my undoing... it is not local/ organic, but they have such great nutrition! It was made in advance (whilst I also had oven on for other meals) and was cheap!

OK, so you get the idea, though that was rather long!! WDYT? Could it be a regular thread, is there one already, or does no one care!!!! Cheers, DB

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:03 pm
by grocer
db, I hear you. I have actually started doing meal kits for my customers to make the most of seasonal produce with an idea of what to do with it.
Unfortunately Sydney only for deliveries but if you want to subscribe thats okay too...

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:25 am
by stickyfingers
I didn't realise until after, but tonight we ate a gluten free dinner. We started with a potato, chicken & greens soup and followed with Barramundi & salad (Fennel/cauli/blood orange).

    I made the soup by boiling chicken necks (that I had browned first) with lemon thyme, a small onion - quartered - & a large roughly chopped King Blue potato.

    Then put everything in a blender (I took out the necks, stripped them and put the meat back in with the stock first). Then in went a handful of chopped raw baby silverbeet and watercress, some salt and pepper. Then whizzed some creme fraiche in. Back in the pan to heat through and drizzled in a teaspoon of robust EVOO. It came out a wonderful creamy bright green colour.

    Next came a pan fried fillet of barramundi, cooked in a nonstick pan with no oil, and dressed afterwards with home made pomegranate molasses.

    I sat it on a salad made with shaved fennel & onion, blood orange, lots of parsley, Red Hill Dairy marinated goats cheese, cauliflower, za'atar and a drizzle of EVOO.

Everything sourced from either St Kilda or Gasworks Farmers Markets.

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:00 am
by purple goddess
But I would really like to know, if there is somewhere we can do a regular "What's for Dinner?" thread... give each other inspiration, show ways to use seasonal produce, fess up when you're eating something naugty, or would like advice on how to replace something for a better SOLE choice etc. etc.


right here is the very place!!

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:50 pm
by stickyfingers
So PG, what did you have for dinner? ;)

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:58 pm
by purple goddess
Furry cooked Korean beef on rice...It's his new fave recipe. And he made enough to feed Madame Mouse and The Mongul Hordes that are descending on us tonight!

Umm.. that's not a thrash metal band, BTW, that's what I refer to my daughter and her 7 friends as!!

They all live at home, and they're "practicing" living OUT of home.

How, may you ask, are they "practicing" living away from home?

They bott dinner from one Mum, one night each week!!

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 2:47 pm
by Zoe
Tonight we've got some eggplants from Choku Bai Jo that I've halved and baked and will stuff. Thinking some quinoa, lotsa herbs (mostly parsley and thyme in the garden at the mo') and some fetta/breadcumbs, canned tomato and capers/anchovies. And we've lots of green beans from the Fyshwick markets that I'll blanch and dress. Maybe with walnut oil.

You can tell I'm thinking as I type, can't you :)

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:34 pm
by dixiebelle
We are having simple, easy food tonight, as DD has been unwell and besides, it's usually a 'freezer' meal day for us, as I have both kids home, and dancing in morning...

Organic lamb and vegetable soup... with toast! Have organic vege stock from freezer, and also some lamb and vege's from last weeks SC casserole, that was made with organic eco shanks and vege's from Organic Express... only thing is (and maybe Zoe knows) is whether the meat from Eco-meat is ethically produced, in terms of animal treatment, and how local it is...

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 3:40 pm
by Zoe
dixibelle, we've just ordered some pork from here - they seem to tick all the boxes and are happy for people to visit the farm. Not sure if you're northside (like me) but they also sell at the southside farmer's market. Haven't had any yet, but can't vouch for it personally, but it has to be better than industrially farmed pork which is horribly cruel.

Re: What's for Dinner?

PostPosted: Wed Aug 20, 2008 5:07 pm
by stickyfingers
purple goddess wrote:Umm.. that's not a thrash metal band, BTW, that's what I refer to my daughter and her 7 friends as!!

They all live at home, and they're "practicing" living OUT of home.

How, may you ask, are they "practicing" living away from home?

They bott dinner from one Mum, one night each week!!


That's too funny PG - one foot still in the nest! :lol:

Mr Sticky took our leftover soup to work today and I added in some tiny swiss brown mushrooms and extra watercress to fill it out. He ate it with Greg Brown's handmade multi grain bread....I hope. The new division of people who share the floor he's on at Telstra have a habit of stealing lunches, his stash of frozen bread, his butter, the staff's catering sized cans of tea/coffee/milo and apparently stand on the toilet seats. Go figure? I'm seriously considering sending him to work with an esky in future.

Tonight I'm thinking of Hartdale Park Venison saltimbocca pounded thin so it goes further and made with home grown sage and Gypsy Pig shoulder bacon, which is like Proscuitto. Their pigs lead a lovely life and by all accounts are loving the damp fields at the moment for snuffling out grubs and getting all mucky. Bronwyn and Michael have saved some rare breed pigs from extinction and have so much knowlege on the subject I can barely drag myself away when I see them. David and Rose of Hartdale Venison Park are fascinating to talk to too.

May be also a pan juice sauce and Quinoa and beetroot salad warmed with lots of weeds - mustard like greens a Sicilian farmer at the market calls Cardello - and some warmed Halumi sprinkled with sumac that I buy from a cunning old Turkish crone. I'll make it up as I go along as usual though. It may morph into something else along the way. ;)