The food and wine thread

[NT.Thunder]

Market food also - used to love cruising Mindil Beach, Nightcliffe, Rapid Creek and Parap markets just grazing. Little partial to a good laksa

 

[Quicky]

I love Mediterranean food. And it is not bias because I live in the region. I just love the ingredients. Olives, tomatoes, nice cheeses. fresh herbs, fish, the use of lots of vegetables. I just find that Mediterranean food has lots of fresh flavours.
Actually I love all food but Mediterranean is my fav. Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Lebanese, Spanish, Moroccan etc. Great region for food.

I had a mate of mine live in Turkey for about 6 months recently. She loved the food mostly but thought they used far too much oil.

 

[Maggie5]

Now, I am getting hungry, thank goodness, I cooked crumbed chicken drumettes with chicken rice from home made stock tonight and there are left overs.

 

[Maggie5]

I love Mediterranean food. And it is not bias because I live in the region. I just love the ingredients. Olives, tomatoes, nice cheeses. fresh herbs, fish, the use of lots of vegetables. I just find that Mediterranean food has lots of fresh flavours.
Actually I love all food but Mediterranean is my fav. Turkish, Greek, Italian, French, Lebanese, Spanish, Moroccan etc. Great region for food.

Totally agree, love Turkish, Lebanese, Greek and Italian, not a big fan of Asian except for Malaysian Nonna food.

 

[Quicky]

Not sure if it is healthy but I make a pasta with pinenuts, smoked salmon/tuna, garlic and spinach dressing, topped with grated cheese of cours.
Quick and easy to make.

One of my favourite meals is smoked salmon, dill, capers, lemon juice, parmesan and other variables like mushrooms and red onions. Always best with some decent pasta from an Italian Deli (I just stocked up at Olivieris in Innisfail when I was down there recently). Beautiful.

 

[Maggie5]

I love salads. Every lunch and most teas I'll be chomping on a salad. My favourite at the moment is Vermicelli Noodles, Salad and Spring Rolls (Vietnamese style). From the market though so my attempts at recreating it are a poor imitation.

Any tips on homemade dressings?

Do you grow anything in the way of food?

 

[Quicky]

Totally agree, love Turkish, Lebanese, Greek and Italian, not a big fan of Asian except for Malaysian Nonna food.

I'm going through a massive Japanese and Vietnamese phase at the moment. Vietnamese food has some great flavours and is fresh but has a lot going on. Japanese seems to focus on a few good ingredients and a few flavours mostly. Like good Mediterranean actually but with very different ingredients.

 

[Quicky]

Do you grow anything in the way of food?

No unfortunately. I wish I could but I have very limited real estate to do it in. I'm looking forward to a time I can though!

 

[Maggie5]

No unfortunately. I wish I could but I have very limited real estate to do it in. I'm looking forward to a time I can though!

There are some great ideas out there that you can put against your fence line and I bought a great pot with four quite large opening that at least you can grow some herbs or spring onions, carrots, or similar that don't take any real space.
For some reason haven't really caught the flavours of Japanese or Vietnamese, maybe should give it another try although where I live don't have very many. I am more in a Turkish, Greek, Italian area.

 

[NT.Thunder]

Nothing better than your own. We've had a good season for tomatoes, different lettuces, strawberries, spring onions, water melon, pumpkin, corn and of course the usual herbs. Plenty of rain and warm weather this season has just seen the veggie patch explode. Unfortunately the birds love it as much as we do. I brought the bird nets, just didn't put them up.

Sad though, the grapes don't like this weather. Won't be a real good year due to disease but still should get some good fruit. Might just be another year of hand picking

 

[NT.Thunder]

There are some great ideas out there that you can put against your fence line and I bought a great pot with four quite large opening that at least you can grow some herbs or spring onions, carrots, or similar that don't take any real space.
For some reason haven't really caught the flavours of Japanese or Vietnamese, maybe should give it another try although where I live don't have very many. I am more in a Turkish, Greek, Italian area.

Hanging pots are really good for lettuce, spring onion and strawberries. They stay smallish, but grow quickly and still taste good.

 

[Quicky]

There are some great ideas out there that you can put against your fence line and I bought a great pot with four quite large opening that at least you can grow some herbs or spring onions, carrots, or similar that don't take any real space.
For some reason haven't really caught the flavours of Japanese or Vietnamese, maybe should give it another try although where I live don't have very many. I am more in a Turkish, Greek, Italian area.

If anyone can give me ideas for a tiny area that is exposed to all day sunlight in the tropics I am all ears. Really I should do some investigating but it'd be a tough environment.

I love Vietnamese and there is some really good South East Asian produce and influences in the Far North. The tropics helps the produce for our little part of the world.

 

[Magpie Girl]

I'm a bit surprised at what people consider unhealthy.

There's nothing wrong with olive oil and cheese etc. it's really the combinations of food that cause problems. Good fats and proteins go well together, And the good carbs

Stay away from the bad carbs and sugar

I only use butter, olive oil or ghee. Any meat or chicken will make a good salad with feta tomatoes and rocket, avocado, maybe some olives
Sometimes I'll add grapes or some nectarine. With a simple dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and grated parmesan

A salad with pan fried salmon, roast vegies, feta, capers. So fresh and good

These days you can put anything together, toss in some fresh herbs. Good simple flavours

And I love the Mediterranean spices and food too.

Turkey is on my bucket list ottoman

 

[NT.Thunder]

Yep - I'm going to Turkey too. Thinking about heading there and doing a Mediterranean Cruise for my BDay

Loved the food in Israel. Had some great food in Jerusalem and the Old Town Jaffa. Just remember heaps of small dishes that were so tasty and they just kept coming

 

[Magpie Girl]

Yep - I'm going to Turkey too. Thinking about heading there and doing a Mediterranean Cruise for my BDay

Hope ottoman's got a big house for all of us

 

[Quicky]

Hope ottoman's got a big house

BigFooty Party at Ottomans. It's on!

 

[shizzle]

Any tips on homemade dressings?

I've got a good Nam Jim dressing I've used in a few restaurants, I like it on a rare beef salad, also goes great with thinly sliced and pan seared squid, rare tuna, grilled prawns and poultry, particularly duck.
When balanced right you should be able to taste the hot, sour, salty and sweet elements. I generally double the quantities in this recipe.

Ingredients

1 tbs Salt
3 garlic cloves
3 shallots
A generous handful of Coriander leaves and the scraped and cleaned roots(full of flavor)
4 small hot chillies, deseeded or not if you want more heat
3 tbs Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar
3 tbs Fish sauce
Juice of 8 limes

Method

1. Put the salt, garlic, shallots, coriander leaves and roots in a mortar and pestle and pound until crushed(This can easily be done by hand if need be(my usual method), by chopping everything as fine as you can, then using a wide blade knife and pressing down on it and sort of mashing it, can also be done in a food processor.

2. Add the chillies and sugar and pound again, then put it all in a bowl.

3. Add the fish sauce and lime juice and mix thoroughly. The dressing should taste hot, sour, salty and sweet, adjust to taste.

Enjoy!!

 

[Quicky]

I've got a good Nam Jim dressing I've used in a few restaurants, I like it on a rare beef salad, also goes great with thinly sliced and pan seared squid, rare tuna, grilled prawns and poultry, particularly duck.
When balanced right you should be able to taste the hot, sour, salty and sweet elements. I generally double the quantities in this recipe.

Ingredients

1 tbs Salt
3 garlic cloves
3 shallots
A generous handful of Coriander leaves and the scraped and cleaned roots(full of flavor)
4 small hot chillies, deseeded or not if you want more heat
3 tbs Palm Sugar or Brown Sugar
3 tbs Fish sauce
Juice of 8 limes

Method

1. Put the salt, garlic, shallots, coriander leaves and roots in a mortar and pestle and pound until crushed(This can easily be done by hand if need be(my usual method), by chopping everything as fine as you can, then using a wide blade knife and pressing down on it and sort of mashing it, can also be done in a food processor.

2. Add the chillies and sugar and pound again, then put it all in a bowl.

3. Add the fish sauce and lime juice and mix thoroughly. The dressing should taste hot, sour, salty and sweet, adjust to taste.

Enjoy!!

I'll try this. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[ottoman]

Yep - I'm going to Turkey too. Thinking about heading there and doing a Mediterranean Cruise for my BDay

Hope ottoman's got a big house for all of us

BigFooty Party at Ottomans. It's on!

You guys are all welcome. Would love to host you all
Just got back from a friends house for dinner. Her family owns a popular winery in Turkey.
She made me backed salmon with sliced baked potatoes and a simple salad. Washed down with one of her Rose wines. Yum. food and wine was beautiful. Normally I don't drink much Rose, prefer the fuller bodied reds but this was really nice.

By the way this thread makes me hungry.

 

[Magpie Girl]

Yep - I'm going to Turkey too. Thinking about heading there and doing a Mediterranean Cruise for my BDay

Loved the food in Israel. Had some great food in Jerusalem and the Old Town Jaffa. Just remember heaps of small dishes that were so tasty and they just kept coming

The food in the Old City was great but the traditional Jewish food is my least favourite.
I spent a month working on a kibbutz (a few years ago now) and it was the worst food of my life. Vegies cooked in those giant steamers until they were grey. Ugh

 

[NT.Thunder]

You guys are all welcome. Would love to host you all
Just got back from a friends house for dinner. Her family owns a popular winery in Turkey.
She made me backed salmon with sliced baked potatoes and a simple salad. Washed down with one of her Rose wines. Yum. food and wine was beautiful. Normally I don't drink much Rose, prefer the fuller bodied reds but this was really nice.

By the way this thread makes me hungry.

Some good wineries over that area.

I remember being in Israel on the border with Syria in a place called the Valley of Tears, Golan Heights. Was the site of a big battle in the Yom Kippur War and was littered with debris but in such condition that it only seemed like it happened yesterday. We could hear the fighting in Syria and it was an incredible experience but what made it so surreal was that probably 50m behind us was one of Israel's leading Vineyards and Winery. Just incredible.

I had no idea when I went to Israel that they even grew grapes in the region and the wine was surprisingly good, real good. I took 4 bottles home with me and El Al Air said I could take it on as carry on, but when I got to HK I couldn't get onto the next flight and had to check it in. Gee I was pissed off having to go through customs in HK and back through the check in. Lucky I had about 6 hours to kill.

Here's some photos.

 

[NT.Thunder]

The food in the Old City was great but the traditional Jewish food is my least favourite.
I spent a month working on a kibbutz (a few years ago now) and it was the worst food of my life. Vegies cooked in those giant steamers until they were grey. Ugh

Yeah - The arab influence with food in Israel was good, not so much traditional I agree.

A Kibbutz, wow. A few of my contacts still live in Kibbutz and it's an interesting concept. Very strange world and we take a lot for granted.

Israel is an amazing place, so much history that they are so proud. I'd love to get back outside of work for a few days.

 

[Obese Arachnid]

What are peoples favourite simple healthy recipes?

Remove twist top & dial pizza

 

[Vicky Park]

This thread has taken off since I last looked! Could 'like' every post!

My hubby cooked tonight (yay!) and he is great at curries, although tending to vego only these days. For dinner we had diced potatoes cooked with sesame seeds and green chillies, plus green beans with crunchy spices, coconut and dahl. V nice.

For a quick meal Quicky, I stir fry green things (Chinese greens, broccoli, or similar) in the wok on high heat, throw in the triumverate of garlic, ginger and chillie, and then serve over an omelette with a drizzle of oyster sauce, spring onions, coriander and those crunchy little fried Chinese onions. Quick and delish.

shizzle thanks for the dressing recipe. Will definitely try it. Does it have the magic 'umami' flavour?

 

[NT.Thunder]

OK - this is getting a bit crazy.

Today's pick and I reckon I only got maybe 3/4's.

Anyone got some good recipes for sauces or relishes I can use as I still have about twice as many sitting on the bench also ready to use and more on the vine.