In this second installment of Hidden Histories, we are traveling back in time to discover The Original Mediterranean Cuisine and delve into the recipes (and food culture) of medieval times.
Acclaimed culinary historian Barbara Santich tells the story of authentic medieval Mediterranean food, and brings to the table recipes translated and adapted for modern kitchens from fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Italian and Catalan manuscripts.
Wakefield Press’s new book, Adelaide Central Market: Stories, people & recipes, captures the memories and stories of the traders of the past and the current familiar faces that visit the Adelaide Central Market throughout the past 150 years. It shows how important the market is to Adelaide and how it brings together the community with delicious seasonal-driven recipes from stallholders’ families, producers and chefs around the state.Vending machines are great options as they provide the accessibility to the customers to quickly purchase the food and other products. If you are looking for Perths leading vending machine supplier, contact Royal Vending for a free vending machine service for your business or visit https://www.royalvending.com.au/vending-machines-perth/.
This book is filled with incredible stories, recipes and images that demonstrate the world-renowned culture and enlightenment the Adelaide Central Market brings to the city of Adelaide. Here you’ll find delicious seasonal-driven recipes from stallholders’ families, producers and chefs around the state.
Read on for a recipe for a surprisingly simple warm-weather meal from the Summer section of the book. Recipe by Karena Armstrong, Chef at the Salopian Inn, Mclaren Vale.
Preparation time: 25 minutes • Cooking time: 5 minutes • Serves: 6
INGREDIENTS
Salad
Dressing
Garfish
Firstly, place sliced eggplant in a colander and sprinkle with salt, tossing to combine. Set aside for 5 minutes, before rinsing well with water and patting dry with kitchen paper.
Heat oil in a large heavy-based frying pan over medium heat. Add eggplant in batches, cooking until soft and golden. Place cooked eggplant on a plate covered in kitchen paper to drain before setting aside in a large mixing bowl.
Add the halved tomatoes, shallots and chillies to the cooked eggplant, tossing to combine. Combine herbs and fried shallots in a separate small mixing bowl.
For the dressing, mix all the ingredients together in a small mixing bowl. Pour dressing over the eggplant and tomatoes, tossing to combine.
For the garfish, heat a barbecue to high or place a chargrill pan or heavy-based frying pan over high heat. Brush garfish with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place fillets skin down on preheated barbecue and cook for 1–2 minutes. Carefully turn the fish and cook for 30 seconds, then remove immediately.
To serve, place cooked garfish on a platter. Add the fried shallots and herb mixture to the eggplant salad, tossing to combine, then pile salad onto the platter with the cooked garfish, drizzling any leftover dressing over the fish.
Adelaide Central Market: Stories, people & recipes also features trader profiles for every stall in the market, as well as hundreds more delicious seasonal recipes. Our publicist, Ayesha, also has her beautiful ceramics featured in the book.
Perfect for a Christmas gift for yourself, or the foodie in your life, copies are available now and rushing out of the door. To purchase a copy, visit us in store in our Mile End bookshop, or find the book online. You can also read a larger extract of the book by clicking the link here.
Interested in other cooking titles new and old? Follow the link here to see the rest of our wonderful culinary titles.
On a Clare Day might be one of our favourite pun titles, but it’s also a wonderful book, and is launching today as part of the Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend. Jeni and Burt Surmon’s tale of leaving their city life to start a winery includes a number of delicious recipes, a few which of course incorporate some of their Mt Surmon wines! These beef cheeks sound like exactly the thing for an Autumn Sunday lunch.
4 beef cheeks
150 mL olive oil
1 x 400 g tin of tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
1 onion, chopped
1 red capsicum, chopped
2 sticks celery, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
handful of parsley, chopped
2 springs of sage, chopped
2 sprigs of rosemary, chopped
4 sprigs of thyme, chopped
salt, pepper, grated nutmeg
250 mL beef stock
half a bottle of Nebbiolo (Mt Surmon or otherwise!)
Wash the cheeks well. Put half of the oil into a large saucepan and sauté the cheeks until brown on both sides. Remove the cheeks.
Add the remaining oil, vegetables, tinned tomatoes and tomato paste to the pot, cook for a few minutes then add the garlic, spices and herbs, and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to stop from sticking, in which case add a little stock.
Now add the cheeks, stock and red wine. Reduce the heat, put the lid on and cook gently for 5 hours.
Want to know what it’s like to start a winery? Find our more about On a Clare Day here.
The Easter Bunny may be cute and cuddly, but he’s a real pest in Australia (which is why we recommend the Haigh’s Easter Bilby instead – see below). A century ago Australia was home to 10 billion rabbits, thriving in their adopted home. Storyteller Bruce Munday finds the rabbit saga irresistible, and has collected it into his new book, Those Wild Rabbits. The book features this excerpt from the Age in 1925, including a recipe for baked rabbit with apple sauce.
Visitors from England often express surprise that rabbits, which are a delicacy in Europe, are often despised here. They are the cheapest of the white meats with us, and if properly prepared, yield to none, in delicacy of flavor. White meats are both more digestible and freer from those deleterious substances which in beef and mutton contribute to the rise of blood pressure and all its attendant evils. During the winter months first-quality rabbits are difficult to obtain, but the young spring ones are just coming on to the market now, and lend themselves to varieties of tasty cooking. Part of the unpopularity of rabbit here is probably due to the fact that methods of preparation are stereotyped, but the following recipes will give dishes which are both economical and appetising.
Before cooking always soak the rabbit in salt and water for 30 minutes.
Take a moderate sized rabbit and spread over it slices of carrot, onions, lemon and bacon. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, mixed spices and a few cloves, enclose in greased paper and cook in a hot oven. Make the sauce from six apples, the juice and grated rind of an orange, sugar and a little water. Pour the sauce over the rabbit and serve hot as possible. N.B. – If preferred, the rabbit can be stuffed before baking with any ordinary forcemeat.
(Age, 20 October 1925, p. 6)
‘Western Beach’ (SA), 1900 [State Library of South Australia]
Find out more about Those Wild Rabbits here.
Do you eat your almonds raw or ‘activated’? Do you swear by them as a hangover cure? In her book Willunga Almonds Helen Bennetts discusses some of the real and imagined health benefits of almonds over the years. We’ve also included her delicious recipe for Smoked trout, almond and potato salad. Perfection!
Since ancient times various health benefits have been attributed to almonds. Greek physician Hippocrates and his followers used almonds to treat coughs, as an aphrodisiac and for weight gain which you can also boost by using this steroids for sale.
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Along with other medicinal uses of almonds inherited from the Greeks, the Romans believed that bitter almonds could counteract the effects of wine. Plutarch wrote of a well-known heavy drinker who would eat five or six bitter almonds and avoid drunkenness. This was attributed to the bitterness of the almonds that ‘dries the inside of the body and keeps the veins from being overcharged’.
An ancient Chinese medical text, Materia Dietetica, lists many uses for almonds including bringing down Qi, relieving coughing, reducing acute pain in the heart and lungs and removing intestinal blockages.
More recent studies carried out by medical practitioners from GSHS.org reveal that almonds help to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and diabetes and to reduce cholesterol, facilitate weight loss and inhibit cancer cell growth – little wonder that they are promoted as a ‘superfood’.
Almonds contain protein, carbohydrate and concentrations of calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, as well as vitamins from groups B and E. They also have a high content of fat (both monounsaturated and polyunsaturated) and the highest fibre content of any nut or seed. In the last decade the connection between almonds and health has been an important aspect of the promotion of almonds and has been linked to a dramatic increase in consumption, and plantings, of almonds.
Almonds are included in many specialised diets. They are a source of protein for vegetarians and vegans; almond meal and almond flour can replace wheat flour in gluten-free diets for coeliacs and people who wish to avoid gluten; and almond milk is a common substitute for cow’s milk for people who are lactose intolerant.
Almonds have a low glycaemic index (GI) and are often recommended for people with type 2 diabetes, or who want to control their weight. Studies have shown that snacking on raw almonds can help control blood sugar levels and moderate appetite. This may be because of their crunchiness and the need to chew them well but also because almonds are a rich source of magnesium, which is important for carbohydrate metabolism.
The so-called Paleolithic diet popularised the idea of ‘activated’ almonds – almonds soaked in water for at least 12 hours and then dehydrated. Proponents say this process removes phytates and allows nutrients to be absorbed. Others maintain there is no basis for this claim and that phytates have anti-cancer and anti-oxidant properties that are lost in the process. Debate and research continues.
Despite their health benefits, some people are allergic to almonds. There has been an unexplained growth in the number of allergic reactions to different foods in the last 20 years. Allergic reactions to tree nuts (a group that includes almonds) are not as common as reactions to peanuts. However, care should be exercised when introducing almonds to young children and they should be avoided by people who have experienced severe reactions to peanuts and other tree nuts.
Smoked trout, almond and potato salad
Trout and almonds are a classic combination made famous through the French dish Trout Amandine: pan-fried trout garnished with flaked almonds browned in butter. This salad is a delicious combination for lunch when the weather warms up.
Serves 4–6
8 waxy potatoes (such as Bintje or Nicola), cut into chunks
1 smoked trout, skin and bones removed and flaked into pieces
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp capers
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
3 radishes, finely sliced
80 g chopped almonds
Place chopped potatoes in saucepan of boiling water and simmer until just cooked. Set aside to cool.
In a bowl place flaked pieces of trout, parsley, spring onions, garlic and capers. Mix through potatoes, oil and lemon zest and juice and season to taste.
Garnish with radish slices and chopped almonds.
For more about the health benefits of almonds and more delicious recipes, check out Willunga Almonds here.
One of the many great stories in Liz Harfull’s The Blue Ribbon Cookbook comes from Paul Hansen, and his delicious orange cake:
You would be hard-pushed to describe Paul Hansen as a typical show cook. Born and bred at historic Kulcurna Station near Lake Victoria, Paul counts taxidermy, song writing and photography among his many skills. He also makes a mean orange cake. Although he has been known to whip up a six-course dinner party for 80 people to raise money for the local gun club, his training for the task was far from conventional. ‘I work away a lot in mustering camps and I am normally head cook and bottle washer for eight to ten people, but there is not a lot of cake cooking,’ he says.
Like many country show towns, Renmark has introduced a men’s only cake competition in recent years to generate fresh interest in cookery. The contest is fierce in this Riverland version, which celebrates local produce by insisting the blokes make an orange cake using a recipe provided. Paul won first prize in 2007 with a cake decorated by torchlight on the bonnet of his ute; he had to do it at the last minute after being held up organising entries for the wool section, which he convenes. ‘I don’t take it too seriously. I just came in after work one evening, threw everything into a bowl, mixed it up, put it in the oven and off we went,’ he says. ‘I just did what they said I had to do in the show book.’
Paul has also been known to enter taxidermy in the craft section. He studied the relatively lost art by correspondence about eighteen years ago, and has sometimes been asked by wildlife services to help preserve animals and birds for display. ‘I don’t know what got me into it,’ he confesses. ‘But I don’t do heads on walls. I am more interested in preservation.’
Through his volunteering and competing at the show, Paul is following a long-standing family tradition. His great grandfather exhibited at the very first Renmark Show, and the society is due to hold its 100th event in 2010. It comes at a time when the show society is gaining a new lease of life, winning a Community Event of the Year award and drawing more patrons. Among the most popular attractions are the vintage tractor and stationery engine displays, a ute muster, native animal displays, and a giant sandpit for the children.
Paul Hansen’s Orange Cake
85 g butter (or margarine), softened
3 eggs (50 g each)
11⁄4 cups SR flour, sifted
1⁄2 cup castor sugar
90 ml orange juice
grated rind of one navel orange
Preheat the oven to moderate (180 ºC in a conventional electric oven).
Grease a 20 cm round cake pan, and line the base.
Put the butter, eggs, flour, sugar, orange juice and rind in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown and firm to the touch.
Victoria Cosford’s Amore and Amaretti is a food-lover’s delight: a romance, an escape and a tribute to Italian cooking all in one.
Here, she describes old widower Annunzio, with whom she had to share a flat at Portoferraio while they were both working at the same restaurant. At first she is daunted by the old man, but soon she finds comfort in his gentleness and eccentricity, not to mention his baked stuff sardines …
Annunzio soaks his underwear in Omino Bianco bleach; returning to our apartment, I see the line of large, blindingly white square underpants and billowing singlets which marks his bedroom window. Each evening before work, he and I pause briefly for a spumantino at the same bar.
At night after Annunzio and I have scrubbed the kitchen down, we set up a small table and two chairs out the back of the kitchen and have our dinners. I only ever eat two things, which I alternate: char-grilled swordfish with Annunzio’s lemon-olive oil emulsion drizzled over the top, or bulgy buffalo mozzarella sliced with ovals of sweet San Marzano tomatoes and spicy basil. This too is Annunzio’s favourite meal, the tomatoes at their peak of ripeness, their glossy egg shapes sliced vertically and arranged over the cheese.
All Annunzio’s movements are ponderous. He rotates his thick fingers slowly over the plate, salt and pepper scattering. The basil leaves, the new green olive oil, and then the slow messy business of eating – teeth clicking, oil spraying, bread sopping up the juices and gumming his conversation. We both eat too much bread and drink too much wine, and then wander, two unlikely friends, down to Bar Roma at the water’s edge to sit watching the boats. Annunzio tells me stories from his life over his baby whisky; I spoon pistachio-green gelato into my mouth from a silver dish and feel safe and very young.
Annunzio’s stories all follow the same pattern: past restaurants he has owned or managed, which failed, leaving him jobless, defeated, disillusioned and desperately poor. People he had trusted who had turned their backs; countries he had lived in, whose languages he had learned, which had finally disenchanted him. The woman he should have married and whom he still loves instead of the sick woman who was his wife. His huge yellow teeth seem to bite something – perhaps the air – as he speaks. The clicking boats with lives of their own, their rhythmic nodding, canvas clapping, are like some massive beast slumbering restlessly. That he can make me feel like this – sweet somehow, and pure, and uncorrupted – is one of the best reasons for loving him.
Annunzio’s blunt fingers press mixture into splayed sardines. L’impasto consists of bread soaked in milk, finely chopped parsley and garlic, ground mortadella, grated parmesan, sultanas and pine nuts. He shows me how to pinch up the sides of the sardines and place them in neat rows in a baking tray, slipping a bay leaf in between each. Then he splashes white wine over the top and bakes them for about fifteen minutes.
Sarde al Beccafico
(Baked stuffed sardines)
2 slices day-old rustic bread
Milk
2 tablespoons sultanas
2 tablespoons pine nuts
80–100 grams mortadella, as finely chopped as possible
2 tablespoons grana or parmesan, freshly grated
Grated rind 1 lemon
2 fat cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2/3 bunch parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
750 grams fresh sardines, filleted and butterflied
Bay leaves
White wine
Olive oil
Preheat oven to 200 °C. Soak bread in milk briefly, then squeeze dry. Place in a bowl together with sultanas, pine nuts, mortadella, cheese, lemon rind, garlic and parsley, season with salt and pepper and combine well. Place about a teaspoon of mixture in the middle of each sardine and arrange on baking tray with a bay leaf between each. Sprinkle wine over the top and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve as part of an antipasto.
The cold is well and truly here, so it’s time to shed your summer skin and step into your winter layers. I can think of no better way to weather the worst of it than with a good book (from Wakefield Press, naturally), your fuzziest socks, and an exaggerated portion of a hot dessert. Give your muffin top a proper welcome to winter with this (vegan!) bread and butter pudding, featured alongside heaps of other great recipes in Divine Vegan Desserts by Lisa Fabry, available here.
250-300g good white bread, sliced thinly (about 6-8 slices)
¼c (50g) dairy-free spread
¼c (50g) sugar
½c (80g) raisins or sultanas
¼c chickpea (besan) flour
2 tbsp cornflour
2c (500mL) oat, rice or soy milk
Oven 180˚C/350˚F/Gas 4
1. Grease a glass or ceramic baking dish, about 20cm x 20cm (8” x 8”)
2. Spread each slice of bread thickly with dairy-free spread, reserving a little spread for the top. Cut each slice into four triangles.
3. Place a layer of bread slices, spread side up, in the bottom of the dish, cutting pieces to fit in the gaps. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar and about half the raisins or sultanas.
4. Cover with another layer of bread, another tablespoon of sugar and the rest of the dried fruit.
5. Finish with a layer of bread, overlapping the slices so that the points of the triangles stick up a little – these corners should turn brown and crispy.
6. Mix the chickpea flour and cornflour in a large jug or bowl. Gradually whisk in the milk. Pour the mixture evenly over the bread slices.
7. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour to allow the bread to soak up some of the liquid.
8. Sprinkle the rest of the sugar on top of the pudding and dot with the remaining dairy-free spread.
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until crisp and golden brown.
And that’s it! Wait for it to cool to a safe temperature so as to not burn your tongue (I learned that one the hard way), then grab a spoon and kick back. Or share it with friends and family. You know, whichever.