Heilala Vanilla - Creamy Vanilla Rice Pudding

We can't wait to test the latest recipe from Heilala Vanilla, a creamy rice pudding will be a perfect winter warmer indulgence in the coming months.

Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons white rice
4 Tablespoons Heilala Vanilla Sugar
3 cups of milk
1 Tablespoon Heilala Vanilla Paste

Method:
Heat the milk slowly. Whisk in the vanilla paste and vanilla sugar and stir to dissolve.
Add the rice and pour into a shallow ovenproof dish.
Cook in a oven at 150 degrees C uncovered for 1.5-2 hours, stirring half way through.
The pudding should be creamy and just set.
Serve warm with a dusting of cocoa or cinnamon. Serves 4.

For information on Heilala Vanilla products click here.

Ashbolt Farm Elderberry Concentrate = Perfect Winter Remedy

What makes winter bearable? Ashbolt Farm's Elderberry Concentrate. As seen in the months Country Style Magazine (see below for snip-it from Flavours section of the magazine), for a Hot Toddy pour hot water over the syrup to taste and add lemon rind and spices such as cloves, cinnamon and ginger.

An alternative for those who prefer a subtle flavour, add a dash of Elderberry Concentrate to hot water and lemon and serve as a tea. Perfect for comforting those winter sniffles.

Elderberries have been proven to reduce the intensity and duration of colds or flu by half. For more details on the health benefits of elderberry and elderflower click here.
Head to www.gershgoods.com.au for details on ordering.

Peter Watson Thai Chicken Green Curry

Last week the Gersh team were warmed with another Peter Watson south east Asian range dish, beautifully cooked by Darren Gershbach.
This particular Thai Green Curry was served with chicken and rice.

Traditionally this spice mix is cooked in a split coconut cream. To do this take one can of coconut cream and place in a frying pan (this will be the pan you cook the curry in so choose well), place on a high heat to boil then reduce to low heat to evaporate, in approximately 12-14 minutes the mix will split, give up it's oil and become very thick.
Add to this 2 heaped dessert spoons of  Peter Watson Thai Green Curry paste and fry until the aroma is fragrant.
Add 500gm of chicken that is diced in the Thai style (4cm by 1cm by 2cm) and begin to cook. Add another can of coconut milk and continue to cook, add 2 dessert spoons full of fish sauce and 1 heaped spoonful of palm sugar. Kaffir Lime leaves can be added at this stage (the paste mix does contain some).
Continue cooking until the meat is tender and some of the liquids have evaporated leaving a thick rich curry as a result.

In Thailand a pure meat curry would not happen, it would contain a vegetable of some kind, usually the small pea shaped eggplants found natively. If these can not be found may we suggest small green peas.
Vegetables should be added approximately 20 minutes after you have cooked the meat.

Serve this curry with white rice and accompany with more chopped chili in a vinegar water combination.

FW: Sami's Kitchen - Grilled Baby Chicken with Shish Tawook

 

 

From: David Johnson [mailto:noaadmin@bigpond.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 10 May 2011 11:12 AM
To: 'gershgoods.marketing.ggblog@blogger.com'
Subject: Sami's Kitchen - Grilled Baby Chicken with Shish Tawook

 

Sebastian Luximon – International Chef at Cucina Italiana, Newport has created a recipe using Sami’s Kitchen spice Shish Tawook.

We can’t wait to try this one out for ourselves.

Grilled baby chicken with Shish Tawook, rocket baby beetroot and tomato chutney

Ingredients

Baby chicken/ Spatchcock

Garlic

Olive oil

Rocket salad

Baby beetroot

2 tomatoes

White vinegar

Sugar

1 Onion

1 bunch of Parsley

Balsamic Vinegar

 

Method

 

1. Marinate the chicken with 3 tablespoon of Shish Tawook, 1 clove of garlic crushed and olive oil for 1 hour

2. Cook in a pan the diced tomatoes, with a quarter of diced onion and garlic together until it becomes soft and add about quarter cup of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Cook until everything become soft and add the parsley at the end.

3. Make a dressing with the vinegar and olive oil to add to the rocket and beetroot salad.

4. Grilled the chicken on a barbecue until cooked and serve with the tomato chutney and salad.

Sami's Kitchen - Grilled Baby Chicken with Shish Tawook

Sebastian Luximon – International Chef at Cucina Italiana, Newport has created a recipe using Sami’s Kitchen spice Shish Tawook.

We can’t wait to try this one out for ourselves.

Grilled baby chicken with Shish Tawook, rocket baby beetroot and tomato chutney

Ingredients

Baby chicken/ Spatchcock

Garlic

Olive oil

Rocket salad

Baby beetroot

2 tomatoes

White vinegar

Sugar

1 Onion

1 bunch of Parsley

Balsamic Vinegar

 

Method

 

1. Marinate the chicken with 3 tablespoon of Shish Tawook, 1 clove of garlic crushed and olive oil for 1 hour

2. Cook in a pan the diced tomatoes, with a quarter of diced onion and garlic together until it becomes soft and add about quarter cup of vinegar and 1 tablespoon of sugar.

Cook until everything become soft and add the parsley at the end.

3. Make a dressing with the vinegar and olive oil to add to the rocket and beetroot salad.

4. Grilled the chicken on a barbecue until cooked and serve with the tomato chutney and salad.

Peter Watson Fish Penang (Thai Style) Curry

This beautiful fish curry was cooked for us by Darren Gersbach not long ago using the Peter Watson Penang (Thai Style) Curry paste from the new SE Asia paste range. We loved it so much we thought we would share the recipe with you.

500gm of fish cut into bite sized pieces for a cooking time of 20 minutes
If desired mixed seafood can be used and added to the curry in order of cooking time (Darren used mussels, calamari and prawns)
1 can of coconut milk
3 dessert spoons of Peter Watson Penang Curry Paste

Place the coconut milk into a saucepan and add the curry paste, cook until oil starts to rise.
Add the fish and 2 dessert spoons full of fish sauce, 1 dessert spoon full of palm sugar and if you have them a couple of lime leaves.
Allow to cook slowly until you have a dryish curry that you can serve with white rice and garnish with chilli.
You can also add to the curry a mixture of asian greens such as bok choy, choy sum and pea shoots.

This delicious dish will not be forgotten by the Gersh team.

Sensory Evaluation

In the course of a regular gershgoods week, we talk to and meet the most interesting and inspired food-people, and have the every-day pleasure of learning so much from each other. However some days, some exchanges, and some people are extra, extra special. A few weeks ago, two of our most esteemed food-friends treated us to a more formal exchange of knowledge.

Renowned cheese expert, judge & sensory evaluator Russell Smith and his partner Sally, encouraged the whole gershgoods team to close the warehouse for the afternoon, get out from behind our desks, behind the wheel and behind the packing benches, and participate in a Sensory Evaluation - a revealing educational afternoon in the field of sensory perception - How and Why we Taste.

From our personal relationship with Russell, we know he really tastes his food and wine, and meals with him and Sally are always fascinating and especially enjoyable. However, in this educational we came to truly understand where he is coming from, and the importance of knowing our palates and our own taste thresholds. So, what we thought would be a pretty interesting afternoon turned out to be totally revolutionary!

Russell explained that the existing simplistic theory of palate break-down - the idea of sweet, salty, sour and bitter tastebuds is actually incorrect. In fact there is a lot more to understand about taste than this simplistic theory. To outline this Russell explained flavour perception and taste thresholds.

Through tasting, we analysed our own taste thresholds and compared them to studies conducted across Australia. We were tested to find out at what strength could we detect a particular flavour. The results were exciting and revealing - we each found out if we on, above or below the average level of detection.

Following this exercise we were presented with a cheese judging experiment where we applied our new knowledge. We tasted and compared our detection of five key taste components across a range of cheeses - Cheddar, Brie, Camembert and Blue from various producers around Australia.

As this theory is now shaping the understanding of producers and chefs around Australia, understanding these principles and having a sensory experience of it was vital for us as a food-team. It was also a pretty fantastic way to spend the afternoon, and has left us all inspired, informed and excited about tasting every little sip and new bite.

To find out more about Russell Smith and his Sensory Evaluations, take a look at the Electrolux Appetite for Excellence website. www.appetiteforexcellence.com