The Hungry Australian

Moscato Stewed Quinces

Mon, 20 May 2013 01:22:42 GMT

A few days ago the kids and I got caught in a heavy shower as we went for a walk and scooter ride along the beach foreshore. As we hurried back to the car, my three year old fell over and hurt his knee so I carried him the rest of the way while trying not to slip on the wet paving stones. All in all, it was fairly grim and it seemed to fit the general theme of the last week.

Ten days ago, the father of one of my BFFs (Best Friends Forever) was discovered by his wife to have passed away peacefully in his sleep. His death was unexpected and I wept for my friend when I heard the news. Her father was someone I'd known since I was 12 and he and his wife attended my wedding.

The funeral was held last Tuesday. During the service the celebrant related stories of T's humour, his generosity and his thoughtfulness. She told of his great love for his grandchildren and his unwavering conviction that they were the most beautiful and smartest children in the world. She read tributes from his wife and daughter that brought more tears to my eyes.

When you lose someone important, the hole they leave in your life cannot be filled by anyone else. You miss them, and no one else will do.

The celebrant comforted the assembled mourners by explaining that people live on in the hearts of those who loved them forever. She said that when someone close to us leaves us we have a choice: we can choose to celebrate their life or we can focus on our pain. We can think about our loss or treasure all that they have left behind.

I agree with her, of course, but when a loss is recent the pain is raw and immense. At this stage, children are a marvellous distraction - they have needs that need to be met no matter how you're feeling. Later on, when our grief and longing for the past becomes almost unbearable we have our memories, photographs and cherished keepsakes to help comfort us.

My friend is heading back to Sydney today so on Saturday I hosted a lunch with my two BFFs and their families, my friend's mother and my parents. As we've all lived in different cities for quite some time it was the first time everyone had sat down together like this in many, many years.

I wanted to cook a comforting yet special lunch. For appetizers I made a tray filled with bowls full of marinated Kalamata olives, dried goji and mixed berries, roasted peanuts from Malaysia, King Island Camembert, water crackers, dolmades and Barossa Fine Foods ham.

People helped themselves to drinks (cloudy apple juice, old-fashioned lemonade, white wine and water with fresh lime slices) and picked at the appetizers while I prepared the beans and salad and my friend prepared the garlic bread. Our kids ran and crawled all over the house and garden, alternately playing and fighting. The Adelaide crew had only met the Sydney crew that week but they were already operating like a street gang, with all the usual tensions, leadership struggles and faction-forming.

For mains I served roast pork loin with crackling (made by my dad), penne with home-made pasta sauce, caramelised roasted pumpkin (made by my dad), green beans with EVOO, garlic, salt + lemon, blood orange and pomegranate salad (made with normal oranges as blood oranges were unavailable), and garlic bread.

With so many people -- 8 adults, 5 kids and 1 baby -- the adults had lunch in the dining room while we put the kids (aged 2, 3, 3, 5 and 6) in the lounge room around the coffee table. One of my friends served the kids their food while I continued plating up for the adults.

"Are they alright?" I asked her when she came back into the dining room.

"It's like Lord of the Flies out there," she dead-panned.

For dessert we had crème caramel (made by my mum) served with these moscato stewed quinces and biscuits and chocolates. Quinces are such a lovely fruit. Raw, they have a subtle sweet fragrance like a pear -- quinces are in the same family as pears and apples -- but as they cook their fragrance intensifies. If I could create a perfume that replicated the smell of cooking quinces I would make millions. You heard it first here, people.

After such a sad week, it was lovely to spend some quality time together. It was a nice reminder that good can come out of any situation, no matter how bad the circumstances.

By the way, after we got caught in the rain, something unexpected happened. As I drove home I noticed the most magnificent golden sun peeking through the thick bank of grey clouds and shining down onto the slate-grey sea. It was the most stunning sight, and one we wouldn't have seen if not for the rain.

Life is a journey through light and shade. Move gracefully through the dark times, create joyful moments, hug your loved ones and celebrate the beauty to be found all around you.

Ingredients - Moscato Quinces

1 bottle moscato (750mls)
1/2 whole lemon, unwaxed if possible
1 cup water
3 quinces, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract (or 1 vanilla bean pod, split lengthwise)
50mls rice malt syrup

Ingredients - Stewed Quinces (no alcohol)

4 cups water
1/2 whole lemon, unwaxed if possible
3 quinces, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon vanilla bean extract (or 1 vanilla bean pod, split lengthwise)
200mls rice malt syrup

This alcohol-free recipe is inspired by David Lebovitz.

Method

For both recipes above, place all ingredients into a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.
Cover and simmer over low heat for two hours, stirring occasionally.
Serve with crème caramel, vanilla ice cream or Greek honey and yoghurt. Alternatively you could pile the quinces on top of a custard tart or use them in a crumble. I also like eating stewed quinces with muesli and yoghurt for breakfast.

Notes

When choosing quinces, look for fruit with smooth, unblemished skins.
Quinces are an exceptionally hard fruit so use your sharpest knife and best peeler on them and watch your fingers.
Moscato is the Italian word for muscat, which are the grapes used in this light, slightly fizzy, super fragrant white wine. I used Peter Lehmanns' Princess Moscato.

More Quince Recipes

Braised Pork and Beans inspired by Mrs Andersen

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:03:50 GMT

When my mother arrived in Australia in the 60s as a high school student from Hong Kong she didn't know how to boil water.

It was her German/Australian landlady, Mrs Andersen (pictured below with her husband), who taught her how to cook.

One of our favourite family recipes -- Stir-Fried Pork and Beans -- is actually a variation of a recipe Mrs Andersen taught my mother. Apparently Mrs Andersen learned about Chinese cooking techniques and recipes from cookbooks. It's funny to think that my mother was taught how to cook Chinese food by a German/Australian but that's how it was.

This Braised Pork and Beans recipe, that I developed recently for Bertolli Olive Oil, is a variation on my mother's recipe, which in turn was a variation of Mrs Andersen's. I've fancied it up a little, added quite a lot of ginger and used dark soy sauce instead of light soy sauce but in essence it is similar. It's rich and comforting, which makes it perfect for those cooler nights when the sun falls quickly and it's dark in the late afternoon.

Mrs Andersen died before I was born so I don't remember her unfortunately. However, I think she'd be quietly pleased to know that she is remembered so fondly, and that her cooking is now inspiring a new generation of cooks. That's how powerful a legacy the food that we cook can leave.

INGREDIENTS

1 litre water
1 kilogram boneless pork ribs or pork belly
2 tablespoons Bertolli extra light olive oil
2.5 inch piece ginger, peeled and sliced into 0.5cm pieces
2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 star anise
1 stick cassia bark (substitute with a cinnamon stick)
1 cup water
400 grams trimmed green beans, cut into 2 inch pieces
Salt to taste

METHOD

Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan and then drop pork in. Cook for about six minutes and then remove from water and rinse in fresh water. Cut pork into one inch pieces
Heat up a wok until smoking and add two tablespoons Bertolli extra light olive oil. Add one tablespoon white sugar and stir until completely dissolved.
Add pork and ginger pieces and cook over medium-high flame, stirring regularly, for around 3 minutes until browning nicely.
Mix in Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, star anise, cassia/cinnamon, and one cup water.
You can then either: 1) Turn heat down to low, cover with a lid and cook for one hour and 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then mix in the beans and cook for a further 10 minutes; or 2) Place pork into a pressure cooker and cook for nine minutes. Then unlock the pressure cooker, mix in the beans and then cook pork and beans for ten minutes as a normal pot (not a pressure cooker); or 3) Place pork and beans into a slow cooker and cook for 7-8 hours.
Taste and add ½-1 teaspoon salt if required before serving.

Note: I was commissioned by Bertolli to make this recipe but I have not been compensated to write this post. I just really like this recipe and wanted to share it here, too.

A Lovely Afternoon Tea

Sat, 04 May 2013 15:24:01 GMT

A few weeks ago I decided to throw an afternoon tea. Between work and family commitments I've been a neglectful friend lately so I thought it was a good way to catch up with a whole lot of girlfriends at once.

In the week leading up to my afternoon tea I was chuffed to learn that I was a finalist in the Best Australian Blogs 2013 competition. Later, I was amazed to hear that I'd won the Outstanding Use of Photography award for my post on Dubai's markets and souks. Thank you Australian Writers' Centre - I'm really feeling the love.

So the afternoon tea today felt like an impromptu celebration.

Let's have a look at all the dishes one by one, shall we? We'll start with savoury.

Cheese Board

A Cheese Platter with Tasmanian Heritage Double Brie, King Island Cheddar, Gorgonzola Dolce, wafers and a fig and almond paste. Click here for tips on putting together a cheese board.

Cold Meat Platter

Here I've chosen four different cold meats -- Hamwurst, Mortadella, Paprika Lyoner and Bierschinken with Pistachio Nuts -- from Standom.

Beetroot Hummus

This gorgeous looking dip was made by Nicola who blended chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, beetroot and salt together. The beetroot gives the hummus a sweet flavour while the cucumber adds some refreshing crunch.

Vietnamese King Prawn Cold Rolls

My mum and our friend Ruta came over a bit earlier to help out and ending up making my plate of rolls for me - thank you! I'll blog Vietnamese Cold Rolls properly at some point but for this dish you need King prawns split length-wise, cold vermicelli rice noodles, cucumber, carrot, mint, coriander, basil and rice paper wrappers. I made the sauce with a mixture of satay sauce, hoisin sauce, sweet chilli sauce, rice wine vinegar and lime juice.

Vietnamese Pork Rolls

I've blogged a Vietnamese Pork Bun recipe before so head over there if you want to know how to make my cocktail party version of Vietnamese Pork Rolls.

Smoked Salmon Dip & Corn Relish Dip

This Smoked Salmon Dip is super easy and so much better than the stuff you buy in tubs. Simply blend 100 grams smoked salmon, 200 grams softened cream cheese, juice of half a lemon, 2 tablespoons water and 1/2 teaspoon drained capers. The Corn Relish Dip is even simpler than the salmon. Simply blend a jar of corn relish with a block of softened cream cheese. Easy, right?

Sweet & Salty Popcorn

This stuff is like crack. Once you start eating it you don't ever want to stop.

Cherry Cake

This Cherry Cake was made by Ruta. Sadly I didn't get to try it but I've eaten Ruta's food countless times over the years and she's an excellent cook so I'm sure it was delicious.

Cream Puffs

When my mum asked me what she should make for today I said, "cream puffs. Make a tower of cream puffs with toffee like you did for my birthday when I was little."

My mother laughed. "I bought that cake. Oh Christina, you're so naive."

Thanks mum - another childhood illusion shattered. These cream puffs she did make were awfully nice though.

Friands

My lovely sister in law made these delicious friands. They were such a great size - perfect for an afternoon tea party.

Lemon Slice

This gluten-free, no-bake lemon slice was made by Kate. It was so good that I have told Kate she has to blog it soon or there will be trouble.

UPATED: Kate has blogged the lemon slice recipe. Thanks Kate!

Mini Pavlovas

Celeste made these pink and white beauties. Well, technically, she assembled them but she's put them together very nicely. Hey, I've just realised that the garnish is parsley not mint - Celeste, what kind of crazy fusion food game are you playing? ;)

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes & Raspberry Cupcakes

Tash is a fantastic baker who is currently studying patisserie at Tafe and food studies at University. She brought along these fantastic Chocolate Guinness cupcakes, Raspberry Cupcakes and Gluten Free Orange Cupcakes. Thanks Tash!

All three cupcakes were topped with a celestial vanilla bean cream cheese icing.

To accompany the food, we drank delicious Strawberry Champagne Cocktails made by Megan, sangria and champagne. Megan's cocktail was so good I'm going to blog it separately.

There was so much food left at the end of the day that I sent everyone home with a plate of food.

Life usually rushes by at a frantic pace so it was a lovely to spend a few hours eating, drinking and talking with friends. I need to do this more often.

Thanks for a lovely afternoon, chums xx

Meet a Food Lover: George Ujvary (The Foodologist)

Thu, 02 May 2013 17:09:16 GMT

George Ujvary is a multi-tasker with an appetite for the delicious things in life. He is managing director of his family business, Olga's Fine Foods, a small-goods and meat manufacturer, sits on the board of FoodSA, South Australia's peak industry body for the food and beverage industry, and blogs at The Foodologist, one of Adelaide's earliest food blogs. He also has a Masters in Gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu and studied the Le Cordon Bleu Masters of Arts (Gastronomy) at Adelaide University.

Everybody, meet George!

George, have you always known that you would work in the food industry?

I've grown up around the food industry with parents first running a restaurant and then running a food business so it was always a possibility that I would enter the food industry. As a teen, I worked in the family business delivering products and working in the factory during my school and University breaks but it wasn't until I finished my doctorate at Oxford that I made the decision to join the family business and consequently the food industry. The decision to come back to not only to the family food business but also the South Australian food industry and Adelaide itself is one that I don't regret.

As a food manufacturer, what are some of your biggest challenges?

The food industry is an increasingly competitive marketplace with high levels of competition due to relatively low barriers to entry. As a result, firms need to be able to constantly improve their operational efficiency whilst maintaining product quality and a strong brand in order to be profitable in the long term. Similarly, industries across the board (as well as residential sectors) have also faced significant increases in the cost of power and other utilities which increases the costs of doing business.

What is most important though in particular for South Australia, is that food businesses whilst continuing to promote their own brands, also promote the benefits of buying local food. Buying your food from local producers not only makes good sense from the perspective of quality but also promotes the local economy so eating local is win/win for all South Australians.

This has been evident recently in the media coverage given to Spring Gully who recently went into administration. Thankfully, there has so far been strong support by consumers and we as an industry hope that the firm will be able to trade out of the difficulties it has encountered.

This example, however, highlights the need for consumers to continue to support local food companies on an ongoing basis.The ability of Australia to feed itself needs to be seen not only for its commercial value but also as an ongoing national strategic asset. If we let this ability diminish, it takes a long time to rebuild as animals, crops and expertise cannot be replaced overnight.

Australia has the potential to see tremendous growth in its food output as the world's population continues to expand, however if firms are uncertain or unable to finance growth or innovation, we will lose much more than we will gain simply through gaining short term price advantages through importing which is currently more viable due to the strong Australian dollar.

You're also on the board of Food SA.What are some of the things you have done or hope to do for SA food producers and manufacturers?

It is a privilege to serve on the board of FoodSA with a highly proactive and extremely competent CEO and board members representing some of South Australia's most prominent food businesses. Our aims are to promote South Australian food to local consumers both in South Australia and interstate as well as abroad.

The organisation serves its members by engaging various stakeholders to ensure that the voice of the South Australian food industry is heard in the most positive way. Every time a South Australian food company wins an award or praise either locally or globally, the entire profile of every food business in South Australia is lifted just a little bit. It is my aim to ensure that whenever or wherever this happens, as many people know about it as possible.

In the coming months, I am looking forward to participating in a food mission to Hong Kong and Shanghai with FoodSA not only to help promote the message regarding South Australian foods but also to gain a better understanding about some of the fastest growing market opportunities for food companies that currently exist.

Similarly, it is important in light of recent events that have been made public regarding our food industry that local firms are 'front of mind' when consumers choose what goes on to their plate. This is in part where the local blogging community can help, by highlighting our growers, producers, manufacturers, retails outlets, restaurants, chefs and anyone else that supports the South Australian food industry. Thankfully, South Australia is blessed with a great number of talented brands, people and outlets that there are more than enough great stories to go around.

The recent Spring Gully response in the media and in particular, social media has demonstrated how this kind of support can make a difference and this kind of difference will ultimately go some way to help making the South Australian food industry more vibrant and stronger as we make consumers aware of the great food that is right on our doorstep.

Indeed. However writing about food is not as simple as some might think. What were the three most important things you learned from the Gastronomy course at Adelaide University?

Learning to write and in particular write about food from a group of wonderful teachers including Barbara Santich gave me the ability to verbalise my thoughts and feelings about food in a logical and more articulate manner but also within the perspective of the broader picture of food history and food culture. Through studying both the historical aspects of food and gaining a broader understanding of food culture in current society, it is much easier to understand why some things are happening in todays food scene and hopefully get a greater understanding of potentially lies ahead.

I would highly recommend that all food writing aspirants get a copy of Barbara's book, Looking for Flavour as the content and the style are in my opinion everything a food writer should aspire to. Additionally, an insight on food history both locally such as through Michael Symons' One Continuous Picnic and a general knowledge of food history will help aspiring gastronomes to understand why we currently eat the way we eat and why certain foods and food rituals have evolved the way in which they have. Another eye opener for me was the structure of writing a recipe which can be done in a number of ways but which is of great importance.

Finally, like with all writing, the use of words to evoke feelings and even texture, smell and taste were skills that doing this course really helped me to improve and the sheer joy of reading Brillat Savarin's Physiology of Taste or Somerset Maugham's Three Fat Women of Antibes really demonstrated the ability of a good writer to engage the reader. Another book I adore is Pauline Nguyen's Secrets of the Red Lantern which is so much more than just a cookbook and is beautifully written.

You do most of your writing over at your blog, The Foodologist, which has been running since 2005. What do you most enjoy blogging about?

The blog has really existed to serve as a sounding board of my feelings and thoughts about food. When I started the blog, I was alone in South Australia for a couple of years and looked either to people like Billy Law from A Table for Two and Helen Yee from Grab your Fork as well as Chez Pim and a number of others. Now, there are plenty of local Adelaide blogs and I am learning more about blogging from local bloggers than I did before from all the other blogs.

Since doing the gastronomy course, I have become more structured in my writing, sticking mainly to recipes, reviews (of which I have now really tried to more steer towards a description of my personal experiences of a place rather than a means of providing judgement) and the odd piece of gastronomic writing.

It is hard to describe what aspects I enjoy the most and each post is written about the topic or style of article I feel like writing at the time rather than as a result of sticking to a programme or formula. For a fairly long period of time, I really enjoyed posting reviews but since I started trying to be more healthy in the last couple of years, I have been eating out a lot less and cooking more at home so writing recipes has been more enjoyable in recent times. I have also taken a fairly keen interest in trying to document as many family recipes as possible to maintain the strong food culture that exists within my family. My background is Hungarian and Estonian and my wife is of Spanish and Indian descent so as a family we have a rich food culture from which to draw on. Therefore, there is every chance that you will start to see more recipes on the blog.

As a result of my food studies, I get sent a lot of food books so I quite enjoying reviewing cookbooks. Whilst many are what you would consider more conventional in nature, I was pleased to receive via an academic colleague a book on cooking with testicles which I was most happy to review!

I imagine they are an acquired taste! Now what would you cook for a special family celebration?

Family meals are a BIG thing in both my own and my parents and in-laws houses and the type of food eaten depends either on the type of celebration and who we are visiting. For a family meal, we typically eat a lot of Spanish, Indian, Hungarian and Estonian foods. Also, because I work in the meat industry, we eat a lot of BBQ's. I also love American style BBQ's with things such as smoked Beef Brisket, Pulled Pork, Pork Ribs and Beer Can Chicken.

During the festive season such as Christmas and Easter, we will typically eat a baked ham or turkey but will also include Scandinavian style potato salads in which will feature plenty of dill, sour cream and pickled herring or Estonian jellied meats known as Sult. For desserts at these meals, we will have Hungarian Beigli and Kifli. New Years Eve is usually the same meal every year which will start with Oysters, then Lobster Thermidor and finished with Crepe Suzette and the only drink served will be Champagne.

When we cook for friends, I like to cook out of some of my books. I love making David Chang's sous vide Eggs with grilled Asparagus and Miso Butter and I have loved some of the meals I have eaten by Luke Mangan at glass and Tze Khaw of the Adelaide Convention Centre where I will just try to make a dish the way I remember it. Another great meal was when we cooked a six course meal for friends from Mrs A.B. Marshall's Book of Cookery (The 'original' Martha Stewart!) in honour of our house which was built around the time of the book's release. Other times, I will just try to demonstrate an idea.

The most important thing for me though with a family meal is the sharing of the table. Whilst we might cook some great food at times, sometimes, the best meals might be a simple steak and salad so long as it is shared with the people you love that makes all the difference.

I couldn't agree more. Now what are some of your favourite places to eat in Adelaide and what do you order at each place?

Unless it is somewhere new that we are trying for the first time, we tend to go to different places for specific dishes.

We love the pho and especially the quail (photo at the top) at Pho Ba Ria 2 and also the Salt and Pepper Squid and Steamed Barramundi with Ginger and Shallots at BBQ City. Alternatively, I love the burgers at Pearl's Diner and Burger Theory whilst my daughter loves the Shredded Duck Soup at BBQ City and the waffles from La Waffle. Other times, I don't care what I'm eating so long as its accompanied by a few beers at either The Exeter or The Austral.

My favourite Italian restaurant without a doubt is Enzo's. We've had great meals at Press, Magill Estate, Auge and so many other places. Adelaide is really spoilt for choice when it comes to food. I think we are little 'light on' with regards to fine dining but the lower to mid-range is second to none and couldn't exist without a public that knows their food, expects the best and understands value.

All photos courtesy George Ujvary.

The Breakfast Rave, Barossa Valley

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:10:11 GMT

A community pop up event showcasing organic, fair-trade artisan produce, The Breakfast Rave was created at the end of 2011 by Barossa local Cherie. I first heard about it some months ago via Facebook and had put it on my mental To Do list. So when my friend Kirsty posted that she was going to be helping out at the April event, I decided it was a perfect time to check it out.

So a few weekends ago the kids and I got up bright and early and headed out to the Barossa. Australia's most famous wine region is about an hour from our house and I always enjoy the drive.

The kids had eaten a light breakfast but I hadn't so by the time we arrived I was famished. The Breakfast Rave pops up at a different Barossa location each month, which is only revealed days before the event. This time, the event was held in the lovely grounds of Charles Cimicky Wines in the hills of Lyndoch. Previous Raves have been held at Chateau Tanunda, Yalumba Winery, Langmeil Winery, the old Angaston Railway Station, Seppeltsfield and Collingrove Homestead.

After navigating the drive, we arrived at a delightful picnic area.

The Breakfast Rave officially kicked off at 8:30am so I'd thought we was doing quite well to arrive by 9:15am considering the 1-hour drive. But even at this hour the queues were enormous. Dang! I should have realised that Barossa folk are likely to get up at the crack of dawn. The kids and I looked at each other sadly and my stomach growled.

I wanted to check out the trading table (people bring along excess produce or plants and then leave them on the table to trade for something else) but decided that we better starting lining up straight away. While we queued, we took in our surroundings.

The Breakfast Rave team had picked a lovely shady spot, overlooking the vines.

When I told my three year old that we were going to visit a 'farm' in the 'country' he had asked me if there were going to be animals there. So I was glad to be able to introduce him to this nice fella, one of many dogs at the Rave.

And here's a real-life farm boy with a hat. Or maybe he's a city slicker doing the country look. I can't really tell.

Available to buy on the day was The Breakfast Rave branded organic tea and coffee beans, organic Panela sugar, organic GF whole flour mix, organic hot chocolate, and organic raw cacao, along with tea by Scullery Made Tea and coffee by Barossa Coffee Roasters.

Here's a little (unedited) video I shot on the day.

As you can see, I have a long way to go with video! But we all have to start somewhere, right?

After about twenty minutes we made it to the front of the queue. Hurrah!

We ordered one of each of the hot dishes available - Spanish style slow cooked beans with free range egg, biodynamic yoghurt and organic sourdough bread ($12) and rösti with free range egg, sweetcorn and avocado salsa, biodynamic yoghurt and organic sourdough ($12).

The nice lady taking our order told us apologetically that it would be a half hour wait for the hot food so I ordered a blackstrap molasses cookie ($4) and GF raw cocoa brownie ($4) to tide us over.

A glimpse at our food to come...

While we waited for our friends to arrive we found a rock to perch our drinks on: I'd bought two green smoothies ($7) and two real lemonades ($4) plus a Sumatran soy latte ($4) was on its way. My kids loved the mild flavoured lemonade (sweetened with organic Palena sugar) but found the green smoothies too bitter for their liking. It was an undeniably healthy smoothie but perhaps an extra apple or pear might have made it more palatable for younger tastebuds.

My son got stuck into his blackstrap molasses cookie while my daughter made short work of her GF raw cocoa brownie. The cookie was a great, tasty vegan option for my little guy, who can't tolerate dairy or eggs, while the brownie was rich and chocolatey with a texture somewhere between a brownie and a muffin.

Finally my name was called and I claimed our food with a sigh of relief. The stewed mixed beans were bursting with smoked paprika and oregano flavours and went together marvellously with the nicely cooked poached egg, coriander and yoghurt. The potato rösti was similarly good, especially when eaten with the mild avocado corn salsa, but my kids found the rösti too peppery for their liking.

Our friends arrived and braved the queues for coffee and cake while my kids took off to play on the nearby rocks.

An event like this requires an enormous amount of work. So what possessed the organisers to create The Breakfast Rave? It is an undeniably great way to promote local producers while bringing people to the region who might not otherwise visit but is that the full story? Perhaps this charmingly handwritten sign will explain all.

Indeed. All the plates, cutlery and cups at The Breakfast Rave are either recyclable or compostable. By the time we leave this crate is three quarters full.

The long wait notwithstanding, the Rave had a lovely relaxed atmosphere.

Two very decent local musicians played cool and crowd-pleasing acoustic tunes as family and friends listened, relaxed and caught up.

I managed to grab a few words with Kirsty before we left and she explained that the organisers had been overwhelmed by the sheer number of people that'd turned up this morning. They'd catered for more people than attended the last Rave, and had double the number of volunteers to help out, but an estimated extra 200 people had turned up, possibly due to a listing in the Barossa Vintage Festival programme. So the organisers had done their best to cater for the crowds but the long waits were unavoidable and there just wasn't enough of some items to go around. So we were lucky that we arrived when we did.

Kudos to Cherie and the rest of the team who volunteer their time and efforts to make The Breakfast Rave come to life each month - they've created something really special here. Yes, they'll need more hands on deck as the event continues to grow but from what I've seen I'm almost certain that the things that make The Breakfast Rave so special -- the personal touches, the community focus and the genuine warmth of the people involved -- won't get lost in this.

The Breakfast Rave Monthly pop up breakfast event
Various locations in the Barossa Valley
Like them on Facebook to keep up with new events

The business of food styling: a Denise Vivaldo workshop + 12 tips for new, emerging and aspiring food stylists

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 03:50:35 GMT

Two Minute Noodles with Broccolini and Almonds styled and photographed for Amazing Almonds.

What is food styling? Is it the artful placing of a garnish, the careful drizzle of some sauce, the precise placement of food to best display its charms? Well yes, it's all those things but it's so, so much more, too.

Denise Vivaldo Food Intensive

A few weeks ago I attended a two-day food styling workshop at Sydney Cooking School with visiting American super food stylist Denise Vivaldo. Denise has been in the food styling business for 30 years and has an enormous amount of knowledge about both food styling techniques and the business of food styling. She's down to earth and funny, too, so the days passed quickly and happily.

It was the first time such a comprehensive food styling workshop had been held in Australia and I felt fortunate to be one of only a dozen attendees able to attend. There were some Sydney-siders of course, but people had also travelled from interstate (like myself), Singapore and New Zealand to attend the workshop. Some attendees were already working successfully in the food/media/advertising industries while others hoped the course would help kick-start their food styling careers.

I was a food blogger before branching out into paid recipe development, food styling and food photography work. So learning about the world of commercial food styling, and in particular, food styling for advertising and packaging, was fascinating to me.

In this world, the food has but one job: to look as appetising as it possibly can for the camera. A good photo can change the fortunes of a company so how the food tastes, or indeed, if it is even edible, is unimportant.

To achieve the desired 'hero' shot, commercial food stylists use a whole range of tools and tricks to enhance and manipulate food. I was pleased to learn that some of the techniques I'd figured out myself were staple devices but a lot of the techniques commonly used when styling food for television, packaging or advertising went far beyond my usual styling methods. The trend in Australian food styling is for a very natural look, too, and this has undoubtedly influenced my own technique.

Hamburger and chips styled by Denise Vivaldo. Photograph by Dario Milano

Over the course of the two day workshop we learned to style a whole range of common dishes and drinks, including burgers, ice cream, dessert, soup noodles, and a roast chicken.

Roast chicken styled by Denise Vivaldo. Photograph by Dario Milano

Boy, that roast chicken looks enticingly good, doesn't it? Perfectly browned and seasoned - I want to sink my teeth into a juicy leg right now. Unfortunately eating this chicken would give me at best a very sore tummy as it's only been cooked for 10 minutes. Underneath that seemingly perfectly roasted exterior the chicken is raw.

Commercial food stylists often use undercooked or semi-raw meat in food photography because it looks better than fully-cooked food. If you fully cook a chicken (or indeed any type of meat), the meat shrinks and dries out so you lose the plump and juicy look of it. Have a look next time you're roasting a chicken and you'll see what I mean. So Denise has devised a method to emulate roasted meat that looks just like the real thing.

After Denise worked her magic on a chicken we were invited to give it a go ourselves.

This is my finished chicken below. What do you think?

Over lunch one of the ladies in my workshop, Anna brought up the question of ethics of food styling. Like me, Anna favours a natural approach to food styling and she wondered whether creating a heavily stylised version of a dish for photography was somehow dishonest.

In my (biased) opinion? No. Assuming a recipe had been thoroughly tested all the stylist is doing is making the food look its best for the shot. That's the job of a food stylist, just like it's the job of a make up artist, hair dresser and clothes & accessories stylist to make a model look his or her best for a fashion shoot.

Having said that, every recipe I've ever made for this blog has been edible. I cook, style and shoot the food, and then we eat it. But as a blogger I have the luxury to scrap a blog shoot if I'm not happy with the photos. As a freelancer with a busy schedule I don't usually have this option - I have to be able to deliver the goods. This is where commercial food styling techniques can be extremely helpful if not invaluable.

Check out this video made by McDonalds to answer a customer's question: "Why does your food look different to the food on the ads?"

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Business of Food Styling

I still have a long way to go in terms of my food styling technique but I have picked up a few things about the business of food styling and and am more than happy to share them. So with thanks to Denise and the other food stylists and photographers who have generously contributed to this post, here are my top tips and resources.

Brownies styled by Sally Parker. Photograph by Gerry Colley.

12 Tips for New, Emerging and Aspiring Food Stylists

1) Read and study

Study as many food styling and food photography books as you can get your hands on – the list at the bottom of this post is a good place to start. Similarly, learn as much you can about food. You don't have to be a chef to be a food stylist -- although there are more and more ex chefs moving into this area -- but the more you know about food the easier your job will be.

2) Attend a food styling course

If you're convinced you were born to be a food stylist consider attending a food styling course like Denise Vivaldo’s Food Styling Intensive. You'll learn insider techniques and tricks that'll blow your mind and fast-track your career. You'll also be able to watch techniques being demonstrated and then try them yourself with on the spot feedback. Perhaps most importantly, attending a workshop like Denise's will teach you about the food styling business and how to build a sustainable career. The friendships and contacts that you make will also be invaluable.

3) Assist a professional food stylist

Assisting a professional food stylist is one of the best ways to learn about food styling. As an assistant you're free to observe and learn, without the pressure of having to deliver. When approaching a professional stylist to request an assisting position, show respect and do your homework. He or she doesn't owe you anything so be polite and explain what you can do for them - don't make your approach all about you.

4) Treat it like a business

Food styling may be your calling but you have to treat it like a business to be successful. 90% of success as a food stylist is about managing the business and being able to support yourself, says Denise. While you are growing your food styling business you will almost certainly need to take a flexible, secondary job to pay your bills. You also need to learn how to quote for jobs, how to organise your administration and paperwork, and how to manage your finances (a good accountant is a must!).

Grilled Peach in Lemongrass Syrup styled by Harriet Harcourt. Photograph by Jessica Shaver.

5) Get along with people

Sydney food stylist Ben Masters believes that his clients like to work with him because he is calm, polite and focused on set, and he does his best to accommodate feedback. In other words, he knows how to get along with people. Fellow Sydney stylist Sally Parker agrees. At a certain level, she says, people's food styling skills are about the same, give or take. She believes that whether someone succeeds or not is all about the relationships they have with people. Similarly, Denise Vivaldo believes that successful food stylists exercise flexibility and diplomacy. Never disagree or argue with the client, she says. So even if a client's idea is terrible, you must be accommodating. Say "sure, I'd be happy to try it that way. Let me just get this shot in the can before we try it so we have a backup."

6) Build complementary skills

You might be the world's best food stylist but if no one knows about you you're going to struggle to find work. So learn about photography, writing, social media and marketing. Alternatively, seek out people who have these skills and who are also looking to build their portfolio. Trade skills and help each other build a great portfolio.

7) Start a blog

What’s the easiest way to get your work out there? Start a blog - it's a great way to show people what you're capable of. I am living proof that a blog can lead to all sorts of amazing paid work opportunities. By blogging you'll connect with a whole community of food lovers as well as potential clients.

8) Create an online portfolio/website

Old school ad agencies may still occasionally request a hard copy portfolio (i.e. large photographs in a leather case) but it’s no good having the world's best portfolio if it sits unread and unloved. Nowadays many advertising and PR agencies prefer an online portfolio (website). This means your work can be viewed by anyone at anytime. Apart from photographs of your food styling work, do make sure you include the following pages on your website: About, Services, Clients, and a Contact page. If you have a blog don’t forget to link your website to your blog and vice-versa.

Soft Boiled Egg styled by Kirsty Bryson. Photography by James HH Morgan.

9) Always over prepare

While you must be a master improviser at the actual photo shoot, solid preparation the day before a shoot will stand you in good stead. Practice the recipes you will be preparing. Go over your food styling kit and make sure you have all the tools you may possible need, including backups. Buy at least two of every time you will be cooking.

10) Be meticulous in your prep

On the day of the shoot, go through all the produce and remove any bruised, old or unsightly items. Prepare raw produce meticulously; ensure your cuts are consistent and neat.

11) Think on your feet

Problem solving is perhaps the most important skill a food stylist needs to develop as the actual job on the day may dramatically differently from the agreed brief. Perhaps the client has a change of heart at the last minute, some produce is unusable or there is no running water nearby(!). Whatever the problem, the food stylist has to be able to solve it in a calm and professional way.

12) Create your own signature look

There are so many food blogs that I adore because their food styling is so gorgeous - check out Souvlaki for the Soul, A Table for Two, He Needs Food, What Katie Ate, Citrus & Candy, and Cook Republic. When you're starting out as a food stylist you may be tempted just to copy the work of other food stylists and food bloggers. There's no harm in this - after all, many painters learn to paint by mimicking the greats. After a while, though, try to consciously develop your own style to create your own signature look. Think of it is a being a first-rate you instead of a second-rate somebody else. You'll be a lot happier and your work will be much more distinctive.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Resources

14 books on food styling and photography

Denise Vivaldo: The food stylist’s handbook*
Helene Dujardin: Plate to pixel*
Matt Armendariz: Food photography for bloggers*
Teri Campbell: Food photography and lighting*
Nicole S Young: Food photography - from snapshots to great shots*
Delores Cluster: The art of food styling*
Alison Park-Whitfield: Food photography and styling for dummies
Lara Ferroni: Food photography - pro secrets for styling, lighting and shooting
Linda Bellingham: Food styling for photographers
Linda Bellingham: More food styling for photographers and stylists
Lou Manna: Digital food photography
Christopher Styler: Working the plate: the art of food presentation
Cara Hobday: Food presentation secrets
Ari Bendersky: 1000 food art and styling ideas

24 free articles about food styling and photography

Souvlaki for the Soul: Food and prop styling for food bloggers
Donna Hay: Food styling tips
Sarah Wilson: 27 tips for taking better food pictures
The Wholesome Cook: An evening of fine food photography with Penelope Beveridge
Matt Bites: Giving you props - a tour of the props cupboard
Eyes Bigger than My Stomach: Food photography props on a budget
6 Bittersweets: My take on food photography and styling
A Beach Cottage: 7 Food Photography/Styling Tips
Digital Photography School: 10 tips to improve your food photography styling
Learn Food Photography: 10 food styling tips to making any food photo look appealing
Your Kitchen Camera: 12 basic tools for food photography styling
Stylist: Food styling tips from the experts
Love Food: Love Food meets Donna Hay
Vegan Yum Yum: Food photography for bloggers
Australian Photography: How to shoot delicious food photos
Good Food: Why professional food snaps are no flash in the pan
NY Food Chain: The tricks and tips of food styling
America's Test Kitchen: Food styling tips from America's Test Kitchen
Food 52: Food styling 101
Chef's Blade: Professional food styling tricks
Recipe Girl: If you're into food photography and styling..
Yuppie Chef: Top 10 tips for food photography and styling from Sam Linsell
Foodies 100: Top tips for food styling
Blog Her: Natural vs artificial approaches to food styling

Food photography & styling workshops

Billy from A Table for Two is running workshops in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane in 2013. Details here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Disclaimers

I attended the workshop as a guest of Denise Vivaldo. As always, all opinions are my own.
* = highly recommended
If you buy any of those books from the links above I will earn a tiny commission from Amazon. Thanks for supporting The Hungry Australian.

April: 9 delicious things + a most unexpected surprise

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 00:53:42 GMT

Hello! Sorry it's been so quiet here this past week - I was working on a few different client projects and then I developed some kind of low-grade virus that made me want to sleep all day. Anyway, it's been a while since I did these monthly favourite posts but I'm re-introducing them as of now. So here's the list of things making me happy this month.

1) Custard apples

I shot four dessert recipes for the 2013 Australian Custards Apples campaign last week (two of my recipes plus two recipes by MasterChef winner and all-round nice guy Adam Liaw) so my house was full of this gorgeous tropical fruit (see above). If you've never eaten custard apples before now is the time to get your hands on some.

2) Heated hair rollers

I went out to dinner the other night with Shai and Celeste and when I walked into the restaurant they said I looked very "va va voom." Admittedly, I had a rather nice dress on but it was actually my new sexy curls that were attracting all the attention. Ladies, if you have mid-long hair and don't have a set of heated rollers, run to the shops and buy some now. You won't regret it.

3) Kale

I have this weird aversion to trendy things. I read the first Harry Potter two years after it came out and it took me even longer to read the Twilight novels (I think you need to be under 17 to really appreciate them). I still haven't read Fifty Shades of Grey but I've heard the writing is fairly atrocious so I'm in no rush. Anyway, to get to the point of this paragraph, I cooked kale for the first time a few weekends ago and I loved it's strong, slightly bitter taste and thickly layered texture. I feel like Thelma in Thelma and Louise when she says, "now I understand what all the fuss is about!" after spending a night with J. D. (Brad Pitt). I cooked a warm purple kale salad with chorizo and almonds for Amazing Almonds the other day and a chorizo, chicken, white bean and green kale soup for our dinner.

4) Fantastic Mr Fox

The other night I watched a film about a fox (George Clooney) who wants to pull off one last robbery behind the back of his trusting wife (Meryl Streep). Based on the book by Roald Dahl, it's so beautifully animated and so clever - I laughed out loud several times. It's not really a movie for small kids as there are some scary bits but older kids will love its black humour. Check it out.

5) Divine Vegan Desserts

If you read my recent J's Chocolate Banana Cake post you'd know that my son was recently diagnosed with an intolerance to dairy and egg. Well, it turns out my daughter also has this problem, too, which means a massive re-think of our diet. Luckily, Wakefield Press recently sent me Lisa Fabry's Divine Vegan Desserts and it's full of helpful hints and interesting recipes to try.

6) Denim shirt

I haven't worn denim on my upper body since the mid 90s but I freaking love this slim-cut shirt and have been living in it lately. I wear it with my black J Brand skinny jeans and ballet flats for running around or my hot pink Diane Von Furstenberg skirt and heels when I'm going out.

7) Crepe pan by Profiline

I make pancakes at least once a week in my regular frypan so when Profiline offered to send me a crepe pan I was keen to see if it made any difference. The Profiline crepe pan is very well-made and incredibly light and thin. It produced beautiful crepes for me so it's well worth a look if you make crepes or pancakes regularly.

8) Manfretto Tripod

I've used tripods in the past when shooting but they were flimsy, awkward devices and I soon gave up, reverting to only hand-held photography. Then a few weeks ago I bought a Manfretto 190X ProB, an incredibly well made and rock-solid tripod. Now I set up a complete scene and use the viewfinder on my tripod mounted camera to check that everything is in the best position before I start shooting. I then use the tripod to take both portrait and landscape shots of the scene before unclipping my camera (a Nikon D600) and shooting the rest hand-held. It's like having an extra pair of hands in the studio and I can't imagine shooting without it now.

9) Family

It's been a challenging month on the personal front but my family have humbled me once again by the way they've pulled together and gone above and beyond to help out. You guys are my heroes and I love you to bits.

EDIT:

A Most Unexpected Surprise

My original post ended there. But yesterday I found out that The Hungry Australian is one of 25 finalists in the Best Australian Blogs 2013 competition run by the Australian Writers' Centre. Yep, this humble little blog is one of five finalists in the lifestyle/hobby section, which covers travel, food and beverages, health, fashion, craft and interior design.

Wow. *pinches self*

Of all the amazing things that have happened since I started this blog this would have to be the most unbelievable. THANK YOU! *happy dance*

According to the Random House website, 1,122 blogs entered in this year’s competition and five finalists were announced in each of the competition categories: Lifestyle (408 entries), Personal/Parenting (350 entries), Business (84 entries), Commentary (119 entries) and Words/Writing (161 entries). Head over to the Australian Writers' Centre website to learn more about the judging process.

When I began blogging in mid 2011 I saw it as a way of flexing my writing muscle, which had gotten stiff and clumsy out of disuse. Since then I've spent countless hours writing and blogging, all the time wondering if my words will have any impact at all. Now I still have a long way to go with The Hungry Australian but this nomination feel like recognition that I'm heading in the right direction at least. So I'm off to celebrate with a large bowl of noodles now! :D

Thank you for reading. You guys inspire me every day.

Christina xx

Blood Orange and Pomegranate Salad

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 11:20:35 GMT

Each time before I go food shopping I write out a list - it's the only way I can possibly remember what I've run out of and what I need to buy for client and blog projects. 50% of the time I end up leaving this list at home so I end up wandering the market muttering to myself as I try to remember all the things I wrote down.

However my shopping list is merely the starting point. By the time I arrive home I have approximately double the things I had on my list having been seduced by some luscious looking produce during my shopping expedition.

Today I was in my local greengrocers when I spotted some blood oranges and pomegranates that begged me to take them home. So I did.

I had to take a vegetable dish to dinner at my parent's house tonight so I took the pomegranates and blood oranges and turned them into this simple salad, enhancing the the sweetness and tartness of the pomegranates with a simple balsamic vinegar and honey dressing. We ate this salad tonight with a tomato pasta and roast meat but it would go brilliantly with grilled lamb, falafel or a seafood pasta, too.

I'll have to remember that next time I go shopping. Or not, as the case may be. Sometimes spontaneity can be a beautiful thing.

INGREDIENTS

1 x 120 gram mixed lettuce leaves
3 blood oranges, peeled and sliced
Seeds from 1 pomegranate
1 shallot, chopped into small pieces
2 tablespoons EVOO
1 teaspoon top quality red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon honey
Salt & pepper to taste

METHOD

Arrange lettuce, orange, pomegranate and shallots on a plate.
Make a dressing by whisking the EVOO, vinegar, honey & salt and pepper and drizzle over the top.
Serve immediately.

** Looking for another blood orange recipe? Check out my Blood Oranges with Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt Flakes. **

J's Chocolate Banana Cake (egg and dairy free)

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 04:04:27 GMT

J is my three year old son. He makes my heart fill to overflowing with his sunny nature, cheeky grin, outrageous demands and obsession with cars and helicopters. So you can imagine how concerned I was when he stopped gaining weight last year.

J has always been a skinny boy with a small appetite but over the last six months he ate less and less. I tried everything, from cooking his favourite foods to bribery to feeding him while he watched TV or played in the bath. It was both frustrating and stressful - I come from a long line of greedy eaters so his disinterest in food just didn't make sense to me.

After numerous visits to a paediatrician who kept telling me he was just a small boy I had him tested for food intolerances. There is a family history of food allergies and intolerances and J had suffered full-body eczema as a baby as a result of them. Over time he had seemed to grow out of those intolerances but maybe I'd been mistaken or perhaps he had developed new ones?

The report came back and it confirmed my suspicions. J had multiple food intolerances, including dairy, eggs, oats, cashews, hazelnuts, olive, peanut, pistachio, soy beans and lemons. While some of these weren't a problem others were as they were foods he ate everyday: he drank milk morning and night and I cooked him pancakes made with eggs, milk and butter four times a week.

A day after I cut out all the blacklisted foods J started eating a normal size children's meal as opposed to his usual minute portions. He started asking for food between meals. I was ecstatic.

Learning how to feed J without so many of his usual foods on the menu has been a challenge. I've been substituting his usual fare with a whole range of different foods (I'll blog about them in an upcoming post if you're interested) as I work out how to feed my son safely. But it's hard to explain food tolerances to a three year old - he gets upset when told he can't have his regular ice cream or soft boiled egg and toast for breakfast.

However, of all the foods he can't eat anymore J misses chocolate most of all. So the other day I came up with this Chocolate Banana Cake for him. It's chocolately and dense but not overly sweet, with a texture somewhere between a mud cake and a butter cake. Yes, it does have some sugar in the scant amount of icing included to satisfy my kids' obsession with sweet toppings but otherwise it's pretty healthy.

While cake is not on his everyday menu, J has been steadily gaining weight since I started him on his new diet. When he wakes up in the morning he asks for breakfast and he tells me that he's hungry at least a couple of times a day. My son is eating, finally, and I couldn't be happier.

INGREDIENTS - CAKE

300 grams plain flour (approx 2 cups)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
150 mls rice milk
125 grams dairy-free margarine, melted and then cooled slightly (I use the original Nuttlex)
2 egg replacers (you can substitute 2 eggs)
150mls rice malt syrup, heated a little so runny (you can substitute 125grams sifted brown sugar if you like)
3 bananas, peeled and blended

INGREDIENTS - ICING

1 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa
3 tablespoons dairy-free margarine, melted and then cooled slightly (I use Nuttlex)
1-2 tablespoons rice milk

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and spray a cake pan with baking spray.
Sift dry ingredients in a large bowl.
In a smaller bowl, mix milk, margarine and egg replacers/eggs until combined.
Add milk mixture, rice malt syrup and blended banans to dry mixture and mix until thoroughly combined.
Pour into cake pan and then bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out dry.
Leave to cool for 10 minutes in pan and then turn out on a baking rack to cool.
To make icing, sift icing sugar and cocoa together in a small bowl and then add melted butter and rice milk. Stir thoroughly until combined and then ice the cooled cake (an offset spatula is ideal). If you also want to ice the sides of the cake then make up double the icing recipe.

Meet a Food Lover: author and food writer Charmaine Solomon

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:19:05 GMT

If there was such a thing as food royalty in Australia then Charmaine Solomon would surely be in its inner circle. Like Stephanie Alexander, Maggie Beer and Margaret Fulton, Charmaine has influenced the eating habits and home cooking of generations of Australians as a food writer and recipe developer. My mother cooked from Charmaine's cookbooks back in the 80s and I have continued cooking her recipes today - see my post on her The Complete Asian Cookbook.

Charmaine's cookbook, The Curry Cookbook, published in 1980, was the first cookbook I ever read. Unlike most cookbooks of that period, which were devoid of personality, Charmaine and her jazz musician husband Reuben had commented on each recipe with their tips and preferences. It was that glimpse of the people behind the cookbook that I found so interesting and made the recipes so much more meaningful.

More recently, Charmaine has launched an excellent range of curry pastes and condiments. They're staples in my pantry and fridge for the days I want to cook a tasty meal but don't have time to cook from scratch. So I was thrilled when Charmaine agreed to share her story and some of her favourite foods with us today. Everybody, meet Charmaine!

Charmaine, how important is food in Sri Lankan culture? As a child, what was your favourite Sri Lankan dish?

Christina, food is very significant in Sri Lankan culture, with special dishes representing particular events. Kiribath (milk rice), which is eaten for breakfast on the first day of the month, most notably on New Year's Day (the first day of the first month) was and still is a sentimental favourite. It's delicious and very easy to prepare - see the Sri Lanka chapter of my Complete Asian Cookbook for the recipe.

If you were cooking for a family celebration what would you cook?

Stringhoppers make a meal a special occasion for me. I can't believe the rigmarole I went through squeezing the rice flour dough through a brass press with tiny holes to make the thread like noodle strands that are extruded in overlapping circles onto bamboo mats to make the lacy pancakes, which would then be steamed. Turning the handle of the press while rotating it over the bamboo mats is quite a challenge - a little like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time. These days stringhoppers are made by machine, so I order them from a specialist caterer and serve them with homemade spicy scrambled eggs, seeni sambol and chicken curry.

You worked as journalist before you moved to Australia in 1959. How useful was that training and experience for your later career?

I'm sure that was part of the reason I was asked to join the staff of Woman's Day. I remember my news editor's motto was "tell it like it is". This helped me develop an easy-to-follow style of writing when it came to explaining recipes. I imagined that the recipe had to be straightforward enough for even my self-confessed non-cooking friend, Sylvia, to follow. As a result, the style spoke to many other novice cooks. It's so nice to meet people who tell me that I taught them to cook.

You learned to cook after you moved to Australia. What was your first impressions of Australian food and what was the first Australian dish you remember cooking?

You have to remember that as a young wife and mother in Sri Lanka I never had to cook. I lived in a five star hotel (in those days) with my husband, Reuben, who was the leader of the hotel's orchestra, and an ayah (nanny) for each child. We had meals in the international restaurant. Before I married, I lived with my maiden aunts, and servants did the cooking and cleaning. It was quite a steep learning curve coming to Australia. Plus we weren't wealthy immigrants, as the government restricted the amount of money we were permitted to take out of the country at the time we left Ceylon. I seem to recall we ate a lot of mince. And pasta was easy to cook. Australian food was pretty dull back then. I am not a fan of overcooked vegetables.

I understand you got your start in recipe development when you won a White Wings baking competition in Women's Day and attracted the attention of Margaret Fulton. Can you tell us what happened next?

Actually, I won second prize. When Margaret found out that I worked as a journalist in Sri Lanka she asked if I would join her staff. They were nine of the happiest years of my life. During that time I was offered the opportunity to write my first cookbook when Margaret's publisher saw me typing her manuscript. Maybe he'd heard about my curry dinner parties, but he asked if I'd like to write a book. I joked that I only worked to a deadline. He replied that I had one, if I wanted it. That was how it all began.

As a young woman, did you ever imagine that you would make food your career?

No. As a young woman I never needed to cook, though I had an interest in food. All I'd ever cooked before I came to Australia were frivolities - cakes and candies. In Australia I taught myself to cook as a diversion during the longs nights I waited for Reuben to come home from nightclub gigs. The children were asleep and there was no TV. With his encouragement, I became quite a decent cook. I found that I loved cooking. But even more, I loved his praise. It's a good thing he was so appreciative!

Your first book, The South East Asian Cookbook was published in 1972 and you've published 30 other books since, many of them international award winners. For people who are keen to try your recipes but don't know where to start, which three books would you recommend and why? Is there any particular book that you are especially fond of?

I think for a collection of iconic recipes from Asia and the Asian subcontinent, you can't go past The Complete Asian Cookbook, recently revised. It has all the recipes from the original edition as well as some new ones. I also think if you are inquisitive about food ingredients, the Encyclopaedia of Asian Food is a must have. I enjoy Charmaine Solomon's Family Recipes for sentimental reasons ... though it is no longer in print ... so perhaps the Vegetarian Cookbook would be my number three.

You also produce an excellent, award-winning line of pastes, marinades and chutneys. How did this come about and what are your favourite products?

I was teaching classes at various cooking schools and heard my pupils say the curries they made at home never tasted as good as mine. When I asked didn't they use the curry paste recipes from the book, I discovered that, to save time, many were using store bought pastes instead of making their own from scratch. Reuben saw this as an opportunity to let more people enjoy authentic curries and the range just took off. Hard to pick a favourite. I go through phases. Rendang, Thai Red and Green, Butter Chicken ... and if you don't like it hot, the Moroccan Spice Blend.

You've accomplished so many things - what has been your proudest achievement?

My family. I am proud of them not so much for what they have accomplished as for the kind of people they are.

What's next for you?

I am 82, have four children and five grandchildren. I love to spend time with them. I like it when my children and my grandchildren cook for me. I like to read, watch old movies, catch up with friends and I enjoy playing scrabble. It's really nice to get emails and letters from people who still enjoy cooking my recipes or want to thank me for changing the way they eat. I feel very fortunate to have been able do something I love for so long and, through it, to give pleasure to others.

Photo credits: top and third photos from The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon. Author photograph by Jennifer J. Richards. All other photos courtesy Charmaine Solomon. Thanks to Nina Harris.

Recipe: Rhubarb Apple Yoghurt Pots

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 04:59:35 GMT

I like desserts that double up as snacks and meals. This means I can eat them anytime of the day or night without someone raising their eyebrows and saying, "you're eating THAT for breakfast?" Begone oh killers of joy and self-appointed diet police - you are not welcome in my home.

Ticking all the necessary dessert-friendly boxes are these cute Rhubarb Apple Yoghurt Pots. Yes, you could eat them as a dessert, but you could equally enjoy them for breakfast or morning or afternoon tea.

Rhubarb is such a pretty coloured vegetable. I'd never eaten it before until I was working in Leeds, Yorkshire, in the early 2000s and a lovely colleague made me a rhubarb crumble for dessert one night. Seeing how simple it was to prepare and cook encouraged me to try cooking with it myself.

This dish couldn't be simpler to prepare. You simply stew the fruit, let it cool and then top with vanilla yoghurt and some toasted muesli. Too easy. You can make these up in advance and keep them covered in the fridge until you're ready to use them (just leave off the muesli until the last moment so it doesn't get soggy).

That's dessert done. And breakfast. And morning and afternoon tea. Now give yourself a pat on the back for being such a clever multi-tasker.

INGREDIENTS

600 grams apples, cored, peeled and chopped into medium pieces
500 grams rhubarb, trimmed and chopped into medium pieces
1/2 cup rice malt syrup or 1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 kilogram tub top quality vanilla yoghurt
250 grams toasted muesli

METHOD

Place apples, rhubarb water and chosen sweetener in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Lower flame and cook over a low-medium heat for about 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool.
To assemble, spoon fruit into a cup and then add yoghurt and garnish with toasted muesli.

Serves 6.

Meet a Food Lover: Amanda James-Pritchard, the Adelaide Food and Wine Festival

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 23:05:21 GMT

Recently, I attended the media launch of the inaugural Adelaide Food & Wine Festival, a not for profit, community led and focused festival running from 6-14 April. With the festival almost upon us, I chatted with the woman behind the festival, Amanda James-Pritchard, about why she started the festival, some of the events on offer and what makes a great pie floater.

Everybody, meet Amanda!

Amanda, tell us about yourself. When did you arrive in Adelaide and what brought you here?

I arrived in Adelaide in 2008. It was my fiancé Glenn James, a winemaker who brought me here from Melbourne. I decided to give up my communications job at Foster's to join him across the border. I was excited to make the move from Melbourne and especially to explore the nearby wine regions and the City for myself.

Your company, Kooki PR, has a lot of food clients. What are some of the jobs you've most enjoyed?

I am so lucky to work with some of the best food producers across the country and especially to work with people who are willing to do things that might be a little risky or left of centre (i.e. kooki). One of my favourite campaigns of late would have to be the "BEARDED Bottle" campaign we did with Oliver's Taranga. We produced a video and made a bottle that actually had a beard! It was all about celebrating the Oliver family's bearded heritage. Some other top people I work with include Pepe Saya (the butter master) and Phil Lamb at Spring Bay Mussels, a true gentleman of the seafood industry – we created a campaign called "MUSSELLOVE" recently that was lots of fun, encouraging people to share their mussel love inspiration on Facebook. Twitter and Instagram.

When did the idea of organising an Adelaide Food & Wine Festival first come to you and what inspired it?

Quite honestly, it was only 6 months or so into living in Adelaide that I wondered why we didn't have our own food and wine festival… Having worked for the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival and with Sydney International Food Festival, I sensed an opportunity then, but I knew as an outsider to Adelaide if I decided then and there to produce a festival it would be akin to going out into rapid fire without a flak jacket – I could hear the cries of "who does she think she is?" from the established Adelaide folks! So I figured I would set about to get to know the State – its winemakers; traders; chefs; producers and people before I got anywhere near creating a festival.
I worked for the Lord Mayor Michael Harbison, established myself on the marketing committee for the Adelaide Central Market and got to know people like Josh Fanning, Jim Plouffe at Adelaide* Magazine, Paola Coro, Mark Gleeson, Corrina Wright, Sue Bell etc etc.
When I left the Council job, I started producing events – mostly at Adelaide Central Market but also interstate. Bolstered by the continued success of these events and feeling confident I could 'pull it off' so to speak, it was in November last year that the Adelaide Food and Wine Festival was conceived – over a good bottle of wine, with like-minded friends. Then, the Festival was to be one weekend or perhaps 4 days and maybe a maximum of 10 events, but, with the amazingly positive response it quickly grew to be 8 days and the program now boasts some 31 events.

When you first told people about your idea, what was the general reaction? Which companies or organisations were particularly supportive?

As above, the immediate reaction was so great that I spent an entire month meeting with people from across the state back-to-back. Some people were curious and perhaps even considered the Festival as predatory but the majority of people simply wanted to get involved. I have a folder of emails that I have kept and the basic message from these people getting in touch who had maybe read about the festival in InDaily or heard me on ABC or 5AA radio was "what a great idea, good on you for having the guts to do it."
It was the support of individuals that I was most bolstered by – these people became the committee – and then 891 ABC Adelaide came on board as a radio partner in our first year and the Adelaide* Magazine agreed to support one of our events as a reader event. Others include the Adelaide Central Market, the Hilton, winemakers from across the country, restaurants, chefs, producers such as Michelle Lally from Savannah Lamb and Saskia Beer, Richard Gunner, Marco Marinelli, Mark Gleeson, Lucia's, Rennicks, Novatech – I can't list everyone here that has done something large or small to assist this first Festival getting off the ground.

You've put together an interesting program, with lots of events to suit different tastes, including a bacon trail with Saskia Beer and a tea degustation. Which events are you most proud of and why?

I'm most proud of the entire program but if I had to pick one event it would definitely be the Market Feast. It was the Market Feast that made me feel we could actually call this the Adelaide Food and Wine Festival. An after-hours progressive dinner in our mecca of food (i.e. the Adelaide Central Market)? It is probably the event that has had the most protracted negotiations but with sheer determination we got there. I cannot wait for it.

Are there any family-friendly activities?

Absolutely, we encourage families to get involved in many of our events – Wines & Fishes on Semaphore Beach (April 13) will be a wonderful day that kid are most welcome to attend (so long as they are seafood lovers)! At #EASTENDWINEDOWN on Sunday 7th there will be a special "kids corner" with crayons and paper to keep the little ones occupied. For more grown-up kids, the hands-on classes -- learning to make butter or sausages in the Central Market Kitchen -- would be a great thing for parents to do with their kids. They're educational and fun!

I notice you have a pie floater competition as part of the programme. (A pie floater is a meat pie served with tomato sauce on a bed of pea soup - it's a uniquely South Australian dish). In your opinion, what makes a great pie floater?

Yes, we are hoping to get some interesting entries in that! The Pie Floater was my first culinary experience of Adelaide as an 8 year old girl. My father told me quite seriously that the peas cannot be too thick, they need to be more soupy in consistency… I think the secret is in that heavenly combination of crunch/flakiness of pastry and velvety soupiness of the peas (plus a decent amount of good tomato sauce) As with any classic dish, the better the elements that go into making it, the better the overall result.

The inaugural Adelaide Food and Wine Festival runs from 6-14 April. Check out the full program.

The Hungry Australian

Moscato Stewed Quinces

Ingredients - Moscato Quinces

Ingredients - Stewed Quinces (no alcohol)

Method

Notes

More Quince Recipes

Braised Pork and Beans inspired by Mrs Andersen

A Lovely Afternoon Tea

Cheese Board

Cold Meat Platter

Beetroot Hummus

Vietnamese King Prawn Cold Rolls

Vietnamese Pork Rolls

Smoked Salmon Dip & Corn Relish Dip

Sweet & Salty Popcorn

Cherry Cake

Cream Puffs

Friands

Lemon Slice

Mini Pavlovas

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes & Raspberry Cupcakes

Meet a Food Lover: George Ujvary (The Foodologist)

The Breakfast Rave, Barossa Valley

The Breakfast Rave Monthly pop up breakfast eventVarious locations in the Barossa ValleyLike them on Facebook to keep up with new events

The business of food styling: a Denise Vivaldo workshop + 12 tips for new, emerging and aspiring food stylists

Two Minute Noodles with Broccolini and Almonds styled and photographed for Amazing Almonds.

Denise Vivaldo Food Intensive

Hamburger and chips styled by Denise Vivaldo. Photograph by Dario Milano

Roast chicken styled by Denise Vivaldo. Photograph by Dario Milano

The Business of Food Styling

Brownies styled by Sally Parker. Photograph by Gerry Colley.

12 Tips for New, Emerging and Aspiring Food Stylists

1) Read and study

2) Attend a food styling course

3) Assist a professional food stylist

4) Treat it like a business

Grilled Peach in Lemongrass Syrup styled by Harriet Harcourt. Photograph by Jessica Shaver.

5) Get along with people

6) Build complementary skills

7) Start a blog

8) Create an online portfolio/website

Soft Boiled Egg styled by Kirsty Bryson. Photography by James HH Morgan.

9) Always over prepare

10) Be meticulous in your prep

11) Think on your feet

12) Create your own signature look

Resources

14 books on food styling and photography

24 free articles about food styling and photography

Food photography & styling workshops

Disclaimers

April: 9 delicious things + a most unexpected surprise

1) Custard apples

2) Heated hair rollers

3) Kale

4) Fantastic Mr Fox

5) Divine Vegan Desserts

6) Denim shirt

7) Crepe pan by Profiline

8) Manfretto Tripod

9) Family

A Most Unexpected Surprise

Christina xx

Blood Orange and Pomegranate Salad

J's Chocolate Banana Cake (egg and dairy free)

Meet a Food Lover: author and food writer Charmaine Solomon

Recipe: Rhubarb Apple Yoghurt Pots

Meet a Food Lover: Amanda James-Pritchard, the Adelaide Food and Wine Festival

The Breakfast Rave Monthly pop up breakfast event
Various locations in the Barossa Valley
Like them on Facebook to keep up with new events