SA Food Industry Awards

- Alex 2 Comments

Disclaimer: I attended the Awards as the guest of Phil & Michele Lally, of Savannah Lamb.

The SA Food Industry Awards were held on Friday night (16 November) at a black tie dinner at the Adelaide Convention Centre. I was excited to be invited along – not only was it a great excuse to get all dressed up but I was really interested to find out who the food industry itself thinks the local superstars are.

I’m sure the social details of the event (the dresses, the wine, the food, the entertainment) have been well covered by all types of media, so I want to use this post to acknowledge the finalists, particularly lesser known ones, and to encourage everyone to keep a look out for small, local producers when doing a weekly shop.

Some of the winners were big names. Have you heard of Haigh’s chocolates? Bickfords?  Beerenberg?  Of course you have.

But it was the little guys I was interested in. There are food producers doing interesting things throughout the state and they are not household names. Now, I don’t claim to be as up with local food production as I should be (and yes, I’m going to use my toddler as part of my excuse there) but I was surprised by how many unknown names I came across on the evening.

I am going to make an effort to source some of these products over the coming weeks (naturally, I’m going to add Christmas to my toddler excuse for any delays we may experience here …) but I’ll give you a quick run down of some of the smaller producers – particularly those in the < 10 employee categories.

Barossa Valley Cheese Company – run by Victoria McClurg, a winemaker turned cheesemaker
Enzo’s at Home – an offshoot of Enzo’s restaurant in Hindmarsh
Fleurieu Milk and Yoghurt Company – you’ll find their products in your local Foodland supermarket
Gelista Premium Gelati – again stocked by many Foodlands
Kytons Bakery – again, many Foodlands
Pangkarra Foods – perhaps best described as a cereal producer, but Pangkarra also produces fine foods such as pasta. There is a comprehensive list of retailers on the website. Foodland again features prominently.
Harris Smokehouse – unsurprisingly, producers of a range of smoked fish products.  The products are reasonably widely available (with again, Foodlands & IGAs getting a look in).
The Australian Carob Company – producers of a wide range of carob products, including syrup, powder and kibble. The products are widely available – predominantly in health food shops.

And last but not least, my hosts, Savannah Lamb.  Phil and Michele Lally breed stress free, ethical lamb in the Clare Valley.  On Friday night they were winners of both Peats Soil and Garden Supplies* Sustainability Award (<= 10 FTE) and the PIRSA Regional Award, which recognises a regional food company that has contributed to its regional community and sets a benchmark for excellence.

As consumers, perhaps we should spend just a little bit more time seeking out these small, local producers. Often, it will mean shopping at small, independent shops – so you’ll also be supporting the little guys on the retail scene.  Many of the products are available in Foodlands/IGAs so you’re not necessarily going to have to make the effort you might think!

With the local food lecture over (!), congratulations to all the finalists and to FoodSA for putting on a great evening.

* While nothing to do with food, these guys have a really interesting story – I recommend checking out their site.

Donna Hay’s Beef with Cannellini Beans

- Alex 2 Comments

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Another insanely easy, quick mid week dinner for you. This recipe comes from Donna Hay’s Fast, Fresh, Simple, via the Good Food Channel.

You may have noticed that I am a huge fan of cannellini beans. Indeed, I’m a big fan of beans in general and I’d urge everyone to have a good collection of tinned beans in their cupboards. They’re cheap, nutritious and can solve a variety of food related problems.

Anyway, while Andy was dealing with the barbecue and two generous porterhouse steaks (that’s sirloin if you’re reading from the UK) I was opening the tin of cannellini beans.

ALWAYS rinse (and drain) the beans when they come out of the tin. Firstly, they always smell horrible and secondly, often tinned things are very salty and a good rinse helps to reduce that.

In a small saucepan I had some olive oil heating up into which I put a some crushed, minced garlic and some finely chopped fresh rosemary. In went the beans to heat through along with a good squeeze of lemon juice.

At this point I decided to mash the beans coarsely with the back of a fork. This, I think, was a mistake. It would have been much nicer to have the beans whole.

I thought the mixture tasted good and was really tempted not to add the horseradish. Andy tasted it and thought it needed the horseradish, otherwise it was just like “that dip you make“. I think the horseradish is really up to you – you may prefer to serve it on the side so you can slather your beef in it.

Of course, steak and a few beans does not a whole meal make.  We served with salad and some roasted potato wedges.

Another big win for meal planning and quick, easy, midweek dinners.

Thai Style Fish and Noodle Salad Recipe

- Alex 2 Comments

Back at home, and recovered from jetlag (but still tired – if I manage to stay up until 10pm I’m impressed!), it’s time to get back in my own kitchen and do some cooking.

This Thai style recipe come originally from Taste, and I was impressed by how relatively few ingredients were involved. By the time I’d finished making it, I was also impressed by how quick it was to put together. I think this would definitely give Jamie Oliver’s 15 minute meals a run for their money!

I am a little sceptical about how far the recipe will go. Taste says it will serve 4 people but I think that would be four not very hungry people. If you have two people who need a good feed after a day at work – listen to me!

Begin by taking a packet of hokkien noodles (about 400g), putting them in a bowl and covering with boiling water. Leave them to sit while you finely chop some chilli (I used half a long green one) and coriander, and slice some spring onion.

Drain the noodles and toss through the chilli, coriander and spring onion.

Make a dressing consisting of approximately ¼ cup of sweet chilli sauce (trust me on this one – this is something that neither of us particularly like and had to get in especially for this recipe), approximately the same amount of lime juice and a good couple of teaspoons of fish sauce. Whisk this all together and use this to dress your noodles. The idea is that the noodles are served warm or room temperature, not boiling hot, so don’t worry about them cooling down.

Depending on how happy you are multitasking, you can cook your fish while you do all that or you can cook it now. The original recipe uses John Dory, I used flathead* – basically you are after a reasonably firm white fish. I just dusted the fillets with some seasoned flour and pan fried.

To serve, pile some of the noodle salad in a bowl, top with the fish, some chopped toasted cashews and some sprigs of coriander.

Too, too easy. Vaguely healthy (I’m still not sure about that sweet chilli sauce) and very tasty. What more can you want from a dinner that’s put together in minutes?

*Both are species of fish that Sustainable Seafood recommends you think about before using.