Cooking and Recipes

[Farseer]

ok then does anyone have any ideas for what to make/cook at a barbeque?
I really don't care much for them so I really don't have any repertoire of food ideas! But we have a community BBQ coming up so I really should go.
So far I have ..... sausages...... pretty original hey!

Cooee!! Where are you, Nuytsia?!

I missed this post previously but a potato and bacon bake (kept warm) or zucchini slice/quiche is always a great accompaniment to take to a barbie.

Kebabs are always popular as well - you can have meat and veg ones prepared to cook or even fruit ones kept cold to take along to go with dessert in summer. For the benefit of others, I do mean "meat and vegies on a skewer" or "shish kebab" here when I say "kebab". I say this because I once went into a new kebab shop in Longreach and ordered ten kebabs for my husband and one of my sons, and the rest of us had ordered Chinese from next door...you can imagine my surprise when they brought out ten doner kebabs, as in, roasted meat and salad stuff in wraps...I was like, ??!! I'd never even heard of them before or knew there was any other kebab than a "shish" kebab. Suffice it to say we had plenty to eat that night and the next day...and the business shut down not long after!

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Sorry...just read redchild's post re kebabs!

Are you being fair dinkum about the whale meat, 'thul? We have camels here so eat camel meat from time-to-time (well, everyone else except for me!). My husband has eaten kangaroo meat down in South Australia, but I could never bring myself to try it. We also eat crawchies (or freshwater yabbies as many seem to call them) from our turkey's nests/dams etc but all else is pretty straightforward and not unusual.

[redchild]

Are you being fair dinkum about the whale meat, 'thul?

We have camels here so eat camel meat from time-to-time (well, everyone else except for me!). My husband has eaten kangaroo meat down in South Australia, but I could never bring myself to try it. We also eat crawchies (or freshwater yabbies as many seem to call them) from our turkey's nests/dams etc but all else is pretty straightforward and not unusual.

I had to look these up, haha I just call em crawfish.

I've never had camel or kangaroo. How are they like?

['thul]

Yes, whale meat is delicious. especially whale beef...

[Nuytsia]

Thanks everyone for the BBQ ideas!!! Sorry I didn't read them before - there WILL be more BBQ's no doubt.

I always had a hate of BBQ's - I think from being forced to attend them as a child and being bored stiff for hours. (from memory there were mainly adults there so not much for a kid to do). Also, the heat, the flies. Indoors was invented for a reason!!!! (and is my preferred place to eat, bar none).
Anyoo, I'm sure my hate of BBQ's is all very intriguing.
The ones here have been a lot more tolerable - people are (roughly) my age and it's not so hot and there are very few flies. In fact I don't recall a single one at the actual BBQ I wrote that post for. Hoorah!

Re whales, if we based what we ate on intelligence, some people would be on the menu!!!

ps Mervi I really must try making my own yoghurt too!!!!!
I haven't had much incentive as I can buy a nice biodynamic one in the supermarket - in fact I can't buy biodynamic or organic MILK in the supermarket! Hmmmm.

Well that's another reason for me to get a house cow!!!

['thul]

These beings have just tried hamburgers with self-baked burger breads... highly recommended...

[Farseer]

ps Mervi I really must try making my own yoghurt too!!!!!
I haven't had much incentive as I can buy a nice biodynamic one in the supermarket - in fact I can't buy biodynamic or organic MILK in the supermarket! Hmmmm.

Well that's another reason for me to get a house cow!!!

Yes, I am looking to begin making our own yoghurt...it's been on the "to do" list for years so I must get cracking with it.

We also have a good supply of milk at the moment with one of our cows giving birth to twins recently. Will post some pics not too far away, now that I've finally found the camera cord! Sadly we lost another one while she was giving birth only a few days ago.

I thought I'd posted this recipe previously but it appears not? Apologies if it's a duplicate. Nuytsia, it may prove useful for your basil, garlic and tomatoes as per post #75 on the The Tangle - Photogallery thread.

This sauce can be used as is or a base for lots of other things eg soup, stew; added to mince or spooned over grilled chicken…the uses are many!

I have experimented with a variety of tomatoes and use this a LOT even with cherry tomatoes as we get so many. I couldn’t be bothered with peeling, deseeding etc (and there’d be nothing left of them if I did that to cherry tomatoes anyway!) so just chopping and throwing in works just as well.

Really Useful Sauce

1/3 cup (80mL) olive oil
4 small onions (320g), finely chopped
20 medium tomatoes (3.8kg)
8 cloves garlic, crushed
2/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oil in large pan, add onions, cover and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile, peel, seed and chop tomatoes, discarding stem ends.
3. Add garlic to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes then add the tomatoes.
4. Bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for about 1 ½ hours or until the mixture is the consistency of pasta sauce.
5. Stir in basil and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, for a further 10 minutes before seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Pour sauce into freezer containers leaving 1 to 2 cm space above, for expansion, and then cover, cool in fridge and then freeze for up to 6 months. If storing in fridge only, it will last for up to 5 days.

Makes about 10 cups

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These beings have just tried hamburgers with self-baked burger breads... highly recommended...

Yum!

[Nuytsia]

I forgot to boggle at - crawchies from a turkey nest?????? What in the world?
Sometimes I feel like there ARE different countries within the Australian continent. I have NEVER heard of a crawchie?! Seeing you called them freshwater yabbies I'm gonna assume they are what we call plain old 'yabbies' (we don't have non-freshwater yabbies.... )
What are they doing in a turkey nest?? The only yabbies I know live in the mud bank of waterways.

Thanks for the tomato sauce recipe!!!!! Now I just have to hope I get at least 20 tomatoes for sauce! I can certainly envisage myself using it a lot for stews etc. I usually use the bottled one from the supermarket a lot.

Some of the tomatoes I planted are supposed to be good for sauce - the variety is called San Marzano. Whether it IS good for sauce remains to be seen! I THINK they are meant to be lower water content than other varieties? Not 100% sure.

Brilliant about your milk supply! Can't wait to see the pics of calves. You could make cheese too! I think cheeses like ricotta are supposedly quite easy to make.
Sorry to hear about your other cow not making it..... poor thing.

['thul]

Hamburgers are also dangerously tasty if you make the burgers themselves on your own as well... (from ground beef and seasoning/spice of your own choice...

These beings often mix various green herbs into the meat. (the tale-telling "pizza" herb mix sold at one of the local stores. Hmm... on that thought... how much better would it be with freshly harvested herbs?

[Farseer]

Hamburgers are also dangerously tasty if you make the burgers themselves on your own as well... (from ground beef and seasoning/spice of your own choice...

Living on a cattle station means I always make my own, with our own home-grown beef. Nothing shop-bought can compare in my opinion!

. Hmm... on that thought... how much better would it be with freshly harvested herbs?

As for above...whatever I have in my garden at the time goes in! Fresh is best.

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I forgot to boggle at - crawchies from a turkey nest?????? What in the world?
Sometimes I feel like there ARE different countries within the Australian continent. I have NEVER heard of a crawchie?! Seeing you called them freshwater yabbies I'm gonna assume they are what we call plain old 'yabbies' (we don't have non-freshwater yabbies.... )
What are they doing in a turkey nest?? The only yabbies I know live in the mud bank of waterways.

Yes, a "crawchie" is just another name for a "yabby" but I have never used the word yabby in my life, except to explain that a crawchie is one of them to those who have never heard of a crawchie! I guess it's a regional thing, like how I call an "icy cup" a "big lick"...I will drive to the city or a large town quite a distance away and a school group will be selling them and I will say, "Can I have two red big licks, please?" and they'll go ..."Oh, you mean an icy cup??" (for the benefit of others, a big lick or icy cup is just cordial in a plastic cup that's been frozen, like an ice-block).

As for a turkey's nest...it actually has nothing to do with a turkey except that the circular shape of the structure is similar in style to that of the nest of a turkey. It is, in fact, just a source of captured water (taken in via a windmill or pump, or supplemented with rainwater) very similar to a dam but usually smaller in size. It is used to both store water and relay it from the original water source to a watering trough for stock.

Because the creek that goes through here does not always have water in it, we breed crawchies in our dams and turkey's nests (though not in large, commercial quantities or anything) to eat and also to use as bait for fishing etc.

Now I just have to hope I get at least 20 tomatoes for sauce!

I've never counted just how many cherry tomatoes equates to the needed 3.8kg but, let me warn you, it is a LOT of chopping up to do, even without the peeling and deseeding etc, and even with a handy husband helping! Mid-way through I often think, "Why am I DOING this?!"

[Nuytsia]

Hehehee boy I'm learning a lot from this forum!
Mainly about my own country!!!!

Ugh woops I hate cutting up! I could make a smaller batch.... Well I still have to get the tomatoes.........