What's Halal for you is Kosher for me

 A wonderful story of unity through diversity. The friendships we have made, the recipes and stories we have shared, which have brought Jewish and Muslim women together. Celebrating so many similarities in our cultures, traditions and beliefs and life long bonds we now share.

Making Kibbeh

Here is live footage with both Jewish and Muslim women being interviewed together whilst busy in the kitchen cooking....

http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/rnfirstbite/rn-first-bite-sat-14th-july/4121020

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Truffle Hunting

 

What a better way to spend a cold rainy winter's day, than going on a truffle hunt. Traditionally, in Europe, truffles were hunted by the farmers pig. I do recall reading many years ago that the old greedy farmers would only take their pigs hunting either late at night or very early in the mornings when his neighbours couldn't see under which trees his truffles laid.

The black truffle or "black Périgord truffle" is named after the Périgord region in France and grows beneath oak and hazelnut trees. The truffle industry in Australia is very new, having only surfaced in the past 10 years or so. Through technological advances, the oak and hazelnut trees have been inoculated with truffle fungus, allowing farmers outside of provincial European lands to explore the truffle mystery.

Now why are truffles so exclusive, rare and mysterious? The truffle season is limited to the winter months in Australia. The rainfall during the summer months, will affect the growth and size of the truffle hunted that winter. Thus the cost ... a wooping AUD $2000 per kilo. That equates to $200 per 100gm truffle. The below truffle weighed approx 35gms = $70.

Here Colin places a leash on Morris, and as we can see, Morris has lifted his paw in preparation. Morris was excited to truffle hunt, even in the rain.

Colin wears knee pads as he spends many hours kneeling on the ground in searching for 'Black Gold'.

And the hunt begins ....

Morris was trained from a pup developing a keen sense of truffle.

Rewarded with snacks for locating a potential 'nest' of truffles

Sniffing away - Morris locates the specific area of the truffle

Double checking...

Learning how to differentiate the smell of soil from the truffle

Phoebe finding it difficult to smell where the truffle was hiding

The treasure is found!

A very happy truffle bearer boasts the 40gm truffle

Morris digs for gold as the the umbrella-ed bystanders watch on

A well deserved reward....

A family of truffles - 11 in one nest

Sopping wet but very proud

Nothing comes between a man and his dog

Learning the texture of the truffle, its shape, form, colour, texture and smell

Being inspired

The fine bristles of the old toothbrush are perfect for a gentle clean, removing all dirt without damaging the truffle's exterior

Each truffle is washed, weighed and then valued

To know the quality of your truffle, always make sure you cut off a small slice to see its inside colour. Anything lighter than caramel indicates the truffle was picked prematurely and is not ready for sale

A perfect inside colour - dark with white lines, dense in texture with an aromatic truffle aroma.

Truffle slicer give an incredible fine shave, perfect for this pungent fruit.

Incredibly delicious, with the freshly gathered nuts off the hazelnut tree, together with finely grated truffle, together in a jar with honey was spectacular.

and placed on top of goats curd, is sensational!

One ingredient that goes hand in hand with the truffle is eggs.

Simple omelette with shaved truffle is provincal French cooking, rich, creamy and we are just missing one thing here .... the baguette.

And how versatile is the truffle, here we enjoyed truffle ice cream with an egg yolk base. The egg whites made the almond bread.

Breakfast the following morning. We combined grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese with freshly grated truffle....

Then we sprinkled that mixture over 12 beaten eggs in a pan ....

Cooked the bottom of the souffle ....

then flipped it in half ....

Voila ....

Here we are preparing the Truffle Hazelnut Honey, grating the fresh truffle.

Sterilised jars being filled with roasted hazelnuts

Combine the truffle with honey, and pour over hazelnuts. Seal.

Creamy mash potato with a drizzle of olive oil and shaved truffle is a wonderful accompaniment to meat, chicken or fish.

Truffles have a shelf life of 7 days, so make the most out of the brief season. Placing a small truffle in Vodka or in a jar of honey, so then it has an unlimited shelf life. Making truffle butter, placing slices under the skin of a chicken before roasting or making truffle salt.

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Interfaith Passover

This week, Marcelle, Elaine and Melissa M explained the festival of Passover and shared their family recipes and traditions. At Passover each year, we celebrate the story of the exodus in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. 

The Passover plate rests in the middle of the Seder (Hebrew word for 'order') table and is the centre point of both the table and the service. The plate consists of karpas, a green vegetable; charoset, a fruit wine nut mix; maror, a biter herb; zroa, a roasted lamb shank bone; beitza, a roasted egg; and hazeret, second bitter leaf. During this meal, the story of the Exodus from Egypt is retold using a special text called the Haggadah. Four cups of wine are consumed at various stages in the narrative.

 

 A symbol of the Passover holiday is matzo, an unleavened flat bread made solely from flour and water which is continually worked from mixing through baking, so that it is not allowed to rise. The Torah says that it is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus flat, unleavened bread, matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Exodus.

Matzo

 

Traditional foods eaten on Passover include Gefilte Fish, Charoset, Chicken Soup and Matzo balls (Kneidlach, matzo meal dumplings), and Kugel (pudding).

Charoset

Charoset is one of the symbolic foods that Jews eat during their Passover seder every year. It represents the mortar that the Israelites used to make bricks while they were slaves in Egypt.

5 cups peeled, cored and grated Granny Smith apples

1½ cups roughly chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins, optional

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1½ teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup kosher for Passover sweet red wine

In a large bowl combine all of the ingredients. Serve.

Lilly's Chicken Soup

Lilly’s Chicken Soup

14 chicken wings 

1 large onion, halved

Half bunch of celery cut in large chunks, with some leaves

8 peeled carrots cut in large chunks

Half a cup of parsley, optional

3 tbs chicken stock powder

Salt and pepper

Wash the chicken well, and in a large pan, cover with water and bring slowly to the boil. Skim off any discolouration from the top of the soup, leaving it clear. Add all the other ingredients, except stock powder.

Bring to boil and simmer slowly for 45 mins. Add the stock powder, salt and pepper. Cook slowly for another 30 minutes. Adjust seasoning to taste. Leave to cool and remove all the fat from the top of the soup.

Fennel and Orange Salad

Fennel & Orange Salad

2 large heads of fennel

4 large blood oranges if available, peeled

1 cup of chopped walnuts

Dressing

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar or lemon juice 

3 tbs honey, microwave 6 secs

1 tbs finely chopped parsley

Freshly ground salt & pepper

Mache (lambs lettuce) or baby spinach leaves to garnish

Shave or cut the fennel into very fine thin strips. Combine the dressing and toss through fennel. Arrange on the centre of a large platter. Cut oranges into thin round slices. Arrange the oranges around the edge of the plate. Sprinkle with walnuts and garnish with Mache.

Israeli Flourless Chocolate Mousse Dessert Cake

 

Israeli Flourless Chocolate Mousse Dessert Cake

6 eggs extra large and separated

6 Tablespoons sugar

200g dark chocolate

80g butter or nuttalex or butter

250ml fresh cream or Haddar (non dairy cream replacement)

Grease shallow pie or flan dish (oven proof, any shape) with the butter or Nuttalex. Melt the dark chocolate and butter or Nuttalex together and set aside, but keep a little of the chocolate to grate at the end for decoration.

Beat egg yolks with 3 Tablespoons of sugar until creamy, thick and lighter coloured. Pour melted butter and chocolate mixture into egg yolks and mix with a spoon until combined.

Place egg whites in another bowl with 3 Tablespoons of sugar. Beat well until very stiff. Add this to the chocolate and butter/Nuttalex mixture and fold in with a spoon until all combined. Pour two thirds of this mixture into the ready greased pie or flan dish. 

Bake in the oven at 175 degrees C for 25 mins. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely to room temperature. The centre of this baked mixture will crack and fall in. It is supposed to do this creating the well into which you will pour the following mixture;

Whip the cream or Haddar until thick and add to the remaining one third of the chocolate mixture that you had set aside.

Pour this into the centre of the cake. Decorate with grated dark chocolate.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate for a few hours until ready to serve.

 

Passover Cinnamon Ball

1 1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1 cup castor sugar

2 cups ground almonds

2 -3 egg whites

Icing sugar

Sieve dry ingredients. Beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into dry ingredients a little at a time. Wet hands, and roll into about 24 small balls. Place on lined baking sheet. Bake at 180'C for 20-25 minutes. Cool on tray and dust with icing sugar. Makes 24.

Passover Almond Macaroons

2 large egg whites

Pinch of salt

1 cup castor sugar

1 tablespoon almond extract

2 cups ground almonds

30 whole almonds

Preheat oven to 180'C. Line greased baking sheet. Beat egg whites until foamy, add salt. Beat until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time. Add almond extract. Fold in ground almonds. Place tablespoonfuls on baking sheet, leaving space between each macaroon. Press almond on top.

Bake 20 minutes till firm. Let cool on tray. Makes 30.

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