Category Archives: LFW Food&Wine

Getting Special with your Slow Cooker

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Healthy recipes for slow-cooked comfort food

By Emma

Do you know slow cooking is really healthy? There’s little added fat, and if you use fresh, organic fruits and veggies, skip the sweet packet sauce mixes, and make your own stock, you’re getting comfort food that’s good for you, and sustainable!

Lamb shanks with spicy plum sauce and garlic mash

Lamb shanks with spicy plum sauce and garlic mash

Winter is the perfect time to get out your slow cooker and put it through its paces. You can pop everything in the cooker in the morning and leave it until dinner-time, or alternatively, let it cook overnight, refrigerate the next day (so the flavours fuse together and are further enhanced) and warm it up for dinner. Even better, pop on your favourite pastry top and you’ve got the perfect winter pie!

The following recipes are super tasty, super healthy, super easy, and all have something a little different to make them super special! Check out our terrific comfort food slow cooking and enjoy! Continue reading →

Posh Picnics!

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We learnt to love picnics when travelling through Europe—so easy to fill a basket with cold saucisson and pate, yummy cheeses and breads, and a bottle of local wine—and much cheaper than eating at a fancy restaurant. Other good picnic items are pies and quiches; easy to carry and even easier to eat. We’ve been making our quiche for years and it’s based on an old (very old) Women’s Weekly recipe!

Home-made bacon and leek quiche with tossed salad

Home-made bacon and leek quiche with tossed salad

Take a look at our great ideas for an autumn picnic in the bush, and get our quiche recipe below. You can find our delish pie recipes at LFW Celebration Pies! Continue reading →

Eating Pizza!

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In Our Year of Eating Healthy—Yes! You can eat Pizza!

Super healthy pizza - just add your favourite toppings

Super healthy pizza – just add your favourite toppings

Pizza has got to be one of the most popular meals on the planet, and once you’ve got the base you can make it anything you want. But for those of us who are gluten free it’s not so easy to get a take-away pizza, so 99 per cent of the time we’re up for making our own, which is more fun than getting a take-away anyway. For a super-healthy (and ethical) pizza get over to Capital Region Farmers Market on Saturday mornings and get some great organic meats, and visit Choku Bai Jo (Lyneham and Curtin) for the freshest organic veggies.

Anyway, here are a couple of LFW’s favourite easy-peasy recipes for anyone to try, including regular and GF, plus a terrific ‘from scratch’ recipe from FEEDinc. Trust me, once you make your own, you’ll never get a take-away again!

Click for what you need, what you do, and recipes! Continue reading →

Celebration Pies!

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It’s National Pie Week in the UK from 2 – 8 March. So being a POM myself, and with the cooler weather on the horizon in Canberra, we thought we’d celebrate Pie Week and check out some winter menu meals at the same time; there’s not much beats hearty and warming than a good home-made pie!

Individual beef and red wine pie

Individual beef and red wine pie

Check out our awesome (and warming) chicken, beef, and lamb pie recipes below—all ingredients are for two small pies.

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Australian Finger Limes—Citrus Caviar!

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We had to look up what these were as well … and they’re pretty cool fruits! They look like a cross between a banana and a lime, and when you cut them open they really do look like caviar (roe) or a mass of lime pomegranate seeds. They’re also known as Wild Finger Limes or Bush Limes. The lime crystals (vesicles) explode in your mouth—just like fish roe—and have a sensational lime flavour. Finger limes can be used in salads, pasta, sushi, curries, cakes and deserts, and cocktails, but are especially good with seafood.

Finger Limes are available from Choku Bai Jo in North Lyneham and Curtin.

Finger limes with avocado and salmon

Avocado and salmon with finger lime dressing

How to choose and use finger limes

Choku finger limes

Select fruit with brightly coloured skin. Cut the limes in half and squeeze to release the pulp. Substitute a small amount of pulp for a squeeze of regular lime juice.

For recipes click this link Continue reading →

Summerside Festival—Canberra Wine Region

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What better way to celebrate late summer than with a Summerside Festival. Food and wine, wine tours, lunches and fine dining, and music in the vines are just a part of what’s on throughout February in the Canberra wine region. Here’s a quick selection of what’s on offer, and don’t forget to book your wine tour with Vines & Wines.

Canberra Wine Region Summerside Festival - February 2015

Canberra Wine Region Summerside Festival – February 2015

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A Mere Christmas Trifle!

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How many arguments does this simplest of desserts create? Fruit or no fruit? Jelly or no jelly? What’s your take on the most popular Christmas dessert … The Trifle!

I grew up in the north of England and our Christmas table always included a traditional Olde English Trifle for dessert; there was pudding as well of course, with sixpences wrapped in foil, but the main event was the trifle. It was sweet and smooth and ever so slightly tipsy from the sherry that my mother poured over the cake. The trifle was usually made the previous day so the sherry could soak into the cake and fruit, and the custard (which was also home-made) could set. The cream and decoration, or fruit topping, was added immediately before serving. And there was never, ever, any jelly in it!

Traditional English trifle

Traditional English trifle

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Heard it through the Grapevine – with Vines & Wines

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Canberra district wine has had an upsurge in recent years and local boutique wineries have been winning awards and medals right, left and centre. Reviews, such as the one recently posted on The Wine Wankers website, extols the virtues of our locally produced vino from a range of wineries from Murrumbateman to Bungendore, and cites Clonakilla’s Shiraz Voignier as a benchmark for the blend; Helm’s Wines to be added to your bucket list, and Lark Hill as a ‘standout’. And, let’s be honest, there’s not much that can beat the simple pleasure of sitting among the vines and enjoying an award winning drop while listening to some local live jazz.

Australian wines photo by Greg Snell

Australian wines – photo by Greg Snell

But, therein lies the catch—isn’t there always? While everyone else enjoys the afternoon, the designated driver generally has to make do with lunch and music, and then drive a bunch of ‘happy’ people home. Not any more. Now you can check out three or four wineries, enjoy a sumptuous lunch, and partake of the wine. How? You book a Vines & Wines tour.

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Spice up your Veggies!

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I don’t pretend to be a great ‘foodie’ but I just thought I’d share this quick and super easy, and tasty, take on some very ordinary veggies. You can use any veggies you like but I prefer traditional potato, sweet potato, carrots and pumpkin for a good base.

Spray a large baking tray with olive oil. I use Moro Extra Virgin Olive Oil as it has a lovely clean and light taste. Peel and cut the root veggies into large chunks, and halve the bigger sprouts otherwise leave whole, and if using cauliflower or broccoli break into large florets. Boil in lightly salted water for about five minutes; drain and spread onto the baking tray. Then comes the tasty bit … sprinkle the veggies with spice mix (be very generous) and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in preheated oven (200 degrees) for 20 minutes and serve as a side dish with just about anything!  Here are few of my favourites.

Roast veggies with Australia bush spices (served with slow cooked butterfly lamb*)

Ready to roast veggies with Australia bush spices (served with slow cooked butterfly lamb)

I used Jamie Oliver’s lemon and thyme butterflied lamb and cooked in the slow cooker for 6 hours. Delish!

Roast veggies with Moroccan spices (served with seared chicken strips)

Roast veggies with Moroccan spices (served with seared chicken strips)

You can also do the same veggies sprinkled with Indian spices, and serve with samosas for a yummy vegetarian.

Or try red, yellow and green peppers cut into large pieces (no need to precook) and baby Roma tomatoes—just make a cut in the tomatoes so they don’t burst, and drizzle with olive oil and a good sprinkle of Italian herbs and spices, and bake for 20 minutes or until soft. Makes a great side dish for any Italian meal.

Roast capsicum and Roma tomatoes with Italian herbs and spices

Roast capsicum and Roma tomatoes with Italian herbs and spices

If I can do it—you certainly can!

And don’t forget, you can get the best and freshest veggies every Saturday from Canberra Region Farmer’s Market at EPIC.

 

Photos by LFW