Author Archive
Santa Fe Salad
October 9, 2013 | 
Author The barbeque season has well and truly kicked off, with temperatures soaring well into the 30’s already in Noosa. Barbequing is a way of life here, and while meat often plays the starring role, I like to ensure that there is a diverse selection of salads served for the non-carnivores. This is a salad I created recently, which uses barbequed corn, the only way to prepare corn in my humble opinion! It’s a pretty, colourful and satisfying salad and goes beautifully with barbequed chicken or salmon.
Mango Pie
When you see mangoes at your local farmers market, you know summer is definitely on its way. Whilst the mangoes that are available at the moment are mainly coming from Northern Territory, it won’t be long before we’ll be enjoying Queensland mangoes. Mangoes are such a versatile fruit, and can be used in savoury dishes, drinks, baked goods and desserts to name but a few! One of my favourite ways to cook with mangoes is this Mango Pie, a recipe I developed quite a few years ago but find myself making over and over again. The pie filling is luscious – creamy, fruity but not to sweet. I like to make my pastry from scratch, but if you’re pressed for time just use a sheet of defrosted shortcrust pastry. Either way, your guests will be coming back for seconds, I promise you!
Recipe: Crostata (Rustic Italian Jam Tart)
It’s been a long time between posts, and that’s because this foodie has been eating her way around Europe! Having just returned from a wonderful month travelling Italy, France, Belgium, Holland and England, I’m back in Noosa with renewed culinary inspiration. There were several highlights to my trip – one was dining at Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant The Fat Duck, an incredible experience, and the other was travelling around rural Italy. I concentrated on a fairly small area, which included the regions of Liguria, Tuscany, Umbria and Marche. On my gourmet escapades, one of the things that was very apparent is the diversity of foods in each region. For example Liguria was abundant with seafood and is where the famous pesto sauce originates, whereas Tuscany cuisine was more meat-based, with game being readily available.
Pesto Making in Liguria
Posted in Events & experiences, Places to visit, Recipes | 
Tags: Dessert, italian food | 
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Recipe: Beef Ribs Baked in Coconut
Winter has arrived with a vengeance. Yes, it does get chilly on the Sunshine Coast! At this time of the year I am ready to move away from salads and barbequed food and enjoy more complex dishes. This tasty Thai-inspired recipe is a perfect winter-warming dish, and makes use of local ginger, limes and garlic which are currently in season. The beef becomes very tender and falls off the bone due to the long cooking time. Don’t trim the fat from the beef ribs, as it adds to the delicious flavour of the coconut sauce.
Matt Mixes with Mary Valley Flavours
Highly acclaimed chef, Matt Golinski, will use the flavours of local Mary Valley produce to create seasonal delights in the Centre Park in Imbil on Sunday June 9. The passionate cook, whose resume includes roles as executive chef at Ricky Ricardos at Noosa, founding partner in his highly successful Rolling Dolmade catering company and one of the favourite chefs on Channel 10 network’s Ready Steady Cook TV series, is pleased to help promote Mary Valley Country Flavours.
Posted in Events & experiences | Tags: food events, local produce, Mary Valley, Matt Golinski | 1 Comment »
Four Fabulous Days of Foodie Fun
The Noosa International Food & Wine Festival just celebrated its 10-year birthday, and what a party it was! Australia’s premier food event pulled out all stops to mark the occasion, with an amazing line-up of local, national and international chefs, food personalities, winemakers and first class entertainment. Visitors to the festival were spoilt for choice, with a diverse selection of cooking demonstrations, panel discussions, lunches and dinners, food and wine tastings, lifestyle events, concerts and much more – all taking place in stunning locations.
Posted in Events & experiences, Places to visit | Tags: Asian food, chefs, Festival, Food festival, Noosa, seafood, wine | 1 Comment »
Recipe: Hot Cross Buns
There is nothing nicer than the smell of freshly baked bread, except the smell of spicy, fruity hot cross buns baking! This Easter, instead of buying manufactured hot cross buns filled with preservatives and other nasties, why not bake your own? It’s not difficult to do, and the results are absolutely worth it. Yes, it does take a little time, but like anything in life the best things can’t be rushed.
Recipe: Passionfruit & Lime Butter
Noosa Foodie loves seasonal cooking. On the Sunshine Coast we are currently enjoying an abundance of late summer fruit. My lime tree is full of fruit, and whilst my passionfruit vine is yet to yield, passionfruit are-a-plenty at the Noosa Farmers Market. So when life gives you passionfruit and limes, I say “make Passionfruit & Lime Butter”!
Recipe: Poached Spiced Tamarillos
Tamarillos, also known as the tree tomato, are plentiful on the Sunshine Coast at the present. One of my lovely neighbours who has a tamarillo tree which is abundant with fruit kindly gave me a large bag full, which led me to creating this recipe. Poaching tamarillos in a sweet syrup is one of the nicest ways to enjoy this often overlooked fruit.
Sip the best at the 2013 Noosa International Food and Wine Festival
Australia’s best wines and winemakers will emerge on the Sunshine Coast for what will be a stellar line up for the tenth anniversary of the Noosa International Food and Wine Festival from 16-19 May 2013.
The festival will feature over 200 wines from 40 wineries where the stars of Australian winemaking will share their knowledge with enthusiastic consumers and wine buffs at the many and various wine-focused events throughout this year’s four-day Festival program. It is truly a unique opportunity for people to meet and interact with their favourite winemakers.
Meet your favourite winemakers
