Our Annual fresh Ginger and Turmeric Harvest is on now, with Ginger and Turmeric Recipes included

We  have just harvested our tropical and edible crop of aromatic Ginger and Turmeric. It's an annual event, generally occurring between the heat of Summer and the early chill of Winter, when the rhizomes or roots are mature. Ginger and turmeric grow almost like a weed here in Mackay in the tropics. Since then we've been chopping, slicing, cooking, freezing and dehydrating the ginger. Now I have enough dehydrated Spice Ginger and tropical Stem Ginger in Syrup, and frozen ginger and turmeric to last me for the next 12 months.

Fruit and Nut Sourdough Toast for Breakfast : makes 1 Loaf

This week I bring to you a fruity, hearty, and nourishing sourdough fruit loaf perfect for Sunday morning breakfast. Sourdough is a slow-fermented bread that is beneficial to our gut biome, and doesn't need commercial yeast to rise. It's made with a live fermented culture, a sourdough starter, which acts as a natural rising agent. Once you have a sourdough starter in your refrigerator, "the mother"  you can start baking sourdough bread. 

Delicious and Healthy Wholewheat, Chocolate and Oatmeal Biscuits/Cookies

 Even though this is one of the healthiest biscuit recipes I have ever baked, it is also one of the most delicious.

Hungry for a batch of Hearty Beef Goulash

There was a cool weather change coming through, possibly the last before the onset of summer so I decided to appease my craving for beef and cook a goulash, the process for this one being very similar to cooking a casserole. There aren't many unusual ingredients in this dish, which is a factor I look for now as I keep a good stockpile in my pantry which I hope will serve as the basis of a lot of the things that I cook. Green capsicums, tomato puree and  Blade steak were all I needed to purchase. I had everything else on hand which was great. Winner! This goulash recipe was originally written for 4 people, and I had cooked it for four and loved it, so this time I decided to do some batch cooking. The Hungarian word for goulash is gulyas meaning 'herdsman', and the dish originated in Medieval Hungary. I am taking a lead from this and if serving this to family and friends, a very rustic presentation of this dish is perfectly acceptable.



Thankfully, I have the time now to cook food in large batches. I'm telling you nothing new when I say how expensive it can be to buy and cook healthy food, however it is the only way to go. There are ways around this such as shopping at local farmer's markets whenever possible, and also doubling the quantities in dishes such as stews, casseroles, lasagnes, and goulashes and freezing half of what you have cooked. How many times do you find that a recipe calls for 3 tablespoons out of a can of tomato puree, or coconut milk for example, and then you are left wondering how to use up the rest of the ingredient, or it stays in the Refrigerator unused and ends up being tossed out.  It was easy to increase the quantities to feed 8 people for this recipe,  however it is easily halved to quantities for four people if you wish. I cooked it three days ago, and I have frozen half of it. On a regular basis if I cook more than we need to eat I freeze it in portions for those "no cooking" nights when the kitchen is closed, which we all need occasionally, or eat it during the week as leftovers. A dish like this definitely improves in flavour when it sits for a day or two in the refrigerator before being eaten. It is an economical way to eat and stretch the budget these days. As we head into summer, it will be nice some nights to enjoy the convenience of taking a cooked meal out of the freezer and defrosting it, without having to cook in a hot kitchen. However, I do enjoy a good barbecue as well, don't you?

I love that this recipe uses live Apple Cider Vinegar which is great for our healthy gut, and also tempts the blade steak to braise well and provide a lot of rich flavour. This is such a Dr. Michael Mosley trademark, which you will recognise if you have read any of his books on how to live with a healthy gut. A traditional Hungarian Goulash is a soup and stew combined so there will be more liquid in this casserole than the traditional kind, all the better to mop up with some nice bread I say. Traditionally, flour isn't used to thicken Hungarian stews.

Let's Cook:

Ingredients:

Serves 8

8 tablespoons olive oil
2 large white onions, chopped
4 large carrots, cut into batons
2 large green capsicums, deseeded and sliced
6 garlic cloves, crushed
1 kg diced braising steak, I used grass fed blade steak, diced for me by the butcher
2 tablespoons paprika
6 tablespoons tomato puree
6 bay leaves
800 ml organic beef stock, or a bone broth you have made yourself
2 x 400 g tins chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons live (raw) apple cider vinegar

Let's Cook:

Preheat the oven to 160 deg. C.

Heat 4 tablespoons oil in a large stove top casserole dish or Scanpan frying pan with a well fitting lid and fry the onions gently for 5-7 minutes. Add the carrots, capsicum and garlic and cook for a few more minutes. I used my Scanpan for this dish.




Dry your meat with some kitchen paper or a chux to avoid excess splattering. Place 2 tablespoons of oil in another pan over a high heat and brown the meat on all sides in batches adding more olive oil as you need it. I cooked the beef in four batches in my favourite cast iron frying pan on a high heat.



I seasoned each browned batch of meat  and added it to the vegetables in my Scanpan, along with the paprika, tomato puree and bay leaves.



Pour the stock or broth into the pan used for browning the meat and stir for a minute or so, scraping the bottom, to incorporate all of the brownings and juices from the meat.



Add the juices to the casserole dish, along with the tomatoes and the vinegar. Bring the goulash to a simmer, then either transfer the  mixture to a large casserole dish for the oven or cover the one you are using, and place it in the middle of the oven for  2 1/2 - 3 hours, taking it out occasionally to give it a stir, and adding more water if it is drying out. My Scanpan was perfect for slow cooking this dish in the oven. It will look like there is a lot of liquid, but trust me it will thicken up beautifully over the cooking time.

Serve your goulash with a bowl of full-fat organic Greek yoghurt or sour cream, a generous serving of green vegetables and a bowl of reheated new potatoes and butter sprinkled with parsley. As we are conscious of our carbohydrate intake now, I often cook potatoes and pasta in advance and let them cool, as reheating previously cooked potatoes increases the amount of healthy resistant starch in them, which is much better for us.  Any condiments such as good quality sauerkraut, pickled cabbage, or pickled fennel could also be served as a vegetable side to compliment Goulash as is customary in Eastern European countries such as Hungary and Poland.

Thanks for dropping by, 

Best wishes,

Pauline