Confit Salmon

Have you heard about Macadamia Oil?



Macadamia oil is a delicious buttery, mild tasting oil that is mostly monounsaturated and low in the damaging saturated fats. This means it's healthy and you can eat lots of it!


When I got my package of yummy Brookfarm products recently, there was a bottle of Chilli Lime infused Macadamia Oil. It has a light nutty flavour that lets the chilli and lime through beautifully. It's great for salad dressings, drizzling over meats and even stirfrying as it has a high smoke point and won't burn easily.


Today I'm going to try something a little different, I'm going to use it to confit a salmon steak.


Confit is cooking something gently in oil or fat; it leaves the meat beautifully soft and delicate as the indirect heat wraps around it and seals the salmons natural moisture in. Don't be afraid of the oil. The fish won't soak it up or be unpleasant, it will drain off at the end and just leave a lovely lingering flavour.


I'm going to serve it with a green pawpaw salad for a great textural contrast, and some rice to complete the meal.

I got a lovely piece of salmon for my recipe. I left the skin on the fillet to help it hold together as it cooks and to protect it in case the bottom of the pot got a bit too warm. I also trimmed the thin end off as it would cook a lot quicker than the thicker part.

Place the salmon in a small pot and add enough olive oil to almost cover. Top up with a quarter cup of lovely Macadamia oil and leave to infuse while you make the salad.

For the green paw paw salad, or you can use green mango instead, use a shredder tool that you can get from most cookware shops or asian grocers. This finely shreds hard vegetables so easily and quickly, that it's well worth investing the $15 or so in getting one.

Green Papaya Salad


3 handfuls of shredded green papaya

2 handfuls of shredded carrot

about 1 handful of green beans cut into batons

about 10 cherry tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

1 large chilli

1 tab raw or palm sugar

2-3 tab lime juice

same amount of fish sauce

In a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic and sugar into a paste. Add in the chilli and bash away. Now add the beans and bruise, but don't smash. The idea is to use a hit and scoop action. Hit the vegetables with the pestle with your right hand, then scoop them up and turn them over with a spoon in your left hand. It's not as hard as it sounds, and you get a good rhythm going. Next add the papaya, then carrot. Lastly add the tomatoes, then the juice and fish sauce. Pound lightly a few more times to crush the tomatoes and to mix their juices and the other liquids through the salad.

Put the salmon on a gentle heat and slowly bring up the temperature. It should be just a bit too hot to leave your finger in comfortably. Place a lid on the pot and pull off the heat and leave for about 5mins to finish cooking. If there is only just enough oil, you can turn the fish over carefully first to make sure it's covered completely.

When the salmon is ready, put it on a rack over a tray to drain off the excess oil. You can also pat it gently with some paper towel if you like.

Now to plate up.

Remove the skin from the bottom of the fish, it's done it's job and isn't needed now. Yucky soft skin isn't pleasant at all. The fish is nice, soft and moist, with the subtle hints of lime and chilli just coming through. You can serve this hot or warm, I prefer it warm as I think the flavour is much better.
Place on a plate with the salad and rice. I topped this all off with some toasted macadamia nuts and a tiny last drizzle of fresh macadamia oil.

So Dearest Readers, do you like flavoured oils, and what do you like to do with them?

Macadamia oil supplied by the lovely people at Brookfarm. Thanks guys! http://www.brookfarm.com.au/

Brookfarm, Slow Food for Fast People

I was recently contacted by the lovely Chontelle and Office Buddies from Brookfarm asking if I would like to try some of their gluten free products.
In my box of goodies I received packet of Cranberry and Macadamia Muesli, a box of Brookfarm Bars, some pouches of Walkabout Snacks and a bottle of Macadamia oil. How exciting!

Living with food InTolerances does not have to be restrictive, companies like Brookfarm that make great gluten free food available 'main stream' are doing such a great job, and I'm sure all us InTolerants are extremely grateful for the thought and effort - and yumminess- that goes into these products.

Founded in 1999 by Pam and Martin Brook, Brookfarm is today Australia's leading producer of premium quality Macadamia products and works on the 3 P's principal, Passion for Quality, Passion for a better environment and Passion for great tasting healthy food.

"At Brookfarm we believe it is not enough to produce healthy nutritious food, the customers have to taste the difference. People with gluten intolerance often have a limited choice of foods, our mission was to create a Gluten Free Muesli that was full of flavour and didn't taste like cardboard. Pam Brook, the creator of Brookfarm's Gluten Free Muesli, took over 12 months to source the high quality ingredients, create and refine the recipes"

First I tried out the muesli.

It has a nice mix of textures with lots of fruit and big chunks of nuts.(I hate it when manufacturers skimp on the good bits) I poured on my lactose free milk and tasted.... a light taste of honey was my first impression, followed by the great crunchiness of a cereal that can take a dousing without going instantly soggy- it even maintained it's structural integrity while I took a few photos. As with all good muesli's, you really don't need a lot to be satisfied, but it is yummy, so try to take it easy!

Brookfarm bar with Macadamias and Cranberries

I'm not usually a fan of these type of bars, they are way too sickly sweet for my taste, but these ones are much better, as they're geared for grownups instead of the kiddies. They hold together crisply with a nice amount of fruit and nuts and manage to escape the stickiness that I also find unappealing in other commercial bars. I'm not a big snacker, so used these as a light breakfast on the go instead. I enjoyed them very much and hid them from the children citing 'research' as my excuse.



Walkabout snacks

Now these were really yummy. What impressed me was how fresh tasting everything was. You know what it's like with nut mixes, all the flavours melding together with one slightly dominating and a slight mustiness over all. But I could taste all the flavours properly and they worked together beautifully. My favourite was the with the dark chocolate buds. They are tiny little gems of sweetness like gracenotes in the nuttiness. The only downside of these little baggies, is that I was soo full after having one. That's when I read the packaging and realised it served 3. Ooops! That just shows how much I liked it I guess.



These are the type of thing I keep in my handbag or locker for those emergency times when no one has thought of me, the InTolerant, and think that some rice crackers are a suitable option for me at a luncheon buffet. The only option. That's when I break out my yummy stash and think happy thoughts, instead of plotting revenge on the host.




There was also a recipe card tucked in with my goodies for an interesting sounding chocolate cake. I really wanted to try it, but begrudged the amount of muesli needed (see, told you I liked it). I decided to compromise by making a half quantity instead.

For those of you not lucky enough to have some Brookfarm muesli available, substitute it with another-probably less yummy one or use almond meal.
I also used butter as it's practically lactose free, and Lindt extra dark chocolate for the same reason.

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
Recipe created by Anthony Telford. Serves 12

Ingredients
125g/4oz unsalted butter
200g/7oz quality dark chocolate
250g/9oz Brookfarm Gluten Free Muesli
4 large eggs
225g/8oz caster sugar

Method
- Line a 22cm spring form cake tin with baking paper
- Preheat oven to 160°C/320°F
- Place butter and chocolate together in a heat proof bowl over gently simmering water
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature
- Place muesli in food processor and blitz until it resembles a "nut meal"
- Mix the eggs with the sugar until combined
- Stir the egg mixture into the chocolate mix with the muesli meal.
- Pour into prepared tin and bake for about 45 mins or until skewer comes out clean
- Remove from oven and allow to cool
- Serve with cream and fresh berries
- This cake will last one week in an airtight container in the pantry or fridge, but I bet you won't leave it that long!

The end result is a lovely, rich fudginess with the surprise of an odd bit of cranberry here and there. Because I used a smaller tin it created a higher cake which is why mine has the exaggerated cave in. It doesn't matter with such a dense cake like this, merely dust it with some icing sugar or cocoa or maybe a spoonful of cream or berries or coulis, or perhaps them all, and no one will complain. There will be silence around your table except for the scraping of spoons on plates and surreptitious licking of fingers when no one is looking.

For more information on the lovely Brookfarm and online shop and distributor list, check them out at http://www.brookfarm.com.au/ **I also just discovered they are stocked at Belconnen Westfield in the little health food shop, oh so dangerously close and accessible to me!

See, we can change the world, one Gluten at a time! Thanks Brookfarm for helping me make this possible!

So Readers, what do you think of companies who make gluten free mainstream?













Goodies supplied by the lovely people at Brookfarm. Thanks Guys!
http://www.brookfarm.com.au/