Photos of bushfood kitchen creations

[Shalem]

MACADAMIA KANGAROO LOG



I've adapted this from Kay Joyce's Bunya Pork Log recipe from her "Bushfood Herbs & Spices" book. I didn't have pork mince, nor Bunya Nuts, so used Kangaroo Mince & Macadamia Nuts instead. It follows these steps:

Spread Jam

Spread Native Jam onto puff pastry (I used Davidson's Plum Jam shown in photo further above);

Kangaroo Mince & Macadamia Log

-Make up a mince mixture (I added crushed garlic, eggs & steak sauce. Mixed it all up using a KitchenAid mixer flat beater on the stir speed No 1. Can be mixed by hand of course but the beater disperses evenly, breaks up the mince & automates this step); -Make up a log of minced Bunya Nuts (Macadamia Nuts) combined with cream;
-Roll up the mince & nuts, then roll this up in the pastry. I used baking paper to help with the rolling process. Trickiest part was not to use an excessive amount of mince, otherwise it's difficult to roll & close the log, & have mince stay in place.
-Bake & cut into slices.

Taste test: Kangaroo Mince was pretty identical to beef mince in taste & texture. It was more finely ground in this, than say my Kangaroo Mince meatballs in Bush Pizza topic because I feel the mixer flat beater had contributed to this aspect. Nut centre was a good idea.

Lemon Myrtle Macadamia Oil

Macadamia Oil Salad Dressing: I tossed snow pea sprouts in the beautiful oil above as a light salad dressing & for glossy sprouts. I've never used Macadamia Oil in salads, so please let me tell you what a lovely, delightful change of dressing this particular oil was compared to say, supermarket salad dressings. I didn't add anything to the oil as a salad dressing. (There is better photos & information on this oil in Macadamia Nuts topic).

[Erma John]

i like simple rice salad because is it very low fat and so tasty and easy to eat hahahaha

[AussieCutes]

-Make up a mince mixture (I added crushed garlic, eggs & steak sauce. Mixed it all up using a KitchenAid mixer flat beater on the stir speed No 1. Can be mixed by hand of course but the beater disperses evenly, breaks up the mince & automates this step); -Make up a log of minced Bunya Nuts (Macadamia Nuts) combined with cream;
-Roll up the mince & nuts, then roll this up in the pastry. I used baking paper to help with the rolling process. Trickiest part was not to use an excessive amount of mince, otherwise it's difficult to roll & close the log, & have mince stay in place.
-Bake & cut into slices..

Know this is an older topic, but MY GOSH does that dish looks positively delicious! LOL!

However, I have a question about the "mixing process." It seems as though many people highly recommend using a KitchenAid mixer to produce the right type of texture. Can I get away with utilizing other appliances to mix my food? Or am I forever doomed to lumpy mashed potatoes and oddly mixed meat loaf?

Sorry for the random question, but I really was curious about that. Heard lots of different things from different people. Either way, that dish looks terrific!

[Shalem]

Hey AussieCutes, Thanks heaps for liking my pastry log dish and sharing your opinion to me!. Much appreciated

1) As you sound keen on this dish from Kay Joyce, did you know there's another dish sort of like this one but not exactly? Common ingredients for both recipes are Bunya Nut meal, pork mince & Quandongs. It's found at http://www.cherikoff.net. Go to Recipes, then Mains, & it's called Pork Pasties with a Bunya Pastry & Quandong Chutney. It makes a Bunya Nut pastry with pork mince filling, deep fried then served with home made Quandong Chutney.

2) Onto your KitchenAid Mixer enquiry. Only my opinion: If you're able to afford a KitchenAid Mixer, it'll be a fantastic kitchen helper for you if correctly operated. Going by my experiences, it's true the KitchenAid mixer & flat beater distribute ingredients evenly for mixtures like meatloaf & stuffings using speed 1 (or 2). Speed 1 is called Stir Speed in the KitchenAid manual, since it performs the function of a hand held kitchen utensil (eg wooden spoon, potato masher etc) but is better....well better than my hands anyway!. I agree it makes smooth mashed potato, effortlessly. To do this, I followed mashed potato recipe in KitchenAid Mixer cookbook (called 'The Ultimate Mixer Cookbook'). [I haven't always made every mashed potato successfully as the next with this mixer, & it's possible it could be to do with the type & quality of potatoes &/or milk not being warm enough etc but I'm not sure exactly why & most times it's ok]. I'm not sure what other non-KitchenAid appliances perform like KitchenAid or make nice mashed potato & meatloaves, since KitchenAid is the main one I use & it does the job for me. Though I've never owned this & not 100% sure, I think Kenwood mixer is a little like KitchenAid in regards to flat beater, whisk attachment & some mixer attachments.

My apple green KitchenAid Mixer with juicer attachment
If unable to afford this mixer or if another appliance isn't available, then hand kitchen utensils will have to be used with some good hands for beating & mixing, but it's up to the individual how much they care for their mashed potatoes to be smooth & meatloaf to be mixed well or whether they want to spend money on an appliance. I'm not a strong woman & I find beating & mashing by hand for firm mixtures like boiled potatoes & mince mixtures to be difficult & tiring. It's effortless & quick for my KitchenAid mixer & flat beater to automate this task for me. You'd be surprised how quickly the mixer does this.

3) KitchenAid Mixer Attachments: AussieCutes, along with smooth mashed potato & nicely mixed meatloaf, the KitchenAid Mixer is so sophisticated, that it can be turned into different appliances by attaching specific KitchenAid Mixer attachments. Above you see my juicer attachment so now the mixer's a juicer appliance. There's attachments to turn the mixer into an ice-cream churner, meat grinder, sausage maker, pasta machine, can opener, fruit vegie strainer or food processor & there's many other attachments. All my mixer attachments give me fantastic results with effortless work eg pasta sheets (with properly formed dough), fettucine, juice, etc.

4) KitchenAid stores: Anyone is welcome to send me private message questions about KitchenAid Mixer, & to identify which Australian online kitchen stores are recommended for their price & availability on the Mixer & Mixer attachments. Whilst purchasing my mixer and attachments, I found every online stores differed greatly, so much that I saved a few hundred dollars total for my mixer and particular attachments I'd bought same time as mixer. It just took shopping around online. As there's many attachments, coupled with every online store differing greatly in prices for all mixer attachments & mixer, I was forced to tabulate the data into an MS Excel spreadsheet to analyse the differences...that's how much prices differed! So as a result of the analysis, I saved myself lots of money! Austraian online KitchenAid prices are likely to be far cheaper than purchasing from an Australian shop building.

Cheers & thanks again,
Shalem

ErmaJohn,

You're right about rice salads in that they can be healthy depending on ingredients & dressings, easy to make and tasty. Thanks for prompting me. I'll have to start making and eating more rice salad again. I really like brown rice in rice salads, and the organic brown rice is particularly nice. I like to cook this rice in my rice cooker but it can be little tricky to determine water levels & timing when compared to my non-organic white jasmine rice.

Shalem

[Shalem]

BUNYA NUT STIR-FRY VIDEO

Previously in this topic I showed my photo of a bush tucker stir-fry with some suggestions. Anyway I came across this Utube video of a bunya nut stirfry & thought I may as well share it here. Jeff uses grated bunya nuts, pak choi & swiss chard. Isn't it great how youtube is available to us, particularly useful for demonstrating Australian Bush Food/Native Food cooking which typically is not broadcasted on Australian TV very often....BUT IT SHOULD BE more so than some other types of repeated non-Australian cooking we see so often!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2miiBZKY52M&feature=plcp

A youtube link reference takes up very little space on a forum, so I encourage some of you to video some of your interesting bush tucker cooking & place your youtube links in this forum. Yeahhh.....go on!!

[JolyV]

-Make up a mince mixture (I added crushed garlic, eggs & steak sauce. Mixed it all up using a KitchenAid mixer flat beater on the stir speed No 1. Can be mixed by hand of course but the beater disperses evenly, breaks up the mince & automates this step); -Make up a log of minced Bunya Nuts (Macadamia Nuts) combined with cream;
-Roll up the mince & nuts, then roll this up in the pastry. I used baking paper to help with the rolling process. Trickiest part was not to use an excessive amount of mince, otherwise it's difficult to roll & close the log, & have mince stay in place.
-Bake & cut into slices..

However, I have a question about the "mixing process." It seems as though many people highly recommend using a KitchenAid mixer to produce the right type of texture. Can I get away with utilizing other appliances to mix my food? Or am I forever doomed to lumpy mashed potatoes and oddly mixed meat loaf?

Sorry for the random question, but I really was curious about that. Heard lots of different things from different people. Either way, that dish looks terrific!

That´s right, Actually I use my Oster Blender for this