garden2kitchen represented the Northern Rivers at this years Sydney Royal Easter Show. We did 2 days, 4 shows a day cooking and talking gardening. We were supported by 11 Northern Rivers food producers and on the gardening side Seasol.

I had a lot of fun coming up with recipes using their products. I won’t inundate you with all the recipes at once as there was 7 of them. The first 2 are healthy and tasty. The Chai Energy Muffins I am most proud of.  I wanted to use Madura tea in a recipe other than for smoking fish or duck. What else could I do… and remember I wanted to use veges from the garden. If you can’t get a hold of the Northern Rivers produce used in the recipes go online to Causleys Fresh Deli in Yamba who stock all the products we used. Enjoy.

Eastern School Whiting with Fennel, Cucumber, Radish and Lemon Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plain flour

1 tablespoon Zest Byron Bay Sublime Spice
Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
8 x 70-100g Eastern School Whiting fillets
Brookfarm Lemon Myrtle macadamia oil for shallow frying

Lentilicious Coconut Fusion, to serve

Salad:

2 medium fennel bulbs

1 Lebanese cucumber, peeled and deseeded and finely sliced

1 lemon, segmented

4 radishes, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons All the Best Fine Foods Finger Lime Vinegar

1 teaspoon caster sugar

1 red chilli, finely sliced

1 small red onion, halved and sliced into thin slivers

1 tablespoon Brookfarm Macadamia Oil

To make the salad, combine All the Best Fine Foods Finger Lime Vinegar, sugar, red chilli and season with salt and pepper. Add the onion and leave to marinate.

Trim the fronds off the fennel and set aside, discard the outer leaves and trim the root. Set the mandolin blade to its finest, slice the fennel across the base.  Place into a medium sized bowl. Add the cucumber, segmented lemon, radishes and fronds. Pour over the onion, vinegar, chilli and sugar mixture with the Brookfarm Macadamia Oil and toss well, set aside.

Place flour, Zest Byron Bay Sublime Spice salt and pepper in a large freezer bag, add the fish and shake well to coat.

Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat, add just enough oil to cover the base of the pan. Add fish pieces in a single layer (you may need to cook in batches), turn gently after 1 minute and cook for a further 30 seconds. Remove and drain on paper towel.

Place the salad on a platter, top with fish and serve with Lentilicious Coconut Fusion.

Chai Energy Muffins

Makes: 16 – 18

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups caster sugar

2 cups plain flour, sifted

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

1 heaped tablespoon Madura Te Chai Loose Leaf, roughly ground

1 cup sultanas

2 cups grated carrot

1 green apple, core removed and grated

1 cup zucchini, grated

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup macadamia halves, roasted

3 large eggs

1 cup Brookfarm Macadamia Oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

Icing sugar, to dust

Method:

Preheat oven to 180°C. Use 16 paper cases to line muffin pans.

Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and Madura Te Chai into a large bowl. Add sultanas, carrot, apple, zucchini, coconut and macadamias. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, Brookfarm Macadamia Oil and vanilla extract.

Add to the dry ingredients and fold until just combined – do not over mix.

Spoon into muffin pans and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve dusted with icing sugar.