At the end of every bi-monthly theme the girls here at i8b start sending a ridiculous number of emails to each other with suggestions of what theme we’d like to do next. The greatest thing about these themes is it keeps us motivated to learn and try new things in the kitchen. This theme is a little different to the others we’ve had like Thai, Middle Eastern and Mexican. Australian cuisine is what we all were brought up with…. isn’t it? Well, of course there will be the old favourites and traditional fare that bring a tear to our eye with Aussie Pride – lamingtons, meat pies and the like; but there is also Bush Tucker. Native Australian flora and fauna. Europeans have lived in Australia for more than 200 years and for the most part we have ignored these culinary treasures that can be found growing natively in our soil that has been providing food for the Aboriginal peoples for thousands upon thousands of years. Only recently have we been intrigued by these ‘new’ flavours. I am discovering ingredients such as lemon myrtle and kangaroo on menus and in shops now. But there is so much more. Within the next couple of months we will hopefully delve a little deeper into the native food that Australia has to offer.
This is a good mix of European traditional with native flavours. We have meat and 3 veg a lot. It’s not fancy, it’s not something that you want to see on a blog. People want to see cookies and cakes. It’s true – I watch the statistics! BUT meat and 3 veg might be one of the most Aussie meals you can get. AND on top of this it’s easy, it takes no more than 20 minutes to prepare and it’s really healthy for you. It has a great balance of protein, carbs and vegetables. They reckon (you know… they – the experts) meat and 3 veg is one of the best meals you can eat to stay healthy. It might be seen as boring and suburban, but it’s good for us and if done correctly it can taste bloody brilliant!
So, to make it a little bit fancy schmancy I served my steak and veg with a Balsamic Rosella Jus. This is the fancy way of saying I grabbed some jam (2 tablespoons) , chucked in a slurp of balsamic vinegar and added the steak pan juices and heated it up for a minute or so.
I used Rosella Jam, Catherine was ever so lovely and gifted me a jar of it. But if you don’t have this where you live (it’s pretty rare, even in Australia where it’s a native plant) I would use a plum or cherry or cranberry jam instead.
For the record, I served my steak with polenta (I know… it’s not a vegetable… but just pretend it’s mashed potato!) fried onions and amazing organic spinach I bought from the farmer’s markets in Toowoomba. This stuff was brilliant, it has such body that when it was wilted it didn’t just turn to mush. Yay! and some sautéed tomatoes and mushrooms.
Ahhh polenta! The fake mashed potato from the corn gods!