Hot List of Food Specialities of Cairns

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Hot List of Food Specialities of Cairns with Dominique Rizzo’s Chef’s TourHot List of Food Specialities Cairns - rainforest

Daintree Vanilla and Spice,
Napier Rd, Redbank

Based in the Daintree Rainforest, directors George and Josette Gonthier have used skills and techniques handed down through generations, transforming a much-loved hobby into a full-scale commercial business as one of the first commercial growers and producers of some of Australia’s finest vanilla beans.

Working closely with the University of Western Sydney on a unique system to process the vanilla beans, results have proved a more superior quality bean than what is currently being imported into Australia with optimum vanillin content.
Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns - Vanilla pods
The future is bright for Daintree Vanilla & Spice with plans to develop a range of vanilla by-products such as essences, powders, tea, coffee and perfume, as well as a range of other spices. They are working towards becoming Certified Organic by the National Association of Sustainable Agriculture, the nation’s leading organic certifier. They recently took out the coveted ‘ABC Delicious Produce Award, From The Earth’ for their ground cinnamon and were the only Queensland producer on the podium in 2014. Celebrity chef Maggie Beer is also a regular purchaser of the award-winning cinnamon.
www.daintreevanilla.com       3 pot plants

 

Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns #2

Rainforest Bounty at Platypus Eco Bend
66 Lindsay Rd, Malanda

Dr Geraldine McGuire and husband Atherton (Athy) Nye call home to an 80 acre property located adjacent to the Wet Tropics World Heritage area on Queensland’s Atherton Tableland. Geraldine is an environmental scientist and talented cook who has lived, worked and travelled extensively throughout Asia, the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.

Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns - Dom and Geraldine McGuireThe jewel of their Platypus Bend Eco Retreat is 40 acres of tropical rainforest. In the Café, Geraldine presents her cooking demonstration using the best seasonal ingredients available from their luxuriant native fruit orchids, kitchen gardens and rainforest offerings to harvest the.
www.rainforestbounty.com.au
Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns - Fruit and orchids

Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns #3

Tarzali Lakes Smokehouse Cafe
Lot 3 Millaa Millaa-Malanda Rd, Tarzali

Peter Whiddett’s vision of an integrated aquaculture and tourism park became a reality some 10 years ago on his return from Asia where he acquired his experience in aquaculture.

Peter has developed the Tarzali Lakes property from a run down dairy farm to a fully operational commercial aquaculture and tourism enterprise.

The Smokehouse Café is where smokehouse master, Dave Hoffman, an experienced third generation master butcher, is at his best. Dave’s list of meat industry accredited awards includes two state Sausage King gold medals plus his selection as one of Australia’s most innovative butchers by Meat and Livestock Australia in 2002.
http://www.tarzalilakes.com/
Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns - salami on plateHot List of Food Specialities Cairns - cheese platter

Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns #4

Gallo Dairyland
Malanda Rd & East Barron Rd, East Barron

Gallo Dairyland is a family owned business spread across 1000 acres of rich red volcanic soil, the dairy farm milks on average 500 cows twice a day. The farm has been converted into an integrated educational dairy farm experience and visitors experience how the old age method of cheese making has evolved to become a complex and innovative process, developing new and unusual cheeses, alongside the old favourites.

The dairy also houses handcrafted chocolates made from the finest Swiss couverture, on display at the café/restaurant. The chocolatier works her magic to create a beautiful assortment.
http://www.gallodairyland.com.au/

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Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns #5

Mt Uncle Distillery
1819 Chewko Rd, Walkamin

Mt. Uncle Distillery has built an impeccable reputation in producing award-winning premium liqueurs and spirits and is North Queensland’s first and only distillery, securing themselves as a premier attraction on the Atherton Tablelands.

Set in landscaped gardens on a banana, avocado and macadamia plantation, Mt. Uncle Distillery is as pleasant on your eyes as it is on your taste buds. Products include marshmallow liqueur, gin, rum, vodka and whiskey.
http://www.mtuncle.com/

Hot List of Food Specialities Cairns - banner of drinks10 nibbles11wall plant

 

 

 

Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and Eat It Too

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Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too - Rabbits' heads

Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too

Chef Dominique Rizzo gets creative in workshops for pre-school aged children aged from 3 to 5 years. “6 Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too” is gluten free and sugar free. It’s a great way to re-ignite children’s interest in eating vegetables and fruit for those who usually leave it untouched. Workshops are conducted in shopping centres and child care centres.

Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too  #1

Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too - egg bird1. “Edible Food Faces” – a dynamic creative workshop for kids to learn skills to be creative with the food they eat and to introduce them through art and creativity to new foods that they may not be familiar with. This is also a great class to inspire parents to get creative with snack and lunch ideas for their little ones. This workshop will give children aged 3-5 an opportunity to make a variety of faces out of foods using a range of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains, noodles and soft cheeses. They will have an opportunity to use a variety of creative utensils such as cutters, vegetable spiralizers, peelers, pasta cutters, tooth picks, chopping boards and child friendly implements to get really creative with the food they are eating and to encourage children to get excited about fresh wholesome foods.

 

Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too  #2

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2. “Food That Grows” – Get creative with your children to make edible flowers and animals using fresh fruits, vegetables and whole foods. This is a fun and interactive workshop that will inspire your children to enjoy eating fresh foods and also to expand their creativity in the kitchen. Ideal for ages 3-5 years, this workshop will help children with basic food preparation skills while bringing a variety of foods onto their plates. With a focus on interactive play activities, this is a workshop that will be enjoyed by parents and children alike to create healthy snack ideas.

 

Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too  #3

3. “ Eggstraordinary Food Toys” – this is a fun and funny workshop creating wonderful edible toys with the humble boiled egg. Using other ingredients such as fruits, vegetables and fresh wholefoods we give your children the opportunity to use their imagination to create chickens, roosters, mice eating cheese, baby carriages and cars all out of eggs. This is an ideal workshop for children aged 3-5 to create their own fun kindy or school lunches or morning and afternoon snacks.

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4. “Edible Food Art” – Join us for a wonderful workshop using all edible fresh fruits, vegetables and whole foods to create works of art, using a range of different mediums your children will have the opportunity to create food paintings and collages using all types of interesting edible foods. An ideal workshop for 3-5 years old, this will be one that you and your child will love to interact with and replicate at home. Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too - fruit kebabs

 

 

 

 

 

Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too  #5

5. “Food that Moves” – Get creative with your children to make edible cars, trucks and carriages using fruits, vegetables and whole foods. This is a fun and interactive workshop that will inspire your children to enjoy eating fresh foods and also to expand their creativity in the kitchen. Ideal for ages 3-5 years, this workshop will help children with basic food preparation skills while bringing a variety of foods onto their plates. With a focus on interactive play activities, this is a workshop that will be enjoyed by parents and children alike to create healthy snack ideas.

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6. “ Making Edible Play Dough” – In this creative workshop we will teach you how to make edible play dough and engage in creating interactive play with your child. Edible play dough ignites all of the senses through touch, smell and taste and also gives them something they can snack on. We make fresh spinach, pumpkin and almond play dough using all natural ingredients and colours. Using other ingredients such as fruits, vegetables and fresh wholefoods as well as an assortment of cutters, kitchen gadgets and tools, makes for a wonderful workshop for children aged 3-5 years old and a great way to teach them about making edible fun fresh food.

Best Ways for Children to Play with Their Food and eat it too - playdough

All items, utensils and ingredients will be supplied on the day.

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Grain Power

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Grain Power
Quinoa is a rich (protein) seed that has a fluffy, creamy, slightly crunchy texture and a somewhat nutty flavour when cooked.

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Most commonly considered a grain, quinoa is actually a relative of leafy green vegetables like spinach and Swiss chard.

It is a recently rediscovered ancient “grain” once considered “the gold of the Incas” that has been cultivated for over 5,000 years. The Incas considered it a sacred food and referred to it as the “mother seed.” As happens throughout history, things changed when the Spanish conquerors destroyed the fields in which quinoa was grown; made it illegal for the Indians to grow quinoa. The cultivation of quinoa was all but extinguished.

Now we are lucky enough to be enjoying it and its health benefits in the 21st century.
Eating quinoa on a regular basis is known to help ease migraine headaches, relax blood vessels for cardiovascular health, provide antioxidant protection by guarding other cells, such as red blood cells, from injury caused by free radicals and is an excellent source of fibre, protective against breast cancer.

For a lovely toasted flavour to the grain, try rinsing the quinoa and then toasting it to get rid of the green, raw, and slightly bitter taste this grain may have.

Both of these salads are fabulous for at-home or take-to-work lunches and they are both really easy to prepare when you don’t have much time to cook but want a really healthy option.

Quinoa Salad with Broccoli and Feta

2 RSZ Quinoa close up

Serves 2
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
• ½ cup of quinoa
• 100g broccolini or broccoli florets
• 2 shallots sliced
• 1/3-cup sun dried tomatoes, drained of most of the oil, chopped
• 50g feta cheese, crumbled
• 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tsp. honey
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Steps:
1. Place the quinoa into a saucepan and cover with water; bring the water to the boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 12-15 minutes.
2. In the last 8-9 minutes, add in the asparagus and the broccoli and continue cooking until all of the liquid has been cooked out.
3. Tip the quinoa and the vegetables into a bowl and allow to cool.
4. Add in the sun dried tomatoes, feta cheese and sunflower seeds. Combine the ingredients for the dressing and serve.
5. You could also add 75 grams of cooked protein or cooked legumes to this salad.

Sicilian-Style Wild Grain Salad
3 RSZ Dom veg side view

Serves 6
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 17 minutes

Ingredients
• 10 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
• 1/3 cup roasted capsicum, sliced
• 8 black olives chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium red onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 cups shredded Swiss chard or wild greens
• 3/4-teaspoon salt
• 2 cups quinoa, rinsed and drained * (or a mixture of quinoa, millet and brown rice)
• 1/2-teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, roasted
• 1/3 cup golden raisins
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Place the toasted rinsed quinoa into a saucepan and cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook the quinoa until the grain slightly swells and is soft to the bite. Drain the quinoa and set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan and sauté the onions, garlic and spinach for 2 minutes or until softened. Combine the quinoa with the spinach mixture in a bowl and add all the other ingredients, adjust the seasoning and drizzle in a little olive oil.

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Other salad options – substitute your favourite salad leaves and vegetables for those listed here.

Nourishing Millet Recipes

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Millet is an ancient wholesome grain from the grass family growing on long soft textured stems. Different countries around the world are using millet in such interesting ways – as puffed millet snack slices in Japan, as sweetened porridge in Russian and as roti in India or simply added to winter soups and stews. It is also used in fermented drinks and foods and over the past few years the popularity of the grain has been growing, especially in gluten-free diets.   Rediscovering nourishing millet recipes is exciting and I love to cook with it as a nutritious alternative alternative to other grains. The raw seed millet is easily accessible in health food shops but make sure you buy the grain intended for human consumption, as the millet sold for pet food has the indigestible outer hull.

Eaten in moderation, millet gets the thumbs up for benefits of supporting a healthy heart, repairing body tissue and lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes due to its magnesium and phosphorus content.

Here are three of my favourite easy and delicious nourishing millet recipes for you to try.

Nourishing millet recipes - Pear and ginger loaf and jars of grains
Toasted millet and ginger poached pear bread with walnut and coconut granola

This little number is terrific served warm or at room temperature, on its own or with a dob of yoghurt.
Serving size: 12 Adults
Difficulty: Easy
Time:
☐ Prep: 30 minutes
☐ Cook: 60 minutes
Ingredients:
Poached pears:
• 1lt clear all natural apple juice
• 2 tbsps. minced ginger
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 Packham pears peeled, cored and cut into eighths

Loaf:
• 1 cup millet
• 1 egg
• ½ cup sour cream
• 1 cup almond milk or cows milk
• ½ cup quark
• ½ cup organic panella sugar (or brown sugar or white sugar)
• ½ tsp. vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp. of essence
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup self-raising spelt flour
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt

Walnut Granola:                                                                                                                                              Nourishing millet recipes - Pear and ginger loaf slice
• 1 ½ cups walnuts broken up in your hands
• 3 tablespoons organic panella sugar
• 1/3 cup spelt oats
• ¼ cup coconut
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 100g organic melted butter

Recipe Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 170c fan forced. Line a loaf tin so that there is a 3cm high boarder above the top of the tin.
2. Combine the apple juice, ginger, cinnamon stick and the sliced pears in a pot making sure that the pears are covered and bring it to the boil. Turn off the heat and cover the pears, leaving them to cool in the liquid. Once cooled, drain the pears from the apple juice, chilling the apple juice down and using it for a refreshing drink, and set the pears aside.
3. Place the millet into a frypan and toast it over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and just beginning to pop, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove ¼ cup of the millet and set the rest aside to cool. In a bowl whisk together the egg, sour cream, milk, quark and the vanilla and in a separate bowl combine in the flours with the baking powder, bicarb soda and cinnamon. Add the poached pear slices to the flour mix then pour in the egg; milk and quark mix and gently fold through the ingredients until just combined.
4. For the walnut granola combine all the ingredients including the set aside millet into a bowl and mix to coat with the butter. Pour the batter into the tin and heavily top the loaf with the walnut granola.
5. Bake the loaf covered with foil for 40 minutes then remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Nourishing millet recipes - Puffed Millet chia and honey squares

Puffed Millet Chia and Honey Squares
I am always fossicking in my pantry and giving myself a Ready Steady Cook challenge. I will often pick random ingredients that I may not have used in a while and creating something with them, this time it was puffed millet! I picked this up in a health food store to mix in with my muesli and have had half a bag sitting on my shelves for a while. This is almost liked puffed wheat a cereal that as a young child I can remember always eating.
Makes 20 squares
Ingredients:
• 4 cups of Puffed millet
• 1 cup desiccated coconut
• 2 tblsp chia seeds (available from the supermarket in the health food isle)
• 50g of almond flakes (toast these in a pan over moderate heat until golden)
• 135g organic butter (you can also use coconut oil)
• 4 tblsp honey
• ½ cup natural brown sugar (rapadura sugar can be bought from the health food shop, or you can also use coconut sugar)
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 60g 70% dark chocolate
Steps:
1. Place the dried ingredients into a bowl together and stir. In a small saucepan combine the honey, butter, sugar and vanilla and bring to the boil, simmer for 3 minutes then pour this into the puffed millet, almonds and coconut. Line a 20cm x 30cm tine and with slightly wet hands press the mixture into the tin until evenly distributed.
2. Melt the chocolate and drizzle over the top. You can set this in the fridge but it will also set out of the fridge. Store in the fridge or in an airtight container.

Spiced Pumpkin, Millet and Quark Muffins

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves: 12 AdultsNourishing millet recipes - Spiced pumpkin, millet and quark muffins
Ingredients:
• 270g pumpkin, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup millet
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup quark*
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon Za’atar spice*
• Good handful of spinach

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 180c. Place paper liners in a 12-cup muffin pan; set aside.
2. Place the diced pumpkin onto a tray and drizzle with the oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for 30 minutes. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and allow to cool.
3. Heat a large pan over medium high heat. Add millet and toast, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and just beginning to pop, 3 to 4 minutes. Set the millet aside to cool.
4. In a bowl whisk together the egg, sour cream, milk and the quark and in a separate bowl, then add in the flours with the baking powder, bicarb soda and the spices. Toss the pumpkin into the flour along with the chopped spinach and the millet and toss together covering the pumpkin with the flour.
5. Gently fold the egg mixture into the flour until just combined. Spoon batter into the muffin tins and bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the muffins comes out clean or they spring back when pressed, about 20 minutes. Allow muffins to cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack or serve warm with your favourite relish.

Other: Makes 1 dozen muffins that are suitable for freezing.