“If it wasn’t for farmers and producers, people like me wouldn’t have a job,” Lyndey Milan said.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Known for her work on television and in print, including eight years as co-host of Fresh with the Australian Women’s Weekly, Lyndey has nine cookbooks to her name. She is thrilled to be the special guest for Eat Drink Live New England at the Inverell Club on Saturday, and share her love of good food with locals.
Lyndey will give three cooking demonstrations on the day, with recipes crafted to use as much regional produce as possible.
“It’s really easy to cook for yourself and your family when you’ve got good produce locally available,” she said.
“You’ll be healthier because you know what’s in it, you’ll be wealthier because it doesn’t cost you as much and you’ll be friendlier because it gives you the ‘feel goods’ by sitting down and sharing something you’ve prepared with people you care about.”
Using two little camping gas burners which have followed her around the world, Lyndey is ready to show how easy cooking can be.
“If I can cook stuff on those out in the open, then I think people can support their local producers and buy their products and cook for themselves,” she said.
Her first demonstration will include wok fried smoked trout omelettes with olive oil, quick goat’s cheese quesadilla and dukkah crusted lamb.
Next will be smoked trout frittata, penang beef curry and a goat’s curd dessert based on a television series she filmed in Greece.
The last demonstration is smoked trout nachos, pork with salad and beetroot relish.
Lyndey wasn’t surprised by the diversity of tasty food available in the New England.
“I think people on the land are enormously resilient and enormously inventive. I knew that if I went looking for it, I’d find it,” she said.
A performer at heart, Lyndey cherishes the opportunity to share her skills with others.
“I’m a communicator. If you’re a teacher, you need to be a communicator - well if you’re any good, you do,” she said.
The kitchen became Lyndey’s haven at just 16-years-old, but it took two careers, three years in London and her first child before it turned into her job. She gave up a much-loved career in advertising to be a full time mother.
When boredom set in, the catering world came calling. Before she knew it, Lyndey was behind the helm of a successful cafe, her catering was in demand and she had begun building a media profile in print, radio and television.
Years of hard work led to life as a world traveller, food and wine expert and eventually in 2014, an Order of Australia recipient.
Learn to cook: Penang Beef Curry
Lyndey Milan will demonstrate the following recipe for penang beef curry, adapted from Selector Magazine especially for Inverell during her appearance at Eat Drink Live New England on Saturday, November 11.
Named after the Malaysian city island off the West coast, this distinctly flavoured curry is from Thailand’s central and southern regions. It is richer, sweeter, and creamier than the more herbal Thai red curry or green curry.
The recipe serves four, preparation time is 40 mins and cooking 15 mins.
Ingredients
- 500g Figtree Organic Farms rump steak
- 2 tablespoons (40ml) Kecap Manis (sweet Indonesian soy sauce)
- 2 cloves Grandma’s Garden garlic, crushed
- 2 tablespoons Gwydir Grove lime agrumato olive oil
- 8 kaffir lime leaves, bruised
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons grated palm sugar or brown sugar
- 400ml can coconut milk
- 100g Inverell Community Gardens beans
- 125g fresh baby corn
- 200g Blush Perino tomatoes
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh coriander
Paste
- 2-3 fresh long red chillies, chopped
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon chopped coriander root (from coriander above)
- 1 ½ cm piece fresh ginger (10g), sliced
- 10cm stick (20g) sliced fresh lemon grass
- 1 red shallots or eschallots, chopped
- 1 clove Grandma’s Garden garlic, chopped
- 1 ½ tablespoons (30ml) water
- ¼ cup (40g) roasted peanuts
Cooking
1. Combine Kecap Manis, garlic and half the oil and marinate beef in this for one hour or overnight, turning once.
2. For the paste: blend all ingredients until almost smooth. Heat the remaining oil in a wok, stir-fry the paste until fragrant.
Add kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce and palm sugar and stir-fry for one minute. Add coconut milk. Bring to the boil; reduce heat, simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, cook beef on a heated grill pan until browned on both sides and done as desired. Cover loosely with foil and rest for 5 minutes. Slice the beef thickly.
4. Stir beans, corn and tomatoes into curry mixture in wok; simmer, uncovered, for about five minutes or until just tender. Serve curry topped with beef and coriander
Wine: shiraz handles the heat of the curry and complements the creaminess of the coconut.