Food

A New Monthly Event: Townsville Eats

Townsville City Council yesterday voted to support a new monthly event to be held in the CBD.

Townsville Eats will occur on the last Friday of every month and will be themed to complement other events across the city. 

Townsville Mayor Jenny Hill said there was a high demand for ongoing events in the CBD. 

“Townsville Eats will happen on the last Friday of every month and will allow our CBD traders to open for late night trading,” Cr Hill said.

“Council is always looking for ways to improve the liveliness of the CBD and an ongoing event Friday night event was identified as a way to achieve this.

“Food and entertainment are a great way to draw in residents and visitors to the city, support local businesses and boost our economy.”

The first Townsville Eats will be held in March with details confirmed closer to the event. 

Local Ann-Maree Greaney Division 3 Councillor, Townsville City Council said Townsville Eats is a fantastic way to partner with businesses to activate the CBD.

“It has been a tough time for the community and business owners, but we want to do what we can to support our locals,” Cr Greaney said.

“There aren’t any regular events of this kind in the CBD and Townsville Eats will bring families and visitors into the city centre.

“I’d really like to encourage locals to come along and support these events and support local businesses.”

Dan’s Delish Buffalo Wings

I love footy, this should be no secret to you. If you tune in to the Drive Home, you’ll be well aware, lol. But when it’s more than just a game and becomes an event, let’s say Origin, a Grand Final or Superbowl and you’ve got multiple people watching, getting hungry maybe needing things to throw at that one guy whose team is beating everyone elses. Here it is, wings and dip. I always serve this with veggie sticks or sweet potato fries, you gotta balance it out, because that chicken isn’t really health food, to be honest. It’s a treat. So why not cook up some of my Buffalo Wings for your next party.

Prep Time: 45-60 min     
Serves: However many people it takes to eat a kilo of wings, I say 4 if it’s a footy snack.
Ingredients
Ranch:
1/2 cup mayo
300ml sour cream
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tsp dry dill
1 tsp each of garlic powder, onion powder and coriander seed powder
Salt and white pepper to taste

Wings:
1L of vegetable oil
1 kg chicken wings
3/4 cup plain flour
1 tsp each of paprika, garlic powder, coriander seed powder and salt.
1/4 tsp cayenne 

Buffalo Sauce:
2/3 cup Franks Red Hot
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1/3 Cup white vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste

Serve up with some Sweet Potato Fries, and your favourite raw veggies to dip.

How to:
First thing, if you buy the wings connected, cut them at the joints and discard the tip. Also, feathers are not appreciated. So get rid of those too.

Mix up your flour and spices in a large mixing bowl. Toss the wings until coated. Refrigerate, could be up to a couple of hours ahead of cooking.

Whisk ranch ingredients in a bowl, cover and refrigerate. The longer this happens the more flavour you’ll get from the herbs in it.

Now to the Buffalo sauce, this is easy, but you’ve got to be focused on it. Add all your ingredients into a small saucepan on a med-low heat. Whisk and as soon as you see bubbles anywhere remove from heat and set aside.

Now you’re ready to wing it! XD If you use a fryer, good onya. I don’t have one, probably wouldn’t get used enough, so I go old school.  In a 20cm pot heat your oil up to about 180C.

Carefully drop in wings, shake or turn to make sure an even cook. Give them about 10 min, remove to drain over paper towel and start the next batch. I can usually do a kilo in 2 batches.

Toss cooked wings in Buffalo sauce and serve hot with ranch dip and lots of veggies.

Dan’s Pulled Pork Tacos

So I’ve mentioned looking at ways to introduce a little spice to my daughter’s diet (and my wife’s tbh :P). Why? Well when you like spicy foods there’s a whole world opened up, and it can really lift some healthy dishes when you add a bit of heat.

We’ve explored successful and some not so successful ones where she’s throwing it straight onto the floor. But finally I found a couple that she seems to love. This one is a new fave, it’s pulled pork tacos! Also before you are amazed at my 16 month old’s ability to eat whole tacos, she doesn’t eat them as you or I would, the word deconstructed comes to mind. 

But I think that’s even more impressive because it means she was eating the spicy part on it’s own, without the aid of sour cream. That’s enough chit chat, here’s your shopping list and the how to…

Ingredients:
Meat:
 1.5kg Pork Loin chopped in large chunks about 8cm

Sauce:
1 1/2 Cups BBQ Sauce
2 Tomatoes Quarted
1 Large Brown Onion Diced
1/2 Red Capsicum
1 Cup Stock (Chicken or Veg)
4 Cloves Crushed Garlic
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tsp Ground Coriander Seeds 
2 Tsp Ground Cumin
2 Tsp Smoky Paprika
1 Tsp Cayenne
Salt and Pepper to taste

Toppings:
15-20 Tortillas
1 Small Pineapple Diced
2 Cups Diced Cucumber 
Shredded Lettuce or Cabbage
Fresh Coriander
Sour Cream
Lime Juice

How to?:

In a medium frying pan at a med-high heat brown your onion and garlic in some olive oil. Throw in the capsicum, cook for 2 minutes. Add all the spices and stir through for a minute or so. Add your stock and bbq sauce and mix until well combined. Take off heat.

Get your slow cooker set to high, place the pork and tomatoes in, pour the sauce over, lid on and forget about it for 4 hrs.

Remove pork pieces to a dish where you can pull it apart. Pour sauce into a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.

Pour about half the sauce into the pan on high heat to reduce to a slightly thicker stickier consistency. In a 20 cm pan this took me 15 min, but it’s dependent on surface area of your pan, larger ones will allow for more evaporation and faster reduction of the sauce. 

Shred the meat and add to reduced sauce.

Cook your tortillas, you can microwave, but why not cook it in a pan or over the flame of your gas stove and get some light char on it, it’s better. Serve topped with pineapple, cucumber, lettuce, coriander, sour cream and squeeze of lime juice.

Enjoy!



Dan’s Middle Eastern Lamb Pilaf

Spices, meat, rice! To me that’s the basics of comfort food you’ve got spice for flavour, meat more flavour and texture and then the flavour carrier, in this case rice. It’s a combination that fills you with excitement and nostalgia! Smell brings up memories better than all other senses, so when you smell something, you can often easily place where you last smelt it. This meal smells like home! My mum is a great cook, and Middle Eastern cuisine was something she was very good at and we all loved. Even to the point where specific brands became a must. So now I give you a spice-y (not spicy) meal for the whole family (my one year old spent about an hour eating this joyfully).

Ingredients (Serves 4): 

1/3 Cup Olive Oil
600g of diced Lamb – I get a roast piece and cut it myself, I’m pretty good at this, you can practice, but you don’t have to, feel free to use something easier, even leftover roast lamb that isn’t heavily seasoned.
1 Cup of Basmati – The best rice ever.
1 3/4 Cups Chicken Stock
2 Bay Leaves
3 Cloves Garlic
1 Large Onion Finely Diced
3 Tsp Cumin
3 Tsp Curry Powder
1/2 Cup of Sultanas
1/3 Cup chopped Parsley
1/3 Cup chopped Mint
1/4 Cup Lemon Juice

Optional, but are they? 🙂 You’ll thank me if you splurge: Dollops of Greek Yoghurt, 80g Pistachios, Pomegranate Arils, 200g Feta – crumbly stuff.

Method:

In a bowl toss lamb in half of the oil and half of the cumin and curry powder.

Heat a large pan to medium heat add half , toss in onion and garlic, cook until softened and lightly browned.

Add rice, bay leaves and half of both the cumin and curry powder. Stir to coat grains of rice.

Pour in stock, reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Leave for covered for 12-15 minutes or until rice has absorbed all liquid. Remove from heat and stand for 10 mins. Stir with a fork to fluff it up.

Heat another pan to a high heat. Add lamb that has been marinating. If reheating pre cooked lamb, cook for about 2 mins. If cooking from raw go for about 5-7 until it’s brown with some char on it, but still tender and pink in the centre.

In the last 2 minutes add sultanas, this just opens them a little and gets the sweetness of them through the dish.

Add meat mixture to a large bowl, add rice, mint, parsley and nuts. Toss through with lemon juice.

Serve with generous amounts of yoghurt, feta and/or pomegranate arils.

Enjoy, and then post your feedback! Love hearing what you think ’bout me tucker.