Having decided that I wasn't going to buy a ham this year as I felt that I had shopped for enough food I crumbled under the pressure and the thought that as a child we had always had the smoked ham for Christmas and it was almost not Christmas without it. I remember my mother having it wrapped in the fridge like a gift in its wet calico bag and it seemed to last for ever. After the luscious slices that we would enjoy on Christmas day with mustards and relishes, we would then enjoy it on sandwiches, and jaffels, fried in the pan with eggs for breakfast, made into fritters with tinned corn for snacks or a quick dinner, and when it really started to get scant on the bone it was chopped and added to pasta or a salad. Eventually all that was left was the bone which would then be boiled up and made into pea and ham soup or some type of minestrone. I have just carved the last few chunks off the bone and following in my mothers footsteps decided to make a delicious soup, yes even in this 30 degree heat.  

My vision was a light broth soup with silver beet, onions, tomatoes and that delicious falling off the bone ham with its slightly melted fat and succulent jelly like texture. Well my vision was right on que, it was highly successful and loved by all with leftovers of that for the next day.  I did add a handful of red lentils just to give it some bulk although if you wanted a light tasty and economical soup for a summer night and you have come to the end of your ham then this is the recipe for you. 

Here is my recipe for Ham, lentil and vegetable soup

serves 6-8

For the stock

1 ham bone

 2 roughly diced onions

2 stalks of celery

8-10 peppercorns

1 carrot roughly diced

For the soup base

2 tblsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 cups of diced ham extra ( optional)

1/2 red capsicum, diced

1/2 bunch silverbeet, stalks trimmed and diced and leaves chopped

2tsp, Gourmet Garden Garlic

2 tomatoes, diced

3/4 cup red lentils (optional)

1/2 tsp of Gourmet Garden Italian Herbs

ham stock

salt and pepper

parsley to finish

Place the ham bone, onion, celery, carrot and peppercorns into a pot together and cover with water making sure that the bone is covered. Bring to a boil, then reduce the stock to a simmer and simmer for 2 hours or until the meat starts to fall off the bone. Allow the stock to cool slightly before straining out the vegetables. Remove all the meat from the bone and set aside with the broth for the soup. Pour the oil into the same pot and sweat off the onions and extra ham for 3 minutes add in the capsicum and silverbeet stalks and stir again until softened. Add in the Gourmet Garden Garlic and the tomatoes and pour in the stock, bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Add in the lentils, Gourmet Garden Italian Herbs and the chopped silverbeet and cook for a further 10-15 minutes until the lentils have softened. Season with salt and pepper and serve garnished with parsley.

For Christmas this year I wish you all a wonderful festive season, with the gift of sharing this time with your loved friends and family. Our friends, colleagues, family and loved ones are an amazing source of confidence and happiness, I would like to take this time to share my gratitude and to thank all of you for your support, best wishes and encouragement throughout this year and for making this year such a wonderful and special time. 

I look forward to sharing the coming year with you with prosperity, joy and excitement.

Click Here to view this card online, with links to some great recipes.

Pure regards

Dominique

Recently I did a radio interview discussing how many of us as stuck in a food rut and a study showing that 51% of people rotate between 5 meals or less for their weekly menu. I had to agree with the survey as I have found that many of us are all excited about the cooking shows and slightly addicted but when it comes to actually getting into the kitchen and putting some of this into practice we shy away and stick to the staples. Now there is nothing wrong with roast on Sundays, bolognaise on Tuesday and steak and veg on Wednesday with a quick stir fry for Friday, but folks there is more to your food life than 4-5 family specials.

Here are a few tips and easy ideas to get the gourmet going in your kitchen. I know we are all time poor and that you all have shelves of cook books that are being used as dust catchers more than they are being used for cooking. So to ease you into the game, pick up the first 3 books you lay your hands on, grab the family or housemates and flick through the pages choosing 2 meals that everyone likes from each cook book, try and choose recipes that you have never tried before. Jot down the ingredients and on the next shop make it a point to include the new recipe, even better get the family or all members of the house in on the cooking. If recipe books are a little scarce, key in an ingredient or recipe that you have always wanted to try into good old google and let your fingers do the searching. Another great resource which is NEW to the webpages of recipes is What 2 Cook. Designed especially for the busy cook, their recipes are perfect for mid-week meals and you can pick up the ingredients from your local super market. You will even find some of my recipes on What 2 Cook like my healthy Turkey Stir Fry and my delicious Moroccan Beef Burger. If you start small by integrating one different dish per week you will soon be cooking up a collection of wonderful creations. 

We as Australians are such a wonderful melting pot of cultures so if you are even stuck for an ingredient that you haven’t tried, try looking for a cuisine that you have always wanted to taste. When shopping we often go on automatic pilot filling the trolley with the same staples every week. I understand that the husband may only like 2 vegetables and the kids will only eat potato, it may be that they have tried everything else and not liked anything or maybe that they have never tasted any other vegetables so get creative and incorporate one or two new items of food into the trolley per week. If you are really in a corner with fussy eaters then use what you normally get and pick up some different spices, seasonings, herbs and alternate some different cooking methods to bring a little pizzazz back onto the plate. Wonderful basic recipe can be found everywhere and we are surrounded by fresh produce and many professionals such as butchers, fruit vendors, deli operators who are more than happy to not only give you advice on what to buy and the best deals, they will even give you a taste and also a couple of recipes to take home.

If you like the look of the Moroccan Baked Salmon with Lemon and Vegetable Couscous Salad and recipe above click here to try it out. You never know, it might become one of your regulars!

All you need is some simple planning, an hour a week… which is nothing and you could be sizzling up your kitchen with the best of us.

My online shop is open for business making it easier for you to purchase my cook book, an apron or shopping bag and also to book in and pay your Food Tours deposit. 

In celebration, I am GIVING AWAY 8 x "Pure Food Hamper Bags" that include my cook book, one of my Pure Food Chef Aprons, a recyclable calico Shopping Bag, LINDEMAN'S wine, Bertolli Olive Oil and pourer, a 4ingredients Gourmet Garden cook book , VZUG smart pen, a few other goodies and a $500.00 discount voucher off one of my tours. Around $700 value. 

My philosophy is all about sharing food with friends and loved ones, so to WIN a goodie bag for you and a friend all you have to do is register for my newsletter and refer a friend! If you already receive my newsletter all you have to do is refer a friend! You and your winning friend will be announced on the 14th of December 2012 just in time for Christmas!

You can enter through the pop up on the homepage which looks like the image above (it only displays once per day unless you clear you browsing history) or subscribe up the top to the newsletter above. You and your winning friend will need to be registered in order to win. Enter as many times as you like, GOOD LUCK!

Connecting Hands is an Australian based not for profit charity supporting young women & children who have been sold & trafficked into sexual slavery in Cambodia.

For all things food and fun come down this weekend to the Brisbane Convention Centre and see what is hot in kitchen!

The Chopping Block is back at the Good Food and Wine Show were you can catch me in action with Miguel Maestre, Skye Craig and a special guest appearances by Manu Feildel.

Not only can see great demonstrations from some of your favourite chefs but there will be giveaways and free samples!

Come along to see some of Queensland's and the nation's best food producers all in one place for a long weekend of food indulgence. I look forward to seeing you on the Chopping Block! To get more information and to pre-purchase your tickets Click Here!

Count down to 1 million Women RECIPE FOR CHANGE and the key ingredients are you and your friends.

For our biggest activity ever, 1 Million Women is creating a Recipe for Change... A recipe for living better for ourselves and the planet, and it's being written with you, the women of Australia.

Over one BIG weekend - 16-18 November, 2012

We want you (and thousands of women all around the country) to get together with your girlfriends over a cuppa, a meal or a drink. Swap ideas or questions for how to save energy and for cutting waste - in food and everything else we buy. Talk about the things you know work and we'll have lots of expert tips for you too. 1 Million Women is going to pull together all your ideas, questions and solutions into an online book - Recipe for Change - a first of it's kind. A free resource that we’ll launch next March for International Women's Day to share with women everywhere. REGISTER NOW to host a get-together - at your place, your local community or your work.

I was recently surprised when running a couple of cooking classes that people were not friends with fennel or had ever been acquainted with fennel and I am talking about the bulb or “Florence” fennel or finocchio in Italian. To this I gasped and raved on as to what a wonderful vegetable it is and how versatile it can be in the kitchen with all kinds of cooking methods and recipes. Fennel is such an amazing plant/vegetable or bulb/spice for there are many parts of the plant that have all different uses.

Fennel pollen, if you come across it is in the form of tiny yellow spores that have a heavy licorice flavour and is ideal for adding to crusts, sauces or seasonings for fish, chicken, seafood’s and or salads and vegetables although you only need a tiny amount. The fronds of fennel bulb or wild fennel can be used in salads, pasta sauces, stir-fry’s or sautéed or as a garnish for fish or chicken and also chopped up and used in stuffing’s, herb butters, pesto’s etc. The spice fennel seed is wonderful crushed and added to curries, pastes, steeped in tea used as a digestive, in desserts or mixed with pork shoulder or mince for wonderful Sicilian inspired sausages or meatballs.

My favorite and more easily adapted into your culinary repertoire is the fennel bulb itself which when sliced thinly can be used in salads, relishes, pasta sauces, marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and seasoned and makes an ideal addition to a salad with sliced oranges, black olives and anchovies. Fennel once sliced or cut does need to be either tossed with lemon juice or if it is not being used straight away needs to be stored in the fridge either rubbed with lemon or in water with a squeeze of lemon juice. Fennel the vegetable goes well with preserved lemon, pork, fish, shell fish, chicken, potatoes, garlic, herbs, artichokes, onions, cream, blue cheeses, apples, pears, citrus. It loves to be roasted, baked, gratinated, pureed, sautéed, boiled, steamed, fried and raw and can be used in sauces, soups, risottos, stuffing’s, bakes, pastas, salads and garnishes.

One of my favorite recipes is dipping fennel in flour and then into a mixture of eggs, loads of grated parmesan, parsley and lemon zest and frying it in hot oil to make tasty fennel fritters. They are delicious hot or cold and make a fantastic antipasto addition, great vegetarian option or an accompaniment to a main meal. This recipe depends on the size of your fennel so use a medium sized fennel if you can find one or whatever you get then just adjust the quantities to suit. Usually you may need to remove one of the outer pieces or stalks as it is often damaged, cut off the base of the fennel, the core is usually soft so there is no need to remove it, unless it seems woody or quite hard. Click here to check out the recipe, enjoy.

What2cook is here to help you with easy everyday meals. If you lack inspiration on what to cook everyday, the What2Cook website is brimming with delicious and inspiring recipes for your mid-week cooking.

Simply browse the website for a selection of tasty, time saving dishes and never struggle with what to cook again.

An even easier idea is to sign up for a 5 day meal plan and get that straight to your inbox every week with a meal recipe for each day of the week and a shopping list to help you plan your cooking for the week.

The What2Cook website was launched on TV last night featuring my Moroccan Beef Burger recipe below.

The What2Cook recipes are inspired by people just like you and they have partnered with companies who sell staple ingredients for meals such as John West - Fresh Salmon and Prawns, Steggles - Fresh Chicken and Turkey and Gourmet Garden - who create an easy way to flavour meals with Fresh Herbs & Spices.

So click here to check out the site and get some weekday inspiration in your kitchen today!

The LINDEMAN’S Open Garden gives visitors the opportunity to relax, enjoy a glass of wine and learn about gardening and cooking from myself and renowned gardener Meredith Kirton. I will be demonstrating a range of lighter recipes matched to LINDEMAN’S Early Harvest and Sweet Seasons wines during Floriade.

It is the third year that the LINDEMAN'S Open Garden has been at Floriade and is open Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holiday Monday’s. The Lindeman’s Open Garden is a unique and exciting part of Floriade and this weekend you can learn how to create some amazing recipes including Crispy rice paper salmon with melon and broccolini salad, Italian crispelle (crepes) with sweet fresh pear and honey relish and Fig, walnut and sour cream berry tart with lime and lychee wine spritzer mmmm.

Visitors are able to get hands on and create their own hanging basket that can be displayed on the six metre hanging basket tree – the focal point on the Lindeman’s Open Garden.

The LINDEMAN’S Open Garden is a great place to relax and take in the beautiful sights, sounds and smells of the garden while sampling LINDEMAN’S lighter alcohol ranges of wines, watching cooking demonstrations, participating in the LINDEMAN’S Hanging Basket activity and celebrating lighter lifestyles! So come come and say hi, I look forward to seeing you there!