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January 2012 Newsletter

Hi Everyone,

stars-02Happy New Year to you all! We hope you had a great holiday period with lots of delicious food and good company.

As you know from our last newsletter we have now moved into our new premises at 86 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale, which we are very excited about. It is located a short cab ride from the CBD or a 10 minute walk from Railway Square. The premise has a full brand new commercial kitchen, large dining room and a smaller private dining room and a wine & cheese bar.

Currently in our new premises we are holding our Team Building cooking challenges and functions including Hen's parties, media launches and private dining parties. Our dining room and private dining room are available for hire; not only for celebrations but also for corporate training days and meetings. We can facilitate your meeting, provide refreshments and lunch or dinner, even throw in a team building cooking class to make your event memorable.

Zigi's WineCheese Bar will open on Friday and Saturdays at 4pm from 20th January. We will host an exciting range of Australian and international boutique wines, beers and cheeses on our menu and invite you all to come and visit us to try them out.

Shortly we will be holding cooking classes ranging from ABC of Cooking to Gourmet Sausages to Kids cooking classes. So keep an eye on our website. You will soon be able to book into your chosen class online and then all you need to do it turn up. Easy!

Fruit:

Apricots, Avocados, Bitter Melon, Blackberries, Blueberries, Carambola (Star fruit), Casaba Melons, Cherries, Cucumbers, Dragon Fruit, Grapes, Limes, Lychees, Mangoes, Melons, Honeydew, Nectarines, Oranges, Passionfruit, Peaches, Pineapples, Plums, Rambutans, Raspberries, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Watermelon.

Vegetables:

Asparagus, Butter Beans, Capsicums, Celery, Chat Potatoes, Corn, Eggplant, Garlic, Lettuce, Okra, Peas, Potatoes ,Radishes, Sweetcorn .

January's Ingredient:

Bream

breamBreams are mainly wild caught estuary fish, but are also found in inshore coastal waters. They are available year round, with individual species peaking at different times of the year.

The catch-all term Bream refers to many species, often marketed without differentiation except where individual species are fished and well known. This creates confusion at markets because of misnaming of species ranging from sea perches to true snappers and Emperors (of which Seabream is a member).

The common Snapper is actually of the Bream family, but the name Snapper has been retained because of it's historical use for the species.

The AMCS (Australian Marine Conservation Society) lists Bream as a BETTER CHOICE meaning it is a sustainable choice. The AMCS have a Green (Better Choice), Amber (Think Twice), Red (Say No) grading system for choosing sustainable fish.

Recipe: BBQ Bream with Green Summer Salad

  • 1 x Whole Bream (approx 700gm)
  • ½ cup Peas (frozen if fresh not available),
  • 1 bunch Asparagus, woody ends snapped off
  • ¼ bunch Mint, leaves torn
  • ¼ bunch Flat Parsley, leaves picked
  • 2 stems shallots, sliced
  • 4-6 small Baby Potatoes,
  • 100gm Persian Feta
  • 50 ml Olive Oil,
  • 1 Lemon Juice of half and cut other half into ¼'s to serve.
  • Salt to taste
  • Pepper to taste

Method:

  1. Preheat BBQ on medium heat.
  2. Put potatoes on to boil in salted water.
  3. Dry fish inside and out with paper towel.
  4. Juice ½ lemon and put juice aside for dressing and place juiced lemon inside fish with 20ml olive oil, salt and pepper. Wrap fish in foil lined with baking paper and place on BBQ for 5 minutes, turn and leave for another 5 minutes or until cooked.

Meanwhile, to make the Salad;

  1. Place peas and asparagus in boiling water for 1 minute and refresh immediately in iced water.
  2. Drain cooked potatoes and refresh in iced water, drain.
  3. Cut potatoes into 1 cm slices.
  4. Slice asparagus on the angle into approx 5cm lengths.
  5. Shake the lemon juice, 30ml Olive Oil, salt and pepper in a tight lidded jar to make dressing.
  6. In a bowl, toss asparagus, peas, shallots, mint and parsley with the dressing.

To serve;

  1. Lay half of the potato slices on a platter, top with half of the asparagus salad mix and crumble over half of the feta, repeat.
  2. Lay fish on top of salad and top with remaining dressing and place lemon quarters on the side.

With the "silly season" behind us we are looking forward to the year ahead of running many cooking classes, team building and private dining events and hope to see you at one or two events during 2012. So, if you (or your workplace) are looking for a fresh look at food and fun give us a call or send us an email to see what we can tailor to suit.

Culinary regards,

The Zigi's Team

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