Mediterranean Fennel Salad - A Recipe

In my last blog, I prepared fresh Barrimundi, an Australian white fish while I was in Cairns in North Queensland last month. I served this delicious fish over a fresh Mediterranean Fennel Salad. The flavors of the lemon, kalamata olives and the crunchy licorice of the fresh fennel really set off the flavor of the fish without overpowering it’s mild goodness.

As promised, here is the recipe for the Mediterranean Fennel Salad I made using a large, fresh fennel bulb from Rusty’s Weekend Market in Cairns.

Mediterranean Fennel Salad

1 large fennel bulb with leaves
½ cup pitted kalamata olives with juice
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 fresh lemon juiced
Fresh sea salt to taste

Chop the fennel bulb into thin slices and place in a mixing bowl. Chop fennel leaves, placing around three tablespoons in with the fresh chopped fennel. Chop olives and add to the salad. Drizzle olive oil and olive juice (to taste) and mix. Add sea salt to taste (there may be enough salt in the olives for you so try it before adding salt).

You can use this salad as a side dish or serve fish on top of it as I did this night. You may also consider sautéing the fresh fennel salad instead of serving it raw. Fennel bulb sautés nicely and maintains its licorice flavor.

This recipe was originally inspired by a private chef client of mine who asked me to prepare it for her each week. I loved it so much that I wanted to share it with you. I hope you try this one and that you enjoy using fennel bulb in salads and sautés for years to come. It is a great vegetable to add to your repertoire.

For more information on living a delicious and healthy life, see http://www.deliciousandhealthy.com/

For my 14 day gluten free and dairy free diet cookbook complete with a grocery list and product picks to take the guess work out of it, click here.

A Classic Australian Fish With a Dr. Meg Twist

Whenever I go to a new place, I like to ask around to find out what the local favorite fare consists of. Since Cairns, Australia is on the Pacific coast near The Great Barrier Reef, I had to know what the best local swimmers were. Time and again I was told, “Try Barrimundi”. So that’s what I set out to do.

I found out that local, fresh caught Barrimundi was the best purchase to make in order to truly experience the fish. Most markets will have previously frozen choices that are less expensive or they will have the lesser Barrimundi cod fish. Since the fish are not well labeled, the best way to tell is to go to the seafood counter in the market and ask where it was caught, when, and if it is fresh or previously frozen.

Barrimundi, meaning “large scaled river fish” gets its name from the Australian Aboriginal language. It has become a national favorite fish. It’s a white fish with a mild taste that reminded me of river bass I used to catch on canoe trips on the New River in Southwestern, Virginia when I was in college. It’s very moist, meaty and delicious without any fishy taste.

I prepared this gorgeous Barrimundi using a mild marinade so as not to overpower the flavor of the fish. Rusty’s market had some perfect Thai basil so I chopped up a couple of hands full, added fresh lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil with a little salt and pepper. After whisking the ingredients together, I set the cleaned fish in this marinade and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours.

When it came time to cook the fish, I pan fried it in olive oil, a little butter for extra flavor, and the remaining marinade. I cooked it for about three minutes per side until the fish flaked easily but did not dry out – in fact, it was so moist, it fell apart. I then served it over a Mediterranean fennel salad that I made from fresh local ingredients. That recipe will come in the next blog.

Of all the great meals I had in Australia, this was perhaps my favorite one. The flavors were uncomplicated, mild, a little tangy and salty. I savored each bite as I enjoyed the evening talking and eating with my dear friend Ly. We sat on the balcony, overlooking the water and watching the giant bats called the spectacled flying fox as they flew into the forest in search of fruit. There’s something special that happens when you create a dish from local produce in another country and share it with a loved one. It was a magical backdrop and a just right kind of night.



For more information on living a delicious and healthy live, see my website at http://www.deliciousandhealthy.com/

The Best Gluten Free Eggs Benedict Ever!

Thirty-three hours, three flights and three continents later, I finally arrived in Cairns, Australia, at 9:30 in the morning on November 1, 2011. October 31 just disappeared into thin air. Literally. They say there’s no such thing as time travel. I beg to differ. When crossing the International Date Line, you either get two days for the price of one or you lose a day completely. It’s a definite mind trip but one worth taking.

My friend Ly showed up in a taxi with a rice milk latte in hand. She muttered something about her delicious morning drug, came in for a big hug then motioned me in. The warm, wet tropical air filled the cab as we drove through rain forest to downtown Cairns. Our first stop was at a sports betting establishment to bet on a horse for Australia’s biggest sporting event of the year – The Melbourne Cup. I bet on “Drunken Sailor” because I just had to with a name like that.

Next stop was a restaurant with a huge outdoor deck just west of the famed Cairns Esplanade – a long boardwalk along the calm and colorful Pacific Ocean. Perrotta’s At The Gallery has a feel that’s both rustic and trendy. The menu offers an inventive array of gourmet ingredients in mainly Italian cuisine. After perusing the list of Eggs Benedict options, I chose smoked salmon with sautéed spinach on gluten free toast. Yes! You read that right, turns out that many of the places in Cairns have gluten free bread options. If they don't have it, they at least know what it is and don't say things like, "Glue? You want glue?"

I was already sipping a soy Cappuccino when the Salmon Eggs Benedict arrived. The coffee was smooth, rich and locally grown. The froth was so perfectly light I only knew it was soy by taste. With cup in hand I eyed my plate with great pleasure. The two slices of gluten free toast were cut quite thin but they were large. Atop them in layers were sautéed spinach, smoked salmon, poached eggs and finally, hollandaise sauce.

I pierced the egg with my fork and let out a “wow!” when I saw the color of them. I thought they were the healthiest, most deeply orange colored yolks I had ever seen. One bite and I knew they were. The rich flavor of the eggs spilled across the other ingredients to create what was certainly the best Salmon Eggs Benedict I ever had.

Less than an hour in Australia and I was already falling for the place and that was only just breakfast.

For more information on how to live a Delicious and Healthy life, go to www.DeliciousAndHealthy.com

To help guide you or a loved one in eliminating gluten and/or dairy, see my book, Done With Dairy. Giving up Gluten.

The Kindness of Australians in Hong Kong

I had no intentions of going to Hong Kong. I admit I was grateful for the opportunity when I was rerouted through there on my way to Cairns, Australia during the Great Qantas Strike of 2011. I had just spent two nights in the Irvine, California Marriott with a lot of raucous Aussies who were also grounded with our cancelled flight. The Australain national slogan of "No Worries" was all around me as we all made the best of a bad situation. Australians had, afterall, founded their entire country on that premise.

I love airports and Hong Kong’s massive, sleek and fastidiously clean port of flight was no exception. In fact, it was more the rule. It was just about the most impressive airport I had ever been in.

After making determinations regarding my next flight out, my first question to one of the many kind and accommodating information specialists was, “Where are the restaurants?” She replied, “About ten minutes walk and upstairs down that corridor there.” After fourteen hours on a trans-Pacific flight, I could use that walk.

I arrived at a food court situation where you could unfortunately get McDonalds. After shaking my head at the line of obese people standing in front of it, I turned a one eighty to view the options behind me. There were a number of places to choose from.

I read all the lit up menus on the wall with their accompanying pictures. I adore the Asian propensity to provide a visual of what the plate may look like. As I scanned them, I ruled out all breaded, fried, pot sticker, fish ball, dim sum looking foodstuffs for their glutenous makeup. There were lovely curries, rice noodle soups, barbecued pork, goose, beef, and vegetarian options available.

I settled on beef brisket rice noodle soup. As I waited in line, I turned to the couple behind me and began to chat with them. They were from Melbourne, Australia. When it was my turn to order and I went to pay, I learned that credit cards were not accepted. Totally unprepared for Hong Kong dollars, I closed my wallet and began to walk away when I heard the Aussie behind me say, “Here’s some money, let me pay for your dinner.” I turned to her and cracked a big grateful smile and accepted her offer.

I sat with this lovely couple as we chatted about our lives and shared what turned out to be the best airport food I ever consumed. Michelle and Ian Harris had moved to Melbourne from South Africa several decades ago and loved it there. Michelle had a delicious chicken curry that elicited a deep breath with closed eyes. That unmistakable expression of culinary pleasure. Ian had a delicious vegetarian dish and my beef brisket rice noodle soup was better than anything of its kind I had consumed in the states.

The beef was incredibly tender and popping with flavor. It tasted so much better than beef I have had in the states. While the marinade was sweet and a little spicy, the meat itself was richly delicious and was not overpowered by the spices. The broth was not overly salted like so many broths are in Asian restaurants. The noodles were also slightly different in taste with a stronger rice flavor. I was a very happy woman.

I will always be grateful to Ian and Michelle for providing such a delicious meal and for their company in Hong Kong. I meet nice and lovely people everywhere I go but in only two days of meeting lots of Australians, I felt I had met some of the most gracious, fun and lovely people in the world and I hadn’t even arrived yet.

Off to Australia For The Second Time In Two Days!

"You are a part of Australian history", my new Aussie friend, Tony informed me last night as about twenty of us stranded Qantas casualities surrounded a tiny lobby bar in the Marriott Hotel in Irvine, California. Two days ago, Qantas announced their worldwide strike only after we boarded and settled on our plane to Brisbane. The hot plane we sat on for two hours that would never take off. Yeah, that plane.

I drank a Rosemount Estates Shiraz ironically from Australia as I sat and listened to all of the travel stories from the people around me. One might think we were drowning our sorrows there but no such thing happened. I learned that Australians - the authors of such phrases as "No worries" and "Good on ya, mate" - let everything roll off their backs. As that is my attitude too, I fit right in with them - right there on my home turf in Southern California.

As I sat there, I pulled out this book called "In a Sunburned Country", by Bill Bryson that my dear friend Ly, who lives in Cairns, sent to me to read on the flight over. One Aussie grabbed the book and said "We all should sign it for you!" And that's what they did.

I love my precious keepsake and will treasure my Australian memories of the Qantas strike and the lovely hospitable people I met. I'm a total sap and I have tears in my eyes at the moment, making it a tough view of the computer screen.

The announcement to board my flight to San Francisco just finished. Time to go. So, for now, good day mate! I can't wait to see Australia via Hong Kong. I'm already in love.