Be Inspired to go Native

Season with Saltbush aims to inspire you to enjoy using Australian native foods in your everyday home cooking. Every now and then a new recipe or meal will be added, and over time this will create a handy resource of ideas for cooking with native foods!

The menu pages list all the recipes by general category, and you can also sort by ingredient, simply scroll down and look under 'Labels' in the sidebar to the right.

If you have any questions, requests or suggestions, please email me at danielle@curiouser.com.au

Blueberry and Desert Passion Pavlova

I'm going to begin with a disclaimer - this is not an actual pavlova recipe. More of a serving suggestion really. I don't have a great pav (you know, the meringue bit) recipe and tend to buy a premade one when I'm in a hurry to get to a BBQ or something. I just know this would be amazing with a homemade meringue base a la Nigella Lawson!

In any case, this topping combo is delightful :)

Ingredients

1 large pavlova base
500ml cream, whipped
2 punnets blueberries
Outback Pride Desert Passion Syrup
Dark chocolate, to flake over top (optional)

Method

Dollop the whipped cream over the top of the pavlova base. Gently top with as many blueberries as fit across it!

Drizzle with Desert Passion syrup and garnish with chocolate flakes if you desire. I kind of like it without but it visually adds a nice touch, so maybe just a little is a good compromise.

Serves 10-12

Pumpkin and Wattleseed Gratin

400g butternut pumpkin, grated
1 tbsp ground wattleseed (combine with pumpkin in baking dish)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp plain flour
1 cup milk
⅓ cup light cooking cream
⅔ cup grated cheese (colby)
1 tsp ground mountain pepper







1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Combine grated pumpkin and wattleseed in a baking dish.

2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add flour, stir and gradually add milk. Bring to a simmer and then stir in the cream over a low heat. 

3. Pour the white sauce into baking dish over pumpkin, sprinkle with cheese and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes in moderate oven. Makes a great side dish for a main meal.

Chicken and Desert Flakes Burgers

Ingredients

500g chicken mince

1 egg

1 garlic clove, crushed

Small or 1/2 brown onion, diced

1 cup breadcrumbs

1.5 tbsp Outback Pride Desert Flakes

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Preheat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.

2. Shape into patties and fry lightly over low-medium heat and then increase to medium-high heat once halfway through cooking.

3. Serve on turkish bread with green leaves and top with mayonnaise.

Warm pumpkin, lentil and desert flakes salad

I love this warm salad, the pumpkin is beautifully flavoured with Desert Flakes and the goat cheese melts to dress the salad leaves... yum! I make this, or some sort of variation, quite often. I also have a warm chicken salad that I'll share soon for the meat-eaters out there!

Ingredients

1/4 medium butternut pumpkin, seeded & cubed

2 tablespoons Outback Pride Desert Flakes

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 400g tin lentils, rinsed & drained well

100gm goat’s cheese or Persian Fetta

Mixed lettuce leaves

1 tablespoon pepitas

Method

1. Steam or microwave pumpkin until lightly cooked.

2. Heat oil over medium heat in a non-stick frypan. When hot, add pumpkin and Outback Pride Desert Flakes, tossing occasionally until browned on edges.

3. Place washed mixed leaves in a salad bowl and add pumpkin. Throw in the drained lentils and
goat’s cheese or fetta. Toss gently so that the cheese melts slightly and creates a dressing.

4. Scatter the pepitas (pumpkin seeds) over to
serve.

Serves 3-4.

WA's best BBQ featuring kutjera

Tongmaster challenge: Meet WA's best BBQ chef Stephan who won the title with a mouth-watering Kutjera Spiced BBQ Beef Steak. Stephen plans on featuring more of Outback Pride's native bush food products when he heads to the U.S. to compete in the BBQ Cookoff!

Desert Flakes Roast Vegetables

I'm having a super busy week, with a headcold on top of it, and am heafing off this weekend to Newcastle for a photo session and workshop. So I've decided to share one of my regular sides that I make to accompany all sorts of meals - especially when I'm in this busy / poorly kind of mood! Roasting anything speaks of comfort food for me, and this is pretty much a toss-in-the-oven dish, which I also love.

Ingredients

3 cups roasting vegetables, cut into even pieces (keep in mind cooking times when chopping veg to cook all together - for instance, cut carrots fairly long to accompany small-medium chopped potatoes).
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Outback Pride Desert Flakes
Salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste

Method

Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius, with roasting pan inside.

Toss vegetables in the olive oil and Desert Flakes to combine. Add to the hot roasting pan and reduce oven to 180 degrees. Sprinkle pepper and salt over the top.

Roast for approximately 45 minutes.

Mushroom and Native Thyme Pizza

Homemade pizzas can be created in a myriad of ways, and the options for toppings are pretty much endless. One of our faves is the Broccoli and Salmon Pizza with Seafood Sprinkle.

This mushroom and native thyme pizza may well be my personal top choice from now on, though! I used fresh native thyme, as the plant I bought from Aussie Food Plants is very happy in my Dandenong Ranges garden, but dried native thyme would be awesome too.

Ingredients

200gm swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
1 large wholemeal pita bread
1/4 cup goat curd (I used Udder Delights goat curd, but a soft chevre would be great too, or even Persian Fetta)
1 tablespoon chopped native thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried native thyme
Extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.

2. Spread the pita bread evenly with the goat's curd.

3. Top with the sliced mushrooms and native thyme. Drizzle with olive oil.

4. Bake in the oven for approximately 15 minutes.

Serves 1. Mmm, warm and tasty :)

Zucchini Pasta with Native Spices

Zucchini pasta is a great lunch or side-dish for those on a low-carb way of eating, or just for a way to get more veg into your day! The flavours are fairly simple here, enhancing the subtle zucchini flavour, but can be spiced up to taste.

Ingredients

2 zucchinis
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large or 2 small cloves garlic, crushed
1 tiny pinch chilli flakes, or you could also use Tanami Fire
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Native Thyme
1/4 tsp Ground Wattleseed

Method

Cut the zucchini into thin, long strips. Heat oil in a frying pan over high heat, reduce to medium-high and add garlic. Stir for about 20 seconds and then toss in the zucchini.

Stir fry zucchini until al dente (softened but still with a firmness to bite on) and then add the spices. Combine well and serve! Serves 1 as a meal or 2 as a side.

Saltbush and Mountain Pepper Calamari

Ingredients

3 squid tubes, sliced into rings
1/2 cup wholemeal plain flour
1 teaspoon saltbush flakes
1 teaspoon ground mountain pepper
1 teaspoon sea parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 litre canola oil

Step One

Heat the oil in a pan. Pat dry the calamari rings with a paper towel.

Step Two

Combine the flour, herbs and salt in a bowl. Toss the calamari rings in the mixture to coat.

Step Three

To cook the calamari quickly, make sure the oil is nice and hot. Cook the rings in batches until golden. Serve straight away with a yummy salad :)