Base Tomato Sauce with Saltbush

This is the vegetable-rich sauce to accompany the Fish Meatballs recipe - I have increased the veg content as well as the tomatoes, adding saltbush for extra flavour.

Ingredients

Olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1/2 red capsicum, roughly chopped
1 zucchini, roughly chopped
1 bulb fennel, roughly chopped
1/4 small butternut pumpkin, peeled, seeds removed, coarsely grated or processed
3 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp Outback Pride dried saltbush

Actually you could pretty much vary the veg according to what you have - broccoli stalk, leek, carrots can all be added.

Step One
Heat a good splash of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Process or chop all the vegetables except the pumpkin, and then add them to the saucepan. Cook, covered, for 10 minutes or until softened, stirring occasionally. Add the pumpkin and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until soft, mushy and mixed in with the other vegetables.

Step Two

Add the canned tomatoes and saltbush, season with cracked pepper, and bring to the boil. Simmer over low heat for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, then remove from the heat. If you like, blend the vegetables further with a stick mixer. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if necessary.

Fish Meatballs with Native Herbs

This is another Jamie Oliver recipe which is one of my hubby's faves, the kids both eat it and it reheats well as leftovers. I have added some scrummy native flavour with Lemon Myrtle and Sea Parsley. It is also pretty open to variation, as with the tomato sauce that accompanies it. The ratio of fish depends on what I have on hand, as do the herbs!

Ingredients

2 handfuls of herb leaves, such as basil, fennel fronds or parsley
1 tsp Outback Pride Sea Parsley
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp Outback Pride Tanami Fire (or standard dry chilli flakes)
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 eggs
75g wholemeal breadcrumbs - ok, I don't know how much is 75g, can never be bothered getting scales out, so I put in about 1/3 cup
500g mixed skinless fresh fish fillets (I usually use blue grenadier or something affordable like this)
100g smoked trout or smoked salmon
2 tsp Outback Pride Ground Lemon Myrtle
Plain flour, to dust
Olive oil
4 cups base tomato sauce (separate recipe), to serve

Step One
Whiz the herbs, seeds, Tanami Fire or chilli, garlic and a good pinch of salt and pepper in a food processor for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs, breadcrumbs and all of the fish, then process until just combined. Scoop fish mixture into a bowl, add the Outback Pride Lemon Myrtle and mix well. Pan fry a small piece to taste test for seasoning. Add more salt or pepper as required.

Step Two

Dust both the work surface and your hands with flour. Make small balls, about golf ball size, of fish mixture and roll in flour. You will be able to make about 30.

Step Three
Heat a large frypan, add a splash of olive oil and fry the meatballs, tossing every few minutes, for about 6-8 minutes or until brown all over and cooked through. This can be done in batches if you have a smaller frypan.

Step Four

To serve, heat the tomato sauce and divide among serving bowls. I also add some steamed vegetables or a serve of rice to flesh it out a bit. Top the sauce with fish meatballs, and garnish with fresh herbs if desired.

Serves 4-6

Responding to comment...

..from 'red' on the last posted recipe. Thank you for your comment.

I would like to re-iterate my purpose with this recipe blog, as explained briefly in the sidebar. I am not a chef, and am not interested in developing 'chef-fy' recipes - for some fantastic recipes by a professional chef, check out Mark Olive's recipes in 'The Outback Cafe Cookbook' and on the Outback Cafe website's Recipes page.

My intention is to help other everyday home cooks, mums and busy people to introduce native ingredients to their daily meals. This means not including warrigal greens and other fresh ingredients - even if I were so fortunate as to have these fantastic items, they are not easily available in most regular grocery stores. It also means not using too many native products per recipe - in which I do have to hold myself back at times! As a stay-at-home mum on a budget, I know perfectly well that I will simply skip a recipe that requires buying a dozen new ingredients, and that is not the intention of this blog at all.

The truth is, the simplest way of introducing native cuisine to other home cooks - like myself - is to add one or two new ingredients to an existing recipe, or to replace a standard herb with a native alternative. By making the use of native food as simple (and, perhaps, even uncreative) as this, I hope to counteract the perception that native cuisine is only the domain of the professional chef.

As for the suggestion about Mountain Pepper, that sounds like a great idea to try. Personally, I feel that the citrus tang from the 'Lemon Myrtle & Chilli Sauce' is what makes that particular ingredient stand out. Of course, experimentation and working out what you like is all part of the fun!

Pan-Fried Fish with Lemon Myrtle & Chilli Sauce

This is more of a serving suggestion than a recipe, really. The ingredients for the rice can vary depending on what you have on hand, and the fish can be whatever is available to you. Either way, the end result is a tasty home-cooked meal, with a delicious native twist!
Note: this is a newer sauce that has not yet been added to the Outback Pride website, but will be online when the website is upgraded in May.

Ingredients

4 small or 2 large white fish fillets, such as Blue Grenadier or Snapper
1/2 cup plain flour
2 teaspoons Outback Pride Seafood Sprinkle (optional)
3 cups cooked basmati rice
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely sliced on the diagonal
1/2 red capsicum, quartered and finely sliced
1/2 cup Outback Pride Lemon Myrtle and Chilli Sauce
Extra virgin olive oil

Step One
Heat a splash of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute onion for a few minutes until it begins to soften. Add the carrots and capsicum, and saute all vegetables until soft. Stir in the cooked rice, and reduce heat to low. Stir regularly as the rice heats through.

Step Two

Mix the flour and Outback Pride Seafood Sprinkle, and toss your fish fillets in the flour mix. These quantities are approximate - vary the amounts of flour and herbs depending on what you need to cover your fish, and the strength of herb flavour you desire. For this recipe it is also fine to leave the herbs out altogether, though I think they add a lovely flavour.

Heat a generous splash of extra-virgin olive oil in a frypan over medium-high. Add fish fillets and cook on each side until lightly golden and cooked through. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.

Step Three
Pour the Outback Pride Lemon Myrtle and Chilli Sauce into the frying pan with the pan juices. Stir quickly to heat the sauce through.

Step Four

Distribute the rice between dinner plates and top with the fish fillets. Pour the sauce over and serve.

Serves 2-3.