Best healthy venison recipe - Thai style venison Sslad by Jan Bilton

Vegetables.co.nz was delighted to join Deer NZ in this 100% New Zealand competition, celebrating farm raised venison and fresh New Zealand grown vegetables. Congratulations go to the winner. Thank you to all who were involved.

Here are the winners:

Best overall recipe – Spicy venison rack and mixed summer vegetables with crushed potatoes by Lauraine Jacobs

Best family recipe – Venison burritos by Kathyrn Taylor

Best healthy recipe - Thai style venison sSalad by Jan Bilton

Best special occasion recipe - Spicy venison rack and mixed summer vegetables with crushed potatoes by Lauraine Jacobs

The Judges were impressed with the innovation and inspiration shown in the recipes published by our food writers. The articles and photos creatively show the versatility of venison as a year round meat served with fresh, seasonal New Zealand grown vegetables.

Lauraine and Jan’s recipes will soon be available on the Chefs recipes and ideas -  http://www.vegetables.co.nz/chefs/blog/chef-recipes-and-ideas

The New Zealand Nutrition Foundation is delighted to announce that Food Week 2012 will run from 7-13th May.

Food Week 2012 continues with the theme Just Cook. Just cook a family meal and sit down and enjoy with your family / whanau. Our Just Cook virtual kitchen gives you great ideas for economical family friendly meals using the ingredients from the Just Cook food list.

COMPETITION

This year we’re running a Just Cook family meal challenge for teens. Participants are in to win an iPod Touch for themselves, and top of the line Kenwood cooking equipment for their class. Entries must be received by 5 pm Sunday, 20^th May and winners will be announced Monday 28^th May.

For more information go to http://www.nutritionfoundation.org.nz/news-and-hot-topics/Food-Week-2012

Bright green varieties with little or no stringiness are now available. Look for bunches with a tight formation, fresh, unwilted leaves and firm stems that are crisp when snapped. Avoid bunches with brown or cracked stalks. Refrigerate in plastic bags or alternatively, refrigerate with the butt end in 2-3 cm of water and change water daily.

Celery has a subtle aroma due to the presence of unusual compounds called phthalides, which are also found in walnuts. This is why celery and walnuts go together so successfully in Waldorf salads.

Celery, carrots and onions are frequently sautéed together, finely chopped to maximise their surface area for extracting all the aromatic compounds.

Fresh young crunchy celery stalks can be eaten raw as a snack – most children love pieces of celery filled with crunchy peanut butter.

Use young celery leaves from the centre of the bunch mixed with other leaves in a green salad or use outside leaves as flavouring in your favourite winter soup or casserole.

Cooked celery is delicious, so try it finely sliced and lightly stir fried, drizzled with sesame oil and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Alternatively try Braised spiced celery with spinach – the recipe is on the vegetables.co.nz website – http://www.vegetables.co.nz/recipes/view/braised-spiced-celery-with-spinach

In February 2012 the Ministry of Health published ‘A Focus on Pacific Nutrition’. This report presents key findings for Pacific people from the 2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey, including energy and nutrient intake, dietary supplement use, dietary habits and eating patterns, food security and nutrition-related health (e.g. body size, blood pressure and diabetes). This report also includes comparisons between Pacific and non-Pacific people, as well as changes since the 1997 National Nutritional Survey (where possible).

This report is a companion report to ‘A Focus on Nutrition: Key Findings of the 2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey and A Focus on Maori Nutrition: Findings 2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey.

The 2008/09 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey was carried out from October 2008 to October 2009. A total of 4721 adults aged 15 years and over participated in the survey, including 757 Pacific peoples.

It reveals some positive changes alongside opportunities to further support dietary habits like eating breakfast, eating more vegetables, choosing lower fat milks, removing fat/skin from meat and drinking fewer sugary drinks. Results are available from http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/focus-pacific-nutrition; http://www.health.govt.nz/publication/focus-maori-nutrition

Eat your broccoli – it really is good for you!

We all believe that the adage, ‘eat your greens because they’re good for you’ is true.  Now New Zealand research has shown that broccoli can limit cancer growth and the progression of the disease.

Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, Asian varieties of cabbage and broccoli, turnips and swedes have all been highlighted in recently published New Zealand research. Professor Lynnette Ferguson from Auckland University’s, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences says the study shows that brassicas help wellness in general, as well as lowering cancer risk and regulating a cancer’s progress.

“All the brassicas have health benefits with broccoli being an excellent example of a vegetable with well-characterised properties in the maintenance of health and prevention of disease,” she says.

“The study shows that one of the main reasons broccoli is a ‘superfood’, as both as a cancer preventive and a cancer-retarding agent, is not due to one component, but because of the complex interactions between all its various nutrients and bioactives.”

Professor Ferguson’s study supports other international research that shows a correlation between high brassica intake and a reduction in cancer risk.

Fresh New Zealand grown broccoli is available all year round. For tasty broccoli recipes and ideas on all fresh New Zealand grown vegetables visit www.vegetables.co.nz

A blacklist of 49 foods, heavy on calories but light on nutrition, has been drawn up to help combat obesity – and honey, muesli bars, whole milk and frozen yoghurt are all included.

However, fresh New Zealand vegetables are not on the list and should be included in everyone’s eating plans.

Check out http://www.vegetables.co.nz/select_a_vegetable for detailed information on specific New Zealand grown vegetables.

Then browse ‘Meal Ideas’ on the vegetables.co.nz website to find recipes using fresh New Zealand grown vegetables. For example, there are over 100 recipes featuring tomatoes and 38 featuring kumara.

The 49 NEEDNT (non-essential, energy dense nutritionally deficient) food list was written by Otago University researchers as part of an obesity treatment research programme.

The researchers stress the list is a guide to help obese people identify which foods could be cut from their diet. More information on the ‘blacklist’ can be found at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10787548

Try serving purple and white cauliflower with a little grated cheese.

The deep red or purple colour in plants means there are a lot of anthocyanins present. The word comes from Greek for ‘blue flowers’. There are over 300 known anthocyanins.

Anthocyanins are antioxidants – we need a continuous and abundant supply of them to maintain good health. This is another good reason to eat a range of colourful fresh vegetables every day.

Coloured vegetables can bleed in water, and lose or change colour in cooking. However, to maintain the colour, add some lemon juice or vinegar to the cooking water. When adding to fritter mixes, include some baking soda in the mixture and this will help maintain the intensity of colour.

If you cannot find purple cauliflower, try red cabbage, beetroot, egg plant, red onions or purple beans.

Test your preserving skills by trying these two recipes.

Pickled fennel

This is very easy to make and really delicious.

2 cups cider vinegar

1 cup sugar

1 star anise

1 bulb fennel, finely sliced

Bring vinegar, sugar and star anise to the boil. Turn off. Add fennel and allow to cool in liquid. Store in the refrigerator and serve with cold sliced meats.

Granny’s vegetable pickle

Fresh New Zealand grown beans are in season so try this recipe.

Makes 2-3 jars

2 cups white vinegar

2 cups white sugar

2 onions, chopped

1 red capsicum, deseeded and diced

½ cauliflower, sliced into small florets

150g green beans, sliced into 5 cm pieces

1 tsp mustard powder

1 tsp turmeric

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp cornflour, mixed to a paste with a little water (optional)

Place vinegar and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Add onions, capsicum, and cauliflower and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add beans, mustard powder, turmeric and salt and simmer for a further 5 minutes.

The mixture may be thickened with cornflour mixed with a little water. Add the paste to the simmering mixture and stir gently until clear. Pour into clean dry jars and seal. Store in the refrigerator.

Other recipes that preserve fresh New Zealand vegetables available from vegetables.co.nz:

Passata – a delicious, rich tomato mixture

Harissa paste – a fiery paste based on capsicums and chillies

Piperade – a milder capsicum and tomato paste

Quick and easy tomato sauce – freeze for later use

Cauliflower, kamokamo and horopito pickle – this recipe makes 8 jars

Holidays are the time to let your children make their own meals.  Younger children may need some help with the preparation, but older children will be able to do most of it themselves.

Let them make their own Funny face salad. These are as much fun to make as they are to eat.

Funny face salad

Makes 1

1 slice of bread

1 tsp margarine or lite salad dressing

Selection of vegetables e.g. grated or strips of carrot, bean sprouts, cucumber slices or strips, beetroot slices, tomato wedges – or whole baby tomatoes, lettuce, radish, green or red capsicums, cooked sweetcorn kernels. Spread bread with margarine or salad dressing. Arrange salad ingredients to form a funny face.

Older children can make their own Salad wraps using fresh New Zealand vegetables.

Wraps are found in cafés and lunch bars everywhere. They are so easy to make and they are particularly good for lunches for both children and adults.

Salad wraps

Makes 2 wraps

2 pieces tortilla or mountain bread suitable for wraps

2 Tbsp cream cheese, mayonnaise, chutney or hummus spread

4 slices shaved ham

3-4 lettuce leaves, or use spinach, watercress or mesclun leaves

½ red or yellow capsicum, deseeded and sliced

½ small cucumber, cut into sticks

1 carrot, sliced into thin strips

Spread both tortilla breads lightly with cream cheese or hummus. Arrange ham and lettuce evenly over both pieces of bread, then add capsicum, cucumber and carrot in bunches with most at one end. Roll up firmly, starting at the end with most filling. The cream cheese or spread helps to hold the wrap together, so make sure there is some along the last end to get rolled up.

Variations: Use this basic technique as a starting point and experiment with different salad vegetables such as avocado, celery, tomato, sprouts or baby spinach. Any cooked meat or cheese can be used instead of ham.

For more family-friendly recipes, such as Hedgehogs, Boats, Spuds on the move, or Kebabs for the family barbecue visit www.vegetables.co.nz

Fresh New Zealand grown vegetables are delicious cooked on the barbeque. Try some of these tasty ideas:

Capsicums: Cut lengthways into quarters. Remove seeds. Brush sparingly with oil, place on a hot barbeque plate and turn frequently during cooking.

Courgette halves: Split courgettes in half lengthways and place on the barbeque. Baste sparingly with oil and turn frequently during cooking.

Eggplant slices: While slices are cooking, brush them generously with oil. Cook for 5-10 minutes.

Kumara: Scrub medium sized kumara. Do not peel. Wrap in a double layer of foil and place in barbeque embers. Cook for 25-30 minutes, or cut into ½ cm thick slices and brush with oil. Turn only once during cooking. Cook for 10-12 minutes.

For more ideas go to http://vegetables.co.nz/recipes/view/barbecue-wrapped-vegetables