Native Thyme is used in dishes featuring chicken, turkey, pork or lamb, a small amount makes a big difference.
Dried Native Thyme (sometimes referred to as Native Sage) can be purchased at Taste Australia Bush Food Shop
Roast Lamb served with Tanami Potatoes and Peppermint Peas
Ingredients
1.5 kg boned lamb leg cut into 6 large pieces
1 tbsp Macadamia Nut Oil
1 tbsp fresh Garlic minced
1 tbsp Native Thyme
1 tbsp Lemon Myrtle
1 tbspn Mountain Pepperleaf
Salt
2 tbsp melted butter
Mix oil with Garlic, Native Thyme, Lemon Myrtle, Mountain Pepperleaf and salt to taste.
Place each piece of meat in the centre of a double buttered sheet of paper, wrap each piece of lamb tightly with paper tucking the ends down to prevent them from opening during cooking.
Coat the meat parcels with more butter and place into a buttered baking dish.
Bake in an oven preheated to 170C until tender, (approx 2 hours).
Serve hot in the paper with Roasted Potatoes and Peppermint Peas.
Roast Turkey stuffed with Pork, Apple, Quandong, Native Thyme and Native Sage
Ingredients
50gm butter
1 desertspoon Dried Native Thyme
12 strips of pancetta or thinly sliced streaky bacon
bulb of garlic, broken into cloves
4 medium red onions, peeled
2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
a big handful of breadcrumbs
1 apple peeled
half cup of reconstituted dried quandong (cover with water and soak for an hour)
300gm minced pork
zest of 1 lemon
a pinch of grated nutmeg
1 large free-range egg
sea salt and freshly ground pepperberry
1 tablespoon Dried Native Thyme
4–4.5kg turkey, preferably free-range or organic, at room temperature
2 carrots, peeled
1 large orange
Macadamia Nut Oil
2 tablespoons plain flour
1.1litres chicken or vegetable stock
Preheat the oven to maximum.
The Stuffing: Heat a saucepan until medium hot and drop in the butter, Native Thyme and 6 of the pancetta or bacon strips.
Peel and chop 2 garlic cloves and 1 onion.
Add the garlic, celery and onion to the saucepan and fry everything gently until soft and golden brown.
Take the pan off the heat, add the breadcrumbs and, while the mix is cooling down, chop quandong and apple roughly and stir in.
When the mixture has cooled down, add the pork, lemon zest, nutmeg, egg and lots of salt and pepper, and mix everything together well.
Slice the remaining strips of pancetta or bacon in half and slice 1 peeled garlic clove into thin slivers. Place half a teaspoon of Native Thyme and a garlic sliver on one end of a halved strip of pancetta and roll it up tightly. Repeat with the other pieces of pancetta until you have 12 little rolls. Stab the thighs and drumsticks of the turkey in 6 places on each side. Push a little pancetta roll into each hole until it just peeps out. (Your turkey thighs will be flavoursome and moist.)
Chop the remaining onions in half and slice the carrots thickly. Give your turkey a good wipe, inside and out, with kitchen paper, and place it on a board, with the neck end towards you. Find the edge of the skin that’s covering the turkey’s breasts and gently peel it back. Work your fingers and then your hand under the skin, freeing it from the meat. Lift the loose skin at the neck end and spoon the stuffing between the skin and the breast, tucking the flap of skin underneath to stop anything leaking out. Pop the orange in the microwave for 30 seconds to warm it up and stuff it into the cavity. Weigh the stuffed turkey and calculate the cooking time (about 20 minutes per 500gm).
Place the bird on a large roasting tray, rub it all over with oil and season well. Surround with the chopped carrots, onions, remaining garlic, cover with alfoil and then into the preheated oven. Immediately turn the heat down to 180°C, and roast for the calculated time, or until the juices run clear from the thigh if you pierce with it a knife or a skewer. Remove the alfoil for the last 45 minutes to brown the bird.
Carefully lift the turkey out of the tray and rest on a board that’s covered loosely with foil for 20 minutes while you finish off the veg and gravy. Skim the surface fat from the roasting tray and add the flour and stock. Place the tray on the stove top and bring to the boil on a high heat. When the gravy starts to thicken, strain it into a bowl.
Carve your turkey, serve with the gravy and vegetables!
Gluten Free Ricotta and Parmesan Lasagne
Ingredients
80gm unsalted butter
1 onion finely chopped
1/2 cup rice flour
1 desertspoon each of Native Thyme, Lemon Myrtle, Mountain Pepperleaf
1 litre milk
1 tablespoon lemon myrtle flakes
500gm fresh ricotta
375gm pack gluten free lasagne sheets
2/3 cup grated Australian Parmesan Cheese
Warm milk and lemon myrtle flakes in a pot and leave to stand while you prepare the sauce.
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook stirring for 3 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour, Native Thyme Saltbush, Mountain Pepperleaf and cook, stirring for 30 seconds.
Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly until flour and milk are blended smoothly. Cook for 8 minutes. Remove lemon myrtle leaf and then add the fresh ricotta, stirring until the mixture is smooth. Adjust seasonings to your liking.
Spoon one quarter of mix into a prepared pan and then top with lasagne sheets. Repeat a couple more times. Finish with a layer of cheese sauce and then sprinkle the grated parmesan on top.
Bake 180C for 35 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
This dish can be served on its own with a salad or as an accompaniment to a meat dish.
Roasted Capsicum with Native Thyme, River Mint and Pepperleaf
Ingredients
3 Capsicums
1 onion
Macadamia Nut Oil
1 teaspoon Native Thyme
1 Tablespoon Bush Tomato Relish
1 Tablespoon River Mint and Pepperleaf Jelly
Place sliced capsicums in a baking dish along with a sliced onion. Sprinkle with oil and Native Thyme.
Baked 180C for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and spoon over a mixture of Bush Tomato Relish and River Mint Pepperleaf Jelly.
Pork Fillet, bacon slivers and onion rings poached in orange juice, kakadu plum and native thyme served on pepperberry mash with broad beans
Ingredients:
pork fillet sliced
bacon cut into slivers
onion cut into rings
garlic minced
juice of an orange
the flesh of 6 pickled kakadu plums
Salt to taste
potatoes
broad beans
Native Thyme
Pepperberry
Peel and cube potato and place in hot water to cook until soft. Then drain and mash with ground pepperberry and salt to taste.
Place broad beans in hot water and cook for 5 minutes. Drain
Place garlic and onion into a non stick pan with native thyme. Cook until translucent, then add bacon and pork and brown them. Now add orange juice and kakadu plum. Poach for 5 minutes. Toss in broad beans to coat with pan juices.
Place layer of pepperberry mash on plate and top with poached pork mixture.
Creamed Onion and Mushrooms with Native Sage
Ingredients
24 small onions
10 fresh swiss brown mushrooms, sliced
4 tablespoons macadamia nut oil
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons native thyme
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 pinches paprika
Peel onions a trim slightly at the top and bottom. Boil the onions gently in salted water until tender (about 30 minutes).
Preheat oven to 175 C. Grease one shallow baking dish.
Saute the sliced mushrooms in oil. Stir in the flour. Stir in the half and half or milk, salt, native thyme, 1/2 of the lemon peel and all of the lemon juice. Cook, stirring over medium heat until sauce thickens.
Place the cooked onions in the prepared baking dish and pour the mushroom sauce over them.
Bake for about 20 minutes. Sprinkle the top with the chopped parsley, remaining lemon peel and paprika to taste.
Great accompaniment to beef or poultry
Minestrone
Ingredients
1 tbsp Macadamia Nut Oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp minced Garlic
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 cups tomato pasta sauce (passata)
2 cups reduced salt vegetable stock
2 cups water
1 zucchini, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 carrot, diced
150g yellow squash, diced
400g can borlotti beans
½ cup macaroni pasta
1 teaspoon Native Basil
1 teaspoon Native Thyme
1 teaspoon Bush tomato
1 teaspoon Salt Bush
Pepperberry Sea Salt to taste
Crusty bread to serve
Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes or until tender. Add tomato paste. Cook for 1 minute.
Add tomato pasta sauce, vegetable stock and water. Bring to the boil.
Add zucchini, celery, carrot, yellow squash and borlotti beans. Simmer for 15 minutes.
Add macaroni pasta. Simmer until pasta is tender. Season with Pepperberry Sea salt. Add Native Thyme, Native Basil, Bush Tomato and Salt Bush. Stir to combine. Serve minestrone with crusty bread.
Rolled Roast Pork Loin With Apple And Macadamias
Prep time 20 mins, cook 1 hr (plus resting, cooling)
Serves 4-6
1.8 kg piece of pork loin
1 tbsp macdamia oil
3 small pink lady apples, unpeeled, halved horizontally
200 gm raw macadamia nuts
12 shallots
1 tbspn Native Thyme
350 ml dry cider
Apple and Native Thyme stuffing
20 ml macadamia oil
10 gm butter
4 shallots, finely chopped
4 pink lady apples, unpeeled, coarsely chopped
125 ml dry cider
50 ml cider vinegar
20 gm caster sugar
1 dspn Native Thyme
Preheat oven to 250C.
For apple and thyme stuffing, heat oil and butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat, add shallot, stir occasionally until tender (4-5 minutes). Add apple, cider, vinegar and sugar, stir occasionally until apple is tender and mixture is thick (8-10 minutes). Season to taste, stir through native thyme, cool.
Score pork skin with a sharp knife at 5mm intervals. Place skin-side down on a work surface, spread stuffing along longest side closest to you, then roll away from you to form a cylinder. (Reserve extra stuffing to serve.)
Tie at intervals with kitchen string, place in a roasting pan, drizzle with oil, season to taste.
Scatter apple, macadamias, shallots around base, add cider, sprinkle Native Thyme over and then season to taste, roast until crackling starts to form (30 minutes), reduce heat to 150C, cook until just cooked through (12-15 minutes).
Rest for 5 minutes, thickly slice and serve with apples, macadamias, shallots, pan juices and remaining stuffing.
Tortellini with Native Thyme Butter –
Cook 100gm butter in a frying pan medium heat for 5 mins
then add 1 teaspn Native Thyme and 2 tbsn grated parmesan.
Combine well before adding pasta (cooked & drained) – yields 6 entrees
Roasted Chicken stuffed with Lemon Myrtle and Native Thyme Breadcrumbs
Ingredients
1 whole chicken
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 diced onion
1 teaspoon Native Thyme
1 teaspoon Lemon Myrtle
Macadamia Nut Oil
1 Tablespoon Ground Pepperberry
Combine the breadcrumbs, onion and bush herbs with 2 tablespoons Macadamia Nut Oil.
Wash the chicken and then stuff with the mixture. Secure opening with a tooth pick.
Smear the chicken with oil and sprinkle with Mountain Pepper
Roast 180C for 90-120 minutes. Allow to rest.
Serve with Linguine (or your favourite pasta), Roasted Tomatoes, Roasted Capsicum, crumbled fresh Ricotta and Grated Pecorino
Baby Potatoes Roasted with Native Thyme and Olives
Boil 2kg baby potatoes in well salted water for 10 minutes. Drain well. Toss in 2 Tbspns Olive oil and 2 teaspoons dried Native Thyme, spread onto roasting tray. Season and roast at 220C for 30 mins. Scatter a cup of kalamata olives over and return to oven for 10 min until potatoes are crisp and golden.