**Please note South has now closed**

Please allow me to do a bit of housekeeping. Not Quite Nigella has been nominated in two categories for Well Fed Network’s awards! Thankyou so much for the wonderful people that nominated me And if you would like to vote you can do so on:

Best Food Blog – Post (for my Freeganism story)

Best Food Blog – City

Lots of love and happiness,

Lorraine aka NQN

xxx

And now onto the story…

I’ve always wanted to visit the South in America. There’s something about the lilting accents, the heat, the fabulous array of delicious and richly historical food imbued with legend that sparks my interest. I also do a mean Southern accent on occasion but so far I’ve only visited via restaurant or via the ingestion of cake. My friend Teena sent me the link to South on eatability knowing that we all love Southern food, particularly my friend Gina, whose birthday we were celebrating. I was a little suspicious given the rave reviews with particular mention for Leo, the owner,  from people who had only written one review but hey it’s in a neighbouring suburb so I was willing to give it a try and aid in Gina’s quest for Chicken Wings and Pumpkin Pie from back home.

Bread and melted butter

On busy Military Road, South is a small restaurant with red and white checkered tablecloths, a (faux) possum sitting on top of the inside awning, a dessert case full of home made desserts and a bright, eyecatching mural. We are seated and the owner Leo comes over and introduces himself. Ah ok, this is why everyone mentions him by name. It’s also slated to be featured in next week’s episode of Food Safari on SBS.

Lemonade $4

We order Lemonades (very sweet and not fizzy but quite refreshing nevertheless). The menu is a mix of all things Southern, Cajun and Creole and features items such as crab cakes, BBQ Ribs, okra, Gumbo, catfish, Crawfish Etouffe, country fried steak, Jambalaya and of course the desserts (my favourite part of Southern cuisine-I am after all the person that had a Red Velvet Wedding cake).

Photos of our Red Velvet Wedding cake (photography by ViL Photography)

Hot Wings $16

Now as I mentioned, the reason why we’ve chosen this place is for Gina, as she’s Canadian and many a time she would cross the border in search of good chicken wings and pumpkin pie. Having tried chicken wings everywhere, she is always trying to find ones like back home (well technically back home and a bit south) so she and her fellow chicken wing loving husband Hot Dog hone in on these. She notes that they’re a bit pricier than your average wings so there’s a lot riding on them and we all wait to see their reaction. Hot Dog is too busy eating but gives it a big thumbs up as does Gina. The wings are spicy, with a vinegary tang and are juicy and delicious and served with celery sticks and a blue cheese sauce.

Crab Cakes $31

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Our NQN Cocolo Organic Fairtrade competition was a huge success! Not surprisingly, it seems that everyone loves their Cocolo

Our winners are:

Karyn R. from QLD

Karina W. from NSW

Anna G. from QLD

Your chocolates are on their way to you now!

Look out for our new competition starting in a few day’s time

Love,

NQN

xxx

I know, most of us are still in our first few weeks of our New Year’s Resolutions and even so, enthusiasm is waning. Eating healthily shouldn’t be a burden but it sometimes is, especially when confronted with delicious food. A friend asked me to make her some muffins, low in fat and high in fibre for she was absolutely gung ho about her NY resolution to lose some kgs.  I humoured her for a while thinking that it would pass but when she kept asking me I realised that she was serious. This New Year’s Resolution was going to stay, however unwelcome it was.

I had made low-fat items before and I knew the best way to reduce oils was with apples or apple sauce. With the fibre I could have added some All Bran but I never have any in the cupboard as I think it tastes only marginally better than the cardboard box it comes in. Then I remembered I was sent a bottle of Fibresure along with a Donna Hay Cupcake kit and a baking tray. Aha by George I think I had my recipe! This recipe is adapted from Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious book in which she suggests ways of incorporating vegetables into dishes. This one has pureed carrot in it although you could substitute it for pureed squash or leave it out altogether as the Fibresure ensures that there’s plenty of fibre adding 20 grams of fibre.

I won’t lie, these aren’t exactly like regular muffins, I don’t think it’s possible to make them with that crumbly, buttery texture without a lot of butter and oil but they’re not bad, especially with the buttery, sweet streusel topping. It all depends on your expectation too. I had friends baulk at the Jessica Seinfeld Spinach brownies only because they had expected a chocolatey, gooey brownie which of course you’ll never get unless you add a lot of butter, sugar and eggs. But if you want something healthy that taste good and wholesome these will definitely satisfy a sugar craving.

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