Category Archives: eating locally

in my kitchen this week…

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cherries

My kitchen is a bit like a clapped out old Volkswagen at the moment. Stopping and starting in fits and flurries. With days of flour strewn every where, dishes mounting like excitable rabbits, and my mixer getting an excessive work out. This is then strangely followed, by not even a whisper of activity. My cooking mojo seemingly lost. It does this now and then, slowing, sliding to a halt only to kick start again, life being thrown back into the kitchen in the way of a cup full of flour here or a cooking pan there. Then quietly coming to another hiccuping halt again. My kitchen, the kombie.

cedro

I’d been wanting to get some cedro for quite some time. It was there, ready for the taking and somehow I ended up with some orange as well. I was nodding enthusiastically to the heavily accented man selling me the cedro and obviously saying all the right words in order to get some  of the orange as well.  I thought we were just having a delightful conversation, talking about what might go well with it. I felt too impolite to say, oh no thanks mate, actually it was just the cedro I was after.

pashmak

Pashmak…ohhh, I’d been looking for you for a long time. Now what shall I create with you my pretty fluff?

I’m still playing with cardamom buns, they really are delicious. It’s a happy thing playing with them, that’s for sure.

Local cherries, more beetroot, and the sweetest looking little pumpkin/squash/orangey thing. Surely it’s just the kind to harness a few rats up to and take some one to a ball….or a gnome house? All goodies found in my foodconnect box.

tomato

I’m really hoping that I see some of these guys in my kitchen soon. Things are looking the most promising they have in a long time. (Just avert your eyes from the mint.)

A needy starter. This weekend it has been so very hot. My starter was getting bulked up to use, but I just couldn’t face putting the oven on until it cooled down a little. The starter was getting a little impatient.

yum

Dinner can take form in many different ways when Mr Chocolate is out for the evening and the kids have something I don’t particularly feel like eating. Basmati rice, banana, sultanas, linseed and almond meal, sunflower seeds, sesame, pepitas, a splash of milk and honey/tahini drizzled over. I then chucked a handful of blueberries in for good measure.

advent

Last of all, not really in my kitchen but finished this week, (just in time.) My advent calendar. It’s not very “Christmassy” looking but that sits fine with me. I was a little nervous about the colour palate but it all seemed to come together enough at the end. The boys were happy to see it on the 1st, and now they get to count down until Christmas day. (Nothing like it what so ever, but I was inspired by Tania’s advent calendar from last year, which is truly, truly beautiful.)

That’s it for my kombie kitchen this week, what’s happening at your place?

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(linking in with the lovely Celia@ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial)

a little slow living round here

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 Nourish- My little kitchen has been churning out quite a lot at the moment. Including the ever reliable Anzac Biscuits for when things are called for at a last minutes notice. Make these and I know I won’t turn up somewhere empty handed. Rhubarb recipes have been enjoyed, the ever present sourdough and I’m still playing with cardamom buns. So many doughy variations to play with!

Grow- My mint was finally looking reasonable once more. I had conquered it. I would now have a steady supply of delicious mint infused meals. Then, I didn’t look at it for several days… a big mistake. Someone else had also decided it quite fancied some delicious mint infused meals.

I found the culprit, a big dirty caterpillar, then I found another, and another. Needless to say, those minty meals will have to wait…again.

Create- I’m happy to say there has been quite a bit of creating action going on round here lately. My Wednesday group’s blanket is growing, and things are slowly getting stitched together. Bunting had been planned for far too long, and finally I decided enough was enough and I just had to do it. A fine example of some shonky sewing, but I did it and I’m happy about that. Advent calendar plans are still being mused over. I wanted to do one last year, hell I think even the year before as well and I still haven’t started. Time is tick tocking, but I’m still hoping to get it together… hopefully.

Discover- I was very happy to see that my local library had ordered in Whole Larder Love. Such a wonderful book and stunning photography by the very talented Rohan.

Prepare- Eeek! Not a lot happening here. I can’t think of anything I have done to preserve this last month. I’m actually having jamming withdrawals at the moment so, I suspect some preserving is just around the corner. Stone fruits are slowly trickling in too, just the thing for a little jamming action.

Enhance/Connect- Beautiful little Tasmanian wooden buttons sent to me from the lovely Mel @ Coal Valley View. Now what shall I make with them?

A gathering yesterday that was so much fun, I just wanted to rewind the whole thing and press repeat- Food, lots of people big and small, all in an open green space.

I also swapped some sourdough starter and some bread to another mama from school. She in turn gave me some kimchi. So much nicer than what I had bought recently, absolutely delicious. As for the starter, I love thinking about how many kitchens those little tubs of starter have travelled to.

Enjoy- the year is galloping along, and this time of year finds a whole heap of enjoyable things happening round these parts….and that is a whole bunch of happy.

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For more slow living action, pop over to the lovely Christine @Slow Living Essentials.

Sydney Sustainable Markets

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A hot sun is out, city traffic is building, and bleary eyed Friday night clubbers are slowly making their way home. It’s Saturday morning and Taylor Square has been transformed to it’s weekly sustainable markets. It’s not the biggest market around, but it has plenty of options for creating oodles of deliciousness for your dinner table, (and your it sure beats doing your Saturday morning shop in a supermarket.)

Seasonal, local, sustainable, organic…it’s all there.

 

Each stall holder has a sign showing who they are where they are from and how far their food has come.

A communal space to meet friends for a coffee, eat a little bakery goodness, read the paper and then go home with all your fresh food.

This rice is delicious. If anyone thinks that rice is rice, and there really isn’t much of a taste difference. Well they are wrong. I’m hooked on the Koshihikari rice at the moment. Yes, it’s more expensive than your supermarket rice, but it’s fresh, grown within the same state, hasn’t been stored for lengthy periods, it’s organic, and all from a family run business. That’s quite a lot to like isn’t it.

Stall holders change a little from week to week, and this week The Urban Beehive was back again. The taste comparison between a general commercial honey and this stuff is rather big. There are hives dotted all around Sydney, and within those hidden hives they make the most delicious honey. It really does wonders for my soul, drizzling some of the golden good stuff on to toast, knowing that this was created so close by. I can’t have my own backyard hive, so this really is the next best thing.

Sydney Sustainable Markets

Taylor Square

Saturday 8am-1pm

hippy salad- Frugal Friday

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We’re having pizza!!! sang The Monkey’s to Mr Chocolate as he closed the front door behind him.

Two grinning boys launched themselves at their father…pizza! 

Mr Chocolate looked happy too as he scanned the table tops with their proving doughs. Although, you’re not having pizza Dada, I think you’re having salad, said a sombre looking Monkey Boy. His face fell, as he looked to me to for confirmation.

Yep, mung bean salad lucky man.

(oh relax, I’m feeling generous… you can have pizza as well.)

Hippy Salad

sprouted mung beans

one can of chickpeas

one finely sliced capsicum (pepper)

one finely sliced small chilli

couple of finely sliced shallots

Dressing

a couple of slugs of great local olive oil

good pinch of cumin

and dried coriander

salt/pepper to taste

pop half a clove of crushed garlic (new season- which is a bit damn exciting)

juice of half a back yard lemon,

 shake it up a bit and

add to your salad

eat with gusto… or pizza

a bowl full of sushi

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It’s quiet.

Not a murmur, not a word. Just the rhythmic sound of two forks being taken from bowl to mouth.

The Monkeys are eating two bowls of sushi. This is their favourite dinner at the moment. Not daintily rolled between a sushi bamboo mat, instead carefully constructed by their own little hands. I get it all out, prepare the ingredients and then they assemble what they would like to go in there.

Healthy, looks good, they get to help put it together and most of all they love to eat it.

I can’t help but feel a teeny bit pleased. Pleased and proud of my vegetable loving children. Sure they won’t touch zucchini, mushrooms, sweet potato or spinach. Eggplant also isn’t getting a look in any time soon, but what they won’t eat- they make up for. If that means a bowl full of sushi, with a selection of raw vegetables in there, I’m more than happy to give it to them.

I know kids can be picky little things, but if you plant the seeds of eating healthily from the very beginning and get them involved it sets them up for later on. Once a week, the Monkeys wrestle over who gets to bring in the vegetable box after it’s been delivered to our back door. Carefully sorting what’s in there and what exactly it all is. We don’t get to harvest a great deal from our (rather pathetic at the moment) plant pots, so this along with going to farmer’s markets is a second best. Sorting, learning, preparing and then eating it.

As a child, the idea of sitting through an eggplant or mushroom dish set me up for an hours worth of good solid gagging. These truly were horror vegetables that were put on this earth just to torture me. A few decades on and funnily enough what are two of my favourite vegetables?… Eggplant and mushrooms. The seed had been planted, the palate had already been explored, and then it was just a matter of finding out how I liked to eat those two little vegetables.

So that’s what I’m doing with The Monkeys. Expanding their palates and planting seeds. No, they don’t have to eat handfuls of mushrooms, broccoli, and zucchini. They can try a little bit each time though, just so to remember what it tastes like and then they can move on to what they really love. Vegetables like peas, capsicum (peppers), tomatoes, cucumber, corn, avocado, lettuce, pumpkin and carrot. Pop it all in a bowl of rice, with some shredded seaweed and a little line caught tuna, (Good Fish.)

There they have, a bowl full of sushi.

seasonal cooking July/August

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Not particularly pretty cooking, but tasty none the less this month. I’ve been playing with a few new ingredients lately which is always good. Also trying to jazz up a few of the regulars as well.

The ever reliable apple crumble with a pastry base to give it a bit of a twinkle. Lemon zest in the pastry, raw sugar and a pinch of coriander cooked in with the apple and a dash of vanilla in with the crumble topping.

Chinese Cabbage is getting a look in. This is a variation of my standard winter salad. Chinese cabbage, pecans or walnuts, apple and what ever else is looking good at the time.

Lemons are plentiful at the moment. Whispering words such as pie…pie…pie to me. It doesn’t matter what kind of pie. As long as it involves lemons and pastry somewhere within. This particular pie had potato flour in it as a thickening agent. Different for me, and I have to say… I quite liked it.

Swiss brown mushrooms, on swiss cheese, on sourdough. My favourite lunch at the moment. Not Mr Chocolate’s favourite lunch, although he does assure me he loves mushrooms. Loves them so much he only wants one or two a month.

I’m not sure it’s quite the same love we have for them.

And my little truffle…

High hopes and grand plans little fella. You live and you learn and all that. Next time, I’ll either buy a bigger one, or use it a lot quicker than which I did. Delicious yes, but I think some of its oomph was lost in between the buying and eating time.

Still tasty though, eaten with some wilted greens, scrambled eggs, sourdough, and a side of Mr Chocolate’s favourite mushrooms. Then again with a little softly cooked egg and shallots. The third egg I cooked was the best, (unfortunately not the one pictured.) The subtlety of the softly cooked egg with the generously grated truffle was quite delicious.

 

So what else is in season round these parts in the winter months?

blood oranges- the very small window of opportunity is now open. I’m thinking a blood orange cake…

rhubarb- I’m just waiting for the right bunch to come along and a rhubarb extravaganza is planned….but it has to be the right bunch.

potatoes- leek and potato soup for cool nights

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What seasonal cooking are you doing at the moment?

Hobart how I’ve missed you so

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Tasmania.

I’ve said it once, I’ve said it twice… actually I might have said it three or four times already. Fifth time?

Tasmania, I love you a lot!

This trip was just a quick one. A conference for me and the baby girl. Hitting the town for Mr Chocolate and The Monkeys.

From the conference, I came away inspired by a wonderful bunch of strong and beautiful women. Seeds have been planted and now I just need to tend to them and hopefully watch them grow.

I also came back with some delicious goodies to be played with. Fudge and walnuts from the farmers markets. Some lovely locally grown spelt, which I’m excited to being playing with. And… a truffle. The smallest truffle in the glass jar. After walking very, very fast (before it closed) to get to the little shop under the stairs where I had first smelt them last year, I got one. Seven grams of black fungus, that I’m still trying to work out exactly what it smells like. Earth, death, and sex they say. It’s a smell that I have trouble likening it to anything else I’ve ever smelt.

So what shall I cook it with?

I’m thinking a truffle sourdough, and perhaps a few truffled eggs to go with it. I’m a little unsure of how to go about the bread though. Shave it, grate it, when to put it in? Would the flavours be lost?

Planning what to do with it though, that’s half the fun isn’t it?

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If you have any wonderful truffle ideas, please tell.

the vegetable that everyone forgot- Frugal Friday

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Cauliflower.

Remember that one? It’s got a bad rep, as the tastless tree like cousin of broccoli. It’s not though.

In season now, it’s cheap, tasty and adaptable to oodles of dishes… just right for Frugal Friday.

Cauliflower and Potato Soup

A splash of olive oil

Half a head of cauliflower

One large zucchini

Six small dutch cream or kipfler potatoes (the waxy kind)*

One cube vegetable stock (or your own if you have it)

water

Cook it up until soft. Then blitz it up with a hand held blender. Serve with a scattering of lightly fried sourdough breadcrumbs, for some textural crunch.

* Remember all potatoes are not created equal. A good potato can be the making of your dish.

the community garden

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Our local council is trialing a new community food foragers garden. I really love the idea of this and hope that it takes off,  just getting bigger and bigger.

Imagine city living where on each high density living block there was a community kitchen garden readily accessible for all the locals. An attached community compost bin, for all those to access that didn’t have backyards. Seasonal food grown within a hop skip and a jump of where you live, with composting scraps being used for the same garden while decreasing all the food scraps being sent to land fill.

It doesn’t seem like a big ask, does it?

It just makes sense. Cutting back on waste having to be collected by council. Making more efficient use of space. Encouraging a community spirit. I’m sure on each block there would be at least a couple of willing people who would love to regularly tend the small edible space. If people are living in a high density living area, green spots are hard to come by and the chance to actually dip your fingers in to some soil and tend a little foliage would be incredibly appealing to a lot of inner city dwellers.

More green spaces in the city are needed. Whether it be roof tops, street corners, reclaimed concrete areas, where ever they may be. However,  first people need to ask for it, and be encouraging when trials are put into place. Be vocal, spread the good word. Whispered words of encouragement is what gets ideas moving. Spoken words and acts of enthusiasm keep them there.

If everyone’s local councils started up just one food foragers garden in their area, it was successful, and people respected the space. Surely this could mean the start of many more to come?

The benefits of a nation wide scheme like this?… Oh can you imagine.

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Do you have any community gardens or food foraging gardens in your area?

seasonal cooking for June

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The seasons have changed and along with it so has what comes out of the kitchen.

I like that. Seasonal menus and changing what goes on our plate according to availability and the weather outside.

Orange and Coconut Cake, an easy one to make up a head of time. Keeps well, using some of the delicious new season oranges about. Try to find some organic oranges, as they shouldn’t be waxed. You don’t particularly want zest of wax in your cake do you?

I was lucky enough to get a lovely load of my dad’s backyard citrus.

Ribollita adapted from this Jamie Oliver recipe. A really easy meal based on vegetables on hand and using up stale bread. Frugal, seasonal, healthy, local produce and tasty. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Will the kids eat it? If you have miracle children they might, mine wouldn’t touch it.

So what else is looking tasty round these parts in June?

mandarins…. eaten by the bucket load at the moment. Easy snack.

radish… finally sliced in salads

pumpkin… thai pumpkin soup with a swirl of coconut cream.

cauliflower… I’m thinking this risotto, with extra chillies please.

kale… raw or cooked green goodness. SUPER food.

leek… base for a hearty soup or sitting in the bottom of a quiche.

mushrooms… cooked up in some olive oil with a side of polenta. Yum!

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What seasonal cooking are you doing?