The secret to this dish is quality ingredients in the pasta and the ricotta. Pay that little bit more or even better make your own of both.
Super quick, easy and frugal for a Friday.
cook up some great pasta
stir through some excellent ricotta
in a pot add some
local garlic and olive oil
quickly stir through some
frozen peas or if you are lucky, fresh ones
pop that on top of your pasta
and roughly rip some garden mint on top
and eat with gusto.
When I found out Milkwood was holding a Passata Day, there was a squeal of delight, and more than a little happy hand clapping. I had long held dreams of being part of a European village tomato festival, had looked longingly looked over at Rohan’s Passata Day from last year and would have happily invited myself over to any large family that held annual passata days in their backyard (if only I knew of any.)
So when Passata Day was announced I was just a little bit happy. A promise of lunch by Three Blue Ducks, mocktails by Trolleyd, music by Sophie Loizou and all tomatoey goodness by Common2us and Old Mill Road– to be held in the back garden of an inner city community centre?
Oh yes I was going to be there, and it promised to be a good one!
Amazing mocktails from Trolleyd created from native and organic ingredients, all foraged or sourced locally. If you didn’t think bartending and sustainability went hand in hand, think again.
Tomatoes. Real tomatoes. The kind that taste like summer and come in every funny shape and form. The red goodness came from two market garden farms- Common2us an organic community farm based in Dural and Old Mill Road BioFarm, a family run farm in Moruya.
Some of my favourite conversation topics happened here. Chats on sourdough, permaculture, homebirth, cooking, photography, community and fermentation. The Passata Goddess must have been smiling above me, when she placed two of Sydney’s fermentation experts in front of me- questions answered and encouragement built on. These were a few of their beautiful fermented goodies to be tasted on the day.
Simple beautiful food, eaten at a long table….nothing better. Nothing.
The amazing and inspiring Kirsten and Nick, the couple behind Milkwood Permaculture.
…and the wonderful finished product.
Bidding goodbye to old and new friends, with the passata bottles safely tucked away. I slowly peddled home and reflected on why today had made me so happy.
* I had got to be a part of a community event that I had always wanted to.
* I had been able to talk with people that held so many similar interests and beliefs.
* I was able to introduce two of my friends to an event that they would have otherwise not known about, (which they loved.)
* I had met a bundle of people that I knew in the virtual social media world, and had been able to (at times nervously) introduce myself.
And ultimately. Celebrated the fact that so many of my interests and ideals could come together in the one day. To organise an event such as this would taken a huge amount of time, but it was done beautifully and I can only hope there is another one for next year. This is a perfect example of what simple living can be. A community event where food and people come together. Where skills are shared, knowledge is passed on and friendships formed and added to.
Passata Day you rocked.
*************
For more Passata Day goodness see here.
I’d often thought I would like to do one of those ‘eat local’ challenges. Problem was time was ticking and I was still just thinking about it.
I needed to get up and out there, doing it. I already think our family’s way of eating is fairly mindful, eating with a conscious but I wanted that extra push, that little bit more. If I was a single person I could push it a lot, a hell of a lot more, but I’m not. So in consideration to my three still small children with sometimes picky taste buds I’m going to set the bar just a little higher than what it is. See how we go and then hopefully move on from there. Mr Chocolate’s taste buds are fairly in tune with mine, so as long as I don’t serve platefuls of sauerkraut and buckwheat he’s reasonably easy to please on the dinner front.
So what’ the challenge?
Once a month, a meal created from local food. Pretty simple really.
Also keeping in mind-organic, free range, spray free, from the farmers market, garden grown, as little packaging as possible, and knowing where it has all been sourced from. Many of our family meals incorporate a lot of these aspects already, but as one set meal, knowing exactly where everything is coming from, or coming as close as I can anyway, (while still keeping in mind- divided emerging taste buds and importantly a budget.)
We live in a small space in the city, growing extra food is simply not an option for us. BUT there are other foody options and I’m pretty excited to find out what a few more of them might be.
***************
Local Harvest is a great organisation that runs similar challenges every year. Have a peek for more details on how you can get involved.
Along with what ever I cook up once a week, I’ll also add any great finds or problems I had during the past month- an Eat Local post will be done in the last week of the month.
How about you? Have you done this before? Have you thought about it? Want to give it a crack with me?
Lamingtons and I have never had a firm friendship. They were always the thing of old fashioned bakeries, afternoon tea at someone else’s house or a slightly squished white paper bag to bring home for my mum as little treat.
A favourite for childhood cake drives and always guaranteed at the local church sweets stand. It wasn’t for me though. No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t get past the dryness. Not even a lamington with jam and cream in the middle could save these iconic coconut squares of Australia for me.
They just weren’t my thing.
Until now that is. Now that I’ve drowned it in a sweet milky goodness that can only be attributed to a can of condensed milk. I can almost hear the collective gasps of the CWA. Shrieks of, you can’t put condensed milk in a lamington!
But you can. And I did. And perhaps in doing so I have wiped out all ability to name it still a lamington. However I’m sticking to it, and this is my lamington cake.
125g butter
3 eggs
150g (2/3 cup) sugar
2 tsp vanilla
225g (1 1/2 cups) s/r flour
50g (1/2 cup) desiccated coconut
125mls (1/2 cup) milk
******
1 can condensed milk
50g cocoa
Cream butter and sugar. Add in vanilla, beaten eggs, and milk together than fold in dry ingredients. Bake in a greased and lined spring form pan (approx 23cm) at 180C for about 35-40 minutes. Bake until golden in colour.
While cake is still hot, leave it in the cake tin, prick it all over with a skewer or fork then pour on the condensed milk mixture. (Whisk together in a bowl, condensed milk and cocoa together beforehand.)
Leave cake to soak up mixture, occasionally bringing the condensed milk back to the centre to soak in at the top a little more. Once room temperature, pop into the fridge for a couple of hours (or over night.) Take the cake out of the tin and cover in desiccated coconut.
A soft light of a new day outside, and I’m well into my second cup of chai. There is a streaky grey sky morning about to break through and all is quiet. With little people still tucked up in their beds, a new day lays before me.
It’s 5.30 am and the day was going to be a busy.
Biscuits to make, boys to take and a check list that needs crossing off one and a half pages long; but my mind is only half on it. I want to make a little bag. A little bag with colours and tassels, a little bag for a little girl.
Colours were chosen, scraps of wool divided out and the bag already finished in my head. But it wasn’t to be. That bag lay dormant for another whole month until finally, there it was, finished. Not exactly as I had imagined it, (but things made by me rarely are.)
She loved it, and I was happy to make her something out of bits I already had.
I recently wrote a quite lengthy post on eating meat. Of which I got to the end and then just quietly, deleted the whole lot. All 852 words of it.
I felt like I was justifying my own meaty actions. Which is something I didn’t feel like I really wanted to do or needed to do. I was more than happy to engage in an amicable conversation with anyone who cared to listen. I was also more than happy to pass on any food information that I’d come across in my readings. Informed decisions on any level is an empowering thing, especially when it comes to something as important as food.
We all need to eat, it’s how we go about it that’s important.
So will I be made to feel guilty for eating a little meat here and there?
It’s the basis of many heated debates, but at this stage of my life? No. No I won’t.
I believe strongly in a diet based mostly on ‘real’ foods. Food that comes in as natural a state as possible. Keeping processing to a minimum, packaging to a minimum and being able to identify the food in front of you are top of my lists.
I also believe different bodies require different foods. Some people can exist happily as a Fruitarian and others strongly advocate they feel healthier on a Paleo based diet. I wouldn’t like to base my diet on either of these, but I respect the fact that they feel happy and healthy eating as such. I remember sitting in the audience of the His Holiness the Dalai Llama once, and his comment on the fact that he ate meat. Shocked I wasn’t, but happy yes, as he had obviously made an informed decision; and decided he functioned better with a small meat intake.
As meat eaters, vegetarians, vegans, raw enthusiasts, sugar free, gluten free, locavores, we all have choices to make and ethics to consider when we are preparing that dinner plate in front of us. (Unless by chance you are a city-living-raw-vegan-sugar free-gluten free-locavore AND on a family budget, in which case holey moley I would love you to comment and please share your story!)
Some links of interest on the ethics of eating….
Meat Eaters– Where has the meat come from? How was it raised? American Meat-film, Fast Food Nation– film
Pescatarian– love eating canned tuna? Have a look at this snippet on what line and pole fishing actually is, and the value of paying that bit extra for your can of tuna. Also read here on GoodFishBadFish– sustainable seafood, what’s it all about or Slow Fish– and it’s campaign.
Vegetarians– Do you eat seasonally? Food Miles, have you considered them, how many do you clock up?…this site is so very humbling.)
Quorn– What do we know about this myco-protein? Made from mushrooms it isn’t.
Eggs– In what condition hens have your eggs come from? Caged Eggs
Are your meat substitutes highly processed coming in excessive packaging and have a full paragraph of odd sounding ingredients?
Soy products– How processed is this product, is palm oil being used within it? Palm Oil and Indonesian rainforests
There are an array of options for cow milk alternatives- soy, almond, rice. Is there vegetable oil in there. Does this vegetable oil contain palm oil? Sunflower Oil? Added sugar? Food miles on your soy milk? where has the alternative milk been grown. Was it processed in the same place or somewhere else altogether?
Quinoa- Is it local? Where has it been grown? Slow Food- Questioning Quinoa
Are you using sugar substitutes such as agave syrup. Have you considered the food miles (unless you live in Mexico) and extensive chemical process that is needed in order to obtain this yield?
1 billion takeaway cups and lids each year… {image credit to Responsible Runners}
Coffee– Got a coffee habit- Is it fair trade? Food miles? Excessive packaging on your daily take away coffee cup? Keep Cup– reusable coffee cup
Chocolate- Is it again fair trade? Does it have even more excessive packaging? Does it have an extraordinary amount of food miles? Was it harvested using slave labour? (Despite popular belief the cocoa bean is not produced in Belgium.) Slavery in the Chocolate Industry
There is always an impact on our food choices, regardless of what food types we mostly eat. Pretty much every choice we make has an impact. If more and more people make informed choices about what they are eating and passing a little less judgement on those that eat differently perhaps we would make some sort of head way in our food environment.
Our family meat intake is really quite small, we eat a mostly vegetarian diet, and bought meat is always considered; where it has come from and how it was raised. Fruit and vegetables are eaten in season, vegan and gluten free meals are becoming regulars, I try to make as many things from scratch as time allows and we eat on a family budget- keeping things as locally produced based as possible.
This doesn’t make me a sainted eater, it makes me an informed eater and at this stage, that’s the very best I can do.
So, to the next person that gets on their high horse about me making a conscious decision regarding what I have chosen to eat, please don’t. As I might just eat that high horse… I hear they’re quite delicious.
***********
Thoughts? Input? Ideas? Everything up for discussion in an unbiased nonjudgemental fashion.
I had the day all planned out. It would start with tea, chai to be exact. Two pots worth, and it couldn’t be a rushed thing. Some writing, a lazy eye over the weekends paper, followed by a swim. Back home for another cup of tea, something herbal this time. Perhaps a little gingery zing to kick things along for the day.
I’d now curl my legs around me, choose from one of my many unfinished books, balance it a little precariously along side my tea cup and read until the heat started to penetrate the lounge rooms blinds.
A brief stop for a light salady lunch, and a flick through this beautiful and inspiring new magazine of the sea while I ate.
Coffee would be made and along with it a lengthy phone call to a good friend. Friendship rekindled and two cups worth would be sipped while doing so. I would then make the strenuous shift moving from the kitchen table to the cool dark of the bedroom.
After two coffees I probably wouldn’t want a little midday siesta but was certainly open to the idea if one came up. Stretched out over the whole queen sized space I would then take the chance to read from my new ipad library. I would ignore the grubby little finger prints from small sized people and instead revel in the fact that I had now clocked up at least 8 hours of reading time on this most glorious of summer days.
At this point I would probably contemplate popping the kettle on once more and choose from my impressive range of herbal teas. Tea once more would be supped and with it a change of perspectives. The bedroom, to the couch, to the kitchen table. It was a tough choice but I knew regardless, my tea would be by there by my side.
In seemingly small blink of the eye, the whole day will have dissolved in a blur of reading choices, tea cups, (and realistically multiple trips to the toilet.) It was indeed a well planned day.
************
In absence of ever, ever having a day like this one. (Having three small children ensures that my reading times are heavily locked in at two minute increments, and tea generally sipped on the fly.) I am linking in with the wonderful Pip Lincolne of Meet Me At Mikes for a tea party, A Cup of Tea with Me party.
The kettles hot. There is tea to choose from and if you can find a biscuit that hasn’t been nibbled on by a particular small person, you’re more than welcome to it. Sit down, take your shoes off.
Sunny greetings to those that are new to this space and those that regularly drop in. My name is Brydie, a city mama of three trying to balance a simple life, city style.
I’m a person who likes to dream of curling into a tight cat like ball and reading for 3 hours straight. I also like writing at 5am, it’s the magic hour for so many things.
Someone who feels at peace watching stormy dark clouds tumble over a horizon, while simultaneously keeping eagle eyes on three children that move at the speed of light, (usually towards another horizon.)
A girl who likes nothing better than listening to the sing of a sourdough loaf straight from the oven. Who marvels at the sprouting goodies on the kitchen window sill, thinks naturally fermented foods are the bees knees and dreams of cake creations by night.
The same girl who gets inspired by the smallest of smalls to the biggest of big. I can never tell where a tiny idea will sprout from next.
Someone who also yearns to know more about, well pretty much everything. But throw words like, sourdough, permaculture, upcycling, handmade, fermented and I’m all yours.
I’m also inspired by a whole bunch of these rockin’ women who I was lucky enough to meet through Pip. Like Rachael who makes me laugh and takes pictures that are so beautifully magazine worthy. Helen whose Friday Feminism posts I adore and Dear Moo whom I would happily scratch behind the ears if only to get just a little closer to those stunning crochet creations. And oh so many more of these absolutely amazingly creative women.
Have a peek over here for more A Cup of Tea with Me chats.
I live in a small space in a big city. A small space that when required to hide something my options are sometimes limited. However when I’m not required to hide something, and instead something goes missing that small space can feel quite large. Cavernous even.
You see I lost my cups.
My newly bought cups. I know I had stashed them somewhere ‘safe’ for a small period as I wasn’t quite ready to use them; but when it was time to use them, alas not a cup to be found.
I searched high and I searched low. I pulled everything I owned out and then back in again, only to be repeated again the next day. It was doing my tiny brain in. WHERE did I put those cups!?
If we had a cat I would have blamed whiskers, but we didn’t so the next most likely choice was the pint sized one. Surely she must have put it in a box or something and somehow that same box had grown legs and walked out. Surely it was the only possibility?
So I had to buy more.
The cups were clearly not coming back and we really needed some new drinking cups for the kids. I felt a little embarrassed, but clicked pay and now and a couple of days later, there they were. In all their enamel loveliness again, ready to be drunk from.
Along with the cups, I’ve also been enjoying the baking dishes I bought the first time around as well. I’ll tell you why I love them-
– they’re light weight, which means they don’t have a hefty weight when food is cooked in them like ceramic or glass can do
– they are stackable
– they easily live inside my oven when it’s not being used
– and size wise, I have options. After so many years of no options, I’m loving this one to bits.
When I first considered getting these dishes, I wasn’t entirely sure you could bake in them. I’d always associated enamel ware with camping, or the dogs dinner bowl. Happy to say that association has now changed, you can definitely bake in enamel ware and just quietly…I’m loving doing so.
[My enamelware was bought through the lovely Odgers and McClelland Exchange Stores... *ahem* both times. And yes, the other cups turned up as well. Turns out the pint sized one didn’t hide them in a box, her mother did… I now have ten of these cups.]
farmers market cherries and rhubarb 1000g (roughly half and half)
300g sugar
300mls water
2tbls cornflour
Pastry
150g cold butter
50g sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
300g plain flour
1 tbls cold water
In a pot cook the fruit, sugar and water up until softens. Add the cornflour with a tablespoon or so and add into the mixture. Stir through and cook for a further 5 or so minutes. If there is visabally too much excess water just drain a little off for drinking, this will depend on the fruit your are using. Once cooked, stand this mixture aside and begin on the pastry.
In a blender, pulse flour, sugar and butter until resembles bread crumbs. Tip out to a bowl and add vanilla, egg yolk and cold water. Knead lightly until it comes together to form a dough. Wrap in glad wrap and chill in the fridge for about half an hour. Then roll out for your pie shape.
Pop the fruit mixture in and bake for about 35 minutes at 180C.
****************
I now have a ‘print green’ or pdf option if you would like this recipe for another time. Just click on the green printer icon below and follow the prompts.
this is the sound of summer
with the shrill drone of cicadas
the slurp of a first chocolate paddle pop
the quiet lap of the sea on bare toes
the soft hum of fingers strumming the ukelele
cricket bats have been whacked
soccer balls have been booted
bare feet have known the prickle of the bindi and small spiky sticks in the park
the same feet that bounce from side to side on the hot tar of the carpark, on the way down to the beach
the sound of a soft ahh, as they hit the sand and excitedly splash through the water
this is the sound of summer
What do Doctor Who and Luna Park have in common? An eight year old boy that’s what.
A very excited eight year old boy.
*************
For more, ‘for the love of a dalek’ kind of stuff, have a look at Mel’s fantastic crocheted dalek. Absolutely brilliant!
That moment when the Tiramisu sits on the kitchen bench, finished and ready to eat. A satisfied moment when you think, yeah…that looks alright.
That moment when you are gifted some homemade pickled garlic. Thankful for generous friends and impressed that she had got a farmer to grow ten kilos of organic garlic just for her.
That moment when you know the starter is ripe and ready. It’s time to get doughy.
That moment when you bite into a new concoction chocolate brownie, nod and smile a little. A chocolate brownie that was deadly simple to make and not disappointing at all to the taste buds, (with a few added surprises in there as well.)
That moment when you see at your friend’s house a pretty nifty kitchen addition that you know you have to give a look into. Enter the ‘Apiwrap’– “…eco friendly and reusable kitchen wrap, perfect for storing food in the fridge or to go.” So what does this mean? It means a pretty rocking alternative to glad wrap people.
And that moment of quiet inhalation of a tiny gifted pot of almondy goodness that no one else wants to know about. That is almond heaven right there, (all marzipan dislikers need not inhale.) Now what to make with you my pretty?
What’s happening in your kitchen at the moment?
*************
linking in with the lovely Celia for in my kitchen
well hello 2014
it’s kind of lovely to see you here
all sparkly and new
with your promises and options a plenty
I like it
a new chapter
a new branch of the apple tree.
So what’s coming up in this little space?…
there will be a slice of Cherry and Rhubarb Pie
a moment of pride
conversations on the ethics of what we eat
and I’m hoping, a new challenge
2014
lets get crackin.
**************
How about you? What plans do you have for the next month, or if you are a super duper planner, what’s coming up for the whole year?
cityhippyfarmgirl 