Tag Archives: sydney

seasonal cooking for June

Posted on by
50

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!

********

What seasonal cooking are you doing?

old stuff is the new… well new

Posted on by
34

Ikea has got nothing on this place. Looking for something for the kitchen? It’s there. Feel like revamping your lounge room? Have a look around. A one off wooden bookshelf? There is a number to choose from.

This place has got everything, absolutely everything… and if you don’t mind, I’ll take everything. Oh wait that’s not going to work, I live in a small flat. Alright, I’ll be selective.

Antiques, collectables, things that need a little work, things that look brand new. I could have taken a hundred photos but instead I got side tracked and was running my sticky fingers over numerous pieces of furniture and other kitchen goodies.

As I have recently finished watching Mad Men, it’s hard not to get happy- squealy- excited about the vast array of retro (mad men type decor) furniture.

My advice, if you are after something new and want it to look a little different. Skip the chain stores and have a peak at your local second hand dealers. There is probably something just waiting to be snapped up and loved right now.

If you live in Sydney, this place is an Aladdin’s cave.

Mitchell Road Antique and Design Centre.

a farmers hands

Posted on by
61

Her hands gently held my wrists. Feeling for my pulses, she was working out whether I would be having a baby girl or a boy. While her touch was gentle, and the contact and meaning behind the check I found fascinating, it was her hands that struck me the most.

A farmers hands.

I’m lucky enough to be able to get the majority of my vegetables straight from the source. No middle man, no super market. Just my lady with her stall, selling what she grows. I love this.

I love that I can choose what to buy, its spray free, and the taste doesn’t even come close to anything else I could buy at a regular chain supermarket.

The tomatoes may look a little gnarly, the lettuce still has some dirt on it, and the cucumbers sometimes curl around a small child’s wrist.

Perfection.

This is what I want. This is how I want to choose to eat. Knowing my money is going back directly to the person growing it and toiling the soil to fill my dinner plate. If I’m not sure how to cook with something I’ll ask. Purple carrots not in this week? She’ll try to bring me some next week. Having that contact with someone who produces such an important part of my family’s life is invaluable.

If more people supported farmers markets such as these, I think societies would change. How could they not?

You would have contact with the person that was producing a large proportion of your food. You would be eating healthier, a higher proportion of your diet coming from vegetables, rather than pre packaged food. Money would be spent and going directly to the local producer, knocking out that chubby middle man, and not to forget that social contact. That wonderful element of connecting with someone and talking to them about what they do. This is just to list a mere few wonderful positives on shopping like this. Buying your vegetables in a supermarket what are the positives? Convenience?

Maybe convenience is overrated…

Terra Madre Day

Posted on by
22

December 10th is Terra Madre Day.

A Slow Food initiative that is recognised the world over, and coming together as an international day for the third time.

What is it about?

Celebrating eating locally

Supporting small scale farmers

Sharing cooking knowledge

Slow food

There is a whole lot of wonderful things planned for this period around the world. Click here for an interactive map to let you know what’s happening in your area. From Brunch on the Grass, in Maleny- Australia to The Joy of Preserving, in Vancouver- Canada to a whole page of wonderful goings on in Italy.

If none of these community events take your fancy, a small thing you can do is question where your food for the day is coming from. Try and buy local within (160 kms or 100 miles), or at least within your own country. Support small scale farmers and businesses. If you are really inspired, give someone a cooking lesson. Cooking knowledge is easily passed on to another when you have a willing teacher.  How to preserve jam or make bread is a wonderful way to start.

Oodles more information

Slow Food Sydney

Slow Food Australia

Slow Food International

Slow Fish

extra reading

100 mile diet- book

Animal Vegetable Miracle

Living the Good Life

asparagus and capsicum- Frugal Friday

Posted on by
36

Summer eating is getting kick started here, and I’ve been lucky enough to get some wonderful locally grown asparagus and capsicums lately. When the vegetables are already tasting delicious and as they should be, I don’t want to do much to them, there is no need. Simple cooking means dinners ready in a few minutes, and I’m definitely up for that.

In a pot or wok* over high heat, add a good slurp of olive oil. Some chopped capsicum give it a couple of minutes head start and add your chopped asparagus. Stirring it through, and cook until asparagus is just done.

On to a plate and drizzle some extra olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Serve with a swiss cheese omelette and some crusty bread.

What’s delicious and seasonal in Sydney this month?

Berries- strawberries, raspberries, blueberries

Cherries- still expensive, but oh so good

Nectarines and peaches are getting a look in

Asparagus- cook it as soon as you buy it, don’t let it sit in the fridge for a week

Basil-for pesto making, dead easy.

* I use my flat bottomed wok for just about everything. Used on a gas flame, it cooks quickly and evenly. Don’t just use it for Asian style meals, it lends it self to pretty much any kind of cooking you can think of…except maybe cupcakes.

loving this week

Posted on by
36

Loving this week…

being tucked up inside

when summery storms end

a hot day with thundery down pours

Inspiring visits from a wonderful midwife

Sneaky sleepy naps with Little Monkey

Date night out with Mr Chocolate,

nearly getting to here, but getting in here instead. I love this place.

Remembering how beautiful the city is when I’m usually tucked up in bed.

Long chats around the kitchen table.

Soothing massaging hands, that lull you to sleepiness…bliss.

******

What have you loved this week?


food foraging- mulberry breakfast trifle

Posted on by
24

The last few weeks I’ve been lucky enough to find a couple of laden mulberry trees on my daily travels. The first thing to notice is lots of dark almost blue coloured stains squishing under your shoes, then I look up and… oh hello bountiful tree with your weighty branches filled with red tinged berries. What’s that? You want me to pick me you and store you in my handy empty container I just happen to have with me? Don’t mind if I do.

Most mulberry trees around these parts are usually on some one elses property and not within arms reach. Not my arms anyway. However lately I have had easy access to a couple of trees weighted down by all their fruit. Only once I have seen someone else picking the fruit, everyone else seems to walk on by not knowing what it is, or not in the slightest bit interested.

Picking mulberries is a bit of a labour of love. The juice stains your fingers and each berry has to be picked individually. Once home, you still have to pick off the little green stems before cooking with, (and I always seem to be in a white top when ever I happen to come across them). It can take a while to get a decent amount, but it’s definitely worth it.

I’m not particularly good at identifying wild food foraging options in my local area. Mulberries are easy. Loquats quite often pop up, and the tiniest mini mandarins are also near by. (Which were the tartiest fruit I have ever tasted- very funny while watching The Monkeys taste test them… evil mama, I know.)

Apart from that, my knowledge for urban foraging could use a little upgrade. In the mean time though, at least I have breakfast sorted.

Is anyone else enjoying some local free foraged food?

Mulberry Breakfast Trifle

whole oats

apple juice

natural yogurt

whole almonds

mulberries

***

Soak whole oats in some hot apple juice.

Blitz whole almonds (skins too) until you get a consistency you like (I like it chunky) or use almond meal. Mix in with the soaked oats.

Cook up mulberries in a little apple juice, then cool.

Then alternate with the layers of oats, mulberries and yogurt.

* If you like it sweeter, you can add flavoured yogurt, or a little jam to the mulberries (or sugar). No mulberries? Use any other kind of berry.

eating Italian style

Posted on by
36

I’m the first one to admit that I don’t utilise Sydney enough for everything it has to offer. It’s a big city, with a lot of things going on at any given time, and sometimes I just need to say, oh, yes please, lets go. I didn’t need any words of encouragement to get to this one though. I had been flicking through the Crave Sydney Food Festival  guide and one thing jumped out at me… Haberfield food festival. Item circled, multiple arrows drawn pointing to it and Mr Chocolate told he was to cancel anything else going on for that day, as we were going.

Ok, he said. Thankfully he didn’t need any encouraging words to get him there either. Promises of Italian food tasting plates and pasticceria goodies was all that was needed.

Haberfield is in Sydney’s  inner west and an as authentic Italian experience as you are going to get outside of the mother land itself. Leichhardt? (It’s flashy Italian cousin suburb next door) Pffft… Give me Haberfield any day.

So with a large bag to fill, dollars in my pocket and a tummy keen to try everything on offer we set forth.

 The Monkeys were keen to try these ones. Gingerbread as big as your…

 Well as big as a small persons head. Eaten and finished on the spot.

 My new favourite butcher. A lot of butcher’s have an annoying habit of stating they carry free-range pork products, but on further questioning, don’t know where the meat is from or are using a ‘free-range’ company with (in my mind) dubious free range-ness. So our family just does without unless I’m buying from a company I know and trust. (Piggy options for a city girl post here.) I was very happy to hear that this wasn’t the case at Gojak’s. Using a company I was already familiar with brings a little sigh of relief… Ahhh, and piggy purchases then  tucked away in my bottomless bag.

 Back to the tasting, and there was some mozzarella, wrapped in prosciutto, drizzled with truffle oil. (Half consumed, before I remembered a picture.)

 Buffalo mozzarella.

 Eggplant Involtini. Melt in your mouth that one was. Stuffed with tomato, breadcrumbs, and parmesan.

 One panino, two panino, three panino, four? Well actually there was seven panini eaten between the four of us. What can I say, they were delicious.

Cannoli. Now for reference reasons I needed to buy these ones. They were taken home to be eaten later, but hands down so much better than my ones were. Note to self, need to keep practising…

Also bought and not shown was…

* The most delicious biscuits I’ve tasted in….years! I can’t work out what was in them to try and replicate them, so will have to make a return trip for further investigations. It’s tough, but someone has to do it. I’m thinking almondy something or other. It’s a little Ameretto, and a little marzipan in taste.

* One recharging espresso for Mr Chocolate, (who also sometimes goes by the name of Mr Coffee.)

* One double sausage and onion roll, inhaled by Mr C and two ravenous Monkeys.

* Rosetta rolls for later.

* Chilli and Rocket Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Bocconcini from Paesanella for later.

I could have kept going, but for the sake of my now quite full stomach and empty wallet, we left it at that. Vowing to return another day, (and hopefully next weekend if I have anything to do with it.)

Almond pesto- Frugal Friday

Posted on by
34

 

Pesto is one of those dead easy, whiz it up and away you go kind of meals. The only thing that stops me is pine nuts. Yes, I love them, they are delicious. However I can’t source any local ones and they are really quite expensive. Swapping the pine nuts to a cheaper and more local nut works just as well though.

I’ve made it with pecans, walnuts before and for this one it was almonds. Blitzing whole almonds in a blender (skins on) then adding 2 bunches of fresh basil, some grated parmesan and some great local olive oil. It’s an accompaniment to lots of dishes. It never lasts long in this house, but this amount will give a good sized jar, which I just top up with some extra olive oil, and then keep it in the fridge.

Eat it stirred through pasta, a little chopped up chilli and extra parmesan.

Mixed with rice, baby spinach, and crumbled fetta.

Or simply on some toasted sourdough, bruschetta style.

Red Lantern

Posted on by
28

Can you guess where I had lunch?

My belly is full, my mind content and my taste buds happily reliving each dish…

Red Lantern.

Now I don’t do restaurant reviews, so this is a plead. Please go there, the food is truly wonderful.

I was really happy with going to Aria last year, but I have to say Red Lantern, you have taken my heart. A restaurant that has two feet firmly planted in the ethical, sustainable, organic eating arena while staying within their Vietnamese origins.

A cosy table for two tucked away in the corner. Let me have one eye on the other customers, seeing what they were ordering. While keeping the other eye on Mr Chocolate making sure he didn’t take any more of the melt in your mouth chilli salted squid than he should be.

It was also really lovely to see Luke Nguyen taking plates out to tables and explaining dishes to customers. Taking the time out to explain one particular dish to me and then coming back to show what he had meant about the cooking process, with said dish in hand.

Food was beautifully presented, tasted wonderful and I’ll be thinking about those dishes for a good while to come.

 Muc Rang Muoi- chilli salted squid

 Banh Tom- rice cakes with tiger prawns, caramelized pork and pork floss

 Goat Curry

 Dessert tasting plate- Coconut Creme Caramel with Strawberries, Sesame dumpling with Black Sesame Icecream, Black Sticky Rice with Caramelized Pumpkin and Coconut Cream.

Table for two next week?….Yes please.

******

Red Lantern

545 Crown Street

Surry Hills, Sydney

(o2) 96984355