The afternoon that made me change my mind about the food I eat..

This is a long post.  But bear with me, please!

Recently I had the most enlightening afternoon.  It was a Sunday, and my hubby and frills dropped me down to Manly Wharf... I embarked on my ferry journey, Sushi in one hand, Sun Herald in the other and sat in silence reading the paper uninterrupted, taking in Sydneys' sights - the familiar ones I took in daily on my commute to and from work for many years.

I then walked around Circular Quay, I looked and felt like a tourist.  Although I have been there too many times to count, it was like the fist time again, I took photos I breathed in Sydney and its' beautiful harbour and made my way to the Sydney Opera House.

I was there to listen to the Slow Food Movements' "Padre", Carlo Petrini. 

Carlo the founder of the Slow Food Movement and the Non Profit organisation 'Terra Madre' (translates to Mother Earth) which is in 150 countries worldwide.  Maggie Beer is Australias' founding member.



Carlo is Italian, and speaks with an interpreter.. but there is no barrier when it comes to his passion and inspiring manner.  He told us of some experiences that confused, perplexed and drove him to start the movement.  One that will stay with me forever is this:

Carlo comes from a small town in North Italy in Piedmont - it's called 'Bra'.  Piedmonts' regional dish is Pepperonata - a dish of capsicums, tomato, garlic and tomates using Piedmonts' local Capsicums.  These square shaped capsicums grown in the area since forever.   He decided after a long overseas trip he would fly into Rome, and drive to Milan, passing through Bra, which he hadn't visited in about 6 years.

He popped into a local eatery, one he had visited since he was a boy and was a family business.  All he could think about on the trip up is how delicious the pepperonata was going to be, how it represented the produce and the culture of his hometown.  He stepped into the eatery, and was comforted by the familiarity of the decor and the local face, and ordered his Pepperonata.  He was excited.  It arrived, and took a bite, and then spat it out.  It tasted horrible.  He said it didn't taste like anything.  He called the chef over, asked how they prepared it.  Sounded about right.  Asked what was different, they said they were getting their capsicums from Holland.  He was in disbelief.. 'why'? 

Apparently, because they were cheaper and grown hydroponically, and were all the perfect size/identical so they could fit 32 in a box.

'But they don't taste like anything, can't you get the local ones instead'
'There are no local ones, they couldn't compete with the imports'
'So what are the farmers doing now?  Are they ruined?' he was concerned.
'Oh, they are growing tulip bulbs, and export them to Holland'.

ISN'T THAT CRAZY???!!

The aims of Slow Food is to make food good, clean and fair.

Good: Fresh, flavoursome and seasonal, satisfying the senses and part of local culture
Clean:  Produced in harmony with the environment and in ways that respect the earth, its animals, plants and peoples' health.
Fair:  by which farmers and consumers benefit fairly from production and purpose


In other words - we should try:
Not over-producing - keeping the crops to a level that doesn't harm the soil, being seasonal etc.
Buying and supplying local - reducing carbon footprint - understand where your food comes from
Value the skills of farmers, allow that to be passed down, appreciate the difference - pay a little more to nurture local produce.

It all got me thinking.  Yes, I do buy local, we buy from farmgate and the abbatoir.  Yes, I try to eat as seasonally as possible.  But No.  I might not be doing the best I can.

I have bought fish and seafood from Asia and I have bought in my inbetween shops fruit from the other side of the country when I should really be supporting local produce from my state, no matter what the price.

So I could be doing a whole lot better.  I have no idea if fruit and vegetables from large chain supermarkets or fruit barns (i.e. not farmers markets) are being farmed in an overproductive market.  Sometimes I'm not 100% sure they are as local as they say they are.  I will go the extra (literal) miles to make sure I know in future.    Our vegetable garden will help us this summer eat seasonally, understand how much we consume.  Be mindful of how much we waste.

Carlo told us we produce enough food to feed 12 billion people on planet of 6.3 billion, yet 1 billion still starve.  

Are you willing to give up taste/culture for a few dollars?  Not me.  The most memorable quote of the day: "When I was a child, food fell on the ground, we picked it up & kissed it. It had value, but now it only has a price..."   how sadly true that is.

I got to briefly chat with Carlo whilst he signed my book Slow Food Nation - he has warm eyes and a genuine manner.  It was an enormous honour to listen to him.  I shall be forever grateful for what he taught me.. and in turn, my family.  The book is wonderful... would recommend it to any food or produce enthusiast.


A huge thank you to Lorraine who was able to secure me the ticket and the lovely Arwen and Trish for the excellent company and post-event discussion!

Vegetarian Yumminess: Spanakopita

(Or Cheesy-spinach slice)

I've never been a fan of silverbeet (spinach).  When I was a child, my Mum used to make Hunza (spinach and potato) pie.  I really didn't (and still don't) like it.  But I like spinach in other things, cob loaf with spinach dip and my favourite, spanakopita.

I used to make this when I had a vegetarian flatmate.  It's a great one to be eaten hot or cold.  Lunch, dinner or even a snack.  It's not overpowering salty like hunza pie either.  My kids LOVE it.

Spinach is in season right now, and  you can pick it up most places for around $1 a bunch.. so now is a great time to be making spanokopita

This recipe makes two, or one really large one.  It's great for BBQ's or dinners when you are catering for vegetarians too.. but the meat-eaters will love it too... promise!  We eat one and freeze one, then I've got a back-up dinner for lazy or busy days, or one for a Sunday lunch.


Ingredients:
1 packet filo pastry (from the fridge section, not frozen)
1 large bunch of silverbeet/spinach
2 onions (I like to use one red and one brown, but it's up to you and what you have!)
200 grams ricotta cheese
200 grams feta cheese
5 eggs
2 tb breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground pepper
100 grams butter, melted

Method:
Cut all leaves off stalks of spinach, reserve soft stalks, and chop all in ribbons
thinly slice onions, saute in frypan with 2 tb olive oil, add 2 handfulls of spinach at a time until wilted, once all cooked and soft, set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees c

In a bowl, crumble feta with a fork until in small pieces, add ricotta, eggs, pepper, nutmeg, breadcrumbs

Stir to combine
Add onion and spinach mix and set aside.

 

Open your filo pastry.  You'll need to work at a fast-ish paste as it dries out quickly (you could lay it on top of a damp tea-towel if you feel you might get  alot of interuptions).  depending how big your baking dishes are, try and cut your filo to roughly the same size. ( cut mine in half)

With a pastry brush, brush melted butter on the bottom of your pan..Then brush butter on 1 piece of filo pastry at a time, and place in the bottom of your pan.  Do this with each layer until you get to roughly 1/2 way through your filo.
Add your spinach/cheese mix and spread out evenly.

Butter and layer each sheet of the remaining filo and lay on top.
Either pre-cut your filo pieces (like below, makes it easier to dish out later)

Or, with the tip of your knife, mark out filo pieces and cut into it in some places to allow the spinach/cheese mix to vent.

Bake for 40 minutes, cool, and cut up.  Yum.

Do you like strawberries?

If you or your family is anything like mine, you go through tons of strawberries when they're in season. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to pick our own at Ricardo's just north of Port MacQuarie.

You pick your own strawberries, have them weighed and pay $14.95 a kilo. Sounds like a lot, but remember you are choosing only the strawberries at their prime, and they taste so amazing straight off the plant. The punnets you get at the markets/supermarket are usually 250g so it equates to around $3.80 a punnet.

This is the main shed, where the cafe/shop/weigh station (It also has the tomato greenhouse). You collect your bucket and scissors and head across the way to the strawberry greenhouse.

And here is the strawberry greenhouse..

There are SO many strawberries, 1,000's, 10's of 1,000's!

Here's the professional strawberry picker at work..

And here's my strawberry pickers at work..

This is inside the main greenhouse where they sell local fruit and vegetables, seeds, jams and relishes.

And the cafe..

Sadly, we retuned home without any strawberries. The good news is they found a good home - in our bellies!!

Macadamia heaven

As you might or might not know, we've been in Byron Shire for the weekend enjoying the sunshine, the fresh air and the SERENITY.

If you are a regular reader you would know that we are passionate about understanding and getting as close as possible to the source of our food - and educating our children where food really comes from. I think we're doing a pretty good job!

Saturday we took this to another level as we visited the macadamia orchard on the property at Possum Creek Eco Lodge. We were free to collect as many as we liked, as long as they had dropped on the ground.

The kids had no idea where nuts came from or that they grew on trees. They know now!
Here we are picking our macadamias, it was so much fun and a wonderful family activity, with a bonus!

We literally only collected nuts from three trees, and we have 100's of macadamias. We'll be drying them out in sunlight for a week or so and then it's time to give the nut-cracker a workout!

Walking down the orchard, just off the back garden.

Collecting them off the ground, our girls had no problem not only finding them, but de-husking also. It was so fun!

Example of how easy it is to find them, I can see at least 5 on this shot alone or about 15cm x 20cm.

De-husking. The local birds and wildlife use the husks to build nests and sharpen teeth.

That's not a lemon.. THIS is a lemon!

Just had to share how ENORMOUS the lemons we got yesterday at Riverview Produce were!  Now this is my hubby's hands (and he's 6ft 3 folks!) with a regular-largish lemon on the left, and our enormous lemon (bigger than a grapefruit, truly!) on the right!  I got a bunch - at 99c a kilo, how could I refuse!  Lemon Meringue Pie, more lemon butter, lemon delcious, lemon squares...ooooh

Seasonal Challenge Update 4 - Winter and Love of Lemon..

I'm loving this and I feel so proud of myself everytime I cook seasonally.  I've been doing this mainly with cakes:

My love affair with lemon continues - but I'm now moving a bit more towards oranges and passionfruits now - stay tuned - there will be more recipes coming

Just summarising the past couple of weeks' efforts:
Cheaty Lemon Merigue Pie
Lemon and Date Cake
Lemon Vanilla Cherry Cake (Ok cherries aren't strictly in season but they are plentiful at the shops at the moment at a good price)
Honey Passionfruit Cake

Anyone who has orange and/or passionfruit recipes - let me know - I need to roadtest a few!  frillsinthehills@gmail.com

Cheaty Lemon Meringue Pie

I got this recipe from Simple Savings - it is yummy substitute however if you're expecting it to be like a *real* one - this isn't it but it's pretty close! It's a great one to make up quickly - seriously only took me about 40 mins from beginning to end.

Ingredients:

Base

Approximately 12 milk arrowroot biscuits

80 grams butter/margarine, melted (I used low fat margarine)

Filling:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (I used the skim milk kind)

3 egg yolks

1/2 cup lemon juice

zest from one lemon (the original recipe doesn't call for this but I personally think it needs it)

Meringue:

3 egg whites (I used 5 as I had two in the fridge already)

1/2 cup caster sugar (again, I used 3/4 cup to account for 5 egg whites)

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (if you have fan forced 150 degrees)
• Put milk arrowroots into a ziplock bag. Bash all your frustrations out on bag until biscuits resemble breadcrumbs
• Melt your butter and combine with biscuit crumbs. Press into greased pie tin and store in the fridge (they do say it turns out better if you leave it overnight but I just chilled it whilst I made the filling)
• In a bowl, combine the condensed milk, egg yolks, lemon juice and zest. Ensure well combined and then pour over the biscuit base, ensure it's evenly coating the base.

• Put in the oven for 10-15 mins, there should be a skin on the mixture when you take it out.
• Meanwhile, whilst the pie is baking, whisk eggs with an electric beater on highest setting until it forms soft peaks. Gradually add the caster sugar and beat until you have achieved firm peaks

• Give the beaters to children or lick yourself.
  
  

• When the pie is cooked, remove from the oven, but don't turn the oven off.
• Pour the meringue mixture on and then spread to the sides with a spatula, make peaks with the spatula.

• Put back into the oven for a further 10-12 minutes (keep watch on it) until the meringue turns a light golden brown on top.
• Enjoy!

Seasonal Challenge Update 3

I'm so pleased with myself!

I've cooked fennel! I used to have fennel in my summer green salads years ago - pre hubby and kids so when I picked up the fennel on Saturday at the market on clearance for 2 baby heads for $1 hubby turned up his nose. I continued to buy it anyway, but stopped short at the artichokes. I'll have to surprise him with those I think and find a delicious recipe to either enhance or disguise them!

Tonight I made the chorizo and fennel hotpot from this months' good taste magazine. Easily made. I actually prepared it this morning - but I used 2 chorizo sausages instead of the 1 called for in the original recipe. I also after preparing it, put in an oven proof dish and stirred through the cannellini beans - I'll reheat tonight with a bit of Parmesan on top.

Other seasonal triumphs this week continue to be oranges - we've eaten a dozen this week! We never seem to have enough in the house! Same goes with lemons - I'm going to make a lemon meringue pie tomorrow and there's been a request for lemon delicious tonight... and let's not forget the 2 batches of pumpkin scones I've made!

Oh the piece de resistance is definitely the rhubarb streusel I made - oh lordy - sooo good. It's like a buttercake bottom with sweet melty rhubarb centre and crumble top. (sorry the pic was from those-days-I-had-to-use-my-phone-camera!)

Seasonal Challenge Update 2

Man I have been SLACK on documenting this but I have made a big effort and am really enjoying not only understanding what's in season, saving money buying fruit and vege in season but most importantly pushing myself to find new ways to use seasonal produce.

Lemons are in season and I've been using them alot!

• Lemon Butter
• Preserved Lemon
• Lemon Delicous
• Mummy's Sketti
• Potatoes with a twist
• Lemon Pistachio Biscotti

We've also made a huge effort to eat oranges - we bought a whole box (about 40 oranges) almost 4 weeks ago and now we have about 5 left. The kids love them cut up with lunch. Think I'll get my Nan over to help me make some of her Marmalade soon.

With pumpkin harvest having happened, and now at the end of season, I have picked them up cheaply over the past 6 weeks or so... and have made:

• Roast Pumpkin Moroccan Cous Cous - first time ever made it -from July Issue of SuperFood ideas - will post next time I make it, it was yummy and hubby raved about it - good cold or hot - a little on the spicy side so probably not a great kids' dish though.
• Pumpkin Soup (Hubby's recipe)
• Pumpkin Tortellini

So, what next?

• Rhubarb should be getting cheaper again, so hopefully I can make some rhubarb puddings.
• Apples are still in season so more apple recipes coming this way.
• Mandarins - I think we're going to be eating a few of those in the upcoming months - I personally love them and the kids do too.
• Kiwifruit - might have to see what I can do with kiwis other than just eat them?
• All the root veges are coming into season plus the broccoli/cauliflower. More pumpkin recipes I think will be coming I'd say as it's still cheap and will continue to be for at least the next 6 weeks.

Now I'm going to turn my hand to a few new ingredients for me:

• Fennel: I used to make fennel salad ions ago, but I haven't cooked with it.. so going to give that a go.
• Also I'm going to have a think about how to prepare some artichokes into a family meal. Any tips appreciated!

Passionless Lemon Butter

Well the recipe I received from Court was for Lemon Passion fruit butter - which I instantly dubbed "Courts' butter of Passion(fruit)" but alas, my passion fruit I had left too long in the fruit bowl and it was totally dried up - so this is passionless lemon butter!

Makes 850mls

Ingredients:

• 90g butter
• Juice and rind of 3 lemons
• 1 and 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 3 eggs

Method:

Melt butter in microwave proof bowl (50 secs on high should do it)

In a separate bowl, mix eggs and sugar and lemon juice/rind together

Stir into bowl of melted butter.

Pop whole bowl into microwave for 2 bursts of 1 minutes stirring each time then bursts of 40 seconds of so until the mix thickens.

Pour into warmed (sterilised if you wish) bottles and refrigerate straight away.

Keep in fridge for 2 months.

Vege garden update - Week 9

Didn't really have time to get outside yesterday and review the vege garden - that and the past week has been nothing but rain! Good for the dams but this much rain is annoying! Washing's a disaster, it's keeping us inside much more than I would like.

The front section of our yard closest to the house (where a swimming pool has been filled in) has terrible drainage - look here - I'm under about 15-20mm of water!

The vege garden is faring well, but I'm sure it could do with a little sunshine - like we all could... I might be wishing a while - considering today is officially the first day of winter.

Here's a view from the Western side of the garden:

And one of our babies - a cos lettuce seems to be surviving all the rain.

The leeks and onions we planted 3 weeks ago are coming along now

and so are the beetroots

All the peas are giving us something to eat! Here's the standards:

And the sugar snap peas which are going ballistic at the moment - my favourite plant at the moment

The beans this week are flowering more and more, a few beans growing, but only small right now.

The carrots are plentiful but sadly too small to eat right now.. more waiting!The Wombok/Chinese Cabbage is happy

And here's my cabbage patch..

I read that caulis like to have their leaves tied up over the top of their flowers to a) keep them white and b)avoid disease. I'll be doing that this week I hope.