I love seeing my Peter watering our kitchen garden—picking ripe baby tomatoes fresh off the vine and eating them on the spot. It reminds me of the days when my father grew heirloom tomato varieties such as Grosse Lisse and Oxhearts in amongst his roses under the grapevines. He would pluck a handful of sun-ripened specimens, then call me to come to his side so that we could enjoy them together, there in the garden. Oh, I can still taste those beauties—fully ripe, warm, dripping with juicy goodness and bursting with flavour! 'Sit down and relax while I make our breakfast, Mum,' my daughter said as she flung open the plantation shutters on the portico overlooking the pool. Moments later the room was bathed in the warmth of the morning sunshine, with shimmering ripples of spectral colour and light from the tropical oasis outside reflecting onto the interior walls. My beautiful daughter is coming to visit tomorrow and I wanted to create something fresh and delicious to celebrate our get together, which will be the first time we have seen each other since the changing of the seasons to Spring. We plan to drop in to Floriade in the morning and then back to my place for a bite to eat. With new season strawberries and asparagus in plentiful supply, this simple dish of asparagus and strawberries as a salad looks special, tastes exquisite, and fits the bill perfectly for our Sunday luncheon. With a fridge and larder full of food, Peter and I decided to skip our usual Saturday morning visit to the Capital Region Farmer's Market, choosing instead to hibernate indoors and create a gourmet brunch from ingredients we had at hand. Yotam Ottolenghi displays such sincerity and passion for cooking with fresh ingredients, it is impossible not to be swept up into his world of exotic menus and simply beautiful, beautiful food. Speaking with the owner of a well-known book store about 18 months ago, I asked what his bestsellers were. 'Ottolenghi is hugely popular and we get numerous enquiries about it every day,' he explained. To which, I replied, 'What is Ottolenghi?'.
With the innocence of my question, I proved the point that each of us learns something new and exciting every day! For those who are still unaware, in a nutshell Yotam Ottolenghi is a chef and cookbook author who was born in Israel and moved to London in 1997 to train at Le Cordon Bleu. He is a philosopher, journalist and pastry chef. With colleagues, Sami Tamimi and Noam Bar, Ottolenghi opened a deli in Notting Hill in 2002, followed by a string of sister stores and a restaurant. He has published and co-authored several books, including Plenty, Ottolenghi the cookbook and more recently, Jerusalem; and has also appeared on a series of documentaries (see below). To my mind, Yotam Ottolenghi displays such sincerity and passion for cooking with fresh ingredients, it is impossible not to be swept up into his world of exotic menus and simply beautiful, beautiful food! I have to say, I just love his style. I'd like to introduce you to a little Ottolenghi-inspired number that I've been cooking for the past several weeks and I think I just might have fallen in love with this dish, too. Just prior to Christmas, I purchased a 3kg box of Austral Fisheries wild-caught tiger prawns. Austral Fisheries operates a fleet of ten prawn trawlers in the Northern Prawn Fishery situated off the coast of northern Australia. The fishery was established in the late 1960′s and is Australia’s most valuable fishery. The company's Banana and Tiger prawns have been certified as 'sustainable and well managed' by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC).
We've been cooking our way through that box of prawns and I have to tell you, the quality is outstanding! Austral's trawlers are fully refrigerated, allowing the crews to grade, pack and freeze the prawns on board within a short time of them being caught. Thus, that ocean freshness is truly locked in. After my adventures with #HumanBrochure in Canberra and Eat Drink Blog (#EDB2012) in Adelaide, two wonderful but HUGE weekends in a row, my body is telling me 'Whoa, hold the bus Freddie!!'
I'm a stickler for freshness and quality in food, especially having spent nearly ten years of my life working on site as promotions manager at a fresh produce market. That wonderful stint in my career taught me plenty about fresh and seasonal produce across the board: fruit and veg, meat, poultry, fish, nuts, cheese, bread, the works. With Capital Region Farmer's Market at Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC) five minutes from our home, these days the farmer's market is the first port of call for Peter and I on a Saturday morning. Every visit for us is an enjoyable and exciting adventure, and celebration of what's on offer. Lately there's a guy at EPIC who sells the most delicious and inexpensive pumpkins. His stall comprises a simple table lined with whole pumpkins, various sized wedges of freshly cut pumpkin and a giant knife (and a few potatoes). There is always a lineup for his pumpkins, which is good as there are plenty more pumpkins stashed in a mesh trailer behind the stall. I'm not exaggerating when I say that supermarket pumpkin is pale in comparison with these, and I mean that in every sense of the term.
Luke Nguyen's Green Tomato SaladIn an amazing and colourful episode of Luke Nguyen's Greater Mekong on SBS recently, Luke visited Inle Lake in the Shan State of Myanmar, where entire villages and kilometres of tomato farms float upon the lake.
Salad of Figs with Buffalo Mozzarella, Mint and Fig Vino Cotto 'Figs have a reputation, and it's one of 'those' reputations. Sensual, sexy and erotic. There's a taste of the Garden of Eden in every one'. — Allan Campion and Michele Curtis, fresh. |
Welcome...Üdvözölöm
Cooking and writing have been a lifelong passion. Join me as I share with you my favourite recipes; postcards and morsels from my travels; conversations with cookery writers and chefs; and news on food, cookbooks and cooking. - Liz Posmyk
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NB: I use Australian standard measuring cups and spoons in my recipes.
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