August 2011
Thinking back on a recent trip along the beautiful Cornwell coast I can't help but be impressed by the abundance of local produce and normality of it used by cooks on their menus at mostly all the cafes and restaurants we stopped at.
Each place had a special relationship with the farmers and artisan producers.
There were farm shops which are like a farmers market kind of deal but a permanent shop where locals can bring the goods and sell direct.
Each vegetable and fruit had a rating of food miles drawn on a blackboard with a scale of
1 - LOTS , the lots being places like Spain or France.
There were jellies, jams, ice-creams cookies and the likes with no fancy packaging to increase the price just a simple label to comply with standards.
Simply put it was.... Uncomplicated food.
We all know its unrealistic to think you can source everything local but do we try hard enough?
I guess its quite fashionable to practice this at the moment but if you sit down and work out where and what is available in your area it stops being a fad and becomes part of your weekly shopping routine.
If you head to markets make sure you ask your veggie man where he got his produce from just because it's in a pretty cane basket being sold at a country market doesn't mean it's local in fact it may well be from half way around the world when just down the road you have it growing and being sold by local farmers.
Get to know what's in season because buying in season can be a great way to save pennies. It's amazing how many dishes can be made from one vegetable and also a culinary adventure that takes you around the world while still standing in your kitchen.
Did you know that within a radius of 150 km you can source the following items : mushrooms, beef, lamb, pork, kangaroo, chicken, eggs, tea, sourdough, wine, beer, cheese, oysters, olives, sustainable sources of fish, school prawns, all dairy, herbs, vegetables, fruits, cakes and cookies, jams, chutneys, ice-cream, pastries.
The list goes on and on and I apologise if I have left things out but one of the great pleasures of living here is being able to go on an adventure and find these new or old things. I guess the big picture is to get you to think outside of the box ie: going to the big supermarkets and buy Australian and local.
If it all seems to much start with one thing and then build on from there.
Not only do you get to eat these amazing things you also get to meet the people who produce them.
This months recipe is one of my own....
Smashed potatoes with olives,
lemon zest and herbs.
6 floury potatoes
1 cup of olives pitted and roughly chopped
1 head of garlic roasted
zest of 1/2 lemon
1 good glug of olive oil
handful of herbs from the garden roughly chopped
sea salt
cracked black pepper
Boil potatoes as you would for mash.
Drain and lightly crush, be careful not to overdo it as you want them nice and chunky
Pour in olive oil
Add remaining ingredients and mix around until all ingredients are combined.
Season to taste.
The dish should look chunky and rustic.
Add more or less ingredients as to your taste there are no rules here.
Serve with a steak straight off the BBQ or as part of Tapas