On air on Byron Bay’s bayfm 99.9 community radio station on October 3, 2011

October is a great month to be cooking, including fabulous asparagus.  Miss October came to belly, as she does on the first Monday of every month, to tell us what is most abundant and delicious. This month we are inspired by asparagus and eggs.  No waste with Miss October, she has recipes for the white and the yolk of those fresh spring eggs.

And October is a great month to be eating, if you are travelling around these school holidays you should check out some of the food events in Sydney.  There has been a food festival in Sydney in October for a few years now, the city comes alive with events like the night noodle markets, which should happen all year really.  And the festival director, Joanna Savill, has brought a whole heap of great international chefs to Australia for a visit.  I played a bit of a talk she gave in Byron Bay recently, about what these chefs at the top of the international best restaurant lists are cooking these days.  Scroll down to hear it.

I also played a couple of extracts of a great panel at the 2011 Byron Bay Writers Festival, called “Eat my Words: why we love food books”.  I will play more of this on belly later this month.  Today the panel, all cookbook writers among many other talents, is talking about being inspired by local in season ingredients in their cooking and writing, it all seemed to fit in… Audio below.

FRESH REPORT

The in season delicious ideas were mainly by miss October of course, but I am still getting inspired by the piles of kale at the markets.  I tried a salsa verde with raw kale and converted a friend who had been trying to eat kale for the health benefits but just couldn’t find a palatable way to cook it.  I haven’t yet found a way with kale that I think is any less than delicious, but raw is probably even better for you.  Just substitute kale for the herbs in a standard salsa verde recipe.

 

MISS OCTOBER  – Spring, eggs and asparagus

Warmer weather well we thought so… use your eggs make aioli to enjoy with all the abundant variety of green vegetables kale, watercress, bok choy and fresh herbs however especially good with asparagus.

Save your whites for meringues and of course the egg shells for around seedlings for the caterpillars. Remember what the Romans used to say “as quick as cooking asparagus” make sure you don’t dilly dally and get it out after a few minutes.

 

What’s in season in NSW

Peak season asparagus

Iceberg – prime growing time

Celery – look for bunches with firm stems

 

Vegetables

globe artichokes,

beetroot, bitter melon, broad beans, sugar snaps, peas

broccolini, broccoli

cauliflower, kohlrabi,

lettuce, Asian greens, rocket

cultivated and shiitake mushrooms

new potatoes, swedes, sweet potatoes, potatoes

silverbeet, spinach, watercress, wombok (aka Chinese cabbage, aka celery cabbage)

Herbs, spices and aromatics

chillies

coriander, curly parsley, flat leaf parsley, mint

ginger, horseradish, turmeric

oregano, thyme

spring onions (aka green onions, aka shallots – not eschallots)

 

Fruits, berries and nuts

apples (Lady Williams), nashis, pears

bananas, strawberries

cumquats, grapefruit, lemons,mandarins (Honey Murcott), pomelo

oranges, Seville and Blood oranges

papaya, pineapple

rockmelons, watermelons in Queensland being harvested already

 

Locally at the market in the Northern Rivers

rocket, kale, lettuce, cabbage, beans, peas, fennel, beetroot, potatoes, ginger, passionfruit, bananas, herbs , watercress

 

Fork in the Field Recipes

Recipes and words Alison Drover

 

ASPARAGUS WITH CODDLED EGGS AND TOASTED PECANS

Note – this version was done to promote the Orange region of NSW highly regarded for its hazelnuts so there are hazelnuts but yours will have pecans.

 

Ingredients – Serves 4

 

For the dressing

2 free-range egg yolks

2 lemons, juice only – you can use the zest for a garnish on top of the asparagus

215ml/7½fl oz extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ tbsp chopped chervil

1 tablespoon local pecans roughly chopped

 

For the asparagus and coddled eggs

12 asparagus spears, woody ends trimmed, bottom ends peeled if necessary (about 3 per person)

50ml/1¾oz unsalted butter

4 free-range eggs

 

For the dressing, place the egg yolks into a food processor and blend until smooth.

 

With the motor running, gradually add the lemon juice in a thin stream until it has been fully incorporated into the egg yolks. Do the same with the olive oil. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add the chervil.

Boil your eggs so they are very soft and peel about 2 minutes. Here are some tips http://www.ninemsn.com.au/food/freshtv/790999/how-to-cook-a-soft-boiled-egg

For the asparagus and coddled eggs, blanch the asparagus spears in boiling water for 10 seconds, then remove from the pan using a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl.

Drizzle with dressing and top with pecans and lemon zest.

 

AIOLI

Crush 2 or more depending on how strong you like cloves of garlic and salt in mortar using a pestle. It will form a paste. Transfer to bowl; add 3 egg yolks and mix. Slowly add 300 ml of extra virgin olive oil. Keep whisking so that a mayonnaise forms. It should be thick. Add salt and pepper.

Keeps in an airtight container for three days.

Add chervil or finely chopped rosemary or tarragon to your aioli and serve with cold or warm vegetables or as a accompaniment to potatoes

 

ITALIAN STYLE MERINGUES WITH CINNAMON BLUEBERRIES AND PECANS

Makes 10 large meringues

• 7 egg whites – free range organic or backyard (200g)

• 260g caster sugar

• 140g dark brown muscovado sugar

• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• crushed pecans or macadamias

Heat oven 110 degrees C

The secret to meringues is your bowl. There must be no grease whatsoever in it so ensure it is dry. Take your eggs out of the fridge so they are at room temperature and of course free range or organic and fresh.

Place egg whites & sugar in bowl & sit over simmering water til mixture is quite hot (40deg) & sugars have dissolved.

Pour into electric mixer & whip on high speed with whisk attachment for about 8 minutes until mixture has cooled.

Sprinkle cinnamon over mix & fold in with rubber spatula.

Line baking tray with parchment paper & spoon mixture onto it and cook for 1 and 1/4 to 2 hours.

Take a punnet of blueberries and blend. Serve with your meringues and add a cumquat for decoration.

 

Tip for the garden fork….

Mulch to ensure you get onto those weeds and also make sure you are getting trellis ready for tomatoes ..

Visit www.sustainfood.com.au for planting and harvest tips.

Egg shells are good for the garden around seedlings to keep away the caterpillars

Miss October Alison Drover

 

COMING UP AT THE MULLUMBIMBY COMMUNITY GARDEN

The Mullum Local food Festival – Saturday 29 October, 10 am to 4 pm

link

 

 

 

 

INTERNATIONAL FOOD TRENDS

The Crave Sydney Festival is on all this month,  see cravesydney.com.  Festival director Joanna Savill was speaking at the Byron at Byron resort a few weeks ago about all the great chefs who are in Sydney in October,so if you are heading there this month look out for lots of interesting food events.   Joanna was talking about the top international trends that are coming to our kitchens and supermarkets soon.  If you’d like a look into the kitchen crystal bowl, click on the sound clips below.

One chef is roasting a whole ox bone on an open fire, then opening it up to get at the marrow, so look forwards to wild paleolythic barbies coming to a backyard near you soon.  A focus on nose to tail meat eating, great local vegetables, local ingredients and cooking traditions rather than foie gras and French or Italian cuisine in top restaurants from Lima to  Helsinki, and activist chefs are more strong international trends.

These are audio extracts of Joanna’s talk, with a background of happy eating of a very on-trend meal by chef Gavin Hughes.  Thanks to the Byron at Byron and Joanna for allowing me to record this, and Caroline Desmond for the photo.

Joanna Savill – International Food Trends (part 1)

Joanna Savill – International Food Trends (part 2)

 

 

2011 BYRON BAY WRITERS FESTIVAL PANEL – EAT MY WORDS : WHY WE LOVE FOOD BOOKS

 

 

Eat my Words audio 1

Eat my Words audio 2

 

BELLY BULLETIN

Have you ever survived on instant  noodles?  There is a new museum in Yokohama, Japan,devoted to cup noodles and their inventor, Momofuku Ando.  In 2010 the world ate 95 billion portions of cup noodles.  It all started when Mr Ando saw a long line of people waiting to buy food at a black market stall in post-war Japan.  He invented cup noodles alone in a small shack and went on to create an empire.  At the 10 thousand square metre noodle museum kids can to create their own noodles, design their own cups and assemble their own toppings – up to 5,000 combinations.  You can also see noodle sculptures, see how cup designs have evolved over the decades and pay tribute to Mr Ando.  His motto was “never give up”

Queensland scientists, at a research station of the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation  on the Sunshine Coast, are trying to grow a variety of strawberry that tastes like bubblegum.  Principal horticulturalist Mark Herrington says the bubblegum-flavoured strawberry will not be in the shops for several years, but predicts it will be a big hit with the kids.  He says : “just like cars, we want to design strawberries for what the consumer wants.”

The bureau of statistics surveys about 10,000 Australian households every 6 years to find out what we spend our money on. There are some interesting facts about our food spending in the newly released figures : we spend about the same on fish and on beef per week, about $5.  Twice as much per week on coffee than tea.  We spend more on confectionery, including chips chocolate and ice-cream (almost $12 per week), than on fresh fruit – less than 10 dollars.  And that is out of an average spend (on everything including housing costs) of over 12 hundred dollars a week.  Food and non-alcoholic drinks come to $240 a week, the second biggest cost after housing, but food has come down  as a percentage of our budgets since 1984 by a fifth.  And we spend $63 on eating out including fast food.

If you live on cup noodles, stand up and be proud, because fast food may be the ultimate step in human evolution.  A new study at Harvard in the USA shows that we may have been cooking for about 2 million years.
The ability to cook and process food allowed Homo erectus,  Neanderthal man and us, Homo sapiens to make huge evolutionary leaps from other primates.  Researchers analysed  DNA, molar size and body mass among non-human primates, modern humans, and 14 extinct types of humans.  When we learned to prepare food with tools and fire, more calories could be consumed and we needed to spend less time foraging and eating. Molar sizes shrunk while body mass increased.  Apes of similar size to humans spend about half the day consuming calories.  “Homo erectus  spent 6 per cent  of their active day feeding,” said the Harvard study, and modern humans spend 4.7 per cent of their days eating.
“Human feeding time and molar size are truly exceptional compared with other primates, and their oddity began around the start of the Pleistocene,” that is, from about 2.5 million years ago .  Cooking may be even older, it may have started with other species that also lived in Africa and came just before homo erectus.  In any case, the tools and behaviours necessary to support a cooking culture “related to feeding and now necessary for long-term survival of modern humans evolved  before our lineage left Africa.” say researchers.  So probably, the most ancient cuisine of the world is African, and if you think cooking is a waste of time, be thankful you don’t have to spend all day looking for grubs and leaves, and have a face full of giant teeth.  And fast food may well be the apex of our food evolution.

 

MUSIC

Hot Ready Or Not,    Gleny Rae Virus & Her Tamworth Playboys, for Dwone and Jay

Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell – which I always thought was called ‘they paved paradise’, and includes the line ‘give me spots on the apples” – yei

Les Joieux Bouchers, the happy butchers, Catherine Ringer

Chatma (my sisters), Tinariwen

And a couple of tracks from the classic St Germain album ‘Tourist”

 

Love and chocolate covered ox bones, Sister T