south australia: fleurieu

Every day is a new adventure when you're on the road. You can plan ahead (we don't really) but you just don't know where the day will take you. 

Remember we mentioned staying at Old Mac's Farm in Launceston? It was there that we met a lovely couple who were travelling with a group of friends. They mentioned that their son loved with his family on the Fleurieu peninsula in South Australia and to drop in when we were in the neighbourhood. 

Well we got in touch with Andrew and he put us up for the night - in his olive grove! Andrew runs a small business - Seaview Grove Olive Oil - and runs a few cows on his property. When he and his wife bought the farm from the previous owner they'd initially thought they'd take out the hundreds of olive trees because they hadn't been a successful crop. 

We obviously talked about the amazing produce available in the Fleurieu and it was pleasing to hear so many small producers were getting their goods out there allowing people to buy fresh and local. It's a exciting time in the area. 

Andrew has done his research and has packaged his olive oil in casks. These casks ensures that the unused olive oil doesn't not come in to contact with air keeping it fresher anymore nutritious for longer. 

Not only that but Andrew can boast that he's selling a tasty all-rounder oil - beautiful for cooking and great for with bread and dukkah. It's also grown organically and is really reasonably priced $15 for a litre cask and is available online. Postage is free for orders over $40.  

http://www.seaviewgrove.com.au

Those gnarly old branches of the olive are beautiful. And the colour of their leaves. They aren't a showy plant for one that has so much to offer. 

It was a pretty amazing camp for the night and waking up with views to the ocean was special. Thanks again for having us!

victoria: torquay farmers markets

Another bit of serendipity lead us to Torquay. 

I'd remembered that Mamacino (food blogger extraordinare) had a stall at Torquay Farmer's Markets (which run every Saturday) so I planned around the markets. It suited us because we also needed to stock up on fresh fruit and veg, snacks for the car and a few frozen meals for when we arrive at a site in the afternoon. 

Mamacino has stopped her weekly stall but not her enthusiasm for good food and local produce so we met at the market anyway. 

With barely two dozen (lots of organic) stalls this little market is a gem! I had so much fun chatting with local farmers. And met Sarah who's running Eat Local Month in the area. They have so many fun things coming up in April so if you're in the area, look them up!

I also managed to pick up some great stuff including coriander, parsley, basil (huge branch) - all $2, the sweetest strawberries, dried bananas, hamburgers, homemade pies & pastries for the freezer, goats cheese, fresh bread, lamb shanks and lamb mince. I grabbed a big bag of apples for $5. We can't get enough after Tassie. 

Yesterday I transformed the mince, using my $2/kg tomatoes into a few pies - think moussaka/kafta filling topped with mashed potato. These will be easy to reheat and serve with salad or veggies. 

I couldn't resist these vego rice paper rolls with seaweed from the Tastes of Tibet stand. If you like this type of food you'd love these. Oh man. Smothered in house made chilli sauce. I'm still dreaming of them. She does dumplings too. 

And then I met Annette. She whips up some tasty treats for the markets. Our kids couldn't be dragged away from the samples. I don't blame them. Check out her Afghans! J and I sneaked a couple of Annette's finest homemade Monte Carlo's for the next leg of the trip. I'll be dreaming of those buttery, jammy delights for some time yet. 

It is so good to see the community getting behind local farmer's markets. I'm much happier knowing that our money went to farmers thriving to provide healthier food with safer farming practices for the long-term good of the environment. I'm pleased that our cash supports someone like Annette who bakes like a mad thing & gets to the markets early for the love of it. 

Our money was so well spent and the bottom line is that I'm pleased our $150 didn't go to either of the big two supermarkets that dominate the market. 

poached peaches

On a trip down to the far south coast after Christmas J noticed some golden gifts hanging from a peach tree which would have been planted by his parents some thirty years ago. They were as hard as rocks so we waited until the morning we were leaving to gather the stash, in the hope they might have had more time to ripen.

Still very firm when we brought them back to Sydney I nestled the peaches in beside a huge hand of bananas and a week and a half later they had a 'bit of give' to them.

I decided than rather than make jam or chutney from them I'd like to celebrate their integrity of flavour and preserve them so we could appreciate the love that went in to planting and nurturing the tree that grew them all those years ago. I love that preserving was used to store in-season foods for the months of lesser abundance (but I don't think these babies will last in to winter!) They are cling peaches too, which makes it difficult to remove all the flesh without wastage. I didn't bother removing blemishes and despite the burrows came across no little critters - but they are clearly organic!

It was a shame that the figs still hanging from the tree (just down from the pit toilet - so, well composted from 30 years of organic matter) were a few weeks from being salvageable. I just hope the birds enjoyed their feast!

Deciding on a recipe wasn't difficult. There are so many out there so I went with a hybrid recipe (thanks to a trickle of the Internet, a touch of Stephanie Alexander and a splash of intuition) and whacked them in a cast iron pot with water, a reduced amount of raw sugar and vanilla extract (I was out of vanilla beans).

These have come up a real treat and the peachiness will continue to flavour the 'brine' in the months to come. If they last that long! They are best served with some deliciously creamy vanilla ice cream. What a treat!!

making dough

While I don’t tend to eat a lot of bread we always seem to have it in the house. During our week away I made bread rolls and a loaf of organic wholemeal - both in the Thermomix.

The bread rolls were for burgers which were made by mixing a teaspoon mixed spice, a chopped onion, three minced garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons freshly made breadcrumbs, an egg, 500g organic beef mince and a huge handful of parsley in the TM. 

Served with fresh tomato, some locally made tomato sauce and avocado they were more like sliders – and perfectly sized for little hands.

The loaf was for sandwiches and brekky - vegemite toast.