shopping local

Slowly over the course of this year, I’ve been changing my relationships with supermarkets.

For the record – I hate them. I do everything I can to avoid them. I don’t mind them so much in foreign cities (Russia! So much vodka!), where they double as anthropology lessons. But Melbourne supermarkets? Shoot me now.

Beyond the ethics of the evil duopoly my local big supermarket has some added annoyances including fluorescent lighting that gives me a migraine, an increasingly limited range of small brands, gold coin unlocking of trolleys, ticket parking (free but you still need to grab one) and replacing employees with self-serve checkouts.

I’ve always minimized my supermarket shopping by buying my fresh fruit, vegetables, deli foods and other goodies at Vic Markets, during my weekly pilgrimage. But there are still pesky things like toilet paper and cleaning products (even bicarb soda and white vinegar are best bought in bulk) that see me at the supermarket every couple of weeks.

Other than the months that the Significant Eater is here (he worships the Big C & W in the same way that I adore the market, providing a nifty division of labour) I keep my forays to the fluorescent palace to a minimum. Though this year, I’ve implemented an entirely different strategy that works perfectly for the weeks that I’m home alone.

Walk, shop locally and buy only what you can carry.

A mere 15 minutes wander away is a great local IGA. Time-wise, the walk is about the same as the drive/park/ticket/trolley rigmarole. They stock an amazing array of food that I’ve never seen at Coles or Woolies and have an impressive range of vegan/dairy-free/wheat-free/healthy items. Of course they also have the basics, including the eco brands that I like that the big guys have ceased stocking.

My spine's a bit dodgy. I can only carry a medium sized backpack and not load myself up with extra bags, so it’s great for reducing impulse buys. I can usually fit just one. But the upside is a free workout and time to relax during the walk. This is my favourite multi-tasking, even more so when it’s a seamless segue from breakfast at one of my favourite local cafes.

The walk/shop/carry model mightn’t work for you, especially if you shop for more than one or two, or if you don’t get your fresh produce elsewhere. But it’s certainly helping me minimize unnecessary purchases – and get fit at the same time.

Do you love your local? What stops you from shopping there more often?

More on stimulating the local economy and saving money on food.

vegan feast: Ottolenghi cookalong

When The Guardian gave a column to a vegetarian-friendly chef a few years back, I was excited. Was the zeitgeist shifting and vegetarian food becoming mainstream? I didn’t mind if he was an omnivore (after all, I’m a pescetarian but a huge promoter of vegan food), anything that makes a plant-based diet sexy is good enough for me.

Melbourne foodbloggers adopted Yotam Ottolenghi with gusto. I wanted to love him but the more I scoured his recipes, the less accessible I found them. Being dairy-free rendered 70% of his dishes inaccessible without a lot of adaptation. (And I hate to admit it, I carry a bit of a grudge that the aforementioned column segued from vegetarian to meat-centric a while later).

When Cindy suggested the next cookalong be Ottolenghi themed, I thought it was time to tackle my difficult relationship with his work. Once more I requested Plenty from the local library and poured over the padded tome. It was difficult. So many of his ingredients didn't lend themselves to our seasonal availability. But I figured with celeriac in season, I’d give his Celeriac and Lentil Salad with Hazelnuts and Mint a go.

While I could source all of the ingredients at Vic Market, the simple salad rung up a hefty toll – puy lentils (or the equivalent) $11 a pop, bunches of thyme and mint, celeriac (two small organic left little change from a tenner), red wine vinegar, hazelnuts…I drew the line at hazelnut oil and substituted with some macadamia I had at home.

The recipe is not officially online but has been reproduced by others in the blogosphere. This version’s authentic, though the blogged recipe is not metricized. From memory the Australian edition of Plenty called for about 600gm of celeriac).

In a (hazel) nut shell the recipe is simple but rendered unnecessarily fussy. Toast the hazelnuts (60gm) in their shells, cook the puy lentils until al dente, boil the celeriac and mix together in a dressing made with olive oil, hazelnut (or in this case macadamia) oil, “high quality” red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and lashings of fresh mint. The recipe called for cooking the lentils with thyme and bay leaves, which didn’t really add any extra flavour.

Overall the salad was healthy but lacking in zing. An entire bunch of mint didn’t particularly enliven the dish (perhaps in summer the essential oils in the herb would pack more punch but then celeriac would be difficult to find) and the dressing needed more acidity. Some roughly chopped parsley instead of mint, an extra slug of vinegar and a heavier hand with the salt may have made it a little tastier.

The entire meal, however, was a raging success. Last year five of us got together to make an vegan, Indonesian-themed shared lunch. It was lovely to chop, cook, chat and eat with a bunch of healthy-food minded people. This time Cindy and Michael hosted and  Kristy and Toby came along to fire up the wok. Who’d have thought you could get five food bloggers in the same kitchen and cook without ego or (too much) chaos?

We feasted on Ottolenghi-inspired gluten-free, vegan food. Michael quietly whipped up a borlotti and green bean masterpiece, Cindy made a bejewelled roasted cauliflower salad and Kristy fried up black pepper tofu in a tasty sauce, while Toby veganised this polenta cake using egg replacer and olive oil.

But wait there’s more.

Cindy roasted rhubarb and whipped coconut cream* flecked with lemon zest (oh my what a heart stopping vegan treat!), which went perfectly with Toby’s polenta cake. It was one of the best vegan desserts I’ve eaten in a long time.

So am I an Ottolenghi convert yet? If I was Joyce of Hot Or Not fame, based on the lentil salad alone, for me Plenty is a definite “not”. But I loved everyone else’s dishes, the camaraderie of the kitchen, Michael’s thoughtful Flying Nun heavy play list and those wonderful desserts.

* Serendipitously Jess Cox posted this simple recipe for whipped coconut cream this morning. A simpler version but just as rich. My gallbladder would like to warn you that delicious as it is, limit it to a very small serve.

offcuts

New season Victorian eggplants $6 kg/Vic market late February

Aren't these babies gorgeous? Didn't buy any because I've got my own beauties in the garden. This week three of my home grown Japanese eggplants joined chillies and tomatoes from the veggie patch (and some pumpkin and zucchini from the market) in a variation on this tagine. The first meal I ate with fish, the second was just vegetables, served on a decent chunk of panfried tofu (and none of the usually carbs). It was a great combo. I always top with a dollop of tahini and a handful of fresh coriander leaves. Never fails to satisfy taste buds and tummy.

Just love the assorted jars for the blossoms

Mixed Business, a decent walk away so I feel like I've earned breakfast by the time I get there. Excellent potato and rosemary rosti. Staff always delightful (even if some of the customers aren't).

Market day haul/mid February

$40 worth of produce, mostly organic (the blueberries took up a large percentage of the total cost). About two thirds of the shopping for a week where I'd only be home for four or five nights. Augmented by leafy greens and tomatoes in the garden. Have been a juicing queen of late. Cucumber and sorrel have joined the usual veggie suspects. I feel healthy just thinking about it.

What's been tickling your fancy lately?

spring

Keeping a low profile.

The cool season veggies are bolting. Leafy greens eaten, seeds collected, plants composted.



To make way for the bevy of nightshades - tomatoes, eggplant and chilli.

Today the sun finally came out. Not flirtatiously this time but with a real sense of promise.



Am hoping the fruits of the season spin their magic, banishing the melancholy that has settled into my bones.

calling Time Team: vegetables from the Iron Age

Spied at Vic Market last week.



I know beans are out of season at the moment but this trader's managed to source some from the Iron Age. Hate to imagine the food miles for that.

Recipe: Fish cutlets in vine ripened tomato sauce

2011 has been about practicing mindfulness thus far for me. To date it has kept me in the moment when dealing with a new landlord (oh don’t get me started on that, it could waste a perfectly delightful moment as I sit at my desk on a sunny day writing) and stopped me from feeling too sorry for myself while succumbing to an annoying bug.

This being in the moment lark is not always easy. I remember Stephanie Dowrick writing years ago in the Saturday Age about the mindfulness of washing dishes but to be honest I’d prefer to be anywhere else than in the moment when undertaking that menial chore.

I see shopping for seasonal food as a central tenet of my practice. Going to the market with no fixed ideas of what to cook means some surprises in my basket. I recently ate a lot of daikon – stretching my cooking repertoire to using the green leaves in soup, the root raw in salads as a replacement for radish and a foray into stir fries for the crunch texture. Last week it was a wander through the fish hall for the freshest looking produce at the most reasonable price.

I returned home with modestly sized but thick, snapper cutlets with not a clue about how I’d cook them. I’ve ranted before about the Australasian phobia for fish on the bone but like most flesh, this makes it taste sweeter. The snapper is blessed with a medium sized spine with thickish ribs, making them an ideal fish to eat whole. The cutlets are also encased in omega rich skin so the whole piece is like a tidy package that stays together well when cooking. This is the ideal cut for those who can’t get through an entire fish or are working their way up to dealing emotionally with the beast. Being headless there are no eyes to distract the squeamish fish lover.

Fish cutlets are great to poach and stew as they keep their shape. With the garden bearing a host of love apples, tomatoes feature in much of what I'm cooking at the moment. I’m not sure the genesis of this recipe, finding none that fitted the bill, it came together from fragments of memory and imagination. Flying by the seat of my pants, in the moment, it turned out perfectly.


Fish in tomato and olive sauce
(serves 2)

2 tabs olive oil
2 large fish cutlets (or 4 small)
1 cup fish stock (vegetable or chicken stock would do)
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
A pinch of saffron threads, soaked in 2 tabs hot water
1 onion, chopped
A touch of chili, for subtle warmth (optional)
2-4 cloves of garlic (the more the better)
3-4 large, ripe tomatoes (or a cup or two of canned crushed tomatoes)
A decent handful, green beans, top and tailed
10 black olives (I like Kalamata)
Salt and pepper to season

Soak your saffron threads in a little hot water or stock.

Heat a heavy bottomed fry pan to medium to high, add half the olive oil and fry the fish for a minute or two both sides. This is to seal and colour the fish rather than to cook through. Put aside once seared.

Add the rest of the oil to the pan and sauté chopped onion. Because I was going to blitz the fresh tomatoes in the food processor I did the onions and garlic in it first, a great shortcut for a tired cook. Stir frequently ‘til translucent, then add the garlic and chili. After a minute or two pour in the crushed/blitzed tomatoes (mine were grand lisse still warm from the garden and perfectly ripe) wine and stock. If using warm stock, add the saffron to it for 10 minutes first, otherwise soak the saffron in warm water and add with the stock. This recipe works fine with just stock and no wine, though the alcohol adds depth of flavour. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer. After 5 minutes or so add the olives, green beans and fish. Depending on the thickness of the cutlets poach in the tomato sauce for 4-5 minutes each side ‘til cooked through.

Taste and season as required. Serve on rice or with crusty bread.

In the moment, my thoughts were on eating not photography. But feast your eyes on part of this morning's Tommy Toe haul.

wikileeks?

Right now I've got a bad case of end of year fatigue causing me to triage my social life severely. Sheesh it's tough being a grown up sometimes.

While there's a great recipe posts brewing (the best vegan curry ever!) all I'm up for right now is to pour a long, cool glass of mineral water, have a lie down and share some vego-political humour spied today at Garden Organics.

the politics of fruit

Spotted during the weekly shopping trip at Vic Market today.

The organic conundrum

Warning: a long, possibly biased rant with no pictures or recipes.

I trundle up the organic aisle not sure what I will find. I watch the seasons come and go by the availability and price of the produce. Cavolo nero, our new best friend has been looking a little weather-worn in recent weeks while the chard has stood proud and glossy. An easy segue from one leafy green to another, unique in flavour but close enough to substitute. This week my friend has picked up her frilly skirt and run, perhaps we won’t see cavolo nero til next winter.

I can live with that. Sure I get a little toey at this time of year when the Australian grown, organic garlic is hard to find and pricey when you do but I’m getting better at planning ahead for that seasonal eventuality.

This week’s market haul featured no new stars but a greater variety of affordable basics – broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, new season potatoes and leafy greens. Not quite a cornucopia but ten different types of vegetables plus an expensive local bulb of garlic and some fresh turmeric. Enough veg for two massive consumers to eat their way through over a week at a cost of $40. We’d easily get 5, often 7 plus, serves of vegetables a day. Sadly the Significant Eater consumes fruit at too higher rate for us to be completely organic at this time of year.

Australian Food News yesterday reported that an average basket of organic groceries costs 70% more than its conventional counterpart. This includes things I don’t eat such as meat and dairy (the former having the highest price difference and the latter being at the lower end) or buy (like biscuits, baked beans and sugar). Taking all this into account, the premium for organic fruit and vegetables alone, according to the report, is still a hefty 60%.

Before we plunge headlong into the latest organic debate regarding nutritional value. I’d suggest that any canny shopper doesn’t do the “standard basket” approach. We buy what is in season at a reasonable price, allowing for the odd weakness (garlic or fair trade organic chocolate). We make choices over what tastes better (organic strawberries) and what we don’t mind compromising on (Coff’s Harbour conventional but naturally ripened bananas and passionfruit). Heading off to shop with a flexible grocery list and to somewhere like Vic Market where there is some healthy competition, rather than an organic superstore (like Macro when it existed), certainly reduces the organic premium. Sometimes a particular organic fruit or vegetable is cheaper than the conventional but overall with savvy shopping I’d estimate it’s less than 30%.

So is it worth it, this sizable mark up at the cash register? Last month a British report stating that ”Organic has no health benefit” hit the headlines. While the independent study commissioned by the Food Standards Agency crunched the data and could not find any strong evidence to support the nutritional benefits of eating organic produce, there are some inherent flaws. The biggest problem is study size. The bigger the study the more it costs to fund. Oil companies, the manufacturers of conventional agricultural chemicals, have the money to potentially fund big research projects that can select limited nutritional criteria when comparing organic and non-organic produce. The organics industry however, cannot. Study size determines whether it can be included in the meta-analysis. The many smaller studies that overwhelming proved case for the nutritional benefits of eating organically were excluded.

But ignoring my paranoid ravings for a minute, The Organic Center has gone over the original report with a fine tooth comb and their analysis of the flaws in the FSA study make illuminating reading. Before you swallow the version the media has served up for you, read a little more deeply and make up your own mind.

Ironically, on the BBC news page that I linked above I noticed today’s top health story is “Primary liver cancers 'soaring'”. No link with eating conventional produce? Well, that hypothesis hasn’t been tested yet.

Buying organic produce is a luxury and it is about personal choice. But making an informed decision remains a vexed issue.


A few links to studies demonstrating the nutritional benefits of organics

Biological Farmers of Australia (I heard the fabulous BFA nutritionist, Shane Heaton, speak at the Organic Expo)

Organic Trade Association (USA)

The issues around the potential health risks of pesticides and herbicides touched on in the Food and cancer report included a suggestion that “a precautionary approach is wise for women of reproductive age”.

eating local

We almost came to blows over grapefruit once.

Not that I’d describe my relationship with the Significant Eater as violent. A little heated at times but nothing approaching physical harm.

But grapefruit. He has to have grapefruit and orange freshly juiced every morning. It’s a ritual that can’t be broken. While I was trying to get my head around eating local last year this became a sticking point. He didn’t take to seasonality in quite the same way as I did.

I thought of this recently while doing my weekly shop at Vic Market. Cherries! Cherries in the middle of winter, it just wasn’t right. But Aussie cherries – now that was even more extraordinary. Then I read the fine print and laughed.



“taste them! Aussie Cherries grown in upstate Washington Bing Cherries $15 kg”

Somehow I don’t think this inventive marketing strategy quite comes under the auspices of the “Put Victoria on your table” campaign. It was lovely to see some of their logos on fruit and vegetables on my shopping trip this week.



What I find confusing about many of the guides to seasonal food, is that while it lists fresh produce that is on offer in your local stores, it doesn’t take into account where the food comes from.

Melbourne farmers markets usually feature growers from around the state and provide a good guide to what is seasonal and local in Victoria. According to the Victorian Farmers’ Markets Association the following goodies are in season:

Fruit
cumquats, grapefruit, lemons, limes, mandarins, nashi, oranges, rhubarb, tamarillo, tangelos.

Nuts
Hazelnuts.

Vegetables
Asian greens, beetroot, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbages, cauliflower, carrots, celery, celeriac, fennel, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi (green), kohlrabi (red), leek, olives, onions, parsnips, pumpkins, silver beet, spinach, spring onions, swedes, turnips.

The SE will be pleased – grapefruit is in season!

Reasons I like to eat local:

• Fresher produce
• Less energy used/pollution created in transportation
• Supports the local community
• Anticipation, waiting for a food to come back into season, makes it taste all the sweeter!

How do you feel about eating in season?

spring at last

I have four posts jangling around my cranium. Back from NZ for 36 hours this is the first moment that I have had in front of the keyboard without work or domestics pulling me away. Though now I sit comfortably, the glorious warm spring air blowing through the open doors, I know that although I feign relaxation there are at least fifty other things I feel I should be doing right now.

But I’ll knock the top off the first post by saying this will not be the weekend that I start my spring detox.

Not just because I have a fresh source of Schoc.



Or because this was the first thing I bought at the market this morning



zucchini and carrot fritters straight out of the fryer, hot and crispy

Possibly not even because of the duty-free purchases.

But because there is a detox I need to do first on an entirely different level.

The relationship between what we eat and how we feel is not exactly rocket science. Although outwardly I am calm, somewhere near the intersection of sub and full consciousness there is an iceberg bobbing on the surface. The SE put it best when he said on the way to the airport last night (it’s his turn to go away this time) “If you knock off both bottles of brandy and all the chocolate this weekend I wouldn’t blame you after the week you’ve had”.

I’ve found there are a couple of things that determine whether my full on Spring Clean is going to flow freely. Firstly, timing is crucial. Last year's was cut short a day or two early with the unexpected arrival of a friend I hadn’t seen for over a year. The way you come out of a detox is as important as all the good organic fruits and vegetables that fuel it. This weekend was the perfect window to commence my annual ritual, I’m not sure now if I can find two weeks without major social distractions from here on in.

The second is preparation. For someone who is food oriented to switch off from oral gratification involves some psyching. Not best to start amidst the ravages of PMS, during exams or at a time of emotional lability. I’ve had a week with my family taking care of my mum who has slipped another notch into the dance with Alzheimer’s. It’s not fun. There were tears. But some laughter too. I need to sit with this latest experience for a while. Not starve myself of comfort.

I certainly hope I can find a space this spring to give my body a rest. While I am actually a little sceptical about claims that the so called toxins can be eliminated from a body of this age in a mere week or two on basic, unadulterated whole foods diet, I do know that by the end of the first week my energy picks up (even without the coffee) and my focus changes. I enjoy the detour from my usual daily diet of reading food blogs and being sedentary, to savouring the unexpected sweetness of vegetables and moving my body more.

The good news is the garden is providing the bulk of our green vegetables at the moment and you can’t get fresher than that. The season has taken a delightful shift. The air is scented with jasmine and the parrots were courting loudly this morning when I parked my car on the fringes of the CBD. This is such a sensual time of year so that if nothing else, I can at least indulge smell, sound, touch and sight with equal fervour as last winter's over reliance on taste.



The snow capped mountains of the South Island from across the Cook Straight

market goodies #2

This little foodblogger went to market,
This little foodblogger came home,
This little foodblogger got out her camera
And went click, click, click all the way home.

Well not quite, but with all this talk about the rising price of food thought it would be timely to see just how much the fruit and veggie shopping cost this week. Admittedly we still have a fair amount of fruit, vegetables and some other staples left over from an extra mid-week shop or two last week.



All the vegetables are organic, though not the fruit. The whole snapper came in at $16 (just over $14 a kilo) - it is cheaper to buy it in Melbourne than Wellington despite NZ being the country of origin. There is some wild rice, dried cranberries and oats (also raw pistachios not included in the picture). Vegetables - silverbeet/chard (to go with lots of garlic, onion, lemon and olive oil on gluten-free pasta), zucchini, sweet potato, carrots, red and brown onions, garlic, rocket, tomatoes, radishes, romanesco broccoli (isn't it pretty!), brussels sprouts (the Significant Eater has a thing for them), desiree potatoes and pak choi. Fruit - bananas, persimmons and mandarins. And lastly some low salt Lingurian olives, eggplant dip and a couple of vegetarian cabbage rolls.

Total cost: Au$107.50

What is the cost of food where you are and what does your weekly shop look like?

I'm in love!

It’s been over 3 months since my last ‘oh my goodness’ kitchen moment. I can’t even remember a recent restaurant swoon. But unexpectedly today, while innocently preparing some lunch, my mouth found a happiness it hasn’t experienced for a while.

I’ve always had a bit of a weakness for smoked foods – trout, eel, tofu. This week I discovered Earnest Bean’s smoky olive dip, which was definitely worth another visit. Their smoked tofu also went into the mid-week noodle salad which is still a pleasant memory. But it was a quest for eel that sealed the deal.

While the Polish Deli (at Vic Market) had some skinned and boned smoked eel fillets, the use by date was minutes away from expiring and I wasn’t going to eat it that night. The usual stall had none on display but the owner smiled and said proudly he’d just had a delivery so I waited patiently until he was ready to serve me. Then with a smile he said he had something very special, just three modest sections of eel, no head or tail, lovingly hot smoked in Eden and he promised it was good.

You know, I almost forgot about it til I the tummy rumbled for lunch. Perhaps a little eel in a potato salad to give it a bit of oomph. I put the potatoes on to steam, chopped a few mini gherkins to give the salad acidity and crunch, a little leftover avocado for creaminess, a bit of red onion and peppery rocket. I mixed a mustardy-vinaigrette with some macadamia oil and added a dollop of mayonnaise (a cheats way to make the dressing creamy) and idly started preparing the first fillet. How much I wondered, remembering how bland the last bit of eel I’d bought in Melbourne was. As the small morsel entered my mouth, I smelt salt and smoke. Really, really good salt and smoke! The flavour was intense, reminding me of the best bacon I ever ate in my former meat eating life.

The cubes of eel were perfect in the salad and I almost cried with joy!



Sapphire Smoked Seafood from Eden – I love you! Now hurry up and get a website so I can tell the rest of the country where to find you!