Fresh Farmer's Market Salad

"What were you going to do with those?", a lady asked me when I picked up a bunch of beautiful radishes at the farmer's markets on the weekend. "Not sure. Throw them in a salad, maybe?", I replied. And as it happened I also picked up tiny beets, parsnips, broccoli, carrots, and some other seasonal veggies - purely because I just couldn't resist their freshness and gorgeous colours. I didn't have a recipe in mind, I just stashed the veggies in my shopping bag feeling quite content about my purchases.

Some things really are just best eaten raw, don't you think? I was playing with the idea of roasting the radishes, but when I peeled and sliced them, I realised their beautiful colour and flavour would be wasted if I was going to roast the living daylights out of them. Instead I went about marinating them in verjuice and lime juice and they needn't any other seasoning. Pared with other finely sliced veggies they made a beautifully sharp and fresh salad. 

Fresh Farmer's Market Salad

(serves 2-4)

bunch of radishes

1 apple

1/2 parsnip

1 carrot

1/2 red onion

1/4 cup natural raisins*

small piece of fresh ginger

1/4 cup verjuice

1 lime

* look for the ones that have no added sunflower oil.

1. Thinly slice the radishes, apple, parsnip and carrot and place in a bowl. Pour half of the verjuice and the juice of half a lime on top and mix to coat. Leave to marinade for half an hour.

2. Soak the raisins and the finely chopped ginger in the remaining verjuice and lime juice for 15 minutes. 

3. Squeeze out the liquid and add the raisins and the ginger with the other ingredients. Save the soaking liquid.

4. Finely slice the onion and soak it in the left-over juice for 10 minutes. Squeeze out the liquid and add the onion in to the salad. Discard the juice. (Soaking the onion will get rid of the extra acidity.) Serve the salad immediately or leave in the fridge for another half an hour for the flavours to develop.

Market Days and Quinoa Peach Cake

It is always a highlight of the week for me when I get to go to the farmers' markets. There is a different kind of atmosphere: people are out early, catching up by a cup of coffee, having breakfast and buying some incredible produce form the local farmers and the talented artisans. Although I fully understand the convenience of supermarkets, there is just something so 'right' about buying groceries from the farmers' markets. It gives you a good feeling and a clean conscience when you know you are helping the small entrepreneurs.

When I visit the markets I am always on the look out for seasonal produce, fresh loaf of bread, fresh flowers and some special treats such as good olive oil, vinegars, organic nuts and dried fruit.

Now, I have to warn you, this quinoa peach cake is not for the faint hearted. It is not too sweet, but it is very moist and has some definite notes of quinoa. I love using almond or hazelnut meal in cakes and you may have noticed I prefer using alternative flours rather than plain wheat flour. This cake was, however, a perfect little treat after a morning of shopping at the markets and a perfect way to celebrate seasonal produce!

 

Quinoa Peach Cake

3 large, free-range eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup organic, fat-free yoghurt

1/2 cup organic, unsweetened apple sauce

1 tsp natural vanilla extract

2 tsp gluten-free baking powder

100 g organic quinoa flour

50 g almond meal

50 g hazelnut meal

3 peaches, cut into thin wedges

icing sugar, to serve

Preheat oven to 180C and prepare a 23 cm round cake tin. Using electric beaters, whisk the eggs and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add yoghurt, apple sauce and vanilla and stir to combine. Mix the baking powder into the flour and sift the flour into the egg mixture. Fold to combine. Lastly, fold in almond meal, hazelnut meal and the peaches. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until a tester inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack and serve warm dusted with icing sugar.

 

 Enjoy!

Kale, Heirloom Carrot, Mission Fig and Feta Salad with Pomegranate Balsamic

The best thing about weekend mornings are the early morning walks to the beach, the unrushed breakfasts and the local produce markets where people are catching up with each other over a cup of coffee, buying seasonal produce and enjoying live music. It was a morning like this today here in Sydney, the sun was out and I felt so happy.

I love buying ingredients from the markets; it has so much character, people are there to enjoy the experience and are generally in a good mood and you get the benefit of buying local produce. Yes, in an ideal world I would buy all my groceries from the fresh produce markets!

This time I had nothing special in mind, I was hoping to find just one ingredient that would inspire me to make a nice dish for lunch. I did end up buying a few things: some beautiful kale, gorgeous heirloom carrots, dried organic mission figs and delicious pomegranate balsamic, and without really planning it made a salad using all these ingredients! We ended up forking out a huge plate of this standing over the kitchen bench and it was a perfect dish for a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Kale, Heirloom Carrot, Mission Fig and Feta Salad
with Pomegranate Balsamic

small bunch kale, washed
small bunch heirloom carrots
50g organic dried Mission figs, cut into quarters
100g feta cheese
1 tbsp extra-virgin lemon olive oil (or olive oil with lemon)
1 tbsp pomegranate balsamic vinegar

Cut out the stems and the ribs of the kale, and cut the heads off the carrots. Place the carrots in a steamer, top with the kale and steam. Carrot will need a few minutes, but the kale leaves only need less than a minute. Place the kale leaves on a large platter, scatter the figs on top and place the steamed carrots in the middle. Crumble over the feta and drizzle with lemon olive oil and pomegranate balsamic.

Teetä ja skonsseja sunnuntaiaamuna

Ostin markkinoilta ihanaa NEO yrttiteetä, joka on sekoitus minttua, kuminaa, oreganoa sekä sitruunaa. Teen kanssa sopi maistella skonsseja. Sunnuntaiaamut ovat sitten ihania!

Fetajuusto-aurinkokuivattutomaatti skonssit

noin 260 g vehnäjauhoja (itsestään kohoavaa tai lisää 3 g leivinjauhetta per 100 g tavallisia jauhoja)
hitunen suolaa
75 g fetajuustoa
50 g aurinkokuivattuja tomaatteja
pari tl kuivattua timjamia
150 ml maitoa + ekstra voiteluun

Sekoita keskenään jauhot ja suola ja murenna fetajuusto joukkoon. Lisää joukkoon hienonnetut tomaatit ja timjami ja lisää maitoa niin, että taikinasta tulee pehmeä, mutta ei liian tarttuva. Kauli taikina parin sentin paksuiseksi ja ota muotilla (tai lasilla) taikinasta pyöreitä skonsseja. Asettele skonssit leivinpaperilla vuoratulle uunipellille ja sivele maidolla. Paista 200 asteessa varttitunnin verran.