Still on figs, and this is just the white figs, the first to come into season. The brown figs are still to come. This white fig tree was pruned last winter, not too heavily, and this year has been such a good crop I’m thinking that pruning might become much more regular.
In Autumn 2000 I wrote an article for Organic Gardener magazine about worm towers. For years I thought the idea had sunk without a trace. When our daughter moved to a little flat in Brisbane we helped her build a garden with them. It worked so well that it crossed my mind occasionally, I wonder why that idea never caught on? Maybe I should write about it again in Witches…
This fig and rosemary schiacciata (or focaccia? I’m not sure of the difference) was recipe-writing worthy. It starts with a sourdough and a rosemary infused honey oil, for which you need almost no time for making but at least 10 hours or so for proving. So this is a magnificent weekend brunch that fits with a lazy Sunday morning, but you need to remember to start it the night before.
The riff of sweet, caramelised figs, salty white cheese, peppery leaves, and nut crunch is a classic one. And like most classics, for very good reason. This salad was so good it’s been repeated regularly this year since the figs started coming on. It’s a starring role salad – a dinner party first course, or a totally indulgent lunch, or a plate to take to a party. If you are…
My local fisho tells me that his mackerel is line caught, and that’s always a good thing as far as sustainability goes: no bycatch and no complete decimation of breeding populations. Good Fish Bad Fish lists mackerel as sustainable too. It’s high in Omega 3 and low in mercury, and it has a nice firm texture with few bones. It’s an oily fish that goes well with acid tomato based…
We bought a second hand washing machine a little while ago, just by chance from a couple who had retired to Lennox Head leaving a family home with a great big garden to move into a beach house with a tiny garden. They were doing spectacular things in a tiny space and we talked gardens over tea for so long we nearly forgot why we came. As we were leaving…
Sisters and brothers, cousins and second cousins, grandmas and great aunts. Nineteen of us this time and missing just a few for the annual (most years) few days at the beach. It was nice this time feeling the change in the generations. My sister and I firmly in the great aunt’s generation, our daughters stepping firmly into the mothers’ roles, wrangling great gangs of kids.
Turmeric likes my subtropical climate, which is very lucky because fresh turmeric is one of my all-time favourite spices and hugely healthy. I have a patch of it that takes absolutely no attention. All I do with it is dig up a rhizome when I want it for curries or stir fries or to add a touch of spiciness to just about anything.
Salmorejo is a cold soup but that idea doesn’t do it justice. It’s very fast and easy, and it will keep for a day or two in the fridge so you can make ahead of time (which also makes it great for a first course for summer dinner parties or barbeques). You can also blend left overs with semi-dried tomatoes to make a dip or spread.
Marion Nestle’s blog “Food Politics” would be on my “Sites I Visit Lots” list except that it is USA food politics, and although we in Australia are heading down that road, we’re not quite there yet. But this post of hers is just as relevant on the other side of the Pacific. I’d add in a number 7 and 8, and it would make my guidelines too.