It’s nut season. Here it’s macadamia nuts, but further south it will be almonds and hazelnuts. We’re getting decent harvests from our trees now, and I’m loving learning to use them in savory food as well as baking. Pesto is a bit of a staple, and nut based curry and satay sauces, but I’m only just getting into extending the range.
It’s not as photogenic as it was delicious. Green beans in a creamy, nut based mild curry sauce.
We picked the first of the new season’s macadamias yesterday. It’s a bit earlier than usual, but the warm wet weather seems to have been bringing them on, and they are starting to drop and be got by the creatures. I don’t mind the creatures getting some of them. Because they are a native to this region, we’ve included seedling trees in all the riparian native plantings. But we also…
If you’ve been following the Breakfast Challenge series at all, you’ll know that “my current favourite” breakfast is usually only the current favourite for a few weeks. Partly that’s because what is best, in taste and in health and in cost, is always based on the fruits and nuts and grains and vegetables that are in season.
Rocket is rich in a whole range of phytochemicals, including some that are protective against prostate, breast and ovarian cancers. It’s also rich in folic acid, vitamins A, B, C and K, and a range of minerals including calcium. But all that is largely irrelevant in the amounts you’d normally eat. I mean, who puts more than one or two leaves in a sandwich? Except if you make pesto.
I found this gem iron in an op shop. It took me several months and quite a few goes to learn how to use it, but now it is one of my favourite kitchen tools.
Carambolas (Star Fruit) don’t appear in fruit shops much, and I wonder why? They’re a really nice fruit, sweet and juicy and full of vitamin C and potassium. If you live in an area where they will grow, they fruit prolifically in mid-winter and you are likely to have a glut of them.