I was born in the 50's. As I grew up big changes occurred in our household. We got television, bread and milk stopped being delivered to our door, and we bought our biscuits from the corner shop. Dad and mum got rid of the milking cow, the pigs and the chickens. Big supermarkets started to appear and the corner shop disappeared.
My parents had their own business and they worked long hours every day. I know that mum used to cook everything from scratch, and had days where she would bake enough to last us the week. I don't know this from experience but only through the stories I heard as I was growing up. Like the one where mum had spent the day baking only to find my brother, a toddler then and a year older than me, sitting in one pie while eating another as they sat cooling on the kitchen table. I can remember my mum killing a chook and preparing it for dinner. But those memories are way back when I was a pre schooler. Mum and dad were busy, they had a business and 5 children.Life got a little easier with supermarkets providing convenience -no more baking and little cooking from scratch. Food started arriving in packets and everything was geared towards convenience.I truly thought that the only way to make a cake was from a packet and the oinly way to make soup was from a can. Any food you wanted was available all year round ---strawberries in winter and oranges in summer and we started to lose our connection to seasonality.
I taught myself to cook from scratch and through gardening I came to understand the seasons. I realised that if I bought in season food was cheaper, and so started to plan what I ate, around what was growing, what I could buy in season and what I had been able to preserve.
So I understand when someone says to me that they have no idea what food is in season or how they would plan a meal around only what is in season. And it is no surprise to me that in the past I have occassionally lost a CSA ( Community Supported Agriculture) subscriber because they have found it difficult to do justice to the food in the boxes each week. So my plan is to enclose a suggested menu, and a recipe to help them get the most from their box of food. Here's the one for this week!
Purple Pear Organics.
Autumn
2012
This
time of year sees a plentiful supply of pumpkin beetroot and greens. Hopefully
everyone is making the most of what they find in their box each week, but for
those who may be struggling with the quantity and assortment I am sending you
some menu suggestions and some recipes. And in the end if you have anything
left at the end of the week, empty out the fridge by making a Fridgestrone
before you pick up the next box. To do this just cook them all
up in a soup, add some pasta shells and a little tomato puree, like you would a
minestrone.
With the vegies in this week’s box, a typical menu
could look something like this.
Monday Roast pumpkin rissotto
Tuesday Stirfry ( celery, capsicum and tatsoi)
Wednesday Pumpkin Soup and damper
Thursday Open Roast Pumpkin and feta pies with green
salad (recipe below)
Friday Fried
rice add some greens at the end
Saturday Stew add more greens
Sunday Fridgestrone
We are looking forward to peas, cabbage and
broccoli in the next couple of weeks
Please let me know if you’d like anymore
suggestions in regard to using the food in your box.
Regards Kate
Open Roast Pumpkin and Feta Pies
Ingredients; 350g
pumpkin peeled cut into 1 cm cubes
2 tsp olive oil
3 sheets frozen
puff pastry thawed
2 eggs
100ml thickened
cream
100g feta crumbled
Method;
1. Preheat oven to 200 C. Grease 2 12 hole muffin pans. Place
pumpkin on a baking tray drizzle with oil and season. Roast for 20 mins or
until cooked.
2. Cut 20 rounds from pastry sheets using a 6.5
cutter. Press into muffin holes to cover base and a little of the sides. Whisk
eggs and cream together. Divide pumpkin among rounds, top with 1 teaspoon of
egg mixture, then sprinkle with feta. Bake for 15- 20 mins until golden. Cool
slightly then turn out
What do you think?
