What’s in the box 29/30 September

The link to the Adelaide Food Connect page with the box contents for this week is here.

Spring is just beginning to sprung up here in the Adelaide Hills – and I know this for sure because we had our first brown snake sighting of the season last weekend!  This is always a slightly interesting time as, when they first wake up after their winter sleep, snakes are hungry, looking for a mate and generally pretty tetchy – not really morning people at all!  Add this to the fact that brown snakes can be pretty belligerent at the best of times and it puts quite a spring into your step when the grass is a bit high.

Early spring is an interesting time for producers, too, as the cold weather crops are finishing off just before the spring ones are ready, but our fresh, organic boxes of produce are still looking pretty good.

There are more peas in the boxes this week and they are sweet, plump and lovely.  I’m still eating them raw and put together a very quick spring salad last night with my cos lettuce torn up, grated fresh carrot, paper thin slices of raw zucchini sliced with a potato peeler, chopped spring onion and fresh peas.  I dressed the lot with a quick squeeze of fresh lemon juice, a good slurp of extra virgin olive oil and served it with slices of fried halloumi cheese (a big favourite in this house).  Another delicious idea is to quickly blanch florets of broccoli and some fresh peas and toss them together with  bacon that has been chopped and fried until crisp.

It is still pretty chilly in the evenings so soups shouldn’t drop off the menu just yet and I concocted a pea soup that I have served both hot or chilled with equally good results.  This recipe is for those lucky enough to own a Thermomix, but can be adapted very easily and pureed in a normal processor.

Chilled Pea and Mint Soup

6 spring onions
20ml olive oil
900ml stock (stock concentrate and water)
500gm fresh or frozen peas
generous handful of fresh chopped mint

Cut spring onions into 2 or 3 pieces and chop in Thermomix for 5 seconds on speed 6.
Add olive oil and cook for 2 minutes, 100 degrees at speed 1.
Add stock and peas, cook 6 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1.
Add mint, cook 2.3 minutes, 100 degrees, speed 1.
Puree by slowly bringing speed up to 10 for 1 minute.
Chill for 4 hours.
Serve with a swirl of plain yoghurt or sour cream and sprinkle with extra mint.

Enjoy!

1. 

   Kate
   02/10/2010

   Sounds like I need a Thermomix !

2. 

   Anna Johnston
   02/10/2010

   Pea & Mint Soup is an awesome summer soup Amanda…, can’t wait for it to warm up a touch more over this side of the nation to get into some of these types of foods.

3. 

   admin
   02/10/2010

   There is no doubting the efficiency of a Thermomix, but a normal processor will work fine too.

4. 

   Tina
   05/10/2010

   I’ve been thinking about getting a Thermomix but they are pretty pricey. A friend of mine raves about them; are they worth it?

5. 

   admin
   05/10/2010

   Tina – I guess it depends on how much you cook. I would have killed for something like this when my children were tiny, but we still use it most days even now. It is fantastic for juices, sauces, soups, bread making, dips ,salads, rice – lots of things. I got rid of nearly all my other appliances, but kept my KitchenAid mixer as I just don’t think that the Thermomix can aerate a cake batter or pav mix as well as a mixer. Hope that helps!