And about bloody time, I hear you mutter as I finally get the Food Connect Box weekly post up! Sorry for my tardiness, folks.
For those of you who were interested in my post about the FOODplus Research Centre there is now a link – in the Comments section at the bottom of the page – to an Mp3 file of the discussion. Now everyone can listen to it!
Well, the weather has certainly given us a run for our money and, as I sit on the hill typing this today, it is cold, grey and rainy. Heavens only knows what sort of an impact this will all have on our summer crops so we had all better just be glad of what we manage to get!
We’ve had some very nice carrots and the oranges are still great, so I am juicing the two together for a fabulous hit of orange goodness. Peaches also make a very nice party drink, but I’ll leave you hanging on that one – and save it until closer to Christmas. The avocados are big and gorgeous – besides using them in salads we often use them on sandwiches or on cracker biscuits (especially Ryvita’s) instead of butter.
With the silly season now gathering momentum you might also be interested in a sure-fire guacomole – always a popular dip and it can be made as spicy as you like. This recipe is a bit flasher than most, but is a great party dip or can double as a first course at a casual lunch. I haven’t used any amounts – it depends on the size of your dish! I use a large shallow ceramic dish for this.
Chop a handful of tomatoes into smallish pieces (I don’t deseed them, but you can if you can be bothered), chop a couple of spring onions finely and mix with the tomatoes. Spread in a layer in the dish. Mash a large avocado with a fork and add one clove of minced garlic, one finely chopped red chilli, a couple of tablespoons of chopped coriander leaf, a good pinch of salt, ground black pepper and the juice of half a lemon. Mix all together and spread in a layer over the tomatoes. Stir up a container of light sour cream until smooth and smooth a layer of that over the avocado mixture, then top with grated tasty cheese. Serve with corn chips. Enjoy!
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Hi Amanda, as a boy we often had ‘paddock’ lunches in the shade of a truck or a tree. Mutton and chutney or egg and lettuce sandwiches were followed by fruit cake with cold tea in a ‘Woodies ‘ lemonade bottle in a sock to keep it cool. There was a water bottle and we took salt from a little twist of paper for our boiled eggs or sliced tomatoes. It was always as hot as we might expect in the afterlife! I now need ideas for similar high energy lunches in the paddock out of the box! I always have our pickled olives and often some walnuts in the shell but your ideas for the ‘paddock’ or maybe the office lunchbox might be of interest to others as well.
Always however assume, that the paddock will be as hot as hell or the other extreme of cold.
Your more adventurous readers will no doubt know that it is the crabbing season and whether you catch them at Port Parham or at the central market they are a great buy and a sociable way to experience salty fingers and a bottle of something- more of my boyhood there!
The rain & flooding is sure to effect new & existing crops, many of the vendors were making much to do about it at the Markets over the weekend, so I’m grateful to be able to pick up all the bounty I got, we sure do live in a weather crazy country don’t we.
I don’t really like avocados…except in a really good guacomole! Thanks for the reminder (and the what sounds like a lovely looking- and tasting – version. I love mine with lots of coriander.