Overindulgence eventually gets to all of us

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Overindulgence eventually gets to all of us and my limit has definitely been reached. All the festive season entertaining followed by a 40^th birthday celebration this week-end brought me to seeking something simple and more gentle on the constitution.

For lunch my focus was the lovely organic sweet potatoes that I picked up at the fresh produce market: these I baked in the oven, sliced into rounds and arranged on a plate with some rocket leaves, crumbled over some goat’s cheese feta and dressed with balsamic vinegar, walnut oil and a sprinkle of fresh lemon juice. Served with a zesty wine it was just perfect.

The left over sweet potato made an equally delicious breakfast, this time served on a toasted baguette, spread with horseradish paste followed by sliced sweet potatoes, crumbled feta, balsamic and walnut dressing, a sprinkle of fresh lime juice, seasoned with black pepper and salt flakes. Yummy!

Both of the following make lovely light lunches, brunches or in smaller portions could be served as a starter.

Sweet potato, goat’s cheese & Rocket Salad

Ingredients/Method:

Baked sweet potato slices, crumbled goat’s feta served on rocket leaves, dressed with balsamic and walnut oil, drizzle over fresh lemon juice and season with black pepper and salt flakes. 

A different way

Sweet Potato, Horseradish & Goats cheese Baguette

Ingredients/Method:

On half a toasted baguette, spread some horseradish paste, top with slices of baked sweet potato, crumble over some goats feta and drizzle with balsamic and walnut oil and a sprinkle of fresh lime juice. Season with black pepper and salt flakes.

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Eat, Taste, Shop & Experience the best produce and flavours in season

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Eat, taste, shop and experience the best produce and flavours now in season.

Produce In Season for November

Goats’ cheeses are particularly good at this time of the year due to the lushness of the pastures and good green grass and forage in their diet; as a consequence their milk takes on an extra sweetness in flavour. The goats also kid during this time resulting in milk with higher and richer buttermilk content.

I love to serve fresh chèvre seasoned with flowering herbs, nasturtium and other edible organic flowers, drizzled with good olive oil, a sprinkling of salt flakes and a grind of pepper and some good country bread. Delicious!

Mangoes are readily available too and will be great until the end of summer. Look for unblemished fruit with no black spots. When ripe you should be able to smell the sweetness through the skin, they should feel soft but not mushy and still have some firmness.

In my kitchen herb garden, Basil, one of my favourite herbs and so evocative of summer is looking great. One of the nicest things to do with a fresh bunch of Basil is to make pesto, crushed in a mortar and pestle with pine nuts, add some grated parmesan, then drizzle in extra virgin olive oil and sometimes when serving with pasta, I do what they do in Genoa and add a little bit of butter. The pesto mixed with a little of the salty cooking water of the pasta, then tossed together with the drained pasta, is superb.

when you have an abundance of fresh Basil, it can be chopped up and covered with olive oil, it keeps remarkably well this way and is handy for use in cooking and for flavouring and is certainly better this way than using the dried option.

At the organic markets you can find lovely white asparagus, it has a beautiful delicate flavour and has long been considered a delicacy of Europe. It is the same species as the green, just grown without sunlight.  I love to serve white asparagus with poached eggs topped with a gremolata of sourdough breadcrumbs, garlic, flat leaf parsley and some lemon zest.

Also in season are:

Fruit

Asian greens, avocados, bananas, berries, cherries gooseberries, grapefruit, lychees, melons, passion fruit, papaya, pineapple oranges, strawberries

Vegetables / herbs

Artichokes, beans, carrots, celery, chervil, chillies, cilantro, cucumbers, fennel, garlic, lettuce, onions, oregano, parsley peas, potatoes, radishes, rocket, sage, silver beet spinach, sweet corn, tomatoes, tarragon, Thyme, zucchini flowers