Food With Friends – a festive occasion

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apples, asparagus, blue cheese, Chefs, Cook Books, Cooking Through The Seasons, Cooks, eggs, feta cheese, food and drink, Food Blogs, Food Writing, garden salad, Lifestyle, olives, paoched eggs, potatoes, Prawns, red onion, roses champain, salad leaves, Spices, steamed rice, tarts, Tomato sauce, tomatoes, Vegetarian, vinaigrette

December brought with it the usual joy of sharing meals and enjoying quality time with family and friends. Keeping things simple yet festive was as always high on my list of priorities; these are some of my favourites dishes served this season.

For Christmas day

Prawns in spicy tomato sauce, served with steamed rice and a garden salad

Under the sway of the palms

Asparagus, red onion and blue cheese tart

Simple but fabulous warm Potato slices and olives, tossed together in an anchovy and garlic vinaigrette served with slivers of tuna and topped with a poached egg.

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What’s In Season For August

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Apple, apples, Asian greens, avocado, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprout, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, Carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, Chefs, Chicory, cumquats, fennel, food and drink, Foodblog, Fruit, garlic, ginger, grapefruit, horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lemons, limes, mandarins, Nettle, Nettles, okra, olives, onions, oranges, papaya, parsnips, pineapple, potatoes, pumpkin, recipe, rhubarb, Seasonal produce, shallots, silverbeet, spinach, swede, sweet potato, turnip, Vegetable, Vegetables, witlof

It’s hard to believe that we are just a few days away from the month of August. In my garden shrubs and trees are sprouting new growth and last season’s spinach which I had not removed has regrown without much prompting and is looking healthy and lush. The nettles too are doing well in this garden.

Nettles are incredibly nutritious, they establish themselves anywhere where in soil with high fertility, on banks of river beds, near trees and within the vegetable patch. Yes they sting like mad and one needs gloves when picking, but the application of heat when cooking removes all trace of stinging hairs. Cook the nettles as you would spinach. The flavour is slightly stronger than that of spinach and is a lovely substitute to use in the classic spinach and ricotta gnocchi or for a lovely leek and nettle sauté.

When selecting fruit and vegetables, it is best as always to buy where ever possible, locally produced and what is in season to ensure the benefit of maximum flavour and nutrition from your fruit and vegetables.

Here is a guide for produce to look for in August.

Fruit:

Apples, cumquats, grapefruit, lemons, limes, mandarins, oranges, papaya, pineapple, rhubarb,…

Vegetables:

Asian greens, avocado, beetroot, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, fennel, garlic, ginger, horseradish, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, kohlrabi, leek, okra, olives, onions, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkin, shallots, silverbeet, spinach, swede, sweet potato, turnip, witlof…