Our local seafood is just as seasonal as fruit and vegetables!

What swims around in our local waters is more prolific at different times of the year.

This informative evening will highlight what is available and in good supply at the local Sydney Fish Market and local seafood suppliers around town in May. There will be the opportunity to try your skills at preparing and cooking different varieties and then to enjoy a shared table of prepared dishes with local wines.

Our presenter is the experienced Brigid Treloar who has been a freelance food consultant for over 20 years. The author of eight cookbooks, many of them translated into other languages, she also contributes to newspapers and magazines, reviews restaurants and judges cookery and recipe competitions. She has made many TV appearances and can often be heard discussing food on the radio. Brigid has presented specialist cooking classes in Sydney, interstate and overseas and is an educator at the Sydney Seafood School. Brigid advises many of Australia’s food companies on product and recipe development, food styling and photography and provides recipes and cooking information for company websites.

As we sample Krinklewood’s biodynamic 2009 Verdelho, we’ll learn how to prepare some very simple and delicious recipes:
Char-grilled local Squid with salt and pepper seasoning
Chermoula Sea Mullet Fillets
Pink Ling Skewers with Wasabi Mayonnaise

We’re excited to include Iain Suthers, a Professor in the School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences at UNSW, and now based at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science. Iain has published over seventy papers and book chapters on a variety of marine subjects concerning fisheries and oceanography, including a recent book on plankton. Plankton is the base on which the entire ocean food chain rests. Iain will tell us about the growth rate of fish as the key to sustainable fisheries, as well as the work of SIMS and ocean climate.

There will be Pukara Estate olive oils to try and Steve Jones of Broken Bay Oysters will be telling us all about this important local seafood species.

The evening is held at the Electrolux Kitchen Showroom which gives you the great opportunity to browse and test some of the newest cook tops and ovens.

When: Thursday, May 06, 2010 from 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Where: Electrolux Kitchen Showroom , 163 O’Riordan Street,  Mascot,  2020 Sydney.  View map.

Cost: $50 members, $55 non members, $35 students and pensioners. For bookings.

via Nature Conservation Council of NSW website

Dead Sharks ain’t Art

An arts event and auction raising funds to stop all forms of shark slaughter. Threatened and endangered sharks are killed for their fins off the coast of Australia in huge numbers. Already 90% of the world’s sharks have been wiped out.
Join the Nature Conservation Council of NSW for an evening of good company and bid on some amazing auction items, including specially commissioned artworks and a weekend scuba diving trip for two.

All money raised will go towards the NCC’s work to get  increase protection for sharks

When: 6.30pm – 9.30pm, Tuesday 11 May, 2010

Where: Mori Gallery, 168 Day Street, Sydney

Drinks * Nibbles * Guest speakers * Raffle * Live and silent auction & much more …

Limited capacity – please RSVP by Friday  May 7
Ph. 02 9279 2466  or email: marinevol@nccnsw.org.au

Twelve years ago, with five acres in the Hawkesbury foothills, two goats and a book, Karen and David Borg swapped the corporate life for that of cheese maker and farmer.  At Willowbrae Chévre Cheese Farm, David now runs 100 goats and Karen makes enough fresh specialist cheeses to supply growers markets in and around Sydney.

I found Karen and her eldest daughter Kate where you’ll see them every Saturday, at the Eveleigh undercover markets in Darlington adjacent to CarriageWorks.  A fabulous display of curd cheeses, some freshly made the previous day, a few flavoured with tomato, olive or pepper, others marinated and some matured.  The newest treats on offer are lemon marinated chevre balls rolled in peppercorns. Sensational on a cheese board or tossed through salad.

Apart from wanting to leave her previous career in land development, Karen was attracted to the idea of raising goats for two main reasons, “Not only can you successfully run enough goats on a relatively small piece of farm land  - goats eat less and as browsers, occupy less grazing land than cows – there was also a noticeable shortage of goat’s cheese in the market and what was available, was imported and expensive”.

Although having been a huge fan of their cheese for a while now, I’d never had a nose for goat’s milk and assumed Willowbrae would have that typical strong musky taste.  But it was surprisingly sweet and fresh and without that twang you may expect.

“You need good quality goats to have good quality milk and cheese.  We are often told it is running the buck with the herd that will bring on the musky flavour but it’s actually all in the goat’s diet and how the milk is handled, such as keeping it chilled so that the relatively high omega 3 fatty acid content does not go rancid.”

“As browsers”, says Karen, “goats thrive on a varied diet and have an incredible ability to know what they need and where to find it.  As well as having access to grasses, branches, lucerne and meadow grasses hay and herbs, our neighbours have also taken to throwing fallen trees and clippings over the fence for them.  They especially like rose prunings and willow tree.”  However, there are some things, eucalyptus for example, they are not allowed for whatever they eat affects the flavour of their milk and therefore the cheese.

In Australia we may consider goat’s milk as an alternative to cow’s, but worldwide far more people drinks goat’s than cow’s milk.  Goat’s milk is believed to more be more easily digestible than cow’s milk.  It is naturally homogenised and therefore needs less processing, is higher in Omega 3 fatty acids and tends to be tolerated by those who react adversely to the highly processed cow’s milk.

When asked if Karen ever looks back and wonders how she came to be one of Sydney’s premier chévre cheese makers, she did admit she wonders “why” sometimes.  ”Being a farmer is a full-time, 365 days a year job.  There’s no taking the day off for Christmas, Easter for birthdays.  There’s no concept of leaving work at the end of the day for a farmer.”  Karen does however brighten again as she explains, “You have to have a passion for what you do”.  Judging by the end product, it is clear the Borg family is sincerely passionate about their goats and cheese making.

Willowbrae cheese and milk is available from the following markets

Every Saturday                        Organic Food Market, Lilyfield

Everleigh Markets, Darlington

1st Saturday of the month    SMH Produce Market, Pyrmont

2nd Saturday of the month  Hawkesbury Harvest Markets, Castle Hill

3rd Saturday of the month   Northside Produce Markets, North Sydney

Every Sunday                           French’s Forest Markets

1st Sunday of the month      Avoca Markets

2nd Sunday of the month    Blackheath Grower’s Market

Every Wednesday                  Fox Studio Markets, Moore Park

Pears are plentiful. William pears are still available along with new season Packham and Beurru Bosc pears.  Select firm, mature pears and ripen at room temperature or cook while still firm.

There is a great selection of crisp, new season apples now available ranging from Bonza, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious and Jonathon,

Other early Autumn fruits include Persimmons Pomegranates Quinces Rhubarb Banana Grapefruit Grapes Kiwifruit Figs and Lemon.

Try new season fennel raw, finely sliced and tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and black pepper.

Most mushrooms are farmed in climate controlled sheds but you can still find full-flavoured wild varieties at markets.  Better still, learn where and how to forage for your own via the Oberon Visitors Centre 6329-8210.  Remember though, if in doubt, throw it out!                                                                                                                    

Also keep an eye out for fresh  Artichoke Silverbeet/Swiss Chard celeriac Olives Pumpkin Beanshoots Broccoli Carrot Cauliflower Potato Turnip

Guinea Fowl Hare Partridge Pheasant

Almonds, Chestnuts & Walnuts all of which are grown in our own Blue Mountains. Chestnuts have a sweet taste and can be boiled, baked, grilled or roasted. Choose those that feel heavy for their size.

All round the Mediterranean, there’s a version of this dish, using some combination of old and new world vegetables like aubergine, capsicum, garlic, potato and tomato. The French call it ratatouille; the Italians peperonata; the Tunisians mechouis.  The Mallorquins add potato and call it tumbet.  To my mind, and in this version, it’s the pick of the bunch and ideal for autumn in the Hawkesbury, when all the ingredients are close to hand.

Ingredients

Equal quantities of…  red peppers, aubergines and potatoes for frying

Tomatoes for saucing, garlic (as much as a head of peeled cloves), onions, fresh thyme or dried oregano, a slurp of red wine and enough oliver oil for medium deep frying.

Method

First, make your tomato sauce by slicing onions and fry in oil until soft and transparent.  Skin and dice tomatoes and add to onions.  To about 12 tomatoes and two onions, add the peeled, whole cloves of garlic.  Slurp in the red wine and simmer slowly, grinding in black pepper to taste.  You want to reduce it to three quarters in volume, a thick dark sauce.

Next, cut the aubergines into 1cm thick rounds, salt and leave for 30 minutes.  Cut the capsicum into broad 8cm long strips.  Slice the potatoes into 1cm thick rounds.

Pour a good dollop of oliver oil into the bottom of a heavy wide pan, preferably earthenware or cast iron, and when hot enough, fry first the potato then the rinsed and dried aubergine slices, then the capsicums.

Drain each on kitchen paper and arrange in layers in another deeper earthenware dish for the oven: first the potato then aubergine and finally capsicums.

Just before taking the sauce off, stir in a herbs and pour over the vegetables.  Bake in medium oven for 20 minutes.

Variations – use sweet potato or turnip instead of potato or substitute torn fresh basil for other suggested herbs.

Eat with crusty bread and olive oil and a homely red or a cool light red in summer

Also delicious cold

Once a year, for about two weeks in October, the Mallorquins catch a fish called Ilampuga (here in Australia, mahi mahi would substitute) for this firm, sweet fleshed oily fish which is served baked with the tumbet.  Also try it with a slab of reef fish like red emperor or a tuna steak.