fruit

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Review: Off to the Market – Alice Oehr

Off to the Market

Alice Oehr

Scribble Kids Books

ISBN:9781925849790

Description:

Sunday is market day. We are looking for pumpkin, apples, eggs, and bread. What else will we find? Where did it come from? And what will we make with it?

Learn all about produce in this delightful child’s tour of a food market, full of fun facts, delicious new discoveries, and charming characters.

A loving ode to the people who bring food to our table and connection to our community, from acclaimed artist Alice Oehr.

My View:

A prefect first reader! This book of bold bright colours with eye catching stylised images is the prefect book for your first readers
(or bubs who sit on your laps as you read and point out) and talk about the markets, fruits and vegetables, shopping. Great for discussions about colours, shapes, counting, and general language development.

I do love the colour pop and the stylised images! Your little one will love it too.

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Review: Fruit, Recipes That Celebrate Nature – Bernadette Worndl

fruit-9781925418446

Fruit
Recipes that Celebrate Nature
Bernadette Worndl
Smith Street Books
Simon & Schuster Australia
ISBN: 9781925418446
RRP $55

Description:
We often associate fruit in recipes with jams, cakes and puddings – but fruit can be an incredible complement to savoury dishes too. Adding blackberries to a duck breast and chard recipe or caramelised pears to a pork and sage recipe can create an amazing dish. This book shows you how to make the most of out the fruit that’s in season – whether the dishes are sweet or savoury.

The seasonal arrangement of the recipes and the use of a wide array of fruit varieties, supplemented by citrus and dried fruits, make this book a kitchen staple that promises to be used again and again. The more than 70 recipes in the book include Roast pork with apples, Tagliatelle with mushrooms and blackberries and Chicken with balsamic cherries and cauliflower cream.

 

My View:
What a delectable book! I confess that I cannot wait for the summer fruits (cherries, peaches, nectarines, plums, apricots etc.) to be ready to be enjoyed. When fruit, any fruit, is in season, I find as many ways to use as possible. I preserve – make jams, marmalades, chutneys. I freeze, bottle, dry. I stew, make fruit salad, fruit “ice cream”, bake in tarts, pies, muffins… add fruit to salads, eat as is. Rarely have I thought to add fruit to savoury meals, except for the traditional cooked apple with roast pork, Bernadette Worndl celebrates the joy of fruit in ways I had not thought but cannot wait to try.

Pick up a copy of this book and you will be delighted with the range of traditional and creative recipe inside the cover. And now is the perfect time to think about creating that perfect homemade gift for the coming festive season; who doesn’t like to receive a gift made with care and love? A homemade cake, tart, jam or preserve or even something to sip on those hot summer nights; Blueberry liquor sounds just what I might need.

Fruit, Recipes that Celebrate Nature is a perfect gift for the home cook or your own kitchen library.

fruit-9781925418446

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Apricot and Peach Fruit Wine: Ferment – Holly Davis

Ferment cover

Ferment

Holly Davis

Murdoch Books 

ISBN: 9781743368671

 

Images and recipes from Ferment by Holly Davis (Murdoch Books, RRP $45) Photography by Ben Dearnley.

 

apricot and peach fruit wine
first fermentation

Apricot and Peach Fruit Wine

“Here is a sweet, slightly alcoholic fruit wine ideal for those hot summer days. Choose seasonal, ripe and semi-ripe fruits with some acidity, which will improve the mix. ” p. 84

Makes 3 litres (105 fl oz/12 cups) Ready in 4–6 days

 

660 g (1 lb 7 oz/3 cups) raw sugar

1 litre (35 fl oz/4 cups) lightly brewed black tea

2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) ripe unblemished peaches, stones removed and quartered

2 kg (4 lb 8 oz) ripe unblemished apricots, stones removed and quartered

2 litres (70 fl oz/8 cups) filtered water

 

Combine the sugar and strained tea in a non-reactive bowl, stirring to dissolve the sugar completely. Take a wide, deep crock or bowl, which will hold the fruit leaving stirring space, and add the fresh peaches and apricots. Pour the sweet tea over the fruit and stir in the water.

capture Cover with a clean tea towel (dish towel) and leave in a cool spot for 4–5 days. As frequently as possible, during each day (5–6 times or more), stir the liquid using a wooden spoon to create a swirling vortex, then change direction and repeat. (Stirring this way helps to draw air into the liquid and encourages yeast activity.)

At day 3 or 4 the mix should be bubbling, and around day 6 or so it should seriously bubble and froth. Keep stirring and smelling for another couple of days, watching to see when the froth subsides, indicating that fermentation has slowed right down. Trust your nose; if it smells fruity and delectable don’t wait for it to improve, move to the next stage. Strain the mix through a fine-mesh sieve set over a bowl, pressing as much of the liquid from the fruit as possible. Decant the strained fruit wine into swing-top bottles and chill in the fridge.

This is best consumed within 1–2 weeks. Open daily to avoid overly boisterous effervescence.

 

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Post Script: The Good Carbs Cook Book – Dr Alan Barclay, Kate McGhie & Philippa Sandall

Good Carbs Cookbook

The Good Carbs Cook Book

Dr Alan Barclay, Kate McGhie, Philippa Sandall

Murdoch Books

ISBN: 9781743368169

 

Description:

100+ simple, delicious and satisfying recipes to keep you feeling fuller for longer.

Good carbs are essential. They supply the feel-good, taste-good fuel to keep you strong, boost your energy and help you stay healthy.

 

The Good Carbs Cookbook helps you choose the best fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, lentils, seeds, nuts and grains and explains how to use them in 100 refreshingly nourishing recipes to enjoy every day, for breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner and dessert. The recipes have short ingredients lists, are easy to prepare, quick to cook, long in flavour and full of sustaining goodness, so you feel fuller for longer. There is a nutritional analysis for each recipe and there are tips and helpful hints for the novice, nervous, curious or time-starved cook.

 

 

My View:

This book celebrates the notion “Eat foods made from ingredients you can picture in their raw state or growing in nature.”(p.9 Michael Pollan) and if you adopt this principle you cannot go wrong as Dr Alan Barclay, Kate McGhie and Philippa Sandall demonstrate.

 

This book is full of useful advice, tips on cooking, storing, nutritional information on the featured ingredients and its “hero” recipes. In the introduction Barclay et al list 10 Things they “Love About Good Wholesome Carb Foods” – let me share that information with you:

  1. We love the way they power the brain.
  2. We love the way they fuel the body.
  3. We love the energy they give.
  4. We love the good stuff (vitamins and minerals) that comes with them.
  5. We love their keep-it-regular fibre habit.
  6. We love preparing meals for family and friends with them.
  7. We love traditional foods they put on a plate.
  8. We love the variety and pleasure they bring to the table.
  9. We love the way they feed the world.
  10. We love their lighter footprint on the planet.

 

 

I heartily agree with all of the points mentioned above. This book ticks all my home cooking needs and more (particularly points 6 and 8).  I can’t wait to try out some of the recipes here and to share some of the recipes with you. This book is a keeper.

 

 

 

 

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Post Script: Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit in Australia – Matthew Biggs, Jekka McVicar and Bob Flowerdew

complete-book-of-vegetables-herbs-and-fruit-in-australia-9781925456080_lg

Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs and Fruit in Australia

Matthew Biggs, Jekka McVicar and Bob Flowerdew

Simon & Schuster Australia

ISBN: 9781925456080

 

 Description:

Encyclopaedic in scope, The Complete Book of Vegetables, Herbs & Fruit in Australia is the definitive sourcebook for growing, harvesting and cooking your own fresh produce at home.

 

Featuring over 100 different herbs, 70 vegetables and 100 fruits, this magnificent guide will help, encourage and inspire novices and experienced gardeners alike. The coverage is phenomenal – from growing tomatoes throughout the year, to the great variety of potatoes you can grow in your own backyard, and there are herbs that can be grown in even the smallest of spaces.

 

Written with Australian consultants for Australian conditions with lavish illustrations and information that is easy to read and find, every gardener can discover the origins of plants, how they were named, their medicinal, cosmetic and culinary uses, and most importantly, how to cultivate the right plant to ensure a bumper crop. This is a real must-have for every gardener or cook.

 

 

My View:

If you are interested in having a home vegetable garden, or even an orchard or herb garden then this book is for you!  If you buy one gardening book this year – for yourself or as a gift –buy this one- you will have all your needs met in this one book!  (And this makes a great coffee table book for those who don’t have green thumbs).  J

 

This is a great resource – divided into useful easy to read sections

 

Vegetables A-Z

 

Herbs A – Z

 

Fruits –

Orchard fruits

Soft, Bush and Cane fruits

Tender Fruits

Tropical and Sub Tropical Fruits

Shrub and Flower Garden Fruits

Nuts

And

Practical Gardening tips.

 

With real life (plant) images, information on varieties, cultivation, propagation, harvesting, pests and diseases, culinary uses and a recipe or two relating to the individual plant – all the information you need is here to get started.

Start planning your garden today and remember to feed the bees – plant blue and purple flowering plants and herbs and you will have a bee friendly garden in return the bees will happily pollinate your crops for you!

 

 

 

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Yellow Peach Crunch: Baby Pip Eats – Amie Harper

Baby Pip Eats

Recipes and Images from Baby Pip Eats by Amie Harper (Murdoch Books) available in all bookshops and online.

YELLOW PEACH CRUNCH

Y IS FOR YELLOW PEACH

 

eat me from: 7–8 months (once chewing developed)
Source of: DIETARY FIBRE, VITAMIN A & C

Serves: 1 BABY AND 2 ADULTS FOR BREAKFAST

 

Steam 3 halved and de-stoned yellow peaches in a steamer for 5 minutes or until soft. Remove the peaches from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Place a peach half into each bowl, top with natural yoghurt and muesli (granola), then top with
another peach half and more yoghurt and muesli. Serve and enjoy immediately.

 

Yellow Peach Crunch

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Post Script: Real Delicious – Chrissy Freer

Nutrition and flavour are not sacrificed when making any of these recipes.

Real Delicious Cover

Real Delicious

Chrissy Freer

Murdoch Books

ISBN: 9781743365960

 

Description:

Whatever happened to eating real food? In a world of fasts and fads, whirlwind diets and mealtime anxiety, isn’t it time we took back the joy of eating real, whole food and enjoyed the good health, energy and glowing vitality that can go with that? We only need to look at the increasing incidence of diabetes, food intolerances, allergies and digestive irritations and disorders to see that whatever it is we’re doing to our food, it’s not agreeing with us…In Real Delicious, Chrissy Freer will show you how quick, easy, satisfying and invigorating it is to cook and eat real food. These are simply delicious recipes to share with family and friends for your whole life…Eat real, eat well and love it!

 

 

My View:

This recipe book matches my cooking/eating preferences exactly! Give me real food any day – meals made with fresh produce, made with flavour and encompassing ingredients from the wide spectrum available to us – nutrition and flavour are not sacrificed when making any of these recipes.

 

The book is helpfully divided into chapters –

Grains

Legumes

Meat and Tofu

Eggs, Seeds and Nuts

From the Vegetable Patch

From the Sea

From the Dairy

From the Orchard

 

The recipes are easy to follow and easy to make – successes are guaranteed. What I love the most aside from the helpful descriptions/discussion regarding ingredients/nutrition under each chapter and the chapter dedicated to From The Vegetable Patch (this was always going to be a favourite for me) is the design and layout of the book; beautiful images (I love to see how a finished recipe should look /be presented) and ingredients are listed in order of use in the recipe. I cannot emphasis how important this listing of ingredients is – so many times this experienced home cook has made the mistake of getting almost to the end of a recipe to discover I have missed something out /or I am out of step with the addition of the ingredients – it make so much sense to list the ingredients in the order of their use – why don’t all cook books follow this simple rule?

 

This is the book to have on your recipe shelf!