Farmers Market - St Kilda

It's almost Saturday (how funny as I write this Elton John is playing in the back ground singing Saturday) sorry bit off track there but that was worth noting, a strange moment indeed. Now where were we? Yes its almost Saturday which means, the Farmers Markets are on again.

This week, our dedicated farmers set up stalls at the Peanut Farm Reserve, Chaucer Street, St Kilda. The farmers will be there rain, hail or shine from 8:30am - 1:00pm. As we are now officially in Autumn, we are seeing the last of the tomatoes, corn, garlic, stonefruit, cucumbers and berries. And saying a chilly hello to fennel, citrus, quinces, persimmons, rhubarb, pumpkins, nuts, wild mushrooms, apples and pears.

Remember to bring your recycled bags and an appetite for good honest food. See you there, I will be the one with many followers - carrying all my bags of produce ofcourse!!

Tarian Pantry - Encouraging produce buying through local farmers markets.

www.tarianpantry.com.au

Sunday morning fry up

Breakfast is truly the most important meal of the day.

Monday to Saturday the Tarian Pantry team start the day with a beverage of lemon juice and hot water followed by granola and or muesli with fresh fruit. At the moment, papaya and blueberries are gracing our bowls. However come Sunday, we love a good ole fry up!

Fry ups don't need to make your arteries squeal with fear, they can be healthy too. The Sunday just gone, the goodness that made our fry up was:

Steamed spinach

Swiss brown mushrooms cooked in tamari

Vegi deli sausages

Homemade baked beans (basic tomato sauce and cannelloni beans with smoked paprika)

Sourdough sliced bread

We were satisfied until early afternoon when we were ready for the next meal - lunch!

Tarian Pantry - we are all about food!

www.tarianpantry.com.au

Farmers market weekly shop

The Tarian Pantry team have a pretty simple Saturday morning routine:

1) wake up to our body's natural alarm clock

2) Brew the perfect pot of tea

3) Visit the weekly farmers market for fresh local sustainable produce

Every week around Melbourne there are different farmers markets on. Whether they be in the grounds of the Collingwood city farm or the oval in St Kilda you don't need to travel far to purchase 'real' produce. On the third Saturday of every month, the local farmers markets are held in The Gas Works, Albert Park.

Armed with our baskets and bags, we arrive at the markets first thing to stock up the larder. Attached is an image of this week's shop.

On return home, we steamed the silverbeet, roasted the tomatoes, juiced the apples and pears, grated the carrots, steamed the corn and roasted a few potatoes. We are now half way there in the preparation for the week's dinner ahead. Doing small but effective cooking prep will ensure you eat well during the week and reduce the time it takes to prepare a healthy and nutritious meal.

www.tarianpantry.com.au

Soup Saturday

On our weekly visit to the Farmers Markets (this week we visited the Gas Works, Albert Park) we came across Pine Mushrooms. Instantly our taste buds imaged thyme as the perfect match to these mushrooms so this ingredient along with the mushrooms are the base for our soup.

Pine mushroom soup (serves 4 – 6)

Ingredients

350g fresh pine mushrooms, thickly sliced


2 tablespoon olive oil


1 tablespoon nuttalex


2 leeks, thinly sliced


1 brown onion, roughly chopped


1 garlic clove, roughly chopped


1.5 litres (6 cups) vegetable stock


3 sprigs fresh thyme
, stalks removed

150ml (2/3 cup) soy milk


salt and freshly ground black pepper


Method

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan. Add the sliced leeks, chopped onion and garlic and cook gently for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened.

Add sliced mushrooms to the pan. Stir over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until they begin to soften.

Pour in the stock and bring to the boil and then add thyme and seasoning. Simmer gently for 30 minutes over a low heat stirring occasionally. Using a hand blender or food processor, process the soup until smooth. If using a food processor, return the soup to the saucepan and stir in the soy milk. Heat until boiling; add more stock or soy milk for creamier texture if the soup is too thick.

Taste for seasoning. Serve hot.

Pine Mushrooms grow from April and last throughout Autumn and Winter. Due to the cold temperatures and high rainfall, they started growing a month earlier (no complaints from us).

www.tarianpantry.com.au

The Tarian Garden

Over the past few months, the Tarian Pantry team have been turning our thumbs green! Starting small, we are learning the tricks of the trade starting, growing and harvesting our own vegetable & herb garden. Bringing food back to basics is what we are about, eating in season, eating local and eating the 'fruits of your crop' are what we encourage.

After a few sunny days in Melbourne over the summer months, the vitamin D has graced our tomatoes and they are now turning red - no green tomato chutney for the team then. Here are a few images of our one red tomato - we are now waiting on 7 others to do the same (in the picture is the Tarian team's cat, Stan - handsome we know!).

We will blog further about our garden and what we are growing, hopefully our words and images will give inspiration to all.

www.tarianpantry.com.au