"The Place to Find Great Food, Products & Services"

WHAT'S IN SEASON?

Fresh Wasabi Leaves from Tasmania. Look out for them at Prahran Markets or available online from Shima Wasabi (Tasmania) who will deliver Australia-wide.

Food takes on a very different focus in Winter. Even when the sun is shining, it's still cold so what we put on our plates needs to be comforting and warming. This weekend at the markets we picked up pumpkins to make soup, a gorgeous piece of eye fillet & some very tender chuck steak from Ballantine Estate in the Wootton Valley. The chuck steak was promptly prepared into Guillaume Brahimi's Boeuf Bourguignon recipe from Maeve O'Meara's Food Safari Cookbook.

Crispy beans and kiplfler potatoes were consistenly good. The Dutch carrots are very sweet, the leeks still firm and sweet, depending on how you cook them. I like to to start them in a pan with a little oil & butter at high temperature for a few minutes. I then put in good amount of chicken stock and simmer the leeks for about 10 minutes until the stock is absorbed and reduced.

There's still pleny of rhubarb around (see our recipe), and citrus fruit and apples are in abundance. The oranges are particularly nice for juicing or eating whole, as are mandarins.

Carmello Ocello's Cheese & Bread counter's at the Entertainment Quarter Markets continue to delight us. We purchased a smooth Buffalo Cheese and a Tasty Goat's cheese which go beautifully with a fig paste or one of their gourmet spreads.

I like to check out what other food sites are saying, and experiment with their recipes. SBS Food has a lot of information and recipes, as do many others.

Jamie McDonald from Fratelli Fresh in Danks Street Waterloo does a comprehenisve Market Update of what's available on the Fruit & Veg scene, telling us what's good, in abundance and/or expensive. See his list. And, if you haven't done any of their cooking courses, do yourself a favour and book in for either a free course, or a paid one. It's a great place to learn and use excellent produce.

Dave from Harris Farm Markets says: 13/7/10 "Vegetables continue to be in good supply. Beans, corn, cauliflower, zucchini, English spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, snow peas and parsnips.

The broccoli at the moment coming out of Queensland is fantastic quality and exceptional eating. Fast approaching the peak of the season, broccoli is excellent value. Look for plenty of special opportunities in the shops this week.

The tomato of the week is undoubtedly the Roma or egg tomatoes.". .. read more

Tomatoes of all varieties are in abundance with a large selection of Roma, Heirloom, cherry and vine ripened. It's a great time to make roasted tomato soup or a lovely Roast Tomatoes with Raisins & Fetta recipe we found in Gourmet Traveller a few months ago. It goes beautifully with a slow roast lamb or beef. See recipe

If you missed Sydney Morning Herald's Good Living Robin Powell gives us a few ideas (22/6/10) with brocolli, broccolini, truffles, tangelo, brussel sprouts, capsicum, lemons ... read more

Check these websites for more info:

NEWS SNIPPETS & FAVOURITE PRODUCTS..
Jamie Oliver speaks out on Obesity & Disease. More importantly, offers achieveable solutions and actions that can be taken. See video ..

Are you game to try the latest coffee? News has been floating around for a few months about Kopi luwak or Civet Coffee which is supposedly the Dom Perignon of coffees. Where it comes from is 'interesting' to say the least. Read more by visiting oneIndonesian website supplying the product. In Australia Forsyth's Sydney Cafe has been stocking & serving it for a few years.

For those who really love to eat, or just read about it, check out the Jenius list of Australia's Top 100 Food Twitterers. Read more And, the top 50 Australian Food Blogs Read more

African Farming Project: Resourceful refugees grow many products new to the Australian Palate. Their products are becoming popular with shoppers in the Hawkesbury and in western Sydney, and are on sale at growers markets in Penrith on the first Saturday of each month, Richmond - 2nd Saturday, and Parramatta on the 3rd and 4th Saturday. read recent SMH article

It's good to see 3 Amigo's Coffee getting coverage in the Sydney Morning Herald's Good Living section. Ivan Lay and Linda Chong are at EQ Village market twice a week brewing delectable coffee for all to enjoy. Over the years, we too have noticed the queues getting longer, which means they're developing a strong following. We've been drinking their coffee for years, and I find their Decaf to be very palatable. read arcticle

Foodie website with a similar philosphy to ours has just launched. Foodo is an online Gourmet food market which sells the products of local growers and producers, leaving them to do what they do best and love most. read more.

Look out for smoked trout & yellowfin tuna that appear to have been kept a secret from some us until recently. We stumbled across this article in the Sydney Morning Herald (Good Living) and I'm heading up to Harris Farm or Thomas Dux to see if I can buy some - to include in my homemade salads and sushi, of course ! More stockists are referenced in the SMH article.

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WHAT DO WE DO?
Our aim is to help you find good products that you can share at home with friends and family. You might buy them or cook them yourself. Or, you may have a caterer do it all for you. See About Us for more info.

HEALTHY EATING
Not sure what you should be eating if you exercise a lot? Here are some suggestions ..

WHAT'S ON?

• Costa's (edible) Garden - Thursdays - 8.00 pm
  
• See more of the many Free to Air programs & recipes at SBS
• Check out the official Masterchef Website & watch it on Channel Ten on 7.30 pm Sunday to Friday
• See more free to air TV programs and let us know about your favourites so we can add them to the list
  
  

WHO'S TALKING ABOUT WHAT?
Don't forget to regularly check our Food Blog links. For example ..

• Alice Mentiplay of Vic Food Trails has a field to table approach on her coverage of produce grown and marketed in Victoria.
• Dave at Harris Farm does a regular market update
• Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks is forever offering new recipes
• Lorraine Elliott, AKA "Not Quite Nigella" offers a visual and verbal foodie feast on a daily basis
  

WHO ARE WE ...

We are a gateway for foodies to find products, growers, markets, suppliers, outlets, cooking schools or maybe someone to cook for you.