To start my day with hand picked figs from our orchard, halved over oats and a good dollop of yoghurt, seems to set things right for whatever the rest of the day holds. Perhaps it’s the fact that such a breakfast is so precious a treat, as any fig grower will know just how fleeting figs are, but a perfectly ripe fig, plump and rubescent, seems to hold a certain enchantment that I never tire of. These recipes will ensure you make the most of fig season while they last! Read the rest...
April 25 2017
News
Anzac Day brings so many varied feelings to the fore for so many, but I always come back to ‘Rosemary for Remembrance’ as my connection to this special day, and in particular to a story about one wounded Digger repatriated to an Adelaide hospital, who in 1915 brought some rosemary home with him from Gallipoli and planted it. The rosemary grew and cuttings were taken to create new plants for a memorial hedge. This hedge now resides in the Waite Arboretum in South Australia, and on Anzac Day you can purchase plants propagated from the original “Gallipoli Rosemary”. For some of us, the connection to this day is more personal, through someone in our immediate family, but for all of us it is a day that sits in our collective history, and serves to remind us of the enormous sacrifice that was made by so many. I love rosemary and never need encouragement to have it at hand in the kitchen, but particularly at this time of year, a bunch of freshly picked rosemary always takes on an extra special meaning for me. -MB Read the rest...
I've always been moved by the emotion behind the creation of the Anzac biscuit. They are a recipe born of love and necessity, a message from wives and mothers to their loved ones at war, little luxuries from home that would have meant so much to their men - it's truly such a lovely story.
-MB
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At the Barons dinner last night and so proud of my daughter Elli who pulled together Saskia's menu, which I thought was perfect. Tiny oyster pies to start with two of my granddaughters, Zoe and Lilly, helping to serve. Then a smoked goose breast and terrine followed by Bollito Misto with my mustard pears and mustard apricots, Saskia's horseradish and a salsa verde. Great night and of course wonderful wines of the Barossa! -MB Read the rest...
Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking. I come back to it time and time again, it really brought to life the possibilities of ‘country’ cooking that led me to many other writings of French country cooking. The opening of imagination that they led to had much to do with my cooking, the making the most of every part of an animal or plant. -MB Read the rest...
