Summer celebrations
Making traditions
With Christmas, Hannukah and Lunar New Year all quickly approaching, summer is the season to come together with family - real or chosen - and celebrate. For many, these special days are all about the food, those traditional, must-be-on-the-menu dishes that are eaten every year to mark the occasion: it could be sufganiyot (donuts) filled with Bubbe’s homemade raspberry jam for Hannukah, date studded nian bao (sticky rice cakes) for Lunar New Year, or even a largely uneaten ambrosia salad (don’t ask) for Christmas.
However, food traditions aren’t just about what you eat, but also the little rituals around how you prepare it, who with and the special customs around eating it. Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a platter of Market-fresh prawns but lining up at 6am with Dad and thermos of tea every Christmas Eve to buy them is just as special (even if you didn’t appreciate the early wake-up call at the time).
For some, their food rituals are an all-hands-on-deck family affair, with a crowded production line, the Beach Boys Christmas Album and 10am mimosas. For others, its solitary time on Christmas Eve after the kids have gone to bed, remembering Nanna as you make her famous trifle and watch It’s a Wonderful Life. The thing that connects them all is taking time to appreciate the journey, not just the destination.
And remember, every ritual had to have it’s very first time. So, if you can, find some time in the chaos of the silly season to start your own – it’s the secret ingredient that makes everything taste that little bit better.
Summer produce
Celebratory essential: new season potatoes
Whether it’s crunchy and fluffy roasties, crispy latkes or an elevated salad (pictured), potatoes are a celebration essential. New potatoes started coming out of the ground in November and will continue to be harvested over January and December. Georgie’s Harvest has just had a delivery of Exton potatoes fresh from the Mornington Peninsula. They’re high in starch which makes them great for roasting but the season is short so they won’t be around for long. If you’re after the perfect salad potato Nicolas are the way to go. These creamy, waxy potatoes are full of flavour and are also delicious just simply boiled in well salted water.
Three ways with new potatoes:
Top boiled new season Nicola potatoes with sour cream and:
- Dill, chopped pistachios, capers
- Parsley, toasted walnuts and finely diced red onion
- Spring onions, coriander and chilli crisp oil
Seasonal splurge: cherries
It’s been a great start to the season and cherries are at the best price they’ve been for a few years. Been invited for dinner and need a last-minute host gift? Forget the cliched box of chocolates, a box of extra-large cherries is the way to make an impression. If you ask Alan at Fruits on Coventry these beauties are best straight from the box but for a twist on the Italian classic, try a spiced cherry tiramisu, or if you have leftover turkey, it’s the perfect easy substitute for duck in these cherry salsa topped tacos.
Unexpected dietaries?
Keep some dark chocolate in the cupboard over the festive season for the unexpected vegan or coeliac who might pop by (the good stuff like this single origin from Atypic is usually already gluten and dairy free but double check the ingredients). Melt the chocolate in the microwave and dip in the cherries (or other fruit of your choice), place on greaseproof paper and pop into the freezer for 5 minutes - or even better, get the kids to do it. It’s an easy sweet treat for those who can’t indulge in dessert.
Abundant bargain: zucchini
Before you skip ahead, Gino from Frank’s Fruit and Veg is on a mission to convince you that zucchini can be so much better than the ratatouille your housemate subjected you to at uni. They’re cheap, quick to prepare and a great source of vitamin C. If Santa brings you an airfryer this year, these parmesan thyme zucchini fries are an easy snack for entertaining. Or pick up some snapper from Gem Pier and serve it with a zucchini ribbon salad - just the antidote you need after Christmas over-indulgence.
Three ways with grilled zucchini:
Top sliced grilled zucchini with salt, oil and:
- Lemon juice, basil, shaved parmesan
- Lime, coriander, crumbly feta
- Sherry vinegar, mint, Manchego
Also in season:
Asparagus (till end December), avocados, green beans, cabbage, capsicum, carrot, celery, corn, cucumber, daikon, eggplant, leek, lettuce, okra, onion, peas, potato, radish, shallot, silverbeet, snow peas, spring onion, squash, sugar snaps, tomato, watercress, zucchinis
apricot, banana, blackberries, blueberries, boysenberries, cantaloupe, cherries, currants, fig, grapefruit, grapes, honeydew, lemon, loganberries, lychee, mango, mulberries, nectarine, passionfruit, peach, plum, pineapple, rambutan, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, tamarillo, watermelon
Photo courtesy of A Better Choicehttps://www.abetterchoice.com.au/