August 2022
Hello and welcome to the first edition of Our Seasons!
Over the next 8 days, you will be introduced to some beautiful producers and their produce as we make our way along the Our Seasons Winter Market Trail, finishing next Friday with a fun recipe you’ll be able to make from the fresh, seasonal ingredients grown and made by this month’s featured producers.
All of the ingredients will be available at our next Wangaratta Farmers Market on Saturday, 13 August, starting bright and early at 8am!
By way of introduction
To briefly introduce myself… my name is Jes Myers.
I am a co-owner of Edible Alchemy. We create handmade preserves and are still market newbies with just six under our belt.
I’ve been a chef for 20 years, working around Australia & the world, in most types & sizes of venues. Great restaurants, hatted restaurants, Michelin starred restaurants, industrial catering, pubs, cafes, bars…I’ve managed to fall into a little bit of everything. And I’ve been lucky to work with incredibly skilled & passionate chefs. That’s one of the connections for me and the farmers market, these guys are passionate about what they make and grow. It’s an energy I love to be around.
Our access, to not just great local produce in the North East but access to the actual humans growing the produce – makes – cooking – so – eeeeasy. They will passionately tell you about what’s happening in the garden, what tastes great, what’s coming next and my favourite “You’ve got to try this weird thing I grew”… It definitely keeps you creative in the kitchen.
These are the people you’ll get to meet at the Wangaratta Farmers Market, they are always ready to share tips on what they make or grow and are a gold mine of interesting stories.
So join me on Our Seasons Winter Market Trail over the next 8 days so I can introduce you to them!
Trail Stops…
This month we’re highlighting five products and the great producers behind them.
The featured ingredients we’re looking for are;
- Pickled onions at Bucks Hill Farm
- Orange amaretti at Joya Fine Foods
- Smoked trout & salmon roe at Mountain Fresh Trout & Salmon Farm
- Ruby red grapefruit at Cherrytime Orchard
- Free-range eggs collected at Sprockets Eggs & Pullets
You’ll also need these ingredients for the final recipe.
See how many you can find at the Wangaratta Farmers Market!
- Carrots
- Kale
- Honey
- Oil
- Apple cider vinegar
- Hot sauce
- Garlic
- Salt & pepper
- Some soft herbs (parsley, chives, basil, dill – whichever you like best)
- Chocolate
- Cream
- Sugar
Stop 1: Bucks Hill Farm
First stop on the Our Season Winter Market Trail is to see brother and sister, Kristy and Rob from Bucks Hill Farm.
The humble pickled onion maybe a market staple but don’t miss out on Rob’s Pub Style Pickled Onions.
This sweet, crunchy, snacking onion with a malt vinegar tang is best accompanied by a beer – ‘pub style’!
I think the perfect way to include them in this month’s recipe is as mini pickled blooming onions!
Never heard of a blooming onion?
You cut an onion so it opens like a flower, crumb and deep fry them… so good.
This is a complete indulgence, and definitely worth the effort.
But if you’re pressed for time you can skip it and just slice them up.
Stop 2: Joya Fine Foods
Stop Number Two offers something sweet from Sicily…
Today, we’re talking about the stunning orange amaretti by Mattia from Joya Fine Foods.
An old family recipe from Sicily with a twist of orange, these sweet treats are ever present at celebrations and visits to the homes of loved ones.
Something made with this much love doesn’t need an offsider, but I have dark chocolate on the brain as I taste these little gems. The leftover egg whites from our dressing won’t be taking up space in the freezer today, because we’re making dark chocolate satin – a simple and classic chocolate mousse.
Luckily, I manage to stop ‘sampling’ the amaretti with enough left over to chaperone the mousse, and it was totally worth the wait.
Stop 3: Cherrytime Orchard
Stop Number Three is ‘classic farmers market’, glorious vegetables, authentic preserves and smiling faces.
At Cherrytime Orchards, you’ll have the pleasure of meeting Joy and Russell.
Growing great produce is a family tradition for Russell who has been growing vegetables since he could walk, and it shows in the quality of the produce.
I was heading to Cherrytime to try their ruby red grapefruit (which did not disappoint), and also ended up walking away with some red limes, or Australian blood limes.
They’re a cross between an acid mandarin and a native finger lime – I had to grab them, even though I don’t yet know what I’m going to do with them.
However I do know that we’re going to use beautiful segments of the ruby red grapefruit to make our dish extra pretty and help cut through the fat.
Click here to learn more about Cherrytime Orchard !
Stop 4: Mountain Fresh Trout and Salmon Farm
Stop Number Four is Mountain Fresh Trout & Salmon Farm.
This – smoked – trout – is – so – good!
After having the opportunity to talk to Pete and Sally, not only did I learn that they started the farm to support their son who was studying aquaponics, but I also learnt that they milk their salmon by hand for their amazing salmon roe…big beautiful vibrant pearls that add an instant wow factor to any dish they land on.
So now we are not only going to show off Peter and Sally’s smoked trout in our recipe, but we also had to pick up some of that beautiful roe.
Stop 5: Sprockets Free-range Eggs
The final stop is one missed by few at the market, our resident purveyor of free range eggs, Jess from Sprockets Eggs!
These eggs are always the stars of the show in the Farmers’ Market famous egg and bacon rolls.
Coming from a farming family there’s nothing complicated here, just eggs, chickens and silky terriers.
What began with one small incubator, Sprockets have snowballed into selling both free-range eggs and chickens commercially.
We’ll be using Jess’ eggs to make an egg-based emulsion to dress our main recipe, using just the glossy yolks.
We’ll be saving the whites for our chocolate satin as I mentioned earlier when we were visiting Mattia at Joya Fine Foods.
Gather a few last ingredients…
With all the official stops on this month’s trail complete, it’s time to gather up the last few ingredients.
Pick up some honey, carrots, kale, oil, herbs, hot sauce… we’re done!
Now for the recipe…
Smoked trout, honey roast carrots, kale, ruby red grapefruit, blooming pickled onion with blood plum and bay dressing
Ok so there’s no pressure with this one, it’s very much just a ‘throw it all together’ affair.
First we’re going to make the blooming onions…
(which can be done in advance and flashed in the oven at the last minute)
Cut all the way through the onion from the top but not through the root
Continue until you have wedges all connected by the root
Crumb the ‘bloomed’ onions in flour, egg wash and breadcrumbs
Fry in oil until crisp
Place on a rack to drain and set aside
Now to roast the carrots…
Give them a scrub to remove any dirt
Cut them so that all pieces are roughly about the size of your finger
Mix two heaped spoons of honey with a ¼ cup of oil
Add 6 cloves of minced garlic (confit if you’ve got it)
Season and bake at 180°C for 20 min
While they are baking, grab a large bowl…
Give your kale a quick wash and slice it as thin as you can
Roughly chop up whatever soft herbs you picked up at the market
Put them in the bowl with the kale
The next step depends on how handy you are with a knife…
Firstly, cut the skin off your grapefruit
If you have the skills remove segments, which you can see outlined by the fibrous white lines of their membrane
Carefully cut to the middle on either side of the white lines to remove each segment
If you’d prefer to keep your fingers, just cut super thin slices of your peeled ruby red grapefruit
Add slices or segments to the kale and herbs
Time to prep the smoked trout…
Carefully remove the skin and set aside
Gently remove the fish from its frame, thoroughly checking for bones (I like to keep the pieces as big as I can)
Set aside
Dressing
In a food processor combine:
3 egg yolks
20ml apple cider vinegar
40ml habanero, blood plum & bay hot sauce
10g garlic, minced
Once you have a smooth mixture SLOWLY add
450ml oil
Season
If your dressing is too thick, add a little of the ruby red grapefruit juice, or pickled onion juice, it’s a dressing not a dip.
Now we just have to put it all together…
Pop the crumbed blooming onions in the oven to heat up
Toss together the herbs, kale & grapefruit segments
You should get four nice portions out of this recipe so grab four plates
You should get four nice portions out of this recipe…
So grab four plates…
Add a good amount of dressing and the carrots to the kale and mix well
Add the trout to the bowl
Gently combine, to keep some pieces of trout nice and big
Pile the salad up on the four plates making sure to have all the elements on display
Finish off with a drizzle of dressing and the beautiful salmon roe
Orange amaretti & chocolate satin
The best thing about pairing these little pieces of joy with such a classic dessert is that I don’t need to waffle on with a recipe I can just send you to one of the great ones (https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chocolate-satin)… or you can use your tried and true.
The idea here is just some delicious dark chocolate to dip the amaretti in – for that reason when I make the chocolate satin I don’t let it set all the way so it was still deliciously dippable.
That’s all for this month…
Well, that brings us to the end of the first Our Seasons Winter Market Trail.
I really hope you enjoyed meandering along August’s Market Trail with me.
Remember to head on down to the Wangaratta Farmers Market on the second Saturday of every month and pick up your copy of the monthly Our Seasons recipe to make at home…
Our Seasons Producers in the Market
Look for the Our Seasons flags flying along our Market Trail or ask our friendly Market Guides to help you find what you’re looking for.
Can’t wait to see you down there, rain, hail or shine (but always with coffee).