"Nature gives to every time and season some beauties of its own."
Charles Dickens
On the left is the first picture in my new diary for 2025 which is the Country Living Collection diary. I'm guessing it's from a magazine about all things country - life and leisure sort of thing, which does include food. I possibly chose it because at the approach of Christmas, I was feeling a bit nostalgic for the country of my youth and its lush landscapes, not to mention cosy Christmases around the fire and the Christmas tree, whilst the occasional snow and fog, and always chill black and white hovered outside.
Of course it's winter over there, and the very first picture is far from lush - it's bleak midwinter stuff. The trees look almost as messy as our Australian trees, which are messy in a completely different way - and, moreover, all year round. Which brings me to the second picture - just to show the contrast. For letter G on my walk this morning - it was really a little warm for a walk - Grass, no longer green but dry and seeding.
The real reason I mention this is because of the mismatch between the foodie newsletters I subscribe to over there - The Guardian's Feast Newsletter, Ottolenghi's newsletter and Smitten Kitchen Digest from America - and down here the supermarket magazines. To illustrate - on the left soup in The Guardian and on the right salad on the cover of the current Coles Magazine.
It's a bit discombobulating (wonderful word) and also a bit frustrating, because I might see a really delicious looking dish from one of those Northern hemisphere sources, but know that it is not at all a suitable dish for a sunny day in Melbourne and by the time that winter comes around again I shall have forgotten about it. There is no easy way to remember such fleeting things.
Mind you Melbourne has it's own discombobulating climate - in summer it can go from the low 20s to over 40 in one week - in one day even. And so we down under are in a luckier place seasonality wise because even in summer there are days when a bowl of comforting soup r a roast dinner is just the thing.
We are also luckier because our country is huge, and because it covers a very wide number of climatic zones from monsoon and it's rainforests, through hot and dryish plains, to Mediterranean and temperate climate verdant valleys, cool almost British Tasmania to hot, hot and dry, dry desert. We are therefore able to access most foods at most times of the year. There are just a few exceptions - stone fruit in summer and autumn being one that springs to mind. Britain, of course, may be small and climatically similar throughout - just a gradation of hot and cold - wet and dry depending on whether you are north, south, east or west - but even so, much of their food is imported from all over the world. As it is here of course. If you really want navel oranges in summer you can get them from California.
So in today's world we can have anything at any time of the year if we are prepared to pay for it. Which means that we can cook according to the temperature on the day.
My current challenge for example is a dinner for my sister and her mini Australian clan - her own husband and her daughter's three person family on Sunday evening when it's going to be 38°C. I was going to cook a chicken dish in the oven, and I am still pondering on this, with the prime candidate being this Summer chicken cacciatore with herb salsa from Ottolenghi's latest book Comfort. But it requires the oven to be on for a longish time, so I'm going off the idea. And I know David would not like me having the oven on to cook it. Besides what would I serve with it? Just a green salad I suppose.
So I'm now leaning towards this Saffron chicken and herb salad, maybe served with Cheeseball and lemon rice with chilli butter. They both still require time in the oven however, albeit only around half an hour. So maybe this is possible. Except now I find that I have made it before and commented "A bit disappointing ... curiously bland." Mind you it does look as if I left out the fennel by mistake. Still that's not encouraging is it? And I've made it before. Surely I should be trying something new. So maybe I should look elsewhere for inspiration.
I was also going to make some pastries from the same book as a nibble on arrival, but that also requires oven time, so now I'm veering towards dips and watermelon things instead. Maybe kipper paste if I can find any kippers.
There is still some research and thought needed to come to a conclusion on this, but it does demonstrate how we are - indeed should - be influenced, even restricted in our food choices when we take into consideration what is available at the time of year, and also what the weather is actually like on the day.
If you care about what to cook for your family, every day involves a decision. And it depends on so many opportunities and limitations, as well as mood, not to mention dietary limitations. My niece will not eat dark meats, for example, and so that is another limitation for Sunday. Hence the focus on chicken.
Today, for example I have to do something with my leftover smoked trout and salmon from Christmas. The last of the leftovers in fact. So I have decided on risotto. It's pretty warm today as well - 33°C - but no oven time is involved and only about 20 minutes at the stovetop. And somehow it's light and summery. It will probably look something like this, but I think I might also purée the last very few cooked carrots and add them to the mix - with some fennel fronds and stalks from the garden. Maybe the peas (from the freezer) too. My garden fennel will not produce actual fennel bulbs, but it's pretty and the flavour of the fronds is nice as well.
I sometimes wonder whether I have a natural affinity with foods for cold and cool weather and not much for hot weather food. Although it's probably more that I'm not a fan of salads on the whole, although I have occasionally been surprised. So I read all those northern hemisphere newsletters wistfully and wish that I could also indulge in hearty casseroles, and roast dinners, instead of contemplating something quick and light. I'm not very good at stir fries, and I wouldn't dare serve up a stir fry on Sunday to my niece's Chinese heritage husband. OK he's Australian and very obliging, but still. I would be nervous.
The other challenges we daily face are those that confront us when we start rummaging in the fridge. I have a lot of tomatoes - which is one reason I was thinking of that cacciatore dish. Zucchini too - and a little bit of pumpkin and cabbage. Neither of them being hot weather vegetables. Until you think about it a bit. A dip, a slaw ...?
Actually it's a wonderful thing to have all of these limitations - both external - the weather and what's good and therefore cheap in the shops and the internal - what's in the fridge, who am I cooking for, what do I feel like ...? Without them there is just far too much choice. I have cookbooks galore, and the whole of the internet to explore. Where to start?
SUMMERS/WINTERS GONE BY
January 3
2024 - Nothing
2023 - A glass of wine
2019 - Salads then and now
2018 - Nothing
2017 - Nothing
Yorumlar