Our Spring desserts giveaway (Kitchen Garden, October 11) brought a variety of fruit based recipes but the one which most interested me came from Julia Ovington, of Cook, who described Baked Blood Orange Creams. She is the winner of the book Apple Blossom Pie.
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When Julia and her husband John Ovington lived on their farm at Milton on the NSW South Coast, they had a citrus orchard of 20 trees including a Kaffir lime, ruby grapefruit and a blood orange.
It fruited prolifically with smallish juicy and full-flavoured blood oranges. When the crop was ripe in spring, John would make the dessert, a combination of sweet toffee on top which, when cracked, revealed a delicious creamy orange custard.
Gardening at Milton was a pleasure because the soil was excellent and there was plenty of rain and the sweet potatoes were "mega" in size. They also planted an orchard with stone fruit, nuts, apples and grapes, a total of 36 trees.
The couple kept their Canberra house in Cook while living at the coast and they returned here in November 2014. They have a vegie patch which is filled at the moment with rows of broad beans, leeks and a huge garlic crop framed by apricot and plum trees.
BROAD BEANS
At Lanyon Garden Festival in March visitors to the children's marquee were offered seeds of "Aquadulce" broad beans. The seeds were donated by Lambley Nursery in Victoria who said they should be planted in July or August and sown direct into the soil, 3cm deep, in a position in full sun.
Ever eager, mine were planted in pots on May 1and placed under the eaves. They are head high and have been producing their fragrant black-and- white flowers for six weeks and an early spring crop of tender baby broad beans. My neighbour eats them raw and has enjoyed the edible flowers on a salad saying they have a light taste of bean but a zing of sweet nectar at the base. Broad beans are an effective green manure crop.
SEA VEGETABLES
In Kitchen Garden September 27, I referred to Arame sea vegetable from Japan being sold at the Food Co-op in Civic. A reader from Campbell emailed to say she loves Wakame, a bigger leaved seaweed which she makes into a soup in a cup adding boiling water and a little dash of Natto miso and she referred to a company on the east coast of Tasmania that produces locally grown Wakame.
Kai Ho "Oceans Treasure" started as a business three years ago. The owners are James Ashmore, of Ashmore Foods Tasmania, and his business partner and best mate, Craig Anderson, a seaweed biologist. Anderson believes that Wakame, an invasive species, was introduced to Tasmanian waters via ballast water from ships trading from Asia.
The Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida) is locally foraged. It should be plunged into hot water which turns the sea vegetable vibrant green, then popped in cold water to stop the cooking process, then use in soups, salads, omelette or pasta. The Wakame is available by mail order, $8.95 for 30g and $19.95 for 100g packets plus postage.
ROADKILL RECIPES
On ABC radio on October 8, Dr Noel Preece, director of Biome5, at James Cook University in Queensland, was interviewed about feral animals on Overnights with Rod Quinn. Dr Preece discussed problems with feral cats, foxes, rabbits, red deer, feral pigs, camels and carp and said the only effective programs in Australia for eliminating pests were yellow crazy ant and weeds. On October 9, ABC TV reported on Landline a plan to eradicate the 3000-5000 feral cats on Kangaroo Island.
Patricia Leeuwenburg and her partner, rural and remote GP on Kangaroo Island, Dr Tim Leeuwenburg, produced two "Roadkill Recipes" cookbooks. The books, available by mail order, are for "discerning readers with an interest in native wildlife and fine cuisine" and the recipes include Feral Cat Fricassee, Leg of Roadkill Roo and BBQ Tiger Snake.
They satirise the plethora of glossy cookbooks on the Australian market but emphasise serious conservation and road safety messages, particularly on Kangaroo Island which has about 190,000 visitors per year.
Some community gardens in the ACT have problems with visits from the occasional snake, mostly browns, and many country gardeners have experience with tiger and brown snakes visiting their vegie gardens, some even finding their way indoors.
BAKED BLOOD ORANGE CREAMS
750ml (3 cups) thin cream
1 vanilla bean, split
7 egg yolks (from home grown chickens)
100g brown sugar
pinch of ground cinnamon
2 tsp finely shredded blood orange rind
60ml fresh blood orange juice
80g finely chopped palm sugar
Preheat oven to 150C. Place six 185m-cup capacity ovenproof ramekins in a large roasting pan. Place cream and vanilla bean in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for five minutes or until mixture comes to a simmer (do not boil). Strain through a sieve into a jug. Use a knife to scrape vanilla seeds into the cream. Meanwhile, use a balloon whisk to whisk together egg yolks, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl until combined. Whisk hot cream mixture into egg-yolk mixture. Stir in blood orange rind and juice until combined. Pour among ramekins. Pour enough boiling water into pan to reach halfway up the sides of ramekins. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes or until just set. Remove from oven. Remove ramekins from roasting pan and set aside for two hours to cool Cover and place in the fridge for six hours to set. Preheat grill on high. Sprinkle "creams" with palm sugar. Cook under grill, about 6cm from heat source, for 2-3 minutes or until sugar bubbles and caramelises. Serve immediately.
