Peaches and Cream

I've just spent the last week as the camp cook at Texas Downs in Menindee whilst the peach harvest was on.


 

I arrived with my suitcase full of all of my favourite accoutrements to help the food taste amazing. I would be lost without my Thai dressing, chilli jam, dill mayonnaise and blood orange marmalade.

 

There's nothing quite like boiled eggs & soldiers and endless cups of piping hot English breakfast tea around a country table at breakfast time.

 

Mick and his trusty dog, Gidgy, delivered freshly laid eggs each day which were the colour of the sunset.

 

One day I made my chicken and ginger Vietnamese rolls for the entire crew in the packing shed.

 

They were very appreciative and the following night a long line of Chinese and Taiwanese appeared at the door of my quarters all holding their favourite dish from home. We had pork with ginger and shallots, fried chicken, chilli vegetables and a very scary looking green bean soupy dessert thing??? Lots of beers were drunk and then they played magic tricks with a pack of cards until all hours.

 

On the last night my friends asked me to cook my chicken schnitzel with yummy ruby red potatoes that Marino (aka Sheepy) had dug up for me.

Potato Mafia Marino Pasin (aka Sheepy)

I boiled the gorgeous fresh as fresh potatoes up with lashings of herby butter and a crunchy slaw on the side.

 

As a surprise I prepared a tarte tatin with peaches I'd pinched from the orchard earlier in the day. I served it with vanilla ice cream on the side. "How long's this been going on?" they asked as they shovelled it down. "About a couple of hundred years" I said as I shared the cute little story of how the tarte tatin came about. It was a real hit!!!

 

It's always hard to say goodbye as I fly over the property heading back to Sydney. I feel quite sentimental as I reflect on the week that's passed, the yummy dishes I cooked and the new friends I made.

 

With a suitcase full of stone fruit I arrived home with red dust on my boots and a whole lot of great ideas of wonderful ways to cook with peaches.

 

 

My Easy Salad of Prosciutto, Buffalo Mozzarella, Rocket and Peach

(serves 4)

 

Ingredients

1 bunch fleshy, peppery rocket

2 balls buffalo mozzarella

2 peaches, washed

12 slices prosciutto

1/4 cup roasted walnuts, toasted and chopped

Caramelised balsamic

Olive oil

Maldon salt

Freshly ground pepper

 

Method

1. Divide the rocket between four plates.
2. Place three slices of prosciutto on each plate.
3. Slice peach over the top and break half a mozzarella ball on each plate. Sprinkle with walnuts and drizzle caramelised balsamic and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.

 

Happy cooking,

Simmone x











Red Dirt... Beautiful!

Red Dirt... Beautiful!

Menindee is the Aboriginal word for Great Lakes... and that, amongst other natural wonders, is what I found on my second visit to Tandou orchard to help my friends pick and pack their oranges.

On the way out to Broken Hill, which is the closest air strip to the orchard, a cowboy sitting next to me leant across, peered out the window and said three words - "red dirt... beautiful!"  And I get that, 'cause I felt the same way.  I couldn't wait to get my boots dirty, kick up the dust and smell the dusty scent of the desert.

When I arrived at the packing shed I was amazed at the sea of orange bobbing along happily on the packing machines all shine and waxed then packed into boxes and off to the market

The taste was a perfect balance of sweet and tangy and easy to peel too, which was a bonus. We picked on glorious afternoons after the dew had left the orchard, moving quietly and contemplatively though the trees, picking buckets of sunshine.

At the end of each day, my picking buddies and I would go down to the billabong to "catch a feed"... We pulled up some lovely perch and took in the tranquility of the evening light.

I came home from my visit with a suitcase full of the must gorgeous oranges and made a big batch of my orange marmalade and will most definitely only ever buy Aussie grown fruit and I urge you to do so too.

I serve my blood orange marmalade on sourdough toast with lashings of butter in both my Cammeray and Double Bay stores. Pots of the liquid gold are also available for purchase.


Salad of Grilled Witlof, Orange, Chicken and Walnuts

Ingredients
4 chicken breasts, skin on
10 sage leaves
1 clove of garlic (peeled and minced)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 orange (juice and zest) - Aussie grown
1 orange (peeled, pips removed, and sliced) - Aussie grown
100g toasted walnuts

Witlof
Cut into 4 length ways
1 tablespoon olive oil
40g butter
2 teaspoons runny honey

Method
Marinate chicken for 2 hours in garlic, sage and olive oil.
Heat frypan on a medium to high heat.
Cook chicken skin side down for 4 minutes or until caramelised.
Turn and cook for a further 4 minutes, then rest.
Heat grill, line baking dish with baking paper and place witlof in with a dot of butter. Drizzle with olive oil and honey, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill for 5 minutes or until caramelised.
To assemble salad, place orange slices on a nice white platter, arrange caramelised witlof, sliced chicken, toasted walnuts and drizzle with cooking juices.


Happy cooking,
Simmone xxx

Aussie Farmers Deserve A Break!

It's this time of the year when the first harvest from out west bares it's luscious fruit and I set about making my annual batch of ruby apricot paste to sell in store for Christmas. So, as they do in the country, I swapped my time as the camp cook for a pallet of Earlicot apricots and headed to Menindee to pick, pack and cook for a few days.



 

It was so much fun and if I didn't have such a huge amount of fruit mince tarts to make I probably wouldn't have come home!!



We take so much for granted when we pluck our fruit and veg off the supermarket shelves. As an ambassador for Australian Year of the Farmer I would like to take my hat off to every single farmer in the country. Blood, sweat, tears and a whole lot of worry goes into producing our food. After my time on the orcahrd, I am making a personal quest and urging everyone I know to get behind the Aussie farmers and only buy Australian grown produce. To my mind, this is the foundation on which everything else is built on.

The bees are brought in to do their job when the flowers are setting to pollinate the fruit.




A welcome place to lay one's head after a big day in the orchard and a big cook up for the weary workers.





The long road home from Menindee as I farewell my new friends at the desert fresh produce.

My apricot paste is available to purchase off the Christmas brochure along with lots of other gorgeous goodies for the holiday season. Click here to view.

Happy cooking,
Simmone x