Changing kitchens
Two weeks ago we flew from Australia to Israel (in a pandemic, with a small unvaccinated child, I know 😱) and plan to stay here for the next couple of months. With all the recent changes: moving, using other people’s kitchens, and getting used to available local ingredients, you might have noticed that we have fallen back to simpler meals and sure favourites (if you ever check out our weekly meal plans that is…). But really I want to talk about this move and recent changes.
Last week’s newsletter topic was spurred by the amounts of sweets and chocolates M has been offered by very lovely people that haven’t seen her in way too long. As a result, M was asking about how much sugar should be consumed. We said that too much sugar by itself alone is not good for you, just like too much salt, or too much bread, or anything basically. We should eat a varied and balanced diet of many different things.
Another change that is worth mentioning is seasonality of produce. In Australia, the big supermarkets have many fruits and veggies available year round, regardless of the seasons. We always stock bananas, strawberries, at least one other type of berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red capsicums. For a few years now, we’ve talked about signing up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) to be able to support local growers, learn about what is available in each season, use local ingredients, and cook according to what we get. In the end, and with a prompt from the pandemic and the growing wish to support local business, we started getting regular veggie and fruit boxes from local providers in Melbourne, like Ceres Fair Food or Northside Fruit & Veg. Getting those boxes meant that we got to eat a lot more greens, and got to cook more creative meals than before. One of the differences we notice when we came to Israel is that the local supermarkets only stock seasonal fruit and vegetables. So currently the fruits that are on sale are ones from end of summer, and there are no berries to be found. This change will definitely teach us about what is available in each season, whether we want it or not.
Lastly, the kitchen that we are in now is well equipped but space is very limited. I brought some of my baking gadgets with me but I still need to get a couple more that I decided not to bring on the plane, like a baking stone for example (sensible). Still, I think this will be a good exercise in cooking simpler, quicker, but still delicious meals with seasonal and local ingredients we don’t usually have access to. Wish us luck! 🍓🥛🍯
A good example of using what you have locally is when our friend Hannah made the honey mustard salmon dish but used local okra rather than green beans. I also love the grown up people and the small people serves <3
Here are this week’s recipe suggestions for you to try:
Simple and creamy butternut squash soup topped with spicy roasted butternut squash seeds
Mushroom and garlic spaghetti - umami loaded pasta
Nutty fennel granola - I've been making granola at home for a long time. Here is a fennel flavoured variation
Raspberry slushie: 300g frozen raspberries, 45g fresh lemon juice ,30g honey or agave syrup, 3 cups of sparkling water, and a couple of ice cubes. And if you have them, serve with a couple of fresh mint leaves
Quick spiced tomato soup: ready in 20 minutes
1 onion, roughly diced
1-2 celery sticks, sliced
1-2 carrots, sliced
3-5 garlic cloves, sliced
3 cups diced tomatoes
1 can coconut cream
1-2 tbsp harissa
100g chickpeas, softened
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
Olive oil
Salt, to taste
How to?
Roast the chickpeas in the oven with a sprinkle of olive oil and paprika for about 20 minutes.
While the chickpeas are roasting, heat a bit of oil in a pot. Add the diced onion and fry on medium heat for a couple of minutes. Then add the celery, carrots, and garlic. Reduce heat and cook until the veggies have softened, but are not too brown, about 8 minutes.
When the veggies are soft, add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt. Cook for a couple more minutes and then add the coconut cream. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
Remove from heat, process with a blender. Add harissa to taste and a bit more salt if needed to taste. Top with the roasted chickpeas, serve warm, and enjoy!
Our meal plan from last week can be found at: https://foodfamily.app/public/meal_plans/096aa493-8822-4be6-a6d3-0fd88fa98b4c
Once again, please let us know if you make any of these recipes, how you found them, what you changed, or just drop us an email to say hi.
Thanks and see you next week,
Elle, Lachlan, M, Ginger, and Edward