A Locavore's Dream - Fruit and Veg from Local Growers

Oh, how I love farmers' markets. I love the delicious smells of samples (often sausages and the like) sizzling. I love the snapping, dewy freshness of the produce. I love meeting the people who grow and make the stuff. I love supporting local producers, and I also love how the stuff keeps so much better in the fridge than the often wilted and sad produce at supermarkets.

But I also love my sleep-ins. And this is a problem, as the farmers markets here finish at about 11am. Sleep always wins out in the battle between this and getting lovely fresh food.

I recently heard about a local growers outlet, though, that is based at North Lyneham shops. It is called Choku Bai Jo (funny name!) and not too far from where I work. And is open until 7pm on weekdays - perfect!

So I visited on a Friday night after work, excitedly anticipating some interesting and tasty treats. Well, I wasn't disappointed. Everything looked so good. There were all sorts of exotic sounding varieties of apple and potato that I hadn't even heard of before. And while the organic stuff was definitely a bit more expensive, the non-organic stuff wasn't too badly priced at all. I picked up some baby bok choy and tatsoi (which I'd never seen before in the shops) for about $1.80 a bunch, as well as some lovely firm zucchini, mushrooms, fresh chives for $1.00 a bunch (much cheaper even than Woolies!). I also bought quinces, the freshest rhubarb I've ever seen, some strawberries, and some local honey and fresh soft organic pecorino cheese. All up, it cost about $30.00, which wasn't too bad considering the quality.

They also stock a limited range of organic packaged goods such as jams and snacks, free range eggs, organic milk and locally made tofu.

Some of my haul from Choku Bai Jo

Inspired by the lovely ingredients that I had, I started using them straight away. For dinner that night, I added the zucchini and mushroom to a HOT pasta sauce that I received as a gift, bought from Fratelli Fresh in Sydney. It is made on the premises and is delicious, but very chilli-laden! I sauteed the vegies, then added the pasta sauce to the frypan and warmed through. Ladled over gluten free pasta, and with some organic pecorino thinly sliced and mixed through, it tasted great. And with a glass of red wine on the side, very warming :)

Later on, I pulled out the quince and rhubarb, which I had decided to gently stew with a little sugar and serve for brunch the next morning with yoghurt and honey/maple syrup. As you can see from the photo below, the rhubarb was an amazing colour, it almost shimmered on the benchtop.

Pretty-as-a-jewel Rhubarb!

After the rhubarb was nearly cooked through, I added some sliced strawberries at the last minute. The quince was nice, although I maybe should have cooked it for a little longer so it was softer and mushier, it was less luscious and moist than the rhubarb which when cooled thickened to a tart-sweet soupy consistency, with whole pieces of rhubarb and strawberry mixed with the softened pieces and thick juices. Gently warmed the next day and served with a dollop of Jalna plain yoghurt, some muesli sprinkled on top and drizzled with maple syrup, it was a suitably autumny, healthy but satisfying dish.

Mmmm...Rhubarb soup!

Cooked quince

My last dish with the goodies was fish baked in foil with bok choy, tatsoi, ginger and chives. I chopped the bok choy and tatsoi roughly, laid it on the foil, then placed a couple of small frozen hake fillets on top. I topped the fish with thin slices of fresh ginger, sliced lime, fish sauce, chives and a little sweet chilli sauce. Tasty but kind of messy looking once cooked, so no photos! It took quite a while in my non fan-forced oven, at least 45 mins. I might try defrosting the fish next time.

Looking forward to my next visit to Choku Bai Jo! I think I'll try some of those exotic apple varieties next....