Review by Penny Woodward

Stephanie first published her bestselling book The Cooks Companion in in 1996 and since then has sold over half a million copies. Now we have the chance to purchase it as an app. The A-Z form of the book lends itself to the app format and this app is beautifully put together. Fabulous photographs by Simon Griffiths complement the text and recipes. I particularly like the A-Z ingredients. Touch Bananas and you get information about what they go with, where they come from, varieties, seasons, selection, storage, preparation, cooking and six delectable recipes where bananas are the main ingredient. I’m still having fun exploring the app but think I will mostly use the Vegetable and Herbs section, or maybe Fruit and Nuts? But hard to go past Pasta and Noodles or Rices, Grains and Pulses and so much more. If you download the basic app it comes free with the ‘Get started with’ section on Pasta and Noodles. If you want the other sections you pay per section as an in app purchase, or just buy the whole app (which I did) for $49.95. I have not yet had time to study it very closely but am already sure that it is worth every cent. I’ve already got my eye on French Style roast duck for Christmas eve dinner and there are another 2,000 recipes to try. Somehow I missed out on buying or being given the book, so the app is opening a whole new world for me. The app is cleverly collated and compiled by Stephanie’s office team and the digital developers b2cloud with designers at Gozer, as well as many, many more people who have been involved in a year of work. Highly recommended.

Eager to keep their Italian traditions alive after coming to Australia in 1965 Lina and Tony Siciliano started a new life together in suburban Essendon. With only a small garden they yearned to grow their own food so in 1981 acquired a barren block of land in East Keilor where they planted fruit trees and vegetables and raised chickens. Thirty years on and the couple have transformed the site into a profitable business boasting a productive bounty of 400 olive trees, an orchard, vegetable garden and their Rose Creek Estate vineyard.
Taking a month by month approach author Gabriella Gomersall-Hubbard has documented the family’s sustainable way of life from preserving – think big tomato day and sausage making – to producing olive oil and wine. Colour photos throughout capture the essence of the Siciliano’s seasonal activities in the garden and kitchen while traditional recipes reinforce that achievable goal of growing organically, knowing where your food comes from and ensuring low food miles. Try a spicy pasta with potatoes and cavolo nero or the slow cooked capretto with fresh peas.

Review by Penny Woodward

This lovely book is full of delights. For those of us lucky enough to have visited Rose Creek Estate, to have met Tony and Lina, and eaten their food, this book is a wonderful evocation of their lives and lifestyle. The beautiful pictures of everyday life, and those of the garden and produce, combine perfectly with the text about each season and the delicious recipes from preserved chopped tomatoes to sauteed broad beans and a restorative almond drink (something I would need all the time if I worked as hard as Tony and Lina do). There are so many recipes and I am going to try them all over the next year or so as I harvest my seasonal produce.  The author has done a great job of capturing the essence of the Mediterranean lifestyle lived by the Sicilianos. Growing Honest Food is very reasonably priced for a coffee table sized book full of pictures, and would make a great gift for anyone interested in productive gardening and food. Ask for it at your library (get them to buy it if they haven’t got it), buy it from you local independent book shop or buy buy a copy online from the store.

Gabriella Gomersall-Hubbard

Hyland House Publishing, HB, rrp $39.95

In her latest book house and garden expert Holly Kerr Forsyth has compiled a collection of seasonal recipes to celebrate the bounty of fresh produce from the garden.
Each chapter covers a season and along with contemplating a tomato and anchovy tart or rhubarb streusel cake for spring picnic hamper, there are plenty of garden-related hints on bringing flowers indoors, how to keep cut flowers fresh and skillfully arranging them. Summer sees grape and nectarine gratin or making an eye-catching moulded frozen ice bowl dotted with herbs and flowers, a perfect receptacle for serving prawns or an icy fruit sorbet. Getting into the festive spirit there are also details for making decorative flower wreaths, daisy balls and centerpieces for the festive table.

Carrot and ginger soup will bring out the autumn glow while quinces, with pork, baked, in a gooey cake or add to an aromatic autumn fruit pie packed with apples, plums and apricots show off their versatility in a season when it’s also the time to stock up the store cupboard. Preserves, fruit chutney or green tomato and chilli jam and don’t forget to think ahead and plant hyacinths, daffodils, tulips and other bulbs for spring flowering
Winter brings hearty offerings, an array of curries, poached pears with star anise and juniper or stuffed baked apples while you can also turn your hand to making potpourri, studded orange balls or pomanders, there’s even hints on keeping poultry – and the perfectly boiled egg.

Seasons at Home reflects Holly Kerr Forsyth’s unique style, passion for food and practical information on flower arranging, decorating the table to suit an occasion, and growing potted plants to bring indoors.

by Holly Kerr Forsyth, MUP $34.99

Orange and red striped Tigerella tomatoes not only look great the flavour is superb too.

By Anne-Marie

A FRIEND has just arrived with that most treasured of gifts, fresh tomatoes, bless her glut. Black Krims, Little Sugars, Tigerella and Cherry Toms surplus to her own requirements, and a generous handful of fresh basil. She has had a good tomato season (mine was awful: I planted them in the wrong place, neglected them badly and missed one of summer’s pleasures). She is one of those natural gardeners who can grow anything without much apparent effort, and she has been a source of wisdom for years.

So I have immediate plans for them, involving garlic and basil and crisp salad greens and some proper rustic croutons warm from the oven, with a herby dressing and some warm, thinly sliced rare beef scattered over the top, and the pan juices poured over to mingle with the dressing. A very satisfactory meal, as long as everything is properly seasoned with plenty of salt and pepper. I don’t hold with a lack of seasoning: flavour is all.

My daughter’s new love interest is coming for dinner. She’ll use the cherry toms and basil with olive oil and butter and chicken stock to make a simple pasta dish and shave some fresh parmesan over it. I like this boyfriend: he has chooks and loves fishing, so he arrives with free-range eggs and achingly fresh fillets. He has quite won me over.

Marieke Brugman at Howqua Dale does a wonderful savoury tarte tatin with tomatoes. But for many people, cooking a tomato is a sin, like cooking oysters. Our favourite way to eat tomatoes is warm from the vine, or to chop them roughly and macerate in a bowl with good olive oil, basil, and plenty of salt and pepper (and sometimes a pinch of sugar), then pile them on to warm grilled sourdough or ciabatta. Can’t beat it.

Red and yellow tomatoes make a vibrant and delicious salad.

If you are lucky enough to have Mediterranean friends you might score some tomato seeds from Greece or Italy. I have 15 recipes for panzanella, that lovely bread and tomato salad. Google it and take your pick!

Years ago I saw Ian Parmenter make a tomato consommé, involving much straining of juice through muslin (I’d use a clean Chux) and hours of work that was obviously well worth it. I think he may have jellied it after all that, and one day I will do it myself – when I have a whole day to spare. Just as rewarding and a lot less effort is a shot glass with an oyster at the bottom and a Bloody Mary over the top – my favourite Christmas Day breakfast. You shouldn’t really eat oysters in the summer because they’re spawning and they’re too creamy, but I make an exception on Christmas Day. And in May and June and July, I try to really appreciate them.

Joanne Glynn’s slow-roasted balsamic tomatoes are great with grilled fish or meat, or as part of an antipasto platter. The recipe is at the end – it’s from Slow Cooking, Murdoch Books, Sydney 2004. (Buy it from your local bookstore or borrow it from from your library, if you please – it doesn’t do to support Amazon or chain stores when our independent bookshops are struggling against multinationals. The garden is not the only place where diversity might save the planet.) — AMS

Slow-Roasted Balsamic Tomatoes

10 firm, ripe Roma (plum) tomatoes

8 garlic cloves, crushed

4 tablespoons caster sugar

4 tablespoons torn basil leaves

4 teaspoons chopped oregano leaves

Few drops balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 140 degrees. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Slice each tomato lengthways into quarters and put the quarters in rows on the trays.

Mix the garlic with the sugar, basil, oregano and balsamic vinegar. With clean fingers, put a little of the mixture on to the sides of each tomato quarter and season with salt and pepper.

Bake in the oven for 2.5 hours. The tomatoes are ready when they are slightly shrivelled at the edge and semi-dried (they should still be soft in the middle). Eat warm or cold and store in the fridge.

Little sugar yellow tomatoes make a delightful sweet bite with true tomato taste