A taste for all seasons
Seasonal - Steve Manfredi
Robyn Lewis
Flinders Farm Tomatoes, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria [©Mornington Peninsula Gourmet]
Australia is vast, and what defines the seasons in one part of the country is totally different in another. Take October for example - in Far North Queensland it's the hottest month of the year, building up to the season of stingers, ripe mangoes and the wet, whereas in Tasmania the English bluebells are in flower, the birds are nesting and the buds are just bursting on the vines.
Mulberry trees are yet to unfurl their leaves, whereas in Atherton they are in fruit already. And from Mackay and Brisbane through NSW to the south and west, our fruits and flowers are all at various stages in between. Luckily, Seasonal author and respected chef Steve Manfredi lives in Sydney; the way he experiences seasons pivots around 35 S, and is moderated by the sea, so it's a good all round average for most parts of the country.
Seasonal is (not suprisingly) divided into four sections, colour coded for easy reference. Each features several recipes for entrees, mains and desserts, which make the most of that season's fresh, abundant ingredients. If you are on a budget or interested in reducing food miles (or both), then obviously buying what is seasonally available - especially at your local market or farmers' market - makes sense.
Spring to me means asparagus, broad beans, parsley, tarragon and lamb, and Seasonal does not disappoint. However my basil, green beans and coriander are still ony a few centimetres tall in seedling trays, and my zucchini flowers are a very long way off (pending rain), but I presume in Sydney they are freshly available already, as they feature in the spring section along with prawns and cuttlefish. Manfredi's rabbit with olives and capers looks and sound delicious - another great feature of this book is its fabulous photos, from the Sydney Morning Herald.
The summer section is full to overflowing with barbecues, tomatoes, salads, peaches and things to do with other stone fruits, mangoes and strawberries... I can't wait to try some of these! (and let's hope the drought allows us to harvest some of this cornucopia ourselves this year). Autumn is sometimes a tricky season for cooks - we're not quite ready for hearty winter casseroles, but unwilling to discard the lighter meals of summer either. Seasonal offers some innovative and interesting autumnal recipes, including yabbies, quail and lots of fish.
And so to winter, the season of nature's regeneration. Isn't it wonderful that at a time we feel like eating casseroles with root vegetables and bunkering down indoors with a glass or two of red wine, that once again nature provides us with the right ingredients at the right time? Manfredi features that ugliest of vegetables - celeriac - through to leeks and lemons, clams to duck, and of course various members of the brassica family, winter greens to keep up our vitamins through the short days. I miss swedes - best after a frost - but am happy to see oysters highlighted in winter, when they are often at their best as they fatten after spawning.
This is a great book for a home gardener, or a relatively inexperienced cook - nothing too complex or lengthy, but with sufficient flair to quickly turn seasonal bounty into something delicious.
Seasonal by Steve Manfredi is published by John Fairfax Publications Pty Ltd (pb; 2007), RRP A$34.95. VisitVineyards.com and Winepros Archive subscribers and Members can buy Seasonal at a 12.5% discount via our book partners Seekbooks (postage extra - your books will be posted direct to you from Seekbooks).
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