Food for the soul is a seasonal thing
It will be no surprise to any of you that I love great foods and beverages, and we love trying new foods and cooking techniques at home. We have a number of cooking toys at our place, from a charcoal barbecue to the essential coffee machine, and use them all quite regularly. However, just because we have the equipment doesn’t mean we are chefs – in fact, we have a huge collection of cookbooks and recipes we have collected over many years, and are always looking for inspiration for things we can cook using produce we grow.
Nicola Galloway is a Nelson-based chef, food writer and culinary tutor whose recipes appear weekly in this publication, in Your Weekend magazine, as well as on the Stuff website and in NZ Gardener magazine. We cook many of her recipes, and not only do we end up with tasty food, but the recipes always work, and use many of the foods we grow or have as store cupboard ingredients.
I caught up with Nicola last week to ask for a few tricks to eating well without breaking the budget this Christmas, and to find out a bit more about her fifth and latest cookbook, The Homemade Table.
‘‘Nana taught me to cook, she loved cooking, and it rubbed off me,’’ Nicola says. ‘‘It led me to do my chef training when I left school, but my GP parents were also interested in health, so I got interested in and studied nutrition in my early 20s.
‘‘When I trained as a chef, you would make a sauce with a 1⁄ kilo of butter.
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Between cheffing and nutrition, I have found a balance of tasty food and eating food that makes you feel good.’’
Nicola believes that cooking can be more than simply creating food for sustenance – it can also be enjoyed for the creativity it brings.
She says she is inspired by different cuisines, but it comes back to what’s fresh locally. ‘‘I look at what I have been able to harvest or buy, decide what I’m cooking, and what spices and herbs will go with that. I tell people to have a real focus on seasonal produce, then focus on what you enjoy, bring in flavours you prefer.’’
The key thing to remember, she says, is to cook and eat seasonal fruit and vegetables. ‘‘When they are in plentiful supply, they are cheaper, fresher, and packed with goodness.’’
She says price and freshness is a good indicator of what’s in season.
‘‘People complain about cucumbers and tomatoes being expensive in winter or spring, but that’s because we’re in what’s called the hunger gap. Not much is ready to harvest in September and October – it’s when we start to run out of stored winter food, and summer new season produce isn’t available yet.
‘‘In recent times, I have noticed a more seasonal understanding of food supplies. People growing their own fruit and vegetables helps understand what’s in season, and the media have changed food they write about.’’
When it comes to food for Christmas, Nicola says ‘‘it’s a bit of a funny time’’.
‘‘We’re just starting to get into the early summer harvest, so there are lots of berries around that are more affordable ... just be patient and you will be able to buy different berries at good prices, especially at market stalls.
‘‘Things like new potatoes are widely available, while beans are still a bit early but are starting to appear at a reasonable price.’’
Even if we are on a budget, Nicola says people tend to plan ahead for Christmas and save some money so they can buy special foods.
‘‘Christmas is a nice time to splash out a bit. There are lovely cherries and stone fruit appearing around Christmas time, meats like ham and turkey are plentiful, while chicken tends to be affordable yearround.
‘‘Buying a ham might seem really expensive, but if you break the cost down into the number of meals you can get from it or how many people you can feed, then it is actually reasonably affordable.’’
Buying smart is also important if you want to make the most of Christmas food, she says. ‘‘Buy things you can make multiple meals from, like the ham, and then be more seasonal with vegetables. We barbecue a lot of vegetables – just keep it simple and tasty.
‘‘Christmas can have an intense leadup, then on Christmas Day it’s a big meal, and for the next few days it’s about relaxing and enjoying the summer.
‘‘One thing I love about summer in Nelson is picking your own berries. We always head out and do some berry picking. I love blackberries and boysenberries from Berryfields, but if you can’t pick your own, then go to the markets, and buy fresh, local fruits.
‘‘Craig from Tree Ripe always has wonderful fresh berries in season and early season apricots. He’s the orchardist and fronts at the stall, too, so you are talking with the guy who grows them.’’
Nicola says the enjoyment of cooking is a big drive for her. ‘‘I get a lot of satisfaction from cooking’’.
She says to cook and eat for the enjoyment of it. Keep the stress out of it, and don’t think about what’s in fashion – ‘‘think about what’s in season and what you like eating’’.
Check out Nicola’s website for some tasty recipes and to buy her book as a Christmas gift to yourself, or someone else, of course. homegrown-kitchen.co.nz.
‘‘Christmas is a nice time to splash out a bit . . . buy things you can make multiple meals from.’’
Nicola Galloway