Barossa Beetroot

23 Dec 10

There is nothing like a bit of short term excitement, to welcome in a new spring!   Our, tax payer funded, Northern expressway opened to a bit of fanfare, a few kind comments and not much else.  It is a new connector between Gawler and Port Wakefield Road, just a bit of highway that is mindless to drive, that I would compare to a eating boring fast food meal.  The night lights, along the bicycle track and the ‘alleged’ artwork at one end change colour at night, stimulating stuff, no doubt, a story we can enthral our grand children with.  On one of my journeys thus far I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts, Deconstructing Dinner. This is a weekly podcast, out of Nelson, British Columbia, which looks at all the issues around the deconstructing of our dinner.  This particular program was about a group of Canadian youth that have spent time on a farm learning how to be self sufficient and grow their fruit and vegetables in a natural organic way.

I have, always been very passionate about this small revolution that is just quietly gaining momentum.  It can be argued that is vital for our future that we, at whatever age, along with our youth reconnect with the soil and get our hands dirty.  Every front yard, unused lawn, back yard, community strip, should be producing a variety of fruits and vegetables, something   I can only conclude will be a logical sequence of events.  The growing of fruit and vegetables gives us pride and for some reason the sharing of this resource brings us together.  We walk to the garden, harvest our produce, step into the kitchen, become creative and inspired that we are about to put something, that we have grown, onto our plate.  Then we can all sit around a table, share, enjoy and most importantly talk to one another.

Late winter to early spring is one of my favourite times of the year in my vegetable plot.  There seems to be a great crescendo of everything ripening at once.  The good winter rains this year have given a healthy bounteous crop of cabbages, carrots, beetroots, peas and coriander.  Why are these vegetables so good, they seem to be hearty and rich, and can be used in so many ways? 

I have been privileged in life that my father was a keen vegetable gardener, who related to me a lot of the practises he learnt growing up in rural Hungary.  These practises could be clearly described as ‘natural’ in every way and are now adopted both by myself and my sister Christa in the way we vegetable garden and have an influence on the way I try to run my own vineyards.

An essential ingredient to my garden is the ‘poop’ that nephew Henri’s Black Angus cows so kindly produce.  This is mixed with my own produced compost and left to mellow in the soil for six months.   It seems that the soil needs this time to incorporate its valuable nutrients and lets the worms have a feast.  (Henri, who is only 16 loves his Black Angus Beef and must be on the right track as he recently won a carcase competition with one of young steers.)

I could say that the job of growing good vegetables is therefore easy, but alas a healthy soil also produces healthy weeds.   So my journey now goes the fifty or so steps from my garden to my kitchen as I love to cook and experiment with food.   I will in future blogs throw more inspiring dishes or creations, made from Barossa produce, into the mix,   However what shall I do with a my beetroot and carrot that I have just picked – make a great salad that is prefect with any hearty slow cooked meal;

Ingredients

2 medium beetroots

1 large carrot

Good bunch of coriander

2 birdseye chilli

 

Dressing

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoon ketchup manis

1 teaspoon of sugar

Juice of one medium lemon

4 tablespoon of Olive Oil

 

 

Grate Beetroot into a bowl – add a sprinkle of salt and sugar to pickle, after an hour mix in a tablespoon of brown vinegar

Grate Carrot into a separate bowl, lightly sprinkle with salt and sugar, leave to stand

After an hour and a half, gently squeeze all the liquid from the carrot and beetroot and combine in your serving dish.  ( Looking at the beetroot colour and cannot stop thinking of an intense young shiraz fermentation).  Loosen up the mixture so that it retains it light fluffy feel.  De-seed the chilli’s, chop finely and add.

 

Mix the dressing together in a small bowl and whisk together – pour over the salad, mix in, finely chop the coriander leaves then fold in – enjoy with a Rolf Binder Eden Valley Riesling.