At the Market

cooking melbourne

Discovering Melbourne's Artisan Foods and Produce

White Strawberries

You might be tempted to think that white strawberries are a modern monstrosity but they are in fact a hybrid variety created from a natural white strawberry indigenous to Chile. Why all the excitement about a white version of strawberry? Attributes of the white strawberry include an amazing perfume, a small berry size with a…

Winter Transformations – Potato, Pumpkin & Spinach

Potatoes, pumpkin and spinach are winter market staples. Each can be used to good effect independently but I’ve brought them together in one delicious dish: sautéed potato gnocchi with roast pumpkin and spinach. Potato gnocchi are easy to make and sautéing the cooked gnocchi in olive oil with a little knob of butter for taste…

Andean Sunrise Potatoes

Andean Sunrise are a new variety of potato great for roasting and mashing and with exceptional buttery flavour. These yellow fleshed potatoes have a high carotene level. Often spruiked as an heirloom variety, Andean Sunrise or Sunside was actually selectively cross bred from a different potato family called Phureja, originally from the Andean valleys of…

Lion’s Mane

Would you put something called lion’s mane on your dinner menu? It may look like a large ball of fluff or a lion’s mane but in reality it is quite a meaty textured mushroom. Lion’s mane is one of the new gourmet mushroom varieties available around Melbourne farmers’ markets, along with coloured oyster mushrooms, nameko,…

Asparagus Appreciation

Asparagus season is in full swing again. You can enjoy them in a myriad of ways but simply blanching them until just tender is the nicest way to enjoy their flavour and texture. Asparagus lends itself to any cuisine, their sculptural look making a visual impact on platters as shown here where I paired them…