Are you looking forward to indulging in some delicious smoked leg ham, or, spreading some excellent quality pâté onto a well-seasoned cracker this Christmas? Keen to roast a leg of pork and perfect that crackling? 

Did you know that $17 million worth of imported pork, or 4 million kilograms, arrives on our shores each week to be heat-treated and processed? The impact this has on Australian pig farmers is huge, many of whom have had a tough few years with drought, high grain prices, low farmgate prices, and of course the effect COVID has had on foodservice sales across the country. 

Look for the Australian Pork symbol in fresh products and ask for locally produced ham and charcuterie. 

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Did you know that $17 million worth of imported pork, or 4 million kilograms, arrives on our shores each week to be heat-treated and processed? ⁠
⁠If you are looking forward to indulging in some delicious smoked leg ham, excellent quality pâté, or roasting a leg of pork, make sure it's local.⁠
⁠

Go the whole hog this festive season season

Tahina (noun) is a paste made from sesame seeds, most familiar to many as the base ingredient for hummus. However, this Middle Eastern creamy paste has countless applications. It is particularly delicious alongside the delectable green or red falafels made by Melbourne-based company and namesake, Tahina Goods. 

As an extension of their incredibly popular Middle Eastern Tahina Bar in Northcote (Melbourne), founders Roy Sassonkin and Natalie Powell have spent years perfecting their falafel and sauce recipes to give customers a taste of their street food flavours at home.

Tahina Goods falafels are produced free from artificial flavours, colours and preservatives with a focus on recipes developed from fresh, healthy ingredients. Packaged beautifully in easy-to-grab take-home packs, the falafels are gluten-free, a breeze to prepare and perfect combined with salads, in wraps or pita pockets or added to a platter.

The herbaceous, aromatic and zesty Green Falafel is a blend of chickpeas, parsley, coriander and mint. Equally appealing, the Red Falafel is a vibrant blend of activated chickpeas, red capsicum and brown onions with smoked paprika, red chillies and cumin. Made by hand, with a combination of locally-grown ingredients and spices from abroad, the falafels are a dynamic variation on the traditional falafel. 

A star accompaniment is the Zhoug sauce. Based on the traditional Yemeni hot sauce, the Tahina Goods version boasts a flavour bomb combination of pickled heirloom Shifka chillies, green chillies, garlic, cumin and extra virgin olive oil with a lavish amount of fresh coriander and parsley, elevating both the flavour and colour.  

A bonus in foodservice preparation that ensures efficiency, Tahina Goods falafels are baked in the oven for 15 minutes, rather than fried in oil, making them even more appealing for busy chefs. The method maintains falafels that are moist on the inside and crispy on the outside, perfect for placing alongside hummus and Zhoug!

Learn more about Tahina Goods here: www.tahinagoods.com.au

Easy to cook and a joy to eat, Tahina take-home goods are made by hand, with care, in Melbourne

Luscious Middle Eastern street food at home

As conscious consumers seek to find Australian-grown ingredients that meet their need for high nutritional content and flavour, the versatility of nuts and seeds is undoubtedly a popular choice. Pepo Farms is at the forefront of the production of high-quality Australian nuts and seeds. Nestled along the Great Alpine Road in northeast Victoria, the Pepo Farms landscape is both stunning and agriculturally viable. 

The aesthetic farmland in the Ovens Valley is home to rows of heirloom pumpkins, sunflowers, walnut trees and a sprinkling of hazelnut trees. With an emphasis on sustainability and innovation, the farm has pioneered pumpkin seed growing in Australia.

Sporting acres of nutrient-dense soils, Pepo Farms is perfectly suited to grow healthy, heirloom pumpkins ideal for the harvest of their big dark green seeds. Utilising an innovative custom-built harvester, the pumpkin seeds are separated from the flesh at the time of harvest. The seeds are then washed, dried and prepared for a multitude of seed flavour variations, as well as turned into high protein flour or pressed into what’s known as the “green gold” pumpkin seed oil. 

The unique nature of these Australian-grown pumpkin seeds should be differentiated from the commonly known and imported pepita. Pepitas are pumpkin seeds that are de-husked either mechanically or chemically before they become edible. Whereas, the Pepo Farms pumpkin seeds are derived from pumpkins in which the seed is already green and without the husk.

For chefs that value Australian-grown ingredients, the choice to select pumpkin seeds over pepitas is straightforward and the range of flavours offered by Pepo Farms provides endless variations of culinary applications. In addition, it’s the savoury pumpkin seed oil that can elevate dishes and bring a new dimension to a menu.

Meeting the growing demand for agritourism, the Farm Shop is open to visitors and acts as an education centre through its seed and nut cellar-door tasting. Pepo Farms range also includes a selection of hazelnuts, sunflower seeds and walnuts.

Learn more about Pepo Farms here: www.pepofarms.com.au

The first and only producers of pumpkin seeds in Australia are proud to be a farm-to-plate company that produces pumpkin seeds for eating and a range of other seeds, nuts, oils and flours.

Pepo Farms: home to Australian-grown pumpkin seeds, and nuts, oils and flours

I would happily put fresh figs in everything when they’re in season. I remember helping out with the menu at Eat Me years ago, before it was too grown up to have me playing in the kitchen, and it happened to be fig season when I was working on the recipes. The most amazing fresh figs were coming in to Bangkok from one of our Australian suppliers and it was only when my brother suggested we didn’t need to have a ‘Fig Festival’ that I realised I’d added them to so many dishes, both sweet and savoury. Oops. I might have a bit of a fig blindspot it seems. I’m ok with it though. Mostly because we have 5 fig trees on our hill and when they are all offering up their jammy bounty at once, I’m grateful for my fig based single-mindedness.

I remember living in Sydney and happily paying $3 per fig just to get my fix, so having them in abundance is something that never gets old. There’s the unmistakable taste and texture of a perfectly ripe fig, but the colour palette is also something I’m constantly in awe of every time I split one open. So. Beautiful. This salad is as much about the visuals of all those deep purple tones coming together, as it is about how deliciously the individual flavours hold hands. It might also be a chance to remember just how good pearl barley is too; such a satisfying, spongy little grain, and so often forgotten.

I use roasted carrots from my Weekly Roast, so they’re not usually hot, but at room temperature. It wouldn’t really matter either way, so don’t panic if you’ve just roasted them and would like to go with a warm version of this salad. In that case, I’d probably make the pearl barley warm too.

If you haven’t included carrots in your Weekly Roast, pre heat the oven to 200C.

Scrub the carrots rather than peel them, and cut into halves lengthways. You want roughly the same sized pieces so they roast evenly.

Put the carrot halves into a deep sided baking pan and drizzle with 100g olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and cover with foil before putting in the oven to bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes remove the foil and give the carrots a bit of a stir through to coat with olive oil from the bottom of the pan. Continue to roast the carrots, uncovered for a further 30 minutes, or until tender.

On a medium sized platter, layer the pearl barley, radicchio leaves and roasted carrots. Add the fresh fig haves and grapes, along with the fresh herbs.

Mix the dressing together by combining the olive oil and balsamic with the Za’atar and salt.

Pour the dressing over the salad and serve immediately.

Recipe extract from 'A Plant-Based Farmhouse' by Cherie Hausler 

Signed copies are available online from Booktopia

'I'm thrilled by this beautiful book. Cherie's recipes are bursting with flavour and creativity. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.' Maggie Beer

Enjoy exclusive access to this stunning recipe from the cover of Cherie Hausler's new cookbook, A Plant-Based Farmhouse

Cherie Hausler's Purple Carrot, Fig and Pearl Barley Salad 

Go the whole hog this festive season season

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