What’s GOOD at the Market this Week?
Beetroot
This week we are shining the spotlight on beetroot that super sweet vegie that can be grown throughout the year in the subtropics. And for home gardeners reading this it is compatible with onions, silverbeet, lettuce, cabbage, dill, peas and even strawberries. Whilst I love growing my own vegies I am very very grateful that I can also buy them from the market when mine fail or to add variety to my limited range.
I especially love beetroot as it is such a versatile vegie. It is wonderful baked and served hot with a baked dinner or cold on a salad (see last weeks recipe). It is fabulous grated raw on a salad and is especially delicious in green smoothies and vegie juices where it adds sweetness and can increase palatability. AND beetroot is a wonderful ‘surprise’ vegetable ingredient in cakes as it adds a depth of colour and flavour that perfectly complements chocolate. See recipes below.
Beetroot has featured in recipes from top chefs including Jamie Oliver and Heston Blumenthal.
All vegies offer nutritional benefits but if you are particularly interested in the detail then there is valuable info on the web. Here is a glimpse of just a few of the nutritional benefits of beetroot. It contains potassium, magnesium, iron, vitamins A, B6 and C, folic acid, carbohydrates, protein, antioxidants and soluble fibre AND research has shown that it can lower high blood pressure.
According to WebMD drinking beetroot juice increases blood flow to the brain in older people, which may be able to fight the progression of dementia, a 2010 study suggested.
http://www.webmd.boots.com/healthy-eating/guide/beetroot-benefits
Fresh beetroot is available from the following market stalls:
Bio Organic Farm, Cecil Farm, Everest Farm, Sylva Lining Organics and Jumping Red Ant.
Spice Palace offers a delicious beetroot, mint and almond dip .
This is delicious eaten with Dona Cholita corn chips also available at Spice Palace.
Murwillumbah Community Men’s Shed – back THIS week
Chai Harem – Absent due to illness. We send our healing wishes to Greg, Alison and Audrey.
Mt Warning Bakehouse – absent due to the sad loss of Mark’s mum. Our heartfelt condolences to Mark.
Chai Harem absent as they are sick. Wishing them all a speedy recovery.
Moist Beetroot Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
- 130g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 tablespoons cocoa
- 200g good quality dark chocolate
- 80ml strong espresso, hot
- 170g butter, diced
- 5 eggs, separated
- 225g cooked beetroot and pureed
- 200g sugar
- icing sugar, for dusting
- butter, for greasing
- Grease a springform cake tin with butter and preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
- In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cocoa.
- Break the chocolate into small bits and melt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. When almost melted, add espresso and stir. Add butter piece by piece, stirring until all is melted. Let cool a few minutes.
- Beat the egg yolks and add to the chocolate then fold in the pureed beetroot.
- Beat the egg whites until stiff and then beat in the sugar. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold into the flour mixture.
- Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake on the middle rack 45-50 minutes. This is a moist cake so the skewer test should have a few crumbs. Let cool 2 hours, then sprinkle with icing sugar.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 bunch beetroot, scrubbed, trimmed and chopped
- ½ cup (125ml) beef stock
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
METHOD
- Preheat oven to 180ºC (355ºF). Place beetroot, stock, vinegar and sugar in a bowl and toss to combine.
- Spoon into 2 x 3 cup-capacity (750ml) ovenproof dishes.
- Cover with aluminium foil, place on a baking tray and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes or until the beetroot are tender.
https://www.donnahay.com.au/recipes/roasted-balsamic-beetroot
Fortnightly or monthly stalls:
My Farm Kitchen – back NEXT week
Go Earth – Hamish will be back the 2nd week of each month with his locally produced compost for all you enthusiastic gardeners.
Entertainment: Broadfoot
Weather Forecast is for: Cloudy with a very high (90%) chance of rain, becoming less likely in the evening. temperatures will range from an early 13 – 16 degrees with daytime temperatures reaching the low to mid 20s. Fingers crossed this forecast changes by Wednesday.
Produce of the week (newest season produce is in bold):
- Apples
- Avocados – Hass
- Bananas
- Beans
- Beetroot
- Blueberries
- Broccoli
- Cabbage
- Custard apples
- Cauliflower
- Capsicum
- Carrots
- Cucumbers (Lebanese)
- Kale
- Lemons
- Lettuce
- Mandarins
- Oranges
- Passionfruit
- Peas – snow peas and shelling peas
- Radish
- Rocket
- Silver beet
- Spinach
- Strawberries
- Sweet potatoes
Seasonal Produce List Updated:
Vegetables
Beans (+organic), Beetroot (+organic), Bok Choy, Broccoli, Cabbage, Capsicum, Cauliflower, Chard (organic), Chilli, Cucumber (+organic), Corn (+organic), Eggplant (+organic), Garlic (+organic), Herbs (basil + organic basil, coriander, fennel, ginger, rocket, turmeric and more), Kale (+organic), Kang kong, Lettuce (cos organic), Fancy Lettuce and mixed salad greens, Micro greens (+ wide variety of organic such as alfalfa, barley greens, sunflower, broccoli, chick pea), Peas incl snow peas (+organic), Mizuna, Onion (+organic), Mushrooms, Pak Choi (organic), Potato (Sebago) , Potatoes (kipfler ++), Pumpkin (+organic), Salad Mix, Silver Beet, Sprouts (+organic), Spinach (+organic), Sweet Corn, Sweet Potato (+organic), Tatsoi (organic) Swedes, Tomatoes (+organic), Taro, Watercress, Wheat grass, Zucchini (+organic).
Fruit
Apples, Avocados, Bananas (Cavendish, Lady Fingers (organic also) and Little Gem), Blueberries, Carambola (star fruit), Custard apples, Dragon Fruit, Grapefruit, Grapes, Kiwi fruit (organic), Lemons + Limes (incl organic), Mangoes, Mandarin (organic), Oranges (organic), Passionfruit, Paw Paw, Pears, Rock melons, Strawberries, Watermelons.
Flowers
Gerberas, Lisianthus, Roses, Tropical flowers – currently red and yellow heliconias.
Eggs – including organic
Nuts
Pecan nuts and macadamia nuts, nut oils, butters and choc coated nuts
Dairy
Cows milk, cheeses and yoghurt, kefir, cultured butter ++
Goats milk and soft cheeses, kefir
Honey
Raw unprocessed honey, creamed honey and creamed honey with cinnamon! And bees wax candles.
Rice and Breads
A variety of artisan sour dough breads baked with a range of organic flours (including spelt and rye) and flavours that use local market products including macadamia nut bread!
Meat
Beef, lamb and pork (All Natural Meat Company) and goat, Salami (Nimbin Valley Diary) periodically. + lamb and chicken sourced within the broader market radius and locally caught fish – very seasonal).
Seafood
Locally harvested oysters by Noel Baggalay from his Brunswick and Tweed Rivers oyster farm. Seasonally caught local fish, prawns and other seafood as it becomes locally available.