Well the colder weather suddenly arrived and we finally could sleep during the night without the fan on – just. I’ve actually been excited to actually snuggle under the covers and wear a closed in shoe… although I know that I will be wishing for warmer weather when we hit the middle of a Canberra winter.
April brings with it the opportunity to whip up some excellent slow cooked dishes and the excitement of new ingredients to be found at the farmer’s market – oh how I do enjoy seasonal produce. I love picnics just as much, I really enjoy any chance I have to fill those travel coolers or camping coolers from Gear Hungry that I have with treats, sandwiches to be shared and cold refreshments for our mini retreats into the wilderness.
As you may or may not be aware, Celia from Fig Jam and Lime Cordial is no longer hosting ‘In My Kitchen’ and has handed the baton over to Maureen at The Orgasmic Chef. Check out Maureen’s blog to see who else in joining in to the ‘In My Kitchen’ link up.
In my April kitchen…
…I’ve got these delicious Italian sausages from Balzanelli Smallgoods. A wonderful Canberra based company that attribute food, family, culture and tradition as the main ingredients to their success.
I picked up the Italian sausages as I wanted to give MKR contestants, Luciano and Martino’s, Fettuccine con Salsiccia & Funghi Porcini recipe a go.
In my April kitchen…
…There is a wide range of locally sourced mushrooms – another great find at the Capital Region Farmer’s Market in EPIC. These mushrooms also went into the pasta recipe from Luciano and Martino.
My other favourite thing to do with them is to create a simple mushroom sauce to go with a crumbed beef schnitzel from ANDO’s organic. If you attend the Farmer’s Market in EPIC, I highly recommend ANDO’s beef schnitzels they are super tender and economical – I crumb them myself.
In my April kitchen…
…I may have jumped ship on my favourite cold pressed juice from Canberra based company The Fix. To say that I was slightly addicted to ‘Look on the Bright Side‘ would have been an understatement. And then the other day I picked up the ‘Yin and Yang‘ after an awesome Yin yoga class and I’ve bought half a dozen since {from Ainslie IGA if you’re interested}.
It is a delicious combination of organic chia seeds, organic brazil nuts, organic almonds, organic cashews, organic agave, organic ground vanilla, organic ground nutmeg, organic ground cinnamon, himalayan pink salt and organic rooibos chai.
In my April kitchen…
There is delicious butter from Pepe Saya. Ever wondered why Australian butter is so yellow? Australian milk is rich in beta-carotene (vitamin A) because our cows are mostly pasture fed. The European-style, pale butter is a result of the grain-fed cattle which are housed in barns for most of the year due to differences in climate.
In my April kitchen…
I’ve pulled out the good old Scanpan roasting tray and I’ve got some of my favourite pork flavour combo’s going on. Roast pork with potatoes, fennel and pears – yes please!
In my April kitchen…
…We have way too many Easter chocolates. Although I must admit this decorated milk chocolate tiger that the boys received is pretty cute. 
In my April kitchen…
…I’ve finally been able to track down edible flowers. If you follow me on Instagram, you notice that I ask anybody and everybody who posts an image of edible flowers ‘where did you find them?’ They always reply with somewhere in Melbourne or Sydney. I was thinking ‘come on Canberra – we are a big enough foodie town to have edible flowers’. And then on Good Friday I came across these at Ziggys at the Belconnen Markets. So there you go fellow Canberra Foodies – ENJOY!
What new things have you picked up and tried lately? Do you purchase new brands or do you stick with what you have tried and tested? Are you choosing to give yourself a special treat or two this year? Are you a sweet or savoury fan? Have you been to the Farmer’s Market lately? Anything interesting happening with you and your family in April?
that’s meant to say bad butter:)
Oh no – that’s so sad to hear that you had a bad Pepe Saya experience 🙁 I hope that you get to try it again in a cooler climate 😉
I know. A tragedy really!:))
nope i haven’t seen edible flowers around the place. i think our climate in Qld is not kind to a lot of produce. yum look at all those lovely mushies. i had some pepe saya butter once; i think that was because it had probably sat in a truck in the Qld heat for too long:)
Shari, I am so jealous of your Pepe Saya butter. I have seen it showcased on Eastern State blogs for years but am yet to see it in WA. I know a few shops do stock it but they are miles from me. I am sure I will stumble on it one day.
It’s definitely something special, Glenda. I hope that you are able to get your hands on it soon 🙂
What beautiful tasty things in your kitchen. I have also thought to grow edible flowers but have not got around to it.
Have a wonderful week.
🙂 Mandy xo
Yes, I thought to grow edible flower, but didn’t know how sucessful that would be in Canberra. So lucky to find them at the Belconnen Markets. You have a wonderful week too, Mandy 🙂
I bet that pork roast finished up amazing – lovely combo of roasties there. I’ve yet to try Pepe Saya butter but I’ve only ever heard good things.
The crackle was SO GOOD! I think that I might be addicted to pork crackle.
It really seems that we all had too many chocolates!!!! Haha! Those farm market product look delicious. Pear and fennel with pork… interesting! We usually put dry fruits with pork like apricots and plums. xx cathy
I’d love your dry fruits with pork recipe – we are big lovers of pork around here {especially as the weather gets cooler}.
Hmmm, your edible flowers may be hard to come by…But, they’re better looking than those at our market. Speaking of good looking, your Easter tiger is a cutie pie…And the description of the butter makes me want to fly to Australia! (The bread is a looker, too.) Love the photo of you with the mushrooms…And, bravo to you for the oh-so-good for you chia seed and yummy nut combo drink =)
That’s good to know. The bread and butter is one of my favourite things to pick up from our local farmers market – in fact now I only buy bread from here. Supermarket bread just won’t cut it.
What fabulous finds! I’m swooning over those edible flowers and loving the look of those Italian sausages! I’m headed your way next week – you’ll have to give me the heads up of any weekend markets I must go to! Tell me all the things!
The edible flowers were so pretty – so glad that Canberra is finally stocking them! You should definitely hit up the Canberra Regional Farmers Markets at EPIC on Saturday mornings and you won’t want to miss the Bombolini doughnuts: http://capitalregionfarmersmarket.com.au/directory/listing/bombolini . You have to be there before 9am as they always sell out so quickly.
Pepe Saya butter is heaveeeenly! I am a bit jealous of all of those delicious mushrooms! We’ve befriended the mushroom guy at our local organic market and he sent me a text this morning to let me know he wouldn’t be there and I was so bummed! Haha!
I love pepe saya butter! I am always disappointed when my favourite stall holders aren’t at our local markets – pretty nice of him to text you though. Thanks for stopping by and commenting 🙂