Summer may not have been too flash, but there are many delights to be had from the autumnal flavours available in March.
Fun with feijoa
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, we’re approaching that time of year where feijoa are everywhere. Beautifully perfumed, with a soft, sweet and slighly medicinal flavour, these oval beauties are world famous in New Zealand, and we produce around 800 tonnes of this funky fruit every year. Feijoa are best eaten straight from where they’ve fallen under the tree. A quick shake of a feijoa tree in early autumn provides a piňata of fruit with slightly tart, pear-like pith and a sweet, juicy interior. Because the feijoa season is so short, it’s a good idea to freeze or preserve a bunch; if you have a tree, you can also add the sweet, musky flowers to salads.
Super sweet squash
Nothing says the beginning of autumn like a bowl of creamy, delicious butternut squash. This delightful, colourful vegetable (it’s actually a fruit if we’re being technical) is incredibly versatile, and it’s also rich in fibre, Vitamin C and Vitamin E – great for your skin. I particularly enjoy the flavour of butternut after it’s been halved, seasoned with salt, pepper and oil, and roasted; add parmesan and a balsamic drizzle to take it up a notch. Don’t throw away the seeds; roast them up and season them for an easy snack. You can even enjoy butternut as a dessert; simply roast with a little brown sugar and some vanilla extract and serve with ice cream.
Pantry staple: Coconut milk
Everyone should have a tin of coconut milk stashed away. It’s a perfect dairy-free milk alternative, and can be added to any number of savoury and sweet dishes. You may notice that not all tins of coconut milk are equal; that’s because it’s made from the squeezed coconut flesh that’s left inside the cheesecloth. To make thinner coconut milk, water is added and the mix is strained again. Add to soups (try in butternut soup), smoothies (mango and coconut smoothies are a thing of beauty), curries and Thai dishes. When buying coconut milk, you want as few ingredients in the list as possible; watch out for added sugars, preservatives and added thickeners.
