This Weeks 5 Best Vegan Market Buys
Just walking around the incredibly photogenic venue at Carraigeworks is enough to send me into a instagram posting stupor.
The Saturday morning markets happen to be a favourite of mine, the huge height of the buildings use to house the Train carriages for Sydney’s expanding rail network. Carriages built here include the Royal Carriages constructed specifically for the Governor General and visiting Royalty, the very first electric carriage, as well as the first air-conditioned train in Australia.
Today the open air huge construction houses Eveleigh Markets each Saturday morning from 8am - 1pm. With plethora of the finest veggie and cottage industry produce supplied from every corner of New South Wales. There is a Market Charter which ensures five core values all the products must uphold.. they authenticity, origin, knowledge, sustainability and excellence. Check out all the suppliers here
Some small holding farmers and cottage industry food producers leave at 3am and 4am to travel to Redfern in the inner city (the hipsters even stopping for a cheeky surf on route) They cart whatever they have a glut of or that's in season and pile high the weeks crops of spinach, kale, beets , mushrooms, garlic, potatoes, flowers, peppers, aubergines, chillies, tomatoes.
I collected a great stash, here are my top 5 Vegan buys along with some nifty quick recipes and links to all the suppliers.
What's in Season Now ... I saw plenty of Courgette (Zucchini) Figs, Peaches, Plums, Raspberries, Strawberries, Apricots, Asparagus, Mushrooms, Rhubarb, Tomatoes, teeny weeny cucumbers and Sweetcorn.
My Top 5 Eveleigh Market Stall Holders - 3rd February 2018
1. Kurrawong Organics This week's favourite stall is Kurrawong Organics
The seasoned Eveleigh foodies gather early at this market from 8am to fill their plastic colanders sky high with Kurrawong Organic greens. They supply brassicas (Brussel Sprouts, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage & Kale and Spinach) to many of NSW's Organic outlets.
Health Benefits of Eating your Greens... Greens are full of antioxidants, chlorella and spirunlina which drag heavy metals from our bodies. Add to your smoothies, chop into salads or lightly steam and dress with lemon rind, juice and a drizzle of olive oil.
2. FERMENT IT As well as creating some wicked ferments they also sell a great do it your self fermenting kit at $35! Stand by for the results, I will be putting this to the tried and tested kitchen this week. Meanwhile I have already got through a delicious jar of their lemongrass and Turmeric Kimchi.
Health Benefits Kimchi - Fermented products are loaded with essential digestive enzymes & super living pre & probiotics to encourage vital intestinal flora in the gut for optimal health and liveliness!
Kimchi works really well when it cuts through rich foods. I love it as a topping to avocado toast, sprinkled with basil sprigs and pumpkin seeds.
Daikon radishes are ideal for Kimchi, if you can't find them use the regular radishes.
3. Margins Mushrooms Family run thriving mushoom dynasty, provide some incredibly taste mushrooms. Essential on a vegan diet, they can be turned into burgers, patties, simply grilled with herbs and garlic and served on toast with spinach.
Health Benefits of Mushrooms Mushrooms are a fungi which is made up of 90% water and are virtually calorie free. They are high in Vitamin D, Vitamin B6, protein, magnesium, iron, potassium and many other important minerals.
I used Margin's Mushrooms in my veg and bean stew with fresh basil oil. Will put the recipe up soon!
Suzy Spoon was such a delight to see.. so many people say they could never go vegan because they can't give up bacon.. well Suzy Spoon has done a great job recreating a really tasty rasher using non GMO ingredients. So many supermarkets were tasteless, rubbery and highly processed. Suzy produces some great vegan products including sausages, burger patties, seitan, schnitzel, bolognese, lasagne, veggie balls and pepperoni. Spoons products are sold in health food stores and small supermarkets in NSW, Queensland, Victoria, ACT and Western Australia.
I tried out the rasher this week and made one of my favourite all time Sandwiches.. the BLT! I used my favourite soughdough from Bread + Butter, spread the toast with Veganaise which is my go to Organic Vegan mayonnaise, and sliced the beautifully real smelling tomatoes from Glenwood Orchard.
The 'bacon rashers' sizzled away in the pan and they crumbled perfectly over the top. I finished it with a drizzle of my basil, olive oil and garlic pesto. Using the big bunch of basil from Kurrawong Organics. The result was totally YUMMY!!!
I loved meeting the enthusiastic Russell and adored his little seaweed grown spuds. The flavour is quite something else. He popped a bit of remnant seaweed from the farm in each bag of potatoes and once the spuds were steamed with the seaweed you get a subtle umami flavour. I chose a mix of his mini ones and large creamy sabago variety, perfect for mashing or making gnocchi.
Health Benefits of potatoes They are nutrient dense. Many myths abound about potatoes being fattening. Really, it’s what you do to them when you cook them that matters. Potatoes are low in calories compared to other carbohydrate foods like rice or pasta. They’re high in fibre, a good source of potassium and vitamin C and contain small amounts of iron, B vitamins and magnesium.
Finally there was a great demonstration by Darren Robertson from the Three Ducks.. he did a beautiful little salad recipe using Russells' potatoes. If you are in Sydney this week, check out the night markets this Friday where Darren will be cooking indigenous food along with around 30 other top sydney restaurants. Tickets are only $10, get them here
Special Mentions..
I loved the falafel that I ate for lunch from Eat Falafel. It was also fun bumping into Maeve O’Meara doing her Gourmet Safari and Jill Dupliex hosting the Smeg demonstrations with Darren Roberston.
I also loved the hug for a coffee truck mug initiative... helping with the waste on coffee cups everyone had a china mug for a coffee instead of the paper cups that can't be recycled.
The beautiful flower arrangements and the icing on the cake was walking into the creative space next door at Carraigeworks and seeing Katharina Grosse huge folding installation that was full of colour and vastness! Do go and see it if you get the chance.
