My Open Kitchen, episode 2

 

Hello! We are so thrilled to say that episode 2 of My Open Kitchen is now live and kicking! Our second podcast features interviews with two super creative, talented and inspiring women; Kate Walsh of Real Food Projects and Annabelle Hickson of The Dailys. Plus we’ll be sharing our top five of the week – from podcasts to books, new foods, resources and people to follow on social media. To listen, please click on the green ‘play’ button above, or  find us on i-tunes (search My Open Kitchen).

We really hope you like this episode as much as we do, there are some great finds in here and lots to think about! And also, we have been blown away by your support and feedback since launching our new podcast last week and are so grateful for all the comments, downloads and emails. If you do enjoy the podcast, please share with your friends and subscribe to us on i-tunes, this all goes a long way to helping continue into the future. Sophie and Skye x

 

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INTERVIEW ONE – KATE WALSH
Kate Walsh wants us all to break up with our supermarkets and make real food at home – she’s all about sharing real food skills, community and collaboration. Three things we are big fans of here at My Open Kitchen. Kate also has a background in PR and journalism so has some great advice on how to use social media to drive your business/profile across these platforms. She runs workshops from Harvest Cafe in Newrybar in north-eastern NSW and her wonderfully successful book Real Food Projects is a handbook to 30 essential cooking skills. Read the full transcript of Kate’s chat with us here, and below, please find the links to everything Kate mentions along the way. Find Kate on Instagram at @katewalsh_realfood.

Who inspires you?
Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkley
Carlo Petrini from Slow Food International
Slow Food Manifesto

Kate on collaborations – who does it really well?
I’ve always been really impressed with the way Young Henry’s Brewery in Sydney approach collaborations. They collaborate with really cool people all the time. They will do a beer with an awesome band or a dinner with an awesome chef and they just bring people in all the time. A similar person is Duncan from Africola in Adelaide, he is constantly doing collaborations and he focuses on how he can bring other awesome chefs and producers in. A rising tide lift’s all boats and that’s what happens with collaborations.

The last amazing meal
Harvest, Newybar’s Wild Harvest Dinner by Brett Cameron and Peter Hardwick.

Instagram favourite
Costa from Gardening Australia cause he’s just silly! He makes me laugh. He is a good example of a really authentic storyteller.

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Morning tea – Skye’s Mum’s Mini Carrot Cakes
Every week we take it in turn to bring morning tea to the studio – for this episode, Skye sustained us with these beautiful little carrot cakes with cream cheese and white chocolate icing. SO SO good.

2 eggs
1 cup caster sugar
¾ cup oil
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup plain flour
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
½ teaspoon mixed spice
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup chopped walnuts
1 ½ cup grated carrot (tightly packed)

Combine eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and sifted dry ingredients. Beat on low speed or mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.
Stir in walnuts and carrot. Pour mixture into well greased 8” tin (or muffin tins if you like). Bake on moderate for 45-50 mins.
When cooled spread with cream cheese frosting.

Beat together;
1 oz softened butter
2 oz cream cheese
1 teaspoon lemon rind
1 ½ cup sifted icing sugar

This has always been a go-to recipe for my siblings and I. It’s easy to make and so so delicious. Mum’s cake is always beautifully moist, like a good carrot cake should be. I topped the mini cakes with dried apricots, rosemary, walnuts and some white chocolate shavings.

Skye’s Top 5

1. AgriHack – The agricultural innovation space in Australia is so exciting at the moment. I love following the latest agri-start-up company to see what great idea they have come up with. AgriHack is an event where innovators who have a special interest in agriculture will get together and hack out some solutions to problems in specifically the grains industry. It’s the first of a series of Hack’s being put on by Dianne Somerville of the Regional Grants, Tenders and Corporate Services group.
2. Ingredepedia – I love the concept of this Australian made podcast put together by Emily Naismith and Ben Burchill – and it’s nice to be listening to some Aussie voices. They pick an ingredient each episode and share three wonderful weird and fascinating facts about the ingredient. I’ve asked them if they will do one on foraging – cause it’s forever fascinating me.
3. @_willworkforfood_– If you are a food producer who wants to tell their story – you should; Check them out and get in touch as they are looking for farmer stories for their series on people who have ditched the city life for farming, community and food production!
4. Wheatbelt local – A piece of my heart lies in the West Australian wheatbelt, after working for the ABC in WA for six years, I feel like I know so many of it’s farmers personally. They taught me everything I know about grain farming. The #lifeinthewheatbelt project is a series of Instagram takeovers from those living and breathing on it’s farms.
5. Roadside Stalls – Why don’t we do more of them. They are such a beautiful space for creativity and can really give a small snapshot into the story of that particular farmer. I know it’s not practical for all of us – but why not just sell a jar of relish or marmalade, with some dried wildflowers from the garden?

Sophie’s Top 5

1. Canva; This website/app is so fantastic – developed by an Australian tech company, it’s basically graphic design for dummies. You can create Facebook and blog headers, perfectly formatted and sized Instagram or Twitter graphics, Pinterest posts, fancy presentations, ads, posters, anything you want really. The designs are all drag and drop templates and you can upload them straight to your social media accounts or save and send or print out. And the best thing – most designs are completely free to use. You pay for the more involved ones and there are some great stock photos you can purchase for a few dollars too but basically it’s free. So you can do all of this via their app or website and it’s AMAZING.
2. Fermenting – I am on a total roll with ‘living foods’ at the moment. This weekend a friend came over and we did a culture swap, I gave her some of my homemade sourdough starter and sourdough mini lesson and she gave me a skoby with which to make kombucha and told me how to do it. I love this kind of thing – sharing recipes, experience, cultures! I’ve also been religiously reading up on the kombucha process over on the blog My New Roots which is another favourite place to hang and read. So there – two for the price of one! Oh wait – three – there’s also a great sauerkraut recipe on my Local is Lovely blog right now and I’m excited about making a new batch of kraut this week – with turmeric and carrot. YUM. I just love the idea of eating food that’s alive and so good for us – not the processed insert expletive that’s just everywhere!
3. Olia Hercules; Speaking of fermenting, my number three favourite thing today is following Ukranian-born food writer and chef Olia Herculues IG feed. Olia is a big fan of fermentation which is such a big part of her Eastern European heritage. She is now based in the UK where she has worked in the kitchens of luminaries such as Yotam Ottolenghi and is just about to release her second book. I adore her IG feed which documents travels around places like the Ukraine and Georgia and her cooking adventures back in London – it’s transporting, inspiring and full of new ideas and foods, which is what I love most about social media. If interested, check out Olia’s interview with the podcast Native. Another favourite, it dives into different food cultures each week through fascinating people. Another goodie from Heritage Radio.
4. Outlander; not food related but completely compelling and I just need to talk about it. We don’t usually watch a huge amount of television – we’re usually being boring and working in the evenings – but do go on the odd series binge and just swallowed the first two series of Outlander whole. It’s mostly set in the Scottish Highlands, just a few years before Culloden and is full of history, gorgeous men in kilts and stunning scenery. I lived on the Isle of Mull working for a small hotel for a little while in my early twenties so that part of the world has a special pull for me. Apparently the book and audio book of this series is also excellent!
5. Food and Words Festival; Organised by the inspiring and brave Barbara Sweeney this festival of food, writing and farmers is coming up this weekend. Held at the Mint in Sydney, there’s everything from speed meeting with a farmers to Q&A panels with food writers, chefs and producers. I’m so sad I’ll be missing out this year as I’m at the Australian Women in Agriculture conference in Canberra, but will be following via their IG feed!

INTERVIEW TWO – ANNABELLE HICKSON

Annabelle Hickson is, as she puts it a writer who takes photographs. Having grown up in Sydney and worked there as a journalist for much of her twenties, she now lives with her husband Ed and three children on a pecan farm in the Dumaresq Valley on the NSW-Queensland border. Her blog and Instagram feed The Dailys, have attracted tens of thousands of devoted followers and to me, she is a wonderful and very inspiring example of how clever use of social media can open up whole new worlds for creative, country people these days. Find Annabelle on Instagram; @the_dailys

Annabelle’s Instagram favourites;

Photographer Luisa Brimble; @luisabrimble
Chef Sarah Glover; @misssarahglover
Sheree Commerford, Captain and the Gypsy Kid; @captainandthegypsykid
Mimi Thorisson; @mimithor
Gillian Bell; @gillianbellcake

Dream collaboration? Nigella Lawson

Lightening round
Last amazing meal; venison and oysters cooked by Sarah Glover on Satellite Island