Salty River Farm Recipes

This is a cool refreshing side dish that looks great, is simple to throw together and is yum with fish or prawns.

4-5 lebanese cucumbers, finely sliced (or 1 large, halved lengthwise & seeded)
70g finely chopped Salty River Farm coriander
1 red chilli, seeded and finely sliced
1/4 cup rice vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp fish sauce
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp soft brown sugar
3 Tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
salt and pepper

Toss it all together and check for sweet/sour/salty/hot balance. Pile high on a platter next to bbq prawns, or fish. 

This is one of our favourite summer side dishes and one that's always on our Christmas lunch table. I usually make the dressing on Christmas Eve, and then finish the recipe off Christmas morning. It's well worth roasting the garlic head - the garlic ends up sweet and mellow. 

600g Salty River Farm green beans
8 rashers thinly sliced prosciutto (Salash Deli's is devine and without nitrates)

Dressing
1/4 cup pinenuts
1 bulb garlic
4 Tbsp chopped Salty River Farm basil leaves
1/2 cup vinaigrette (my recipe below)
Salt and freshly cracked pepper to season

For the vinaigrette ... put 1/3 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, 1 tsp dijon mustard, cracked black pepper and 1/2 tsp salt in a jar and shake it up.

Cut the top off the garlic, drizzle with olive oil then wrap in baking paper and roast in a small dish until soft, then set aside to cool.

When cool, squeeze the pulp from the roasted garlic into the vinaigrette dressing jar. If the garlic is chunky, wizz the garlic and dressing together with a stick blender until smooth. Add the basil. Shake together and season well with salt and pepper to taste.

Top and tail the beans and quickly blanch in boiling water (we want them crunchy). Place blanched beans on a hot bbq grill or hot frypan. Once the beans are slightly blackened (but still crunchy), set aside to cool. Lightly fry the prosciutto until it's crisp and cut into small pieces. Toast the pinenuts until lightly browned.

Dress the beans with the dressing (you may not need all the dressing that my recipe makes ... so store any left over dressing in the fridge for tomorrow's salad!), and fold through most of the prosciutto and pinenuts, reserving some to sprinkle on top. Voila! 

There's no pizza sauce like the kind you make yourself with fresh oregano and thyme. This is our quick slap it together pizza sauce recipe - tangy, garlicky and herby. Fast, no cook with a thick consistency ... it's all about flavour for us.

170g tomato paste (3/4 cup)
5 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, either finely grated, crushed or chopped
Freshly torn oregano and the leaves of thyme, striped off the stalks
1 tsp sugar
.5 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper (as much as you like)

Just mix the above together, smear on your pizza base and load up with toppings. This recipe makes 3 large (30cm) pizzas, and freezes well.

We adore tartare sauce - forget store bought - making your own with fresh dill is the best. It's a quick recipe that takes simple food to another level. We dollop it next to our fish and chips, slather it in our chicken or fish burgers, and dress our potato salads with it.

1 cup mayonnaise - we love Best Foods mayo
3 Tbsp capers
3 Tbsp finely diced gherkin
1/2 cup finely diced red onion
2 Tbsp finely chopped Salty River Farm fresh dill
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and Pepper

Simply fold it all together. Taste-test once combined and season to taste.

Pattypan, summer squash, scallopini - whatever you call it, this is one of our favourite crops. Full of yellow and green sunshine, they look like happyness itself!

But how do you cook them?

Simple ... slice into wedges, brush with olive oil, dust with salt and pepper and grill in a pan or on your bbq. Get some good colour on the two cut sides, and eat while there is still a bite (don't cook until mushy).

That's all there is to it. Delicious summer sunshine!

Make a big batch of basil pesto while it's in season. Double or quadruple the recipe, split into little containers or ice cube trays and freeze for later in the year when you're missing the classic summer taste of basil. Stir through pasta, use as a superdouper sandwich flavour bomb or dollup into your soup!

1/4 cup pinenuts
1 1/2 cups Salty River Farm basil
2 garlic cloves
3/4 cup shredded or grated parmesan
5 tbsp olive oil

Place the pine nuts, basil, garlic and parmesan in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. With the motor running, gradually add the oil in a thin steady stream until well combined. Add more oil until you reach desired consistency.

Can be frozen for 6 months.

Oh yum - this is one of our favourite lazy day breakfasts. It isn't really a recipe as such, but an idea that a baker once gave us - she said "fried sage is wonderful with fried eggs" and this favourite was born to us.

Heat olive oil in a fry-pan, when hot add sage leaves. Fry a bit - but don't colour too much. At this stage, you could take them out of the pan ... and set aside to scatter onto the eggs later. I'm a messy egg fryer ... so I often just leave the leaves in and break the eggs over them. Cook eggs until your ideal done-ness, season with cracked pepper and salt ... eat. 

This is the kind of salad that's even better the next day. The zucchini takes on the salty olive flavour and the feta softens and becomes part of the dressing. Super handy if you're in need to get a dish out of the way the day before!

3 cups diced zucchini
100g diced or crumbled feta cheese
2 cans chickpeas drained and rinsed
1/3 cup chopped kalamata olives
1/4 cup chopped shallot or red onion
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper or to taste

Mix all ingredients together ... taste ... adjust seasoning and enjoy!

Make very pretty ice-cubes, ice-rings and ice-bowls using our edible flowers. It's a fun job you can do ahead of the festive season or weeks before a party. 

I use ice rings or ice bowls to house the ice-cubes on the drinks table. It's colourful and adds a bit of whimsy!

To make a ice ring, I use a round, flat bottomed cake tin with a smaller, heavy round bowl inside. Tip water into the cake tin until it's about 2cm deep. This will end up being the bottom of the ring. Freeze. Take out of the freezer and place edible flowers on top of the frozen water. Top with 1-2cm water and freeze. Repeat the process until you have the desired depth. To remove from tin, just run some warm water over the tin and inside the smaller inner bowl. 

Over the years I've used the above method to make all sorts of cubes, rings and bowls. Have fun experimenting!

Thai basil chicken is fast, easy and super tasty. Spicy, garlicky and savoury with a hint of sweet, Thai basil is the key ingredient in this recipe. Thai basil tastes like normal basil but spicier ... and with an aniseed flavour.

This recipe serves 2-3. Double the recipe for 4 people.

250g chicken thigh fillets, cut into bite size pieces
1 spring onion, cut into 4cm lengths
1 cup Thai basil leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1.5 tbsp vegetable oil

Sauce ingredients:
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp water

Put sauce ingredients into a small bowl and combine.
Heat oil in wok or pan over a high heat.
Add garlic and chilli and cook for a few seconds.
Add white end of spring onion and the chicken and fry until cooked.
Add sauce and cook until reduced to a thick glossy sauce.
Toss through green part of spring onion, and basil leaves.
Serve immediately with jasmine rice.

Radish pickles
This recipe provides roughly enough pickling liquid for 2 x 300ml jars.

Sliced radishes to fill whatever jar you’d like to use
1/2 cup white or apple cider vinegar 5% acidity
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper optional

Place radishes in hot, sterilised jar. Bring vinegar, sugar, water, salt, spices and bay leaf to a boil. Ladle hot pickling liquid over radishes. Lid jar and let cool before storing in fridge up to 4 months.

Radish greens pesto
2 cups radish tops, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Juice of 1/4 a lemon
1/4 cup slivered almonds, coarsely chopped macadamia or peanuts, toasted
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus more if needed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Wizz it all up in a processor - it's as easy as that! Great folded through pasta or potatoes, or serve with fish or chicken.