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With simple, generous food and love, you’re always in good company.
WORDS SOPHIE HANSEN PHOTOGRAPHY SOPHIE HANSEN
Sunday afternoons for the Walmsley family of Buena Vista Farm are a moment to pause and take a breath after a weekend of farm tours, workshops, milking and feeding goats on this beautiful coastal farm. It was such a pleasure to share a picnic with them on a chilly Sunday in the tall grass of their front paddock, which also happens to overlook a pretty spectacular piece of the coast in Gerringong. Aside from the odd errant goat investigating our picnic basket (I’m looking at you, Daphne!), it was the perfect end to a busy weekend.
Sophie Hansen chats to Graziher’s Life on the Land podcast about shining a light on rural women. Article continues below.
Here’s Fiona’s take on sharing her love of food and hosting: “Adam and I have always loved hosting. Many years ago we began hosting long degustations with matching wines for our friends, with the occasional medieval feast thrown in for fun! I love cooking, and Adam loves people, and we love entertaining together. These days our gatherings usually involve a bit less preparation and many more small people, and we love them just as much. We reckon the secret is planning and a good list. You can throw together the most complicated thing if you have a good prep list and everything on hand. You don’t want to be rushing around at the last minute — no-one wants a flustered host! We keep sparkling wine on hand, as well as goat’s cheese and crackers, so if people unexpectedly show up there’s always fun, with no effort.”
To see what Sophie is up to next, sign up to her newsletter at Local is Lovely and for more about Buena Vista Farm, visit their website.
GINGER CRUNCH BARS WITH CUSTARD & RHUBARB
Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
The idea of dipping crunchy ginger bars into cups of warm custard and rhubarb compote while sitting on a windswept beach, all rugged up with friends, screams Enid Blyton–style adventures, don’t you think?
Ginger, custard and rhubarb are one of my all-time favourite flavour combinations and come together here in a delicious, portable and easy pudding.
The ginger bars are a really lovely, crunchy biscuit. They’re very quick to make and they store well, so perhaps prepare a double batch and pop some into bags for a sweet little gift for your ginger-loving friends. I also love them crumbled over or stirred through ice cream.
150 g butter
½ cup (110g) caster sugar
¼ cup (90g) golden syrup
2 cups (190g) rolled oats
½ cup (75g) plain (all-purpose) flour
½ cup (45g) desiccated coconut
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Rhubarb compote (homemade or store bought), to serve
Thick vanilla custard
2 cups (500ml) full-cream milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthways
4 egg yolks
¼ cup (55g) caster sugar
2 tablespoons cornflour
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin. In a small saucepan, stir the butter, sugar and golden syrup over medium heat until melted.
2. Combine oats, flour, coconut, baking powder and spices in a food processor and give a quick pulse so the oats are broken up and the mixture resembles wholemeal flour. Tip the oat mixture into a bowl and stir in the butter mixture.
3. Press the mixture evenly into the tin and bake for 15 minutes or until golden. Leave in the tin to cool for a few minutes and then cut into bars. Cool completely, then pack into a large jar.
4. To make the custard, pour the milk into a saucepan. Scrape the vanilla seeds into the pan and add the scraped pod. Cook over medium–high heat until the milk reaches boiling point.
5. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a heatproof bowl until pale and fluffy.
6. Strain a little of the hot milk into the egg mixture and whisk to combine, then pour in the rest of the milk, whisking as you go so the eggs don’t cook and curdle. Return the mixture to the saucepan and stir over low heat for about 6 minutes or until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Pour the custard into a thermos to keep warm for your picnic or pour it into a bottle, seal and place in the fridge until needed.
7. To serve, pour the custard into cups or bowls, then top with a spoonful of rhubarb compote. Use the ginger bars to dip and swirl the custard and rhubarb together and scoop it up in delicious comforting mouthfuls.
EASY TOMATO & CHORIZO STEW
Serves: 6
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 50 mins
This warming, flavour punch of a tomato stew is a pretty wonderful thing to pour into a big mug and wrap your fingers around on a windswept headland on a cool spring evening. Not all of us have our own headland for such occasions, but you probably have a garden, nature strip, nearby park or beach. Pack this stew in a thermos for your dinner picnic and serve it with some warm sourdough.
We crumbled a little of Fiona and Adam’s fresh goat’s cheese over the stew and it added such a lovely note of creamy, tangy goodness — highly recommended!
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 chorizo sausages, diced
3 garlic cloves, sliced
2 brown onions, diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely diced
1 cup (250ml) white wine
800g tin whole peeled tomatoes
250g soft goat’s cheese, to serve
Sourdough bread slices, to serve
1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium–high heat. Add the fennel seeds and cook for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the chorizo and cook for a few more minutes, then add the garlic, onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes.
2. Pour in the wine and cook for 1 minute or until the liquid bubbles and reduces a little.
3. Add the tomatoes and cook, breaking everything up with a spoon. Reduce the heat, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and gently simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring every now and then so the stew doesn’t catch and burn on the base of the pan.
4. Either serve the stew straight away, or transfer it to a thermos to keep hot and head off to your picnic. Crumble the goat’s cheese over the stew and serve it with some lovely warm sourdough or garlic bread.
Variation: You could use this stew as a base for a quick and easy seafood stew. Bring the stew to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and add 800g mixed seafood (e.g. mussels, firm white fish, calamari). Cook for about 5 minutes or until the fish is cooked through and the mussel shells have opened.
FIONA’S OLIVE OIL CRACKERS
Makes: about 40
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Fiona serves these crackers with her goat’s cheese and pickles, both as a family snack and also to farm guests. Ever since she sent me the recipe, I’ve been doing the same. These are so, so easy and quick to make, and flaky and delicious — this recipe is definitely one to bookmark! I’ve made them with rosemary but also swapped it for fennel and chilli, which was delicious.
2 cups (300g) plain flour
¾ cup (185ml) olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
2 teaspoons sea salt flakes
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two baking trays with baking paper. Put the flour, olive oil, rosemary, sea salt and ½ cup (125 ml) water in a bowl and mix until well combined.
2. Divide the dough into two balls. Roll out one ball of dough between two sheets of baking paper until it’s as thin as you can make it (or use a pasta maker if you have one). Cut the dough into squares or strips with a knife (I used a ridged ravioli cutter) and lay them on the trays. Repeat with the remaining dough.
3. Bake the crackers for 10 minutes or until crisp and pale golden. Allow them to cool completely on a wire rack and then transfer to an airtight container.
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