Lilly Trewartha’s Guide To Tassie’s Best Spring Produce
BY LILLY TREWARTHA
After the annual Tasmanian Winter slog, Spring is one of chef Lilly Trewartha’s favourite times of the year, made all the more enjoyable by the springing up of some of her very favourite things to eat and cook with. Here, Lilly shares her guide to Tassie’s best produce of the season.
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Asparagus
It's a magical time when asparagus rolls in - it's one of the most delicious signs that the seasons are changing! In Hobart, grab a bunch of tasty spears from Little Red Hen at the Sunday Farm Gate Market. My favourite way to enjoy asparagus at home is lightly steamed with a poached egg and brown butter hollandaise. Yum!
Tongola Curdy
Iain and Kate’s goats at Tongola have just started kidding, so fresh goat milk is around the corner. It pretty much goes with everything: I have it in salads, with roasted vegetables, on toast, or sweet in a pannacotta or icecream. It's the gift that keeps on giving.
Radish
As we head into Spring, Tasmanian radishes come into their own. Crispy, crunchy, and with that lovely little peppery bite, I love them simply sliced over buttered sourdough with a bit of salt. They’re also perfect raw, added into salads, or on a crudité plate to dip into something delicious. And don’t throw the tops away. The leaves are edible, too - simply sauté them down like you would spinach.
Peas
I have a complex relationship with peas. There are not many foods I hate more than a frozen mushy pea. A fresh pea, though? That’s a thing of beauty. Fresh, sweet and crunchy. Great with butter, mint and lemon, tossed through pasta, smashed onto toast with ricotta, added to a Spring salad, or just eaten straight from the pod as a snack. In my opinion, Spring is the only time of year that peas are acceptable.
Baby Carrots
One of my favourite things to see coming into Spring, baby carrots really don’t need much done to them. I love them roasted with a little honey, salt and fresh tarragon, or kept raw as a snack.
Rhubarb
Despite its classification as a vegetable in the buckwheat family, rhubarb is as sweet and delicious as some of my favourite fruits. It’s also at its best at this time of the year. Poach it down and serve on top of yogurt and granola in the morning, or add it to a custard tart. Its sweet acidity cuts through the richness so well.
Wild Garlic
In that it’s designated “wild”, this genre of garlic is not available to buy, but if you feel like an adventure and a forage, it’s just starting to pop. The beautiful white flower packs a garlic punch, and the green stem is somewhere between a spring onion and a garlic chive - fresh, grassy and gently garlicky. You can use the leaves much like you would herbs: chop them through scrambled eggs, stir into mashed potato, make a pesto, or blitz with butter and keep it in the fridge ready to toss through your next batch of roasted potatoes. Disclaimer: make sure you do your research before picking, and don't eat anything you’re not 100% sure about!
Soyoyoy Tofu
Thankfully, I don’t have to wait for Spring to enjoy James and Loz’s Soyoyoy tofu - it’s available year-round - but it’s a great accompaniment to all these fresh Spring vegetables. I buy it most weeks from Farm Gate Market, and make a whipped tofu dip to keep in the fridge. It’s perfect with fresh peas, baby carrots, radishes and asparagus ... basically anything you’ve just brought home from the market. If you prefer to be less cheffy, grab a jar of Brie’zy, a whipped plant-only “cheese” spread that’s ready-made for dipping.
