Autumn is a great time of year for devising recipes. The end of summer is usually peak time for lots of different vegetable produce. With so much that is at its best in terms of taste and freshness there are exciting possibilities. Here's a dish that came mostly from my own garden but you should be able to find all the ingredients at a local market in Tasmania. This salad was excellent warm and just as satisying when the cold leftovers had their turn on the table.
Ingredients

• handful of fresh beans in pods
• 2 new potatoes
• 1/2 red onion
• 1 beetroot
• 1 tomato
• 2 Tbs fresh herbs of your choice
• 2 tsp infused oil of your choice
• juice of half a lemon
• seasoning to taste
• sprouts for garnish

Method

1. Cut the beetroot into smallish cubes about fingernail size. Steam for 3 minutes.
   
2. Trim the beans and slice diagonally into short sections. When the beets's 3 mintues are up, add them in a layer on top and steam another 2 minutes.
3. Chop the potatoes into cubes similar to the beets. Add to the steamer when the beans' 2 minutes are up and steam another 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile chop the tomato into small cubes, finely chop the 1/2 red onion and shred the herbs. I used 1 tablespoon each of parsley and sorrel.
5. When the vegetables have finished steaming, rinse quickly under cold water then drain and place in a bowl. Add the tomato, onion and herbs and toss lightly.
6. Measure 2 tsp of infused oil - I used 'flavours of Italy' by Rosedale Park - and squeeze the juice of half a lemon into the bowl. Add seasoning to taste and toss lightly. Serve warm with a garnish of fresh sprouts and edible flower petals such as calendula.
   

Time: 20 mins.
Serves: 2
Gluten-free & nut free: yes!
Low-fat: use a low-fat dressing instead of the infused oil
Variations: try a different root vegetable instead of or in addition to the beetroot. Try grilled tomatillos in place of the tomatoes.

This is an easy yet rewarding casserole with everyone's favourite: potatoes. Floury potatoes (sometimes labelled as 'for mashing') are recommended for this. I used some delightful blue potatoes that you can find in Hobart at the Farm Gate Market.

Ingredients

500 grams potatoes
5 cloves garlic
2 Tbs fresh herbs
1.5 Tbs walnut oil
1.5 Tbs spelt flour
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tsp salt

Method

1. Wash potatoes and cut into rounds just under a centimetre thick. Peel 5 cloves of garlic and slice. Roughly chop the herbs: you can use parsley, rocket, rosemary, whatever you like.

2. Lightly fry garlic in 1.5Tbs walnut (recommended) or olive oil, with half the herbs. When this starts to brown, add 2Tbs wholemeal or spelt flour. Stir until most of the oil is absorbed. Add potatoes, stir to coat & dry fry 2 mins.

3. Add 1l good vegetable stock, bring to simmer, cover and simmer on low heat 10 mins.

4. Stir, add 1 tsp salt and simmer another 10-15 mins uncovered until potatoes are beginning to soften.

5. Mash gently to break up the potatoes into chunks. Place on a serving dish and top with the other tablespoon of chopped herbs. Serve over some toasted crusty or dark rye bread.

Servings: 2   
Preparation Time: 5 minutes    

Cooking Time: 25 minutes
SuperTassievore: all ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from Tasmania.
Nutfree: use olive oil rather than a nut oil.
Lowfat: per serving contains 10.7g fat, approx 16% of RDI based on 2000 calories/day.
Gluten free: substitute a gluten-free flour such as besan (chickpea), buckwheat or sorghum for the spelt.

Actually, the concept is very simple. Take some sweet potato, cut it into a pretty shape and dress it up with a topping or two to make it look schmancy. And there you have it, a very attractive and reasonably healthy canape that can be prepared well in advance.
And once you get the hang of it, you'll see this has plenty of potential. Beetroot stars? Why not. Other shapes? Grab your favourite cutter and populate the hors d'œuvre tray with ducks, hexagons, snowmen, etc. to your heart's content.

Ingredients
sweet potato - an average sweet potato might give you about 10 cut shapes, plus a lot of leftover bits :-) Save them of course; why not make a delicious sweet potato mash?
toppings - in the photo I have used a macadamia creme and a pinch of mixed fresh sprouts. I grow them at home and like to put a few things in the mix such as rocket and cabbage that bring quite a burst of flavour.
The macadamia creme worked very well because it's a little sticky and hence doesn't easily slide off the sweet potato base, and also grips the little floral tripon top.

Method

1. Carefully select your sweet potatoes as that's the key to getting this right. Best thing to do is take the cutter you are going to use down to the market and use it as a size guide. Ideally you want nice cyclindrical sweet potatoes, without too many knobbly bits, that are wide enough around the barrel for your cutting shape.
2. Wash off any surface dirt and cut the sweet potatoes into thirds, across the width. Steam the pieces for about 8 minutes or until al dente. You need to get this right. Too soft and your eventual shapes will be mushy and unusable. Too hard and your shapes will be unpalatable. So the first time you do this I'd suggest you steam them 8 minutes then use a skewer to probe for texture. Once you have them adequately cooked, allow to cool.
3. Cut the cooked sweet potatoes into rounds that are 1cm thick. If you have cooked the sweet potatoes properly this should be fairly straightforward. There's no need to bother slicing any sections of sweet potato that are won't be wide enough for cutting into shapes.
4. Lay the rounds flat and use thecutter to cut out your desired shape(s). I like to position the cutter first and then give it a firm downward shove with the heel of my hand. Again, this is where you'll find out if the sweet potato is well cooked.
5. Dress the sweet potato shapes with your preferred toppings.And serve :-)
   

by Gita Sharma & Alan Whykes
Pakoras are a tasty snack for any time of day or as an accompaniment to a meal. We had a free demonstration of this recipe and tasters to give away at Taste of the World at Moonah, Hobart, on 30 March 2014. Many thanks to Gita for doing a great job: seemed like the audience very much appreciated the 60 or so pakoras we served up.



Ingredients
2 medium potatoes
1 cup besan flour
130ml water
1 tsp salt
1 pinch baking powder
½ tsp curry or chilli powder (optional)
500ml oil (for frying)




Method

1. Mix the besan flour, salt, baking powder, curry powder and water in a bowl. Stir steadily until you have a thick batter.
2. Slice the potatoes thinly. You can peel the potatoes if that's your preference.
3. Heat the oil in a deep saucepan or wok until it's hot but not smoking. Dip each slice of potato in the batter and carefully slide it into the oil. Cook several pakoras at a time for 3 or 4 minutes until golden brown. Lift from oil and drain on a paper towel. Allow to cool for a few minutes as the vegetable piece will continue to cook inside the pakora.
4. Serve as is or with spicy chutney, hot dipping sauce or slices of cucumber. At Taste of the World we served some of our pakoras with a chutney made from mint leaves, dessicated coconut, ginger, onion, chilli, cashew nuts, almonds, vinegar and salt. Grind it in all into a paste and adjust seasonings to your taste.

Tips

• Other vegetables can used for making pakoras: pieces of steamed cauliflower, slices of onion, whole mushrooms, etc.
• Besan is a tasty flour made from chick peas. You can find it in Asian grocery shops and health food stores. Besan is gluten-free.
  
• Eat fried foods in moderation. Pakoras can be part of a nutritionally-balanced meal that includes for example steamed rice, mixed vegetable curry and lentil daal.

Interestingly, there's an enormous variety of wonderful vegan snacks and dishes from around the globe. I like to explore these cuisines, especially those of places where I have lived such as Indonesia, Italy, Germany and Russia. Specialty ethnic cuisine classes are usually titled Ethnovegan on my workshops page.

This burger was demonstrated at the Sustainable Living Festival in Hobart on Sat 9 November. It holds together beautifully and is a chewy, wholesome burger for winter or summer.

Ingredients
1 medium potato
1 Tbs olive oil
200g mushrooms (any)
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 cup barley (cooked)
seasoning to taste, say 1/2 tsp salt & 1/4 tsp pepper
Method
1. Steam potato until tender. Mash with a fork until reasonably smooth.
2. Chop mushrooms roughly. Preheat oven to 190C.
3. Put 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan and heat. Sautee mushrooms until they begin to sweat. Add thyme and cook a little longer until the liquid has dried up.
4. Meanwhile measure the cooked barley into a medium-sized bowl. Add the salt and pepper. Add the mashed potato.
5. When the mushrooms are ready, put them in a blender with 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar and pulse until they are finely chopped. Add them to the other ingredients in the mixing bowl and stir until they are well combined.
6. Lightly grease a frying pan and heat. Shape the burger mix into four medium-sized patties and fry approximately 3 minutes per side until golden.
7. Transfer to a baking tray and bake in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes until the burgers are firm and cooked through. Serve with condiments of your choice!

Servings: 4 medium-sized burgers
Preparation Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

At the SLF I also used a small amount of minced black truffle and some truffle-infused olive oil to give it some added depth.