My Account
One of the joys of living at Omaha Beach is the extraordinary number of farm stands offering freshly picked produce grown in the fertile soils of Omaha Flats. Year round, there’s always something to buy, and, due our temperate climate, this tiny area is probably unequalled in New Zealand for the luscious growth of a huge array of fruits and vegetables – sold alongside local flowers, honey and eggs.
Each season brings something different. When we built our house at Omaha we moved in before the wonderful Matakana Village Farmers Market was established. I stocked the fridge and freezer with proteins and informed my family we would eat only what I could buy locally. I had no intention of driving anywhere. That often meant there would be a repetitive cycle of tomatoes, beans, cucumbers, courgettes, corn and potatoes every night from my favourite stand, Quail Farm (no quails to eat there, just busy little birds running through the fields).
It was truly summer food, and there’s nothing quite like eating what’s abundant and fresh straight from the garden. Our supermarket system has spoiled rather than spoilt us all. We expect to see almost everything available year round and complain if the prices get higher than the guaranteed low prices that come with the seasonal abundance of goodness.
Presently, we are in the midst of citrus season and many farm stands with their honesty boxes display bags of lovely oranges, tangelos, limes and lemons. The mandarins are sadly finished – a pity as this has been one of the best seasons I can remember. The long, dry summer, followed by rains that brought the necessary water to make the citrus fruits all really juicy were most welcome.
There’s an intriguing history to citrus growing in the Matakana area. Russian immigrant Alexis Migounoff established a large citrus orchard in the 1940s and made his Lemora wine from the fruit. More recently, the late Tony Gibbs planted a vast mandarin orchard bounded by Omaha Flats Road, Jones Road and Tawharanui Road, where the family pick an incredible 1.3 million pieces of fruit each year.
I love to have a bowl of local lemons on my bench. Lemons are one of five essential ingredients I cannot do without. Salt, butter, eggs and garden herbs are the others. A squirt of lemon on most food makes everything better, adding a touch of acidity that balances great flavours. This Lemon Delicious recipe is an old family favourite of mine.
Lemon delicious
50g butter
200g sugar
4 eggs, separated
4 tbsp self-raising flour
330ml milk
Grated rind and juice of 2 juicy lemons
Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter a two-litre ovenproof dish or soufflé dish. Melt the butter in a bowl and beat in the sugar and egg yolks with an electric hand-held whisk until the mixture is thick and creamy. Sift the flour into the mixture and carefully stir in with the milk, the lemon rind and juice.
Beat the egg whites in a clean bowl until stiff, fold them into the mixture and pile into the greased soufflé dish. Stand the dish in a larger shallow dish filled with hot water. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes until the spongy top is pale gold and firm. Accompany with whipped cream or yogurt. Serves six.
Introducing Lauraine Jacobs
Mahurangi Matters’ new cuisine columnist, Lauraine Jacobs, was formerly Cuisine’s food editor and has written a weekly food column for the NZ Listener for the past 10 years. She is a former restaurant critic, an author of 11 cookbooks and one destination book, Matakana, published in 2008. She is passionate about everything to do with New Zealand food, from the food grown on our farms to the sustainably produced fare for Kiwis and for export around the world.
Lauraine Jacobs
www.laurainejacobs.co.nz/blog/
Cuisine
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