This week in The Forager: the best of South Australia’s olives and olive oil, food at the Royal Show, a recipe for organic coffee cake, and OzHarvest heads south.

Organic single-origin coffee in a pod

You can have your cake and eat it, too. Newly formed Adelaide business Organic Pod Guys have launched what they say is the only organic, single-origin and recyclable coffee pod available in the world that – when you have the knack – will fit into a Nespresso machine.

The business is the mastermind of local coffee roasters Chris Hoskin and Paolo Scidone.

“We have developed four gourmet artisan coffee styles and the coffee beans are roasted here in Adelaide,” says Scidone. “Most blended coffees have a similar flavour, but the single-origin coffee pods have fuller flavour profiles.”

We can vouch for that.

The pods are available in four flavours: The Mexican; Ethopian Bunna; Indo Kicker from Indonesia; and our favourite, Ta Ta Mailau from East Timor.

Below, the Organic Pod Guys share their recipe for a cake made with their coffee.

Organic Pod Guys’ Hazelnut, Fig and Coffee Syrup Cake

250g (1 ¹/₃ cups) hazelnuts
200g (1 ¹/₄ cups) pure icing sugar
250g butter (room temperature)
6 eggs
110g self-raising flour
270g dried figs (sliced)
2 shots of coffee
1 cup caster sugar
³/₄ cup of water

Preheat oven to 200C.

Place sugar in a saucepan with just enough water to cover it. Cook on a low heat until the sugar caramelises. Add the coffee and the rest of the water and simmer over a medium heat for 6-8 minutes or until syrupy. Set aside to cool.

Add figs to half of the mixture and leave the other half to pour over the cake after baking.

In a food processor, blitz hazelnuts for 1 minute or until finely ground. Add icing sugar and blitz for another 20 seconds.

Using an electric mixer, beat butter for 2-3 minutes or until pale and creamy. Add hazelnut mixture and beat for another 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating between each egg to incorporate. Add self-raising flour and beat until combined.

Spoon cake mixture into a greased and baking-paper-lined 19cm x 26cm oval cake pan and tap pan on bench to level. Bake in centre of oven for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted withdraws clean. Cool cake in pan or on a wire rack until room temperature.

To serve, remove half the figs from the syrup and arrange on top of the cake. Drizzle cake with the half of the remaining syrup. Serve remaining syrup with figs on the side

Jamie’s Italian opens

After months of anticipation, Jamie’s Italian opened without fanfare yesterday.

The restaurant began its first lunch service at 11.30am in the spectacularly refurbished old bank building on the corner of North Terrace and King William Street. True to the restaurant chain’s unusual practice, it opened without any announcement, relying on word of mouth and media whispers to create the buzz.

InDaily received a sneak peak on Monday, and it’s a bright and breezy place, with open kitchen, bar area, and a brightly decorated salumi station, hung with bunches of cherry tomatoes, prosciutto and chillis, where staff prepare the antipasto ‘boards’. Curious customers can watch the fresh pasta rolling out of the shiny red pasta machines near the kitchen.

At first glance, it looks like it will be a fun, vibey place (even the basement toilets are intriguing, as they are located in the old bank vaults with the iron bars still in place).

Given the pricing, the star power, and the energy in the room, it looks like Jamie’s is in for a very busy start. It is open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week, from 11.30am until late. Booking details and menu here.

Olive awards

Australia’s first female chief olive oil judge, Trudie Michels, presented Clare Valley producer Tan Kee Estate with the top gold award for its single-variety Koroneiki Extra Virgin Olive Oil at the 175th Anniversary 2014 Royal Adelaide Show and OlivesSA Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Table Olive competition last week.

Michels, who is vice-president of Olives South Australia and manager of the Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers’ Market, conducted the judging for the first time at the Adelaide Showgrounds. She and a team of 16 other judges assessed 57 extra virgin olive oil entries from South Australia and interstate.

Victoria’s Cobram Estate Hojiblanca won Best Overall Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but South Australia held on to the Best Small Producer award (Laura Grove), the Best Single Variety Mild Oil (Nangkita Olives Kalamata Olive Oil) and Most Consistent Processor (Diana Olive Oil Holdings). The award for the Best SA Oil went to Tankee Estate 2014 Koronieki.

Michels said Australia produced 14 million litres of extra virgin olive oil this year, of which 15 per cent came from South Australia; it is typically fresh and fruity in style. She added that while Australia was still heavily dependent on imported olive oil, domestic and international consumer demand for Australian olive oil continued to create opportunities for local growers.

There were no gold medals awarded at the table olive competition this year and the number of entries was down due to the competition date being brought forward, but chief table olives judge Dr Michelle Wirthensohn awarded five silver medals to South Australian producers.

The Bovalina Group’s Kalamata (Adelaide Plains) and Coriole Kalamata (McLaren Vale) were awarded a silver medal each, while The Australian Olive Company (Fleurieu Peninsula) won three silver medals for its Kalamata, Koreiki and spiced mix. The Australian Olive Company Kalamata was also awarded Best in Show.

Wirthensohn, who is a Horticulture Australia Research Fellow at the University of Adelaide, said that while the awards were industry-based, rewarding producers for compliance with a certification symbol, they also served as a consumer guide. “When a producer wins a gold, silver or bronze, they are eligible for a decal from AOA (the Australian Olive Association) and when consumers see that it is like a trust mark, like the certification symbol.”

OlivesSA will have a stand at the TasteSA Pavilion at the Royal Adelaide Show for information, tastings and sales of South Australian table olives and extra virgin olive oil.

SA food at the Show

The Adelaide Showgrounds Farmers’ Market will be closed for the duration of the show (September 5 to 14) because the cattle pavilion will be full of cattle, but the Thursday night Prospect Farmers’ Market will continue. The first ASFM after the show will be held on September 21, when organisers hope to have new-season Hass avocadoes in from Renmark.

Meanwhile, there will be a host of other South Australian food experiences at the Showgrounds.

Food trail ambassador chef Rosa Matto.

The TasteSA Pavilion will feature premium food and wine from SA’s Clean Environment Food and Wine Trail, and for $40 visitors can collect a take-home cooler bag with all the ingredients for a two-course meal, including a bottle of wine. They can also watch chef and culinary storyteller Rosa Matto prepare the recipe.

This year the feature ingredient is San Remo Cous Cous, and Matto will be showing people how to prepare cous cous the right way.

“In the Maghreb in the north of Africa, where cous cous originates, they have a traditional pot for the preparation of cous cous called a couscoussier which is used to steam the cous cous three times, rubbing the cous cous by hand between each steaming to smooth out the lumps,” she explains.

“With the San Remo cous cous we follow the absorption method, which is easier and quicker and works equally as well. Cous cous makes a nice change from pasta or rice and goes really well with North African and Sicilian food or any cuisine from another country colonised by the Arabs.

“For this year’s recipe I am preparing the cous cous with Hahndorf Gourmet Chorizo, but you can substitute with lamb or chicken. We tend to think of cous cous for savoury dishes, but leftover cous cous is delicious for breakfast with the addition of chopped dates, nuts, honey and a dollop of yoghurt.”

Matto is also demonstrating the use of Kytons Crunchy Golden Crumble to make a quick and easy dessert with poached apples and pears. “You can substitute poached stone fruit as the weather warms up. I have also been using the Kytons Crumble like a muesli with yoghurt and fruit for breakfast.

“Most afternoons in the TasteSA Pavilion we will also demonstrate the preparation and uses of freekeh, an ancient grain produced in South Australia by Greenwheat Freekeh. Freekeh was grown by the Egyptians and, rather than risk losing a crop from the threat of flood, it was picked early. Freekeh has been found to have a high nutrient value, is kind on the digestive system and has a wonderful nutty flavour.

“The beauty of the Show is the exposure it gives to locally produced food products.”

There is another bag of South Australian goodies on offer at the Show, The Gourmet Goodie Bag ($20), which brings together more than 20 South Australian brands offering more than $180 value in products and vouchers. The Gourmet Goodie Bag is the brainchild of Tucker’s Natural managing director Sam Tucker, who wants to keep local products front of mind for South Australian consumers.

Available from Stand 21 in the Showbag Hall, it features samples and offers from producers such as Tucker’s Natural, Robern Menz, Laucke, Barossa Fine Foods, Bickford’s, Coopers, Golden North, Wintulich’s, Fruit Wise, Moutain Fresh, Nippy’s, Emmaline’s Country Kitchen, Kyton’s Bakery, Bagel Boys, Spring Gully, Humbugz Honey, Blue Lake Mills, Huon, Natralus, Peak Fresh, SA Mushroom Growers Association and b.-d. Farm Paris Creek.

“One of the challenges faced by SA food brands committed to manufacturing here is making sure we clearly identify ourselves to local consumers as being made in SA and communicating the quality and care which goes into our production process,” says Tucker.

New OzHarvest van

Food rescue charity OzHarvest Adelaide has added a third van to its fleet to take in the southern suburbs.

OzHarvest State Manager Hayley Everuss said the addition of the van, named Marigold, enabled the organisation to provide a truly city-wide food rescue service within less than four years since the organisation started here.

“We’ve just reached a milestone of delivering the equivalent of two million meals in central and northern Adelaide, and now we are adding a third van – never would we have anticipated the OzHarvest would grow so quickly in such a short timeframe,” she said.

Events

It’s Organic Corner Store Bellevue Heights’ first birthday on Saturday, and chef and ethical food advocate Simon Bryant is helping to celebrate with a cooking demonstration.

The store markets provide a range of guaranteed certified organically grown and freshly picked seasonal produce, as well as organic baked goods, dairy products, coffee, meat and skin-care products. They operate each Saturday at Bellevue Heights Primary and each Thursday at Glenelg North Community Centre from 9am to 1pm. More information can be found here.