One of my very favourite authors (and people!) L.J. LaBarthe is here today to promote her new book Mythica (which I have read, and is absolutely fantastic!) with a post about Aussie Bush Food and the Aussie Bush. Plus, she's included a recipe that sounds amazing!
Aussie Bush Food and the Aussie Bush.
Hi Cate, and thanks so much for having me again! I really
appreciate it.
Today, in celebration of the release of my latest paranormal
novel, "Mythica," I thought I'd talk about where the story is set and
share a recipe.
First up, the location. The story takes place in the Yorke
Peninsula, in the country town of Ardrossan, and the smaller town of Tiddy
Widdy Beach. Tiddy Widdy Beach is where Caiden and his family live, and in this
town there's nothing but houses, holiday shacks, the sea, sand, scrub and
beyond that, the outback. Ardrossan, which is 3 miles up the road, has all the
shops, pubs and amenities you could want, and is also on the coast, just like
Tiddy Widdy Beach. Most of the story plays out in these two locations, and they
are picturesque and beautiful, small communities about two hours' drive from
the city of Adelaide. At the bottom of the Yorke Peninsula is the Innes
National Park, and a scene takes place there as well.
Caiden is a half-selkie and has a great affinity for the
sea. If he can't be near the sea all the time, he finds it extremely
uncomfortable. He needs to be in the sea water, celebrating the life within the
ocean and his selkie half as often as possible. Winters can be quite cold—but
without snow—and even then, Caiden follows his instinct to be in the sea. He
loves the sea and his day job involves working on and near the sea, as an
inspector for the Fisheries Department. As you can see from these images, both
Ardrossan and Tiddy Widdy Beach are really lovely, and the majority of houses
are old, made of brick with corrugated steel roofs. Ardrossan has a population
of around 1122 people and Tiddy Widdy Beach has a population of around 193
people.
Next, food. I'm something of a foodie, and there's not much
that I won't taste at least once, although I have a deep hatred of broccoli!
Indigenous foods, things that have been hunted and gathered by the Aboriginal
peoples of Australia for millennia are growing in popularity in a wider
audience, thanks to exposure from such celebrity Australian chefs as the
awesome Adam Liaw and Luke Ngyuen.
In "Mythica," there is a barbeque scene, and one
of the dishes that is prepared is lemon myrtle, bush tomato and chili mussels. Lemon
myrtle tastes like a combo of lemon and lime, and bush tomato, which is
harvested as a fruit and then dried, tastes like a combo of sundried tomato,
tamarind (sour) and caramel. You can find out more about these native foods
here: Lemon Myrtle info: http://tasteaustralia.biz/bushfood/lemon-myrtle/
Bush Tomato info: http://tasteaustralia.biz/bushfood/bush-tomato/
Onto the recipe! This is for the sauce, which is great with
just about anything.
Bush Tomato, Lemon Myrtle and Chili Sauce.
Ingredients:
8 large tomatoes
¾ cup white sugar
1 cup white vinegar
1 dessert spoon basil
1 ½ dessertspoons crushed bush tomato (Kutjera)
1 dessertspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 dessertspoon parsley
2 teaspoons salt
½ cup finely diced brown onion
½ cup finely diced green capsicum (green pepper)
4 tspn dried chili flakes
1 dessertspoon ground lemon myrtle
Method:
Core tomatoes and cut a small slice at the base of each.
Place into a saucepan of boiling water for 40 seconds to blanch. Remove with a
slotted spoon and plunge immediately into iced water.
When cool, peel tomatoes, cut in half, remove seeds and
finely dice.
Place sugar and vinegar in a large saucepan over a high
heat. Add the herbs and spices and stir until sugar has dissolved. Add chopped
tomatoes, onion and green capsicum. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and
simmer for 20 minutes or until the liquid has reduced and sauce becomes sticky.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
If sauce is too thick, add a little water until desired
consistency is reached. When liquid is cooled, bottle in sterilised
bottles/jars.
Delicious with seafood, chicken, beef, lamb and vegetable
dishes.
If you'd like to try these bush foods, here are some links
of places where you can order them online. They do ship internationally, but
it'd be wise to ask your post office first about restrictions on what can and
can't be brought into your country.
Buy Australian bush foods:
***
"Mythica" Blurb:
Caiden Jones is part-selkie and lives an idyllic life by the
sea in South Australia. He’s had his fair share of disappointments, like being
kept out of the Navy due to his mythica status, but overall he’s got a pretty
good life. Until he’s in the wrong place at the right time.
Cai steps in to subdue an out-of-control minotaur and in the
process suffers a serious injury to his ribs. As Cai struggles to breathe, a
gorgeous suit-clad sy’lph with mesmerising blue eyes races to his rescue. When
it’s learned that the minotaur was poisoned, the sy’lph, Gray, makes it his
personal mission to keep Cai and his family safe.
Cai has always harboured some resentment towards the sy’lph
because of their easy acceptance into the community, so the attraction he feels
for Gray takes him by surprise. But how can they find out what this might mean
when the lives of Cai and his family are endangered by someone closer than they
realise?
***
About L. J. LaBarthe:
L.J. LaBarthe is a French-Australian woman, who was born
during the Witching Hour, just after midnight. From this auspicious beginning,
she went on to write a prize-winning short story about Humpty Dumpty wearing an
Aussie hat complete with corks dangling from it when she was six years old.
From there, she wrote for her high school yearbook, her university newspaper,
and, from her early teens to her twenties, produced a fanzine about the local
punk rock music scene. She loves music of all kinds and was once a classical
pianist; she loves languages and speaks French and English and a teeny-tiny
smattering of Mandarin Chinese, which she hopes to relearn properly very soon.
She enjoys TV, film, travel, cooking, eating out, abandoned places, urbex,
history, and researching.
L.J. loves to read complicated plots and hopes to do complex
plot lines justice in her own writing. She writes paranormal, historical, urban
fantasy, and contemporary Australian stories, usually m/m romance and featuring
m/m erotica.
L.J. lives in the city of Adelaide, and is owned by her cat.
twitter: @brbsiberia
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lj.labarthe.9
