We’re very lucky to have such a generous community here in Alphington, willing to share their skills and talents. Our local friend Manu grew up in India, but has lived in Australia for quite a while now and she is super keen to share some of her cooking knowledge. She is starting off with a chai tea making workshop.

It will run on Sunday 9 May from 2pm. In this workshop Manu will take you through the properties of ingredients of masala chai tea, and will show you how to make the basic mix and also give you some options to customise the flavour. You will make and try a number variations and then take home a jar of your favourite blend so that you can make it at home yourself.

Just click here to find out more and book in.

Hi Leanne here. This week it’s my turn to share a salad recipe. This pumpkin salad is my go-to when I am doing more than a chunky Greek salad - which is what we eat pretty much every night in summer (something like this).

It is great with a roast or cold meat, enough just by itself, and is super to take to someone else’s house as it’s a bit different from the usual leafy green salad. And it’s easy, lazy, tasty and hearty.

In a nutshell you just slice up pumpkin and onion and roast them in the oven for 40 minutes. Then fry some pine nuts, sprinkle some herbs and make a dressing. Done.

This recipe comes from Yotam Ottolenghi (my most favourite modern cook). Here are the details.

Ingredients

• 1 large butternut pumpkin (around 1.1kg), cut into 2cm x 6cm wedges

• 2 red onions, cut into 3cm wedges

• 50ml olive oil

• Salt and pepper

• 3½ tbsp tahini paste (or hommus works too)

• 1½ tbsp lemon juice

• 3 tbsp water

• 1 small garlic clove, crushed

• 30g pine nuts

• 1 tbsp za'atar (you can buy this spice mix that includes oregano or marjoram, sesame seeds and sumac from Oasis, Psarakos etc).

• 1 tbsp roughly chopped parsley

Method

• Heat the oven to 220C. Toss the butternut and onions in oil and salt and pepper and spread, skin down, on a baking tray, baking for 40 minutes until the vegetables have taken on some colour and are cooked through. Keep an eye on the onions: they may cook faster than the pumpkin. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

• Mix the tahini, lemon juice, water, garlic and a quarter-teaspoon of salt. Whisk to the consistency of honey, adding more water or tahini as necessary.

• Fry the pine nuts in some oil with half a teaspoon of salt, cook for two minutes, stirring, until the nuts are golden brown.

• To serve, spread the vegetables on a platter and drizzle over the sauce. Scatter the pine nuts and oil on top, followed by the za'atar and parsley.

If you’ve got a great salad recipe to share we’d love to publish it. Just send us a paragraph or two about why you love it and a link to the recipe and we’ll do the rest!

Hi Kalimna here. Some nights I have no enthusiasm for cooking. So a simple salad is an ideal solution.

This “summer nights salad” is from Summer Foods by Lola Berry. Full of flavour it is an easy favourite.

ingredients

• 1 cup macadamias, lightly toasted

• 2 large avacados, cubed

• 2 large mangoes, sliced

• 1/2 red onion, finely sliced.

• 150g rocket, washed and dried

• 75g crumbled goat’s feta

• zest and juice of 1 lime

• 3tbsp olive oil

• 1tbsp whole grain mustard

• 2 tbsp honey (melted)

• salt and pepper

method

Lightly toast the macadamias in a small frying pan over low heat.

To make the dressing whisk the lime, oil, mustard, honey and salt and pepper together.

Place all ingredients together, adding the rocket last to avoid bruising.

Hi Leanne here.

Do you follow the local restaurant Facebook group Northcote, Thornbury and Fairfield Takeaway?

If so you will know that lots of local restaurants had already stocked up on food for one of their busiest days of the year (Valentine’s Day) and have now had to cancel the bookings at the last minute.

So, if like me, you have a valentine (or 1 adult valentine + 3 valentine children as the case may be) in your house, and are feeling a bit lazy on the home cooking front, this weekend is the ideal time to grab some fancier restaurant takeaway and support the businesses that would usually be full.

And, don’t forget the florists. I saw the Bivianos florists working hard Friday morning, and can imagine how disappointed they will be feeling this weekend … (I am assuming they are still open?).

Anyway, we may be stuck at home … but we can still be romantic right? Right. For sure.

Fancy food from Estelle on High Street … one of the local restaurants going back to takeaway this weekend. Make the most of this non-cooking excuse, get out your fancy tableware … and maybe rope your kids into serving (unlikely at my house, they’ll just want to eat for sure, but I can live in hope for a second or two).

We are hoping that some local people might have an abundance of fruit or vegetables from their garden they would like to send our way.

Last year we had a once-a-month preserving session at ACC on Friday morning. And we’re keen to start it back up again.

So if you have extra zucchini or cucumbers, stone fruit … or anything else we could turn into pickles or chutneys or jams please let us know as we have some keen local volunteers waiting to get to work :-)