All the recent rain has been so frustrating for farmers – and yet Rick Morrow, whose farming heritage stretches back to the late 1800’s, is calmly philosophical. Rick mans the Mullumbimby Farmers Market stall with his uncle Stan, but there are actually five Morrows running the farm – the others are Stan’s brother Bruce Morrow, Bruce’s wife Christine, and his niece Sandra. They are all Morrows and all run the farm together, a true family affair!
Besides Rick’s calmly philosophical outlook, there are other sunny patches between the rain clouds – the tumbles of sweet potatoes, the wedges of luridly orange pumpkin, the perfectly conical little onions. Cherry tomatoes crowd together in punnets, there’s the last of the pale-yellow butter beans, avocadoes – Fuerte and Hass – occupy an entire table. Rick tells me that their most popular produce, the strawberries, will be back in about a month.
I love cooking with sweet potatoes, and leaving the Morrow stall I’m already planning two uses for them. One is a favourite Guy Mirabella recipe in which a kilo of sweet potato is sliced into one-centimetre-thick rounds. Preheat your oven to 180C and in a baking tray combine the sweet potato with 100 grams of pancetta you’ve cut into matchsticks, an entire garlic bulb, unpeeled but separated into cloves, and about thirty sage leaves. Slosh in 75ml of olive oil, season with salt and pepper and mix everything together with your hands before baking it for about an hour. It’s a gorgeous accompaniment to meat, fish or chicken and delicious on its own.
Then – and it’s definitely soup season – there’s my sweet potato and pumpkin soup. In a large pot melt 250g of butter. Finely slice two large onions and cook till translucent, then throw in one peeled chopped sweet potato and a peeled, seeded wedge of pumpkin. With a wooden spoon stir these through the onions for about five to ten minutes then pour in enough vegetable or chicken stock to cover. Season with salt and pepper, bring to the boil then simmer till the vegetables are soft. Using a stick blender, blend till smooth. Serve with crusty bread – divine!
The Morrow Farm is at Mullumbimby Farmers Market every Friday from 7am to 11am.
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