Annabelle Hickson grew up in Sydney, became a journalist, then fell in love with a farmer. Now she lives in the Dumaresq Valley (think the border of New South Wales and Queensland) about an hour’s drive from the nearest town. On their patch of land, she, hubby and three young kids grow pecans and run free. We’re observing a trend in the food blogosphere for city girls turned farmers wives turned bloggers, from Imen McDonnell’s Farmette to Sophie Hansen’s Local is Lovely and now Annabelle, who captures her family’s bucolic dream (and CWA-worthy dishes) on The Dailys (you can follow her on Insta at @the_dailys). Her gorgeous pics of sun-kissed pecan groves, dappled fields and afternoon tea on the verandah are coupled with lively, endearing prose – about the ups and downs of farm life, and having food you’ve toiled at thrown on the floor by your finicky kids. As winter turns to spring in their pastoral nook, Annabelle shares some of her family’s favourites, from barley porridge with baked pears and toasted pecans and cauliflower soup sprinkled with pecan dukkah, to sweet hazelnut kisses and Italian chestnut cream puffs. Notice another trend emerging? If we lived on a pecan farm, we’d be throwing delicious nuts into everything, too.
I feel so sorry for kids who can’t eat nuts and their poor mothers who, when I tell them during playground chit chat that I live on a pecan farm, subtly reach for the EpiPen in their handbag and quickly glance over to make sure their child is still alive.
“It must be such a burden. And, to rub salt in the wound, they also have to miss out on the joys of cooking and eating nuts, which for me play a huge part in my daily kitchen life. I love using toasted nuts to add crunch to a salad or on top of porridge, and I adore the lightness that comes in cakes and biscuits when you substitute some or all of the flour with ground nuts. So I know this collection of recipes may not be for everyone, but nuts are worthy of celebration nonetheless. Here are four beautiful ways to enjoy nuts at home, for breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea. The simplicity and healthiness of the porridge and soup is balanced by the decadence and total moreish-ness of the cream puffs and the hazelnut kisses. And there is a time and place for both. As a postscript, I have also heard if you activate nuts by soaking them overnight and drying them out slowly in a low oven, they are much easier to digest and less likely to flare up reactions in those who are mildly intolerant.”
I started my blog to… Help me see what is actually in front of me. I have this awful tendency to focus on the things that could be rather than what actually is, so The Dailys is a kind of tool to help me see the beauty in my daily life. I was also yearning to have a creative focus beyond being a mother of small children, who are just as likely to throw what I cook for them on the floor as to put it in their mouths. The concept of a blog as a virtual Room of One’s Own was very appealing.
The must-cook recipe on my website is… Baci di dama or hazelnut kisses. They are so simple – almost magically so – and a delight to eat, which for me is the ultimate goal of any cooking.
I can’t wait to go back to… The Farm at Byron Bay and eat their pork roll with chilli jam. My husband lined up in front of the roasting spits and within a couple of minutes I had a mouth full of soft bun and melting pork with chilli jam all over my hands. And I got to eat it on the lawn in the sun with my family, with a glass of wine in hand. Everything about it was easy, simple and so tasty.
My current food obsession is… Cold-pressed wild honey from Blue Mountains beekeeper Tim Malfroy. It is a gorgeous creamy bronze colour, full of pollen and all the magical bee bacteria and enzymes that have not been killed off by heat treating or spinning, which most commercial honey undergoes. It is outstanding.
Eating… Potato tortilla takes me back to being 18 years old, pretending to be a grown-up living in the little shed at the back of my parents’ house with my boyfriend. I’d cook it twice a week at least and both he and I thought it was the height of sophistication.
Nugget of cooking wisdom… “Nothing worse than a fawn sauce,” from Sydney chef, cooking writer and teacher Barbara Small. I always think of it when I am searing a piece of meat, caramelising or reducing anything down. You want lovely rich colours, not beiges or fawns.
I learnt to cook from… My mother, who learnt much of what she knows from Barbara Small.
When I go back to my home town… In the Dumaresq Valley in north west New South Wales, the first thing I eat is something made from a box of fruit and veg picked up on the way home at Sam Giacca’s shop just out of Stanthorpe. He produce is exceptionally fresh, very well priced and he has some wonderful cooking tips, too.
Friends always ask me to cook… My radicchio salad from my ebook. The combo of the bitter leaves and the sweet balsamic and salty parmesan is just so good. And it looks incredibly beautiful, too.
The one thing I can’t cook is… Delicious food for a heap of people. Any more than 12 and my brain flips out, I get stressed and the food is okay but never amazing.
I always have… Sea salt, coffee and honey in my pantry; cheese and apples in my fridge; and peas in my freezer.
My favourite biscuit to dunk in a cup of tea is… Amaretti, but with coffee. I don’t drink much tea.
My most sauce-splattered cookbook is… Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat.
The most difficult food to shoot/style and make look tasty is… Raw chicken.
Beyond my own blog, some of my favourites reads are… For cooking, I always look to Sophie Hansen’s Local is Lovely, Sneh Roy’s Cook Republic and Megan Trousdale’s Odgers & McClelland Exchange Stores. For visual foodie inspiration, Sydney-based lifestyle photographer Luisa Brimble is always photographing something wonderful. Further afield are the ever-inspiring Local Milk, Canelle et Vanille, Mimi Thorisson and From My Dining Table.
Top picks from The Dailys
1. Pearl barley porridge with baked apples and pears
2. Cauliflower soup with pecan dukkah
3. Chestnut cream puffs
4. Hazelnut kisses
Blog Appétit Editor Yasmin Newman
Blog Appétit is our curated list of go-to food blogs we love, with a focus on high-quality photography, trusted recipes, strong editorial themes and a unique voice and personality. View previous Blog Appétit entries.
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