In My Kitchen - September, 2023

 Last month, much of the activity In My Kitchen was a celebration of the fresh and plentiful bounty of fruits and vegetables available at the markets and in the supermarkets, and at quite reasonable prices. This will change as the weather warms up, as Summer sets in with a vengeance on our beautiful sunburnt country, and the inevitability of the dreaded bushfires of the season have an impact on certain parts of the country. Let's hope the bushfires are averted by careful management practices. The following is in a nutshell what I created in my kitchen. This post is part of the In My Kitchen Link Party series hosted by Sherry at Sherry's Pickings. 

Happenings In My Kitchen in August 2023.

Sweet Things, "Sweet dreams are made of this" (the Eurythmics)

The highlight of my most recent sweets baking was this very smart Strawberry Streusel cake, marbled with strawberry puree. With large and juicy strawberry prices at an all-time low, how could I not bake a cake featuring strawberries. I'll share the recipe for this one shortly, but this wasn't the kind of cake that I would tackle at the end of a long day at the office. This cake requires a calm mind, with my favourite music playing in the background, a clear head, cool weather, and plenty of time at my disposal. While the strawberries last, this cake will be on rotation in my kitchen and will be quite simple to make next time. I can't wait.

 

This beautiful honey pot or jar in the foreground was a gift from special friends of ours and is the perfect receptacle for fresh honey from our beehive. It has pride of place at the breakfast bar each morning. A vase of cheerful nasturtium flowers from our garden always brightens up my day in the kitchen.

Whilst the weather was still cool, I made a Cherry Jam Steamed Pudding. This pudding has everything. A delicious sweet, cherry flavoured gooey topping, a firm cake pudding batter mix, and a very comforting feeling when eating it. It was just what we needed when we were feeling a touch poorly. It was quite a tough month health wise for Mr. HRK and me as we both succumbed to a chest infection virus requiring antibiotics and steroids, and lying low, not wanting to spread it amongst our friends, but here we are now quite healthy again, fingers crossed. I still managed to cook a few special dishes. A hot steamed nostalgic pudding like this one was just what the doctor ordered. The pudding steamer did most of the work.

Check out the recipe here, it's not difficult to make and you will be delighted with the result.

My old pudding steamer was part of the story.

I bought a new Bundt cake tin with a very well-defined profile, which was a quarter of the original price at House, so I snapped it up, for future baking treats.

A delicious batch of Sultana and Apple scones flavoured with Earl Grey Tea and served with Lemon Curd, were my contribution to International Scone Week this month. This was hosted by Tandy from Lavender and Lime blog.

Savoury dishes that we enjoyed at home

A Prawn Curry with coconut milk was simply the best.

When an easy but very tasty meal is needed during a busy week, cooking a nice piece of Corned Silverside in the slow cooker is the answer. For people who don't enjoy cooking, and are busy with work, and I know a few, this can be prepared in the slow cooker in the morning and set to cook slowly for 8 hours, and a delicious aroma will greet you as you walk through the door in the afternoon. I always like to fill the pot with water to just below the surface of the meat, then add a whole knob of garlic, unpeeled is fine, 4 whole cloves, 5 tablespoons of brown sugar sprinkled over the meat and the water, 5 good tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of whole peppercorns. I never measure anything for this one, and just add these ingredients to the corned meat and water until I feel it is right, but because I am giving you the ingredients, I have given you approximate measurements. However, trust me, if you add these ingredients, your corned silverside will be delicious. Then just eat it if with fresh salad or steamed vegetables and dinner will be delicious. Mr. HRK always likes tomato sauce with his. If you have the time, making a white bechamel sauce with cooked onion or cheese is the perfect sauce to eat with Corned Silverside. The cold meat the next day makes delicious sandwiches.

Beef and Red Wine Stew cooked in the slow cooker, was another easy and delicious weekend meal.

These Middle Eastern inspired Loaded Sweet Potatoes were delicious.

An easy midweek Asian meal that I made using Soba noodles and Chicken Mince, a few vegetables that I had on hand, and Asian sauces will be on the blog soon. It was very tasty and so economical and simple.

Japanese inspired Chicken with Ginger, Miso and Lime below, was off the charts with flavour. Cook up this dish and you will be so pleased you did. You can find the recipe at this link. I made mine with chicken legs, but chicken thighs or breasts would also work well. A batch of this can be eaten for the whole week.

A Vegetarian Cauliflower Steak dish made all the more interesting and colourful with Red Leicester Cheese was surprisingly good. It was filling, nutritious and totally satisfying on it's own. I'll be making this one again for a very easy and meat free Monday night dinner.

https://happyretireeskitchen.blogspot.com/2023/08/very-tasty-cauliflower-cheese-steaks.html

Wow, in retrospect it's been quite a big month in my kitchen. I would love to hear what you have been doing as well.

Last week we drove up to tropical Cairns, where I am now, and spotted a Cane train south of Innisfail carting sugar cane to the local mill. That is still a thrill after all these years. We also had our compulsory stop at the Babinda bakery to buy the best meat pies on the Queensland coast, a French Vanilla Slice, and Cream Buns filled with fresh cream. Surprisingly, they all made it to Cairns in one piece.

Warm wishes,

Pauline