In My Kitchen, November 2023

What a varied month it's been, and as always, the cooking I do in my lovely kitchen reflects what is in season, my use of any produce gifted to me, what I have the time to cook and those recipes which I love to cook. So, I'm excited to be sharing a few new recipes with you this time, although regular readers of my blog may have already seen them. However, that doesn't mean I'm not excited about bringing you some old favourites as well. I suspect that like me, your cooking repertoire contains those recipes that are on high rotation in your kitchen and contains some old and tried but true recipes which feel like a big hug from faithful friends, which always feels so reassuring. With Christmas well and truly on the horizon now, some nostalgia is creeping into my cooking as well.

A big shout out to Sherry at Sherry's Pickings who hosts this In My Kitchen event, which all of us at home Food Bloggers love to be a part of. I've made my annual batch of Mango Chutney much earlier this year from 2 kg of sliced mangoes which I had frozen last year.  I was given them already peeled and sliced by a dear friend, but just didn't have time to make a batch of chutney. This year's locally grown mangoes aren't ready to pick yet, not the common mangoes anyway, which are the ones we use to make mango chutney and must be always picked while still green and inedible. The frozen mangoes cooked up beautifully for this year's batch. Small jars of mango chutney are perfect as Christmas gifts. This is my Mums' recipe which was always delicious, and I haven't changed any of it.  Here's the link to the recipe if you would like it.

Chutney thickening up beautifully

The best way to test if the chutney is ready for bottling, on a plate from the freezer

Delicious Roasted Lamb, dressed up and flavoured with home grown rosemary sprigs, garlic and olive oil was perfect for Mr. HRK's birthday in October, followed by Chocolate Cake. Lamb has been so reasonably priced at only $10.00 per kilo throughout Spring, and this leg was beautifully tender and very tasty to eat. I cooked a delicious Lamb Curry with the leftover cooked meat. 

Mr. HRK's Chocolate Cake with Buttercream Frosting birthday cake ticked all the boxes for me and was perfect for a birthday celebration. As Nagi Maehashi says, it definitely is a Forever cake. As a little aside, I froze a couple of slices of the cake to enjoy at a later date, and that date just happened to be this afternoon with a cuppa. I'm reporting to you that this cake freezes beautifully and the slice we enjoyed this afternoon could have been just freshly baked, it was that good.  I think this cake is meant to be enjoyed for morning or afternoon tea, I find it a bit rich with the buttercream at the end of a 3-course meal. As a dessert, I think I would just sift it with icing sugar and serve with fresh thickened cream. 

I'm feeling as if I need to give Mr. HRK a few treats at the moment like chocolate cake as tomorrow morning, very early, our beehive will move to another home. It will be a sad day for both of us, but necessary, as he was stung again during the week by a bee and needed to use his EpiPen while I called the ambulance, and he was then taken to the Emergency Department at our local public hospital. The bee sting was so random though, and happened while he was hanging out some washing. The bee landed on his arm, and crawled under his watch, became trapped and stung him. If he hadn't been wearing his watch, he could have lightly brushed the bee off his arm without any dramas. So, we can't take any more risks as he has become allergic to bee stings. This time wasn't as bad as the previous time thank goodness, as he was stung 5 times then, and this means he is now very susceptible to anaphylactic shock. We still have a nice stock of their honey, which I love using in the kitchen, it's beautiful honey.

I made a large batch of Tomato sauce in the slow cooker with 2 kg of fresh tomatoes which has been perfect for adding to many dishes and to eat with vegetable pasta. I always buy a few kilos when they are in season and cheap to buy, ripen them up out of the refrigerator, and make a large batch of sauce. This batch is now bottled up in the refrigerator, and a few jars are in the freezer.

Homemade tomato sauce, fresh basil, San Remo Pulse Pasta spirals made from vegetables and grated parmesan came together as a delicious meal. I'll be posting my recipe for slow cooker Tomato Sauce very soon.

I started baking sourdough bread again which is a joy to do.

Beef Chow Mein is one of the simple, nutritious and comforting mid-week meals on rotation in my kitchen that I love to cook, with just 500g of beef mince and some vegetables, including cabbage. I always add my homemade Mango Chutney to this recipe, so delicious. 

Fresh is best and is synonymous with good food. Growing herbs at home is very enjoyable and convenient, saves us so much money and makes the slogan Get it While it's Fresh very achievable.  A punnet or a bunch of fresh herbs from the supermarket is at least $3.50 a pop.  Being able to pick them from your own garden and take them to the kitchen for a variety of uses is such an advantage and a great feeling.  If you have enough space to grow some herbs whether it be on your balcony in pots or even in your courtyard or in the garden, it will save you so much money. These are some of the edibles I am growing at the moment in our garden and in pots. As we head into Summer, it will become more difficult, but I will persevere.

A pot of Lemon Grass

A bayleaf tree, essential

Mr. HRK's strawberries

Cherry tomatoes mixed with silverbeet and parsley

Italian parsley

A healthy sage bush

Leeks

Thyme in a pot

Mint in a small, dedicated garden plot

Tropical edible ginger just starting to grow

A lemon scented geranium

Garlic Chive seedlings

Eggplant seedlings

A cumquat tree

Lots of basil, I can't be without it. Thai basil bushes with a few sweet Basil seedlings

Our Kaffir lime tree is also essential for Wombok salads and other Asian dishes. Oops I also forgot to photograph the rosemary bush. Never mind, it was in the lamb.

Gochujang Chicken and Vegetable Traybake served with a delicious, pickled radish and spring onion side dish or topping was the first dish I made with my Gochujang paste and it was spicy and sweet with delicious umami flavours.

This bowl of lightly pickled radishes and spring onions was a perfect accompaniment to the Korean chicken dish.

I made a Baked Rice pudding for Mr. HRK as it is his favourite, and it was the perfect dessert following the spicy Gochujang chicken. It is a very nutritious, comforting and economical dessert to serve the whole family.

 

Here's the original recipe I still use from a post I wrote back in 2016:

Baked Rice Pudding Recipe:

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons short-grain or Arborio rice
300 ml water
600 ml full cream milk
3 tablespoons sugar
nutmeg, freshly ground if possible

1. Place the rice in a pie or casserole dish and add water.
2. Cook slowly in the oven (150 deg. C) until rice absorbs the water. (Allow about 30 minutes)
3. Add milk and sugar to the hot dish and mix well. Sprinkle well with nutmeg and add a few small pieces of chopped butter on top as well if you wish
4. Bake in a very slow oven for about 1 hour. When a brown skin forms and the rice mixture is creamy, it is cooked.
5. Serve cold with stewed fruit.

I spotted this Vegemite Cookbook in K Mart yesterday and had to buy it. After all it's exciting that Vegemite is celebrating 100 years in existence. I love the stuff. Mr. HRK wants to add vegemite to most things he cooks and always suggests adding it to many of the dishes I am cooking, that's as far as it gets.  So, guess who's going to find this book gift wrapped just for him under the Christmas tree this year. We will have a good laugh over it and hopefully a few tasty meals will come out of it as well.

I'm publishing this the following morning after writing this post. It's Remembrance Day today, and we will always remember it as the day that our Beehives went to a new home. Still, it's a perfect day to just be happy. We still have jars of their beautiful honey to remember them by. 

Warm wishes,

Pauline