In My Kitchen, August 2024 - July the month that was

 What an incredible month July has been. We were in Cairns in Far North Tropical Queensland for most of July, away from our family home and my kitchen in Mackay. However it's hard for me to stay out of the kitchen, so read on to hear all about what I've been up to.

 I am sending this post to Sherry of Sherry's Pickings for the In My Kitchen event. If you would like to join in, send your post to Sherry by the 13th of the month. Or just head over to her blog to visit more kitchens. Thanks for hosting this event once again Sherry. And now for more about July in my kitchen.

It was wonderful to spend it in our daughter's home, even though she continues to recover from a serious leg injury. However, with our son and Grandson holidaying with us from France, there was still a lot of fun, hugs, and good food to be had, and Shannon was in very good hands. All wonderful things must sadly come to an end. Matthew and Hugo are in Sydney before flying home to France, and now I am home for a while in Mackay, missing them both very much, keeping busy, and catching up on jobs around the home needing my attention. However, I still have lots of interesting stories to share with you from various kitchens during the last month.

As I write this, there is a pot of aromatic chicken stock simmering on the stovetop.  Tomorrow this stock will be transformed into a delicious and healthy chicken barley soup, perfect for cold Wintry evenings. I had plenty of carrots and onions on hand and was thankful to be able to harvest some celery and parsley from my green garden. They flourished while we were away. There will be a bowl of this delicious chicken soup made from scratch ready for dinner tomorrow night.

I grew the celery from the base of a bunch or stalk of celery I bought at the market, by slicing off the base, and immersing it in water in a cereal bowl on the sunny windowsill, until new roots appeared, and it started growing some small new ribs. This celery plant is my most successful ever. It's growing in harmony with parsley plants, and a few Japanese Eggplant plants.

Japanese Eggplant

Before Matthew and Hugo left, we managed a visit to beautiful Airlie Beach, the gateway to the Whitsunday Islands, as Matthew hadn't been there for many years. It's only just over an hour's drive from Mackay. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't great, turning on some chilly and windy Wintry weather. However not to be deterred we still had a wonderful time and enjoyed some delicious seafood as a result. After all I think that the seafood caught in North Queensland oceans is hard to beat anywhere in the world, does that sound biased? Anywhere it's better than what Matthew has access to in France. We went to the Surf Club in Airlie Beach for Dinner, where delicious seafood was on offer. Crumbed Red Emperor fish with chips and salad was cooked to perfection and to Matthew and Hugo's liking. Hugo loved the little basket the chips were served in, readily available from K Mart by the way.

My salmon served on potato mash was perfect.

On the return journey to Mackay from Airlie Beach we stopped in at Fishi, at nearby Cannon Vale. Fishi was a new discovery for us, and my friends, if you are ever in the area, this is definitely the place to buy local seafood. It's no secret that I love fresh Mud Crab. So, I bought one here, for the most reasonable price I have seen in years, and the very kind owner even cleaned it and broke it up for me although I am happy to do that. I've been eating Queensland Mud Crab for as long as I can remember. I also bought a nice fillet of Coral Trout fish, which I cooked in a light batter of flour and beaten egg. I prefer Coral Trout to Red Emperor if given the choice. Matthew and I devoured the Mud crab and Coral Trout for dinner that evening, the crab was so fresh and sweet and delicious. Hugo is very interested in fish and ocean creatures in general and is very knowledgeable about them for an 8-year-old, and whilst he ate a little of the fish, the Mud crab was intriguing but not for eating. He enjoyed a bowl of tomato soup and some of the salad, particularly the orange slices in the salad. That could be the French influence.

Wow, so delicious.

On our last night in Cairns, we decided to celebrate with a casual Christmas in July Dinner Party, which was a lot of fun.  The previous day Matthew had cooked a Lamb Curry using Rick Steins Unroasted Sri Lankan Curry Powder recipe, and whilst we don't normally eat a Lamb curry for our traditional Christmas dinner, it didn't matter, we had bon bons, and champagne, and my 2023 Christmas Plum Pudding for dessert, which I had taken up to Cairns frozen. It's been in our freezer since last Christmas. My recipe makes two puddings. No photo of this pudding, but you can check it out on my Christmas blog post. Everyone loved it, and it was perfect to enjoy during a mild Cairns Winter.  The lamb curry was delicious, and the spice mix was perfectly balanced and not too spicy. I love that both of my children enjoy cooking. Matthew took to cooking on the outdoor Barbecue like a duck to water again. 

Sri Lankan Lamb curry

Matthew grinding up the spices in Shannon's Pestle and Mortar.

Lamb curry cooking on the stovetop

So very true Rick

The Curry powder recipe was taken from "Rick Stein at Home", an amazing recipe book. I'm quite the fan of Rick's cooking.

A Christmas in July photo with our adorable Hugo, wearing party hats from the Bon Bons.

I found the Fenugreek seeds for the curry recipe at the amazing Deli in Mareeba, during a visit to the Atherton Tablelands.

Wow, this is the best deli that I have found in North Queensland to date, and I have been to most of them. I get so excited when I find a great deli reflecting the foods and culture of the surrounding population. There is a very large Italian and Sicilian community base in Mareeba, with a rich food history. A large percentage of the fresh produce found at Rusty's markets in Cairns is grown around Mareeba.

Crostini

We also enjoyed a delicious lunch at the deli, with most of the patrons being locals, and we weren't waiting for our meal longer than expected.

Legumes and pulses anyone?

Or cheeses?

Mr. HRK and I will be revisiting this deli, and I'll have a long list of what I need with me. I needed to be a bit restrained this time because we were travelling to nearby Granite Gorge for a couple of days. This is where the Rock Wallabies eat out of your hands, and there is swimming and nature walks. 

I recently attended a very stimulating Indian Cooking Masterclass in Mackay run by "The Cooking Naturopath". She has her own website as well. Lisa also makes her own brand of Artisan Organic Spices called Spice Alchemy, which can be purchased online.

 It was a fascinating afternoon, and I can't possibly give a worthwhile review of it in this post, that will need to come later, so I will just show you a sample of the interesting ingredients I spotted on the shelves in her kitchen. Lisa is a very talented and calm lady and is juggling so many balls throughout the afternoon.  We cooked three Indian dishes from scratch, not easy with a class of 9 attendees, and sat down to a real Indian banquet at the end of the class with many additional side dishes from her vast recipe repertoire. Whilst it is wonderful to receive printed recipes from classes, the additional cooking information which comes out of the class is priceless.

Dishes we made or cooked from scratch were:

KACHUMBER SALAD (Zesty Indian Salad)

PORK VINDALHO

MISAL PAV (a Mung Bean warm salad) which we enjoyed as a starter

GOAN COCONUT PRAWN CURRY (Prawn Xec Xec)

Lisa at her kitchen bench, with her wonderful assistant keeping up with the washing up.

I would love one of these pans. It's a Scanpan in the shape of a wok, which can be used on an electric stovetop. The red onions are being sauteed and slightly browned here. 

Ghee, an essential item in an Indian kitchen

A nice touch

A delicious Chickpea snack, available from the Indian/Asian supermarket in Mackay

Just a sample of Lisa's recipe books

Spice preparation and Kashmiri chillies

Peeling the garlic

This is a photo of us all eating what we cooked during the afternoon. What a banquet. We are all still wearing our Cooking Naturopath aprons, lent to us for the afternoon. I'm seated second from the end of the table, in a red jumper.

It's been a hectic but lovely month, and I just haven't had the time to write a single post, most unlike me. It takes time, and I wanted to spend that precious time with my family. Anyway, this has given you an overview of the month that was, I hope you enjoy it and take away from it my passion for home cooked food, preferably cooked from scratch, with fresh and delicious seafood being very much on the agenda during this month.

Thank you so much for dropping by to read my post. I've been reading and enjoying yours when I can, and when my life settles down, I will say hello again and comment on your wonderful food experiences.

Please stay tuned.

Warm wishes

Pauline