Winter has brought soup back to our dining table, and what a Winter Warmer this bowl of creamy lentil deliciousness is. Perfectly balanced herbs and spices with a hint of heat, are a specialty of Yotam Ottolenghi's recipe repertoire, and as a bonus this soup is also nourishing, hearty and gluten-free. It is also vegetarian.
Dear friends, How can it be June already? It's been a big month of enjoying the magnificent weather here right now in North Queensland and keeping busy with harvesting and preserving all of the fresh and surplus produce coming our way, not to mention eating it.
There's only one Nigella Lawson, and this delicious, fragrant and beguiling cake is one of my all time favourites of her many cakes. With the apricots shining like jewels on the surface along with the chopped Pistachios, and the beautiful flavours of Rosewater and Cardamon within, this cake could proudly be served as the finishing touch to a Middle Eastern Banquet, or as an afternoon tea treat.
It's pickling season. This Cucumber Pickle was made from a couple of the largest cucumbers I have ever seen, and were surprisingly very crispy and sweet. Even cucumbers which look as if they are on steroids, and these did, can still be pickled or the smallest ones as well. How versatile is the common cucumber?
This Mexican Chicken Traybake is now at the top of my list of delicious chicken traybakes, and I've cooked a lot of them. Full of authentic tasty Mexican flavours, a homemade Arriabbata Sauce, colourful vegetables and succulent chicken, this meal is a real winner. It's Mexican Fiesta time.
This is my go to fruit cake recipe, all year round, when I'm not baking my Rum fruit cakes at Christmas time. This cake is also festively flavoured enough to grace your Christmas table, when dressed up in ribbons and bows. Laced with brandy and adorned with whole glacé cherries throughout, it is a delicious cake to have on standby in your pantry or refrigerator when needed. This one will be travelling away with us shortly.
We have just harvested our tropical and edible crop of aromatic Ginger and Turmeric. It's an annual event, generally occurring between the heat of Summer and the early chill of Winter, when the rhizomes or roots are mature. Ginger and turmeric grow almost like a weed here in Mackay in the tropics. Since then we've been chopping, slicing, cooking, freezing and dehydrating the ginger. Now I have enough dehydrated Spice Ginger and tropical Stem Ginger in Syrup, and frozen ginger and turmeric to last me for the next 12 months.
Welcome lovers of food, to my kitchen, and to what's been happening this month in my world. April is always a busy month in our calendar. As the weather starts to cool down here in Northern Queensland, it's time to bake, make soups and stews, and plant some Spring seeds and seedlings in the garden. I've planted Baby Spinach and Pak Choy seeds already.
Moussaka is serious Greek comfort food, but with less calories than lasagna. The Italian families all have their own version of Bolognese sauce when making a lasagna, and the Greek families often have their own recipe for Moussaka. I've never been to Greece unfortunately, but I felt a connection when I ate this dish.
This Coffee Sponge Cake has two delicious toppings, a crunchy walnut streusel and a coffee buttercream. The toppings join the two sponge layers and ice the top cake as well, so really that is four layers of toppings, bliss. Toppings like this should be mandatory for all coffee cakes. This was our very special Easter cake.
This delicious cake is full of rich golden pumpkin and aromatic spices and is a cake that will be perfect for your Easter table, to offset all of the other Easter treats coming your way. It is also a large mixture, which will last you throughout the entirety of the Easter holidays if kept refrigerated in a covered container.
Who would have thought that Portuguese Custard Tarts would be so simple to make in a standard Pie Maker? Please believe me they are. However if you don't own a Pie Maker, don't despair, this recipe can easily be adapted to a normal oven. We bought our Pie Maker originally from K Mart, (no advertising intended), it wasn't expensive, but it does the trick.
Dear Friends, Hooray it's Autumn and April, at last. Consequently, there's a transition happening In My Kitchen. As the Autumnal humidity lowers and the temperatures cool down, the Southern Hemisphere is pressing the fast-forward button toward Autumn and Winter, and I am loving it. The Autumn showers are also disappearing and the sun is shining, enticing us toward Easter.
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Hello, welcome to In My Kitchen from HRK, which is about my cooking and kitchen antics based on what is fresh and in season, what is available and healthy if possible, and always delicious. I am excited it's the beginning of Autumn, bringing cooler temperatures to the tropics and the promise of more beautiful fresh produce. It's almost soup weather.
Succulent Duck Breast served with a Japanese inspired Red Cabbage and Soba Noodle Salad, enriched with delicious umami flavours, is one of my favourite meals to cook at home.
Passionfruit Flummery, aka Frumentary, celebrates the intoxicating, aromatic and uniquely sweet and tart flavours of the tropical passionfruit. If you are lucky enough to be growing a healthy and mature passionfruit vine, it will hopefully be flowering and fruiting for you throughout Summer, just when you need the pulp for fruit salad, a pavlova, or light, fruity desserts like Flummery.
This year, late January sees the start of the very active Monsoon season here in North Queensland. From Mackay up to Cairns, the highway has been cut in several places at different times, a couple of bridges washed away, and the sugar cane farming town of Ingham is completely flooded. The government is flying in generators so that residents can have power. Thankfully a tropical cyclone hasn't entered into the equation, that would be disastrous. The torrential rain has been enough.
These Chocolate Oatmeal biscuits are everything that I love about a biscuit. When I made this latest batch with the addition of Dutch Chocolate powder, I realised they are perfect to also enjoy for breakfast, and I don't usually eat cakes or biscuits at the start of my day.
Apple Crumble is comfort food in a dish. Sometimes a very simple recipe can provide you with the most unexpected treat. This recipe for Crunchy Nut Apple Crumble is no exception. It is also a good friend's recipe, so it is tried and true.
This is a quick and easy dish, for any night of the week. If you are a lover of Prawns, this recipe is for you, but if you're not, please don't be disheartened. You can play with it, and substitute some chicken or tofu pieces for the prawns and you will still love the result. This is a very versatile recipe, other vegetables can be substituted or added, and when it comes to eating your dish, you will think you have just been served a meal in your favourite Chinese restaurant. Promise! It will cost you a lot less as well.
Happy New Year 2025 to you all. It has really felt like the Summer holidays here at home since Christmas, which I think we all needed. Christmas was wonderful, we survived it, thanks to the air-conditioning. Hope you had a fabulous Christmas with some of your favourite people wherever you were.
It's salad and holiday season here in tropical Australia, when a delicious salad is the perfect meal at the end of a long Summer's day. I am always excited when I come up with a new salad recipe, which also just happens to be healthy and very tasty. A grain salad makes perfect sense, as it keeps so much longer when refrigerated than a green leafy one, as much as I enjoy those as well.
This chocolatey, crunchy biscuit slice with a rich chocolate icing will hold it's own and steal the show on any coffee table. It is like a little slice of Aussie history on a plate, but the Air Fryer has brought it back on board to now. This is the first sweet confection I have made in my new Russell Hobbs air-fryer (no promo intended) and I'm thrilled with the result.
