In My Kitchen, February 2025

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.

I heard a Weather presenter describe our monsoonal weather system as "moody", something of an understatement. Supermarkets in towns along the North Queensland East Coast from Cairns down to Mackay are sporting bare shelves in the fruit and vegetable section at the moment because the delivery trucks can't travel through on the flooded roads. Eggs are non-existent but milk is still available. Some smaller independent supermarkets seem to have their own access to fresh produce but might be struggling by the end of this week. Hopefully by then the monsoonal system will have moved away from the coast. So my friends, it's not the time to plan fancy cooking for the dining table, it's the time to be creative and plan meals around what foods are available. Strangely, yesterday I found good quality stewing steak for only $12.99 a kilo which is from cattle bred on the lush Atherton Tablelands west of Cairns, so this morning I cooked up 3 kilos of the beef into my Red Wine Beef Stew for the oven and a Beef Korma Curry in the slow cooker. Carrots, onions and celery are always in our vegetable crisper. I would have added mushrooms, if they had been available.

Red Wine Beef Stew in the Dutch Oven on the stovetop, ready for the oven

I transformed half of the  Red Wine and Beef Stew into a Pie. I can't even begin to tell you how delicious this pie was. I've really worked on this stew recipe being full of the flavours required for a good beef steak pie. We love our Beef Pies in Queensland.  Just the right amount of Worcestershire Sauce, tomato sauce,  and Red Wine are essential to their success.

January is normally a laid back month when most families are either on holidays, returning home from holidaying with family over Christmas, or returning reluctantly to work and school. It's a month of transition for many, when businesses outside of the essential services, are slowly starting to ramp up their business activities. The vibe in January is, don't call us, we'll call you. However the hospitality industry still does well. At the moment where we live, the monsoon is causing some havoc, and people are waiting for the roads to reopen.

Passionfruit Flummery is a delicious, tropical, and very light fruity dessert similar to a sweet mousse. Why haven't I made this before? Probably because I have always found other uses for passionfruit such as the perfect topping for the cream on a Pavlova. I remember my Mum making flummery though. Fruit flummery is something of a classic, and this recipe makes the most of the plentiful passionfruit which can be handpicked from the vines rambling happily over many neighbourhood backyard fences and sheds, and which love climbing through nearby trees as high as they can go. Passionfruit have complex tropical flavours, and can be sweet and tart at the same time, with a detectable hint of honey. I made this fabulous Flummery recently on Australia Day, the 26th January, instead of the traditional pav. Watch this space for the recipe coming soon. There are many Flummery recipes vying for recognition, however this one is my favourite. Many are reliant on using jelly crystals, mine isn't.

This Chilli Pawpaw Chutney was a delicious find at the Sipping Duck Coffee Roasters in Cairns recently. Not only do they serve wonderful coffee, but they make all their own preserves and food that they sell. I've never made Pawpaw chutney, but it's now on my list as soon as I can buy some well priced paw paws or find a friend who has pawpaw trees and an excess of paw paws. Half of this jar is gone already. 

A curry night is always something we look forward to in our house.  How about you?

This Chicken, Korma and Vegetable curry is on rotation in my kitchen with many variations depending on my mood, the weather and what is available. I didn't have access to my Curry tree for the curry leaves when I made this one as I was cooking it in Cairns in my daughter's kitchen away from home but that was ok. A bottle of Korma Curry Paste, 2 cans of Coconut Milk, 1 can of Chick Peas, about 500g of chicken thigh fillet, and lots of chopped vegetables, and the curry is just waiting to happen. Curries are one of the most versatile and tastiest meals to cook, with suitable vegetables lurking in the refrigerator crisper just waiting to be added. 

This photo is taken from my previous post for this curry.

This is the Korma curry during cooking last month. Not nearly as pretty at this stage of cooking as the one above but basically the same recipe. I also didn't have any turmeric to add to this curry below, which gives it the beautiful golden colour and is so good for us.

We ate it with boiled rice, my homemade Pickled Eggplant (aubergine) as a condiment (yum), and a spoonful of my homemade Mango Chutney. This was a delicious combination of flavours.

Shannon requested that I make Nagi Maehashi's Garlic Prawn recipe, which was the first time I had cooked it,  and wow it delivered amazing flavours. 

This dish used up the last of our Christmas bulk buy of frozen prawns. I might just have added more prawns than the recipe stipulated, but there are never any complaints in that department. Shannon made baked Coconut Rice, also one of Nagi's recipes, and it tasted delicious although not as full of coconut flavours as we were expecting.

A Prawn and Broccolini Stir-Fry also used up some of our leftover frozen Christmas Green prawns, and was delicious.

I baked a batch of Chocolate Oatmeal biscuits, based on my recipe for Wholemeal Wheat Chocolate and Oatmeal biscuits which I cooked back in 2021. If you haven't already read this more recent post of mine, it will give you some more of the background to them. We realised that these were also delicious for breakfast, and of course morning and afternoon teas, well anytime really.  I'm not generally someone who enjoys sweet things for Breakfast, but these aren't too sweet, have a hint of saltiness to compliment the chocolate, and also have lots of fibre contained within. Despite that, they are delicious and healthy.

Chocolate Oatmeal Biscuits

I'm rather hesitant now to vouch for how healthy some of my recipes are, as I recently heard the host of an Australian cooking show say that when people hear that recipes are healthy, they don't expect them to taste very good. Do you think that's true? I refuse to post any of my recipes unless I think they are really delicious, and if they are healthy as well, that is a bonus. Most of them are!

Crunchy Nut Apple Crumble

Apple Crumble is a family favourite dessert and I rarely deviate from my traditional recipe. Everyone is always very aware if I change any element of it. However, when we caught up with good friends in Townsville last year, my good friend Cecily baked us an Apple Crumble, which used Crunchy Nut Cornflakes as part of the crumble topping. I don't think it has totally replaced the family favourite with ratings, but it comes a very close second. Mr. HRK and Shannon were also very excited when I arrived home with a packet of Kellogg's Crunchy Nut Cornflakes to make the crumble, which I wasn't expecting. Needless to say the Corn Flakes were also eaten for Breakfast by them for a few days following that.

We escaped the beginning of the Monsoon season and flew to Melbourne. We are just back from 5 days there, where we ate out every night, as you do when on holiday,  and sometimes at a classy nearby Pub. After spending most but not all of our days at the PPA Australian Pickleball Open tournament in the Melbourne Convention Centre, which entailed catching trams, and doing lots of walking, we were ready to take the simplest option at the end of the day and eat locally. 

However, one of the restaurants we ate out at was Pellegrini's, and that's because of it's location and because it is like stepping into the Pellegrini's family kitchen, where we instantly felt very welcome and among friends. The food is quite simple, variations of many pasta recipes, but absolutely delicious, and based on secret family recipes. The desserts, especially the Tiramisu, were very impressive. We chose to dine at Pellegrini's the night we were going to the Princess Theatre to see Tina the musical (Tina Turner), as the meals are served quickly, and the Princess theatre is just around the corner within walking distance. Mr. HRK remembered Pellegrini's from a previous visit to Melbourne, and it remains one of his favourites. 

The entire cast and the orchestra for Tina were superb. It was an EPIC and memorable night. The music theatre star who played Tina was quite extraordinary.

There aren't the traditional dining tables and chairs at Pellegrini's. Diners can either sit at the long bar behind which the staff chat and laugh and serve the meals, or at the long table opposite which is lining the wall. There is some very casual seating outside on the footpath which the morning coffee drinkers often occupy as well. Did I mention the coffee? No complaints there either.

Mr. HRK enjoying his Pellegrini pasta

Whilst attending the Pickleball, and dining out of course were part of the reason for visiting Melbourne, we also saw another amazing modern style musical, called Dear Evan Hansen at the Arts Centre in  Melbourne, where they were selling ice-creams inside the theatre at intermission, old style. 

I'm ready to hug this spotty tree.

Next door to the theatre, this Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria has attracted a lot of attention, and all of the beautiful trees along the avenue are dressed in pink and white spots to support the exhibition. What fun!

Beau Woodbridge was brilliant as Evan Hansen, and has a beautiful singing voice. He is also the son of well known tennis player and television personality Todd Woodbridge.

Dear blogging friends, hoping February is a good month for you all. There is a tropical storm brewing here again, so I need to finish and sign out.

Thanks so much for dropping by.

Warm wishes,

Pauline