In My Kitchen, April 2025, and looking back on March

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.

We returned from a 2 week road trip down South to Brisbane, the capital, just over a week ago. Since then I've been trying to cook from the middle ground to make the most of the change in temperatures, checking out what's already in my pantry, and adding a few things that look good in the shops, minus eggs when possible, because they are so scarce.

My daughter recently surprised me by saying that I collect food, and I'd never thought of it that way, but perhaps in my own way I do, although I'm not a collector by nature. Although, admittedly I do have quite a good collection of recipe books, ha, ha.  However, all those herbs and spices, various cans of beans and chickpeas, jars of preserved lemons, and this and that I buy when travelling, are waiting and standing ready, for anything I wish to cook from a Caponata to a slow-cooked beef stew. I really like to be ready to adapt a recipe at a moment's notice. How about you?

Here's some cooking which I managed to do during a couple of weeks at home in March, and some enticing foods we saw during our travels.

A batch of homemade Portuguese Custard Tarts is always delicious.  My post for this is coming up very soon. It will surprise you, as to just how easy they are to make. I was very surprised that at the bakeries we visited on our travels, and there were a few, there were no Portuguese Custard Tarts to be found, I guess that's food trends for you. 

We were in beautiful Maleny, which is a stunning village in the Queensland Sunshine Coast Hinterland. It's grown a lot so I'm not sure if it can still be called a village, but nonetheless it is charming. It was pouring rain the whole time we were there, so we had an interesting ramble up the main street dodging the downpours, seeking refuge in a very popular coffee shop as you do, and what really caught my eye because of the inclement weather was the roaring trade that all of the pie shops were doing. We Queenslanders love a good hot meat pie or sausage roll at the best of times, but this weather created perfect conditions for pie lovers, like us.

We bought Ginger Marmalade sausage rolls, how could I not? Absolutely delicious, and they are definitely on my baking list now.

Delicious, with a subtle taste of Ginger Marmalade.

Spot the Crocodile pie. The glass was frosting over making photos a bit difficult.

Yum! There are quite a few vegans residing in Maleny.

When we arrived home, travel weary but happy, a simple and delicious meal was needed that evening. A packet of frozen vegetables, a jar of my Pickled Eggplant, some grated cheese from the freezer, and a packet of crumbed fish fillets ensured I didn't need to make an emergency dash to the supermarket. Milk and bread were in the freezer. Enter Air Fryer to the rescue. I could have baked the fish in the Air Fryer, but I knew I would be needing it shortly for the vegetables, so I baked the fish in the oven, cooked the frozen vegetables in the microwave, transferred the vegetables to a brown paper air fryer dish, added some Pickled eggplant pieces and fresh parsley from the garden, sprinkled the cheese over the vegetables, and cooked the dish for 15 minutes on 180 deg C. In retrospect, I was fairly sparing with the cheese, I could have used more to cover the vegetables. What is your go to meal when you return home after holidays? 

The cheese was beautifully melted and grilled.

Then all I needed to do was assemble the fish over the cheesy vegetables. Delicious, quick and simple and healthy. 

When I discovered all of the fresh Chinese eggplants growing in our garden, an Oven-baked Ratatouille made excellent use of some of those.

My Tropical Chinese Chicken Traybake was very popular last month. This dish is on regular rotation in my kitchen.

I wanted to try out a no-bake Tropical Pineapple Chiffon Tart recipe I found in an old recipe book of mine. This is it with a biscuit crumb crust. It was delicious, but I thought it really needed to be decorated to be blogworthy. We enjoyed it. 

I made Nagi's Lemon Cheesecake (below) from her Recipe Tin Eats Dinner book quite a while ago, but missed out on taking a good photo, again. This is how I served it, with fresh homemade lemon curd. It took quite a while to make, I remember dedicating almost the whole morning to it, but the end result was delicious. The lemon curd topping is something else, the pastry turned out perfectly, and it had a heavenly lemon flavour. This is a special event cheesecake my friends. I really need to make it again, not just for a better photo, but to enjoy the exquisite lemon flavours again. We love lemon flavoured desserts.

This Lemon Sago pudding with a Sour Cream and Lemon Curd topping was delicious. Mr. HRK loved this dessert and our Meyer Lemon Tree provided the beautiful lemons. Tapioca pearls can be used instead of sago if you are tempted, sago can be difficult to find.

 

You, my dear readers, were surprised by my Mother's Date Rollette biscuits. You had never heard of them before. So if you made them, I hope you enjoyed them, we did.

These meals at the Maleny Pub were delicious during our travels. Mr. HRK really enjoyed the Sri Lankan Street Food Roti, I found it a touch spicy. The rain was still pouring down.

One of the highlights of our travels to Maleny was an overnight stay at the Le Relais Bressan Motel in the Maleny Hills. Yes it is authentically French if I can say that when it is located in Queensland, owned by a very charming Frenchman and his wife from Burgundy, where we were made to feel very welcome. We were even allowed into our room at 10.30 am in the morning, which we were very thankful for given the terrible weather outside. Normally it is always 2.00 pm. Unfortunately we were unable to take advantage of what their French restaurant offered  because we needed to leave early for home to beat the traffic, given the rain and awful driving conditions. I have no doubt at all though that the food there is exceptional. The menu looks very good.

A bunch of roses in our room was a lovely touch.

The front garden with the famous French Rooster. The Magnolia bushes were also beautiful.

Very French fun features in the back garden.

All of the walls and the gardens were adorned with artworks and prints that Monsieur had brought back from France on his frequent travels.

If we are in Maleny again and need a bed, the Le Relais Bressan Motel is where we will be choosing. For any Brisbane friends who might be considering travelling to Maleny soon, the motel will be closed for a long period over Christmas, they are travelling home to Burgundy.

Thanks for dropping by, and reading about our serendipitous travels and cooking adventures, I really appreciate it.

Warm wishes, 

Pauline