In My Tropical Kitchen, October 2026

Dear friends, welcome, this is my HRK thought for the month, encapsulating how I endeavour to approach my cooking. "Cook with my heart, respect the recipe, and have the confidence to add my own touch." Spring has been lovely this year, cool mornings and evenings, and it's not over yet. The garden has been responding with beautiful spring blooms, and the birds are singing. However, the hot Summer weather is almost here. That means some outdoor cooking and living to look forward to.

Thanks to Sherry from Sherry's Pickings for taking the time to host In My Kitchen this month, which showcases the achievements of so many amazing home cooks from around the world. This is where we find out what cooks in their home kitchens are preparing and cooking. Sometimes we develop recipes from scratch, and sometimes we try recipes from the repertoires of more celebrated cooks and chefs and our friends, and give them our own touch. It's all a lot of fun which is what cooking should be. If you would like to be involved it's as simple as signing up on Sherry's In My Kitchen website. You would be most welcome.

Chicken and Apricot Tagine with couscous was delicious. This dish is definitely on rotation, and just that bit more cost effective than cooking a lamb tagine at the moment. Very tasty and this could be the next recipe that I post!

It might be Spring, but it's still cool enough here for a batch of chicken soup, mind you I wrote this a week ago!  First the homemade stock, featured in the pot, and then some healthy chicken soup. Lots of celery, onion, leeks, carrot and parsley, chicken frames, and a little garlic, and it became a really good stock. I freeze the green tops of the leeks after I use the white parts, and gosh, I really think leek makes a big difference to the flavour.

Here's a new Dessert Hack for you, not that I am really into dessert hacks, but the lovely Ros brought this over for dessert for one of our pizza nights. She is self professed non-baker and someone who isn't fussed on cooking, although I suspect she is being modest. Good on her for being honest about this I reckon, and for bringing this delicious dessert. This would have to be the easiest Vanilla Dessert Slice to make, creamy and not too sweet. 

Whilst there are 9 individual slices, each slice could be halved if necessary, but why would you? If you are saddened by the fact that Arnott's no longer make the original Lattice biscuits, never fear, Julie's sugar crackers are a close substitute. The biscuits within the packet are all packaged in individual packs of 3 per pack which is great for freshness and they are also tasty to nibble just on their own.

This is also where the old time favourite, the Cottee's Instant Vanilla pudding mix,  makes a grand entrance into our kitchens again. 

Just mix one packet of the Cottee's Instant Pudding Mix, with a large bottle of thickened cream and allow it to partly set or follow the instructions on the packet. Lay out 9 of the sugar crackers, cover them with the pudding mix, and then lay another layer of crackers over the top. There are 30 crackers in a full packet, so the amount can be increased according to your needs. Make on the day of eating, and refrigerate until ready to eat. If you wanted to dress up the dessert, Coloured Icing could be drizzled over the top, and a few Hundreds and Thousands added, the kids would love it. I'm planning this for a Christmas treat for the Grandkiddies. I reckon they will love it.

How's that for a quick take on a dessert requiring no cooking at all. They need to be eaten on the same day they are prepared as the crackers will soften up just a bit the following day. That didn't worry Mr. HRK though, he was back for 3rds on the 3rd day. 

Cottee's Instant Pudding Mix

I wrote about a custard I made, which I called Marilyn's Heaven in a Bowl custard, way back in 2016, after a Teachers' Reunion lunch we attended, and Marilyn, who was a Home Economics teacher, and worked at the same High School as Mr. HRK brought this along. Home Economics Teachers have so many little tricks up their sleeve, when it comes to cutting corners with cooking when appropriate and when time is precious. We loved this custard, and the recipe isn't that different to what I have given you for the Vanilla Dessert slice, but of course it doesn't set as thickly as required for a slice. I really must make this custard again. Mr. HRK loved it.

This month we have continued to develop recipes using our new Gas-fired Pizza oven which I featured in my September 2026 In My Tropical Kitchen, and once more a few dear friends were experimented on (thankyou, you know who you are) with our Recipe for Semolina Pizza Dough and Béchamel Prawn Pizza, and also Vegetarian and Pizza Supreme pizzas. Some of you will have seen this post recently on HRK but if you didn't and you enjoy your pizza, please take a look at the recipe, even if only to see how easy it is to make your own restaurant worthy delicious prawn and white sauce topping.

Semolina Pizza Dough and Béchamel Prawn Pizza

For this past month, tomatoes have occupied my kitchen. They've been ripening on my kitchen bench, on our patio railing, as we pick them greener than we would like to, just to try and beat the bugs and grubs to them. At the moment there are 12 lined up on the bench, these are the large Heirloom Mortgage Lifter and Heirloom Periforme Abruzzo varieties, which have just gone gangbusters in our tomato patch. However, I took this photo of the tomatoes lined up on the railing, and when I was looking more carefully at it noticed what looked like a grub on the third one from the left. What the heck? Can you see it? 

On closer examination, we have a VERY Hungry Caterpillar making a great escape from the tomato. He's crawled right through, as there's a much larger hole at the base of the fruit. Proof that this is indeed an organic tomato patch. He's a large grub for the size of the tomato, and so now Mr. HRK is waging war on these intruders. The woes of being a suburban farmer, indeed. We forget that this is what our tomato farmers are contending with as well.

Memories of  "A Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle, one of our favourite children's books has just come to mind. I don't have a copy of it at home anymore, or I would have been tempted to have a read, just for old times sake. We all loved that book. Despite all of this, and thanks to the worm juice from our worm farm that Mr. HRK fed them with earlier on, yes I think I know what you are thinking now (ha, ha), they are the most successful tomato plants we have managed to grow to date. When tomatoes were selling for only $3.00 a kilo in the supermarket recently, when ours were still very green, I bought a couple of kilos and made a batch of slow cooker tomato marinara sauce (passata), which is now frozen. It is such a familiar ingredient, but with so many possibilities.

If you are interested, these are the two varieties of tomatoes we are growing. The Cherry tomatoes above are also an heirloom variety and are beautifully sweet.

Any ideas with what I should do with the line up of tomatoes once they all ripen? 

It's happening fast as the weather is warming up, so I might have to resort to making some more tomato sauce.

And for a sweet finish, I baked a French Deep-Dish Custard Tart, which was delicious and will be on the menu over Christmas for our French family now living in Victoria.

We served the French Custard tart with raspberries and a Lemon Curd swoosh around the side of the plate (Mr. HRK's contribution) for an additional element, and the flavour of the lemon curd complimented the tart beautifully.

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my antics in the kitchen this month, and I would love to hear from you if you have any thoughts about anything you have just read. 

And now, it's nearly time to start thinking about what's for dinner. I'm thinking Rump steak and mushroom sauce, how about you?

Warm wishes, 

Pauline