Double Ginger Scones with Currants #ISW 2025

 Dear Friends, If you think you have seen this recipe before, you just might have. I have posted it before, quite recently, and I am now submitting it for the very important International Scone Week event, #ISW 2025.

 Eaten when warm and aromatic, straight out of the oven especially on a cool morning, they are a little crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and the sprinkle of raw sugar as a topping gives them a slightly discernable crunch.

In My Kitchen, June 2025, looking back on Marvellous May

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. 

In My Kitchen, June and July, 2023

This is a quick roundup of what has been happening in both my French and Australian kitchens and all things related, since I last posted an In My Kitchen, which is a while. Regular readers of my food blog will know that I travelled over to France for two months so I won't repeat the details of what I have already written here about my trip. Most of the cooking I did in France was to feed my son's beautiful family, including my 7 year old grandson, and 4 year old twins, a boy and a girl. The three children have just had birthdays over the last month. I was so fortunate to be there for the twins 4th birthday. This post is my June submission to the #IMK series hosted by the wonderful Sherry from Sherry's Pickings. Each month food bloggers from around the world gather to share what is new in their kitchen.  

Anybody who cooks for children is no doubt aware of their food preferences, but when this includes one who won't eat eggs, or anything obviously containing eggs, one who doesn't like cheese, yes I know it's France, the cheese haven of the world, although he adores fruit and would live on it if possible. One who hates fresh tomato but is fine with pasta and pasta sauce, and then there are the various vegetables and aversions to a few vegetables. However they love pumpkin. Having said all of that though, in general they love food and are good eaters, in particular Evie who eats really well and puts the boys to shame, most of the time. It was a delight for me to be able to cook for them. My son loves his food, and generally does all the cooking for the meals, so they are in good hands as well. I tried to give him a break from cooking whenever I could whilst I was over there. Does any of this sound familiar to those of you with children, or grandchildren? I actually don't remember our children being fussy eaters, but perhaps I've forgotten. However over time children's preferences will change, and the importance of  healthy home cooked food, and just the occasional take away, shines through eventually.

I made a "French" Bread and Butter pudding for dessert one night, using two day old Brioche, Nutella, and used an online recipe for the custard. I was really pleased with how it tasted, however the children thought I could have added more Nutella. I really thought it was sweet enough. Nutella is still so popular in France. In the supermarkets I saw whole shelving bays devoted to Nutella, in bottles and packaging of various shapes and sizes. 

A few batches of my Aussie Damper Scones were always delicious straight out of the oven, just because the children and my daughter in law loved them. They are easy and quick to make, and the ingredients are always on hand, although at times I used some buckwheat flour if we had run out of plain flour. They were also easy to make with little Evie, who loved cooking with me.

This is still a very edible batch given I had help from a four year old, and used a variety of flours as well.

Another batch performing the disappearing act

Evie and I cooking scones together

Corn Flake biscuits were a winner, and Corn Flakes were on rotation over there as a  breakfast cereal, so were generally available in the pantry. The twins took their job of crushing up the cornflakes very seriously. 

French Afternoon tea in the summer garden in Lodeve, where Myrtille's mother Catherine lives was a treat.

Catherine's special French Chocolate cake. She also makes this cake for the children's birthdays.

A view over Lodeve from Catherine's kitchen.

Matthew cooked Canard, or braised Duck breast a couple of nights during my stay. The duck can be purchased with instructions on the packet, and this is Duck breast not Duck legs unlike Duck confit. It wasn't very difficult to cook and was absolutely superb to eat. The presentation on this plate isn't great, but when there are 5 hungry mouths to feed, it's just a relief to have it cooked. Honestly, I've never eaten more delicious duck. We went out for dinner on my last evening in Montpellier and I ordered Duck confit, but it wasn't as enjoyable as the duck my son cooked.

Searing the duck breast

Canard, perfectly pink in the middle

Baked vegetables to accompany the duck

I cooked this simple and delicious chicken traybake with corn fed chicken, which has yellow coloured skin because of the corn they were fed on, and local French vegetables including Kale, leeks, carrots and zucchini, which came in the organic Vegetable and Fruit box that they collect each week. Corn fed chicken is more expensive, but much better quality.

Locally grown organic kale

We call them Madeleines, the French called these  Magdalenas. These little cakes could be purchased in large cellophane packets, and individually wrapped. They were  delicious and looked just like Madeleines.

We enjoyed these French hors d'oeuvres when we were invited out to afternoon aperitifs. They were all bought frozen from a supermarket which only sells frozen food and were delicious.

My son took Hugo, our 7 year old grandson to the French Tennis Open at Roland Garros in Paris while I was over there, and brought us back some beautiful merchandise, a lovely handbag and Roland Garros canvas shopping bag pour moi, and a set of Roland Garros espresso coffee mugs for Mr. HRK. They have pride of place in our kitchen, and the handbag and canvas shopping bag were well used while I was in France.

The June Tropical Ginger Harvest

When we arrived home, it was time to harvest our patch of fresh ginger growing in the back garden. We waited a week to take a breath and settle in, and then the second week was officially "ginger week". We dehydrated a bucket of ginger, and I put aside 1200 grams to make Stem Ginger in Syrup, which I love to have on hand, bottled  in the refrigerator for adding to ginger cakes and desserts. If you have fresh ginger growing, you can read how I make my tropical stem ginger at this link. Yours is probably ready to harvest now as well. It's always ready in Winter to be harvested if it was planted early enough in Spring/Summer.

Tropical Stem Ginger in syrup

I also now have enough powdered ginger to last me for another year. 

Washed

Skins removed

Four trays in the dehydrator ready to be dried for powdered ginger.

I made this Golden Pear, Raspberry, Almond and Maple syrup cake for dessert after I returned home, and used fresh raspberries this time. The first one that I made with frozen raspberries looked completely different with the rich redness of the raspberries colouring the cake in layers. Take a peek at the original post I did on this and you will see what I mean. I'll write up the recipe again though as soon as I can. This is a delicious cake.

I cooked Ratatouille, a French vegetable stew,  in Montpellier, and again when I settled in at home as well. The tomatoes and fresh vegetables in Montpellier were just exceptional and made this dish very tasty.

When we arrived home, I was thrilled to notice that our Italian honey bees were feeding on the Blue Butterfly bush in our front garden. It's a beautiful bush and bees love blue and purple flowers. Mr. HRK inspected the beehive, and despite our absence, it seems to be thriving which is a relief. If we can survive the Spring bee swarming season, we should be harvesting honey later in the year. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for dropping by to read my post. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you.

Warm wishes,

Pauline

Curried Lentil, Tomato, and Coconut Soup

Whether you like your lentil soup with a rough texture and the lentils still holding their shape, or smooth like I do, then just blitz this soup away to your liking, and enjoy it. We used leftover coriander roots and stalks in this soup, and the earthy unique coriander flavour with the texture of chives,  along with the other aromatic ingredients make this soup memorable, and one bowl just isn't enough. It's also a cinch to make.

In My Kitchen, June 2021

It's Winter, we're loving the change of season, and hot delicious beef pies are always popular here in tropical North Queensland when the weather turns so chilly. It's been down to 5 degrees the last two mornings, however the days are sunny and sublime but still cool. I made a dozen Beef Pot Pies last week, it was an easy way to feed 11 people, with one left for us for lunch the following day. Tennis players are hungry people. It's a pleasure to be in the kitchen right now, however I am torn, as the garden is also calling me for attention, and the beautiful sunshine outside is demanding to be enjoyed. This post is part of the monthly In My Kitchen series, a global event,  hosted by the lovely Sherry from Sherry's Pickings. I hope you enjoy it.

I used my Aussie Beef  Saltbush Stew recipe to  make the these  Beef Pot Pies. I kilo of beef chuck steak cooked up beautifully in the slow cooker, and was the perfect amount for 12 pies. I topped the meat up with some separately sauteed mushrooms, and they were delicious. The red wine I added just might have helped as well. Luckily I have 12 matching white ceramic dishes, so I  spooned the beef filling into the dishes, and then used bought puff pastry to cover them. Normally I would make my own shortcrust pastry, but I had a sticky date pudding to cook as well so I took a shortcut with the pastry. They were delicious. I used an egg wash of beaten egg and a little bit  of milk, so that they browned up as required. Here's the link to the Beef Stew recipe if you missed it before. I posted about my Sticky date pudding quite a few years ago when I was new to blogging, and that post needs updating, however I use that recipe all the time, it's delicious. Here's the Sticky Date Pudding link.

These are the photos of the Beef Pot Pies being cooked and assembled.

Ready for cooking in the Slow Cooker

Waiting for the Puff Pastry

 In my last post about my Greek Inspired Cauliflower, I mentioned a Speed Peeler, and asked if anyone had one or had heard of it. The reason was that Jamie Oliver mentioned one in his Cauliflower recipe that I had based my recipe on. No-one seems to have heard of it. Well no surprises that when I googled it, a speed peeler is one of Jamie's kitchenware products, available on sale at Woolworths here in Australia, probably in the UK and other countries too.  I'm not rushing out to buy one as I think my vegetable peelers do a great job, and I think I might have bought one like this before during my long culinary vegetable peeler purchasing history, which has since broken as they all eventually seem to do, for me anyway.

Here is the link to the infamous 3 in one Speed Peeler if you want to take a look.

Jamie Oliver 3 In 1 Speed Peeler Each | Woolworths. Mystery solved.

I've also been doing a little bit of online shopping, and bought a 12 cup Mini Bundt Pan from Kitchen Warehouse. I  still have to try this tray out, but I have a nice little bundt cake recipe in mind which I was so excited about when I first saw it. It might have to wait in the queue though until after the holidays.

Red Rosellas, also known as native Hibiscus are fruiting well up here in the North. Friends P & J left for holidays a couple of weeks ago, and as a parting gesture suggested that I pick the rosellas from their bush and make jam or whatever I wish with them. They've been picked, this is them in the photos below, so perhaps this weekend they will transform into Jam, if not, they will be deseeded and frozen until I have more time. However, if you have any ideas about what else I can do with them, I would love to hear from you.  Rosella jelly is also an option. Rosella Jam is one of my favourite jams, delicious with hot scones and cream, and lots of it.

Freshly picked rosellas

Rosellas still on the bush

We always eat salmon at least once a week, and this is generally a simple meal with vegetables, or I might bake it in alfoil with fresh grated ginger, soy sauce and vegetables.  However this time I was excited that I could add some of our home grown radishes to our plate, which were very crisp and mild flavoured, and sprinkled with delicious home grown dill. It's impossible to grow this herb here in the tropics in Summer as the humidity results in a white mildew forming all over the plant. I have three dill plants growing so well at the moment so I'll be using dill as often as I can in the kitchen during Winter. I just love the flavour. Notice the salmon skin will peeled off, and that is a treat for Locky our dog.

Last Wednesday night was the first match in the State of Origin Rugby League football season, where Queensland and New South Wales battle it out on the football field for supremacy. It's an historical competition, where players are selected according to the State they grew up in, either Queensland or New South Wales, not the team they play for so there is a lot of passion involved.  Townsville, also in tropical North Queensland scored the sought after location for the first match last night as Covid ruined the chances of the usual southern City rivals hosting the match. This was the first ever match held outside an Australian  capital city and Townsville and Queenslanders were on a high. So was Mr. HRK who has a very strong inherited football gene running through his veins. So he cooked dinner from scratch, and I have called his pizza, Make It Like a Man Pizza. He did very well and it was delicious.

He made the dough from scratch, cooked the pizza on a granite block in the BBQ of course, as that's what a man does. He used the Turkish flatbread recipe we used a few weeks ago for our Turkish Feast dinner and it was crispy and delicious and much quicker than the traditional pizza dough recipes we have used before. He halved the Turkish flatbread recipe as we only needed two pizzas,

Firstly the Cooks note: This recipe makes 4 large flatbreads, however if you prefer them smaller like pita bread,  cut the dough into 8 portions. 

If you can't find Greek style yoghurt, use regular yoghurt and reduce the water  in the recipe to 1 1/4 cups.

The flatbreads also make crispy and delicious bases for pizza. The smaller ones are excellent as pita or pocket breads.

Use plenty of plain flour when you are rolling out the flatbreads to prevent them sticking to the bench, and use a floured rolling pin

Ingredients:

(No oil needed to cook)

4 cups Plain Flour 

1 sachet (7 grams or .25 ounce) active dry yeast 

1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C, if you are pedantic, we're not)

1/2 cup Greek-style yoghurt

1 tablespoon white sugar

1/2 tablespoon salt (the original recipe used 1 tablespoon but we thought it was slightly too salty, up to you)

Method:

1. Dissolve the yeast, sugar and salt in a small bowl with the warm water. Add the water and the yoghurt to the flour and mix well. The dough will be nice and soft but not sticky. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured bench and shape it into a ball. 

Now cover the dough with a damp cloth and allow it to rise at room temperature for 3 hours. ( We place ours in the warm laundry, where our hot water system happens to be, and close the door, and it sure did rise!)

2. Cut the dough into four triangular portions. Shape the dough into rounds and flatten each round on a well floured bench as though you are making pizza dough. We flattened ours out further with a floured rolling pin so that it was a larger and thinner flatbread and it was perfect.

3. To cook your flatbread, choose either the BBQ or a cast iron skillet. As Mr. HRK was cooking, he chose to use a pizza stone in the BBQ, which worked like a dream. Preheat the BBQ or stove to a medium-heat. Place one round of dough on the BBQ or skillet and bake until the brown spots on the bottom, about 1 minute. Flip the bread and bake for another minute. Remove the bread and wrap it up in a clean tea towel to keep warm. We separated them with baking paper like you do with pancakes in case they stuck together with humidity around, but it really wasn't necessary.

For the whole Turkish Feast backstory about these pizza bases you can find it by clicking on this link:

Oh did I forget to give you the score from the game on Wednesday? Well it was an annihilation by New South Wales over Queensland, however the food in our kitchen was great. Better luck for the next match hopefully, always optimistic.

It's been a busy week's cooking with the pie dinner last Friday night, then Mahjong was on Tuesday afternoon at my place so I made one of my favourite cakes. A generous neighbour gave me some lovely, juicy limes from their backyard tree, so I baked my Lime Syrup and Coconut Cake, you can click on this link for the recipe. Always a favourite, served with yoghurt,

Delicious and tangy Lime Syrup and Coconut Cake

Cooking the lime syrup

Grating the lime zest

My Apple and Sour Cream Cake Slice is always a great stand by when I'm in a rush and need to make a slice quickly. So as well as the Lime Coconut Cake I also made this slice on the morning that my afternoon bookclub were meeting at my place. We all take turns at hosting book club so it only comes around once or twice a year. While our Mahjong group traditionally eat just cake with coffee , the Book Club ladies always put on quite a spread for afternoon tea, so I know that a cake, a slice and a nice cheese platter will all be eaten, particularly in this cooler weather. It's always a lovely afternoon, with lots of interesting discussion. The book we read for yesterday's meeting was Bruny by Heather Rose. Yes as in Bruny Island in Tasmania. It's a work of fiction, but really gets you thinking about a lot of controversial and very relevant topics currently. A great read.

Phew, I've been chopping and dicing a whole large cabbage all morning, 2 1/2 kilos of it in fact, as this is the perfect amount to fill my new Davis & Waddell Sauerkraut crock. It was a birthday present from good friends back in February, and now that we have some cold weather, it's the perfect time to use it. Hopefully the fermentation will progress well, and I can bottle some sauerkraut in a few days. This is my Green Cabbage Sauerkraut Recipe if you feel inclined to start fermenting as well.

 

Now that the weather is so cold, Locky needed a new coat to keep him warm. He was a real head turner in the pet shop and no wonder as he looks so cute in his orange coat. We suspect he likes it.

That's all for now folks. 

Hope you have something very enjoyable planned for this weekend.

Warm wishes,

 Pauline