Air Fryer or Oven Roasted Italian Vegetables with Whipped Tofu Ricotta

Roasted Italian vegetables garnished with Basil Pesto and sitting on a layer of delicious whipped tofu ricotta sauce, is an amazing combination of flavours and textures. It will compliment any Italian main meal perfectly, or will also be delicious served with toasted crostini or sourdough for a fun and healthy appetiser. The vegetables cook perfectly in the air fryer, or the conventional oven.

Italian Lamb Ragu with Home Made Pasta

 

Italian Lamb Ragu is an extremely rich and comforting dish, and full of nostalgia. Long slow cooking is the key to tender lamb which shreds beautifully to combine with a sauce full of delicious flavours. 

Moussaka (Greek Lamb and Eggplant Lasagna)

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.

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.

Vietnamese Chicken Salad

The secret to this delicious Vietnamese style chicken slaw is the perfectly balanced dressing ingredients and the wombok cabbage which forms the basis of the salad. Oh, and the juicy shredded chicken is a pleasure to eat. I've tried a few different Vietnamese Chicken Salad recipes over the years, but with this recipe Nagi Maehashi of Recipe Tin Eats fame, has really nailed it. I know that a lot of you have her Recipe Tin Eats book "Dinner" by now, and this recipe is published in that, however I have given you a few extra tips and tricks for making this salad from the perspective of the home cook. 

Birthday Celebration Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

This is the perfect chocolate cake for a birthday celebration. It really tastes like chocolate cake, not all do, and this one has the softest crumb and is incredibly moist. I've made many chocolate cakes in my lifetime, but none of them have stood out above this one. 

Very tasty Cauliflower Cheese Steaks

 

Baked cauliflower, dressed in shredded Red Leicester Cheese, more eye-catchingly orange than red, with tasty spices added, and for the finishing touch, a crunchy parmesan crumb strewn throughout. This dish can confidently go solo taking centre stage, for a delicious vegetarian meal, perfect for Meat Free Monday. When baked, cauliflower becomes such a sweet vegetable, and keeps its shape and firmness beautifully. We really enjoyed it just on its own, but feel free to eat it with a salad, or any other side dish of your choice. 

Moroccan Baked Chicken with Fennel and Chickpeas, it's a delicious Traybake

You all know me, and by now you know that I love to prepare a delicious and simple chicken traybake for dinner. It takes a lot of the pressure off when you are entertaining friends, leaving you time to enjoy their company. I love my oven.  Even more, I love a traybake that is loaded with flavour and is very easy to prepare. Moroccan food is packed with flavour from all those heady exotic spices, such as baharat, cumin, smoked paprika, turmeric and ginger. Fresh Fennel, a vegetable which originates from the Mediterranean region, brings its unique flavour to this dish, please don't skimp on it. 

In My Kitchen - February 2023

Before Christmas I was selected as a prospective juror for two weeks from the 30th January, 2023, so whilst trying to do my civic duty, I said I would be available if my name was chosen in the second selection, and of course it was. This meant I needed to cancel any commitments for these two weeks, so that I would be available. However, late each afternoon last week I was messaged by the Supreme and District Court to the effect that I wouldn't be required the following day, so it's been a week of just planning things day by day. Next week could be exactly the same, with no assurance that I will be required but if I am I will have to be available or risk being heavily fined. It seems a strange system, but I can't think of a better one, so next week I will be living day by day as well. That means plenty of time in the kitchen, reading a good book, playing the piano, impromptu catch ups, etc., sounds good. One week to go without being able to make any definite daily plans in advance. I have already sat on a jury panel once, have you? Thankfully mine wasn't a disturbing case, and I found the experience quite interesting.

Photo taken before the spinach started to wilt a little.

 I've made two vegetarian Lentil curries, a week apart, because the first one was so delicious. It was a Lentil, Mushroom and Spinach Curry, and I made this one when all of the flooding was occurring In Southern Queensland and New South Wales and there wasn't very much fresh fruit and vegetables available at the supermarkets or the farmer's markets because of the heat and then the rain. I bought a packet of spinach leaves and some mushrooms, which were close to the expiry date and made this curry. I always have jars of green and red lentils in the pantry, so they were the basis of an earthy and delicious lentil curry. 

Then a week later, I changed the vegetables slightly and made an eggplant and mushroom lentil curry, which we enjoyed even more, perfect for the wet weather at the time. Even though this is such a simple recipe, I'll post it on the blog soon, as I know you will enjoy it too. A simple vegetarian meal with leftovers during a busy week, is just what is needed sometimes. However leftover chicken could easily be added to it.

 

I had some leftover mashed pumpkin in the refrigerator so I made a batch of golden Pumpkin Scones from a Kent (Jap) pumpkin, just last week. Cooked mashed pumpkin keeps well in the frig. I made these ones slightly larger than normal, and the recipe made 8 instead of 10. I think a pumpkin scone needs to be on the larger side as they are so delicious with a cuppa. They also reheat beautifully in the microwave oven.  I haven't made pumpkin scones for a while, and it pays to keep in practice don't you think?

So while the scone making flour fest "in my kitchen" was in full flight, I resurrected my Sourdough Mother from the depths of the refrigerator, poor thing. She responded beautifully to being fed with just plain flour and warm but boiled water, by bubbling away happily on the warm windowsill of our North facing laundry.  I always ferment a couple of jars of the sourdough, more than I need, just in case one doesn't work well. The trick is to catch the bubbling dough just in time before it starts bubbling up through the lid of the jar onto the windowsill below. The jars really need to sit in a container in case that happens. "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble", always pops into my head when I am working with sourdough as it seems a bit witchy, even though it should be "Double, double, toil and trouble" originally from Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth. 

Beautiful sourdough bubbles

I mixed up the sourdough for the bread, and then left it to rise slowly in two large bowls overnight at room temperature. I have just baked two loaves, a large hi-top loaf and a smaller loaf. The air conditioning is on during our heat wave, so it's perfect conditions inside for this dedicated baker. These loaves don't have the large holes like the round artisan loaves, as I used a lower hydration recipe, which works well for a standard loaf of sandwich bread. I didn't add any glaze or flour dusting to the surface of this loaf, so it is quite rustic in appearance, but tastes great after it has cooled slightly and is fresh out of the oven. I have made round artisan style loaves before, using the high-hydration method, which are great to have if visitors are coming over.

The smaller loaf today from the second dough mix. Different lighting also?

January included the Lunar New Year celebrations, celebrating the Year of the Rabbit, and whilst we don't get involved in any actual celebrations where we live, I was obviously influenced by all of the fun and publicity at the time. I made a Chinese Omelette for dinner one evening, named Egg Foo Young. I deconstructed it and made a very tasty pork filling to sit inside the omelette. It was a lot of fun to make with all those bean sprouts, and delicious to eat. Egg Foo Young was created by economical Chinese kitchen cooks to use up meat and vegetable leftovers, as was Fried Rice. It's very versatile as well.

It was also Australia Day on the 26th January, amid quite a lot of controversy about what it should really be named and on which date it should occur. The day before we enjoyed some Crystal Bay Prawns on a sandwich for lunch as the easy accessibility to fresh seafood here is one of the food highlights of living in our great Southern land and North Queensland. The prawns are farmed in the Hinchinbrook Channel near Cardwell in Far North Queensland and are sometimes sold at the supermarket. Australia Day is always very laid back. Good friends, P & J invited us over for an Australia Day meal in the afternoon which was delicious, with beautiful seafood to enjoy and homemade Aussie pavlova for dessert.

I purchased a new Australian cookbook, simply called Dinner. I've been wanting Nagi Maehashi's cookbook for ages as I often try her recipes and she has built up a very reliable reputation with her everyday recipes here in Australia, and overseas too I believe.

I agree wholeheartedly with her five non-negotiable rules in the kitchen, and would like to add one more to the list please Nagi.  If cooking with wine, keep a glass for yourself to drink, tee hee.

I made a simple Chicken stir-fry using Nagi's special stir fry sauce, and also tried her Tip on tenderising the chicken, Chinese style. It was delicious. It was extremely hot outside last night, even at 7 pm, still around 30 deg. C, so I cooked the meal inside in a frypan, rather than in a wok which we usually do on our outside gas burner. It was still delicious. This photo is before I added Nagi's magic sauce. Even though stir fries are considered fairly common place these days, I'll post the recipe later so that I can find it easily when I am travelling, and also for your interest if you don't have her book. My stir fries often involve chopping up whatever vegies I have on hand, adding some sliced chicken or beef, some herbs, and then adding some soy sauce and a little oyster sauce as well. Quick and easy. I took this stir fry to the next level by actually following a recipe.

Chicken, snow pea, capsicum and carrot, and a special stir fry sauce about to be added.

That's all folks for now. Thanks for dropping by. I'd love to hear from you, so if you do read my latest IMK or any of my posts, you can leave an anonymous comment at the end in the Comments section if you wish.  Anonymity is guaranteed. And if I happen to know you personally, just type your first name at the end of your comment and say hi, and that would be great.

This is my February submission to the #IMK series hosted by Sherry from Sherry's Pickings. Each month bloggers from around the world gather to share what is new in their kitchen.  I don't buy a lot of new merchandise for my Kitchen, mainly food ingredients, but I love cooking and baking. I hope you enjoy some of my recipes and stories.

Cheerio from very tropical North Queensland,

Pauline x

Chicken Enchiladas

 

Mexican food is fresh, vibrant, delicious, and should be fun to cook and eat. It's an easy way to feed the family and they will love it.