In My Kitchen- April

Welcome to another Kitchen Snap Shot as part of lovely Celia's monthly In My Kitchen roundups!

Check out the full list of participating Blogs here over at Celia's- the wonderful Fig Jam and Lime Cordial- that is chock-a-block with her recipes, garden, chickens, bread making and cheery outlook on life

This April...

In My Kitchen...
Is a This-is-all Celia's-fault Picky Platter
Celia recently posted about her beautiful antipasto-platter, and it got me all inspired to create my own. Unfortunately I got rather carried away.... On my platter is Lemon Myrtle Roast Pork, Truffle Salami, Smoked Wagu Beef Slices, Dolmades, Feta stuffed Olives, Grilled Eggplant, Pickled Artichokes, Bread and Butter Cucumbers, Dolmades, Soft Goat Cheese, Hard lactose free Cheese, Goat Brie, Horseradish and Beetroot Paste, Hommus, Chicken Cognac Pate, Truffled Anchovies, Flaxseed Crackers and gluten free Grisini- PHEW! I'm not saying how much of this was left for anyone else to eat by lunch time, but I will say that it was delicious :)

In My Kitchen...
Are a heap of Ready-to-go Freezer Meals
It's going to be a bit of a busy, mixed up month, so I've been preparing and filling the freezer with meals that just need to be popped into the oven. I label them clearly so there's no confusion, and also jot down any extra instructions required so there's no excuse for anyone to muck it up

In My Kitchen...
Is the Master List of Frozen Meals, handily stuck on the door of the fridge. I have added a few more meals to the list since that photo was taken so we have plenty of variety.If I hadn't run out of room in the freezer I'd still be cooking though, as cooking calms me, centres me, and makes me happy. I'm definitely a Feeder and love looking after my family like this

In My Kitchen...
Are the last of the garden-glut of tomatoes
I'm slow roasting them on low heat to really condense the flavours, then they'll be cooked down with red wine, herbs, and lots of garlic into a gorgeous rich sauce that can be used all year long to add a little sunshine to our meals

In My Kitchen...
Is, at last, a Canele Pan! I have wanted to make these for so long, but stubbornly refused until I had the right equipment. It really does make a difference! I couldn't afford a traditional bronze or copper pan, and I'm just not the biggest fan of silicon molds, so when I came across this heavy steel pan I no longer had an excuse.

In My Kitchen...
Are some yummy infused salts that were a gift from my lovely friend Flora, They add so much flavour sprinkled over meals, or rubbed into chicken or meat just before cooking

 

In My Kitchen...
Are ripe limes from my garden. It's the first real harvest I've had and I'm very excited!
Kaffir limes in the background- not a lot of juice, but the wonderfully aromatic rind is lovely grated into curries. Australian Finger Limes at the front- see how the juice is encapsulated in tiny little caviar type spheres? These burst with a delightful POP in your mouth, slightly sour and bitter- everything a lime should be. I love the little cuties to garnish sushi together with fish roe; they're absolutely, fantastically perfect for sprinkling on fresh oysters; great mixed through a Thai style salad for a bit of a surprise ingredient; and, of course in a nice cold GnT!

In My Kitchen...
Is this lovely condiment I found recently, Rose Harissa
You all know that I'm a sucker for floral flavours, and this one promises to be something a bit different indeed. Wow, it's hot! but not so much that you sear off your taste buds. The rose is a subtle sneakiness at the back of the burn that is sweet and very tasty. I will use this rubbed over BBQ chicken, and mixed with LF yoghurt and drizzled over lamb or potato wedges- yummo!

So Dear Readers, how do you cope with Busy Times, and what do you do that makes you happy?

 

In My Kitchen Garden- February 2014

Happy February Dear Readers!


It has been a season of extremes so far this year with the Big Freeze going on with our Northern Neighbours, and Horrific Heatwaves carrying on here at home


It's the start of the month again and that would normally call for my usual show of bits and pieces as I join in with lovely Celia's In My Kitchen post. This is a fun round up that travels the world and visits Bloggy Buddies all over as we peep into their kitchens for a bit of a sticky beak

I thought I'd mix it up a bit this month and instead of showing you the same old/same old inside, I'd share what's happening in my Kitchen Garden instead. We've had such hot weather and weeks and weeks of 37*C, 38*C and a whole week of 40ish too, so things are a little droopy at the moment, but bear with me as we explore some of the various bits and pieces that make up my Kitchen Garden



In My Kitchen Garden...
you can see the groundwork we laid last year at the start of Spring. The drippers have been wonderful and probably the only reason the garden has survived the extended heatwaves we've had this season. The system is connected to a timer so I don't even have to remember to turn it off, I'm very spoiled indeed! The three raised beds have three rows of drippers down each, then the hose continues behind the shed and around the corner and loops through the fruit barrel area as well

In My Kitchen Garden...
is a forest of Asparagus.This has been producing for months now, and in the hot weather you can see them growing taller by the hour. If you miss picking the stems they shoot up to become a ferny mass that shelters the new little spears underneath and keeps them nice and pale

In My Kitchen Garden...
are lots and lots of pots and wine barrels. You can see the toll the heat has taken with so many of my herbs giving up the fight. The big barrel is choc full of potatoes and the tall things are Jerusalem artichokes. A couple of berry plants are growing along the dog fence, allowing doggy plenty of opportunity to pick them before I can beat him to it

In My Kitchen Garden...
is flowering mint that reaches to my waist, and pineapple sage that is as tall as me. I have to delicately pick my way through the undergrowth to find strawberries, rhubarb, nasturtiums and horseradish. The citrus trees and other herbs line the back fence and you can see how yellow they are from the sun at the moment. I think I'll have to feed them well to keep them happy

In My Kitchen Garden...
is my first real crop of Finger Limes. This is a gorgeous Australian native plant that makes little pearls of juice like caviar inside the odd shaped fruit. There are 19 fruit growing this year, and I'll keep you posted when they're ready to go

In My Kitchen Garden...
is my first Kaffir Lime fruit as well. I grow this tree to use the delicious, fragrant leaves in SE Asian cooking and the fruit is just a bonus

In My Kitchen Garden...
Is a very sun burnt blueberry bush. This one is an early fruiter and has already cropped so it's not too bad. It recovered quite well last year so I'll just  see how it goes. Luckily I have a late fruiting one that is well shaded at the opposite end of the garden and doing well

In My Kitchen Garden...
are strawberry plants bursting through the wire gate and threatening to smother every bit of spare dirt around. The gate is to keep the dog out as he loves foraging for the fruit and if I dare to put any extras down while picking he will snaffle them up as soon as my back is turned. I have tried making him spit them out, but slobbery strawberries just aren't worth the effort

In My Kitchen Garden...
is a new Coffee Plant. You can see that it's a bit burnt on the leaf too, despite being tucked away in a corner. I'm waiting for cooler weather before planting it out in a wine barrel. I'll need somewhere a bit sheltered, and it will need covering from frosts in winter as well. Some tropical plants manage OK here in Canberra, my curry leaf tree is fine, and the ginger plant is doing really well. Lemongrass dies off in winter and needs to be looked after a bit, but my pineapple lilly comes up every year

In My Kitchen Garden...
are masses of tomatoes. As you can see these ones have defied attempts to stake and contain them, and now happily sprawl across the garden bed at will. The top ones have bleached from the sun and some have even developed big blisters so I think I'll have to cook them up soon. I have about 5 different varieties growing in the big beds, and despite staggered planting, the heat means that they are all cropping at once

In My Kitchen Garden...
hiding behind some tomatoes are about 8 big eggplant bushes. As they are shaded they're doing really well and cropping heavily

In My Kitchen Garden...
is the most exposed garden bed. As you can see, my lettuce has been bolting to seed before it's ready to pick. The basil has as well, so that was a real shame. The heat has also caused a few of my vines to hold back, so I'm hoping the predicted cool change this week will bring them on before it's to late

Near My Kitchen Garden.... is a Mystery Object I spotted in one of my trees yesterday while watering the garden. Closer inspection revealed it to be one of my good Tupperware containers full of goodies that littlej had put out to feed the parrots that come and visit. She did mention asking for some Trail Mix on the weekend, and as we had none she took things into her own hands with her usual flair

It's full of gourmet macadamias, walnuts, pecans, pinenuts, oats and shredded coconut. What well fed parrots we will have! BigJ has also put up a parrot nesting box in the front yard to encourage happy families to settle- maybe we'll have some extra mouths to feed soon. We get Crimson Rosellas and Eastern Rosellas every day, and sometimes spot Grass Parrots and the very rare sighting of King Parrots as well. Last year we even saw some blue headed yellow parrots that we couldn't name. White Cockatoos sometimes go next door to steal from the fruit trees, but our dog thinks they make too much noise and keeps them out of our garden- thank goodness as they're so destructive

Finally, In My Kitchen...
Is a bench full of Garden Bounty picked from my Kitchen Garden today!
2 big eggplant, 1 firm cucumber, some fragrant herbs, 1 1/2 kilos of mixed tomatoes, a punnet full of strawberries and 2 little stems of glorious asparagus. All the makings for a Meal Fit For a King. I am so blessed and happy to step out my door and be spoilt for choice with so much fresh produce, and I really could do better with very little effort indeed. I have been giving away veggies to my neighbours, filling my freezer, eating fit to bust and there's still more- I'm so rich indeed!

So Dearest Readers, do you have a veggie patch, and what would you make with this selection of Garden Goodness?