In My Kitchen- February 2015

It's been a busy, busy week in the InTolerant household

BigJ is back at work for good and littlej has started another year of school. I peeked inside her math textbook, recoiled, shuddered and slammed it shut hard. There were hardly any numbers, it was full of letters and symbols and...stuff that looked scary. Surds and sines and imaginary numbers and things that looked like they belonged on one of The Big Bang Theory's whiteboards rather than in my daughters homework.
I can cut a chicken to serve 8 and divide a cake into 16 slices, but that's about the extent of it. She'd better not need any help from me in this subject!

The start of this week has also bought the start of this month- and we all know that means the latest edition of In My Kitchen, yay :) To check out what's happening in lots of kitchens around the globe, just go to darling Celia's blog here for the full list, and of course feel free to join in the fun as well



In My Kitchen...
is a stunning Mother of Pearl Caviar Spoon that my Mum bought back from the Philippines. Stainless steel and silver spoons aren't used for the precious, expensive little fishy eggs as they might leave a metallic taste or taint... now if I only had some caviar!

In My Kitchen...
are some beautiful blue glassware, courtesy of my friend Pony. She said she was tired of my old, thick, scratched ones and it was well past time for some new. The prettiness is just a sign of her unerring good taste, if it wasn't already obvious in her choice of friend :)

In My Kitchen...
also from Pony, so cute little Mason Jar Mugs. Won't these be nice full of maple syrup alongside some pancakes!

In My Kitchen...
a great cookbook from a chef I really admire. Full of interesting and inventive dishes that I just can't wait to get my teeth into

In My Kitchen...
a fun and fantastic Paella Set from MiddleC. I've been wanting a paella pan for ages, but couldn't justify it- isn't it nice when someone takes that decision out of your hands :)

In My Kitchen...
are some Korean Ingredients that BigJ fell in love with on a recent trip there for business. He absolutely adores the Ssamjang paste and we've been having lettuce wraps filled with grilled steak,rice and veggies smeared with this lovely, pungent, spicy sauce

In My Kitchen...
are some elegant Korean Table Utensils that BigJ bought back for me. The poor guy didn't have much time at all for sightseeing or shopping, but he still managed to get his priorities right and bring home presents for us all :)

In My Kitchen...
is some Earl Grey infused chocolate from T2. The bergamont flavours of Earl Grey match beautifully with the smooth chocolate- yummo

In my Kitchen...
is a Heat Proof Glove. With all the bottling/preserving/jamming I've been doing lately it's come in really handy for grabbing hot jars without scalding my hands as I would usually do

In My Kitchen...
speaking of preserving, here is my new Bottling Funnel. So much easier for filling jars with volcanically hot jam than just tipping it in and hoping it doesn't splash, or ladling it in tentatively in terror

In My Kitchen...
is a very small selection of my Summer Preserves. Plum Jam, Plum Sauce, Tomato Jam and Pickles are just the start of my collection- chutneys and passata are still to come

In My Kitchen...
are some plumdiddlyumptious fresh Figs just bursting with sweetness! Such a wonderful fruit indeed and wonderful sweet or savoury or just straight off the tree

In My Kitchen...
alien looking but also delicious, Rambutans. Similar to lychees they are going into a big bowl of fruit salad to have with my lactose free yoghurt in the morning

In My Kitchen...
another alien looking fruit, Prickly Pears. Who knew that a cactus could taste good?

In My Kitchen...
Carob Pods found at the local markets. I grew up with carob instead of chocolate for treats and just love its earthy sweetness. My family might shudder when I have a steaming cup of hot carob instead of cocoa, but it's all joy to me

So Dear Readers, do you have any weird and wonderful goodies in your kitchen this month, and have you ever eaten Prickly Pear before?

In a Pickle!

This is the time of year when my garden comes into it's own

We've had LOTS of rain, LOTS of sun, and long, long Summer days. All of this adds up to LOTS of veggies!

The only thing that's confusing me is that my garden has somehow gone all topsy-turvey.
Normally I have heaps of carrots, capsicums and beans, and struggle to get a cucumber or two growing. But this year the cucumbers are starting to strangle the garden, my carrots are hibernating and my beans reluctantly spat out 6 pods. Who knows? I figure the best way is just to plant, plant, plant and hope for the best. With this weeks rain achieving one third of our annual precipitation in just one day and the bulk of the heat yet to come, my garden may spring into tropical mode and surprise me with bananas growing from the compost heap :)


Cucumbers aren't great keepers, they really need to be eaten fairly quickly after harvest. I have put them in salads, made instant pickles, juiced them, made cocktails and sorbet, gazpacho, given them away....and still have more than I can deal with. Littlej and I eat a lot of pickles/gherkins, so the logical choice was to process some ourselves for the lean times when the garden hunkers down for winter
Lovely fresh herbs, garlic from the garden and a simple pickling vinegar makes this a nice and easy recipe that will have you wishing you had cucumbers growing in your garden too

Cucumber Pickles

5 medium Cucumbers
3 cups White Vinegar
2 cups Sugar
1 head of Garlic
2 Tb Mustard Seeds
Dill
Salt

Slice the cucumbers nice and thin- the easiest way to do this is with a mandoline slicer

Layer the the slices in a colander and sprinkle each layer with a dusting of salt. The idea is to allow the salt to draw out some of the natural water in the cucumbers so they will stay crisp and last longer in the pickle. Leave these overnight

Rinse briefly to remove the salt, then drain well or pat dry

See how nice and bendy they are now? You couldn't do this with a fresh piece

Pop the vinegar, sugar, seeds and sliced garlic into a pot and bring to the boil. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes

While the vinegar is boiling, fold the slices into warm, sterilized jars and add a few sprigs of dill to each

Pour the hot vinegar into the jars to almost the top, tapping them hard on the bench to make sure there are no air bubbles hiding in the cucumber slices. Make sure the slices are fully covered

Screw on the clean jar lids then turn the jars upside down briefly so the boiling hot vinegar comes in contact with the lid as well
Let the jars sit on the bench overnight to cool, the lids should pop down as a vacuum is formed and seal the contents perfectly. If any of them don't pop down, put them in the fridge and use first

You can of course eat these pickles after a day or two, but they really do taste much better indeed if you leave them for a few weeks to mellow and mature. The colour will change from bright green to a sort of khaki, but that's just from the acid and is nothing to worry about at all

Sweet and tangy, sharp and crunchy and with the fragrance of dill- Perfect with a Ploughman's lunch, delicious indeed!

So Dear Readers, do you like pickles and what's growing in your garden right now?

In My Kitchen- January 2015

Happy New Year Dear Readers!


I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that the New Year brings you lots of fabulous Fun, Family and Foodie Adventures!

With the start of a new year and the start of a new month, it's time for another In My Kitchen post. January is an extra fun post as I get to show many of the lovely Christmas pressies my wonderful family and friends gave me over the Festive Season- I'm a very blessed little Chef indeed :)

If you'd like to join in the foodie fun, check out Here for  the delightful Celia's monthly roundup of In My Kitchen Posts



In My Kitchen...
is this GINORMOUS Monster Crab Claw! My present to me this Christmas. Yes, that is a full sized dinner plate that it's sitting on :) BigJ had to crack it for me as it was just waaay too hard to get into. The  lovely, warm, garlic-buttery goodness was well worth waiting for though. Delicious!

In My Kitchen...
this absolutely delicious Curry Paste from Celia She made me promise not to mess with it AT ALL and follow the directions absolutely. Just for the record, I did...nearly :) The recipe wanted the chicken boiled in the sauce until cooked, the only thing I changed was that I browned off my chicken cutlets first. Flabby, pale chicken skin is not appealing at all, but crispy, tasty, browned skin is much nicer. My family LOVED it! I definitely need to find this sauce here in Canberra, I can see it becoming a firm favourite indeed

In My Kitchen...
a present from Ali , some Barberries. I've not used these before, so look forward to trying them very soon

In My Kitchen...
from Liz, is this beautiful local honey. So sweet and pure, Honey Delight for sure :)

In My Kitchen...
is a very amazing, very addictive Pedro Ximenez Caramelized Balsamic Sauce. Sooooo gooood! Gorgeous with cheese, strawberries or figs, even on ice cream

In My Kitchen...
is yummy Saffron White Balsamic. It made an appearance on our Christmas greens, adding a lovely tangy sweetness that really made them special

In My Kitchen...
for a touch of sleek sophistication on the table, is this very pretty Black Sea Salt. BigJ bought me so many gourmet treats for my Christmas Stocking didn't he :)

In My Kitchen...
because you can't have salt without pepper, is this cove/cinnamon/nutmeg tasting hot pepper. Very nice for a change from the usual

In My Kitchen...
some beautiful bottles from BigJ and littlej. Perfect for the hot weather and helping to make sure I drink my 2 litres of liquid a day

In My Kitchen...
would have been a fantastic gift from BigJ- if it was the right one for my machine! Sadly it doesn't fit my large Kenwood, and being a sale item we can't get a refund from the store :(  Not to worry though, this mincer will soon be making an appearance on ebay with all profit gong towards the right model for my machine instead

In My Kitchen...
are kilos and kilos of plums from my friend Pony's tree. Supposedly an ornamental variety, it fruits prolifically each year with small, sweet, little morsels that shall be transformed into sauce and jam by littlej and I

In My Kitchen...
are the first of my tomato harvest. These particular ones start off dark purple and turn red as they ripen. Nothing beats the taste and sweetness of homegrown tomatoes

In My Kitchen...
a present from MiddleC, is the cookbook from my favourite TV show, Duck Dynasty! I may not have access to all the ingredients like bullfrogs, but there are enough down-home favourites to keep me busy indeed

So my Dear Readers, have you made any New Year Resolutions, and have you broken them yet? :)

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 2015

Happy New Year Dear Readers!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with lots of fun, family, friends and feasting!

Here at the InTolerant Household we had a lovely time with no Doggy Dramas like last year. Just lots of relaxing and of course, plenty of food as always :)  Would you care to share a peep at our day?


A little treat for Santa- he has to keep his strength up you know

All wrapped up and ready to go!

InTolerant Cat just couldn't stand it any longer. Once we started ripping off the wrapping paper, she just had to get stuck in too. She was very efficient with those fangs of hers

Aha, Smoked salmon! Just what she always wanted :)

The table starting to get loaded up with Festive Feasting

Beautiful roasts just waiting to be popped into the oven. The tray is loaded up with my own fresh garlic and herbs, onions, green apple wedges and a litre of sparkling apple juice to keep the roasts nice and moist and to help make an awesome pan gravy later. Lamb, chicken and turducken snuggled in comfy cosy- the pork was baked separately as it is so fatty

Slow roasted for hours and basted with lovely, sticky juices from time to time

Look at that crackling!

Duck fat roast potatoes, celariac, pumpkin, parsnips, onion, garlic and a tray of scalloped potatoes as well

Baby tri-coloured carrots, green and butter beans, sugar snap and snow peas, all tossed with fresh parsley, EVOO and saffron white balsamic

Littlej's plate- I'm pretty sure the veggies were just there to keep me from nagging. As you can see it takes a lot to feed a growing girl. Please note that this was only her first helping, she did come back for seconds :)

Our Guilty Secret...don't tell my chef friends, but Tomato Sauce makes an appearance at practically every meal. BigJ just loves it, and has even been known to have it straight on toast in the morning- yuck! I believe it has it's place, and that's NOT on the Christmas Table!!!

What would Christmas be without Leftovers? Here we have the bird roasts, pork and lots of veggies cut up ready to mix with leftover gravy to make meals for the next little while. I love having dishes ready-to-go in the freezer for busy/lazy days over Summer

So Dear Readers, I hope you enjoyed our day as much as we did, and how did you spend Christmas this year?