In my Kitchen April 2015

I missed you guys! March was an absolute blur! There was so much going on in my life I completely missed last month’s IMK! I was preparing dumplings, sausage rolls, pulled pork, veal cutlets, potato salad and coleslaw, which were thoroughly enjoyed by all our friends & family, for our annual Australian Grand Prix party. April is the time for Easter (especially chocolate Easter eggs), footy (go Swannies!), my sister & husbands birthdays and daylight savings ending (sad face!) This means dinners will have to be organised earlier while it’s still daylight.

Above is the view from our balcony of the Australian Grand Prix. I’m a bit of a rev head, especially when it comes to the classic cars. My fave car this Grand Prix is pictured at the start of this post. The amazing Australian Roulettes were in perfect formation, the F-18 was mind blowing – this beast brings the biggest smile to everyone’s face and the Qantas 747 was flying so close it made us all hold our breath!

A BIG happy belated birthday goes out to Celia, we hope you had a wonderful celebration. Celia from Fig Jam & Lime Cordial is our wonderful host for our kitchen sharing every month. We’d love to see what’s in your kitchen.

In my Kitchen . . .

. . . is Spanish condiments (clockwise starting from the back left) – Chipotle sauce, dried Ancho chillies, dried Chipotle chillies, Spanish smokey paprika and Merquen – smokey chilli flakes. On a food journey with my girlfriend, from Commercial Cookery, we visited Casa Iberica deli on Johnston St, Fitzroy, lunched at the Vegie Bar in Brunswick St, Fitzroy and found the best couscous ever!

In my Kitchen . . .

. . . is the best couscous I’ve ever eaten, so far. After eating lunch at Vegie Bar, we asked the chef about the couscous – it was light, fluffy and very tasty. The chef told us he buys in bulk at Nuts about Life in Lygon St, Carlton. A short car ride later and I was in heaven – nuts, grains, pulses, organic flours, spices everywhere. Just amazing! I’ll be back to get more yummy produce for sure. Above, you can see the difference between store bought couscous (back) and the couscous purchased at Nuts about Life.

In my Kitchen . . .

. . . is lots of colourful utensils. For some reason, I keep losing my one teaspoon measuring spoons, so I bought some really colourful and bright measuring spoons – which shouldn’t get thrown out by mistake! The orange & blue utensils I picked up in Coles for our Grand Prix party – the colours looked great against the chequered tablecloth and they’re reusable – very happy 🙂

In my Kitchen . . .

. . . is some tasty snacks I picked up from Woolworths in Geelong. They’re roasted capsicum and feta hommus chips. They were really tasty, even eaten as a snack by themselves. I haven’t seen them at my local Woolworths but I’ll buy up big next time I see them!

In my Kitchen . . .

. . . is $3 worth of vegetables! I turned the cauliflower & parsnip into a puree and the beetroot into boiled diced beetroot via Rick Stein’s Under a Mackerel Sky, which I’ll turn into a dip. I hope to share these recipes with you soon.

In my Kitchen . . .

. . . are cookbooks or more importantly, novels & reference books – what’s my kitchen without at least one, right! I found the Aromatic Herbs and Spices: seeds & barks by Jill Norman at an op shop for 50 cents each (I have Jill’s other reference book Spices: roots & fruits from February’s IMK). Rick Stein’s Under a Mackerel Sky, which I’m halfway through, was found at a bookstore for $10 and I couldn’t go past Matthew Evans’s The Dirty Chef for $15.

And, in case you missed them, my latest recipes are In my Kitchen . . .

. . . dumpling wrappers, pork & prawn dumplings and Sichuan chilli oil. Enjoy & I’ll see you all next month – hope it’s good for you x