In My Kitchen January 2016

Welcome to 2016! May the New Year bring happiness, prosperity and safety to you all – it’s going to be an amazing year for everyone. This photo is of the fireworks in Melbourne on New Years Eve which we took from our balcony. We spent New Years at home, listening to music while my husband & our friend James played guitar and playing a bit of PS4 (my husband’s Chrissy present), while we enjoyed great food, laughs and sparkling Shiraz, to bring in the New Year. How did you spend your New Years?

Looking for some kitchen inspiration? We have a new home to link our kitchen inspiration – the lovely Maureen at Orgasmic Chef will now host this wonderful kitchen party, while Celia at Fig Jam & Lime Cordial takes a well deserved break. We’d love to see what’s in your kitchen, so come and join us by the 10th of every month to meet some wonderful friends and food inspiration, while learning and laughing together over a cuppa.

In My Kitchen . . .

. . is the meat my husband and I cooked up for Christmas lunch. Clockwise from left – A huge 2.5kg leg of lamb, smothered with garlic, rosemary, salt & pepper and olive oil. Slow cooked on the BBQ for 4-4½ hours at 160°C – perfection! A free range size 14 chicken, smothered with chicken salt with butter between the skin and flesh. I prepared the roast chicken the day before & enjoyed it cold for Christmas lunch. And my finished 2.5kg rolled pork shoulder from Gary’s Quality Meats at Prahran Market. The secret to my perfect crackling is to place the whole pork on a cooling stand in roasting tray in the fridge, uncovered, over night. This helps to draw out any excess moisture from the skin. On Christmas day I liberally salted and oiled the skin, salt & peppered the pork meat and placed it in the oven at 250°C for 15minutes the turned the heat down to 160°C for 2½hours until the internal temperature reached 70°C-75°C. All served with roast potatoes, roast pumpkin, roast onions, beans with anchovy mayo, peas and honey carrots – my idea of perfection! Dessert was homemade apple crumble courtesy of my mum. What was your Christmas lunch or dinner?

In My Kitchen . . .

. . Kojiro enjoying his 1st Christmas – he just loves the wrapping paper! He’s 9 months old now and just over 5kgs and very spoilt!

In My Kitchen . . .

. . of course, is cookbooks! Our nephews gave me the Pete Evans My Kitchen cookbook which has some great, tasty and easy dishes to prepare at home that the whole family will enjoy. The Superfoods cookbook is something I can’t wait to get into! I’m super excited about cooking more with quinoa, cous cous, bulgar, freekah, spelt and other amazing grains. Stay posted for dishes from this book.

In My Kitchen . . .

. . well not really in my kitchen at the moment, is my new Miele Classic C1 vacuum – thank you to my in-laws, niece & nephew and nanna for Christmas money to help buy my new gadget. It’s just what I needed as my old & trustyl Nilfisk died a few months ago & we got a cheap & nasty ‘fill-in’ which almost blew up our apartment building!! I’ve never had such an easy handling, great suction vacuum before – I’m not a fan of vacuuming, who is, but my new Miele makes vacuuming a breeze.

In My Kitchen . . .

. . some new measuring spoons from my mum. They’re in US measurements but they’re cool as they have a leveller. I look forward to trying them out.

In My Kitchen . . .

. . is my new shredding gadget I bought from Daiso – a Japanese store where majority of their items are $2.80! It shreds carrots perfectly for coleslaw but be careful, it’s blades are very sharp – I almost sliced a fingernail in half. I look forward to trying it on a few more vegetables and fruit.

And lastly Out my Kitchen window. . .

. . down on Albert Park Lake, a daddy swan parades his four babies. Last year there was a swan that had three but this is a record. Aren’t our black swans beautiful?!

PS: 2016’s promise to all of you, is to get to your kitchens to read your amazing inspiration.