In my Kitchen - June 2017

The months are zooming by and here we are at the mid-point of the year once again. The last few leaves, in various shades of autumn, have been blown off my Japanese maple tree by bitterly-cold wintertime winds. And the temperature has already dropped down to minus four degrees C this week!

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Thankfully, before that heavy frost I had picked all the lemons from the potted bushes on my front verandah. We've been enjoying the fruit in warming dishes, such as scallop and saffron risotto, slow-roasted lamb shoulder, and chicken roasted with lemon, tarragon and garlic. Let's now take a look at the other goodies in my kitchen:

On our last trip to Kiama in summer, I bought myself a new wooden platter-come-chopping board. It's almost too pretty to be used, and I have to admit that I was rather perturbed the first time Peter sliced into a loaf of bread, leaving a deep cut in the wood. Call me a fusspot, but I have covered a clear plastic chopping sheet sitting on top of the board now.

At the conclusion of our weekend in Yass, we popped in to the Visitor Information Centre. To our delight, we discovered a good selection of locally produced food and wine, so we stocked up on a few bottles of locally-produced extra virgin olive oil from Homeleigh Grove, and a bottle of Pinot Noir from Di Bartolo Vineyard. The Fairy Wren on the label of the bottle really took my fancy.

Whilst in the Yass Valley, we enjoyed a couple of great meals at the Duck 'n' Fishes Cafe, Cooradigbee Homestead, and it was there that I discovered this air-dried, shredded Angel Hair chilli from Essential Ingredient. It's lovely as a garnish, both in terms of flavour and presentation.

I used a pinch of it to juzz up a risotto of Tasmanian scallops and saffron, prepared in the Tefal Cuisine Companion in a recipe not too dissimilar to this one of mine.

Ever since our visit to Stockholm a couple of years ago, I've been looking for pearl sugar. Peter presented me with a jar of it after I had made my Scandi cardamom scrolls. I know I could have simply ground some sugar cubes in a mortar and pestle, but somehow I never got around to doing that.

There's a pile of fabulous new books awaiting my review; including a how-to on Backyard Chickens by Dave Ingham, and Hippie Lane the Cookbook by Taline Gabrielian. Please stay tuned, as I'll be showcasing these on the blog over the next few weeks.

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That's all for now. Please pop in and say hello to my friend, Sherry, from Sherry's Pickings, who is now hosting the IMK series (thank you, Sherry). Happy cooking to you. 

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Over to you. Tell me dear readers, what's happening in your kitchen this month? And how's the weather in your part of the world?