In my kitchen…
…is a dark chocolate owl, made using these moulds from Candyland Crafts.
The owl is hollow and made with our 74% Tanzanie chocolate blend. The detailing in the plastic moulds was exquisite…
In my kitchen…
…are four loaves of homemade sourdough ciabatta, our new pane de casa, or house bread. Small Man is eating like a horse at the moment, and will demolish a loaf a day, before and after dinner. Thankfully, it’s the simplest bread I make…
In my kitchen…
…are four rainbow trout, stuffed with baby leek, young ginger and parsley. They were drizzled with thick soy, olive oil and a little flaky salt before roasting in a 200C oven. We covered them with foil for the first 10 minutes, and then finished them off uncovered. Nothing makes my starving younger son happier than having an entire fish to himself…
In my kitchen…
…are tinned Italian tomatoes. Australian tomatoes have suffered so badly from the rain that it’s been uneconomical for us to make our homemade passata. Additionally, the couple of batches we did make recently were watery and flavourless.
Thankfully, my mate Johnny at the cheese shop has started stocking the fabulous Mutti range of Italian tomatoes and sauces. Ignoring all my BPA concerns, I’ve stocked up on two types – the baby romas, and the San Marzano. The latter are quite expensive ($3/tin), but ever since we’ve bought them, Pete has refused to use anything else. Sigh…
The San Marzanos are grown in volcanic soil, and are the sweetest, thickest tinned tomatoes we’ve ever tasted. So thick, in fact, that they often need to be diluted down with wine or water in a sauce!
The baby romas are fantastic – the small tomatoes keep their shape in the tin and often the finished dish will still have whole tomatoes in the sauce. They’re far more affordable, at $20 per dozen tins. And they’re much better than the tinned cherry toms we’ve bought in the past…
In my kitchen…
…is a new Emile Henry baking dish, in the most gorgeous aubergine/fig colour. I found it at Peters of Kensington, reduced from $79 to $23.
I’m currently in the process of retiring all my heavy Le Creuset and La Chasseur cast iron pieces, and replacing them with Emile Henry cookware. I know the cast iron is magnificent, but honestly, the cookware was getting too heavy for me to manoeuvre and they were always such a bugger to wash! The Emile Henry is lightweight, the Flame range goes onto the gas hob, and the dirty cookware goes straight into the dishwasher.
In my kitchen…
…is a little winter rhubarb from our garden. We never knew that the stems would grow quite red in the colder weather…
We stewed the rhubarb with a little sugar and some of the frozen blackberries that we bought in Marrickville, and served it topped with Pete’s homemade Greek yoghurt and a little maple syrup…
. . . . .
Tell me, what’s happening in your kitchen this month?
If you’d like to do an In My Kitchen post on your own blog, please feel free to use this format, and to leave a comment here linking back to your post. We’d all love to see what’s happening in your kitchen every month too!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Celia, I love this “In My Kitchen” series, and will definitely join you sometime next month, after we move back home. At the present time, my life is so incredibly hectic, I can barely keep up with blogging…. (sigh)
plus, I barely have what qualifies as a kitchen here :-)
Sally, I’m looking forward to it! I bet you’ll be glad to be home! :)
I was going to ask you when you were going to do another “IMK” post. I love this idea and I hope that I will, with your permission, do this in the future.
Everything looks wonderful and I would probably, like your son, devour a whole fish and a loaf.
Thanks Norma! He did indeed devour a whole fish and a loaf of bread – quite biblical when you put it that way.. ;-)
I’d like to be in your kitchen.
I’d love you to be in my kitchen!
My CSA started last week. It’s exciting to plan meals based on what I have and not based on random things that I feel like eating. It also includes a buying club for getting non-vegetable items from the farm. I bought a quart of raw goat’s milk just to see what it’s like.
Bethany, that must be very exciting – like a regular lucky dip! Just had a look at your post – what a box of treasure you received!
I love all the things in your kitchen but especially the chocolate owl! HE’S GORGEOUS!
Thanks Jeannette! I still can’t get over the amount of definition that was in $4 worth of moulds!
We have just finished making passata with early English tomatoes and garden herbs. I do like Italian tinned ones when they are the good ones too, though we do get a lot of the cheaper ones here as well. I’m a big Emile Henry fan too! Good choice!
Will tell you what’s happening in my kitchen soon xx
Jo, look forward to seeing what’s happening at your place. I’m so glad to hear you’ve got nice tomatoes to play with! The Italian toms vary so much in quality – we used to buy La Gina and Annalisa toms, and they were quite good, but the Mutti brand really seems significantly better.
Love the Emile Henry – what pieces you have?
PS. So glad you liked the owl! :)
Oh and I LOVE the OWL !!!!!
Those tomatoes look so rich. They’d be perfect in my spag bol sauce I’m making today.
In my kitchen is one lonely banana muffin leftover from the weekend’s baking, two low-fat chocolate croissants (also from the baking), two sprouting potatoes from my cousin’s farm waiting for me to plant in the garden, a bottle of truffle oil I got for my Birthday waiting for the perfect recipe and a big jar I bought at IKEA on the weekend waiting for me to start my homemade sourdough starter.
Claire, they really are perfect in a spag bog! Can’t wait to see your homegrown spuds and homemade sourdough! :)
In my kitchen this morning is 17 meals worth of pumpkin soup waiting to be bagged and frozen down, a bowl full of thai ingredients inc. pandan and gapi paste, a huge rack of lamb, some of my home grown saffron- yes it’s that time of year for the flowers, and echinacea and strepsils scattered on the bench- MiddleC and I are feeling fluey and blah.
Your kitchen is always so exciting, I love this series Celia.
BTW, one of first experiences cooking trout was to stuff it with a banana then wrap it in bacon before baking it-DREADFUL! It nearly turned me off them for life, yours looks fantastic!
Becca, I can’t believe your harvest your own saffron!! But I’m so sorry to hear you’re all down with the lurg – we’ve already lost nearly a month to it this year! Get well soon, love.
PS. Who on earth stuffs a banana into a trout?
In my kitchen today is my cleaner, bless her. She comes once a fortnight, makes my house look gorgeous for a brief moment in time and I love her very much.
Another thing i love very much is your owl, Celia. He is stunning.
Aaaah, now how lovely would that be? Glad you liked the owl, thanks Amanda! :)
In my kitchen is well fed sourdough starter…thanks for the tip C xx. Now I’m going to attempt your Sourdough Ciabatta and if it works I will get whatever I want from my gorgeous husband, as ciabatta is his all time favourite bread…win win!
Glad to hear it, Wendy! I had lunch with a friend yesterday whose starter (also from me) is doing exactly the same thing – I think the change in weather has made them pout! Did you get to Marrickville?
Love all your kitchen treats!-i haven’t had rhubarb in so long and have been wanting to get my hands on some. Love your chocolate owl too.
Thanks Yvette! I hope you find some perfectly pink, long stemmed rhubarb to play with soon.. :)
Hello Celia,
I love your In My Kitchen Posts. In my kitchen are several types of sourdough, some early season stone fruit, ripe juicy strawberries and plenty of admiration for the stewed rhubarb and homemade yoghurt!
Craig
Hello my faraway friend!! Hope it’s all going well – would love to be in your kitchen checking out your sourdough now! :)
I wish I had rhubarb in my kitchen. I do have the most exquisite rose and lemon Turkish Delight from Istanbul – a gift from a friend.
Sally, that sounds divine – rose and lemon Turkish delight! Such a well named confectionery, because when it’s really good, it’s truly delightful! :)
Celia, I always love your “In My Kitchen” posts and I will hopefully start once we are settled back home – our flights are book so the big countdown has begun.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, you must be very excited! I hope Pete is packing his braai! :)
We are super excited :-D Pete has decided a new braai for a new adventure is in order. xo
I love these posts. Have you tried the Aldi organic tinned tomatoes? They are definitely my favourite ones at the moment and have so much flavour. I will have to look out for the mutti though, they look great.
Susan, thanks, I haven’t tried the Aldi toms, but we’re in their often, so I’ll pick up some to try!
Where’s the new paella book? In my kitchen is a pot of meat ragu cooked last night for dinner for 12 tonight and 6 quinces which were spiced as per Christine Manfield and slowly cooked for 7 hours, also for tonight.
David, if I bring my book, can I have dinner in your kitchen? ;-)
You had me at chocolate owl……………..
I’m madly trying to catch up on the last couple of weeks posts, thanks for the fabulous insights into your life and kitchen. I’ve just made a batch of minestrone soup and your ciabatta would have been lovely with it. Once I’ve worked out the starter ratio difference I really want to give the ciabatta a go. I might have to wait though – my oven’s just turned up its toes and my hubbie’s in the process of trying to fix it. It’s one of those monstrous ovens so I’ll probably notice my power bill go down while it’s out of action ;-).
Take care.
Bugger about the oven, Meaghan! Ours did that once, and I was in withdrawal within two days! Hope it’s fixed soon.. :)
What ratio do you keep your starter at, and I’ll try and crunch numbers for you, if you like?
My goodness I did think our dinner was lovely – but there’s nothing in my kitchen that looks like what’s in your kitchen! My goodness, what a fabulously talented and creative cook you are. I adore the owl – but I have no idea what that chocolate is… I’m off to look at the link.
YUM!
Thanks Ali! Everything in your kitchen is (almost) homegrown – doesn’t get better than that! :)
Gosh, can I come for tea! My favourite food groups–bread, fish and chocolate.
In my kitchen–S. African seed bread, light wheat and rye bread and some olive, black pepper and rosemary bread–Wednesday is always bake day, the first mandarins of the season from our tree and lots of chokos. Any suggestions on the chokos?
Liz, yes, you can come for tea. :) The South African seed bread sounds intriguing! I’ve never cooked with chokos, although our elderly Italian neighbour used to slice them up, crumb them and deep fry them, from memory. I never tried them though. Also, don’t they sometimes use chokos as a pie filler in apple pies etc?
Chokos–a great way to ruin an apple pie!
I love the owl!!! You should be selling them!
Your kitchen is full of delicious things. I agree with the weight problem of Le Creuset – and the cleaning.
The only thing worth mentioning in my kitchen is my Australian Hand’n’Hoe Organic Macadamia Butter. It is TOO DELICIOUS!
Thanks Anna! I don’t need to sell chocolate, I have lots of willing eaters! Organic Maccy butter sounds divine…
In my kitchen, smells of freshly brewed coffee from HasBean and Lapsang Souchong from the market. A clash of strong flavours – open windows now!
The owls are so shiny – yum!
Thanks Gill, you know I’m always chuffed if my chocolate making passes muster with you! :) I don’t drink coffee, but I’d love a cup of tea…
I’m glad your rhubarb has done so well. the weather conditions this Spring has not suited mine and it is dying back already, whereas it usually produces through to mid-summer.
I love the owl – great detail in the moulding, as you mention!
Suelle, thanks, I was concerned it would just stay green all year round. Mind you, we’re getting far less red than we did with all the spring green growth. It’s so lovely to have rhubarb on hand – I love not having to pay a small fortune for it anymore!
Such a beautiful owl….and such effortless tempering! I was going to pop in a In my kitchen post but time seems to have other plans for me. In the next 24 hours my kitchen will see 3 cups of chai, 12 cupcakes, 2 Monkey lunches, some kind of pasta something for dinner tonight and a whole lot of sourdough action.
Brydie, I’d love to see what’s happening in your kitchen, but it does sound like a busy time for you! Glad your sourdough action is working well – the colder weather has made my starter lazy! :)
Hey Celia
Mine is 100%. I should be able to work it out but figures were never my strong suit. No excuse really. In my last three units next semester, advanced scientific statistics is one of the subjects and I feel nauseous just thinking about it……… I’m getting too old for this, lucky it’s just about done (uni that is – not me!). Cheers.
Meaghan, try this:
300g active sourdough starter (100%)
715g iced water
485g bakers/bread flour
485g Semola Rimacinata di Grano Duro (fine durum wheat semolina flour)
18g fine sea salt
Maths isn’t my forte either, but hopefully that should work! :)
Wonderful kitchen happenings, Celia! The owl..seriously, I’m stumped for words!
My kitchen saw some homemade pasta last night, some pizza scrolls today and lots of dye experiments…everywhere! Oh, it also is holding my lunch, which is waiting for me to eat it ..byee xx
LOVE to hear your happenings each month :)
Chris, I’m loving all your wool experiments! It’s getting cold in Sydney, and just looking at all your spinning is making me feel warmer.. :)
Hi Celia,
Hopefully my San Marzanos and Principe Borghese end up like your canned ones! The San Marzanos should start blooming soon, the PB’s already have small tomatoes. (Now where do I get volcanic soil…)
The owl, bread, amd fish look delicious.
Manuela, I’d love to hear how they go! I saw a Heston Blumenthal episode once where he was trying to make the perfect pizza, and he insisted that the San Marzanos were the ultimate tomato for it. We struggle to grow good toms here, especially without tomato dust, so will be excited vicariously through yours! :)
I like your owl. In our kitchen, we have radishes and ‘dinner croissants’.
Thanks Paula. I love radishes! :)
Love the owl. I’m not sure I would let anyone eat it, though!
Although that is what people always say about my bread bears- and I think, “get real- it is BREAD”!
So maybe I’d close my eyes and eat the Chocolate!
I have part one of in my kitchen up- I’m going to post part two after the Tea to go sale on Friday.
FRIDAY- that’s tomorrow- and I’m nowhere close to done.
Gotta go!
Heidi, such a busy time for you – have fun tomorrow, hope it all goes brilliantly! :)
Love the owl Celia. Interesting what you say about Le Creuset. I’ve never bought any, partly because they are so expensive but also because they are so heavy – I thought perhaps I was just a little odd :-S
Thanks Choc! You’re not odd – after I posted this, I’ve had a few people tell me they can’t manoeuvre the heavy cast iron pots either! :)