In my kitchen…
…are two jars of flavoured honey, a gift from my neighbour Jane. They have a delicious, savoury taste – I never considered using honey as a dip or spread before…
In my kitchen…
…is a new discovery from Norton Street Grocers – dark molasses sugar by Billington’s…
It is very dark and sticky – I had to crumble it with my fingers for the photo. I can see its slightly bitter, almost salty flavours working well with Asian coconut milk based desserts. I usually buy their Muscovado sugars, but this is quite different…
In my kitchen…
…are a squillion dried curry leaves, from my mum’s tree. She cut three large branches for me, and they dried crispy within days. Neighbours, if you’re reading this and could use some curry leaves, please come over…
In my kitchen…
…is a bag of blue cornmeal…
It’s more a dark mauve than blue…
…and it makes the best tortillas! We had a simple dinner of blue corn tortillas with chipotle sauce, coleslaw and tomatoes from the garden, and slow roasted belly pork. Out of the seventeen tortillas we made, I managed to get two (note to self: learn to take photos faster!)…
In my kitchen…
…are two amazing bars of Amedei chocolate, a gift from the lovely Tania. The 9 is particularly delicious, and the Porcelana a rare and much appreciated treat…
Only limited quantities of the Porcelana are made each year. The white Criollo beans which give the chocolate its name also give it a surprising sweetness, given its 70% cacao content. Each bar is individually numbered!
In my kitchen…
…is rainbow chard – which is actually silverbeet in disguise. I’ve discovered a secret – if I take the stems off and feed them to the chooks, my family will happily eat the remaining part of the leaves. That’s a good thing too, as it grows like a weed in our garden…
. . . . .
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 do so. We’d love to see what’s happening in your kitchen this month! Please link back to this blog, and let us know when your post is up, and we’ll add it to our monthly listing.
Here are this month’s posts…
Shirley @ The Making of Paradise
Mrs Mulberry @ Mulberry and Pomegranate
Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe
Mel @ The Adventures of Miss Piggy
My Experiments & Food (first time contributor!)
Anne @ Life in Mud Spattered Boots
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Hi Celia
You have the most amazing ingredients. I have never heard of most things you come up with.
Your silverbeet looks gorgeous. I like it with pasta but not as a plain steamed vegetable.
Here is the link to my IMY post: http://passionfruitgarden.com/2012/08/31/in-my-kitchen-september-2012/
Have a wonderful month.
Thanks Glenda! The silverbeet/chard is fabulous – last night everyone ate it stirfried in oyster sauce!
Wow, quite a collection of goodies in your kitchen. What you going to do with the Porcelana? !7 tortilla and you only got 2, that’s a compliment to the chef, congrats.
Norma, thank you – the Porcelana was eaten up very quickly! It’s lovely to be able to do a comparison tasting. I really need to make more tortillas next time.. ;-)
Jane’s honey jar labels are attractive.
They are pretty, aren’t they? I think she bought them back from Tasmania…
Our chickens have decimated the silverbeet in the garden — I wish they would take a cue from yours and just be happy with the stems!
Sigh..ours got out and did the same to an entire newly planted bed – we’d only just put the seedlings in days before! Ah well.. ;-)
Thanks for the look at where the magic happens, Celia. You can call it silverbeet or rainbow chard or whatever. I’ll call it delicious and have a second helping, thank you very much! That taco dinner you prepared, with the blue tortillas and slow-rasted pork belly must have been incredible! I’d say you were lucky to have gotten 2 tacos. Here, I’ve grown accustomed to eating my dinners cold while I take photos. You’ve got that worry, as well as the possibility of not eating at all. Blogging is so unfair! :)
John, is there a clever old Italian recipe for silverbeet? I have heaps of it growing! I have to put more aside next time, or I’ll go hungry! ;-)
I’m sorry, Celia, but I don’t recall beets being served often. Mom used them in her beet salad and sometimes served them sliced with the onion that they were pickled with. I spoke with my Zia this evening. Next time we talk, I’ll ask if she has a recipe for them. Perhaps she served a dish to her family that Mom didn’t serve to us. Fingers crossed.
Thanks John! Not red beetroot, but the green leafy silverbeet/chard is what I’m after.. :)
Good morning Celia. Lovely things in your kitchen as always. Yum to the tortillas and that very special chocolate! The curry leaves and the rainbow chard look wonderful. I am sure both your chooks and your family are very happy!
Thank you once again for this foodie fun, My post is linked.
Jane, thanks for always playing, I love seeing what’s in your kitchen (especially if there’s some of your fabulous sourdoughs!)..
Good morning Celia from a very VERY frosty Canberra, which is hilarious for the first day of Spring. I think it hit minus 6.9 (can you believe it) last night. It looks like white Christmas out there! Reading your posts always takes me to my happy place. Such delicious good things to play with. Have a lovely weekend. I will send you my post as soon as it’s done. xox
Lizzy, so cold!! It was freezing here too a couple of nights ago – no idea why! Keep warm, love.. xx
That pork belly dish looks amazing. I’m glad you were able to have at least two. Are curry leaves bitter? I made a curry the other night and it was a shocker. It was so bitter we couldn’t eat it. I have no idea what caused the curry to be bitter but I was wondering if I added too many fresh curry leaves? xx
Charlie, I don’t think curry leaves are too bitter – maybe you added too much fenugreek? I know I’ve done that before and ended up with an inedible curry…sigh.. ;-)
I want the pork belly! Oh and that honey stuff, I like that too. I don’t have any curry leaves either. Forget it, I’d just like one of everything. You get the best stuff in your kitchen!
Maureen, you’re very kind, thank you! If you were closer, my mother would gladly donate a branch of her curry tree to you – it’s a huge tree and she struggles to keep it in check! ;-)
Hope you enjoyed that delicious chocolate> Your tortilla look very good , how I love those flavours. I must get back into cooking Mexican. I wouldnt be caught without a bit of Billingtons either, We could cook together in great harmony.
Tania, I’m pretty sure we could! ;-) Thanks again for the fabulous choccies.. xx
I love that silverbeet .. we grow it here too, i need tp get some more seed when i go home at christmas and that dark molasses sugar,, mmmm.. have a lovely day, is it september already!?. how did that happen.. c
I know Celi, it’s like we blinked and suddenly the year’s nearly over! The rainbow chard is a bit nicer than the regular silverbeet, I think..
As usual you have so many fabulous treasures! That chocolate is AWESOME, you lucky, lucky thing you! Lemon Myrtle is one of my favorite flavours, I would use a little to glaze a lamb roast, yummo. I have a tiny little curry tree about 20cm tall, and one curry would decimate it :)
I will try and organize an IMK post soon :)
Becca, be wary of putting that curry tree in the ground, or it won’t stay little for long! ;-) Look forward to seeing what’s in your kitchen!
I’m going to put it in a barrel Celia, I heard they aren’t frost tolerant so will have to move it or cover each year. Sitting on minus2 at the moment- but nice and sunny
You should stash a few before you take photos too Celia. I have a ‘hands off’ til I’m done rule although it’s not always adhered too.
The honey sounds rather interesting. I could most definitely eat honey as a dip yum!
Claire, isn’t it a clever idea? It’s full of spices and herbs…
Nice haul, Celia. I’ll be keen to see what you do with the muscovado sugar. I’m also still jealous of your chocolate.
Not Muscovado sugar, Amanda, although I have heaps of that in the pantry too. This one is quite different – with a slightly salty, bitter note – it reminded me a little of Asian salted plums! No idea what to do with it yet, but I keep tasting it to see if I can be inspired. There won’t be any left in a minute.. ;-)
Blue cornmeal – yum! Where did you get that from? You used to be able to buy these great spicy corn chips made with blue corn flour called Red Hot Blues. Gosh they were good!
Hannah, I bought it mailorder from http://www.fireworksfoods.com.au – lots of exotic Mexican supplies there! It’s lovely stuff, but I found I needed to add more water than the recipe on the packet stated..
Celia, your kitchen looks wonderful this month.
I used molasses sugar (about 10%) with a blood orange, ruby grapefruit and campari marmalade I made last winter ………
Oooh Elaine, that sounds like a good idea. I didn’t think about adding it to preserves, thank you!
All those curry leaves! I chop rainbow chard for salads – the stems give a bit of colour and crunch so long as they aren’t stringy – and it looks good when it grows too doesn’t it? My post is linked.
Anne, thanks for sharing your kitchen with us! I have curry leaves coming out my ears, wish I could share some with all of you!
Celia, I had a huge laugh at the “out of 17 tortillas made I managed to get 2”
PRICELESS!
I developed a nice growling sound now, that means “hands off, I am blogging this!”
poor Phil is so traumatized that even if it’s a simple dinner that for sure won’t be bloggable, he asks “can I touch it?” ;-)
(well, it’s not quite that bad, but you get my gist)
I am looking forward to playing IMK with you, but the time for that is not here yet (sigh)
It will come, just wait for me….
Honey, you’re so busy, please take it easy on yourself. Would love to see what’s in your kitchen, but only when you have time! xx
The molasses sugar is amazing isn’t it! I love the look of those chocolate bars – a very special gift indeed, but you are so generous with your giving that you deserve to receive in return. That blue cornmeal looks like good fun. Lots of interesting ingredients in your kitchen this month!
Caroline, that’s very kind of you, thank you! The blue cornmeal has been lots of fun (tortillas are sooo easy to make!), and the chocolate was truly divine…
Wow Celia! What a fantastic bounty in your kitchen! The blue cornmeal looks very interesting! Could you use it for a polenta style dish? The curry leaves look beautiful too – there is nothing nicer than a little basket from a family garden ; )
Mrs Mulberry, I never thought of that! And my mum’s curry leaf tree is huge, she can’t give them away fast enough.. ;-)
Oh I know exactly what you mean about only getting two tortillas. Although it’s pancakes around here. I’m one pancake away from sitting down with them all, sure go on ahead, I’ll be there in one minute. Manage to eat two, and then realise I’m looking at an empty plate. Score board… Monkey Boy 6, Little Monkey 5, Mr Chocolate 3, me 2. Now how does that happen?? They are still little, I’m going to have to make a pancake mound the size of a wheel barrow by the time they are teenagers!
Oh Brydie. Oh Brydie. They are going to eat you out of house and home when they’re teenagers! :)
Celia, as always, so many wonderful and exciting things in your kitchen. It’s lovely reading about things I wouldn’t ordinarily see or know about.
Have a wonderful week ahead.
:-) Mandy
Thanks Mandy, you too! xx
Dear Celia,
I love the aromas of fresh curry leaves. Time for a nice chicken curry me thinks!
Chopinand, do you need any? Goodness knows what I’m going to do with them all.. ;-)
Fun! I have never cooked with curry leaves! The honey’s look great!
Jen, the honeys are really interesting – such a different flavour! I wonder if it’s the sort of thing we can make at home..hmm..
Celia.. only you would have such wonderfully exotic ingredients in your kitchen!! I can’t wait to see what you create with all of these!! My kitchen is pretty much always the same.. flour, sugar.. lol:) I love dipping cheese into honey now.. it’s my new obsession! xx Smidge
Smide, your kitchen is always fascinating – I love seeing what you have in there! I went through a stage of blue cheese and honey – still adore it.. xx
Hello Celia, I love the IMK posts and finally have one on my blog as well for the month. Here is the link: http://myexperimentsandfood.blogspot.in/2012/09/in-my-kitchen-september-2012.html
Wow! Curry Leaves? I have a box full of dried curry leaves as well. I love the aroma.
Glad to know I’m not the only one! I love having the branches drying in the dining room – the whole room smells wonderful for days. Thanks for joining in this month! :)
How lucky you are to have those curry leaves! I’ve never worked with fresh or dried leaves before. What’s on the menu? And that sugar looks to die for. I bet it will be amazing in all kinds of cookies and cakes…and caramel. Yum! Great kitchen Celia!
PS- IMK is up :)
Emilie, thanks! Lovely to see your kitchen again this month! And the only thing I know how to make with curry leaves is curry – and each curry only uses a dozen or so leaves. Now you know why I’m trying to give them away.. ;-)
Hi Celia – you’re tortillas look great (I’d grab a HUGE pile before taking the photos…chef’s right of course). My IMK post is now up … late as usual.
Mel, next time I’ll do that! Thanks for playing!
I love the sound of the pepperberry honey – would be fantastic in a marinade. I love having fresh curry leaves but never use enough of them. (My mum has a curry leaf plant too) And I think you need to serve yourself, hide the plate and then take photos! Sounds like you will be making more of those tortillas anyway if they went down so well :-)
Here is my In My Kitchen link http://gggiraffe.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/in-my-kitchen-september-2012.html
Johanna, the tortillas have become a house staple, as they’re so easy to make and everyone seems to love them! Lovely things in your kitchen this month! :)
I love these glimpses into your kitchen. Mine is a quiet kitchen later in the month – too much time in the office & doing “stuff”, but earlier in the month I revisited veal osso bucco, and risoni with tiny sausage meatballs. I will look out for those flavoured honeys – as we are now in Spring I will be considering Summer foods, and they would be nice in salad dressings. The rainbow chard looks mmmm. When we are up the coast, I have a similar spinach sharing arrangement with my MIL who only eats the stems :)
Oh, I don’t mind spinach – that always seems to go down well with the tribe, but we can’t seem to grow it, as the bugs have a field day with it! :)
Wish I had access to some of the lovely ingredients in your kitchen…that dark brown sugar looks so interesting. It is so fun to see what is available in different parts of the world.
Karen, thank you – it’s become such a fun adventure every month! I’ve been so frantically busy this month that I’m struggling to keep up with everyone’s blogs, so the IMKs are a great way to catch up with everyone!
[…] and join us at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial- where Celia has a listing of many IMK posts! This entry was posted in Steps on the Journey by heidiannie. Bookmark the […]
Love the look of your blue corn tortillas, Celia- and the pork is one of my favorites!
I would take you up on the curry leaves if I lived any closer- I’ve never used curry leaves.
And I’m a sucker for honey- especially your Oz honey!
I put up a post- the first post in two weeks!
Heidi, the leaves only seem to be good for curries – not sure what else to do with them! The honey is divine! Lovely to peek into your kitchen this month!
Your blue corn tortillas look BEAUTIFUL! Where did you find the blue maize? I might try to do an In My Kitchen post this month. Does it matter if it comes closer to the end of Sept??
SK, it would be lovely to see what’s in your kitchen whenever you get time to do it. Having said that, the earlier you can send me the link, the more opportunities folks have to look at your post! The blue cornmeal came from Fireworks Foods here in Sydney (I mail-ordered it)…
http://www.fireworksfoods.com.au/
Hi Celia, I saw a recipe for a Chocolate Guiness cake made with what else ……..muscovado sugar and instantly thought of you!
Oooh, that’s Elaine, my Guinness cake recipe actually uses brown sugar as well, but I’ve never thought to sub some of this very dark sugar for it…
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/11/01/chocolate-guinness-cake/
that dark dark sugar is astounding. i think a little bit in a chocolate cake or brownie would make the end result very deep. i have a craving for honey right now but it is still cold here in hobart, it would crystalise too quickly. but you are tempting me to say “what the heck” :-)
That honey actually came from Tassie – here’s a link to their website!
http://www.thehoneyfarm.com.au/acatalog/pepperberry-honey.html
I can’t wait to get my hands on that Amedei chocolate! Must not eat it all before I cook with it :D
It’s so delicious, Lorraine! But then again, you’re the one who taught me that.. ;-)
[…] Thanks as always to Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for prompting In My Kitchen. She’s sharing all kinds of goodies over here. […]
If the curry leaves haven’t been grabbed I’m on my way !!
I’ve tried growing them a couple of times, but the usual story of needing warmer sunnier weather still prevails. I buy them in bunches from asian shops and then strip the leaves off and pop them in a container in the freezer. they freeze brilliantly. Now if only I could grow them !!
Come! Come! There are curry leaves everywhere here! x
I like whats in your kitchen this months…the blue cornmeal and the honey. Must look into curry leaves…you have such an abundance and I have never tried them.
Norma, the blue cornmeal has been such a discovery – I’m so pleased with it!
Ooh how exciting they are eating the chard at last! It is such an easy veg to grow and one of the few that manages to survive the odd sharp frost. Your choccie bars look very fancy and special, and I love blue tortilla chips – what fun in your kitchen this month darling :)
The chard is growing like a weed in the garden! I love blue corn chips too – maybe that should be the next thing we try to make.. :) xxx
[…] by Celia of Fig Jam and Lime Cordial’s In My Kitchen post recently I had cast my mind over my own kitchen, and came up with… boring. Plus, I […]