Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

I buy a lot of cookbooks, but rarely ones on Chinese or Malaysian cuisine. Because these are so familiar to me, I need to look over the recipe list first to see if there are any that I recognise. Unless the name of a dish brings back a flood of taste memories, I’m unlikely to make a purchase.

When I read the contents of the Dumpling Sisters’ new cookbook, I couldn’t click the “buy now” button fast enough. You might recall that these lovely girls taught me to make dumplings via Food Tube last year. Since then I’ve been eagerly subscribed to their channel, watching every new video clip as it’s uploaded…

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Their tender braised brisket sealed the deal for me…

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It was the perfect opportunity to test out the beef I’d had delivered recently from Country Meats Direct. I received two rolled brisket roasts in my order, which I divided into 500g portions…

I followed the recipe in the book, which varies slightly from the video. The beef was brought to an initial simmer for 30 minutes, then rested with the heat off for a further 30 minutes, before simmering for a final 60 minutes. I added in the softened bean curd skins at the end as instructed. The finished dish was moan-inducingly good, particularly on soft rice noodles.

Here’s the ingredients list:

• 500g beef brisket
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 3 small pieces of ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• large pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon Sichuan pepper (I substituted white pepper)
• 3 star anise
• 3 dried whole chillies (I used two)
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 30g dried bean curd skins

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This very tasty noodle dish from the book also caught my attention…

It’s the easiest thing to make, simply boil up whole wheat pasta and toss it in a sour and sweet sauce. I had fresh egg noodles on hand, so I used those. The sauce was a combination of chilli oil (plus goop), sesame oil, Chinkiang vinegar, soft brown sugar, salt and spring onion. The girls also recommend adding fresh chilli, but we’d used our homemade chilli oil, and the noodles were quite fiery as is.

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If you’re looking for a great Chinese cookbook, do check this one out. The Kindle copy I bought from Amazon is well formatted and easy to navigate. The recipes are simple, comforting and delicious!

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This month’s IN MY KITCHEN is now closed!

Please join us again in August! ♥

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In  my kitchen…

…is a lime green Polartec cover for my insulated granny flask.

With the colder weather, I found the thermos wasn’t keeping water hot for quite as long, so I sewed a cosy for it. Since taking the photo, I’ve made a thick fleece coaster for it to sit on. It’s surprising what a difference a little insulation makes…

In my kitchen…

…is my first delivery from Country Meats Direct.

A few weeks ago, Murray put a flyer in my mailbox offering to sell grassfed Black Angus beef direct from his father’s property in the Hunter Valley. They only deliver to a limited area, and had recently expanded to include our postcode.

At $14.95 a kilo and sold in 10kg lots, it certainly isn’t the cheapest meat on offer, especially as the price is the same regardless of cut. But we’re keen to support Aussie farmers wherever we can – most of Pete’s uncles are or have been graziers, and we know how tough it can be for them to get a decent price for their stock.

On Saturday morning, Nick (another partner in the business) delivered my first order. I’d specifically requested cheaper cuts – we don’t eat a lot of steak, but I was happy to have some eye fillet in the mix. Here’s how the meat looked on delivery…

I spent a cheery hour or so repacking the meat into vacuum sealed bags for the freezer. We’re very good at stretching out meat, and this quantity will provide us with more than a dozen family dinners. This is what we plan to do with our purchase:

• 6 x 500g mince – each packet is sufficient for one dinner for four adults, either as pasta sauce, Mexican style mince, meatballs or keema.

• 6 x 500g brisket – this is a favourite Chinese stewing meat and again, each packet will feed the whole family, accompanied with rice or noodles and stir-fried vegetables.

• 1kg osso bucco – four large pieces, enough for one dinner.

• 1.3kg gravy beef – this will be used in a stew or curry. Leftovers might be turned into a pie the following day.

• 3 x 350g pieces of eye fillet – we’ll use these in our tender beef on rice, as well as in stir fries and noodles.

My order was a little under 10kg, so I was charged the reduced price of $140. If my maths is correct, each meal will work out at about $2.50 in meat per person…

I made braised beef brisket last night for dinner (post to follow) – the meat was flavoursome and tender…

In my kitchen…

…are treats from my recent visit to Eveleigh Markets. They include pink kiss potatoes, purchased from the Highland Gourmet Potato company…

…a generous bag of Swiss Brown mushrooms, picked the day before I bought them…

…Small Man’s favourite apple juice, grown and crushed in Thirlmere (about an hour out of Sydney) plus a kilo of freshly picked Pink Lady apples…

…and a bag of water cress from the Darling Mills stand, which we ate as salad the following day…

In my kitchen…

…is a very generous gift from the lovely Ella Dee – macadamias from Macksville, NSW…

In my kitchen…

…a surprise present from my friend Francesca of Almost Italian. The sarong will be put to good use as an outdoor tablecloth once the weather warms up, and the Balinese sawa wood board will be perfect for cheeses and antipasto…

In my kitchen…

…is yet more meat, bought a few weeks ago. I love Cape Grim beef, so when I saw this piece at Harris Farm Broadway, I put it in my trolley…

Following a Jamie Oliver recipe, we paired this  with a mushroom sauce, baked potatoes and beans. The 500g steak was more than enough for the four of us…

Finally, in my kitchen…

…are baked treats from Kraving K – the latest Sydney cake sensation. Big Boy and Monkey Girl queued up for over an hour to buy these for us last Saturday. I love that they’re out and about seeking food adventures of their own…

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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. Please upload your post by the 10th of each month.

Here are this month’s posts…

Christine @ Food Wine Travel (Brisbane, QLD)

Nicole @ Miss Food Fairy (Melbourne, VIC)

JJ @ 84th & 3rd (Sydney, NSW)

Melissa @ The Glen House (Ireland)

Cate @ A Travelling Cook (Berlin, Germany)

Emily @ Cooking for Kishore (New Jersey, USA)

Beck @ In Search of Golden Pudding (Canberra, ACT)

Claire @ Claire K Creations (Brisbane, QLD)

Siobhan @ Garden Correspondent (Ulupinar, Turkey)

Sandy @ The Butlers Good Life (Southland, New Zealand)

Emma @ Surrey Kitchen  (Surrey, UK)

Choclette @ Tin and Thyme (Cornwall, UK)

Tania @ The Cook’s Pyjamas (Perth, Western Australia)

Sherry @ Sherry’s Pickings (Brisbane, QLD)

Mel @ The Cook’s Notebook (Brisbane, QLD)

Debi @ My Kitchen Witch (Sheffield, UK)

Moya @ Food and Tools (Bahrain)

Lisa @ I’ll Be There With A Fork (Brisbane, QLD)

Sandra @ Please Pass the Recipe (Melbourne, VIC)

Maree @ Around The Mulberry Tree (Gippsland, VIC)

Joanne @ What’s on the List? (Adelaide, South Australia)

Shaheen @ Allotment2Kitchen (Wales, UK)

Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook (Philippines)

Sally @ Bewitching Kitchen (Kansas, USA)

Ardys @ Ardysez (Alice Springs, Northern Territory)

Jan @ A Gluttonous Wife (South West VIC)

Liz @ Spades, Spatulas & Spoons (Oakland, CA, USA)

Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe (Melbourne, VIC)

Elaine @ Food Bod (Milton Keynes, UK)

Lori @ Cooks with Evie (Canada)

Jane @ The Shady Baker (Broken Hill, NSW)

Kirsty @ Make it Bake it Snap it (Canberra, ACT)

Vicki @ Boiled Eggs & Soldiers (Sydney, NSW)

Amanda @ Lambs’ Ears and Honey (Adelaide, South Australia)

Ella Dee @ Ella Dee (Sydney, NSW)

Josephine @ Napoli Restaurant Alert (Sydney, NSW)

Ania @ Milk, Toast and Honey (UK)

Kari @ Bite-Sized Thoughts (London, UK)

Cassandra @ Just a Little Piece (San Diego, USA)

Gretchen @ Feeding My 3 Sons (South Carolina, USA)

Sarah @ Chantille-Fleur (North Queensland)

Charlie Louie @ Hotly Spiced (Sydney, NSW)

Liz @ Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard (Gold Coast, QLD)

Francesca @ Almost Italian (Melbourne, Victoria)

Jennifer @ Milk and Honey (Gippsland, VIC)

Sally @ My Custard Pie (Dubai)

Misky @ The Chalk Hills Kitchen (West Sussex, UK)

Fiona @ TIFFIN – Bite Sized Food Adventures (Brisbane, QLD)

Tandy @ Lavender and Lime (Gordons Bay, South Africa)

Liz @ Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things (Canberra, ACT)

Shari @ Good Food Week (Canberra, ACT)

Dee @ On The Move – In The Galley (Seattle, WA, USA)

Nancy @ Plus Ate Six (Shanghai, China)

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden (Perth, Western Australia)

Tania @ My Kitchen Stories (Sydney, NSW)

Mandy @ The Complete Cookbook (Sundays River, South Africa)

Greg and Katherine @ Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide (Little Rock, Arkansas, USA)

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