Welcome to The Kitchen Playground. Cooking can bring great joy and great despair. I hope that the recipes you find here, many of which are very quick to make with the weeknight in mind, help you to experience more joy than despair. Many recipes have instructions for the Thermomix 31 as well as traditional instructions. The emphasis is on real, fresh food that combines flavour, texture and scent to delight the senses.
Finally the cool change has come. Just in the nick of time too. Lil Miss arose at 3.30 this morning. For the day. We are not amused. I have two seriously whingy Ankle Biters today. But all is well, tonight is cool and we’re eating comfort food, Vietnamese style. Thit Heo Kho to be precise.
It’s still very hot in Melbourne. Really hot. It’s unusual to get a heatwave this long lasting here. I’ll miss it when it’s done. Perfect salad weather. Which is lucky because as usual on a Monday, I’m quite rushed between kinder, work, food shopping, laundry and so on. I found some falafel mix in the […]
So I thought I’d interview the Ankle Biters about food today. Surely with me for a mother they are budding gourmands with sophisticated likes, right? Let’s find out. Son and Heir. Age 4. His answers italicised. What is your favourite snack? Sultanas and bananas What is your favourite breakfast? Mmm, porridge. Just porridge. What is […]
The last couple of days have been hot, hot, hot in Melbourne. Which I love but no one else seems too jiggy with it. Having this sudden heat wave in March is, for me, a delicious reprieve from the cooler weather that surely approaches. I don’t do cold. Yesterday was 42 degrees I believe, so […]
The Bread Winner gets back late tonight. I know he doesn’t like fruit in salads. Tough. Tonight he’s getting it. Next time maybe he won’t confuse his flight times and have me believe he’ll be home early. So there. Garlic prawn and wombok salad 1 baby wombok, shredded 1 carrot, grated 1 red capsicum, julienned […]
This is a great way of getting lots of vegies serves into the family with minimum complaints. Good anti-cancer vegetables that practically everyone needs to eat more of too. You could leave the chicken out if you are vegetarian, I’d probably add another leek in that case. Chicken, broccoli and cauliflower soup 1 free range […]
Fig, Bacon and Feta Salad serves 1 -2 Handful baby spinach leaves 100g Danish feta, crumbled 2 rashers bacon 1 small avocado, diced 3 figs, quartered Fry bacon until crisp and slice. Make a bed of spinach leaves and scatter everything else on top. Dressing 2 tablespoons tarragon white wine vinegar 2 tablespoons walnut […]
Do you know what I love about not being typically Western in the way we eat meat? I love that 3 lonely lamb chops that didn’t get cooked at a barbecue the other day will easily make a meal for 4 of us. I also have half a dish of leftover vegetable gratin and some […]
This recipe is from Nourishing Traditions. It’s nice and basic. I’ve converted to metric. This tends to be a little thinner than commercial yoghurt. You will need a candy thermometer. Stove Top Yoghurt 1 litre full cream milk 1/2 cup good quality yoghurt (when you get it going, save the last half cup of each […]
I just found a truly fascinating article on stock making via a link on forty dollar gourmet. Well worth a read if you make your own stock and have any interest in food science.