I love my kitchen. It has a great big central kitchen bench in the middle of an otherwise very compact space (in a very compact house). I means cooking can be a social activity – several people can chop and stir and roll and fill at once. Kids can sit up at a stool and be involved, and if they play it right get to listen in on adult conversations.
Just because they look like party food doesn’t mean they can’t be really healthy, low fat, midweek dinner food. And I love the social aspect of all just sitting round the table sharing one platter, rather than individual plates. Everyone has their own favourites. Conversation flows. It’s nice.
If you don’t grow endamame, you can find them frozen in Asian grocers apparently. They’re a traditional Japanese favourite. Or you could substitute beans or peas just cooked until they are al dente, or anything really – besides the endamame, it’s the dressing that makes it.
These are my favourite capsicums these days. I call them supermarket flats, just because the seed originally came from some capsicums I bought in the supermarket. I picked them up hoping they might be non-hybrid and got lucky. I think they are actually Baby Reds, and they are doing brilliantly for me – a sweet, crunchy, thick walled, fruit fly resistant, small capsicum that bears well and long.
It’s nut season. Here it’s macadamia nuts, but further south it will be almonds and hazelnuts. We’re getting decent harvests from our trees now, and I’m loving learning to use them in savory food as well as baking. Pesto is a bit of a staple, and nut based curry and satay sauces, but I’m only just getting into extending the range.
It hasn’t been a great year for zucchinis. This La Ninã year has been so wet here, that they are only having a short life before succumbing to fungal diseases. The trombochino though is loving it. Because it climbs, the vines and fruit are up off the ground and get better air flow. It’s the difference between growing commercially and home gardening, and one of the reasons why I think…
It’s not as photogenic as it was delicious. Green beans in a creamy, nut based mild curry sauce.