In My Kitchen November 2108

This was the mess “In My Kitchen” a few weeks ago. The work has progressed since then but the renovations continue. As you can imagine with any renovation, dust and dirty gets everywhere with plenty of cleaning and sorting to do. It’s amazing what one can stuff inside those kitchen cupboards and drawers.

I’ve still managed to do some cooking as living in this part of the world most houses have two kitchens… the outside one is usually called the greasy kitchen… I guess in reference to all the fried food and dishes with strong aromas prepared there. Anyways, at least having a second kitchen meant I could escape the noise and dirty for a while and enjoy my midday coffee in peace. A good time to flick through some older cookbooks while sorting out my collection

In My Kitchen…

Remember the nursery rhyme… “this little piggy went to the market”… well this cute pink  piggy that “stayed at home” became my little lid lifter. When cooking, sometimes you want the saucepan lid lifted a little, so thought this little silicone gadget was handy to have. Little piggy has friends too, a chicken and a lamb.

It might sound a bit indulgent but I bought this waffle machine purely with photographs in mind. Ive actually never owned a waffle machine before and have used my ridged grill plates on my Tefal grill when I needed to make waffles, of course they didn’t exactly look like your typical waffle but they tasted just the same. This little Dash waffle machine looks more like a toy but worked surprisingly well, turning out perfectly cooked waffles one after the other. The drawback, you can only make one waffle at a time. I made some waffles in advance and placed them in the freezer for later and popped them in the toaster from frozen for a quick breakfast on the run. This Dash waffle maker would make a perfect gift for someone, I found mine at Urban Outfitters Uk if your interested and the cost didn’t break the bank either.

What do you do with your leftover coffee grounds? I’ve been recycling my leftover coffee grounds, mixing them with the soil in my plant pots and under a few shrubs as I really do not like discarding them in the bin… it really does seem like such a waste. 

In My Kitchen…

Yotam Ottolenghi’s latest cookbook “Simple”, it also was the chosen cookbook for our local cookbook club so already tasted a few of the recipes and have loved most of them. I love his flavorful cooking and using his cookbooks your spices and herbs wont lay idle.

From the cookbook club I already had tasted the blueberry, almond and lemon cake and was happy to bake one for the family which went down a treat. 

My contribution to the cookbook club was the beetroot, caraway and goats cheese bread which was really lovely (simple to make too) and since then have made it a few times. Above, the bread photographed in its unbaked state, you almost want to eat it raw it looks so good. 

Throughout the cookbook “Simple” rose harissa and preserved lemons are used with a few recipes and as I couldn’t find the brand of harissa mentioned, found a recipe of Yotam’s rose harissa online so I could make my own. I use my recipe when making preserved lemons which are now ready to use with a delicious looking raita from the same cookbook.

The “In My Kitchen” monthly theme host is Sherry, from sherryspickings.blogspot.ie If you would like to know what’s cooking or see some kitchen treasures, head over to Sherry’s blog and check out all the other IMK participants.