In My Kitchen August 2019

In season now, we’ve had plenty of these sweet and juicy doughnut peach in our kitchen over the past few weeks. These flat little peaches taste like they should and have a lovely sweet perfume, imported from Jordan and plentiful in Bahrain’s markets. Sometimes I make a chunky peach conserve or make this quinoa salad with grilled peaches and chicken, but mostly they get eaten as is. You could also make this refreshing peach “kompot “ as a refreshing summer cooler.

Who can resist creme brûlée, especially when white chocolate is included. One of our favorite desserts, easy to make and with the help of this handy kitchen blowtorch, the perfect kitchen tool for caramelizing the top. Do you have a favorite use for your kitchen blowtorch?

Some years back at a school, one of my favourite recipes to teach the students was how to make ma’amoul. One of their favorite parts was pressing the filled pastry ball into the wooden mould. Then tapping the mould on the table, releasing a perfectly formed pastry mound with a pretty pattern. It was usually followed by and with the happiest of smiles… “Look Miss, I did it, I did it.”  And I still smile each time I turn out one too. The moulds have different designs so you know what filling is inside. Usually filled with dates and nuts, but this time filled them with some homemade mince pie filling. Not so traditional but my sweet mince filling always includes dates and nuts. This will be a post and recipe nearer Christmas.

Since arriving in Bahrain thirty six years ago this large red bowl has been with me since the very first year and remember buying it in a shop called habitat which does not exist anymore. Sturdy, lightweight and a good sized plastic bowl, it gets used for mixing and holding a variety of different food items over the years. On occasions I have also used it for making a large bougainvillea ice bowl which looks so pretty. There is food history and memories attached to this bowl and I consider it one of my kitchen essentials. And not forgetting, one of the many useful wooden spoons in my kitchen. 

Visiting a small town in Italy called Orvieto, passed by a shop selling some gorgeous pieces of olive wood and although most were too big and heavy, managed to come away with two smaller items. Although I have a gnocchi paddle, liked the deeper grooves on this one.

The olive wooden spoon is called a “no double dipping spoon”, for sauces. Basically, you remove some of the sauce with the bigger end, let the sauce travel along the channel (cooling the sauce) into the smaller end which is the tasting spoon. The owner was so excited about his invention that I ended up buying one. I guess it’s pretty cool as long as there are no lumps and the sauce is fairly liquid.

The ingredient pick for this month’s Instagram challenge is rice papers and I do need a little practice with rolling as it has been awhile since using them. I do have a lovey recipe with a golden kiwi and prawns filling that is very nice and makes a lovely summer roll.  And on that note folks, that’s a wrap from me with this months in my kitchen post.   

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.