In My June Kitchen 2021

Hopefully this post finds you well. Although we have spent more time at home due to this ongoing pandemic, I have not spent time on my computer these past months. At present we are in another semi-lockdown until the end of this month, travel is out for now and I am sure some of you are in the same boat too.

So…a little catch up and also to see what treasures are in other kitchens for the monthly “In My Kitchen” blog posts, hosted by Sherry. On a somber note, saddened to know that one of our fellow bloggers, lovely Kim from A Little Lunch blog had suddenly passed. Although I had never met Kim in person, Kim seemed like a gentle soul and of course will dearly be missed by her family, friends and the community of online bloggers.

With family working from home our kitchen has a lot of traffic passing throughout the day and I think the fridge gets more views than ever. `”What’s to eat” is high on the agenda and managed to take the odd food photo in between the passing months… in the hope I would stop procrastinating and compile a blog post, as you can see by the lack of recent posts, this didn’t happen.

Dusted a few cobwebs of my whoopie pie baking tins and made Whoopie pies filled with fresh cream and a Scottish blackcurrant preserve.  A cross between a cookie and cake, whoopie pies originated from the Amish community of New England and began as a cost saving way of using leftover batter. These sweet treats were sandwiched together with a sweet filling (originally marshmallow) and often tucked inside lunchboxes. Kids would shout “Whooppie” on seeing them and apparently, that is how the name came about. I do love a bit of old-fashioned baking every now and then, just like these Welsh Cheese Cakes (which have nothing to do with cheese) which also have a jam filling and delicious too.

This desert was made for my monthly Instagram ingredient challenge, Bay Infused Burnt Cream by Hugh Fernery Whittingstall, his recipe found online. A fresh bay plant grows in our garden so this was perfect. Creme brûlée is a family favorite and thought his recipe an interesting spin on flavour. Once you knew bay leaf was in the recipe, you could taste the flavor but it did have to compete with added orange zest. Bay and orange, lovely combinations of flavors and would definitely make this dessert again.

Having a fresh bay plant in the garden is challenging as Bahrain’s summer months are extremely hot, day and night. Ive already lost a few bay plants and this time plan to bring the plant indoors for July and August. Fingers crossed.

I am a huge Ottolenghi fan and find herbs and spices in your kitchen will never lay idle using his recipes. Cooking from his latest cookbook “Flavor,” made the steamed Eggplants with Charred Chile Salsa on a number of occasions. I have also on occasions, roasted the eggplants which were delicious too. Lovely recipe for summer barbecues.

The joys of baking fresh bread, the only problem is restraint when eating as the waist line suffers. Sometimes I make a few baguettes and once cooled from the oven put them into the freezer. Really handy and the bread takes a short time to defrost and heat in the oven when needed.

Earlier in the year won this lovely box of Mrs. Bridges preserves which we hav enjoyed, particularly the Scottish blackcurrant. I also like the shape of the empty jars and use them for storing my oven-dried tomatoes in, a bit of recycling in my kitchen.

Some months ago found a verbena plant at a local nursery and have the same dilemma as the bay plant, will it survive out summer months? Bruising verbena leaves between your fingers releases the citrusy-lemongrass aroma which is quite potent.  Made this lovely verbena scented sugar to sweeten black tea and dried some leaves to make a herbal tea. Fresh verbena leaves are also lovely when add to a fresh prawn salad.

And on another note, recently started crocheting as I wanted to learn a new skill. Haven’t picked a knitting needle or a crochet hook up since my school days. Already have a few projects to get through and stitch by stitch slowly getting there. The Turkish tea glass is resting on one of my first practice projects, a boho style coaster.

The “In My Kitchen” monthly theme host is Sherry and if you would like to know what’s cooking or see some kitchen treasures, head over to Sherry’s blog  at Sherryspickings and check out other IMK participants.