In my kitchen - July 2013

Busy periods with work and home life over recent months has not provided me with as much time to post about what I've been cooking as I would like. Writing an "In my kitchen" post gives me the opportunity to skim over a few items that otherwise would have passed by. Thanks again to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial for hosting this monthly event.

In my kitchen are Coco Luscious blueberry and choc chip cookie dough flavoured coconut ice-creams. I purchased a plain flavoured tub for the man a couple of months ago - he adored it so much that he volunteered to come to the health food store with me just so he could check out the other flavours! They are incredibly expensive so I'm glad he is eating them in moderation but I'm also happy that he has found a product to satisfy his ice-cream cravings. I wasn't a fan of the plain flavour as I'm not fond of big coconut flavours and found it was too strong for my taste. The blueberry flavour is nicer but I'm leaving these products for the man to enjoy as I've always preferred fruit flavoured sorbets over ice-creams.

In my kitchen was a Red and White Cauliflower bake. Years ago I used to make this recipe from Vegan Yum Yum on a semi-regular basis before tiring of it. I had separate requests from the man and young man within the space of a few hours to make this – funnily enough it was my okara loaf that reminded them both of this dish (I couldn't make the connection at all). The cauliflower bake was always a favourite meal of theirs so I had to come through with the goods. The base is made of a herb infused tofu "ricotta", the centre layer contains steamed cauliflower tossed through a cheezy sauce and a napoli sauce topped with breadcrumbs completes the dish.

In my kitchen is home brewed beer. We attempted to brew our own beer many years ago and it was a miserable failure. Some of the man's work colleagues are keen beer brewers so their know-how and tips convinced him to give it another shot. This project mainly takes place in the laundry although the kitchen is also used for boiling heaps of water, preparing brewers yeast and sterilising bottles. I'm happy to say that these recent efforts have been worth it!

In my kitchen is Frank's Red Hot Sauce. I nearly fell over last weekend when I spotted this new addition to the condiments section at my local Woolworths as I've seen so many buffalo tofu and seitan recipes on US blogs that use this sauce as one of the main ingredients. I'm looking forward to playing around with this spicy sauce very soon.

In my kitchen is some kale from the garden. The plants look like they have so much to offer but after I cut so much off them I'm always disappointed with how the kale cooks down into such a tiny amount. Perhaps I'll add some into a stew or curry next time instead of cooking it separately as a side dish. Kale chips are another option I'm considering...

In my kitchen are lots of Indian curries! I'm always in the mood for curries and have been making them very regularly lately. Cold weather is perfect for eating spicy curries so I've been enjoying trying out different recipes on a weekly basis. The new recipes aren't always as successful as the ones I love and often revisit but every now and then I come across one that's a keeper. This week featured toor dal saag and aloo pooriyal, both were nice enough but didn't quite meet the high standards we have for curry recipes.

What’s been happening in your kitchen lately?

Stir fried snow pea shoots

When I started planning and planting a vegetable garden a few months ago, I knew there was a lot to learn. I'm not a complete novice in this area although my previous efforts were centred on spring and summer plants rather than vegetables that develop slowly throughout autumn and winter. It's been rewarding to harvest and cook small crops of kale, bok choy and pak choy yet slightly frustrating when things haven't worked out as they should (a few mistakes have been made along the way which I'm happy to count as part of the learning experience). An added bonus of expanding my gardening knowledge has been discovering other valuable information about certain vegetables that was previously unbeknownst to me

Many vegetable plants serve multiple purposes – the leaves of a beetroot plant can be cooked and eaten as well as the beetroot bulb that is more well known in culinary circles. That's a fairly common example I was already aware of. A new one for me was that the leaves of brussel sprout and broccoli plants are also edible greens. Prior to this discovery, I had been lamenting that my broccoli and brussel sprout plants may not have been planted early enough in the season – I'm looking at these plants in a new light now, at least I'll get a feed from their greens if the vegetables don’t mature.

I was also thrilled to learn recently that certain sections of snow pea vines can be eaten and are commonly consumed in some Asian cuisines. The growth on the vines of my snow peas has been phenomenal and now extends well over the boundaries of the supports I originally put in place for them (that was one of my learning experiences). While I was desperately hunting around for a solution to my bending vines I stumbled across ways to cook snow pea shoots/tips. It was a win-win situation – the wayward vines could be given a light prune and the clippings cooked up as a side dish.

It was suggested that the shoots are best enjoyed stir-fried with a little oil, I was happy to give them this treatment as I've been savouring all of my latest home grown produce in the simplest possible ways. I read about cooking snow pea shoots in a few different places but it was these two posts on Serious Eats I referred to when trying to work out the right sections to use and preparation methods. I was cautious to chop off the many curly tendrils as the texture of them was likened to dental floss which didn't sound particularly appetising.

After the snow pea shoots were trimmed of tendrils, washed and spun dry in a salad spinner it was only a matter of giving them a quick stir-fry in the wok with a bit of oil. I was so concerned that I was going to overcook them that they ended up being slightly underdone and a bit on the crunchy side. The shoots had a very similar taste to snow peas which we really enjoyed. Michael of where's the beef  posted a recipe for Chilli lime tamarind tofu last week which I felt would be a perfect partner for our simple greens. The tofu was easy to prepare and full of bold spicy flavours, the only change I made to this was to add some garlic to the marinade - it was a delicious tofu dish which I'll be happy to revisit again.