In My Kitchen - June 2026

June?  No!  Hey, it's my birthday month!  How the heck did that happen?  And what a month it will be - medical stuff, hubby stuff, going away for my birthday for a bit stuff, getting my licence renewed stuff, and the stuff goes on.  But that's good, isn't it?

Hubby has almost finished his radiation treatments, so hopefully that will be it for the while.  You know, it amazes me that you have to pay for parking at the hospital, tho' the radiation is free, so there's that.  And what is it with hospital parking?  You need to sell off a kidney to pay for it.  Anyways, enough whingeing from me!  Let's get to it:=)      

those matcha Pocky and the tiramisu mochi - so good!

In My Kitchen:

you know I can't resist a wee fishy dish :)

and another memoir-type book with cooking

I made a quadruple chocolate on chocolate loaf!

gorgeous!  Fab Nigella L. recipe

a recycled platter from Banish using plastic bread tags - so clever!

Sorry, I know it's hard to make out, due to the tablecloth being nearly the same colours!

yep, another tea towel (merch supports the fight)

I am a supporter of a protest group who are trying to stop (but clearly in vain, very sadly) the building of a huge stadium for the Brisbane Olympics in 2032.  Never mind that Victoria Park was heritage-listed, and an important indigenous site, and it will cost us billions of dollars to build ...  I am so furious!

I stewed up some apples and strawberries

and turned them into muffins

a huge salad bowl from Banish, also made with bread tags

This is a really deep bowl!  You can get a massive salad in this baby.

this green glass salt pig is so gorgeous!

I pickled some beetroot and French shallots

so delicious!

These are so good.  The recipe is from the Roving Haggis, a fabulous Scottish cook.  I am going to keep making her version from now on.  She was actually here in Australia recently, at a Celtic festival.  Wish I had known earlier :=(

and I made pineapple muffins

the curveball - carved from King Billy Pine, by Carol Russell

c. Sherry M.

Be a part of our friendly IMK community by adding your post here too - everybody welcome!  We'd love to have you visit.  Tell us about your kitchen (and kitchen garden) happenings over the past month.  Dishes you've cooked, preserves you've made, herbs and veg. in your garden, kitchen gadgets, and goings-on.  And one curveball is welcome - whatever you fancy; no need to be kitchen-related.  

The link is open from the first of the month to midnight on the thirteenth of the month, every month.

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Walnut and Parmesan Ice Cream

Ice cream?  Almost Winter?  Does this compute?  Mais oui, mes amis.  Of course it does.  Ice cream is for every season, don't you know.  But Parmesan, you ask?  Well, only a small and optional amount, really - just for a bit of a laugh.  To be honest, Mr P. said he'd prefer it sans parmesan, but I liked it.  It did look slightly curdled, but I thought it tasted fine.  But leave it out if you are a wee bit afraid of the cheesy goblins a-coming for you :=)

I had been thinking about concocting this recipe for a while (I may have seen something similar on a YouTube video sometime).  And I had a jar of walnut butter (my brainwave) in the pantry, so I began ...

ready for the freezer

ingredients:

130g./4.5 oz walnuts, toasted   see Notes

30-40g./1-1.5 oz parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

450 mL/15 oz whipping cream - and whip it good!  You want soft peaks

1 x 395g./14 oz tin of sweetened condensed milk

50g./1.8 oz mascarpone

2 tsp vanilla extract

50g./1.8 oz walnut butter

100g./3.5 oz white chocolate chips

pinch of sea salt flakes

a healthy amount of chocolate sprinkles

ingredients gathered 

whip the cream, and add the other ingredients

well, now you add the walnuts and white choc chips

walnuts

Method:

First toast your nuts!  And grate your parmesan cheese

Yes, you guessed it - next, you place all the ingredients (except the nuts and choc chips) into a big mixing bowl, and combine well with a large spoon (or give it a quick whizz with the electric handbeaters)

And stir in the nuts and choc chips!

Pour/spoon the mixture into a lined loaf tin (you can line it with clingfilm or freezer liner) - make sure there is plenty of clingfilm so you can cover the top when you put it in the freezer

Throw on heaps of chocolate sprinkles then - 

Freeze overnight, taking out the tin about twenty minutes before you want to eat it

Decorate with more sea salt flakes, white choc chips and chocolate sprinkles when serving

Notes:

I toasted my nuts in the oven for about 10-12 minutes @ 170C/340F

I used extra sharp Parmesan, but a milder one could be good too

Try milk or dark chocolate chips, or other nut butters

add the sprinkles and whack into the freezer overnight

I gave a cupful to our lovely new-ish neighbour

one guess!

cheesy!

Cauliflower and Cannellini Bean Soup

The weather is finally starting to cool down a bit here, after a very long and above-normal temperature Summer and Autumn.  I actually made this soup in Spring, in October, but here we are at last.  The recipe calls for pancetta, but as Mr P. and I do not eat pig, I decided to whack in some mushrooms instead.  Definitely not foraged!  Hehehe ... You will get this reference if you're an Aussie, and if not, check out 'The Mushroom Killer'! 

This recipe is from Slow Cooking:Wholefood Recipes, by Olivia Andrews.  I made it for Cookbook Club last year, while the weather was still a bit doubtful as to its primary function in Spring :=)  And then we got the continuous, endless Summer!  Anyways, Winter is kind of a-coming at long last ...  (22C today, and I have a T-shirt and over-shirt on, and long pants and socks!)

thick and warming

Serves 4:

ingredients:

For the mushroom garnish:

1 Tbs EV olive oil

1 Tbs butter

150g./5.5 oz white or brown cup mushrooms, chopped  (I used white cup)

1 Tbs tamari or soy sauce

1-2 tsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1-2 tsp dried herbs - oregano/chives/parsley etc - your choice

sea salt and black pepper, to taste

one guess? :=)

For the soup:

another Tbs of EV olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 large brown or red onion, finely (or roughly!) chopped

1 small cauliflower, chopped up, stem too!    see Notes

1.25 litres (44 oz) chicken stock  (or vege. stock)

2 x 400g./14 oz tins of cannellini beans   see Notes

cannellini

cauliflower

Method:

Heat the oil and butter in a large saucepan, add the mushrooms, and stir for a few minutes over medium-low heat

Stir in the tamari, maple syrup, smoked paprika, herbs, salt and pepper

Once the mushies are tender, take them out of the pan, and put aside

Now for the soup:

Heat up the oil in the saucepan, add the garlic and onion, and stir for a few minutes

Now add the chopped cauliflower and stock, and simmer till the cauli is tender - 25-30 minutes maybe?  Add some water here if it's too thick for your liking

In go the cannellini beans to heat up; simmer for a few minutes

When everything is cooked and tender, turn off the soup, and let it cool down for a few minutes till you grab your stick blender, and whizz away till as smooth as you like it

Add more salt and pepper if you please, throw on the mushies and some chopped parsley or chives if you fancy

Serve with some thick, buttered bread

I love me some butter!

Notes:

If you like pancetta, you sauté 12 slices in 1 Tbs EV olive oil (with some sage leaves) for the garnish

(I added some left-over zucchini to the soup too)

My cauliflower was about 815g./29 oz, and once stripped of the outer leaves, it came down to 620g./22 oz

Olivia's recipe uses dried beans.  She uses 200g./7 oz dried beans, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed, which she then adds to the saucepan with the sautéed garlic and onion, and 750 mL/26 oz of water.  This is then cooked for 30 minutes before adding the cauliflower and stock, and cooked for another 1.5 hours!  Nope, no can do!

ingredients gathered

tender, fragrant mushrooms

in goes the cauli!

simmer away

I must have blitzed it already ...

there might be some chicken in here :=)

I scribbled down 110g./4 oz cooked chicken on the bottom of my notes, so maybe I added some chicken to this soup ...

very tasty

Vanilla Cake Recipe

This is a recipe from the blog Preppy Kitchen, by John Kanell.  He actually calls it Vanilla Cake Recipe for some reason, so I will stick with that.  Mr P.'s birthday was coming up, and he loves vanilla cake, so this was perfect.  And I have to say, this is a fabulous cake, which Mr P. said was the best cake I'd ever made!  High praise indeed!  It went down well with the neighbours too.

This is a bit of a personal note here: Mr P. has a long term neurological disease plus the recent cancer diagnosis.  He is always chirpy, and still working hard.  He's a bit of a legend really!  Big thanks to everyone who has asked about him, and sent best wishes.  We really appreciate it.

sweet, fruity and vanilla deliciousness

Serves quite a few :=):

ingredients:

For the cake:

300g./2½ cups plain flour

2¼ tsp baking powder (such an odd amount!)

¾ tsp salt

170g./¾ cup butter, at room temp.

333g./1⅔ cups white sugar

3 large eggs, at room temp.

1 Tbs vanilla extract  (yes, you read that right!)

240 mL/1 cup buttermilk, at room temp.

yep, it's flour

I decided not to go with John's buttercream icing (600g. of icing sugar!!), but instead went with a white chocolate ganache from Emelia Jackson's new book: You had me at cake.  And then I made a Chantilly cream to go in the middle of the two layers.  And added heaps of fruit in the middle and on top!  

For the Chantilly cream:

200 mL/7 oz whipping/thickened cream

50g./2 oz icing sugar

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

For the white chocolate ganache:

65 mL/2 oz whipping/thickened cream

165g./5¾ oz white chocolate, chopped

7g./⅓ oz butter, at room temp.

½ tsp vanilla extract

you can use vanilla paste or extract

For decoration: 

1 x punnet of raspberries and 1 punnet of blackberries (or your fave berries) to fill the middle and to decorate the top layer   see Notes

blackberries (but use your fave)

Method:

For the cake:

Turn on your oven to 180C/350F to heat up

Butter and flour two round cake tins - 20 cm/8 inch sized- and add a layer of baking paper to the bottoms

Grab a medium mixing bowl, and whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together

Now grab another mixing bowl, throw in the butter, and beat with an electric hand beater (or your stand mixer) till smooth

Then you add the sugar, and beat again on high till light and fluffy

You know what happens next - add the eggs one at a time, and beat them in, then in goes the vanilla, and beat it in briefly

Now on a low-speed, you beat in the flour in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk

And to finish off, you grab a spatula and give it all a good (but gentle) mix - don't go crazy!

Pour the batter into the two tins, and bake for around 30 minutes - stick a cake skewer into the centre and when it comes out clean - you are done :)

Let 'em cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then tip them out onto a cake rack, take off the baking paper and allow to cool completely

In the meantime, you are making the Chantilly cream and the ganache!

For the Chantilly cream:

Pour the cream into a mixing bowl, grab your beaters and beat till you have lovely soft peaks

Then add the icing sugar and vanilla, and beat them in, but not too frenziedly - just till combined nicely

For the ganache:

Cream goes into a small saucepan, and you bring it to a simmer (says Emelia)

Your white chocolate is in a heatproof bowl, so you tip the hot cream over it and let it melt the chocolate for a minute or two - then give it a good stir till combined

Add the butter and vanilla, and stir madly (or with a stick blender) till 'smooth and glossy'

Let it sit and cool for a bit, before spreading over your delicious cake

Throw on all the berries!

Notes:

Throw on as many berries (or your fave fruit) as you desire to the middle layer and the top of the cake!

gather your ingredients

beat the eggs into the creamed butter and sugar 

in goes the vanilla 

and the flour mixture and the buttermilk

into the cake tins for baking

and baked!

let 'em cool right down

find a lovely cake plate (our mate Brooke from Red Door Studio made this!)

slather on the Chantilly cream and throw on the berries

and on goes the top layer

you've poured over the ganache and thrown on the berries!

it didn't last long!

so good! (as a certain English cook says all the time!)

(A quick update re. Mr P.'s health - treatment is going well; two weeks down and three to go!)  And hopefully that will be it, at least for now.  Thanks again to all those who have sent their best wishes.)