In My Kitchen – July 2016

Yes – it’s time for another In My Kitchen roundup. Mine is looking a little predictable in one way, and quite well-travelled in another!

I’d love you to join me in my kitchen again this month. To get a look at the full list of participants in this monthly round-up, head over to Maureen at Orgasmic Chef and get a an eyeful of what is making us all smile this month.

It is only just over two weeks since I returned from a fantastic writing and photography workshop in Siem Reap. I spent almost two weeks there eating, sweating, getting to know some of the local food producers and culinary traditions and getting up close and personal with some interesting foods. One of the local treats that I was able to bring home with me is the famous Kampot pepper. It is regarded as one of the finest peppers in the world – it has an elegant flavour and is richly aromatic. I came back with black, white and red peppercorns and will be giving some serious thought about how and where I use them, in order to make the most of experience.

While I was swanning (and sweating, it really was terrifically hot) around Cambodia, my best friend was on a flying work visit to Beijing. She was tied up in meetings for her whole trip, but manged to find the time to buy these lovely tins of tea. The top one is puer tea (not chocolate, despite the packaging) and the other is amber black tea. I’m looking forward to trying both.

As ever, there are a few new cookbooks in my kitchen this month. These two tempting tomes from Murdoch Books were waiting for me when I got home from my trip, Both Chocolate and Aimee’s Perfect Bakes sang a siren song to me immediately. It’s very hot in Cambodia at this time of year and no place for chocolate so I was in serious withdrawals. Stay tuned as I will be reviewing them both and sharing a recipe with you soon.

I bought a bag of pears from a roadside stall the other day – simply because they were so very pretty. I tossed half of them in melted butter, with sliced fennel and some star anise, baked them until they were soft and caramelised, then served them with pork chops. The other half will be baked and put into a lentil salad as a side for dinner with friends tomorrow night. But before I did anything I just had to take a photo. If I had any artistic talent at all I would have painted them – they were almost too good to eat. But I did say almost.

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