Here we go—a new year, a new edition of the kitchen diary. Month by month, I’m sharing what I cooked and ate. To keep it at a readable length (and to get around the Substack email size limit), it’s being split in two.

1.

Happy New Year!

One of my culinary resolutions (if resolution is the right word) is to bake more bread and make more soups so I start the year as I mean to go on with Nigel Slater’s rye, treacle and seed bread and the spicy red lentil soup from Christmas Chronicles.

Tonight it’s venison salad (using the leftovers from last night’s roast) with Cumberland Sauce.

3.

After a late afternoon walk along the beach – and a reminder of why we don’t go to Mooloolaba other than for our 5 am walks at this time of the year (it was feral!) – I eat a fresh nectarine. It’s eat-over-the-sink-juicy and easily the best thing I’ve eaten so far this year. #bigcall

(Footnote - I had a peach the other day that was even more delicious. The stone fruit is SO good this year.)

For dinner tonight we have barbecued lamb chops with Diana Henry’s Braised Leeks with feta and dill. The recipe is behind a paywall, but I’ll try and remember to write it up for Excess Baggage.

4.

For lunch today I make Nigel Slater’s sprouts and salmon – another one from The Christmas Chronicles.

Growing up I used to hate Brussels sprouts. I’d eat them army-green leaf by army-green leaf and gag on each, at which point Mum would say, ‘There’s no need to be so dramatic, Joanne.’ These days, when they’re cooked right, I love them.

Today, even though he loves sprouts, Grant says, ‘I don’t know how I feel about that, darlin’,’ and has a sandwich instead, but I loved it. I especially love the colours. Done like this, there’s none of the bitterness you expect from sprouts. I toss in some radish for some extra pink.

We’re off to France tonight with Coq au Vin. It’s a play on the one James Martin has in his French Adventure, which is a play on Keith Floyd’s, but we use chicken thigh pieces (on the bone) instead of a whole chicken, and Grant insists on tossing in some chopped potato to cook in the juices. It’s a good decision.

The sauce is well reduced, rich, delicious, and perfect with a baguette from La Petite Souris. (If you’re ever on the Sunshine Coast, this one, at Alexandra Headland, is THE best patisserie. End of.)

6.

Normally, at this time of the year, we're complaining about the humidity - even at 5 am, but this morning was about as perfect as 5 am can be. Clear blue, a mild 18C, a gentle breeze. It doesn't get better than this. We know this respite from the humidity is fleeting so savour it.

A box-ticking day on the work front and most of my words done. I still have no idea how this story will end or who did it - the murder, that is.

To take into the op shop tomorrow (and for some of the 5 am walkers), I made Chocolate Ripple Cookies from Amelia Jackson's Some Of My Best Friends Are Cookies. I'll post the recipe as everyone loved them.

(Footnote - the recipe is here.)

For dinner tonight I make the Sprouting Broccoli and Rouille from Mark Diacono’s Vegetables. It’s my book of choice for this month’s BKD Cookbook Club.

(Footnote - I changed my mind and reviewed From The Veg Patch by Kathy Slack instead.)

8.

It’s been a good word day. Finally. Even though I had two scenes so clear in my head when I began, writing this novel has sometimes felt like pulling teeth.

Beef and broccoli tonight, but not the usual beef and broccoli stir-fry. It begins the same, with the sliced beef marinating for ten minutes or so in a tablespoon each of soy sauce and Shaoxing wine, a teaspoon of sesame oil, a pinch of white pepper and a half teaspoon of cornflour. The sauce ingredients are then mixed: 2 cloves garlic (minced), 3 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons tahini, 2 tablespoons of chilli crisp oil (or a teaspoon of chilli flakes), 1 teaspoon corn flour, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 125 ml chicken stock. This amount of sauce does about 800g of beef, but we only have 500g and want extra sauce for the rice so don’t change the quantity.

The broccoli is treated as you’d usually treat it – the florets cut, the stems sliced, and then blanched in boiling water - To save on the washing up, I use the wok for this.The broccoli is set aside in some iced water (to keep it snappy and green), the wok is wiped out, and more oil is added. The beef is then fried in batches at high heat and the wok wiped out again. With the heat down to medium, the sauce is tipped in and cooked for a few minutes until it thickens to the consistency of satay sauce. Finally, the beef and broccoli are added back to the pan and tossed about to coat with the sauce. Sesame seeds and spring onion to garnish.

9.

Another day, another sprout salad for lunch. This one is from Rosie Birkett's wonderful Substack, A Lot on Her Plate. The recipe is behind a paywall, but it's essentially shaved sprouts, sliced shallots, a dressing of tahini, lemon and white wine vinegar, and some herbage. If I’m being super picky, the dressing didn’t need the vinegar, but maybe that’s just me. I am, however, feeling virtuous.

11.

The Destination Bowl (for new players—we choose a random cuisine or cookbook author from a bowl and cook Saturday night’s dinner to that theme) is back in operation. Tonight’s destination is the Mediterranean. For starters, I make fennel calamari from Georgina Hayden’s Taverna. We serve it with mixed green leaves and the last of the rouille from the other night, which adds a Provencal flavour to proceedings.

The main course is lamb backstrap – which Grant cooks on the barbecue and then slices to serve – with a potato and pea salad from James Martin’s Spanish Adventure. The cut potatoes are cooked in cider with a knob of butter and a few sprigs of rosemary. The salad – peas (blanched), sliced artichoke hearts (I used jarred artichokes), mint, parsley, spring onions, feta – is assembled. The dressing ingredients – 50ml cider, 25ml cider vinegar, 50g butter, 25ml olive oil – are heated in a pan and poured over the salad when it’s still warm. James (I feel we should be on first-name terms by now) serves the salad on a platter, topped with potatoes and lamb (although he uses cutlets). I take a photo of the peas while they’re looking pretty and then plonk the spuds on top.

For dessert I roast a couple of peaches and serve them with a dollop of Greek yoghurt.

12

At Christmas I made two of these super-sized sausage rolls and placed one in the freezer. It’s big enough for two and was, with salad, the perfect Sunday night dinner.

13

I make a fridge clean-out zucchini slice for lunches this week. In addition to zucchini and onion, there are peas and corn, asparagus, beans and capsicum. That's seven veg out of my targeted thirty for the week. The recipe (such as it is) is here.

This week’s op shop cookies are brown sugar with lemon zest and white chocolate. I bake half and stash the rest of the dough in the freezer to bake for Writing Friday later in the week.

15

Dinner is a pantry/fridge/freezer rummage. We have skinless chicken thighs, a leek and some baby gem lettuce I'd earmarked for something else, so make this braised chicken dish. (The recipe, by Julia Busuttil Nishimura is in the SMH. While they have a paywall, you can access a certain number of articles free per month.)

Watch out for part 2 at the end of the month…