The gentle coolness of autumn has rolled into the kitchen, bringing with it thoughts of soups, minestrone, and baked dishes like parmeggiana. As we pick the very last of our tomatoes and cucumbers, the garden is looking very bare and I need to swot up on what to plant next.
We also picked our last baby beetroot, which I gently roasted in the oven.
One of the Small People has also been tending lovingly to a strawberry plant, of which he is very proud. He insisted I take a photo!
Last month I mentioned I was germinating white dragon fruit. Now teeny sprouts, they are looking very healthy. My latest challenge has been to try and germinate mulberries. I adore mulberries, but the season is short and they are very hard to find. I occasionally stumble across them at a farmers market. I planted 10 seeds each of the black and white varieties, and waited the prescribed 40 days, and nothing. When 50 then 60 days passed, I knew it was a fail. Undeterred, I tried again, planting another 6 seeds of each. I have one tiny sprout of the black variety!
For those who don’t like carbs, now is the time to look away.
In my kitchen is a variety of Molisana pasta that we all really like. It is a really tight curl, Shirley Temple ringlet style, and “holds the sauce” very well. If you haven’t tried the Molisana brand of pasta, I recommend it.
One night I used it to make a “pasta forno”, or baked pasta, with peas and eggplant.
In my kitchen is this lovely plate of biscuits from my darling Godmother. Her savoiardi were divine, I must ask her for the recipe.
A fellow bread baking friend and I went up to Victoria’s Basement to get enamel roasters. Other breadbakers and IMK’ers swear by them. I was very happy with the result.
I’m loving these crispy Afghani Dippits made by a local family company in Sydney. With a smear of avocado or a gooey cheese they are great.
In my kitchen is also some fresh Afghani bread from a local grocer. Its kind of like a squashed Turkish bread, really thin but springy at the same time. The Marito was a big fan.
I found a panettone lurking in the pantry from Christmas, I’m thinking I’ll make a dessert with it rather than have it straight up. I’m sure I’ll also put the tin to good use.
What’s happening in your kitchen? Thanks to Liz at Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things for hosting this month’s link up of kitchens around the world.
The Napoli Alert 
Those savoairdi look great, please try making them and post the recipe!
Love panettone! Thank you for the kind shout out.
Baking bread in the Falcon Roaster really improved the quality of the crusts on my loaves, I’m an ardent fan now. I love panettone with an espresso and think it’s such a waste to remake it into something else, tho having said that we never have leftovers. Thanks for the peek i to your kitchen
It’s a big panettone – 1kg – so I was thinking keep half as is and half for something else – have some great recipes. Or sometimes I just make panettone French toast!
Hi Josephine. I love the look of that Afghani bread. I have never seen it before. It is so wonderful when immigrants bring their food cultures with them and broaden our horizons
It was really delicious Glenda! And cheap for a huge slab.
Hi Josephine I too might invest in an enamel roaster as my dutch oven is so heavy. Your bread looks really wonderful. Well done to the little people in you house, I am sure that strawberry tasted amazing :)
Love the tin for the panettone! Very pretty plus a lovely tasty treat inside. I’m sure whatever you made with it turned out delicious!I love that one of the smalls is interested in gardening. I tried last year but failed miserably. I’m trying again this year but will only share IF something works out! Thanks for the peek into your kitchen, as always! x
Your mulberry sprout intrigues me. The fruit called mulberries in the US grows on large trees, so I wonder if you are talking about the same plant. The sprout would take many years to grow into what we call a mulberry tree!
best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Yes it is probably the same. I’m not planning on moving for the next fifty years so hopefully I will get to see it bear fruit!
How pretty is that panettone tin? Gorgeous. Yes i do love my enamel roasters too. Such handy dishes. Your godmother’s biscuits look so delicious.
Josephine, your phrase “Shirley Temple ringlet” to describe your pasta was perfect The more “curls” the better the “cling”. Best wishes on your dragon fruit growing adventures, too, and yay for your young ‘un’s attention to the strawberry plant. (Proud Kodak moment!) Your enamel-baker loaf looks marvelous, too.
My sisters and I used to love Shirley Temple movies – we would watch them over and over again!
I love those pasta curls, I’ll have to look out for them, and your godmothers biscuits look fabulous, I’ve never made savoiardi. I’m planning on trying the enamel rosters too as a change from levering piping hot cast iron in and out of the oven!
Lots of good things in your kitchen. I think an enamel roaster will eventually find its way into my kitchen but I’ll have to make space. I also like Molisana pasta, and other good artisan varieties but not so easy to find in the country. Good pasta really makes a difference.
Good luck with the seedlings… sometimes I find it’s easy to just buy a punnet of started plants if I only want a few of something.