I am absolutely overjoyed to be releasing my first children’s picture book, Sundays Under the Lemon Tree, illustrated by Myo Yim (@myo.yim.drawing ) and published by @scribblekidsbooks . This book was inspired by my childhood - it captures the magic of family and food, and celebrates the importance of tradition. The story follows a young child on a Sunday afternoon, taking in the smells and sounds of family cooking, making ricotta from collected seawater, and baking a special family recipe.
I am so excited for Sundays Under the Lemon Tree to be in the hands and kitchens of young readers everywhere!
🍋Perfect for little foodies ages 3-7, and their grown-ups
🍋Based on Julia’s childhood memories growing up in a Maltese family in Adelaide
🍋Tenderly illustrated by Myo Tim, a Korean author-illustrator living in Australia
🍋Includes the recipe for Julia’s cherished apple, lemon and ricotta cake recipe
Sundays Under the Lemon Tree is out 4 November and ready to Pre-order now via @scribblebooks and the link in my bio 🍋
GOOD COOKING EVERY DAY!!!
My BRAND NEW cookbook is hitting the shelves on September 24 ✨ I am beyond thrilled to share with you the beautiful cover and let you all know that it is now available to pre-order at all good bookstores and online! Pre-orders are such an amazing way to ensure you have a copy on publication day and it really does a lot to help the book soar, so thank you in advance! LINK IN BIO!
Filled with over 90 recipes celebrating simple, seasonal and beautiful home cooking, my new cookbook shares the food I love to cook everyday, over and over again! It also includes a guide to creating menus for any occasion, from a celebration of summer produce to pure comfort food in cooler weather, a simple family dinner to a relaxed lunch with friends.
I am so proud of this book and all of the recipes in it and I cannot wait to share it with you all 🥹 I’ll be sending out an exclusive recipe from the book in my newsletter later today so be sure to check that out too!
Thank you to my incredible publishers @plumbooks@macmillanaus and my amazing team @armellehabib@karinajduncan@michellemackintosh@sass_watson@meryl_batlle for helping to bring this book to life!
Here’s to GOOD COOKING EVERY DAY ♥️
"I grew up eating variations of these sardine polpette," says @juliaostro . These polpette contain a classic Sicilian combination of sardines, currants, herbs, pine nuts and pecorino. Serve with some crusty bread to mop up the sauce and you have a very nutritious and satisfying meal.
Hit the link in our bio or visit the Good Food app for the recipe.
📸 @william_meppem
Meet Julia (@juliaostro ) along with Nori and their three boys — Haruki, Yukito and baby Mikoto — a family in Melbourne whose life is shaped by the gentle overlap of Japanese and Maltese heritage, and the small, steady rituals that hold their days together.
Julia wears the Etched Dress.
Cute times only in the kitchen this Mother’s Day with @brevilleaus ♥️ Coffee essential!
This apple cinnamon tea cake was my mum’s specialty growing up! Now my kids like to make it too, and it’s just so good! Recipe below!
Apple cinnamon tea cake
Serves 8-12
80 g almonds
180 g self raising flour
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Sea salt
250 g unsalted butter, softened
200 g caster sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
125 ml milk
2 apples, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced
Juice of half a lemon
To top:
1 tbsp caster sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
50 g unsalted butter
Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced. Grease and line a 23 cm round baking tin.
Blitz the almonds to a fine meal and place into a medium bowl with the flour, cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl place the sugar and butter and beat until pale and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl down as needed. Add the vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition.
Reduce the speed to low and add ⅓ of the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add half of the milk and mix until incorporated. Repeat these steps, alternating between the dry ingredients and milk, mixing between each addition.
Spoon the batter into the prepared tin.
Toss the apples in the lemon juice then arrange onto the cake. In a small bowl combine the extra caster sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the cake and dot with some butter.
Bake in the preheated for 50-55 minutes or until the top of the cake springs back when touched.
Allow the cake to cool briefly in the tin then transfer to a wire rack to complete cooling.
@juliaostro 🤍
We’ve LOVED supporting you through your pregnancy and postpartum journey 💜
And you’re so right… the loneliness can hit in a way nothing really prepares you for. Even when you have support around you, those 3am feeds or long days at home can feel a lot 🤍
Sending you all the love this Mother’s Day, you incredible mum you 💜
When @montaguefarms Ambrosia™ apples are in season we make spiced apple buns! Perfect for Mother’s Day breakfast in my opinion! The dough is made the day before (the fillings can be too), and then just assembled before baking with a final short proving time. This means fresh warm buns in the morning! Ambrosia™ apples are sweet, fragrant and have the most wonderful texture making them a very good choice for these gorgeous buns.
Full recipe in the comments 🍎
A pear and hazelnut cake, a roast chicken with fennel and cream plus two little recipes for macarona Bil Laban (Lebanese pasta with garlic yoghurt) and Braised beef. Find them all on my latest Substack post ♥️ link in bio x
