Chili lamb & fennel stir-fry

1. Cut shoulder part of lamb into thin strips, marinate with cumin seed, ground up coriander seed, chili oil, wine, salt, black pepper and soya sauce for at least 15 minutes.

2. Cut red onion into thin strip, cloves of garlic into slices, fennel into thin strips, remove skin of tomatoes, drain juice and cut into big cubes, tear a handful of basil leaves into pieces.

3. Sweat red onion and garlic until light brown, add lamb and stir-fry for a minute, take out.

4. Cook tomato pieces with a pinch of salt and black pepper until dry, mix in lamb, fennel, basil and serve. Half raw fennel retains its unique crunchiness and flavour. 

Asparagus

Asparagus is one of the few vegetables to harvest in spring (May to early June) in Europe. It is expensive here because it takes a whole year to grow but only has a short harvesting period. This means using up precious land and a lot of manpower for what it can provide.

The advantage of growing asparagus at home is that it is a perennial vegetable, once planted, you will harvest asparagus every year, from the third year onward, without too much care.

To grow asparagus, dig a long trench around half meter deep in spring, place the root part of asparagus (available in garden centre) in the trench, cover with half the soil. Water well and young asparagus will pop up all along the trench, for the first 2 years, do not harvest but let these young plants grow, so that they develop strong root system. By end of the year, cover with the remaining soil until level.  In early spring cut off dead plants and let new shoots grow again. Harvest green asparagus in the third years onward. 

Soya walnut bruschetta

1. Place tomatoes in boiling water for a minute and peel off skin, (or simply use cherry tomatoes) drain seed and juice, cut into fine cubes. Season with salt, black pepper, roughly torn basil and olive oil, rest for at least 15 minutes.

2. For a portion of cooled down soya walnut residue (from making soya walnut milk), mix in 50 gm flour, 10gm baking powder, big pinch of salt and one egg. Pour into a baking tray, lined with baking paper, to around quarter inch thick. Bake at 200˚C until brown and dry, around 30 minutes.

3. Spoon tomato salsa on soya walnut cake, cut into slices and serve.

Soya walnut drink

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Using the soya milk machine, I make fresh soya bean milk regularly. Last time, I mix in some toasted walnut with soya bean. The resulting drink has an extra nutty taste and walnut fragrance. Highly recommended.  

Hydrangea

I planted these hydrangeas back in April this year. They are so happy in this shady north court, grow fast and flower generously, much better than I have expected. 

Soya mushroom cheese bake

1. Chop mushrooms into small pieces, cook with some oil and a pinch of salt until dry.

2. Mix a portion of cold soya milk residue with 50 gm flour and 10 gm baking powder, a pinch of salt, black pepper, 50 gm of shredded Gruyere cheese, one egg and cooled mushroom.

3. Pour into an oiled baking dish, sprinkle 20 gm of shredded Gruyere cheese on the surface. Bake at 200˚C until both top and bottom is golden brown, around 20 minutes.

It is so beautiful

Found it on the courtyard, very tame, so many beautiful fine details.

Lamb with mint and hazelnut roast

1. In pestle and mortar, pound a handful of mint leaves, half a red onion, 3 cloves of garlic and a big pinch of salt. Mix in finely grounded black pepper, coriander seed and two tablespoons of hazelnut paste.

2. Spread mixture all over de-boned lamb shoulder, rolled up and tie loosely. Pre-heat oven to 220˚C, then bake lamb shoulder at 180˚C until cooked, around 30 minutes. 

Black Aronie

In April, I mail ordered some berry bushes, less common ones that cannot be found in garden centres.

Some of them already started to fruit , it is the first year and the yield is low, but I am so pleased to see them growing happily here.

This is Black Aronie, looks like blue berry but nearly black. The berry is mildly sweet but with astringency at the end, which is why it is not a popular fruit. According to information, Black Aronie has very high antioxidant and other vitamins, much better than popping vitamin pills. 

BBQ station

In Argentina, the chefs barbeque meat with a vertical wall of fire at the back, so that the oil of the meat does not drip on the fire, burning and smoking, as in traditional barbeque with fire below.

In South Africa, when the locals have barbeque, they call it 'braai', they start by burning a big log a couple of hours ago until it turns white, and then cook the meat on top.

In designing the BBQ station at home, these two aspects are incorporated, a vertical rack at the back wall, to cook by radiation, that is big enough to hold logs. 

Grilled eggplant with liver

1. Cut eggplant into half cm slices, grill on a griddle pan until cooked through.

2. Marinate lamb's liver, cut into thick strips, with sherry, salt, soya sauce, sugar and black pepper.

3. Stir-fry liver in a non-stick pan until cooked, around 2 minutes, add a tablespoon of mustard and 2 tablespoons of sour cream.  Ladle on top of grilled eggplant. 

Sweet potato

I brought 20 purple potatoes from Hong Kong in March. I kept them in a cloth bag in the barn and they finally sprouted in June. This shows that the weather was warm enough to plant them out in the field. Now around 14 have pushed through the ground and grown a full head of leaves. 

Grilled tongue

I got a whole cow tongue from an organic farmer and have been doing a bit of research on how to prepare it. The family traditional way is to boil it for 2-3 hours in plain water, remove the thick white skin, slice it and serve with soya sauce.

On the web, I found this grill method for cooking the back half of the tongue.

1. Use a pointy sharp knife to remove all the tough white skin while raw. Cut off the back half and reserve the other parts for stew or soup.

2. Cut the back half into thick slices, season with salt and black pepper, rest for at least an hour.

3. Dry sear on a hot pan or grill until slightly brown, around 2 minutes each sides.

The meat is slightly crunchy and it is indeed a simple and tasty way to cook that part of the tongue. 

Wood burning stone bread oven

Just finished installing a wood burning bread oven, to inaugurate, I baked bread, pizza bianca and pizza with goat cheese.

Pizza bianca

1. In pestle and mortar, pound the leaves of a piece of fresh rosemary with a big pinch of salt and olive oil, leave to infuse for half an hour.

2. Roll a small piece of bread dough ~50gm to 2mm thin (for a crispy result), brush the surface with rosemary infused oil, bake at 300˚ for 2-3 minutes until slightly golden.

 Pizza with goat cheese

1. Cut the hard rim off goat cheese, cut the white middle into cubes.

2. Roll the bread dough thin then brush with rosemary infused oil, use the back of a spoon to spread tomato paste generously on pizza, then place goat cheese cubes on top. Bake at 300˚ for 2-3 minutes until slightly golden.

Soya goat cheese bake

1. Blend a portion of cold soya milk residue with 150gm of goat cheese, 2 tablespoons of hazelnut/sesame/almond paste, a pinch of salt and 1 egg yolk.

2. Whisk 1 egg white until stiff, fold into soya mixture together with a tablespoon of fresh thyme leaves. Pour into a baking dish to around 2cm high. Bake at 220˚C until top and bottom are golden, around 20 minutes. 

Kidney in a rich sauce

I started to buy beef from an organic farmer nearby. He kills one cow or calf every month, and sells to customers a 10kg parcel of a mixture of cuts of meat. This way, everyone pays the same price and he ensures that all types of cuts can be sold. We pay a third less than in the meat shop and he earns a third more selling direct like this, a win-win situation.

I notice on his list of cuts that there is no mention of offal and ask him who hoards them all? It was shocking to know that no one wants to handle and eat organ, he either consumes them at home or leaves them at the abattoir to be turned into dog food, what a shame.

Since I am interested, he gives me kidneys and tongue for free on top of the regular parcel of meat.

1. The kidneys have a very mild smell, I cut them in halves, removes all the white tissues, then cut into thick slices, season with brandy, ginger, salt and pepper.

2. On a medium hot pan,  sweat thinly sliced red onion and garlic until light golden, add kidney slices and stir-fry until cooked, around 2 minutes. 

3. Off heat, add a tablespoon of mustard, 2 tablespoons of sour cream and a handful of chopped coriander to make a rich thick sauce.

Absolutely delicious. 

Veal cutlet with anchovies & sun-dried tomatoes

1. On a sheet of baking paper, place 4 strips of anchovy, a spoonful of sun-dried tomatoes cut into small pieces, lay veal cutlet on top.

2. Sprinkle a big pinch of fresh thyme leaves on cutlet, then repeat with the layer of anchovies and sun-dried tomato pieces.

3. Draw the 4 corners of the baking paper up and twist the corners to form an open top paper container.

4. Bake at 180˚C for around 10 minutes, rest for a few minutes before serving. 

Sweet sour red cabbage with nectarine

1. Cut 1 red onion, 2 cloves of garlic, red cabbage into thin slices, and 3 nectarines into thick slices.

2. In medium heat, sweat red onion and garlic in olive oil until slightly golden, add red cabbage, season with salt and pepper, add half a cup of water and cook until cabbage is soft and water evaporated.

3. Remove from heat, mix in a teaspoon of hot mustard sauce, 3 tablespoons of sour cream and nectarine slices, mix well. Serve warm or cold. 

Rosemary tea

I brew a big pot of tea every morning, let it cools down and drink it throughout the hot day. With my bucket of herbs that are growing faster than I can cook, I start using them in my tea too. Sometimes it is a bunch of mint to make mint tea (the best is Moroccan mint), or else a twig of rosemary. 

Deer in the garden

In the early morning, around 7am, it is easy to spot deer having their breakfast in the field. Normally they are in groups of 4 or 5, like a family unit. Yesterday morning, there is this deer eating grass around 20 feet in front of the house, on its own. It is so close that I could take a good photo.