Joselito ham

I believe this is the best ham in the world, cured for 3 years Jamon Iberico Bellota by Joselito, Spain. It is cured with salt only, no additive or preservative.

Buying a whole leg is the most cost effective way to enjoy it. Cut into thin slices, 100gm for 2 persons, cost around 10 Euro per serving.  

Braised lamb leg with prune

1. Cut criss-cross pattern on both sides of the leg, season with salt for half an hour.

2. In a baking dish, add half an inch of water, a handful of prunes cut into pieces, liqueur and 5 spices powder. Bake at 220˚C for 15 minutes, then 180˚C for another 10 minutes until the middle of leg reached 50˚C.

3. Add a spoonful of mustard to the sauce, mesh up prune to thicken it and mix in a spoonful of fresh thyme leaves before serving.

Tapas - Spain

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fresh foie gras/half cooked foie gras/ham/anchovy

Enjoyed excellent tapas in Vitoria-Gasteiz, large range of ingredients, creative cooking and beautifully presented, all at 1-3 Euro each, a glass of wine is only 1 Euro.

prawn with asparagus and egg mayonnaise

mushroom in cheese sauce

Sour cream dip

Instead of buying processed Miracle sauce, Thousand island sauce, or start whisking egg yolk and oil to make mayonnaise, a similar taste and texture could be obtained from using sour cream or a thick Greek yogurt.

For a firm dip, add vinegar and brown sugar to sour cream to achieve the taste you like.

For a runnier sauce, use vinegar (or lemon juice) and honey, mix in other seasonings like black pepper, mustard sauce or tomato sauce to vary the taste.

Steam anchovy belly pork slices

Modified from the traditional dish fermented shrimp paste belly pork slices. Anchovy gives the same savory umami taste to the dish but it is easier to find and without the often pungent special smell of fermented shrimp paste.

1. Cut a few anchovy into small pieces, mix with brown sugar, sherry and white pepper.

2. Cut belly pork into then slices, marinate with anchovy paste for half an hour. Steam at high heat until pork is cooked, around 15 minutes. Sprinkle finely chopped parsley before serving.

Orange caramel cracker

Tasty, light-weight sweet that goes well with ice cream, yogurt or fresh cheese.

1. Mix the following ingredients together, then fridge for half an hour.

100 gm icing sugar

25 gm flour

50 gm almond flour

40 gm melted butter

40 gm orange juice

zest of one orange

2. On a special non-stick oven mat, place spoonfuls of the mixture 3 inches apart. 

3. Bake at 180˚C for 7 minutes, the mixture will melt and spread into big flat round pieces.

4. Cool for a minute before removing from the mat, they will be just soft enough to be shaped by placing on a rolling pin to form a curl, or into a small container to give a bowl shape, or simply leave them flat.

Pickled radish

Beautiful and deliciously crunchy pink pickle to go with raw fish, salami, or salad.

Cut small round red radish into thin slices, marinate with lemon juice, salt, brown sugar and chili for a day. The red of the skin will dissolve out to colour the pickle.

Sea bream filet with ginger chive sauce

Half sear and half steam, a good way to enjoy white fish filet.

1. Make criss-cross cuts on the skin side of filet of sea bream or bar, to avoid filet curling up when heated and also speed up cooking.

2. On high heat, sear filet skin side down for a minute, then put lid on, let the steam cook through the fish.

3. Just when the top of filet turns white and opaque, open lid and remove from heat, let the remaining heat dry the skin and crisp it, serve skin side up.

4. Make sauce by blending ginger with olive oil, add finely cut chive, season with salt.

Roasted cauliflower

Roasting brings out and concentrates the sweetness of cauliflower, I could not believe how tasty it is.

1. Cut cauliflower into florets, in a big bowl, drizzle olive oil and give it a good shake to spread the oil on all florets.

2. Bake, spread out on a tray at 180˚c until slightly golden, around 30 minutes.

Lightly salted sea bream

On one portion of sea bream sashimi, I sprinkled a small pinch of salt on each side, the other portion I added just a tbsp of soya sauce, and let them marinate in the fridge for 4 hours.

The texture of sea bream with salt is firm and has a fresh marine taste, where as those using soya sauce has too strong a soya flavour and a softer texture.

Cheese biscuits

A tasty snack or party canapé.

1. Cut aged hard cheese into pieces, place a teaspoonful in a non-stick pan at medium heat.

2. The cheese will slowly melt into a lace like form, remove when lightly golden and dry.

3. Very fragrant and crispy, eat as such or serve with a little jam or honey.

Ham, pear & pine nut salad

1. Cut pears into cubes, marinate with a little lemon juice.

2. Dry roast pine nut in a pan, stirring all the time until golden.

3. Cut ham into thin strips across grain.

4. Mix all ingredients together, sprinkle black pepper on top.

Squid with crab egg

Bought a spider crab with a lot of egg, I used the egg in cooking the next day.

1. Add salt to raw crab egg to keep overnight.

2. Clean squid and cut criss-cross pattern in the inside face, cut into pieces, cut shallot and ginger into thin slices.

3. In a pan, sweat shallot and ginger until soft, add squid, stir-fry until cooked, couple of minutes, mix in salted crab egg, cook for another minute.