Nancy - Art Nouveau decoration

Nancy is a town in the North East Alsace area of France, it is a strong base for the Art Nouveau period, 1890 -1910.

The theme of this period is to incorporate nature in design, using a lot of curves, plant motifs, and unsymmetrical shapes. In wandering around the streets in Nancy and the Art Nouveau Museum, I am able to admire decorations from this period that still exist in a lot of buildings.

Cherry harvest

There are two old cherry trees in my garden, one fruited early, in May. Unfortunately with the heavy rain then, all fruits were split because of drinking too much.

Luckily the other one is a later variety and with some sunshine in June, managed to fruit well, the cherries are crunchy, mildly sweet and sour.

Onion flower

In January, I planted some cooking onions that had their  green shoots growing out. Now they are waiting for just that little extra sunshine in order to burst into full bloom.

Veal liver couscous

1. Cut veal liver into small pieces, season with salt & pepper.

2. Cut red bell pepper into small cubes, and ginger finely.

3. At high heat, stir-fry veal liver until just cooked, keep aside.

4. Sweat red bell pepper and ginger with a big pinch of salt until soft, add 1.5cup of water and bring to boil, then sprinkle one cup of couscous all over, stir gently to spread evenly. Cover with lid and remove from heat to rest for 10 minutes.

5. Stir in cooked veal liver and a handful of chopped herbs.

Strawberry thief

On top of slug, I notice another animal is eating my strawberries, leaving pointy teeth mark. Then one evening when I return home, I saw this hedgehog among my fruits.

 

Brining guinea fowl

Just read that soaking in 4% brine for minimum 12 hours is a way to hydrate meat, and bring the mild salty flavour plus spices/herb/alcohol used in the brine deep into the me

I tried with guinea fowl cut up into 4 parts, 2 legs, breast and back section, this reduces the amount of brine needed to submerge the meat.

I added slices of ginger, garlic, a few whole peppercorns and Cognac into the brine. The breast section is steamed until the middle reached 55˚C, then rested with the lid off for another 10 minutes.

Indeed the meat is more juicy than normal, has a mild salty taste with the aroma of Cognac.

Served with chive, salt, sour cream sauce.

Brining guinea fowl

Same 4% brining as in the post above. The legs are steamed until the middle reached 55˚C, then sear in a hot pan with a little oil to crisp the skin. De-glace pan with sour cream, lemon juice, salt, sugar and handful of coriander.  
The meat is firm yet juicy.

First pizza of the year

It has been raining and cold since coming back to France, only recently the sun started to shine again. Yesterday decided to enjoy the warm weather to use the outdoor wood fired oven to make some pizza in the evening.

I made the dough like making bread, but used cool water instead, added a teaspoon of baking powder, 20gm olive oil, 5 gm salt and 20 gm sugar. The dough is kneaded as usual and immediately kept in the fridge for at least 2 hours before use.

This way, I could make pizza any time when I wanted to, and when the oven is ready, because the addition of baking powder make sure that the dough will rise instantly in the heat, while the yeast adds flavor.

1. Pizza bianca with olive oil, salt, thyme and rosemary.

2. Pizza with basil leaves, sliced cherry tomato, sliced mushrooms, (seasoned with salt & olive oil), grated sheep cheese.

3. Pizza with sliced dry fig, pickled spicy chorizo (cut into thin slices and kept in vinegar and sugar), sliced mushrooms and grated sheep cheese.

The conclusion is that it is possible to make pizza without tomato paste and mozzarella cheese, can taste all the ingredients better.

Braised veal cheeks

1. Stew veal cheeks like veal tongue in vacuum pot (post below, I stew them together).

2. The next day, place veal cheeks in baking dish, fill baking dish 2cm high with cooking liquid, season with soya sauce, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, 5-spices powder and liqueur. Bake at 180˚C for an hour, turning every 15 minutes, until sauce reduced.

Veal tongue and sesame sauce

1. Cut away the outside thick white skin of tongue. Cover with water, a few bay leaves, slices of ginger, whole garlic, star anis and salt, boil for 15 minutes then stew in vacuum pot over night.

2. Mix sesame paste with soya sauce and sour cream.

3. Re-boil tongue and cut into slices, serve with sauce.

Mackerel pine nut salad

1. Remove skin of smoked mackerel, cook in half a cup of balsamic vinegar, sugar, 5 spices powder, a handful of shredded seaweed and soya sauce at low heat until sauce evaporated.

2. Shred mackerel, mix with finely chopped coriander and toasted pine nut.

Little nectarine

This is the first time I grow nectarine, and they are looking good.

Beetroot apple upside down cake

1. Peel and cut beetroot, apple into cubes. Cook, at medium heat, with candied orange peel, sherry, and sugar to taste, until soft, ladle into baking dish.

2. Mix 70gm almond powder, 30gm desiccated coconut, a teaspoon baking powder, 50gm brown sugar, a pinch of salt, with 2 egg yolks. Whisk 2 egg whites until 'hard peak', fold into mixture.

3. Spoon this mixture on top of cooked fruit, 1 cm thick, bake at 200˚C until golden, around 10 minutes.

Veal head pate

I buy beef from an organic farmer whose farm is nearby. Last week he gave me a veal head free, as none of his other customer, nor his wife, has the time and interest to prepare it.

On inspection, the veal head comes with tongue and cheeks, which I removed for cooking separately. The rest was cut into big pieces, really tough, and cook in a vacuum pot with water, bay leaves, garlic, ginger, star anise, clove, carrot and celery. After 15 minutes of boiling, the skin swells up to triple its original thickness. It is then placed inside the vacuum jacket to stew overnight.

The next day, the skin is soft enough to cut into small pieces. To this, add cut up carrot, pistachio nut, fennel seed, salt, pepper, cooking liquid and liqueur. Place mixture in terrine pots or preserving jars, steam for an hour. Serve when cool and keep remaining jars in deep freeze.

Veal head pate snack

1. Cut pate into cubes, dilute mustard sauce with sour cream, cover cubes with sauce.

2. Place a toothpick on each cube and sprinkle toasted black sesame on top.

Allium

One of my favorite summer flower, a ball of purple, small star shaped flowers. It is in the family of onion, and can easily be grown from bulb. After flowering, the bulb will over winter in the soil and come back the following summer.

Zucchini, red pepper and nectarine salad

1. Use a 'julienne' peeler to shred zucchini into thin strips, cut red pepper into thin strips, season with salt and pepper for half an hour, drain excess liquid.

2. Cut nectarine (or any fruit) into thin slices, tear a handful of mint into pieces.

3. Add hazelnut paste (or sesame or peanut butter) to the mixture of fruit and vegetable, season with honey, pepper and lemon juice, mix in mint just before serving.

Quinoa

Sown both white and red quinoa, grains originated from Peru, early spring, they are now flowering. 

Orange red pepper sorbet

1. Prepare 350gm orange juice and 100 gm red pepper juice, red pepper juice will help to increase the colour of sorbet.

2. Mix in 150ml of cream and honey to taste, pour into ice cream machine.

'Bull's blood' apple

This spring has been exceptionally cold and wet, I am happy to find this newly planted apple tree has managed to set fruits. The variety is called 'Bull's blood', because the apples are deep red.