鄭立勳。常滿。Bountiful。Mandy Cheng: 2013-08

Showing posts with label 2013-08. Show all posts

Cucumber smoked mackerel salad

1. Grill smoked mackerel until sizzling, remove skin and tear into bite size pieces.

2. Cut cucumber into strips, add mackerel and sour cream, season with honey and curry powder, sprinkle chopped chive for colour.

Banana melon

This melon now really looks like green banana !

Cucumber dip

1. Peel cucumber, remove seed and cut into strips.

2. Mix 1 part sesame with 1 part sour cream and 1 part lemon juice, season with salt, curry power and honey.

Water melon

In just 2 weeks, my water melon has grown into football size!

Eggplant salad

A simple way to prepare eggplant and to appreciate its flavor.

1. Steam whole eggplant until soft, around 30 minutes.

2. While hot, use fork & knife to split eggplant into long strips, season with salt and a few spoonfuls of sesame oil.

Crunchy belly pork with garlic sauce

The best way to enjoy the taste and crunchy texture of belly pork, and cooked like this it does not taste oily.

1. Bring to boil 2cm deep water in a pan with 1 whole head of garlic (with skin on), salt, pepper, bay leaves, and star anise.

2. Place a minimum 5cm thick slab of pork belly in, turn around so that all sides have a minute in the boiling water. Then place the pork skin side down, with a thermometer stuck in the upper middle part that is above water. Simmer gently with the lid nearly closed until pork reached 75˚C, around 45 minutes.

3. When pork cools down enough to handle, cut into very thin slices, put them back into the liquid to flavor and keep skin soft until serving.

4. Remove the flesh out of cooked garlic, mesh up and season with salt and a little olive oil.

Ginger

ginger

Planted an edible ginger stem with a green bud in early summer, it has grown a foot tall now.

Vegetarian pizza

Invited a vegetarian friend for dinner, so I have to create vegetarian pizza for a change.

Pizza bianca

1. Pizza bianca - marinate rosemary in olive oil and salt for half an hour, spread on pizza dough.

Pizza garlic and red onion

2. Pizza garlic and red onion - blend garlic with salt and olive oil to form a paste, cut red onion into pieces and mix with olive oil. Spread garlic paste on pizza dough and sprinkle red onion on top.

Pizza beetroot & tofu

3. Pizza beetroot & tofu - wrap beetroot in aluminium foil and bake at 200˚C for half an hour, cut into cubes and season with salt and 4 spices powder. Cut hard tofu into cubes, blanch in salted boiling water for 30 second to make tofu more gelatinous, drain well and mix with olive oil.

Spread tomato paste on pizza dough, spoon beetroot and tofu cubes on top, cover with grated Gruyere cheese. When baked, sprinkle a handful of roasted pine nut on top for texture and flavor.

Pizza cauliflower cheese

4. Pizza cauliflower cheese - cut cauliflower florets into half cm thick slices, blanch in salted boiling water until just soft, drain well, season with salt, curry powder and olive oil. Cut semi hard goat cheese into slices and green pepper into thin strips.

Spread tomato paste on pizza dough, arrange cauliflower and slices of goat cheese on top, cover with grated Gruyere cheese. When baked, sprinkle green pepper on top for colour and crunch.

Baby khol rabi

All small things are cute, like this just formed baby khol rabi.

Beetroot wild grain rice risotto

1. Cook wild grain rice in stock until soft, wrap beetroot in aluminium foil and bake at 200˚C for half an hour until cooked, cut into cubes.

2. Cook cut up beetroot leaves in rice for a minute, season with salt and pepper, add beetroot cubes, a handful of grated Parmigiano. Just before serving add a few thin slices of Parmigiano on top.

Pumpkin Jack Be Little

This is a new born baby, distinctly ribbed, a variety of pumpkin that just grows to a fist size.

Melon tomato pine nut salad

A good starter and a great way to hydrate in hot summer.

1. Blanch tomato in boiling water for a minute, remove skin and cut into cubes. Marinate with salt, pepper, curry powder, olive oil and torn up basil for half an hour.

2. Cut melon (prefer the type with crunchy texture) into cubes, add tomato, and sprinkle a handful of roasted pine nut on top.

Green soya bean

When the pods are picked at the green stage, quickly blanched for a minute or two, green soya bean is sweet like fresh pea.

It is a traditional food in China, now a popular dish in Japanese restaurant called Edamame.

Butternut squash

butternut squash whattam

In less than a month's time, the previously posted butternut squash has grown a lot.

Beetroot lentil salad

1. Wrap beetroot in aluminium foil, bake at 200˚C for 30 minutes. Remove skin and cut into cubes.

2. Simmer 1 part lentil with 2 parts water and a big pinch of salt until soft, around 30 minutes.

3. Add beetroot, mix in 1 tbsp of mustard sauce and 3 tbsp of almond butter (or any nut butter), season with salt and pepper.

Black aronia

Said to have the highest level of antioxidant of all fruits. I planted them last year and there is harvest now.

The berry is not very sweet, and has a mild astringent taste, which is why it is not wildly cultivated.

I crushed the berries, add 25% brown sugar and macerate for 2 days before serving as sauce, as pie filling. I use it raw, hoping to keep all the excellent nutrients. When served with sour cream/yogurt, the astringent taste is gone.

Black aronia tart

1. Line tart base with short crust pastry.

2. Mix 2 eggs with 60 gm brown sugar, 40gm desiccated coconut, 80gm almond flour and 60 gm soft butter, whisk until light. Spread a thin layer into each tart.

3. Bake at 180˚C until golden, around 20 minutes.

4. When cold, spoon black aronia sauce (recipe below) in the tart, top with sour cream.

Banana melon

According to seed catalog, it is a long, banana shaped, yellow skin melon, this is the first time I try to grow it.

Just started to set fruits.

Spaghetti with cured pork and peach sauce

In summer, I like to use fruit as an ingredient in cooking, the bright colour, the natural sweetness and sourness help to improve appetite.

1. Sweat home made cured pork (or bacon), red onion and garlic until golden.

2. At medium heat, add peach cut into pieces, let the juice come out. If there is not enough sauce, add white wine, season with salt and pepper.

3. Boil spaghetti in salted water until soft, add to sauce together with green pepper cut into strips, toss and serve.

Baby water melon

Just formed water melon, it is hairy and the lines are there already.