Lamb shank with curry fig sauce

The lower leg of lamb takes a couple of hours to cook and I usually buy 4 to cook together, then portion and freeze for future "fast" meals.

lamb shanks with curry figs, before cooking

1. Place lamb legs in baking dish, add 100ml light soy sauce, 100ml water, curry powder, smoked pimenton, liqueur, slices of ginger, white pepper and figs cut into halves.

2. Bake at 220˚C for 15 minutes, turn over and lower heat to 150˚C to cook for 2 hours. Turn legs over every half hours.

Butternut squash, wood ear fungus and cucumber salad

1. Cut cucumber into thick strips, soak wood ear fungus in water and cook in boiling water for 10 minutes. (can replace with other vegetable like bell pepper)

2. Mix with roasted butternut squash, season with juice of half a lemon, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Butternut squash with roast beef

Cut roast beef into thin slices, mix with roasted butternut squash, season with mustard, sour cream and soy sauce.

Roasted butternut squash

Harvested the first butternut squash of the year. I like to cut it up and roast it all, ready to use.

1. Cut butternut squash into rings then cut off skin, cut into big cubes.

2. In a big bowl, mix butternut squash cubes with olive oil, bake at 200˚ until corners slightly golden, around 40 minutes.

Can sprinkle some salt and serve as a side dish.

Belly pork with chili & cucumber

1. Slice belly pork, without rind, thinly, season with salt, white pepper, liqueur, 5 spices powder and 1tsp cornstarch for half an hour.

2. Cut cucumber and chili into strips, wash a handful of fresh herbs like parsley or chives.

3. Sear belly pork until both sides brown, add chili and cucumber, stir-fry until cucumber soften, around a minute. Add herbs and it is ready.

Roast beef with fennel red wine sauce

I rarely do roast beef, but this one comes with the 5kg organic Black Angus package from the farmer.

1. Season beef generously with salt for half an hour at room temperature.

2. Sear all sides brown. Place in baking dish, add red wine to half an inch deep, put beef on top of fennel stalk, or other vegetables like onion, carrot, leek etc.

3. Preheat oven to 220˚C and lower to 130˚C to slow cook the beef, until internal temperature reaches 60˚C.

4. Pour juice from baking dish into pan, bring to boil, reduce, season with salt & pepper if necessary, thicken with cornstarch.

Chicken with basil

A friend tasted a meat dumpling dish in a restaurant with the use of a lot of basil.  This gave me the idea for making this chicken dish, the fragrance of basil is wonderful.

1. Cut chicken thigh meat into pieces, season with salt, white pepper, olive oil and a tbsp of cornstarch.

2. Cut a handful of fresh basil into strips and mix with chicken, form into a ball, rest for half an hour.

3. Flatten the chicken mixture into 2cm thick, sear in frying pan with lid on, 2 minutes each side, and rest for 2 more minutes off heat. This way the outside is brown and inside steam cooked, 2 different texture and preserves the basil flavor better.

Fig and walnut compote

Easy to make and easy to please dessert.

Cut figs into halves, place on baking dish, season with a pinch of salt, juice of lemon, honey and roughly broken up walnut pieces. Bake at 200˚C until figs soften, around 20 minutes.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Autumn berrires

From May until now, I harvest everyday a bowl of berries from the garden. These are my berries in autumn, still has strawberry, raspberry, new comers are Fuchsia fruit, Physalis/Cape gooseberry and Chilean guava.

 

Chilean guava

Chilean guava is a beautiful red fruit that formed in summer but only mature, become deep red and sweet in autumn, and indeed has a guava taste.

Lamb with fennel feathery leaves

I grow fennel for the bulb but actually the feathery leaves is very fragrant and should not be wasted.

lamb with fennel leaves

1. Season minced lamb with salt, pepper and 1tbsp cornstarch.

2. Cut the top feathery leaves from fennel and chop finely, mix with meat.

3. Form into patties and sear both sides brown, and rest in pan in the remaining heat for the middle to cook through.

Fig sauce

With very good fig harvest, I found so many new uses for figs. This sauce goes well with salty meat or smoked fish dishes.

Cut figs into halves, use a spoon to scoop out flesh, mesh up, add fresh basil, season with salt, black pepper, and vinegar if figs are very sweet.

Salt baked beetroot

Normally I wrap beetroot in aluminium foil and bake at 200˚C for 30 to 60 minutes depending on size. Then peel the skin off and serve as salad.

This time I bake them (with skin on) in coarse salt, for the same length of time. After peeling the skin, the mild saltiness contrast well with the sweetness of beetroot.

Spread salt on a baking try and dry in the oven for future use.

Pork with tomato & basil sauce

I like to buy Iberico black pig pork loin from butcher in San Sebastian market, Spain. This loin has streaks of fat and is juicy after cooking.

1. Cut loin into 2cm thick pieces, season with salt & white pepper for half an hour.

2. Sear both sides golden, add tomatoes cut into wedges, juice of half a lemon, salt & pepper, cook for a couple of minutes until tomatoes slightly soften. Mix in fresh basil and it is ready.

Ox tongue 2 ways

I bought a pack of 5kg organic Angus beef in various cuts directly from a farmer nearby. At the same time I bought other parts like ox tongue, tail, cheeks, etc. which are much more affordable.

I like to remove the lower back part of the tongue from the rest, which just need searing and has a wonderful crunchy texture. The rest need longer cooking time.

First, I trim off all the outside white tough skin. Cut around and extract the lower back piece of muscle off, look like a piece of loin. Cut into 1cm thick slices and season with salt & pepper, sear both sides brown, 2 minutes each.

Place the remaining meat in a pot, add 100gm light soy sauce, 100gm brown sugar, slices of ginger, a few star anise, a few cloves, some liqueur, and cover with water.

Bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes, cover with lid and let it cools down.  Repeat twice. This way the meat is tender but not overcooked.

Take the meat out and cut into big cubes, reduce sauce and pour on top.

Fig jam with ginger and lemon

Addition of ginger and lemon juice gives a nice "kick" to the otherwise plain sweet fig jam.

2.5kg figs, cut into small pieces

2 inches ginger, cut into tiny cubes

1.5 lemon, juice

brown sugar, to taste

big pinch of salt

1. Mix the above is a wide pan, cover and rest for half a day to soften the figs.

2. Bring to boil stirring regularly, switch off heat, cover with lid and let it cool down, repeat twice to soften figs and ginger without using too much heat.

3. Simmer for 10 minutes or until it reaches the required thickness.

Duck with fig sauce

A good way to use up some fresh figs is to use them to sweeten a sauce.

1. Cut duck breast without skin into big pieces, place in baking dish.

2. Arrange figs, cut into halves, around, season with soy sauce, 5 spices powder, red wine, white pepper. Bake at 220˚C for 15 minutes, and rest in oven with door open for another 10 minutes.

Grilled fig with goat cheese and pine nut

1. Cut figs into halves, place cubes of goat cheese and a few pine nut on top, sprinkle salt and black pepper, grill at 200˚C until goat cheese soften and pine nut turns golden, around 2 minutes.

2. Place a piece of mint leave for colour and flavour.

Veal in lemon cream sauce

This summer, I like to add a squeeze of lemon juice when cooking red meat, it sorts of enhance the taste.

1. Season veal chop with salt and pepper for half an hour, sear until just cooked, remove from pan.

2. Add into pan red onion cut into fine strip, stir-fry until just slightly browned. Add 100ml of sour cream, 2 tbsp lemon juice, season with salt & pepper, a handful of parsley and serve on top of veal chop.

Fig and rhubarb clafoutis

I like to eat fig with something sour to balance the sweetness, this time I harvested a couple of rhubarb stems to do the job.

 

rhubarb

1. Cut figs into halves, peel the outer hard skin of rhubarb and cut into half cm thick slices.

2. Arrange fig halves and rhubarb slices alternately in a baking dish. Sprinkle on top a pinch of salt, all spice powder or black pepper, optional.

3. Bake at 220˚C for 10 minutes and leave it to rest inside oven until cool down.

4. Prepare a mixture of 1 egg, 150ml double cream, a tbsp brown sugar, a pinch of salt, pour onto baking dish.

5. Bake at 160˚C until just set, around 15 minutes.

clafoutis of fig and rhubarb

Pickled Khol rabi 芥蘭頭

Khol rabi is one of my favorite vegetable, looks cute in the garden and tasty. I prefer to eat it raw, sweet and crunchy, which disappear after cooking, what a shame.

khol rabi

1. Remove the outside hard skin, cut into thin pieces ~2mm, or strips as you like.

2. In a big bowl, mix with 2% of its weight of salt (or other spices as you like), mix well and let it rest for 2 hours, khol rabi will soften and liquid comes out.

3. Pack in a clean jar together with liquid, fill to the top with cooled down boiled water, note the weight of water added. Add enough salt to make it a 2% salty solution.

4. Keep in the fridge for a day or two before eating. Should keep well in the fridge for a week to 10 days.

pickled khol rabi with Sichuan pepper