Parsnip soup

After roasting a big tray of winter root vegetable, any left behind could be turn into soup.

1. Simply add water and bring to boil, season with salt & pepper, blend into puree.

2. Reheat puree with addition of stock to enhance richness, and some sour cream to finish.

3. For extra colour in the bowl, use micro-plane grater to grate carrot or purple cabbage, instead of using herb all the time, that I learned from a restaurant.

Roast winter vegetable

A bowl of winter root vegetable with some pepper is a colourful and cheerful dish on the table, needless to say it is very easy to prepare. I like to mix in at the end of cooking a handful of lamb's lettuce or any salad greens to add the greed shade.

1. Peel and cut parsnip (or pumpkin, sweet potato etc) into big cubes.

2. In a big bowl with cut root vegetable and cut pepper, add 2 big tablespoons of olive oil, shake to cover well. Sometimes I like to add seasoning like curry powder, chili for extra flavor, all except salt, which will draw moisture out and could not brown the vegetable.

3. Bake at 200˚C for 30 to 40 minutes until corners turn golden.

4. While hot from the oven, sprinkle salt and lamb's lettuce and serve.

Broad bean seedling

Winter has arrived, I have been busy clearing the vegetable patch, moving young plants into green house etc, on a closing down mode. However, the broad beans that I have sown in November have germinated. The little seedlings are a delight to see in these miserable cold days.

Scallop skirts

Only in winter I can find live scallops from Brittany available in fish shops. Usually I open the shell and keep only the white mussel and the orange roe, the rest, including skirt, are full of sand and are thrown away.

This time, I remove the skirts and clean them in water. With a lot of stirring and a few change of water, the skirts come out clean and pure white. It is not that difficult to clean at all.

I marinate them in soy sauce, chili and Sichuan pepper overnight. Then blanch in water for a few seconds until they curls up. A tasty snack, though a bit chewy, feel good about not wasting food.

Belon oyster

Winter is the season in France to eat oyster. My favorite is this round flat Belon variety from Cancale, Brittany, in the North West coast of France. The oyster is thin, with a clean, fresh, sweet taste, best to eat as such, without addition of lemon juice or sauce.

Lamb with anchovy & rosemary

Recently like to add anchovy in cooking to add a rich flavor and saltiness.

1. Sear lamb chops both sides golden.

2. Put the chops at the edge of pan to rest, add a few pieces of anchovies, fry and stir until broken.  

3.Reduce heat, de-glace pan with a couple spoonfuls of sour cream, add 4 sprigs of rosemary, simmer gently for a minute, the sauce is ready.

Winter seafood

The joy of winter months in France is the plenty supply of shellfish.

There are always live giant sweet scallops from North West France, and this little fat shrimps unique from the Atlantic coast between France & Spain.

I like to season scallop with olive oil & salt, then grill for 8 minutes, and steam shrimps for 3 minutes.

Tortilla Panamanian

Tortilla is a Spanish dish, basically a thick potato omelette. It is a filling dish and not my favorite. In Rene Cafe in Casco Viejo, Panama City, they serve it substituting potato with ripe plantain. A pleasant twist as the texture and flavor of plantain is more interesting than potato.