Honeybees in action

Broad beans are growing tall, with lots of white flowers with black spots. They provide early spring nectar for honey bees, easy to find lots of them fluttering around. 

broad bean

honeybee in action

honeybee in action

 

Roast milk fed lamb

Roast milk fed lamb

Easter period is when milk fed lamb is available on the market. The meat is tender, pale and mild in taste as the animal is so young.

1. Season lamb ribs/leg steaks with salt, white pepper, Sichuan pepper or rosemary, rest on rack and keep in the fridge for a day or two. 

2. Cut eggplant, radish, carrot, onion etc into big pieces, cook with salt, pepper and some water for a few minutes to just soften.

3. Put precooked vegetable in baking dish, place lamb with the rack on top, bake at 230˚C for 10 minutes, rest with oven door ajar for another 5 minutes to get a pink cooking degree.

Felling a 300 years old oak tree

One of the oak trees next to the house is badly attacked by oak worms, the bark started to peel off. As it is so close to the house, tree specialist suggested to cut it down. It had taken at least 300 years to grow to this size, but took only 3 minutes to fell it. Indeed the base is hollow!

 

 

 

 

 

Hiking in snow

A great thing to do on a fine sunny spring day is to go to a Pyrenees snow mountain, that still has enough snow for hiking, wearing racket like snow shoes. The colour is unbelievably beautiful.

 

 

Pic d'Issarb

 

Forage in the forest

I learned from an Italian friend to pick the young shoots of this prickly plant, looks a bit like holly, in spring. It looks a bit like wild asparagus and taste similar too, slightly bitter. I just stir-fry in a little olive oil until they turn from purple to green, soft but still crunchy.

 

Spring in the forest

The trees are just starting to burst out small green leaves, but the forest floor is lush green and covered with wild flowers. 

  

 

 

Tuna fennel roll

rice paper tuna fennel roll

I used Vietnamese extra thin rice paper to make this simple tuna fennel roll, brush oil on the surface then grilled to add crispiness. Since rice do not have gluten, the baked rice paper feels lighter than filo pastry.

 

Wild river trout

Fishing season started last Saturday, the riverbanks are full of activities. This brown trout is caught in a remote river up in the mountain, around 3 years old. 
Clean and bake at 200˚C for 15 minutes, and rest for another 5 minutes.
 

Vietnamese spring roll

I saw fennel planted last year already have re-grown into a dense head of fine leaves, and they are sweet and less spicy than those during summer. 

 

This made me think of making Vietnamese spring roll, which is always full of fresh herbs.

I brought back a lot of rice paper from the visit to Hoi An Vietnam. Making spring roll is a way to have a casual easy evening meal without too much cooking. 

1. Julienne carrot and green bell pepper, season with salt, white pepper and vinegar until soften, around half an hour.

2. Cook soy sauce, sugar, Sichuan pepper, wine, black pepper, ginger until flavor comes out, add dried small fish and simmer gently until liquid absorbed. (Or use bacon/shrimp etc).

3. Roast sesame or pine nut, wash & dry herbs.

4. Wet rice paper and make spring roll.  

Broad bean and garlic

Planted both in Nov last year, very happy to come back to see them growing strong. 

 

Need to wait another month to start harvesting broad bean, and 3 more lucky months to have garlic.

Egg cocotte

This small cocotte is useful in preparing egg for breakfast, simple and fast, just leave in the oven to do the cooking. 

 

 

1. Bacon & egg - oil the cocotte, cut up bacon and put at the bottom of cocotte, crack egg on top.

2. Onion, egg & goji berry - oil the cocotte, put onion first, season with salt & pepper, crack egg on top, add some goji berries.

Preheat oven at 200˚C, bake cocotte with lid on for 10 minutes, for soft yolk, leave the lid on longer for more cooked yolk.

Eggplant, shrimp & kale pesto

Easy steamed dish for a balanced meal, eggplant stayed white and soft like tofu, carry the flavor of dry shrimp and kale pesto very well.

1. In a baking dish, add a thin layer of couscous, add boiling water just enough for cooking couscous (1part couscous to 1.5part water in volume).

2. Place eggplant cut into cubes, skin side down, on top of couscous, season with salt and white pepper.

3. Briefly wash and soak dry shrimps, cut into small pieces then fry in a little oil until fragrant. Put on top of eggplant, steam until soft, around 30 minutes.

4. Place kale pesto (or normal pesto) on top just before serving.

Wild deer

Wild life at 7 in the morning, they came out of the forest and was caught wandering in the orchard, lucky that there is no damaged fruit trees.  They jump through 3 electric wires fence effortlessly!

 

 

 

 

Pomelo herbs salad

Influenced by Hoi An, Vietnamese style cooking using a lot of fresh herbs, I modified my recipe of pomelo salad adding extra mix herbs.

pomelo herbs salad

 

1. Soak dried shrimps in water for 15 minutes, cut into halves vertically, cook in a little oil until fragrant.

2. Cut garlic and shallots into thin slices, cook in a little oil, stirring all the time until golden.

3. Wash mix herbs, rocket, mint, coriander, dill etc.

4. Separate pomelo into bite size segments, add mix herbs, most of the fried ingredients, season with olive oil (or remaining oil after cooking garlic/shallot), lemon juice, fish sauce, white pepper and chili pepper.

5. Sprinkle remaining fried shrimps, garlic and shallot on top.