Finally, after 2 years, many flowers
appeared, small fruits formed and dropped, one fruit managed to hang on and
grow !
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| Buddha's hand |
Showing posts with label 2016-07. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2016-07. Show all posts
Beetroot, zucchini "noodle" in nutty, kaffir lime leaf sauce
Made this vegetarian dish for a
"pot-luck" dinner, I like it to be colourful, eye-catching to draw attention.
The nutty sauce gives richness to the vegetables and adding just a few kaffir
lime leaves is enough to have a wonderful surprising aroma.
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| Beetroot, zucchini "noodle" in nutty, kaffir lime leaf sauce |
1. Wrap beetroot in aluminium foil and bake at 180˚C until
soft, around 45 minutes. When cool, remove skin, use a julienne-cutter to turn
beetroot into "noodle".
2. Also use julienne-cutter to transform
zucchini into "noodle", season with salt to soften and draw out liquid.
3. Cut onion into strips and cook in olive
oil at medium heat until soft and sweet.
4. Mix half portion of onion into beetroot
and zucchini separately.
5. Blend walnut (or peanut) with olive oil
and salt to coarse paste. Cook in equal volume of water, season with curry
powder, soy sauce and brown sugar. When cool, mix in kaffir lime leaves cut
into very find pieces.
6. Mix half the sauce with zucchini and
beetroot separately, then assemble in a dish.
Spit-Roast 1, 2, 3 and 4
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| Guinea fowls |
Recently purchased 4 Guinea fowls to fatten up for 3 months, they have very pretty feather. Guinea fowls are less domesticated than chicken, like to roam around in the garden to forage for food, but still need to supply mix grains as feeds.
They are named as Spit-Roast 1, 2, 3, 4,
the fattest being number 1.
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| Guinea fowls |
Moist and light chocolate cake
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| Moist and light chocolate cake |
Usually we make chocolate cake using cocoa
powder, I found that using chocolate bar (with cocoa butter) gives
a better result. This cake is very easy to make, light and fluffy, stay moist even
the next day.
4 egg yolks
40gm brown sugar
80ml liqueur (whisky/Cointreau/Rum etc)
100gm dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa
mass)
80gm white flour or almond flour
4 egg whites
a pinch of salt
1. Melt chocolate on warm water bath.
2. Whisk yolks with sugar on warm water
bath until sugar dissolved. Mix in liqueur, melted chocolate and lastly flour.
3. Whisk whites, add a pinch of salt and
continues to whisk until soft peak forms.
4. Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture
gently.
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| Moist and light chocolate cake |
5. Pour into cake ring on a baking tray
lined with baking paper, bake at 160˚C until surface dry to touch, around 25 minutes.
Vegetable garden
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| zucchini |
Now that there is a regular supply of
runner bean, zucchini, beetroot, cucumber, herbs, salad, there are these coming
up for harvest very soon:
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| tomato |
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| soy edamame |
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| carrot/parsnip |
Black garlic machine
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| garlic |
Excellent machine, convert garlic to
perfect black ones in 12 days, has been working non-stop since harvest!
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| black garlic |
Runner bean with chicken
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| runner bean |
Runner bean is the popular dish on the
dining table now. My favorite cooking is still to bake at 170˚C for 15 minutes,
when the rawness just gone. Sometimes I simply eat them as such, no dressing,
enjoy the natural sweetness of the bean.
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| runner bean |
Or I reheat frozen roast chicken meat (or
use fresh one), with some preserved lemon and lots of mix herbs like fennel,
basil, parsley etc) , season with salt & pepper, then add the baked beans
in at the end.
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| runner bean with chicken |
Pomegranate
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| pomegranate |
Many years ago I went to Sicily for a holiday in late autumn, at pomegranate harvesting time. They are like orange balls hanging on trees, everywhere. I tasted one picked from the tree and so red and sweet that I kept the seeds. They germinated well and this is the biggest one in my garden, the first time they bear flowers.
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| pomegranate |
Excellent wine label
Should encourage wine makers to follow this
example!
(and the wine is good too)Little starters
It is sort of popular
now to serve small starters to have with drinks on the
terrace or sofa area when having friends home for dinner, and much less formal too.
From what is available
in the garden, I created 2 dishes:
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| beetroot noodle with kale pesto |
1. Beetroot
"noodle" with kale pesto- great visual impact and a different way to
enjoy beetroot
- Wrap beetroot in
aluminium foil and bake at 180˚C until soft, around 45 minutes.
- When cooled down,
remove skin and use a julienne peeler to turn into "noodle".
- Mix with kale pesto
or normal pesto
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| baked onion with preserved lemon |
2. Baked onion with
preserved lemon- the little bit of salty sour lemon enhances the sweetness of onion.
- Cut onion into
segments, put in a baking dish of similar size, with sprigs of thyme at
the bottom.
- Fill 2/3 full with
olive oil, cover with lid, bake at 180˚C until soft, around 45 minutes.
- Cut up preserved
lemon, mix with olive oil and chive.
Baked cod in coconut milk
This is another easy way to cook cod filet,
or any white fish filet, with vegetables and herbs, a meal on its own.
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| baked cod with vegetable |
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| baked cod with vegetable |
1. Remove skin of filet, season with salt
& white pepper for at least a few hours to firm the meat.
2. Place herbs at the bottom of baking dish
like fennel, parsley, then filets on top, add shredded carrot, mix herbs and
100ml of coconut milk, season with salt and nutmeg. Bake at 200˚C for 15
minutes.
Seared cod with baked onion
I now understand why cod is so popular in
the past, to be caught to near extinction. The flesh is thick, pure white, no
little bones, no smell (even after defrost), easy to please in different cooking
methods.
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| Seared cod with baked onion |
1. Season cod filet with salt and pepper
for a day to firm the meat.
2. Sear on medium heat in frying pan, with
baked onion and thyme, cover with lid until flesh lose translucency, open lid
to dry the pan.
Baked onion
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| baked onion |
Onion baked in butter and thyme until soft
(180˚C around an hour), they are succulent and sweet.
Farm to table 0 km meal
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| farm Haranea |
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| Christian Aguerre |
This is what he has achieved for his family farm, originally raising
chicken only, now also has 80 Basque traditional breed of pig and growing
Espelette pepper, using organic methods.
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| Basque traditional breed of pig, living outdoor all year round, slaughter at 18 months old |
He transforms the produces into ham, bacon, blood
sausage, cooked dishes in jars, condiments and sauces etc for added value and lengthen storage time.
All the produces are sold direct to customer via purchase groups in
different towns.
As chairman of the co-operative, he set examples for other farms to
follow, for earning a better income, in order to encourage young people to join
this dying profession.
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| Restaurant Haraneko Borda |
The latest project is a restaurant, open only 3 days a week, as the
chef needs to work on the vegetable garden as well. The materials are sourced from 4 organic
farms around, plus line caught fish from local fishermen.
It is a joy to eat in the restaurant, knowing how the food are produced and prepared, on top of being very delicious.
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| 26 months aged ham, no nitrate |
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| blood sausage |
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| goat cheese with espelette tomato sauce |
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| hake with grilled pepper, confit garlic and oninon |
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| roast pork and baked mix vegetable |
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| pork shoulder pink |
Chicken coconut vegetable soup
There is enough meat in a roasted guinea fowl for 4 good meals for two,
plus bones for making stock later. It is convenient to have portions of cooked
meat in the freezer, so that it is fast to prepare a meal when in a rush.
On a hot summer day, it is important to drink a lot, I like that in the
form of a big vegetable soup, also an easy way to use up miscellaneous
vegetables gathered from the garden.
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| Chicken coconut vegetable soup |
1. Sweat onion until soft, add in water, coconut milk, a few bay leaves,
some sprigs of thyme, season with salt, turmeric, curry powder, and white
pepper.
2. Add in mix vegetables cut into cubes, I used beetroot, potato,
mangetout, simmer until cooked, add in cooked chicken meat cut into pieces.
3. Serve into bowls and add fresh herbs like
coriander, kaffir lime leaves, basil, parsley etc.
Spit roast guinea fowl
Summer is outdoor cooking and eating time. Spit roasting bird is a
favourite, just let it slowly cook to perfection, with a tray of vegetable
below to be cooked in the fat.
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| Spit roast guinea fowl |
1. Season guinea fowl inside and under the skin with mixture of salt and
white pepper.
2. Brush on a mixture of honey and cider vinegar (1:1) on the skin. Place bird on a rack to
dry the skin in the fridge for at least one day.
3. Spit roast bird, prepare a tray of vegetable, sliced fennel,
parboiled potato, carrot etc.
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| Spit roast guinea fowl |
4. When bird is ready to serve, mix lettuce into the baked vegetable and add in juice of lemon
to make a dressing.
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| baked vegetable with lettuce |
Pickled onion
This is a good way to enjoy juicy fresh
onion without too much cooking. Served in a starter with beetroot and couscous.
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| pickled onion |
1. Bake beetroot wrapped in aluminium foil
at 180˚C for 45minutes. Cut into small cubes.
2. Mix 1part of couscous with 1.5 parts boiling
water, season with salt, curry powder, salt, and coconut oil, cover with lid
for 20 minutes. Mix with beetroot.
3. Cut onion into thick strips, cook in 1/2
cider vinegar 1/2 water, add brown sugar to your taste, a big pinch of salt and
some pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes, let it cool in the liquid. It can keep in the liquid for a week in the fridge.
Wild sea salmon
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| wild salmon |
Simply cooked at med temperature, the flesh
is tender with a bite in it.
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| hot smoke wild salmon |
Also hot smoked with apple wood to have
different taste.
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| smoked wild salmon |
Organic sheep farm
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| organic sheep farm |
Virginie, previous music
teacher to mentally retarded children, music therapist to patients, turned
sheep farmer at age 43.
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| Virginie Cosnay, organic sheep farm |
The change has not
been easy, but she admitted happily that the road ahead gradually unfold in
front, with help from friends, family and fellow farmers when needed.
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| organic sheep farm |
She has 13 Ha of land,
her 50plus sheep are raised on grass only, no fattening on corn at all. They
move up to the hills in mid June for a second round of "spring " grass
there, and will stay for 2 months. They are treated with herbal, homeopath medicine,
she learned the art through reading books, taking courses and careful
observation.
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| her place |
Virginie said this is
her place, she is content here, looking after sheep at this phase of her life.
Owls channel 3
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| barn owl with mouse |
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| barn owl with mouse |
In an hour, the family caught 6 mice, excellent help to reduce mouse population in my vegetable garden.
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| barn owl with mouse |
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