Goji berry

goji plant

I have been growing goji for 3 years, some from cuttings of the vegetable 枸杞 sold for the green leaves in the market in Hong Kong, some from plants bought in garden centre in France.

goji folwer

Those cuttings from Hong Kong are finally doing well this year, with a lot of flowers, some turning to fruits already.

goji berry

I gradually learn its growing habit and form, definitely not a pretty plant, a scrawny climber, bearing flowers in each year's newly grown young shoots.

 

Early fig harvest

figs

Picking figs in end August, the first in many years!

I need to thanks birds, starlings in particular, that descends onto the tree, and so alerted me to check the fruits. 

green figs

In quick look, the old tree seems to be full of small green fruits, but on close inspection, there is always one fig in the group that is mods advanced in maturity, a phenomenon I have not seen in previous years.

figs

Quiche with okra, pumpkin and fresh fennel seed

Quiche with okra, pumpkin and fresh fennel seed

I like making Quiche, it is a way to use up mix vegetables on hand, as long as they are the dry type, in a presentable and portable way. Both fresh green fennel seed and flowers are used, as they are producing a lot at the moment.

fresh fennel seeds and flowers

1. Sweat onion in medium heat until soft and lightly golden, around half an hour. Cut cooked pumpkin into cubes, and raw okra into thick slices.

2. Blind bake short crust pastry in a pie dish, when ready (light golden), sprinkle half grated cheese at the bottom while hot, a good way to seal the pastry. Then sprinkle half of the fresh fennel seeds, put onion on top, the rest of the fennel seeds, followed by pumpkin and okra pieces.

3. Whisk 3 eggs, season with salt and white pepper, add 250ml cream fresh, pour into Quiche, sprinkle remaining grated cheese on top, bake at 170˚C until just set, around 20 minutes.

4. While hot, place fennel flowers on the surface for colour and flavor.

Cod in fennel seed yogurt cream sauce

Still enjoying frozen cod filets caught in Denmark, this fish is so easy to prepare. I use just formed fresh fennel seed which are mild in taste but soft.

cod in fennel seed yogurt cream sauce

 

1. Sear cod skin side down in frying pan with lid on.

2. When nearly cooked through, add carrot and green bell pepper.

3. When filet flake easily, remove from heat, add sour cream, yogurt, fennel seed, season with salt and pepper.

Beetroot crisp

It is now easy to buy vegetable crisp, but mostly are fried and oily. It is easy to make at home using a fruit drier, crispy result and do not need oil. For beetroot, need to cook first as dried raw beetroot has an earthy taste that is not very pleasant. 

beetroot crisps

1. Wrap beetroot in foil and bake at 180˚C until just turn soft when squeezed, around 40 minutes.

2. When cool, remove skin, cut into roughly1mm slices, arrange in fruit drier to dry.

Pasta with baked tomato

The first harvest of tomatoes are not that flavourful due to lack of sun, they are transformed into lumpy tomato sauce. 

baked tomato sauce

 

1. Place tomato in baking tray, bake at 160˚C for an hour, leave in the oven until cooled down.

2. Remove skin, break the now very soft tomato into big pieces to open it up, season with olive oil and salt. 

baked tomato sauce

3. Bake at 120˚C for 2-3hours to dry it to a sauce.

pasta with baked tomato sauce and parmesan cheese

4. To serve with pasta, dilute sauce with water, add a good handful of basil leaves, check seasoning.

Lamb with yogurt coriander sauce

A second sowing of coriander seed in early summer produces a good supply of leaves. I pick them very young, when the leaves are tender and juicy. Coriander goes well with a tangy sauce

lamb with yogurt coriander sauce

1. Season lamb shoulder or leg meat with salt and black pepper for a day.

2. Sear all sides brown, bake at 150˚C until pink in the middle.

3. Cook tomato and garlic in the pan, season with turmeric powder, soy sauce, brown sugar, add sour cream and yogurt to thicken the sauce, mix in coriander just before serving.

Tomatoes

tomatoes

It is the time to harvest tomatoes, unfortunately this summer has not been very sunny, they are not bursting with flavor, have to convert them into tasty sauces instead. 

Sweet potato shoots

sweet potato

Finally sweet potatoes have caught up with their growth and spread vigorously, it is time to prune them back, cutting off all the tender shoots.

sweet potato shoots

This serves two purposes, first to threaten it to store energy in the underground tubers, not just growing branch leaves.

stir-fry sweet potato shoots

The second is for a good tasty dish of stir-fry green with minced garlic.

Smoky Kombucha

I have been brewing Kombucha 茶菌, a scoby (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast feasting on black tea and sugar), claims to produce probiotic, not so much for the health benefit (do not feel any change) but more for the good taste.

smoky Kombucha

My favorite recipe is to use Lapsang Souchong smoked tea and brown sugar to brew for 6 days. There is a little residue sweetness, when diluted with 1/3 of water, it tasted like smoked prune juice (酸梅湯)

Blue sweet corn

Blue sweet corn

A dwarf variety of sweet corn, grow to around 3 feet, much better than growing the traditional ones that are 6 feet tall, easy to fall down in strong wind, strangely blue, with high level of anthocyanin and sweet.

Pizza

A bit late this year to have our first pizza dinner, because most evenings have been cool this summer, not that pleasant to sit outside!

Pizza with garlic, chive and olive oil

 1. Pizza with garlic, chive and olive oil - chive do not have a lot of flavor like we would use spring onion in Asia, but offer a touch of colour to otherwise a white garlic pizza. 

Pizza with beetroot, tomato and herbs

 2. Pizza with beetroot, tomato and herbs

Bake beetroot until soft, 180˚C around 45 minutes, use julienne peeler to make fine strips, season with balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and finely cut kaffir lime leaves.

Blanch and remove tomato skin, cut into thick slices and dry in a fruit drier for a few hours until shrink to half the thickness. Cut into cubes, season with salt, olive oil, pepper and a handful of basil leaves. 

Pizza with sardine, bell pepper and preserved lemon

 3. Pizza with sardine, bell pepper and preserved lemon

Cut orange and green bell peppers into strips, mix with olive oil, spread tomato paste on pizza dough, put pepper on top, bake until pizza turns hard.

Place sardines, in halves, preserved lemon, cut into small bits, and grated cheese on pizza, bake until edge turns golden.

Pizza with pate, zucchini and okra

 4. Pizza with pate, zucchini and okra

Cut zucchini into slices, cook on griddle pan. Blanch okra and cut into slices.

Spread tomato paste on pizza dough, place zucchini, okra on top, bake until pizza turns hard.

Place pate and grated cheese on pizza, bake until edge turns golden.

Pizza with Camembert, green tomato, date and fennel flower

5. Pizza with Camembert, green tomato, date and fennel flower

Cut green tomatoes into slices, mix with oil, place on pizza dough, bake until pizza turns hard.

Place Camembert, cut into slices, and dates, cut into cubes, on pizza, bake until edge turns golden, sprinkle fennel flowers on top while hot.

Apple and peach chutney

When there are fruit that are still good but not looking very presentable, I will turn them into chutney. The sweet, sour, spicy flavor is great with sausages or any roast meat.

Apple and peach chutney

Cook apple, peach (cut into cubes) and a handful of raisin with cider vinegar, brown sugar, big pinch of salt,  chili, clove and ginger, until apple turned soft.

Hazelnut cake - with smoked mackerel

The cake, which is made with very little sugar, can be cut into halves and use as the base for an open sandwich. I like it more than using bread, being softer, tastier and with more nutrients.

Hazelnut cake - with smoked mackerel

Mix smoked mackerel (or tuna/sardine) with sour cream, lemon juice and coriander, serve on top of hazelnut cake.

Hazelnut cake - sweet version

hazelnut cake with wild rose jelly

I can make this very versatile cake in 15 minutes, light and soft, can use in both sweet and savory dishes. The addition of a nut paste is a way to add oil into the cake to make it soft.

3 egg yolks

20gm brown sugar

45gm water or liqueur

60gm hazelnut paste (or peanut butter etc)

60gm flour

3egg whites

pinch of salt

1. Whisk yolk with sugar until sugar dissolves, stir in liquid then hazelnut paste. 

2. Mix in flour to get a thick flowing paste, not a dough.

3. Whisk egg whites, after a while add pinch of salt and whisk until soft peak. 

hazelnut cake before baking

4. Stir a bit of egg white foam into flour mixture and mix well. Fold gently remaining egg white into the mixture, pour into cake rings to less than half height. Bake at 160˚C until the surface is firm and dry, around 20 minutes.

5. When cool, serve your favorite jam/jelly/baked fruit on top or in the middle. 

hazelnut cake after baking

August harvest

I can start pulling out carrots, fresh carrot has a good crunch and a strong aroma.

carrots & tomatoes

Tomatoes are turning red slowly, indeed not enough sun during July. 

blackberry

blackberry

Not a good year for raspberry and gooseberry, but excellent for blackberry, the plant is loaded.

Sauces with garlic

Every now and then, I read health benefits of eating raw garlic, I will try it, again and again find the bloating and gas problem hard to deal with.

Recently I tried again, making different garlicky sauces to check the effect. 

confit garlic

1. Confit garlic - mince garlic, cook in goose fat (or olive oil) at low heat, to soften garlic but not change the colour, about half an hour. Keep in a jar in the fridge, very handy to use on hot vegetable, or to make garlic bread. Not very garlicky, so there is not much after effect.

pesto

2. Pesto - raw garlic, salt, basil, pine nut, Parmesan. Normally I omit garlic, this time I do the proper recipe, pounding in pestle and mortar. Very tasty, garlicky, makes any plain cooked vegetable delicious. However, there was serious bloating and gas problem the whole night.

garlic with plum sauce

3. Garlic with plum sauce - I do not like to use raw yolk in making sauce, so thought of using Japanese fermented plum paste instead. Also found using only oil to make the sauce a bit too heavy and rich, how about adding water?

Pound garlic well, mix with plum paste (very salty), alternate adding a tsp of olive oil and cooled boiled water and mix well. There is enough emulsifier naturally present in garlic (or may be plum paste) to blend water and oil well. 

carrot stickdd

The sauce is tasty with the plum taste dominating and garlicky flavor at the background, wonderful as dipping sauce for vegetable sticks or baked zucchini. 

baked zucchini, use very fat ones for the flavor

The good news is no strong side effect! May be the fermented plum helped.

Flat poach eggs

flat poach eggs

The traditional way of making poach egg is to boil a pot of water, stir the water to make a current, then crack the egg into the centre, cook until desired softness - frankly quite fussy to do.

Using a frying pan with lid is much easier, get a flat result. 

Add half cm water into the pan, in no time it will start simmering, crack the egg, put the lid on, reduce to medium heat. It will be soft boiled within a couple minutes.

Low temperature pork chop

low temperature cooked pork chop

Normally pork chop is not my favorite cut, but got it from the 4kg pork package. It can turn very dry after cooking, so I tried the low temperature cooking method.The result is good, still reasonable juicy for pork chop.

Haraneko Borda pork chop

1. Season with salt, olive oil and a few twigs of thyme overnight.I want to enjoy pork taste without any sauce.

low temperature cooking pork chop

2. Set the low temperature controller to 60˚C, place pork with seasoning into special plastic bag. Instead I used this stainless steel container, just need to turn pork chop over regularly. Cook for 75minutes for 1 inch thick piece.

low temperature cooked pork chop

3. The low temperature cooked pork chop is very soft and have a un-appetising look, so need to sear it both sides on a hot pan to give it some colour.

4kg pork package

Hareneko rare breed pig, live outdoor all year round, for around 18 months

From Hareneko Borda farm, I purchased their 4kg package of pork. This direct selling method is very popular with organic farmers, they earn more, customers pay less for good quality meat. The point to note is you cannot choose the cuts, it is given as a mixture, a way for farmer to sell all parts of the animal.

So far, most farmers delegate the butchering job to slaughter houses, who will cut the animal up and divide into whatever portions farmers asked for. The problem is most of the cuts could end up thin, may not be the best way to enjoy them.

Hareneko Borda 4kg mix pork

This farm is smart, he controls the butchering, offers decent thick cuts from  good recognizable areas, like chop, shoulder, loin, the rest he turns into sausages.

Very impressed that the sausages are so tasty, to start with, the meat is coarsely minced, there is still texture in the sausage. The plain one season with white pepper has a good porky taste, the merguez is full of paprika and spicy espelette flavor, blood sausage has the crunch of bits of ear and skin inside.