12kg Albacore

 

12kg Albacore

Fisherman brought back a 12 kg albacore, unlike red tuna which is an endangered species, this one, also called white tuna, is allowed to be fished.

It is divided into belly part, and 4 strips of filet that are cut into top and tail halves, I kept the belly and half of the pieces and made 4 friends very happy.

quick seared tuna belly

The belly is instantly quick seared with a light sprinkle of brown sugar to caramelise for a brown look, without the need to overcook.

raw tuna seasoned with soy sauce

The end bits are cut into cubes and seasoned with soy sauce to firm the meat and eaten raw.

Grape harvest lunch

grape harvest lunch

A good lunch is essential to keep the spirit high through out the whole working day. 

cucumber curry soup

 1. Cucumber curry soup - sweet onion and garlic until soft and sweet, add cucumber, water, season with salt and curry powder, bring to boil and simmer until cucumber soft. Blend to puree and reboil before serving with sour cream to round up the flavor. Garnish with dried cucumber and tomato flakes.

2. BBQ ribs -season ribs with miso paste, soy sauce, liqueur, crushed garlic, and some brown sugar. 

baked runner beans with cooked tomato mix herbs sauce

3. Baked runner bean with cooked tomato as sauce, mix herbs for flavor and season with salt and olive oil. 

baked butternut squash

4. Baked butternut squash

Blackberry sauce with yogurt and sponge cake trifle

5. Blackberry sauce with yogurt and sponge cake trifle.

Grape harvest

After careful evaluation of sugar and acid levels in both red and white grapes which are within the good range, and considering the beginning of cold humid night and hot sunny day condition which is great for molds to grow, decided to harvest all grapes today for wine making. 

Tannat

 

gros manseng

 

picked and de-stemmed by hand

  

grapes being cracked

  

 

Oyster and mussel at the beach

Cap Breton beach

When tourists are mostly gone, the sun is still shining and wind is cool, it is good to spend an afternoon at the beach, near Cap Breton and Hossegor at the Atlantic coast. 

Hossegor tidal lake next to the sea

Nothing beat the atmosphere of eating in front of the tidal lake where oysters are raised, in a basic shack run by oyster farmers.

oyster at Hossegor

Won't say the oysters are top in flavor, so have move to a restaurant to satisfy the taste buds with a steaming pot of mussels from Mont St Michel area and lightly battered smelt, both from the north coast. 

mussel mariniere and smelt

Cauliflower blood sausage tomato stew

Cauliflower blood sausage tomato stew

Got a small harvest of cauliflower and kale, as they are both quite fibrous due to not watering a lot, takes longer to cook them, so best used in a stew.

 

kale and cauliflower

1. Cut tomatoes into pieces, cauliflower into florets, blood sausages into slices. 

2. Place some tomatoes in the bottom of a baking dish, sprinkle some salt, then the cut up cauliflower and kale, season with salt and coriander powder, next is blood sausages on top, and finally remaining tomatoes. 

3. Sprinkle salt and thyme on tomatoes, drizzle some sour cream on top, bake at 180˚C until vegetable soft, around 40 minutes. 

Lard fried rice and kaffir lime

 

Lard fried rice and kaffir lime

After cooking pork sausages, there are oil left in the pan, delicious organic lard with seasoning. I won't throw it away, use it to reheat cold rice, with the addition of finely cut kaffir lime leaves for a lift in flavor.

Multicolours and textures corn

black glutinous and white glutinous corn

Last year I grew black glutinous and white glutinous corn, they were only mildly sweet but had a pleasant chewy texture. As corn has separate male and female flowers and pollinated by wind, I end up have black and white corn.

corn plants

I saved some seeds and planted them this year, at the same place also planted yellow sweet corn. They got mix pollinated and I have corn that have black, white and yellow seeds all in one, with their respective chewy mildly sweet or soft and sweet characters, most interesting!

corn that have black, white and yellow seeds all in one

Tomato apple chutney

Got a good bowl of cherry tomato Cocktail Clementine, and knowing I am going to serve pork sausages for lunch, got the idea of making a chutney to go with it. 

Tomato apple chutney

1. Cut apple into small pieces, cherry tomatoes into halves, mince garlic and ginger.

2. Sweat garlic and ginger until brown, add apple and cherry tomatoes, season with salt, 5 spices powder, adjust flavor with brown sugar or cider vinegar. Cook gently for 20 minutes until soft. Add coriander just before serving.

Fermented cabbage (sauerkraut) and beetroot

Cabbages that were planted in April have finally grown to good size. Other then cooking them fresh, also ferments some into sauerkraut to prolong the enjoyment. I like to mix sauerkraut with sliced apple or pear or carrot to eat as salad, or cook warm when weather is cooler.

Fermented cabbage (sauerkraut)

1. Cut cabbage into thin slices, some garlic and ginger into slices, add 1.5% its weight of salt, mix well and rest for a couple of hour until soften.

2. Prepare boiled and cooled down water with 1.5% salt.

3. In a big jar, add cabbage and all the liquid that came out, press gently to pack tight, then add brine until well cover the vegetable.

4. Cover the open top with cling film to let air out and nothing to go in. Cover the jar with cloth or paper bag and leave at room temperature, bubbles will form in a couple of days.

5. When it is sour enough to your taste (around 3 weeks for me), pack into smaller jars and keep in the fridge. 

fermented beetroot

6. The same process for beetroot, fermentation will be faster as it is a sweet vegetable, and only a week at room temperature is sour enough, for me.

Baked cauliflower in mustard cream sauce

 

Baked cauliflower in mustard cream sauce

This home grown cauliflower is very tough compared with shop bought ones, probably because of less irrigation. Take longer to cook to soft, so much easier to bake in a sauce.

 

Baked cauliflower in mustard cream sauce before baking

1. Make a sauce with sour cream, mustard, fermented plum sauce (optional), soy sauce and a little brown sugar.

2. Cut cauliflower into florets, add to sauce and mix well, place in baking dish, wrap in baking paper to keep moisture in, bake at 180˚C until soft, around 40 minutes.

Pork rib eye

Pork rib eye

This piece of pork rib eye is closest to the neck and is beautifully marbled, my favorite cut. 

Pork rib eye

The flavor and texture is actually quite like beef. I simple season with a little salt and mild miso paste, sear one side at medium high heat until brown, and the other side at low heat to cook through.

Melon

honeydew Nutmeg

cantaloupe Edmir

I grows 3 types of melon this year, honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon. Due to cold wet June, the first 2 types mature in August without enough sugar, mildly sweet with soft flesh. I used them in soup, or let my chickens enjoy them.

watermelon Sugar Baby

watermelon Sugar Baby

Finally watermelon Sugar Baby, it takes a month longer to mature, got enough sugar inside. While it is still hot this September in the afternoon, I can enjoy a slice of ice cold melon. 

watermelon Sugar Baby

Wild blackberry mouse tart

Wild blackberry

With heavy rain in end August and then non stop sunshine in September, wild blackberry is doing well. Picked around 12 kg so far, unlike farmed blackberry, wild ones have a unique herbal taste, not sweet nor sour.

I added some brown sugar to cook until soft, use Kitchenaid to sieve out the hard seeds, otherwise is not edible. It is a mildly sweet thick coulis that is great with yogurt.

Wild blackberry mouse tart

Also make this purplish mousse tart, the base is a thin layer of Frangipane (almond powder, egg, butter and sugar baked together).

 

Wild blackberry mouse tart

The mouse is made using blackberry coulis warmed up and mixed with gelatine, then fold into equal volume of lightly whipped cream. Pour on tart layer and set in the fridge.

Physalis (cape gooseberry)

Physalis (cape gooseberry)

I like this fruit that matures in September, well protected with its own wrap, no need to worry of any attack. I bought 3 plants from garden centre and also grown two from seeds. 

tall physalis from garden centre

The plants from garden centre are, as usual, big and tall, producing orange fruits with good balance of sweet and sour, uniform in colour and flavor. 

crawling physalis from seeds

The plants from seeds have long branches but did not manage to grow tall. The fruits are smaller and easily fall off, even when not mature, range from light green to light yellow. The flavor is less sour, but there is a bigger range of different sweetness, very interesting. 

Physalis (cape gooseberry)

I like to use it to garnish a salad or as snack to go with drinks, the different flavors never fail to impress.