Smoked mackerel in vegetable curry

Smoked mackerel in vegetable curry

I stocked up a lot of smoked mackerel to use during confinement period. It is important to serve it in different ways to make it interesting to have, and to cook. 

Smoked mackerel  on a bed of cooked buckwheat and quinoa

1. Warm up smoked mackerel on a bed of cooked grain/potato, here I have buckwheat and quinoa, bake at 170˚C for 15 minutes.

2. Make a simple veg curry, sweat vegetables (carrot and turnip) until soft, add curry powder, caraway and a tbsp of flour (to thicken sauce afterwards), stir to mix well.

vegetable curry

3. Add 100ml coconut milk, same amount of water, season with salt, soy sauce and brown sugar. Simmer for 5 minutes, sauce should thicken, and juice of half or one lemon to balance the smoky flavor of mackerel.

4. Place warm up mackerel fillets into curry sauce and simmer for another minutes, serve with a few fresh herbs, like fennel.

Nettle pumpkin soup

Nettle pumpkin soup

Saw at the corner of the garden there is a patch of nettle growing, best time to pick the tiptop leaves (with gloves) to use. There is just a mild green flavor but is said to be high in iron, and anyway a good extra wild green to use. Great that it stays bright green after cooking.

nettle

1. Cut pumpkin or butternut squash into pieces, sear briefly, season with salt, pepper, curry powder and turmeric, add water to cover and simmer until soft.

2. Blend to puree, bring to boil and stir in nettle leaves, simmer for a couple of minutes.

Wild garlic sesame paste

Wild garlic sesame paste

Inspired by pesto sauce, using wild garlic leaves and sesame paste, equally good in its own way.

Wild garlic sesame paste on noodle

1. Cut wild garlic into fine shreds, mix with sesame paste (Tahini), salt, soy sauce and brown sugar.

2. Cook noodle, grains or root vegetables, mix with sauce.

Picnic

hammock in the forest

It is nice to have spare time on hand, to be able to do something different. 

picnic in the forest

We packed a simple picnic lunch, grab our hammocks and went to the forest to have a leisurely lunch, then siesta in the hammocks.

picnic and hammock in the forest

 A memorable experience that should be repeated regularly from now on. 

Pickled false Holly shoots

false Holly shoots

These days in confinement and without much work to do, I walk down to the forest everyday, a luxury. As such collected a lot of shoots from this very spiky bush that looks like Holly.

false Holly

 It is mildly bitter, hard to eat a lot, hence I pickled some to eat gradually.

Pickled false Holly shoots

1. Boil water, season with vinegar, spices like ginger, star anise, pepper, salt and sugar for 15 minutes.

2. Blanch shoots in the pickling mixture, then place in conserving jar.

Pickled false Holly shoots

3. Reboil pickling mixture and fill the jar. Keep in the fridge after cooled down.

Asparagus with sesame dip

Asparagus with sesame dip

The asparagus bed produces enough shoots every couple days for a meal, very grateful. I like to bake them to keep the flavor, this time paired with a sesame dip as a source of protein.

1. Bake asparagus at 180˚C for 10 minutes.

2. Mix sesame paste (Tahini) with lemon juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and pepper.

Wild rose buds

wild rose buds

The wild rose hedge is doing well and is producing very fragrant flowers, open and last for one day only. Last year I collected petals and made rose syrup. This year I will collect buds to dry them to use as tea, said to be high in antioxidant. 

wild rose hedge

Easy meals

smoked mackerel on potato and sweet potato

With restriction on going out, I stocked up with veg and meat for 2 weeks, food items than can keep well. For meat I have no nitrate bacon, smoked mackerel, pate and sardine, for veg, carrot, potato, parsnip, cabbage, endive, onion and pepper.

no nitrate bacon on potato

Simply roast or stir-fried veg serves with warmed up mackerel or bacon is a good meal.

Roast duck with vegetables

Roast duck with vegetables

 

There are more duck available in winter in France, so roast duck is a regular cold weather dish. I tried roasting whole under Turbo grill, need turning over for perfect crispy skin result on both sides. 

Roast duck with vegetables, before cooking

This time I cut duck into 2 parts, so can be grilled without turning, shorter cooking time and easier to carve. The vegetables roasted below in duck fat have a good taste, a simple one 'pot' meal. 

roast vegetables

1. Cut back bone part out from near the thighs, so that front and back can lie flat.

2. Brush the body all over with a liqueur, rose wine or brandy etc, for aroma and cleaning the bird.

3. Rub with mixture of salt, white pepper and 5 spices powder on all sides. Rest in the fridge for a few hours.

4. Turbo grill on a rack, with root vegetables below (carrot, parsnip, garlic, butternut squash etc), at 190˚C for 25 minutes.

Parsnip soup

Parsnip soup

Usually I roast parsnip, lovely texture and flavor, for the first time I turn it into a blended soup, as a starter. Surprisingly the flavor, nutty and sweet, comes out very well.

1. Cut parsnip into pieces, cover with water, season with salt and pepper, bring to boil and simmer until soft, around 15 minutes.

2. Blend into puree, adjust seasoning.

3. Mix fresh coriander leaves with olive oil and salt, serve on top, with a sprinkle of diced red pepper as decoration.

Colour in the forest

forest coming back to life

The forest is coming back to life, bursts of green start to show up here and there. 

tiny stream in the forest

As I wander down, I could hear a ‘roaring’ noise from the tiny stream down below. After a number of abnormal extra powerful storms last month, the volume of water in the stream has increased tremendously. 

small flowers

So are flowers along the river, so many little white, yellow blue flowers on a bright green carpet of leaves.

Mid March flowers

pear flowers

Crab apple flowers

Cherry, pear and crab apple are flowering beautifully, so is wisteria, just starting to show off the pastel purple flowers. 

cherry flowers

wisteria flowers

Wild greens in the forest

wild garlic leaves and shoots of False Holly

In a lock down situation, less going out even for shopping is healthier. Very grateful that I could wander down to the forest for a leisurely walk, and pick up some wild garlic leaves and tender shoots of False Holly to eat. 

stir-fry shoots of False Holly and wild garlic leaves

Last spring I picked a number of wild garlic bulbs from a nearby big river, where the ground, as far as you can see, is covered by garlic green. Really happy to see them survived and spread near the little stream. 

wild garlic

Liver pear stew

Liver pear stew

A nice hot bowl of stew on noodle is a wonderful meal in a cold winter day. I used pear instead of potato for a soft moist texture to contrast with liver.

1. Cut lamb’s liver into cubes, season with salt, soy sauce, pimenton, black pepper and brandy for a few hours.
2. Sweat carrot, pear, ginger and garlic until soft, add ale, season with soy sauce, brown sugar, simmer for a few minutes.
3. Sear liver on all surfaces, add a tbsp flour and mix well.
4. Add lamb piece into boiling stew and turn off heat, rest for 10 minutes to cook through liver. Stir well, sauce will thicken from the flour used in cooking liver.

5. 

   Liver pear stew

Grilled lamb chop with potato chips

Grilled lamb chop with potato chips

My fastest way to make potato chips, and so easy, of course the grilled lamb chop is delicious too.

1. Season lamb chop with salt and pepper for a few hours.

2. Cut potato into thin chips.

3. Place potato chips on baking tray, turbo grill at 200˚C for 6 minutes.

Grilled lamb chop with potato chips

4. Put chops on baking rack on top of chips, grill for another 5 minutes, the fat will melt and crisp up chips.

5. Rest in the oven with door ajar, for another 3 minutes, for a juicy pink result.

March flowers

hyacinths

Hyacinths came up big and bright, just always top heavy and a bit bendy. 

row of peach trees

peach tree

Peach trees all flowering well, and so happy to see bees buzzing around them. 

peach flowers

peach flowers with bee

Grilled scallop with fresh coriander

Approaching the end of the fresh scallop season, with the coral getting bigger and the meat smaller. I used the turbo grill function this time, for a faster heat up effect and warm but still raw in the middle.

Grilled scallop with fresh coriander

1. Clean and wipe dry scallop, turbo grill at 200˚C for 5 minutes.

2. Mix fresh coriander leaves with olive oil and salt, place a small portion on each scallop just before serving.

Dressed spider crab in endive

Dressed spider crab in endive

The way to use crab in dinner gathering in the west is to serve the meat only.  Since spider crab is affordable and has sweet taste, I decided to spend the time to make this dish, super easy to make just need the patience and care. 

spider crab

1. Buy a cooked spider crab (only cooked one available in the market here), or if manage to get a live one, boil for 15-20 minutes depending on size.

2. Remove crab fat from the shell and all the meat from body, legs and claws, mix together and add a tablespoon of sour cream to add creaminess and cut the natural saltiness.

3. Serve on endive or on bread.