Lamb's liver and bacon

 

Lamb's liver and bacon

 

Ordered both items from the organic farm, reminded me of the Cantonese BBQ chicken liver and pork fat dish. Baked them in a dish and the result is like a liver pate infused with spices and bacon flavor. 

1. Cut lambs's liver into 1 cm pieces, season with soy sauce, 5 spices powder, ginger powder, rice wine and brown sugar for a day. 

2. Arrange in a baking dish a piece of liver with a strip of streaky bacon, pour remaining marinade on top. Bake at 160˚C until cooked, around 40 minutes.

Seaweed fertilizer

 

Seaweed fertilizer

 

I followed a polytunnel gardening group in Ireland, and in winter they have the traditional habit of picking up seaweed that have piled up on the shore. Lots of them, to be laid on top of veg plots to over winter, the soil will be enriched with good source of fertilizer. While out for a visit at Burren NP, went to the nearby west coast and found lots of seaweed on the shore to gather, will see how well they decompose in the winter months.

Burren National Park

 

Burren National Park

Burren National Park

 

It is a famous Park in Ireland because of the unique barren karst limestone landscape. The whole area is full of clints and grikes, with small plants growing in the grikes and wherever there is shelter from wind. 

 

Burren National Park grikes

Burren National Park clints and grikes

 

Many big and small ponds and water comes out of the ground or go underground typical of the rock formation. Found to have 70% of all the wild flower species in Ireland, I will come back in spring and summer to see the bloom.  

 

Burren National Park Dolmen

There are also 2 Dolmens, ancient graves built around 5200BC, a common feature in Europe,  this is one of the best preserved one, out of many, found in Ireland.

Ma pork ribs

 

Ma pork ribs before cooking

Ma pork ribs after baking

 

Every now and then I have a craving for pork ribs, this time being braised with Sichuan pepper for the Ma feeling.

1. Pound a tablespoon Sichuan pepper, garlic and ginger to a pulp, add soy sauce, brown sugar, 5 spices powder and rice wine, marinate pork ribs for a day.

2. Take out from the fridge for 2 hours before cooking, pre-heat oven to 200˚C then reduce heat to 150˚, bake for 1.5 hours.

Lamb brisket roll

 Lamb brisket roll

 

It is the first time to find lamb brisket being roll up by butcher for roasting, so this time I braised it in the oven for 3 hours, sliced to serve, a different texture and better presentation.

 

 Braised lamb brisket roll, served cold

 Braised lamb brisket roll, served hot

 

1. Bring to boil with the lamb roll, a sauce that will cover the lamb roll in a baking dish 2/3 up, with water, soy sauce, miso, star anis, clove, garlic, cinnamon, rice wine and brown sugar.

2. Transfer to baking dish, braise at 140˚C for 3 hours, turning over every half hour.

3. Let it cool down in the oven, slice to serve cold as cold cut, or warm up with sauce.

Irish oysters

 

Dooncastle oysters

Dooncastle oysters

 

Tried 2 types of oyster from the on-line site, Dooncastle oyster (species Pacific) at Euro 16/dozen, and wild Clew Bay native flat oyster at Euro 18/dozen. Dooncastle oyster is being farmed by an ex-fisherman and well liked by restaurant chefs. Clew Bay flat oyster is the wild native species and is hand picked by divers, being less fast growing and robust compared with the introduced Pacific species and hence not being farmed in Ireland.

 

Clew bay wild flat oysters

Clew bay wild flat oysters

 

Dooncastle oyster is oval deep dished shape, flavorful, creamy and of a good size. Clew bay flat oyster being round and thinner, has more complex mineral flavor, both are good in their own way.

Seared scallops on a rough chopped pesto sauce

 

 Seared scallops on a rough chopped pesto sauce

I like having fresh scallop cooked in its shell on its own, fabulous taste. When it is removed from the shell and seared, it needs to be paired with something to compliment its mild taste and soft texture. This time I tried rough chopped pesto like sauce and find it works quite well, offering mild aroma and crunchiness of pine nut.

1. Dry roast pine nuts in a pan, chop with parsley (still in production now, or basil if available) and parmesan cheese to a rough texture, season with salt and black pepper.

2. Sear scallop in butter, lay on top of pesto and pour remaining butter from the pan on top.

Smoky lamb shank

I like this very low part of lamb leg, with some tendon between meat, the texture is much more interesting. Just takes longer to cook, which make it worth cooking more pieces at the same time, keep the remaining cooked ones in the freezer for an easy meal another day.

4 lamb shanks

 Smoky lamb shank

 

 

1. Make a marinade of orange juice, soy sauce, miso, smoked pimenton, brown sugar, 5 spices powder, minced garlic and pepper. Keep lamb shanks in the marinade for at least a day.

2. Bring to room temperature, bake at 130˚C for 2 hours, baste shanks with marinade every half hour.

Winter green house planting

 

garlic germinated

pea germinated

 

While the green houses are built, I can't wait to see how vegetable grows inside, protected from wind and rain.

broad bean seedlings

Garlic and pea have germinated, just planted broad bean seedlings grown indoor, 2 pieces of ginger with buds have not shown any sign of life yet. 

 

raise beds covered with straw

 

The second green house is also ready, covered with organic straw to wait till planting time.

Dexter cow tongue

 Dexter cow tongue after blanching

 Dexter cow tongue

 

Ordered a tongue of this small breed of cow, and sure the tongue is smaller than normal. I like the unique texture of tongue and since price is low,  it is very value for having organic meat.

1. Boil for 10 minutes to firm the shape, use a knife to cut off the white outer hard skin.

2. While making Shanghainese ribs with soy sauce, dark vinegar, brown sugar and star anis, I add the tongue in to simmer together. Took 2 hours to soften.

Baked potato with miso

 

Baked potato with miso

 

I like adding a table spoom of light colour miso when baking sliced potato, with minced garlic, salt and olive oil, bake at 170˚C for 25 minutes, the browning effect is good without using high temperature long baking.

Bread with fermented rice

 

normal bread and bread with fermented rice on the right

normal bread and bread with fermented rice on the right

Another experiment after reading Koji Alchemy, is to substitute a portion of water with fermented rice in making the dough. Here I used 100gm fermented rice in a 600gm dough, made together with a normal one for comparison. There is a difference after the first rise, the dough is more bouncy when kneaded.

The baked look is better probably because of the sugar in fermented rice, the texture is firmer but soft to eat, not tough like bread made with high gluten flour, with a mild nutty sweetness, again very impressed with the result.

Pork shoulder steak

 

 

Pork shoulder steak

Pork shoulder is my favorite cut, the meat is darker with more fat inside, hence more tasty and moist. This time I seasoned with salt and black pepper, simply cooked just want to taste the meat without sauce, delicious.

1. Season pork shoulder steak (inch thick)with salt and black pepper for a few hours.

2. Sear at medium heat all sides golden, 2 minutes each, cut into thick slices and place in 180˚C oven to cook the middle, around 10 minutes.

Spanish organic Iberico Bellota ham

 

 

Spanish organic Iberico Bellota ham

Spanish organic Iberico Bellota ham

                                                       

Very happy to be able to order this 44 months cured organic ham from Finca Montefrio in Jabugo Spain, to be delivered to Ireland in a week's time, fantastic delivery service.

Visited this family farm a few years ago and is impressed with the beautiful forested land they have. Very healthy black pigs roam freely in different parcels of land, grouped by their sizes and the need to rotate to different parcel of land regularly.

Their ham is mildly salty, with a sweet undertone and a rich umami taste.

Green house 1

 

                                                        green house

 

Green house 1 was built couple weeks ago, with six raised beds to make it comfortable to work. This one is to house perennial plants, mostly small fruits.

Finally the order for bare root plants arrived and I am so happy to be planting them inside: 4 blackcurrants, 4 gooseberries, 1 Jotaberry, 2 blackberries, 1Tayberry, 1 Loganberry, 12 raspberries, 1 red and 1 white grapevine, 1 lemon, 1 calamansi, 1 bergamot and one kaffir lime.

The bushes will take a year to grow and bear fruit, in order not to waste the soil, I planted garlic, pea and ginger around the rims of the beds.

Cod fish balls

 

 

cod

cod fish balls

With the stormy weather, the fishmonger is not presenting a lot of exciting catches, so ordered white fish for a change. Decided to turn it into fish balls, more tasty than cooking the fish as such, for me. Next time I will add fine strips of black wood ear fungus and old mandarin peel to add flavor and texture.

 

cod fish balls before cooking

1. Remove skin, cut into cubes, season with salt, blend to a puree.

2. Form into balls and throw into boiling water, reduce heat to 80˚c, so that the middle can cook through without the outside too overcooked.

Fermented rice pickled vegetables

 

Shio Koji half day pickled Khol Rabi

 

After reading Koji Alchemy, I have to admire the work that have been done by those western chefs, extensive tests on various food items, with detail scientific explanation so that readers feel safe to follow. Also wondered why I, having eaten fermented rice since young and in recent years make it and rice wine regularly, have not thought of such new ways of using it.

Basically koji (the now well known name for this rice ferment) is a mould that produce enzymes to convert starch to sugar, protein and fatty acid to smaller chain molecules. The Chinese version (a dry white ball or cube) contains yeast too, that convert sugar to alcohol.

 

Traditionally in Asia, Koji is used at home on cooked grains, mostly rice, to make the dessert or rice wine. More experienced people use it to make soy sauce or fermented bean paste.

 

In this book, the chefs tested using Koji fermented rice, most often salted with 5% salt (Shio Koji) to pickle vegetables, converting part of the starch/protein/fatty acid content into more diverse flavors. They also use it on dairy products, nut, curing meat and fish.... generating new flavors.

 

fermented rice with 5% salt

I quickly make some fermented rice, salted at 5% to keep in the fridge, and start playing with it. First is pickling Khol Rabi for half a day, and cooked potato and egg for a week.

I have been making half day salt pickled Khol Rabi every week, love the crunchy mildly sweet taste. This Shio Koji pickled Khol Rabi is still crunchy and mildly sweet, but with an underlying floral honey aroma.

 

Shio Koji cured cooked potato and eggs

The 1 week pickled cooked egg is nothing special, just feel salty, but the pickled cooked potato has a celery/parsley herb flavor, very pleasant and most amazing to taste the result.