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| Beef in peanut sauce |
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| Beef in peanut sauce |
Another fairly warm sunny day, twice in March, not bad, grab the chance to have barbeque, to enjoy the evening light. The idea of adding peanut butter in the beef seasoning is from Satay dipped in peanut sauce, the peanut butter firms the meat and gives a nice toasty nutty flavor.
Cut beef into strips, season with salt, brown sugar, black pepper and peanut butter, rest for at least half an hour.
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| Cabbage with cracked sesame and seaweed |
This is a simple way to add fragrance and flavor to a humble cabbage dish. Cracked sesame releases more fragrance during cooking, combined with seaweed flakes, add a good dose of umami flavor.
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Long steamed beef with red date and mandarin
peel(before cooking) |
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Long steamed beef with red date and mandarin peel |
Bought some brisket and needs long cooking, thought of using the steam oven and hold in a dish with lid to cook it in its own juice. The fragrance of red date oozes out as I open the lid after cooking.
1. Cut beef into cubes, season with salt, soy sauce, brown sugar, softened and cut up dry mandarin peel and rice wine.
2. Put in a shallow pot, add cut up pitted red dates, cover with lid and make sure no steam water can drip in (cover with tin foil if necessary). The beef will shrink and release its own juice as sauce during cooking.
3. Steam until meat soft, depending on the cut, 2-3 hours.
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| Apple almond cake |
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| Apple almond cake |
I have made many apple related dessert in the past year to use up the harvest, this one is really top of the list, very fragrant and good mix of texture. Based on a recipe called Tuscany apple cake, I added raisin, reduce sweetness and amount of butter.
Juice and zest of 2 lemons
4 big cooking apples
2 eggs
100gm sugar
pinch of salt
150gm sour cream or cream
50gm melted butter
100gm flour
100gm almond flour
a handful of raisin
1.5 tsp baking soda
1. Peel and cut apples into thin slices, around 3mm, soak in lemon juice and zest.
2. Whisk egg, add in sugar and salt, whisk until dissolve, mix in sour cream and melted butter.
3. Sieve flour and baking soda, mix in almond flour, mix well to distribute baking soda evenly.
4. Mix flour into egg batter, add raisin and most of apple slices and all the juice (keep enough apple slices to cover the top of the cake), mix well.
5. Pour into well buttered baking dish, arrange remaining apple slices on top, sprinkle a couple table spoons of sugar on apple slices.
6. Bake at 180˚C for 20 minutes, lower to 160˚C for another 40 minutes, the top should be golden.
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Lamb's liver papaya rice soup |
What a combination, this dish was created thinking of quickly blanching thinly sliced lamb's liver in broth for a tender texture, hence think of a very liquid congee. Then notice the papaya was not totally ripe and hence decided to throw it in for the sweetness and colour. Add some cabbage and it becomes a balance meal.
1. Cut lamb's liver as thin as possible, season with salt, white pepper and olive oil.
2. Prepare congee with a lot more water than usual, add papaya cut into cubes and cabbage into small pieces, season with salt.
3. When rice soup is ready, mix in lamb's liver, remove from heat and let liver cook through in the warmth of the soup.
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| Spider crab fat |
On-line fishmonger got hold of a few boxes
of spider crabs on their way to France/Spain as locals do not appreciate them/nor the work involved, they are female and not that big,
only 600gm. Crab fat is abundant, absolute delight, just like hairy
crab fat. At Euro 7 for 2, they are great value for money, just cost time to enjoy eating them.
I simply steam them in the oven for 20 minutes to get the perfect jelly texture.
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| Indoor seed germination |
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| germinated seeds being planted out |
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| germinated seeds being planted out |
I started to germinate seeds indoor on transparent plastic boxes with lid on moist toilet paper, being at a constant warm temperature the condition
is perfect for seed germination, especially demanding small seeds. Using only water and no soil is cleaner to manage inside the house, and toilet paper is fragile and hence easy to pull seedlings out.
This round I tried to germinate 2 types of lettuce, coriander, parsley, Tong Ho and wild strawberry.
It is interesting to note that lettuce seeds germinated in 3 days, and near 100% success rate. Coriander, parsley and Tong Ho took 1 week to show sign of life, and only half germinated. While tiny wild strawberry seeds took 2 weeks to start opening and another week to have 2 tiny leaves, but germination rate is good.
When the seedlings with 2 leaves are around 1 cm tall with root 2 cm long, they are transplanted into soil to grow on in the green house. They are surprisingly not fragile and very easy to be pushed into soil.
It is the germination that is temperature dependent, once out, they can withstand fluctuating temperature, as long as night temperature does not drop below zero.
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| Smoked eel rice |
Got a packet of smoked eel, and made this Japanese style dish again, pretty dangerous because it is tempting to eat a lot of the tasty rice.
1. Make a sauce of soy sauce, rice wine, brown sugar, honey, 5 spices power, black pepper and chili flakes until the sauce is just not salty.
2. Cut eel into pieces and marinate in the sauce for half an hour.
3. Arrange eel
pieces on top of cooked rice, pour all the sauces on top, grill until edges of eel lightly
browned. Sprinkle a handful of fresh coriander leaves just before serving.
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| Thai red curry potato chips |
Playing with variation on chips, this one seasoned with Thai red curry paste, olive oil, salt and brown sugar, aromatic and not too spicy hot.
Wild brown trout 
Wild brown trout
Trout fishing season started but unable to get out to fish, so buy one from Lake Neagh for the treat.
1. Season trout with salt for at least half day. Bake at 200˚C with fresh coriander and fennel and a cup of boiling water in the dish, 20 minutes then rest for another 10.
2. Peel off skin and serve the pretty pink juicy flesh.
Classic trout open sandwich 
Classic trout open sandwich
The classic trout open sandwich
1. Add half a cup of white wine in the juice from baking dish, reduce down to half a cup. Add same quality of sour cream or Greek yogurt, a handful of coriander leaves, season with mustard, salt and pepper.
2. Lightly toast a thin slice of bread, spread sauce on top, pile a layer of trout meat, more sauce on top.
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| Slow cooked lamb's lap (brisket/rib ends) |
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| Slow cooked lamb's lap (brisket/rib ends) |
A half lamb comes with this flap of the belly part of the lamb, consisting of brisket with the tough ligament layers and the end of rib cage bones. I used the slow cooker to stew it for 4 hours, minimum effort and ready to serve at dinner with some rice.
1. Cut lamb's lap into big pieces, cover with water and bring to boil.
2. Add in root vegetables, I used Khol rabi here, add slices of ginger, cloves of garlic, white peppercorn, cardamom, star anis, old mandarin peel, season with salt. Pour into slow cooker and let it simmer.
3. Half an hour before serving, cut Savoy cabbage into strips, mix into stew, finally a handful of fresh parsley just before serving.
The first super sunny blue sky day since moving in 3 weeks ago, celebrated with the first bbq, of lamb's meat in curry sauce.
1. Season meat with curry powder, yogurt, salt, soy sauce, brown sugar and olive oil for an hour.
Achill island lamb
Ordered a half lamb raised on the Achill island, roaming free and eating wild herbs, sounds wonderful, colour of meat deep red. Ordered extra portion of liver, at only 5 Euro, came with the heart too, can be divided into 3 good meals, a pity that Irish has not yet appreciated such nutritious organ meat.
Lamb's heart stir-fried with cabbage and
mushroom
Lamb's liver stir-fried with kale
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| Apple cardamom cream pudding with crumble |
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| Apple cardamom cream pudding with crumble |
Learning to use cardamom in cooking, the fragrance is unique and refreshing, other than in stew, it actually works well in dessert. This time with green apple, not overpowering but does give it a pleasant aroma.
Cooking apple 5
sugar
cardamom 15 pieces
pinch of salt
2 eggs
sugar
250gm sour cream or thick Greek yogurt
zest and juice of one lemon
2 tbsp cornstarch/oat flour
pinch of salt
250gm cooked apple sauce
mix nuts and seeds (optional)
30g butter
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt
1. Peel and cut apple into pieces, pound cardamom to remove shell then into fine powder.
2. Cook apple with cardamom powder, sugar to your taste, with 30gm water and a pinch of salt until soft. Cool down.3. Beat 2 eggs, mix in the rest of the ingredients and cooled down apple sauce. Any left behind apple sauce will be served with the puddling.
4. Pour into buttered baking dish, bake at 170˚C until set, around 40 minutes, result is like a creamy Creme Brulee.
5. Roughly chop mix nuts, mix with sesame, pumpkin seed, flour, sugar salt and butter. Squeeze into small handfuls and place on baking sheet, bake at 180˚C until golden.
6. Serve pudding with crumble on top and apple sauce on the side.
Irish oyster tasting
Irish oyster tasting 
wild native flat oyster 
wild native flat oyster
On the west coast of Ireland, in the different bays, there are many oyster farms, on my weekly seafood order, I tried different ones, but hard to decide what is the difference and which is best. The only way is to order them and have a tasting together.
A couple of observations:
1. The wild native flat oyster is never big, usually like a
N3 oyster size, being not too big, has a delicate feel when eating it. For size of N from 0-2 are too big for me.
2. Oysters farmed in the same bay by different farmers have similar taste.
3. Most noticeable difference in taste in different locations is the degree of saltiness, then the finer taste of seaweed and umami.
4. In terms of texture, some are more soft and creamy, some have better balance of crunch and cream. I prefer the more crunchy ones.
5. So far the native flat oyster have the best overall score.
Mix vegetable fish roe rice steam cake
With mostly vegetable, some protein and some carbohydrate, it is a very good balanced meal in one dish, based on the Chinese radish steam cake recipe.
1. Cut vegetables, carrot and khol rabi into strips, dried fish roe into slices.
2. Sweat minced garlic, ginger with vegetables until soft, add a cup of water, season with salt and pepper.
3. Mix a cup of rice flour with a cup of water, pour in hot vegetable and all liquid, add fish roe and a handful of parsley, mix well.
4. Pour the mixture into an oiled shallow dish, steam for 20 minutes.
Pollock and Savoy cabbage in lemony curry sauce
This is the third way to enjoy Pollock, a mild spicy lemony curry with Savoy cabbage, very delicious.
1. Season Pollock with salt for a day, sear with bell pepper until both sides golden.
2. Add coconut milk, curry power, chili, Savoy cabbage, season with salt, soy sauce and brown sugar.
3. When fish is cooked through, add juice of half a lemon before serving.
Pollock parsley fish balls
Can't face eating Pollock the same way 3 times, so turn part of it into fish balls. Pretty easy to make with blender, the key is to add water to form a smoother lighter texture.
1. Cut Pollock into chunks, add handful of parsley, water (roughly 1/3 volume of fish), season with salt, white pepper, blend until form a ball.
2. Poach in simmering water or fish bone broth until middle of fish ball is hot.
Pollock in bergamot lemon sauce
Pollock is in season and bought a whole one, pretty big, have to split into 3 good meals. It is very similar to cod, just smaller in size, always good to serve with sauce. While bergamot lemon is in season too, I used zest and juice to make the sauce, have to say the fragrant is nice.
1. Season Pollock with salt for at least half a day.
2. Sear Pollock with bell pepper until both sides golden.
3. Place Pollock and pepper in baking dish, pour in bergamot juice and zest, with soy sauce, brown sugar and rice wine, bake at 200˚C until cooked through, around 20 minutes for this thick slice, stir in parsley before serving.
Ordered more of this fatty smoked mackerel, thought of using it to make Japanese eel rice. Indeed mackerel is good and the rice is super delicious.
1. Make a sauce of soy sauce, honey, brown sugar and rice wine, until it just does not taste salty.
2. Pour on top of smoked mackerel, split into halves.
3. Place steamed rice in baking dish, mackerel on top with all the sauce poured in. Grill until mackerel warmed up, around 15 minutes.
