鄭立勳。常滿。Bountiful。Mandy Cheng: 2021-05

Showing posts with label 2021-05. Show all posts

Connemara, Ireland 3/3

Went for a hike up the Diamond Hill in Connemara National Park, another sunny day, so lucky. It is just over 400 m high with well laid stone path, but because of a year without hiking, it felt strenuous, the view, 360˚ is superb.

Connemara, Ireland 2/3

On a rainy day, the mood is totally different, more sober. Driving around, for a small country, there are a lot of wilderness areas, no building no farm, not touched, beauty as they naturally are. The wild open landscape reminded me of driving around in Iceland and Alaska.

Connemara trip Ireland 1/3

Finally lock down is relaxed and it is possible to travel to other counties. For the first trip of the year, I have chosen the Connemara area on the west coast above Galway. Known for its natural beauty and one of the top sited in Ireland.

Arrived on a sunny day, the many white sandy beaches in that area are stunning, pristine, no human intervention.

Barbecue crispy skin turbot

Normally I bake turbot in the oven, straight forward and always comes out well. As the evening is calm and sky clear, decided to get the barbecue stove out and enjoy alfresco dinner. So the turbot is to be cooked on charcoal just like at the restaurants in Getaria, Spain. The skin is cooked to golden crispy in the same time as in the oven, excellent result, very delicious.

Barbecue crispy skin turbot

1. Season turbot with salt for a day.

2. Brush olive oil on both sides, place a few bay branches on the stove to stop sticking, cook on hot charcoal, 5 minutes each sides (800 gm turbot)

Baked potato and kale

This is a lazy way to cook a dish with green veg like kale and carbohydrate like potato. Kale is not a veg for stir-fry like Kailan, not as delicious, needs longer cooking to get the flavor.

1. Cut kale into strips, season with salt, brown sugar, rice wine, pepper and olive oil, mix in a handful of raisin, place in bottom of baking dish.

2. Peel potato and use peeler to cut thin pieces, season with salt, minced garlic and olive oil, place on top of kale.

3. Bake at 180˚C until potato is golden at the edges, around 30 minutes.

Brown trout 2 ways

Brown trout

Fisherman brought back a 36 cm long brown trout caught in the lake, beautifully shiny with pink flesh. Enjoyed it in two meals, baked for dinner and on toast for lunch the next day.

Baked trout

Baked brown trout

1. Season trout with salt for half a day.

2. Bake at 180˚C for 15 minutes, rest with door ajar for another 5 minutes.

Trout on toast with garden fresh peas

trout with sweet pea on toast

1. Mix cooked trout flesh with mustard, sour cream, salt, white pepper and fresh sweet peas.

2. Use juice to squeeze the sweet juice from the pea pods.

3. Serve on toast with a side salad and pea pod juice.

Herring salad

I like raw smoked herring, lovely waxy texture and a good way to eat small oily fish.

1. Rinse herring, dry and cut into bit size pieces.

2. Season with yogurt, mustard, sugar and white pepper, rest for half an hour.

3. Mix in cherry tomatoes, cut in halves and some herbs like fennel fonds.

Local forage beer

Got into the habit of making a batch of instant beer regularly, and drinking a glass in the evening while making dinner.

Now I use various foraged edible leaves and flowers, with lemon as base.

This one has nettle, ground ivy, mint, mugwort, dandelion flower and leaves, lemon.

The easy formula to remember is 100gm sugar in 1L water will give 5% alcohol after full fermentation.

I only use 50gm of brown sugar in 1 L water, so only 2.5% alcohol and easy to drink a good glass without any effect.

1. Simmer herbs and lemon for 25 minutes.

2. Filter into preserving jar with sugar inside.

3. When temperature lowered to around 30˚C, add a pinch of wine yeast, stir well. Start drinking from the third day onward.

Scallop with scallion oil

Scallop with scallion oil, raw

Scallop with scallion oil, cooked

This May is wonderful with every Friday a delivery of live scallops, so sweet and firm texture, with a kelp flavor, unique.

This year I grow scallion and they are big enough to harvest some, so I made this sauce, basically scallion, salt and good olive oil, rest for half an hour.

It goes well with raw scallop, still able to taste the flavor of scallop and with a fresh green taste when chew on the scallion, very happy discovery.

Also good with baked scallop, turbo grill 200˚C for 4 minutes.

Baked potato with seaweed

A filling dish full of flavor, seasoned with umami rich ingredients: seaweed, miso and sesame.

1. Cut potato into thin slices.

2. In baking dish, add 1/2 cup of cream, 1/2 cup of yogurt, 1 tbsp miso, 1tbsp seaweed flakes, 1tbsp sesame, season with salt and white pepper, mix well

3. Add potato slices into baking dish and spoon sauce to cover well.

4. Bake at 180˚C until golden, around 50 minutes.

Strawberry harvest

Ordered strawberry plants in January and planted in greenhouse, they grow well and just started to harvest ripe berries. With warmth and enough water, these are the biggest strawberries I have ever grown, fragrant and sweet.

Braised lamb shoulder

Braised lamb shoulder, before baking

Braised lamb shoulder

Another easy way to slow cook tougher cuts, seasoned with of Ras El Hanout, a spice I am learning to use. Similar to curry, but with a sharper 'kick'.

1. Season lamb with salt, pepper, and Ras El Hanout (or curry powder) for a day.

2. Cut some root vegetables, green apple into cubes, and cherry tomato into halves , place in baking dish, season with soy sauce, brown sugar, Ras El Hanout and rice wine.

3. Place lamb on top of vegetables, bake at 200˚C for 10 minutes, turn lamb over, bake for another 10 minutes. Lower temperature to 130˚, bake until tender, around 2 hours, turn lamb over every half hour.

Lilac in bloom

What beautiful flowers, clusters of purple white petals with a powdery sweet smell. Neighbour told me that it is popular to soak lilac in water, like drinking spring in a glass.

Amazing description, have to try it. Pretty in the water jug, and indeed a pleasant floral powdery aroma.

Hawthorn blossom

I am learning to forage from a book on Hedgerow Medicine and from a herbalist on internet, only for items that have useful health benefits to us.

At the moment is hawthorn blossom, clusters of small white flowers with a perfume. Easily seen here as it is a common hedge tree. I collected from a bush in an island on the lake while on a boat trip, should have zero pollution.

Hawthorn blossom on an island

Hawthorn blossom

Hawthorn blossom and fruit have phenols that are good for the heart and soften arteries, and has a calming effect too.

I dried some to make tea, soak some in vodka for a sip in the evening and some turned into cordial for use in drinks and desserts.

hawthorn cordial before filtering

hawthorn tincture (in vodka)

Hawthorn blossom cordial

1. Bring to boil 2 parts (in volumn) water with 2 parts sugar (I used half white and half brown for better flavor).

2. Add 5 parts hawthorn blossom, reduce to simmering, for 25 minutes. Filter and bottle, keep in the fridge to prolong usage time.

Swan family

A cloudy day but still calm, before rain and wind comes, went for a quick boat tour. 2 objectives, see the swan couple with their 6 babies, and collect hawthorn blossoms.

Swan family

The first couple to be seen with babies around, 4 in the water and 2 keeping warm or dry on mother's (?) back.

Kale vermicelli and smoked anchovy roll

I am growing Kale Thousand Head in the green house and the leaves grow very large, thought of using them as a wrap. The bright green rolls are beautiful and much easier to do than using Vietnamese rice paper.

Kale vermicelli and smoked anchovy roll

Kale vermicelli and smoked anchovy roll ingredients

1. Cut the mid rib off kale leaves, then into halves, blanch in salted water for a few seconds to soften.

2. Prepare vermicelli, I used a left behind curry sauce to cook in.

3. Wash some baby herbs, coriander, parsley, fennel fond, watercress etc.

4. Place ingredients in the leave and form rolls.

Lamb chops

Faster to cook individual chops instead of a rack of lamb. Good for a simple dinner, served with some baked vegetables.

Lamb chops

1. Season lamb chops with salt and pepper for a day.

2. Prepare vegetables to bake, at 180˚C.

3. Sear lamb chops all 3 sides golden, place in the middle of finished baked veg in the still hot oven, to rest for anther 5 minutes.

Pork shoulder

My favorite cut, being dark red and flavorful. Often I cook it in sauce like Cha Siu, but actually simply seared is tasty enough, able to enjoy the real pork taste .

Pork shoulder

1. Season pork shoulder steak with salt and pepper for a day.

2. Cut into half inch slices, sear all sides golden, rest on the hot pan off heat until middle cooked through, a minute or two.

Walnut cookies and dessert

Saw a simple recipe for cookies using mostly oat and almond flour, tried it and like the cookies very much. Being gluten free, the cookies are very short without using too much oil like most cookies.

I added walnut bits and mix seeds for extra fragrance and texture. Great to snack and easy to make a simple tasty dessert.

Walnut cookies

Walnut cookies, before baking

1 eggs

120gm oat flour

120gm almond flour

100gm coconut oil

80 gm flour

30 gm sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

handful chopped walnut

mix seeds (sesame, flax)

1. Mix all ingredients together, form small balls and flatten to cookies.

2. Place them slightly apart on baking paper as they expand a little on baking.

3. Bake at 180˚C until golden, around 20 minutes.

Cookie dessert

walnut cookie dessert

Place cookies in a small cup, pour some single cream, drizzle a little honey, add a table spoon whiskey.

Fresh pea harvest

fresh peas

Peas sown in the green house last December started to have pods in early April and now the pods are gradually filled with fat peas. I can harvest a few everyday.

Homegrown peas freshly eaten is totally unlike bought one, being so fresh the peas stays tender and sweet, do not have time to convert sugar into starch when they are being stored. I just eat them raw like fruit, don't border to cook.

Friend said that she juices the fresh pea pods too, and indeed when I chew on them the juice tastes sweet just like the peas.