Sea fish feast

Fisherman joined sea fishing to learn a different way of fishing, came home with a box of assorted fish, Pollock, Ling, Whiting, Scad and Mackerel. 

 

pollock, ling, whiting, scad, mackerel

pollock, ling, mackerel

hot smoked sea fish

 

They are all cleaned, portioned, salted, some to be cooked fresh and most hot smoked to keep in the freezer.

Among the fish, mackerel is my favorite, Pollock is a white fish a bite like a small cod, with smaller flakes of flesh and mild taste, Ling is similar, both on the dry side. Scad or Horse Mackerel is not bad for white fish, with firmer moist flesh, and whiting similar but not as good.

After hot smoked (at 100˚C) with beech wood for 3 hours, mackerel is still the best in my opinion, can be refreshed from the freezer by steaming. The other fish are dry and need to be served with a lot of sauce, like scallion ginger confit garlic sauce, or mustard yogurt honey sauce.

Hatched Pied wagtail chicks

The babies birds were all hatched on 20 June, I take a photo everyday to see the change, from a pile of soft orange objects, to be able to move and twist in the nest, then feather appears, they know to open their mouth when there is a noise......

 

19 June

 

 

20 June

 

 

21 June

 

 

22 June

23 June

24 June

25 June

26 June

 

27 June

 

Mild green curry Daikon soup

 

Mild green curry Daikon soup

 

Making a lot of soups these days to use more of the harvest from the garden, so lucky to have abundant harvest.

 

1. Cut daikon and carrot into slices, boil until tender in 1 part water 1/4 part coconut milk, a tablespoon green curry paste, salt and sugar to taste.

2. Add a good handful of fresh coriander leaves just before serving.

Lake fish pike

Lake fish pike

 

Fisherman brought back pike caught in the lake in front, first time to taste this local fresh water fish. There is a lot in the lake but you cannot find it in any fish shop, few local eat this fish, I am curious to find out why.

 

The fish is seasoned with salt and white pepper for a day.

 

pike tail cooked with scallion

The tail is seared in butter with a lot of scallion, add soy sauce, water, brown sugar and rice wine, coved with lid to cook through, turn over half way, around 3 minutes each side.

 

The flesh is white, dense and juicy, good texture and flavor, very impressed, reminded me of Shad 鰣魚, with thin bones around. Guess this is the only reason the fish is not liked here.

pike ready to be smoked

 

smoking pike

smoked pike

The rest is smoked in bbq, push well burnt charcoal to one side, placed soaked smoking wood on top, fish on the other side, cover with lid, open the air hole to keep the fire going. Smoke in medium heat for 40 minutes.

smoked pike

 

smoked pike

Smoking adds an extra flavor, and helps to preserve the fish longer, a different way to enjoy it.

Cranberry

 

 

I am growing my berries in the green house, starting to harvest strawberries in late May, raspberry, gooseberry and blackcurrant in June, with blackberry blueberry to follow soon.

 

cranberry flowers

cranberry flowers

Also ordered cranberry to see how it grows, it flowered in early May, small hanging down flowers. And now small fruits are hanging, have to see how long it takes to turn red. 

Cranberry green fruits

 

Poached egg plant

 

Worried of not having pollinators for my greenhouse plants, I set up a raise beds to grow flowers. 

 

While fruits and bean pods set well from April onward, I only see bumble bees and flies around.

 

Poached egg plant

 

Finally in June when Poached egg plant ( Limnanthes douglasii ) flowers, a lot of honey bees appear, they love this flower. 

 

Poached egg plant and honey bee

 

We should all grow more Poached egg plant!

Mild kimchi

 

mild kimchi

 

Grown 6 cabbages in the green house, they are growing big, each one take 4 meals to finish! So turn half into Kimchi, a mild one, as side dish and a way to preserve it.

 

Mild kimchi

Mild kimchi sauce

1. Weight the cabbage, add 1% of its weight of salt in a big mixing bowl, add chili as much or little as you like, I used smoked pimenton for the colour and flavor, honey to sweeten and mustard. Taste the sauce that it is not too salty nor too sweet.

2. Cut cabbage as thin as possible, massage with the sauce to soften, keep in a container in the fridge, ready to serve after a day.

White egg turnip

 

White egg turnip

 

Planted for the first time this variety of turnip, popular with Irish gardeners. It has a pure white round ball root that sits on top of soil, around 45 days to harvest.  

 

It is quite like Daikon, sweet, crunchy when raw, with a creamy dense texture.

 

1. Quick pickle - cut into pieces, season with soy sauce, rice wine for a few hours, very nice to snack on.

 

soy sauce white egg turnip pickle

2. Cut into pieces, shake to coat with olive oil, bake at 170˚C until edges golden, sweet and tasty. 

baked white egg turnip

 

Lobster dinner 2 and 3

 

Bought 4 lobsters from the fisherman, cooked them all using the blanching and bbq method to have the well done head/claws and medium rare tail effect. Two were kept for later use.

 

Lobster served with its head fat 

Lobster with its fat

 

1. Remove the fat from 2 of the heads, cooked with a little milk, butter, whisky, scallion, seasoned with salt, sugar and white pepper.

2. While hot, add in tail (cut into big pieces) and meat from claws, just warm up and serve.

 

Lobser stir-fry with scallion

Lobster stir-fry with scallion

 

Sweat scallion in butter until golden, mix in lobster tail and claw meat, season with a little whisky, salt and sugar, serve when warmed up.

Achill Island, Ireland, 5/4

 

How can I forget to mention the sheep on Achill Island. They are everywhere, in fields and roam free, help to keep the grass short. 

 

 

If the house's gate is not closed, you can get a free lawn and flowerbed mowing service too.  

 

 

Khol rabi coriander soup

 

khol rabi, cabbage, kale

Khol rabi coriander soup

 

Started to harvest khol rabi planted in green house in early April. Other than having it raw as quick pickle for the crunch and sweetness, also used in a simple soup with coriander, very aromatic and refreshing. 

 

1. Cut khol rabi into slices, boil in water with a lump of butter and season with salt and white pepper, until very soft.

2. Add in a good handful of fresh coriander just before serving.

Lobster BBQ with a twist

Tried hard to think how to cook the lobster whole, with the head and claws well done and the tail still medium rare?! I found a cooked tail a bit tough. 

Thought of using the method as in cooking scampi recently, very happy with the result. 

Basically blanch lobster in boiling water to kill and to have the body curl up, 2 minutes.

blanched lobster head down 4 minutes

 

 

Place lobster on BBQ med high heat, head down tail up for 4 minutes, turn over for another 2 minutes. This way the tail is just warmed but hot got the full heat. 

 

flip over for 2 minutes

 

Pied wagtail chicks

 Came home to find the babies are hatched in 2 days! 

 

 

Wagtail chick 1

 

                                                    wagtail 4 chicks
                                                

Achill island trip, Ireland 4/4

Contacted a lobster farmer on the island to meet at Bullsmouth pier to buy some local pot caught lobsters. 

 

 

The long curve beach next to it is covered will pink/red/purple/white stones of all sizes, the colour tone is mesmerising like enter kids' playground.

Lobster is great, at half of the retail price, Euro 25 for 2, one kg lobsters.