Leave compost Leave compost
Learned that leaves have good balance of nitrogen and carbon to make perfect compost. The method sounds easy, just bag up wet through soggy leaves, leave in a corner to let nature does the job.
It is anyway a job need to do to clear the piled up leaves from the yard, and hopefully I get good use out of them.
Really easy to make dish, excess sauce should be kept for use in soup or as sauce for other dishes like fish or scallop.
Mussel in white wine and cream sauce
1. Wash mussel very well.
2. Sweat onion until golden in butter and olive oil, add a cup of white wine, boil to reduce to half.
3. At high heat, pour in mussel and cover with lid, shake to mix well.
4. When most mussels are open, add 1/2 cup of cream to enrich sauce, no seasoning is needed as the juice from mussels is salty enough. Serve in the pan to keep warm.
 | ||
| Aylesbury organic duck |
These are Aylesbury duck , an old variety popular in UK in the old days, each around 3kg, with much thicker breast meat than those used in Hong Kong. I tried the first one with the belly open and the second one sewed up to see the difference. Prefer the sewed up method as the meat is more moist.
Roast organic Aylesbury duck Roast organic Aylesbury duck Roast organic Aylesbury duck
Key is to keep the charcoal at the very outer edge, hold temperature at 180˚C
so that the skin does not brown too fast and the meat can be cooked to pink, round
an hour.
I even saved the oil for use in cooking, a lovely mild smoky aroma.
Seared scallop with crispy cheese
Always find it hard to find something to pair with scallop, that has a good crunch and will not overpower the mild flavor of the main item. Tried making crispy cheese out of cheddar, happy with the result.
1. Cut mild cheddar into 1mm thick, 2 cm square slices, bake at 180˚ until lightly golden, around 13 minutes, will be crispy when cool.
2. Sweat onion until soft, sear scallops both sides golden.
3. Take scallops out (keep warm), deglace pan with white wine, add 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup water, season with salt and pepper.
4. Place scallops on warm plates, pour on hot sauce, place some baby green leaves around, and stick slices of crispy cheese in between scallops.
 |
| Perfectly grilled lobster |
Always try to get the cooking right without too much fuss, so that lobster tail is medium, sweet and tender, and claws are cooked, got it right this time.
1. Put 100ml boiling water at the bottom of oven, heat to 220˚C at turbo grill.
2. Place lobster on top shelf, grill for 8 minutes (1kg).
3. Rest inside oven with door ajar for another 10 minutes.
Wild oyster mushroom Wild oyster mushroom
Found these on a cut log left to dry near a hedge, removed a few big ones to cook. They are what they are, mild in taste, I will not buy them in the market, but fine to have them for free from my own garden.
I use them in stir-fry with other vegetables.
 |
| Brussel Sprout gratin |
My 8 Brussel sprout plants have been providing well for 2 months now, still have enough to serve till end of the year. Brussel sprout gratin is tasty, easy to please, and simple to prepare.
1. Clean Brussel sprouts and cut into halves, season with salt, pepper and olive oil, mix well. Place in a baking dish on one layer.
2. Grate cheddar on top, bake at 180˚C until golden, around 25 minutes.
Sourdough baguette Sourdough baguette
Following The perfect loaf's sourdough baguette recipe, make these baguettes with 70% water, again good result. The skin is thin and crispy, the middle moist and soft, delicious with a thick spread of butter.
Grilled herring Grilled herring herring
Got some fresh herring from the north east coast, vacuum packed, whole un-gut, silvery and no smell at all, wonderful. Herring is an oily fish slightly bigger than sardine, with small scale and finer texture of meat, cook in the same way.
1. Wash and dry the fish, season with salt, place on a rack to dry the skin.
2. Cook on hot coal, or grill in oven.
It is heart breaking to see salmon trying, without success, to jump up the too high artificial weir to go upstream to spawn, they died of exhaustion in the water. Being a protected species and in rapid decline in the rivers, it is a shame that the government does not take action to destroy the weir, that serves no purpose, or to make a pass on one side.
Found this lake just an hour from the house, with a number of sites that worth a detour.
Grange Stone Circle Grange Stone Circle
Turns out that the Grange Stone Circle is the largest in Europe, and is the most complete one that I have visited. With internal diameter of 46m, 116 stones, it is impressive, and very pretty on the raised site. There is a narrow opening on one axis, for the sun ray to pass through during summer and winter solstices.
Herd of white deer
Also found remains of lime kiln and 2000 year old dwellings around. Plus a15 Century castle, with a deer park of a herd of white deer, descendents of white (albino) deer given as gift from the British ruling party.
Lough Gur Lough Gur Lough Gur Lough Gur
Lough Gur is horseshoe shape, not big, with varied landscape along the shore.
63˚C venison and egg eggs in silicon seal bag with herbs
1. Season venison with salt and black pepper, place in silicon seal bag in one layer, put fresh herbs (bay leaves, rosemary) around, pour in some oil and rice wine. Cook for 90 minutes at 63˚.
2. Before serving, sear venison in a pan at high heat, just a few second each side, for presentation. Pour into the pan liquid in the bag to de-glaze and bring to boil, adjust seasoning if necessary, add cream to round off the flavor.
2. Place eggs in silicone seal bag with water, cook for the same length of time, the yolk is wonderfully jelly, white is like super soft tofu.
In Ireland, it is only during Christmas period that you can find duck or goose for sale, once a year produce! With the new bbq smoker stove, eager to test the possibility of making vertically hanged roast duck like in Hong Kong, much better than doing that in the oven as there will be oil splashing around.
Roast duck 掛爐鴨 Roast duck 掛爐鴨 Roast duck 掛爐鴨 Roast duck 掛爐鴨
1. Remove excessive fat on the duck (worry will catch fire in the bbq), pour boiling water on the skin to shrink and sterilize it.
2. Season duck, inside and under the skin, with mixture of salt, 5 spices powder, Garam Masala, brown sugar and rice wine.
3. Brush a mixture of vinegar and honey on the skin, dry in the fridge for at least a day.
4. Burn charcoal in bbq, rake to form a circle, place a deep bowl with hot water at the bottom to catch dripping fat. Hang the duck on the lid and roast at 200˚C for around 40 minutes, the skin should be deep brown.
5. Rest in warm oven to be sure to cook through to the middle.
Cinnamon biscuit
Mainly served during Christmas, but easy to make any time, I substituted half of flour with almond flour, for a more short and healthier result.
100 gm flour
100gm almond flour
1tsp baking powder
80gm butter
1 egg
80gm sugar
1/2tsp salt
2tbsp cinnamon powder
1/2tbsp ginger powder
1. Mix flours, baking powder and rub in butter until like fine crumble.
2. Whisk egg with remaining ingredients until sugar dissolved.
3. Fold into flour mixture and mix well, should be a very soft dough.
4. Scrap into a baking paper, shape into round or square long cylinder, wrap with baking paper and freeze until solid.
5. Take out hardened mixture and cut into 1cm thick pieces, lay on baking paper and bake at 180˚C for around 15 minutes, should be dried to the middle and very short, when cool.
Low temperature cooking
Bought a proper water bath for the Anova low temperature cooker, and silicon reusable seal bags as container, I re-kindled my interest in this technique. Very pleased with the cooking degree, and the aroma of herbs used is much stronger than in high temperature cooking.
Pork liver
Low temperature cooking of pig liver Low temperature cooking of pig's liver
1. Clean and squeeze in water 3 times, until no more blood came out.
2. Place in bag in one layer, season with salt, 5 spices powder, Garam Masala, brown sugar, rice wine and bay leaves.
3. Cook at 65˚ for 2 hours, very creamy dense texture like a thick pate, with good flavor.
4. Bring to boil the liquid in the bag, adjust seasoning if necessary.
Beef rib meat
Low temperature cooking of beef rib meat Low temperature cooking of beef rib meat
1. Place in a bag in one layer, season with salt, black pepper, rice wine, bay leaves and rosemary.
2. Cook at 65˚C for 5 hours, the texture is firm yet soft enough to eat.
3. Bring to boil the liquid in the bag, adjust seasoning if necessary.
Sourdough Panettone style cake
Turning spare sourdough starter into other forms is my latest challenge in the kitchen. With Xmas approaching, thought of this Panettone style dessert, test it baked and steamed in a lidded pudding container. The steamed one turns out to be more moist, nicer to eat.
350gm sourdough starter
50gm almond powder
1 egg
50gm butter
a pinch of salt
30 gm sugar
raisin, candied ginger, candied mix peel, cranberry etc
1. Mix all ingredients together, rest at room temperature for 2 hours.
2. Bake at 180˚C until cooked through, around 25 minutes, or steam for an hour in a lidded pudding container.
Cuttings of Fuchsia, Buddleja and Bay
All three plants have beautiful flowers over summer and autumn, attract bees and butterflies, and super vigorous here. I wish to plant groups of them in the field, to provide create more biodiversity.
Just cut 6-8 inches stem from tender branch that has not produced flower yet, stick into soil and wait till late spring. When new leaves come out, transplant into individual pots. By late summer, will be big enough to plant in the ground.
A good plate of Irish cheeses
Very happy to find a plate of local cheeses, from soft to hard to blue, that are as good as what I like to eat in France. These Irish cow milk cheeses have an intense yellow hue, result of being made from grass fed dairy cow milk.
St. Tola goat cheese - creamy and dense texture
Ballylisk triple cream cheese - soft cheese, flavor and texture in between Brillat-Savarin and Camembert
Templegall Alpine style cheese - semi hard cheese, like a fruity young Comte
Coolattin cheddar - hard cheese full of flavor
Young Buck blue cheese - more creamy and less salty than most blue cheeses, but still a bit behind that of Stilton
Pollock Pollock fish veg cake before cooking Pollock fish veg cake
Fisherman brought back a Pollock after a whole cold day fishing at the rocky shore. As the flesh of this fish is very flaky and easy to overcook, I decided to filet, remove skin and cook it in different ways.
One half cut into chunks and quick stir fried with parsley, but still not fast enough, the flesh broke into small pieces, fine to eat but not presentable.
After more scratching of the brain, remembered this dish, very common in the good old days, and always delicious, indeed a success, very easy to please.
1. Season fish meat with salt and pepper for a day to firm it.
2. Blend into puree, adding rice wine and water to make the texture more tender, then mix in finely chopped fennel frond.
3. Cut vegetable (pepper, celeriac here, but normally use eggplant and tofu) into pieces, dust one side with flour, fill will fish paste.
4. Sear fish paste side first, when golden, turn over to sear veg side, add 1/2 cup water, soy sauce and brown sugar, cover with lid to cook through.
Sourdough apricot
raisin cake Sourdough apricot
raisin cake
Another trial to use up the excess sourdough starter, making a more fruity cake, moist, full of flavor, no oil no baking powder needed.
180gm sourdough starter
1 egg
50 gm sugar
big pinch of salt
50gm almond powder
50gm desiccated coconut
1 banana
a handful raisin
a handful apricot (cut up into small pieces)
1. Take starter and egg out of the fridge a couple hours ago to warm up.
2. Whisk egg, with salt and sugar until dissolved, mix in starter.
3. Mash banana, with all remaining ingredients, add into mixture, quite a thick liquid mixture.
4. Pour into well greased or paper lined baking tin, bake at 190˚C until cooked through, around 30 minutes.
