Busy is good

I still feel useful and produce something useful to some people at work.

I am (and still enjoy) learning new things in life.

I feel that I can still set goals and push myself for it.

I have fostered a change in mentality and now I look at my days more optimistically.

Accept and move on seem to work on many aspects in life.

You only get out what you put in, something my academic supervisor told me 17 years ago. Not just in school, also in life. Although I hate to admit it, you were right all along, ADM.

"People, you have six senses! The last one is common! Use it!"---Amen, Michael Ruhlman

I make - Lamb and potato bake

I started to like lamb when I arrived in UK more than a decade ago (gosh!). In my humble opinion, lamb produced in this country is enough to make any Brit proud. It's no more expensive than beef and the meat texture is a lot better (partly due to the animal age) than other four-legged animals. It can take lots of cooking time and the meat itself remains moist and a superior tender texture without becoming stringy. It's a sheer delight to eat.

Lamb and potato bake

adapted from two recipes by Gennaro Contaldo and Sonia Peronaci

For Lamb stew:

1 kg lamb leg meat in big chunks
1 tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp thyme
1 medium carrot, diced
3 ribs of celery, diced
2 onions, diced
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
20 g of salted anchovy fillets from a can
1 glass of white wine
3 tbsps of tomato paste
Water enough to submerge the meat (1-2 cups)
Juice from half lemon

To finish:
1 cup of Petit pois/garden peas
4 par-boiled potatoes, peeled and sliced

Bread crumbs mixed with grated parmasen, chedder and black pepper

Marinade the lamb with chilli flakes, thyme, salt, black pepper and olive oil for 10 minutes while you prepare the vegetables.

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, grill the lamb chunks all around. As soon as the lamb chunks have produced lightly brown edges, remove the meat from the pan. You may need to do this in several batches depending on the size of the saute pan you've got.

In the same pan, saute the vegetables (carrot, celery, onions and garlic) until vegetables are soft and onions are translucent. Stir in the anchovies. Cook on medium heat until the anchovies disintegrate into the vegetables. At this point, mix in the tomato paste. Cook for a minute or so until you can smell of a slight toasted smell. Deglaze the pan with wine. Bring the pot to a lively boil for a minute.

Pour the vegetable broth base into a cast iron pot, along with the lamb. Add water or stock just enough to submerge the meat. Bring the pot to a boil. Cover the pot, lower the heat to simmer for one hour. Taste, season with salt and pepper. Simmer without lid for 30 minutes.

Lightly oil an oven proof dish, lay a single layer of cooked potato slices. Lightly season with salt and pepper. Scoop in the cooked lamb, petit pois and finish with potato slices on top. Cover the top with a thick layer of cheesy bread crumb. This is optional but does give a nice crunch in the final product.

Bake at 200C for 30 minutes or until the dish is thoroughly heated and the cheesy breadcrumbs have turned golden.

I make - rhubarb and raspberry pudding

I love rhubarb. I admit that at first I was mostly attracted by its pretty pink appearance. Then I discovered how good and fine it tasted. It was love at the first sight and kiss.

Now you can get rhubarb year round, the pretty pink forced rhubarb between December and March and the field grown light green ones for the rest of the year.  My mother-in-law makes the best rhubarb tart in the world. It is a fine way to enjoy rhubarb. I am just not skilled with anything which requires dexterity. Therefore, I often opt for a simpler way to enjoy rhubarb, in pudding. I like to throw in a handful of raspberries in my rhubarb pudding. The addition of raspberries is not only a good match with rhubarb in taste, but also brightens up the color in the end. You could replace it with strawberries or ignore completely.

Rhubarb and raspberry pudding

- a bag of trimmed rhubarb, 400g
- 1/2 - 2/3 cup of water
- 1/3 - 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 1/2 cup frozen or fresh raspberries (or strawberries), optional
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract or rosewater (optional)
- 2 tsp corn starch mixed in 2 tbsp cold water
- whipped cream to serve

Put rhubarb, water, sugar and raspberries in a pot. Bring the pot to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Taste to adjust the sugar.

If using vanilla or rosewater, add into the pot along with the corn starch slurry. Bring the pot back to boil. Let it boil for one minute. Turn off the heat, pour the pudding to a bowl. Let it cool.

Serve with a dollop of cream on top.

Dîner chez moi -16-22 March

Saturday - Shallot and mushroom quiche, fresh leafy salad

Sunday - Pasta all'amatriciana, grilled courgette slices

Monday - Grilled salmon, chickpea and lemon casserole, ratatouille

Tuesday - Pasta all'amatriciana, grilled courgette slices

Wednesday - Cod in basque style sauce, steamed basmati rice

Thursday - Shallot and mushroom quiche, fresh tomato salad

Donde Voy

I first learned the song from the English version sung by Chyi Yu, a folk song melody combined with a waltz tempo. Marvelous. The original in Spanish was performed by Tish Hinojosa and later by Linda Rondstat, both are wonderful.

By the way, how can someone be so gorgeous like Monica Bellucci?

My blueberry dream

For me, blueberry is quintessential American. I don't know why and it's probably a personal bias. My first time of tasting blueberry was when I was in the States. When it's in season, not only is it deliciously sweet, but also it gives off its distinctively floral undertone. Very elegant. Many blueberry containing baked goods on the market contain additional blueberry flavoring. I am not evangelical about using flavoring. When a good quality of flavoring is used in moderation, it definitely enhances the final products. Unfortunately, most blueberry items I taste out there usually have so much flavoring added (to disguise the lower quality of blueberries especially when out of season) that the delicate blueberry taste is lost.

During the past five years, I can spot fresh blueberries more and more frequently in UK supermarkets. Depending on the time of the year, it can come from Eastern Europe or Southern Europe. And to my delight, its quality is really good. I have several varieties available to me, ranging from broad bean size to pearl size, all delicious nonetheless. One of my favorite ways to enjoy blueberry is blueberry cake (hubby calls it Big Blueberry Muffin as it is the only way to eat blueberries. Bless him). I think I have come up with a keeper recipe. One thing I learned from baking blueberry cake in its all incarnations, as much as I adore blueberry, it's not a good idea to pack a whole load into baking goods. This is because the extra moisture held by the berries inevitably turn the baking goods into a sorry soggy state. And nobody likes a soggy cake. Therefore, I only use blueberries in moderation (isn't it true for anything in life) in this recipe and enjoy the balance and contrast taste between juicy berries and tender cake crumb in every bite. I especially like the extra crunch from the demerara sugar and almond flakes. As with almost all baking goods, tasting it slightly warm with a cup of tea is heaven to me.

My blueberry cake, adapted from Dan Lepard's all-purpose butter cake

- 125 g unsalted butter, room temperature
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 4 eggs
- 250 g sour cream
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 25 g ground almond / jumbo oats (optional)
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 100 g fresh blueberries
- 1-2 tbsp demerara sugar
- almond flakes

Preheat the oven to 200C.

In a large bow, beat the butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract and salt until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs, one at a time, until well incorporated. Mix in sour cream.

Sift in flour, oat and baking powder into the butter mixture. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet mixture with the lowest possible number of strokes.

Pour half of the batter into a lined cake tin. Mix in the blueberries with the remaining half of the batter. Pour all into the cake tin. Sprinkle the demerara sugar on top of the batter and decorate with the almond flakes.

Bake in the oven at 200C for 50 minutes. Test the cake with a toothpick in the end. If the toothpick comes out with wet batter on, increase the baking time by 5 minutes as a block, until the inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Dîner chez moi - 2-8 March

Saturday - Porchetta, potato boulangere, green beans and mushrooms with caramelized shallots

Sunday - Porchetta sandwich, garlic, basil and caper dressing, mixed salad leaves

Monday - Baked white fish, basmati rice, green beans braised in kinpira sauce

Tuesday - Chinese salted chicken roast, stir-fry Chinese cabbage with fresh shitaki mushroom

Wednesday - Salmon with caper and red pepper, buttered pasta

Thursday - Chinese salted chicken roast, Chinse cabbage, steamed rice

I make - Grilled salmon with tagliatelle in tarragon cream

This is one very delicious plate of pasta.

Grilled salmon with tagliatelle in tarragon cream sauce (adapted from FoodWishes)

- 4 green onions or 1 leek, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 cup creme fraiche*, single cream or cream cheese mixed with milk
- 1/2 tsp dried tarragon leaves
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
- Salmon steak cut in thin slices
- 1 tsp cajun spice
- 150 g dried egg tagliatelle (for two people), cooked and drained
- freshly squeezed lemon juice

Heat one skillet with one tablespoon of oil. Gently cook the green onions and garlic for two minutes. Deglaze the pan with white wine. Let the wine cook until the liquid almost evaporates. Add in cream cheese and milk. Cook gently for two minutes. Stir the cream cheese to help it melt into the sauce. While the sauce starts to bubble from the edge of the pan, stir in the tarragon and mustard. Mix well. keep the heat at the lowest setting.

Heat another skillet. Lightly dust the salmon with cajun spice. Grill the fish until it starts to flake. Season with sea salt. Remove the fish from the pan.

Mix drained pasta with the tarragon cream. Plate up the pasta and dot the salmon slices on the top. Squirt the lemon juice liberally right before you eat. It's lovely.

*I even made this dish with Greek yogurt once. Although the result is good, the sauce tastes a bit grainy and not as smooth as creme fraiche/cream/cream cheese ones. I think I will stick with true cream in the future.