Chilli Crab

This is the last bank holiday weekend for 2010, therefore no more holidays till Christmas period. One have to make full use of the long weekend to get outdoor especially now we're approaching the late summer. I joined an outing to Great Yarmouth, a typical British seaside town with my friends and colleagues. Even though it's just an hour and a half away, I have yet to explore this seaside town by myself. So it's a good opportunity to join in the fun and if courage took hold of me, I might try to swim in the North Sea ( brrrr...... even the thought of it, send chill into my bone ... hehehehe).
We're given good weather to start with (sunny blue sky and slightly on the chilly side-but hey I can't complain....it's typical of North Sea climate this time of the year). This seaside town is quite quaint, dotted with lots of fish and chip shops, restaurants, shops, market etc etc. Too bad I didn't bring my DSLR with me, as I don't want to risk my camera when I have a friend who wanted to push me into North Sea :-) .
I ventured to the town market to see what they've over here especially the fresh seafood. I saw plenty of Cromer crabs on sale, an usual treat during summer months. Of course I prefer the mud crabs, but here they do Cromer crab at a fraction of price compared to supermarket and it's pretty fresh (over here they normally sell crabs which has been pre-cooked, you hardly ever find live crab in the market over here). So I decided to buy 4 whole crabs. Singapore Chilli crab or black pepper crab? ........ scratching my head..... :-)
I decided it shall be the famed Singapore chilli crab .....


Singapore Chilli Crab
Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 whole crabs - washed, cleaned and chopped to different segments
• 2 tbsp of chopped ginger
• 3 cloves of chopped garlic
• 1 shallot finely chopped
• 5 red chillis- finely chopped
• 1 tbsp of sambal (optional)
  
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• Sauce-4 tbsp of tomato ketchup, 2 tbsp chilli sauce, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp lemon juice, salt to taste, mixed well
  
• 1 egg lightly beaten
  
• Spring onion or corriander for garnishing
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  

1. If you're using fresh crab, wipe dry, coat it with some corn flour and quickly deep fry for 30 seconds on high heat. Removed. For me my crab has been pre-cooked therefore I skipped this step.
2. In a wok, heat the vegetable oil. Once it's hot, fry the shallots, garlic and ginger until fragant-take care not to burnt them. Add the chopped chilli and sambal to sizzle.
3. Add the crab and stir fry for around 2-3 minutes on high heat. Then add in the sauce and continue to stir fry. Add the stock too. close the lid and let it simmer for 2 minutes. Then add in the eggs and continue to stir until the egg set. Off the heat. Garnish with spring onion/corriander.
   
4. Dish out onto plate, served with rice or Chinese bun.

Enjoy.....

Summer Salad : Grilled Nectarines

There are so much to buy from the market, I couldn't resist to buy back some juicy plump nectarines. One of my favorite fruits, so juicy, sweet and taste a bit like mango, well almost.
So I thought of grilling the fruit and mix them with some homegrown salad, dress with balsamic vinegar. There you go a healthy lunch, simple and refreshing.

Summer Salad : Grilled Nectarines
Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 nectarines - ripe and still firm
• handful of lollo rosa salad leaves
• some cherry tomatoes
  
• some fresh mint leaves
• some grated lemon zest
• some grated parmesan cheese
• dash of black peppercorn
  
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• dash of sea salt
  
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar + 1 tsp sugar- boil over hob to reduce the amount by half as it thickens.

1. Slice the nectarines. Place over grill pan and grill about 4-5 minutes on each side on high heat. You'll have nicely grill mark on nectarines. Remove and set aside.
2. Place the nectarine, tomatoes, salad leave, chopped mint leaves in a mixing bowl.
3. Add all the other ingredients and mixed well with your hand. Set aside.
4. Serve on plate as starter with toast or baguette.
   

Simple and nice.....

Cheese stuffed burger

I've been counting that this summer, I have attended quite a few BBQ summer party over at friends. Indeed I've shy away from the fast food burger chain like Mc Donalds, Burger King during this summer as I realized homemade burger tasted so good, better still if you could grill it over the BBQ. As I'm hoping for Weber BBQ gas grill to be presented to me , I can only be contended grilling it with my lovely cast iron grill and my Neff oven, result is still good :-)
So I decided to make do with the leftover minced beef and some gorgonzola cheese hoping it will turn out lovely. Cheese stuffed burger.....anyone interested out there?

Cheese stuffed burger
Ingredients (make 2 burgers)

• 330-350 gm minced beef 9preferably with 80% lean and 20% fat)
  
• 60 gm Gorgonzola cheese
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
• 1-2 tsp of salt-or to taste
  
• 1 medium white onion-finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 2-3 tbsp bread crumbs
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• dash of black pepper

1. In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except gorgonzola cheese and give a good mix with your hands. Form 2 patties.
   
2. Shape the Gorgonzola into 2 balls.
   
3. Wrap the patties over the cheese ball. If you prefer you can coat the burger patties with chopped taragon leaves.
4. Set the burger to rest in the fridge for at least an hour before you grill them.
5. You can use oven at 160C to cook for 30minutes or over the grill pan for 20minutes or so. Please note that the cheese might leak out during grilling. Therefore I prefer to oven baked them for 25minutes, and finally subjected them to grill pan for 2 minutes each side.
6. Serve with salad, cucumber, onion and tomato over white bun. If you prefer you could actually add guacamole as sauce over the burger......rather than the usual tomato sauce.

One bite and the runny cheese oozing out ............. Burger will never be the same ..... :-)
Delicious..... and I throw in some homegrown salad/tomato too.





Pictures from my garden as usual.....

Sit down and relax with egg sandwich

I have not been able to blog for the last 3 days. Quite frustrated when one's computer been infected by viruses and worms. Luckily, I have a good friend whom I can rely upon to be the worm-buster. Thanks to my techie and not so nerdy friend, my computer is up and running again.

As a keen gardener, July onwards is time to sit down and relax and enjoy the spectacular display of beautiful summer flowers in the garden. And those days of hard labor in the garden in the early months had been handsomely rewarded.


Yes, it's also time for afternoon tea party in the garden or in the conservatory. I must say a tradition that is truly English and one could easily embrace especially in the summer months. I've few friends over last Saturday [quoted: they cycle a long way to my house] for this delightful tea party in my little conservatory that overlook the little back garden. I hosted a full tea party where the menu consist of finger food that is savory, sweet and desserts. Sit down and relax over some egg sandwiches, cooling cucumber sandwiches, freshly baked mini sausage rolls and not forgetting the delightful summer fruit tarts over a nice cup of freshly brew tea plus some gossips. I will post here the simple to make egg sandwich recipes.

Egg sandwich
Ingredients

Salad cress

• 3 hardboiled large eggs
• 1.5 tbsp mayonnaise (I use Hellmans brand)
• sprinkle of freshly ground black peppercorn
• handful of salad cress
• 6 slices of bread of your choice
• vegetable spread/margarine
  

1. Mashed the eggs with fork. Add in mayonnaise, black peppercorn. Mixed well and set aside.
   
2. Take 3 slices of bread and stacked them up, remove the crust. Repeat for the next 3 slices.
3. Spread margarine on the bread.
   
4. Add the salad cress into the egg and mix. Divide the egg fillings into 4 portions.
5. Spread one portion on every 2 slices to form 3 tier sandwiches.
   
6. Use a bread knife to slice the sandwich into 4 finger size bites.
7. Arrange nicely onto a plate and decorate with some salad cress.

And indeed it was a delightful thing to enjoy on a nice afternoon............



Enjoy the nice pictures from my garden with it's fair share of lovely butterfly and bumble bees

Cone flower or enchinachea

Summer Fruits Tart

It has been a wonderful summer so far, really dry with hardly any rainfall since end of May. Since then you'll notice people enjoying the BBQ summer. Being outdoor is essential during summer months, and what better way to spent nice time in one's garden enjoying lovely summer fruits tart and embracing every moment this season has to offer. Make the best of it.
Yes summer fruits are in abundance now, from strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, nectarines, peaches( best is the donut peaches), apricots and plums to follow. I love summer fruits especially those locally grown. I'm fortunate to stay close by to a PYO (pick your own) fruit farm. Therefore every summer, I will make sure I'll go for some soft fruits picking at this farm. I enjoyed the lovely taste of freshness, every mouthful of freshly picked fruit is heaven.
Yes, I also used those fruits to make the lovely fruit tarts, pleasing to the eyes, a must for an afternoon garden tea party, if you're being invited to mine. :-)
I also attached in the picture, a step by step guide to making the short crust pastry. Never did you realize how useful the cling film is, a real hassle and mess free process.

Short Crust Pastry (make about 6, 3 inches diameter tart cases)




For those who prefer to take shortcut, you're able to buy ready made pastry from supermarket.



For the filling

• 6 fresh strawberries-hulled
• 30 fresh raspberries
• 30 fresh blueberries
• 150 ml whip cream-chilled
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp icing sugar

1. Chill mixing bowl in the fridge. Once it's cold, pour the whip cream, icing sugar and vanilla essence into the bowl and use electric whisk to whip the cream (try to use low speed as too high speed may cause the liquid to splash). You'll see bubble initially, as you continue to whisk, you'll reach ribbon consistency. This will take about 4-5 minutes on low speed. Turn off the whisk. Chill the cream until you wanted to assemble the tart. For those who wanted to take short cut, buy the ready whipped cream fro supermarket.
2. Once the tart is cool, clean, drain and wipe dry the soft fruits. Pipe the whipped cream onto the tart until done. Then decorate the tart with one fresh strawberry each in the center and follow by other fruits.
3. Leave to chill in the fridge till ready to serve.

Oven baked cod with chopped parsley with white sauce

As summer at it's peak, decided to include this simple yet elegant dish as my main for Sunday luncheon over at mine. As my garden too is bursting with lots of flowers as well as herbs especially curl leaf parsley, which I'm using as a nice complement to this dish. The dish tasted light and yet tasty.

Oven baked cod with chopped parsley with white sauce
Ingredients ( for 4 persons)

• 4 cod fillets (around 120 gm each)
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• 6 tbsp chopped curl leaf parsley
• dash of lemon juice
• 1.5 tbsp olive oil
• Basil leaf, thyme and roasted pecan nut for garnishing (optional)
  

White sauce
I added some chopped parsley to the sauce to give it some herby flavor.

1. Clean the cod fillet, pat dry. Place on work surface and sprinkle with dash of salt and freshly grind black pepper. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
   
2. In a bowl, place the chopped parsley and olive oil and mixed well.
   
3. Pre-heat the oven to 200C.
4. Line the baking tray with aluminium foil. Brush with some olive oil.
   
5. Rolled the fish fillet with ingredients (2). Then place the fish fillet on the lined tray. Repeat till done.
6. Bake at 200C for the first 5 minutes, then lower to 180C and continue baking for another 5-7 minutes. Removed from oven.
7. In a plate drizzle with white sauce. Place the cod fillet on it and garnish with basil leave and pecan nut. Drop a thyme leaf on the side to give a touch of elegance.

This dish goes well with nice Australian white wine.

Of course the blog will not be complete to show you some nice transformation in July :-)

Aubergine with garlic and dark soya sauce

As summer month progressing, I've seen a lot of vegetables gradually make their appearance either in the supermarket or local farmer's market. I always try to get what the season has to offer, as seasonal vegetables will be in abundance, taste better and cost less too.
How could I resist, when Tesco offering globe aubergine for 39 pence each last week. Let just put it as, I bought loads of aubergine. They're so versatile-you can grill, roast, deep fried with batter, stir fry, cook with curry etc etc. The thing is that aubergine really soak out flavor very well.
I know many of you tend to think that cooking aubergine is a hassle-from salting to get rid of it's bitter taste(this will only apply if it's rather old) and require tonnes of cooking oil. Worry not as I introducing you a healthier way of cooking aubergine and yet still tasted as good. A little effort of steaming before frying would actually reduce the consumption of oil during cooking. This recipes is good for vegetarian as well, with a touch of Oriental influence.

Aubergine with garlic and dark soya sauce
Ingredients (good for 2 persons)

• 1 large globe aubergines about 400gm (cut lengthwise about 2cm thick)
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp light soya sauce
• 2 tbsp of water
  
• 1/2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp of fried garlic bits in oil

1. Steam the aubergine in steamer for around 30-40minutes, you should feel it is soft now.
2. Heat cooking oil in a pan/wok. Once hot, add in the steamed aubergines and let it soak up the oil. [Typically if we're not steaming, we could easily used up to 5tbsp of oil. ]
3. Slowly add a tbsp of water at a time, let it simmer on low heat.
4. Then add in light soya sauce, dark soya sauce and sugar and stir to mix. Let it simmer for additional 3minutes.
5. Off heat and dish out. Garnish with garlic bits in oil. Serve with rice.

Here's my harvest of strawberry from my garden, one colander full every 3 days, really bountiful harvest this year :-). I turned them into jars of lovely jam.

Buttermilk Scones

I love June because .......

Simply summer is here.

English summer afternoon should be enjoyed with tea and scones or better known as cream tea. As my English friend puts it, "The proper cream tea set should consist of 2 scones, served with strawberry jam, Cornish/Devon clotted cream and a pot of tea". And yes I totally agrees with him. Of course if you visit any tea room here in Cambridge, you're normally given only one tiny scone, a small jar of jam and whipped cream plus a pot of tea. Having one scone with whipped cream is not authentic enough, it got to be Cornish/Devon clotted cream. Moreover, I prefer to have freshly baked scones right from the oven with homemade strawberry jam [quote: strawberry home grown too] and a dollop of pure authentic Cornish/Devon clotted cream. So I decided to enjoy one summer afternoon tea with homemade scones. Summer afternoon indulgence at the luxury expense of waistline..... hehehehehehehe.

Here's my recipes for buttermilk scones.... and yes it's so easy to make.



Buttermilk scones (make 8 scones)
Ingredients

• 280 gm self raising flour+ some for dusting
  
• 90 gm butter
• 4 tbsp buttermilk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 40 gm caster sugar
• 2 tbsp milk

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.
2. Use rubbing method to mix butter and flour till it resembles breadcrumb. Then add in sugar and salt mix well. Slowly pour in buttermilk and mix using a knife. Don't overwork the dough. If it's too dry, add the milk.
   
3. Then pour the dough onto a dusted floor work surface. Pat lightly to form about an inch thick dough. Use a 2inch cookie cutter to cut the dough. If you wanted your scone to have the rise edges, the secret is: when you cut the dough with the cookie cutter, make sure use some muscle power. Plunge the cookie cutter fast and strong onto the dough and make a clean cut, never twist your cutter while in the dough. Continue until you're done with the dough.
   
4. Place the scones on a baking paper and bake for 10-12mins. You can glazed the scones with buttermilk or egg yolk.
5. Served with jam, clotted cream and tea.

Enjoy the afternoon..........................

Gardener hard at work and yearning for a cuppa

My strawberry showing sign of ripening

My favorite Princess of Wales rose. Another reason why I love June......month of the roses

Back from holiday (Part 3)

Area near Eyjafyallajokull-still covered in thick volacnic ash, can get quite hazy

This will be the last part of our adventures in Iceland. We were contemplating where to go next after the extensive Golden Circle excursion. We still have 1 full day to explore, wondering what nature has to offer us in Iceland. We were offered half day whale watching/puffin tour + nearby Videy Island or a full 9 hours excursion to the south [ with the possibility of going through the volcano eruption area]. Of course the latter sounds more interesting, to be in the spot where we could witness what big trouble this Eyjafyallajokull has caused. We decided there and then South Shore Adventures it would be, for our next day excursion.
We woke up early to have our huge breakfast before starting our tour at around 9am departing from Reykjavik. The drive to South Shore took almost 3.5 hours to a little coastal hamlet of Vik. Along the way we passed through the area near the erupted volcano. We were literally passing through the area which still has lots of volcanic ash lying around. On a dry and windy day, the whole area will be very hazy, with poor visibility. We did stop to get our hands on the ash from Eyjafyallajokull, took some as a little sovenirs from Iceland. We then proceed to Vik. It is the southern most tip of Iceland, from here to Antartic, there are no land in between. The main attraction in Vik, is it almost black sandy beach.

The black sandy beach of Vik

The waves here is really strong, you could feel the power of the waves even you're looking from afar. It is also famous for Reynisdrangar pillars that rise from the sea just off the shore. It reminded me of the eleven apostles on The Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.

Reynisdrangar pillars

South Iceland is a lowland region of lush farmland (but due to the recent eruption), many crops has been destroyed. Even the white glacier Myrdalsjokull is covered with ash and is quite mucky. But the experience of seeing grey glacier will have your body and mind transported to the moon for a second. We also had the opportunity to walk on the ash covered glacier. Cool.....

Myrdalsjokull glacier-look like a place on the moon

After that, we stopped at Skogar Village. There we went up the Skogar Waterfall, one of the highest in Iceland. Looks frantically frightful up there as the fall plunges about 100 metres downward.

Skogar Waterfall-looks scary as it plunges 100 meters down

Afterwards a visit of the Skogar Folk Museum; a local folk museum which gives an excellent insight into Iceland’s history. The caretakers of the museum are full of enthusiasm explaining the early history of Icelandic people. A small museum but has very cosy feeling about it, with Holt houses dotted around it. We spent 45 minutes at this stop.

Holt House

The last stop before heading back to Reykjavik would be the lovely Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, a small but extremely picturesque waterfall, special not only for its beauty but also because it is actually possible to walk behind it. If the sun ray is in front of the fall, the mist from the fall form a lovely rainbow......awesome spectacular sight. A wonderful waterfall indeed.

Seljandsfoss-you can walk behind the plummeting fall-the lovely rainbow

With all the nature has to offer, this excursion totally turn out to be ideal for nature lovers of all kinds. Totally love it.
We head back to Reykjavik with our mind filled with all the beautiful things nature had offered. Truly Nature, Wild and Free............. go to Iceland. We definitely be back in Iceland in the near future.

Soon I'll be posting cooking recipes again......... from lovely Cambridge. Stay tuned.

Back from holiday (Part 2)

The Reykjavik Excursion tour company

So we decided to join Reykjavik Excursion for full day excursion that lasted 8 hours. Having very poor meal last nite, we decided to have huge breakfast at the hotel. We have chosen "The Golden Circle"excursion. The name "Golden Circle" might be a tourist-industry tag, but it's also apt, as this broad circuit east from Reykjavik covers many Iceland's best known features and touches on the root of much of its history. The whole round trip is about 300km.

We started by visiting Hellisheidi geothermal power plant, a high temperature geothermal area just 30 minutes drive from Reykjavik. This stop at the power station is very educational as we learnt that most heatings and hot water to all building in Iceland is supplied by geothermal plants. A further 1.5hours drive through the vast space of soutwest from Reykjavik brought us to the beautiful waterfall Gullfoss (Golden Fall), where we can walk so close to the edge that we felt the mist of the glacial water on our faces. This water fall plunges in 2 stage before dissapearing into huge gorge. Amazing really to see the volume of glacier waters being released into the gorge. One of the most beautiful waterfall I've seen.

The Amazing Gulfoss

Next we head up to a nearby geothermal field where the famed Great Geyser is located. However the Great Geyser no longer gushed out hot water fountain but the nearby Strokkur is, with spectacular bubbling hot water fountain display, 30 metres high, in an interval of between e 3-4 minutes. It's the wonder of nature in display here.....my first to see geyser in action, amazing really.

Hot bubbling Strokkur geysir

After lunch we headed up to Pingvellir National Park. The region is scarred by one of the world's great geological boundaries, a rift valley marking where the North American and Eurasian continental plates are physically tearing apart by 2-4cm each year. As our tour guide explained jokingly, we need passport to cross the continent as we enter from Eurasian plate into North American plate. Over here the landscape is of vast moor land, volcanoes and lake Pingvallavatn. Þingvellir is geologically remarkable and the tectonic plate boundaries form a breathtaking scenery. Over here you'll also be able to see the Icelandic parliament Alþingi was founded in the year 930 AD. One of the world first parliament.

To the left-North American plate, to the right Eurasian plate

We headed back to Reykjavik after an interesting tour of Golden Circle. Again, I truly enjoy Iceland wonder of nature.

Langjokull Glacier in the distance (white color)

Back from holiday

I've just returned from a nice short break. Many wonder where did I go. Oh well, I went to Iceland. To me, Iceland never ceases to amaze- with it's massive lava field, rugged terrain, hot springs, volcanoes, glaciers, geyser, amazing waterfalls ...............all things nature.
Iceland environment is so clean and unpolluted-the two main ingredients of longevity - air and water is totally fresh.
Some of our friends think we're crazy to go to Iceland when the famed Eyjafyallajokull ( still not able to pronounce the name properly) is still having some activities, plus to leave the nice warm summer Cambridge to cold "Ice-land", etc etc....
How wrong they were : Few days before we travel, Icelandic met office has issue a statement that the volcano has stop erupting. After we arrived, we realized that summer weather in Iceland is as nice as one could expect, a cool 17deg C and we're gifted with almost sunny weather throughout our stay. And not forgetting the midnight sun-almost 22 hours of daylight, even then the sky didn't really turn pitch dark. Amazing really to experience the almost "Midnight Sun"
I will share with you all on our trip to Iceland over the next few days.
We arrived Reyjkavik on Friday night and were transfered to Hotel Klopp. This will be our accomodation for the next 5 days. Being located right in the city centre and on a Friday nite, you might be better off joining pub crawl with Icelandic party revellers than having a disturbed sleep due to the noise from nite clubbing crowds. But then nightlife in Reykjavik isn't known for it's subtleties, well much on the wild side.
We decided to go a bit slow on Saturday for the itenary, so we picked Blue Lagoon, a mere 45 minutes drive from Reyjavik. Along the way to Blue Lagoon, one is confronted with view of lava field miles after miles. This place is well known globally as "the must visit" outdoor bathing spot if you're in Reykjavik. The colour of the water is milky blue, it contains silica and algae deem good for skin disorder. Having said that, we plastered our face and body with the healing mud. Really fantastic. I even bought a tube of silica mud mask, too good to be missed.

Icelandic practice religiously clean hygiene when going into pools all around the country. One has to shower naked before putting on bathing suit. It's inconsiderate if one didn't clean yourself before proceeding to the pool as water in Iceland is so pure and no traces of chlorine treatment at all in the pool.
Truth to be told, Blue Lagoon is actually artificial, set in the middle of a flat expense of black lava rocks and filled by water outflow from the nearby Svartsengi geothermal power station. What is geothermal? We spent almost half a day soaking in the nicely heated outdoor lagoon. Everyone got out totally relaxed.
As the sun never really sets, we proceeded to explore Reykjavik at our own slow pace. View of Reykjavik from Perlan is fantastic on a clear day. We anticipated a full 2 days excursion out of Reykjavik.

After that we headed to the harbour to try out the famous seafood buffet. I've researched on internet and it gives good review about this little establishment. As seafood-particularly fish is the main export of Iceland. Fish produce are deem cheaper than meat for example. So we have high expectation of this place and expected to pay around GBP20 per person. Only to find ourself totally disappointed with the food here as the taste doesn't totally agree with us. After dinner we went to checkout another establishment deem to be "the must visit" seafood joint by many travel guides. One expect to pay GBP10 for a stick of grilled seafood. Over-priced!
Having said that, we decided to explore the best burger joint in Reykjavik for tommorow's dinner as prices is affordable [ still slightly more expensive than what you get at home ]. I guessed I have to lower down my expectation of the food vs price. If I anted to go to a real good restaurant expect to pay at least GBP40 per person/meal. Therefore nothing to really rave about food in Reykjavik. After all I'm here for the nature stuff :-) .
We went to sleep when the sun is just about to go beyond the horizon only to realize it will appear again 2 hours after..... land of the Midnight Sun ...... lovely.