Lamb vindaloo

After a visit to Asia Market and sourcing lots of wonderful spices and herbs, I decided to make curry from scratch for the first time. I was able to find lamb stew meat at the butcher's, so I went for a lamb vindaloo. Again, my mini chopper proved to be a terrific buy. 

Lamb vindaloo with wholegrain basmati and blanched green beans

Pan fried venison leg steak and lamb's liver

Tesco, where I order regularly for delivery, has recently added new products to their shelves. Among them are fresh counter sea bass and venison leg steaks. Seeing as it was my first time cooking venison steaks, I decided to keep it simple and pan fry them with some butter for dinner. I also pan fried some lamb's liver in butter and, in a separate pan, baby potato slices in duck fat.

Pan fried venison leg steak and lamb's liver, baby potato slices fried in duck fat, sautéed sugar snaps and chestnut mushrooms

Cashew sesame coriander turkey goujons

A few years ago on BBC's Dragon's Den there was a successful pitch from Levi Roots (real name Keith, an inside joke for anyone that watched the episode) for his Reggae Reggae sauces. Shortly after that episode aired, we found his Reggae Reggae Jerk/BBQ sauce on the shelf in a couple of shops here. Once we tried it, we were hooked. So when I saw the extra hot version being introduced in the shop, I didn't hesitate to pick up a bottle to try. And because I had fresh turkey breasts, I decided to make some turkey goujons to go with the hot sauce. 

Cashew sesame coriander turkey goujons in romaine lettuce cups, served with hasselback potatoes

Mini 'hamburgers'

Mini 'hamburger'

Pan fried cod with salsa cruda

Pan fried cod with salsa cruda, served with sautéed broccolini & green beans 

Steamed sea bass with citrus, ginger, chilli & coriander

Steamed sea bass with citrus, ginger, chilli, coriander, served on a bed of blanched lotus root slices

Earl Grey tea biscuits

Earl Grey is my favourite black tea, and I've had much success using it in chocolate desserts (see my pots de créme au chocolat and chocolate truffle cake). This time I decided to try using it without chocolate and to make biscuits instead. 

Earl Grey tea biscuits

Mala soup base 麻辣湯底

A couple of weeks ago, I was teaching a course on Chinese history, culture, and business and in the last class, I talked about Chinese cuisine. As I went through the Eight Culinary Traditions and explained the different flavours and textures, I was hit with a serious craving for Sichuan mala spices that demanded to be satisfied. So after class, I promptly visited Asia Market and got the necessary ingredients to make my version of mala tofu hot pot (麻辣豆腐鍋).

Mala tofu hot pot with mung bean sheets

Persian lemon chicken

A couple of years ago when we were holidaying in Dubai, we visited the Spice Souk and picked up a few spices. Among them was limu omani, or dried lemon/lime. When we got back home, I didn't quite know what to do with these dried citrus so I searched for recipes online and found one for Persian lemon chicken soup. I tried it out and while the flavours were nice enough, I wasn't completely sold and didn't attempt making it again. The rest of the limu omani were stored in a jar sitting on my spice rack.

Yesterday while trying to come up with a different way of using the chicken pieces I had, I remembered the limu omani and decided it was time to give them another go. And the result was a aromatic lemon chicken with cardamom turmeric rice. 

Persian lemon chicken with cardamom turmeric basmati and blanched green beans

Pineapple coconut loaf (2)

After a full schedule for the first two weeks of May, I finally had the time and energy to try out the tweaked recipe for my pineapple coconut loaf with less liquid and sugar. I also used the ground walnuts left over from making the chocolate walnut torte.

Pineapple coconut loaf

Baked chicken leg & thigh

Baked chicken leg & thigh with cayenne pepper & marjoram, served with hasselback potatoes, and fried chilli green beans (乾煸四季豆)