Crab salad with lemon balm pseudo-Vichyssoise
Crab meat, avocado, rocket/Cos, cucumber (not in photo) – all to fine dice/loose chiffonade – and a dressing of mayo, mustard and a light vinegar (like cider or rice wine), and some olive oil to maybe loosen it a little, just works so well.
Not strictly a Vichyssoise, because it was thinner (lacked the potato), but otherwise as per the classic.
I thought the lemon balm would be an interesting take (the lemon-seafood stretch isn’t hard), but I’m not sure it works so well with the avocado. Interpretations for this dish are endless… time to do another rethink.
Being obsessed with fermenting, sauerkraut is great because it’s so simple (relative to other fermented products like wine, cheese and even olives).
Chiffonade/shred cabbage of choice, pack into an air-tight container that allows expulsion of gas without ingress of air, add 4 to 5% salt solution, seal, allow fermentation to complete (typically a few weeks, depending of temperature)… especially good with sausage.
White cabbage sauerkraut
An RFA that’s consistently true to its Central American self.
IMO, best roasted just (a few seconds) into second crack.
It shows chocolate and caramel with a citrus (orange-like) note; sweet and fairly creamy in the mouth. A very well rounded coffee that’s great single origin.
Lamb backstrap - marinaded and BBQed
Lamb backstrap is an amazingly tender (and yet flavoursome) cut of lamb in Australia. It’s delicious Morrocan-style: BBQed after marination in olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, coriander leaf/cilantro, cumin, garlic and sweet paprika.
Dukka/duqqa is a great compliment.
Dukka/Duqqa
Pretty good with a Fairbank Syrah 2004, which had an intense dark core of savoury fruit (blackcurrant), a touch of mint/eucalypt and an exceptionally structured palate.
Now bring on the Fadel Shaker!
This is a dish for lovers of meat and greens.
The “kebab” is pounded pork mince with soy sauce, fish sauce, lemongrass, garlic and chilli added.
This is then wrapped in a lettuce leaf (I prefer something like oak leaf for texture and flavour) with herbs (Vietnamese mint/coriander (i.e., Persicaria odorata) and European mint – I have also found lemon balm to work particularly well).
Vietnamese-style BBQ pork kebabs with herbs in lettuce
From the Ureña family’s 30 ha farm in the Tarrazú region, grown at an altitude of 1400 to 1600 m.
Given a relatively short roast at moderate heat to just into 1st crack.
It’s not as lifted or citrusy as some Costa Ricans, but it is bright and does have good acidity – all of which I expect in a good Costa Rican. Very light in the mouth and a little weak on (caramel) flavour.
Either this deserves to be taken well into 1st crack (or perhaps even beyond), or it’s just not great Costa Rican; and the former could well be the case.
Costa Rica Finca la Lia roasted just into 1st crack (foreground)
Australian beef doesn’t impress me at all: it just doesn’t have the depth of flavour. I used to think it must be the wide-spread short (or non existant) hanging time, but even Aussie beef that’s been hung for weeks doesn’t have the flavour. I thought maybe it was the old grass fed vs grian fed issue (but niether >30 day grain fed nor grass fed seems to offer the depth either – I think grass fed gives better flavour, for most places in the world, BTW)….
Aussie lamb, however, is great. It is slightly gamey even without hang time, but it’s not as funky as its European counterparts (which unfortunately, I find too funky – unusual for me, since I generally like game and funk).
I find Aussie lamb is best cooked to medium or medium+, which perhaps explains why Australian’s general understanding of “rare” is equivalent to what the Brits would call “medium” and what the French would call “well done”!
BBQed here, a la “Niçoise”, with what is essentially an undercooked ratatouille that has black Kalamata olives and plenty of thyme thrown through it. The combo is fantastic, and with a decent hit of vinegar in the sauce, a full red wine is a great partner.
Aussie lamb a la Niçoise
Aussie-Asian fusion continues to hold my interest, and I like to combine citrus with fish…
Australian pike with mirepoix, choy, mandarin-soy-honey sauce, pomello
Not bad with a Rias Baixas either.
A good bolognese starts with a good soffritto, and I’ve come to believe the classic use of milk is beneficial.
Soffritto
I prefer a 100% durum wheat Italian semolina (non-egg) pasta, but making egg pasta is fun anyway…
Drying egg pasta
Tagliatelle (the real! pasta for) bolognese
