Monday, January 27, 2014

Flavorful Vegetable Broth inspired by Ottolenghi


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Flavorful vegetable broth (for 4 people);
2 medium onions, peeled and cut into large pieces
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
6 sticks celery, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
Vegetable oil
2 lemongrass stalks, very roughly chopped
8 prunes
1 red chili, roughly chopped
2 star anise
2 tbsp soy sauce
In a large pan, char the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and ginger in a tiny amount of oil. Cook for five minutes, or until the edges begin to colour. Add 2 quarts of water, the lemongrass, prunes, chillies, star anise, soy, lime leaves and coriander root. Cook on a low simmer for at least 45 minutes, to infuse. Strain the stock, and discard vegetable. Fill in a container and chill.
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For a Thai soup (1 serving)
2 enoki mushrooms
5 shitake mushroom
handful rice noodles
1/4 red bell pepper, cut in thin stripes
a few edamame
Toasted sesame oil, to finish

Bring 2-3 laddles of the stock to a low simmer.  Add the enoki and sbitake mushrooms and the rice noodles and cook for 3 minute. Add the remaining ingredients apart from the sesame oil, and heat through for a minute. Taste, adjust the seasoning as needed, and ladle into warm bowls. Finish with sesame oil, not more than a few drops in each bowl, and coriander leaves.

Monday, January 20, 2014

Land of Lemon

About exactly a year ago I bought a Meyer Lemon container tree, in a beloved store in Belfast, ME. I removed all my table top photography set up from the biggest window and move the Meyer lemon tree there instead. With the good care of plenty of light, water, organic fish fertilizer feed, it blossomed soon with the most fragrant, intensely sweet, perfumed blossoms.

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In the summer, the Meyer Lemon tree enjoyed a warm, fertilized, sunny life outside on the deck and the tiny blossomes developed into tiny green lemons, which grew and grew over the summer.

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By October the remaining lemons had grown all the way to industrial strength lemons and could be take for super limes.

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They moved back inside the house for the winter, and since have been spending again at a place in the light and close to the woodstove. Over the months, they turned from green to yellow. I’ve heard you know when you walk into the house and you can smell them then they are ripe. So, far I am waiting and enjoying the splendid sight of my Meyer Lemon land of lemon in the middle of winter in Maine,

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(Don’t mind me kissing the lemons.)