Stop, look, listen...well, mainly listen

Street performer worth your time of day (and hoping he made some money on this day).
Why wasn't the crowd dancing? Because they're Londoners? Maybe if he worked some strobe-light effect dancing into his act... But still, he got the crowd allright.

Animated In Bed - Wonderful Stop Motion

One Love | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

In case I haven't said it before: I love people!
We see so much of the worst of people on the news everyday so here's a song (sing along) to bring back the humanity and the joy and creativity we all share.

 

Korean Noodle Salad (Salad Guksu)

A saucy favourite of mine from Korea. A little like a noodle version of my beloved bibimbab but with a different and fresher dressing/sauce. I've adapted a recipe from Lee MinJung's Step-by-Step Cooking Korean and given you more ideas based on versions of this salad I've eaten.

While this cold salad is just fantastic in hot summers, it's also great for those winter days when you just can't stand the thought of another heavy (and possibly white and stodgy) dish. Here in France I'm eating a lot of tarts, gratins, purees, bread and cheese, pasta - all food I love but that leads me to crave something fresh and colourful. The markets at the moment have a great array of turnips but not many vegetables to get excited about. This is a salad that can be made with few or many vegetables, depending on what you have available. I would have loved to add in some spicy sesame leaves but I have trouble finding ANY Asian ingredients, let alone any as exotic as that! So today's salad was made with just noodles, lettuce and cabbage, carrot, cucumber and on top boiled egg (no good tofu or tempeh to be found either) and seaweed.
It wasn't at all boring though as the sauce is very flavourful and turns this from just a healthy bowl of vegetables into a treat to look forward to.

Serves 2-4 depending on amount of veggies used and serving size. (bowl of salad in photo is one of 3 servings)

Salad Ingredients

soba noodles* 2 bundles
lettuce and/or cabbage 5 leaves cut into thin 4cm lengths

and choose from these other toppings:

cucumber 1 med, cut into thin 4cm lengths**
carrot 1 med, cut into thin 4cm lengths
red capsicum, 1med, cut into thin 4cm lengths
nashi (Asian pear) 1, cut into thin 4cm lengths
cherry tomatoes, 10 cut in half
seasame (perilla) leaves, 2, cut into thin 4cm lengths
radishes, 4, thinly sliced
radish sprouts, small handful
spring onions (scallions/green onions), 2, cut into thin 4cm lengths
seaweed sheets, 2 large /1 package of small salted Korean kim sheets, cut into thin 4cm lengths
kimchee (cabbage or radish type) if you're not a strict vegetarian or vegan (it is often made with small dried fish). I didn't use kimchee but if you do be aware it will affect the flavour of whole dish.
eggs, 1 per person, hard boiled, halved or quartered
OR (vegan option)
tempeh or tofu, marinated, 1/2 block, sliced in 4cm lengths, fried

* If you don't have soba noodles (available in most supermarkets) you can use many other types of noodles including brown rice noodles, buckwheat noodles, sweet potato noodles (chewy!), acorn noodles (great if you can find them), angelhair noodles...
**My new julienne cutter tool - looks similar to a potato peeler - is earning its keep in my kitchen!

Dressing Ingredients

3 T light soy sauce
3 T vinegar (rice vinegar is usual, or I like to use cider vinegar)
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T agave nectar/ mild honey or 3 T brown sugar
1/2 T vegetarian oyster sauce
1 T crushed garlic
1 1/2 t wasabi
1 T chilli powder / Korean chilli flakes
1 T seasame oil
2 T toasted seasame seeds

more dressing options:
replace the veg oyster sauce and chilli powder with 4 T Korean red chilli paste (gochu jang - great paste to have if you can find it; look for it in Korean or general 'Asian' grocery stores).
you could use a knob of grated ginger and some coriander leaves for un-Korean but still delicious additions

Method

Combine ingredients for dressing and blend well. Refrigerate.

Blanch noodles in boiling water (or if using another type of noodles, cook till just tender) then wash under cold running water. Drain well.

Mix noodles with dressing and half the lettuce and other toppings. Use (clean!) hands to mix ensure thorough mix.

Garnish with remaining lettuce and toppings and serve.
I like to add the seaweed last as it gets soggy and chewy quickly. In the one in the photo I didn't have my favourite small Korean kim sheets so sliced up the kind used for 'california rolls'. I sprinkled the eggs with salt, chilli powder and sesame seeds.

Stephen Fry - All about I (What I wish I knew when I was 18)

When you have a spare 1/2 hour, do yourself a favour and settle down on the couch with a nice cuppa and this video. What's it about? So much! Stephen Fry just sharing some of his perceptive thoughts on life - human nature, the internet, kindness, authority...all sorts! He's got so much to share so all these gems just seem to roll off his tongue - but far from coming across as being un-thought-out, they offer us much to reflect on. So do watch when you can pay proper attention, not while emailing someone at the same time. For me it was 30 minutes spent in fine company.

Leek Tart (Tarte aux Poireaux)

Unlike in New Zealand where 'real men don't eat quiche', French men are only too happy to enjoy quiches and tarts and Tarte au Poireaux is one of Luc's favourite meals. His mum whips up great tarts in no time using store bought pastry and a custardy base made of eggs and creme fraiche. Unfortunately for countries like NZ and esp Australia, the store-bought pastries there are usually rubbish so it's well worth making your own - which is fairly quick if you multitask and get another step done while pastry is chilling. Creme fraiche is also not widely available and very expensive in any case, so while living in Australia, we started making this version, with recipes for a savoury custard and a shortcrust pastry (I made wholemeal) from Perth wholefood chef Jude Blereau. They both come from her book 'Wholefood: heal, nourish, delight' which is a great resource book for getting back to basics and tips on preparing different ingredients. 

This recipe is for leek tart (tarte aux poireaux) which is simple but delicious. You can use the basic recipe to make other tarts with winter or summer roast vegetables, things like pumpkin and blue cheese, spinach and pine nuts etc. 'Wholefood' cookbook also has a version I'd like to try with sweet potato, caremelized onion and artichoke. So use the idea and have fun!

Please forgive this lacklustre photo - I didn't think to take one when it came out of the oven so this is of a leftover piece reheated (and thus pastry overcooked) which we had the next day with wholemeal garlic bread and orange & grilled fennel salad.

Leek Tart

Ingredients:

1 quantity (450g / 1 lb)shortcrust pastry - see recipe below
1 quantity of basic savoury custard - see recipe below
3 medium leeks, (hard green tops removed), well cleaned and chopped
1 T olive oil
optional:
2-4 t dijon mustard
⅓ c grated melting cheese like 'tasty', cheddar, gruyere or compte

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200˚C (350˚F / Gas mark 4).
2. Line a 24cm (Diameter) x 3.5cm (Deep) / (9½ x 1¼ inch) tart dish with the pastry and trim the edges. (Tin or enamel tart dishes are best to transfer heat quickly to set gluten in pastry before butter all melts, while ceramic dishes diffuse heat which can result in soggier pastry). Put in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, or until well chilled (otherwise the pastry can slump down away from the sides while cooking and won't be nice and flakey).
3. While the pastry-shell is chilling, prepare the leeks. Make sure they are well-cleaned of any grit and dirt by slicing in half lengthways - so you can separate the leaves - and rinsing well in cold water. Sauté the leeks in the olive oil, stirring so they don't brown. When they are tender remove from heat.
4. Blind-bake the pastry-shell: Line the well chilled pastry shell with baking paper and fill with baking beans or raw rice. Put into the hot oven on the hot baking tray and bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove baking paper (being careful not to spill the beans / rice. These, once cool, can be stored and reused for future blind baking). Bake pastry-shell for a further 5 minutes or until the base of the pastry is dry.
5. While the pastry is blind baking you could prepare the savoury custard (see recipe below).
6. Next, we spread our ingredients (here, leek) over the base of the pastry-shell and pour over the custard, using only enough to bring the level to just below the top of the pastry. If using cheese and/or mustard, first use the back of a spoon to spread the mustard over the base of the tart then sprinkle over cheese before adding the leek. 
7. Carefully place the filled tart in the oven and bake for 15 minutes (at 200˚C / 400˚F / Gas 6) before turning down to 180˚C (350˚F / Gas 4) and check after a further 50 minutes (or earlier, if you think your oven is too hot or you're using a fanbake setting. The tart should be set and becoming golden on top. If you would like to top it with cheese, sprinkle over a good melting cheese approximately 20 minutes before it is ready (I don't feel the need to do that when I'm using tasty organic leeks).

Shortcrust Pastry (Wholemeal or plain)

125-180g (4 ½ - 6 oz) unsalted butter
250 g (9 oz / 2 cups) flour (wholemeal, atta or plain wheat or spelt)*
90-170 ml (3-5½ fl oz) ice-cold water

*Wholemeal flours require a wetter dough (as they absorb more liquid). You can choose to mix wholemeal and plain flour or wholemeal and atta flour if you like. I tend to use just one or the other, depending on what I'm making. With many savoury tarts I prefer the nutty flavour of wholemeal.

Method:

1. Using a pastry cutter / butter knife / your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour in the bowl until it is incorporated but still chunky (small chunks). If using a food processor, pulse one or two times, or until ready to turn out into a bowl.
2. Begin to mix the water gradually into the flour and butter (using a butter knife to cut the wet into the dry). Use only as much water as you need - the higher the percentage of wholemeal/whole wheat flour you use, the more water needed. Once the mixture looks evenly moist, bring it together into a ball (but don't knead or work it too much).
3. Flatten the ball of dough and chill for about 20 minutes, long enough to take the softness off the butter. The dough is now ready to roll out and use.

Basic Savoury Custard

Enough for a simple tart with few ingredients. The more ingredients you add, the less custard you will need.

For a 24cm (Diameter) x 3.5cm (Deep) / (9½ x 1¼ inch) Tart Dish

500ml (17 fl oz / 2 cups) milk (dairy or soy)

small sprig of fresh thyme or fresh oregano or green garlic (to infuse soy milk)

1 fresh bay leaf

1 garlic clove, quartered

sea salt, to taste

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

Put the milk in a saucepan (along with your choice of seasonings if using soy milk), the bay leaf and the garlic and place over a very low heat. Don't allow it to boil, but heat it until it just begins to steam. Remove from the heat, cover, then put in the fridge.

When cool, remove the skin (if there is one) and herb sprig (but not the leaves) and mash the garlic into the custard. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then whisk in the eggs.

Orange and Grilled Fennel Salad

Good idea: Eating salads every day. 

Bad idea: The salad only being lettuce.

Here in France I'm impressed that they get their greens every day but a bit disappointed 'salad' refers to just lettuce, or in the cold months, yummier nutty, buttery 'mache'*

To me, salad implies a mixture of things. A chopped apple isn't a fruit salad by itself, is it? I guess in New Zealand we're used to eating lots of different salads, often as side dish, sometimes as a meal on their own. The French have a salad (lettuce) course, which I commend but intend to enhance!

So here's my first offering, that yummy mache (or your substitute like baby spinach, beet greens etc) paired with salad-in-its-own-right combo of fennel and orange. I like the last two ingredients fresh as a salad/desert in summer but as its winter (and I have a little extra time on my hands) I've been grilling the fennel (you could do this on the BBQ in summer). It's incredible how the flavour changes - it mellows and becomes ever more sweet, much like garlic does when you roast it. Of course, it has its own flavour which I love and, best of all, grilling them takes almost no oil and is quick.

*According to veggiegardeningtips.com, "Mache, also known as corn salad, rapunzel, field salad, or lamb’s lettuce is a little known salad green with a mild lettuce like flavor." It's common in this part of France where it grows well along the sandy banks of the Loire and handles the cold admirably. It's supposed to be a great source of vitamen C and iron. And who could go past a name like Rapunzel? This is the veggie Rapunzel's mother was craving when she was preggers!

Orange and Grilled Fennel Salad

Ingredients:

1 large orange
1/2 bulb of fennel
2 handfuls of mache  or baby spinach / other salad greens
3 sprigs of fresh mint
2 t balsamic vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
pinch sea salt
black pepper to taste

Method:

1. Wash mache / greens (in sink or bowl of cold water to remove sandy grit). Remove to colander or salad spinner to drain. Rinse and slice mint and add to the mache/greens. 
2. Remove tough outer leaves of fennel bulb and discard. Chop fennel into slices. Grill on a very lightly oiled grill (or put on a tray and use oven grill with door ajar). They don't need to be heaps grilled, just to get a little colour / a couple of grill lines.
3. While fennel is grilling, peel orange (slice off peel to avoid bitter pith), and chop into disks and then segments and put in a salad bowl. Squeeze in any extra juice from peel.
4. Add to the salad bowl the vinegar, olive oil, salt and a good few grinds of pepper. Mix.
5. Add the fennel and when ready to serve, the mache/greens. Mix leaves through the orange vinaigrette very gently. Mache and similar salad greens bruise easily and go soggy and look terrible if you leave them sitting in dressing for long.

I served this with a leek tart with homemade wholemeal pastry, very nice!