My alkalising vegetable juice

Having put my body through a lot lately, what with wedding season upon us (three in six weeks, anyone?) and beautiful English summer days resulting in delectable barbecues just about every other day - one just cannot have enough real English (Cumberland actually) sausages; my body is definitely on the acidic side and my face is not thanking me for it. 

We did manage to be rather good for a couple of weeks amidst all the early summer excitement and went in heavy on fruit and vegetables, which resulted almost instantaneously in clearer and glowing buttery skin - I would never have believed this tosh had it not happened to me - which led me to researching the benefits of "alkalising" myself. Oh, that and because my Dad has "just" bought an alkalising water filter and has been expounding the benefits of being an alkali being, so I promised to look into it, being a filial child and all. I may be six months late but better late than never...

It is really not too surprising then that meat and sugar (including high sugar fruit) is acidic (yang, in Chinese "food fengshui" terms) where as green veggies and lemons are alkali (yin) to the human body i.e. Duck = acid and thyme = alkali; I'm (easily) pleased that my blog appears very balanced, both yin and yang at the same time! We must be not ashamed to take pleasure easily whenever we can...

What I am not clear about is whether just having vegetables without fruit, would yield the same good results and I'm keen to be my one guinea pig. So trusty Waitrose provided a half head of spring cabbage, three celery stalks, an English cucumber, a quarter lemon including rind and an inch of ginger. And water either alkali filtered or just mineral water. Having never put my blender to good use before, I decided to join the juicing / blending craze, and decided to have my alkalising broth gaspacho style. 

Hopefully this will come in handy to balance out all that bone soup I've been having; cin cin!

Say hello to good skin and bye bye to that very resilient six month old spot!

The best Tumeric and Cumin Chicken - ever

What with all my special dietary requirements and the endless advice from multiple specialists: less meat, more spices, fruit and nut, ostrich, vitamins, detox.., I am easily the most healthy person, food-wise, whom I know - apart from my dad at least, but that (or he) is just crazy with a capital C and is a full feature movie for another day.

OK, I do admit that occasionally I may have crisp-eating fests where entire packets of "SHARE" sized bags are scoffed, but I deserve it for being a saint 90 percent of the time. And sharing is over rated anyway no matter how good it makes you look. And my crisps are grilled, not fried. So there.

Back to the point - and I do have one - a specialist of mine had specifically recommended that I have more tumeric. Tumeric is a fragrant, yellow spice from the ginger family and used liberally in Indian cuisine. It is warm and peppery and gives you a nice little hug from the inside. Most importantly, it is really good for health as it has loads of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents which suits someone who does not have a body which detoxes itself quite efficiently enough - me.

More by accident and pure laziness as I was too tired to cook, I threw some tumeric, cumin powder (another super power spice) and salt on some chicken thighs, stuck it in the oven at 180 degrees for 25 minutes and raised the temperature to 220 degrees with the grill on for another 10 minutes, and 10 minutes of resting later, we literally had chicken heaven on a plate. Nothing could be easier and simpler and yet produce such heart warming, rustic, gusty food. It is so good and simple you must try it.

To be healthy, one would discard the skin, but by then the skin would be thin and crispy as all that unhealthy fat would have been rendered onto the cooking tray, that eating the crispy skin would do you less harm than the unhappiness that would follow from denying yourself it. But do avoid dipping any breads into the rendered fat collected in the cooking tray - that WOULD be full of unsaturated fat. Unless you are like my other half who does not care. If so, then dip away.

Note to self - I must take better pictures next time...

Yuzu cake - results revealed

As we never know when and where the fatigue-wind blows, a short period later, we return with full zest and heartiness. It is time to reveal the results of the yuzu cake and it was an unprecedented success! It is meant to be a "heavy" (think afternoon tea type cake) cake as it is intended for a wedding, and yet delightfully fluffy and fresh in the mouth. It was not wide off the mark, with just enough yuzu to make the cake sing...!

It was devoured in less than 24 hours, and I will have to make it again in case it was first-time-lucky and learn how to stack them things. Stack or no, it will all be eaten I bet (hope).

Yuzu cake

It's time to start trialing wedding cakes and I had originally wanted a lavender cake only to find out that they do not like lavender. I decided to try a Yuzu flavoured cake instead. I had first blogged about yuzu here, which is a firm favourite in our household especially with salads. It is still a relatively new flavour in the west but it's catching on fast as it tastes so yummy - think citrus with umaminess if that is even possible.

I also wanted an indulgent cake and am hoping that yuzu combined with sour cream would strike that decadent and yet fresh balance. However, when making a wedding type style cake especially for the first time ever, it is best to read up on how to roll out fondant, and to make fondant flowers.... I am personally not a big fan of fondant icing so I rolled it out really thin, and when I tried to cover the cake with it, *tear*.... A whole host of other issues also showed-case my rookie-ness.

But the true test is in the pudding - tomorrow night will be the taste test.. wish me well!

Recipe to follow after taste test! 

Aztec style chocolate, allergy free!

The current rage with cacao nibs and all things cacao (including good old chocolate) is driving the price of cacao beans through the roof. Apparently, in the near future, we would no longer be able to afford chocolate due to intense cacao tree shortage. To battle this horror of horrors, some techy dudes are finding ways to print chocolate as a method which uses less chocolate whilst boosting it's taste permeation. I am sure printed chocolate could very well be yummy and all, but I am not taking any chances for now. Before real chocolate disappears from the face of the earth, we should all have at least tried chocolate made in it's intended original form.

Since I discovered my small list of intolerances three years ago, I have been consuming a speciality chocolate from Modica, Italy, which is supposedly made in that original and ancient Aztec method. Made from roasted cocoa beans, it is then ground by a giant stone pestle and mortar, before it is gently heated to 35-37C with some sugar which remains undissolved, to form cold-worked chocolate (think cold-pressed olive oil). It is extremely yummy, if rather a little grainy as you would expect from the sugar, not that I mind as the grainy-ness actually makes me feel very Aztec. And there are no additions, nothing funny, nothing processed - just good old cocoa beans and sugar, making it extremely intolerant-friendly! Apparently, unprocessed chocolate is very good for you, so it is a win-win situation.

Unsurprisingly, I am hoarding quite alot of this Aztec-late at home, as every trip to the homeland returns with at least 10 bars of yummy goodness in the suitcase. I do not see this changing in the foreseeable future, in fact, I think with all the chocolate warning, I am in need of a bigger suitcase. That, or we should crowd-fund to buy a cacao tree farm in Mexico together. Anyone?

The best lavender berry jam

As part of preparing my first wedding cake, we are testing unusual flavour combinations. Lavender is always a hard one to incorporate into food as too much of it simply reminds us of soap, and too little of it and it is lost. We've cooked with lavender in savoury food (Rachel  Khoo's lavender honey chicken, lavender duck breast with thyme and honey) and we think the key is to always balance with honey. Surely then it must be easy to incorporate lavender into sweet dishes?

Our brainchild is then lavender jam as it has two uses. Firstly, as we will be using fondant icing on the cake, jam (or buttercream) would need to be used to glue the icing to the cake. Lavender jam would also add another level of lavender flavour (whether in a positive or negative manner is still to be determined) to the cake.

I love jam (possibly because of all that sugar) and always have homemade jam /compote in the fridge / pantry. This lavender berry jam leaves a slight after-tang and yet does not overpower. It is delicious spread on corn thins or home made bread, or eaten together with dairy free ricotta cheese. mmm.

Easy Lavender jam recipe:
1kg blueberries and raspberries
800gms golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp lavender flowers, slightly crushed
1/2 green apple peeled, cored and small diced
zest of half a lemon
3 tbsp lemon juice

Put berries and sugar into a heavy bottomed pan and bring to a boil stirring constantly. When boiling, add it remaining ingredients and keep at a rolling boil for 30 minutes (220 degrees if you have a thermometer), stirring occasionally. This is usually the jam set point i.e. if you put some jam on a cold plate, you should be able to draw a line through the jam, without the jam pooling together again. Let cool overnight and put into a jar(s). It will keep for 2 weeks in the fridge. The jam can be stored in a pantry for 6 months if canned and sealed, while hot, in a hot sterilised jar, with the rims wiped with damp paper towel before sealing.

Next jam should surely be lavender and lychee...?

Charred green vegetables soup

There are times when we all try to avoid talking to our Mums, aren't there? "You look like you need a facial" must be one of those times. On her relentless quest to make me look half charming and somewhat presentable (see, also), my Mum then spent the next hour extolling the pleasure, the effectiveness and the importance of a good facial, and that I should wait not another minute to book myself on a full 3 month facial programme. Even as I am grown rather accustomed to the onslaught of self improvement suggestions and persuasive arguments that flow freely my way, "looking older than your age" still manages a hurtful stab in the heart region.

It did not all end badly as my Mum did say I should also do a fruit and veg detox for a week or so, in tandem with the barrage of facials and massages one simply must have. I wasted no time in telling her of my latest invention, a broccoli, spinach and quinoa soup. Born out of laziness and therefore necessity, and rather convenient timing in my defense against above assault, it was surprisingly scrumptious and I felt detoxed just by looking at it. As it is full of dark leafy green goodness, and surprisingly easy to make, I did have it back to back for 3 days. I do not agree that I am obsessive, rather, cooking broccoli does leave a pungent-ness in the flat, so best to make a large batch and freeze until needed.

To serve 3-4 as a starter:
1 head of broccoli (cut into pieces)
1/2 packet frozen spinach
1 onion (sliced)
1 clove garlic diced
50gms quinoa
700ml Chicken / Bone broth
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Dried chilli flakes
Salt and Pepper

Dry fry broccoli, onions, quinoa and chili flakes on high heat for 10 minutes. This should char the broccoli and onions. Dry frying chili flakes made the Italian half have a sneezing fit so if you are prone to that, add the chili flakes in last, together with the garlic. Add in garlic, sea salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. Add in broth and bring back up to boil before adding in frozen spinach. Leave to simmer for 30 minutes on low heat and then blend with a hand held blender (off the heat) until desired consistency. Taste and adjust.

Serve hot with a sprinkle of dried chillies flakes.

Kimchi-licious Seoul food, super hot

Our love affair with kimchi began when we were living in Sydney about 14 years ago. Australia's firm and vibrant Korean movement really made a huge impression on us - what with Korean barbecue, luscious oyster pancakes, "stone pot" rice with a flair of gooey egg, but above all the humble but punkish kimchi. In the last year, Korean food has also become especially trendy in London thanks to Judy Joo; not that Korean food was non-existent in London before, but there was no celebrity chef sexing it up and peddling it up-market gentrified style, in the JinJoo (Judy's new restaurant) way.

Homemade kimchi itself needs no additional sexing up of course. It is tangy and spicy, served cold / room temperature but still gives you that warm burn. When living in Australia, we would keep bottles of this in the fridge, to satiate ferocious kimchi-pangs, but with the discovery of our intolerances, kimchi which is bought usually contains some sort of gluten, yeast and other un-freetarian friendly ingredients. With that, my god daughter's grandmother made us home made kimchi, and I am renewed in everything that I am. When I asked for the recipe, the reply was that which is common amongst great cooks, "no recipe is required, a little (or a lot) of this and that". Typical.

No great cook, I did jot down the key ingredients in hopes of recreating it myself. I understand that there are three key stages to it: the salting of the cabbage, the marinating, and the fermentation process. The beauty of it all is that I do love things super-spiced, and I am not kidding here - in an Asian restaurant once, a colleague of mine, also a spice-fiend, ate my leftover laksa noodle soup which I had asked to be specially tailored for me, and had an immediate nose bleed from sheer spicyness... he never made that mistake again.

For a spiced up life, but do be warned!

Ingredients:

1 chinese cabbage

1 cup sea salt (450gms)

2 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 150ml water

1 tablespoon brown sugar

2 heads garlic, chopped

1 piece ginger, palm of a toddle sized, chopped

1/2 cup fish sauce

2 1/2 cups Gochugaru (Korean dried red chili flakes, but if not, supermarket chili flakes would be ok) - reduce by 1 1/2 cups if too spicy

2 cups brined shrimps

1 bunch Asian chives / green onions, julienned

1 large carrot julienned

1 large horseradish julienned (optional)

Preparation method:

Quarter the cabbage lengthways and rub salt into every crevice / layer of the cabbage. Leave for two hours, turning every 30 minutes to make sure the salt is evenly distributed. In the mean time, dissolve sugar in the cornstarch and water mixture. In a food processor, blend the garlic, ginger, fish sauce, chilies and shrimp (including the brine) for a minute and add in the sugar cornstarch mixture to loosen. Pour the paste into a large mixing bowl and add in carrots, chives and horseradish. Carefully rinse off the salt and allow the cabbage to drain before adding it into the mixing bowl. Ensure the paste smothers the cabbage leaves, rubbing it in between the leaves. Leave to ferment for 24 hours in a closed container / jar and then refrigerate. Use within 2 weeks - NOTE: As the fermentation process continues even whilst in the fridge, be mindful that the kimchi might explode, so do try to use within 2 weeks.

Serve with toasted sesame seeds sprinkled atop, next to steak, atop polenta and even plain old porridge. Yum.

Rhubarb compote and home made granola!

Nothing quite beats Sunday breakfast, hot coffee properly brewed with the prospect of quite a leisurely bright sunny day ahead. Rhubarb is in season and I just could not resist the call of rhubarb crumble, breakfast style! But why breakfast? Some loyal readers have commented that they just do not understand the concept of vegetables in dessert (including carrot cake... Gasp), and less I shock even more, what with my recent and very indulgent and yummy chestnut brownie, I decided to be more conventional and serve vegetable with breakfast...  Also, breakfast makes me happy.

The granola is absolutely delicious and the goodness of coconut gives amazing lustre and glossiness to hair and nails. The nuts and flaxseed combination is not bad for health either and really do give an increasingly needed energy boost. I hear from my doctor that nuts are also good for detoxifying the body (without the coffee, of course). But whatever the health reasons, and there are plenty, we must always eat for the sheer yummy-ness of it.

Ah, the indulgence of breakfast: rhubarb compote served with homemade almond cranberries granola, with a side of coffee. Good morning England!

Rhubarb compote:

Wash and remove any stringy bits of the rhubarb. Cut into chunks and poach in 1kg in 100ml water, 150 gms sugar or maple syrup, zest and juice of a lime and of a mandarin. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 3 hours. Bring it back to boil for a good five minutes, before bottling. It will keep in the fridge for two weeks. Note, this won't set like jam due to it's low sugar content. 

Almond Cranberries Granola

- 2 cups GF oats

- 1 cup toasted and chopped almonds

- 1/2 cup flax seeds

- 1 and 1/2 cup sunflower seeds

- 1 cup dried cranberries

- 1/2 cup desiccated coconut

- 2 heaping tablespoons of coconut oil

- 2 tbsp a maple syrup

- 1/2 tsp salt

Melt coconut oil and maple syrup over the hob. Then mix all the ingredients together except for the cranberries and spread onto a baking sheet in a single layer. Bake at 175degrees C for 45 minutes until sunkissed golden brown, sporadically turning it with a spatula to ensure it all browns evenly. When ready, remove and allow to cool completely before mixing in the cranberries and then store in an air container for the freshly made feel everytime!

CFS: A very real and physical illness

Thumbs up to Claire Jones for the following article, debunking the myth of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and laying it down for those who think it is all in the head and that we CFS sufferers, are all "hiding behind it". I hear you, Claire Jones, I feel you and I wholehearted support you for standing up for people like us. 

http://www.meassociation.org.uk/2015/03/its-a-real-illness-and-a-physical-one-famous-harpist-talks-to-the-times-3-march-2015/

Having CFS is already hard enough, without having to fight the general prejudice, often displayed by strangers, but also by friends and family, whether consciously or unconsciously done. We need more people, famous and otherwise, to join in and help us fight the cause!

Beyond broth: the essence of chicken

Hot Bird Elixir or Bone Liquid, anyone..?
Having been off social media for almost a week in order to replenish the system, what better way than to give the body an additional leg up than with chicken essence? Chicken essence is often served to those who are feeling fatigued, stressed, recovering from an illness or operation or just to pep the body up a notch or two for important days and events. Even more en vogue than bone broth, it is the preserve of the orient, and is widely believed to be the panacea for most ailments. Right.

But as I bang on about chicken essence, many of us would be wondering: what is chicken essence, or my personal nickname for it: Hot Bird Elixir? It is the liquid yielded by the bones and flesh of the chicken when double boiled over medium slow heat for at least 3 hours - hmm, "bone liquid" does not sound the most appetising and may induce a snigger or two, but it is all wholesome soul and goodness. It is imperative here to buy the highest quality free range and organic chicken you can afford - we are looking for a quality fit bird, and by that I do mean a fit bird - one which has minimal fat, is toned and supple from daily exercise, and which adopts a healthy eating and living style. Where possible, we could even be specific on breed and breeding of the bird: a black bird (the Chinese Silkie) is the preferred, but these are difficult to get a hold of and we would settle for a gamey bird, but never one which is corn fed... These can be got from local butchers and in London, the Ginger Pig, Parsons Nose and the posh local in Hammersmith should also do well.

Whilst there are many different interpretations of the method of preparation, there is really only one way to make it, and for the strictest of us, even the pot in which it is made must be vintage enamel. When fit bird is in hand, plucked and readied, you would need a cleaver and a large chopping board - please do wear an apron too as that bird would likely be flying about, as birds usually do. I would chop up the chicken into quarters and then begin to mince it, bones and all. It should be finely minced, so this could take some time (both the mincing and the post mincing health and safety sanitation), but it is so worth it, not least because any (work, life, general humdrum, unexplained) frustrations can be unleashed! Just three hours later, the liquid from the bird would be ready to be served, piping hot.

The conundrum here is when one is tired and needing a boost, chicken essence would be just what the doctor ordered, but all the mincing and cleaning do indeed tire one out, as therapeutic as getting one's hands on a fit bird is... oh well.

Equipment required:

- vintage enamel double boiler or double boiler 

- medium ceramic bowl

- cleaver

- chopping board

Ingredients

- free range, organic, non corn fed chicken, about 1.2kg to serve two

Preparation time

- 30 minutes prep

- 3 hours cooking

Method:

Place ceramic bowl, face down, in the top tray of the double boiler. Quarter chicken and start chopping each quarter with wild abandonment. Make sure the bones are chopped and minced too, as this will allow the essence to yield more easily. Remember, the chicken would not be consumed after cooking as all it's goodness would already have been extracted, and should be discarded. Place the minced raw chicken flesh and bones around and on top of the ceramic bowl, filling in gaps where possible.

Boil some water and place in the bottom pan. The water should not touch the bottom of the top pan when it is placed on. Boil at high heat for five minutes then turn down to medium low heat for 3 hours, remembering to check the water level of the bottom pan regularly. 

After the first hour, you will see flesh and bone liquid surrounding the chicken. After three hours, take the pan off the heat and the top pan off the bottom, and let it cool for about 5-10 minutes. This process allows the liquid in the pan to be sucked into the vacuum in the ceramic bowl. Carefully scoop up all the bones and flesh, making sure the bowl is not dislodged. Becareful as the minced chicken would be hot. 

When all the bone fragments and flesh have been discarded, tilt the pan slightly and prise the bowl off the bottom of the pan - it is "suctioned" on, so tilting the pan would release some liquid from the bowl which would allow the bowl to be removed more easily.

Serve the essence whilst it is still hot: My hot bird elixir.

Menu ideas: Casual dinner party

Due to my intolerances, eating out has been rather rarer occurrences, with a more than probable chance of "backlash" and all other manners of unpleasantries. Instead, we would have friends over for meals quite often, in my attempt at keeping some semblance of social normality. As I have, very ego-maniacally, been shoving my duck and thyme blog down my friends' throats, they rather feel obliged to ask me for dinner menu suggestions when they themselves have guests over - not because I throw good dinners, but in fear of me taking offence in not being consulted and, in revenge, poison them.

In my defense, coming up with a menu is not always easy (at least not to me and we are only talking about casual dinners rather than dinner parties) and depends on the occasion, the guests, the season, weekend vs week day, the manner of invitation, the hosts, etc... It is also never a good idea to try a new recipe when you have more than 6 dining, unless everyone is forewarned and given time and unblindingly obvious opportunity to back out politely. I did this with dessert, with expected outcome: http://duckandthyme.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/review-of-choccy-bean-cake-alla-rachel.html?m=1

We recently had a couple of friends over for dinner on a Friday night. Since it was a work night and as part of me turning away from my die-hard habit of overfeeding, I decided (read, the Italian forced me) to take the approach that not everyone needs a kilo of meat and pasta to be satiated. I was wrong. Rather, he was wrong. For the first time, I decided not to do a starter and stick to only a main course and dessert, and lo and behold, the strategy fell flat on my face. We ran out of food. Some habits are die-hard for a reason.

Example of a casual week night menu:

Stuzzichini - Kale crisps & homemade hummus (this hummus is really, really, really worth doing) served with carrots and bread

Stuffed Lamb L'albigeoise, 

couscous, spinach and avocado salad

Rachel Khoo's Chocolate Bean Cake

French and Italian cheeses minus crackers

Alcoholic digestives to finish

For stress free hosting, prepare lamb the day before and reheat at 200 degree C for 20 minutes. 1.4kg of lamb stuffed with 0.8kg of sausagement is just not enough for 10 adults, without a starter. I'd increase lamb to about 2kgs and sausagement to about 1kg. 

We were actually expecting 11 adults. Now, that would have been a tragedy.

Bone broth and kale bonanza..!

We made our bets earlier in the year- we were convinced broth would be the IT word of the food-year. Bone broth was recently featured in duckandthyme -

http://duckandthyme.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/its-in-my-bones-broth.html?m=1

Low and behold, featured last night in the Evening Standard: 

And Kale (http://duckandthyme.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/kale-crisps.html?m=1) not to be missed out either, was on the back page: 

Next up, kale flour!

Simple dinner made from leftover duck

The simplest, yummiest dinner, making use of leftover crispy duck, ju-ju-ed up with siracha and pickled cucumbers. Heaven.

Duck, and time! Allergy free aromatic crispy duck!

It's our first time doing aromatic crispy duck in celebration of the new year for chineses, and we had to try a combination of recipes found on the internet as unfortunately neither Larousse nor the Barefoot had a recipe for it. It is also adjusted to be completely allergy free, so a triumph for me! It replaced traditional Sunday lunch, and I must say I have not been as full up since 2010 which is unsurprising as the build up to the actual eating of the duck took three full days, so much so that I rushed the last and most important bit of the cooking process in my glee and haste to tuck in. And tuck in we did.

Apart from time and candles, there have been other sacrifices too, as we have been unable to spend too much time in our open plan kitchen / living room in the last 24 hours and the Italian has been hiding in the spare room for most of that. But was it all worth it? You bet! Our inability to carry ourselves post "yum cha" style lunch proves it. 

It is an unusually long post but with a three day preparation time, did you expect anything less?

As it was our first time and this also serves as a food diary, here are some pointers for future versions:

1) definitely get a small and skinny duck. We got a porker of a 2kg duck and not only was it rather difficult to wield, a smaller duck would also be tastier, 

2) fry with a full pot of oil and for at least 8 minutes for the first fry,

3) a sweet sauce is non negotiable - I was going to skip it as I could not be bothered to make plum sauce.. But I made a last minute allergy friendly concoction which we thought made a big difference!

Recipe, to serve four as a starter or with other dim sum dishes:
Marinate (48 hours)

Dry roast 5 tablespoons of salt, 2 tbsp Sichuan pepper, 2 tbsp black pepper, 2 tbsp cumin seeds, 1 star anise and 1 tbsp five spice until smoking. Pound to fine dust in a pestle and mortar or in a spice grinder. Rub the seasonings all over the inside and outside of a 1.2kg small and skinny duck. Put in a pan and cover with parchment paper and refrigerate for two days, turning half way through.

Steam (2-3 hours)

After two days, remove duck from fridge and let it come to room temperature before stuffing five thick slices of ginger (slapped with the back of a knife) and 3-4 spring onions into the cavity. Drizzle 5 tbsp dry vermouth (or GF rice wine if not allergic to rice) all over the duck (in and out). Place the duck on a plate and let it lie flat if possible. Steam duck for 2-3 hours, removing fat from the plate and topping up on water levels every hour. 

Our duck was steamed in an decidedly un-oriental manner, in one of those pasta pots which comes with an inbuilt "colander", which in turn impacted steaming time. Our 2kg porker was steamed for three hours on gentle steam the first two hours then fierce steam for the last. A 1.2kg duck should steam gently for at least 2 hours. Remember to ensure the pan never runs out of water as that would be extremely dangerous. I placed a foil container at the bottom of the "colander" to save the rendered duck fat and juices. The "fatty juice" was cooled which allows the fat to separate from the essence and these were then bagged and stored separately. Some of the essence will be used to make the sweet sauce (scroll down). When the duck is ready, it's leg should wiggle easily and you should be able to see it's shin bones as the flesh would be shrunk up to the thigh by then. Try to keep windows open for the duration of the steaming stage, both for ventilation and your sanity. 

Air dry (8 hours)

Let the duck cool on a cake rack for at least 8 hours (after which, it could be refrigerated for a couple of days). Ideally, during that 8 hours, the duck should be hung and a fan pointed at it to air dry but this was impractical for obvious reasons. I hand fanned it for about ten minutes before I was decidedly bored... I could tell this impacted the end result and might borrow a stand-fan for the next version, unless there are very cool and edgy, preferably copper, stand-fans out there...?

Home run fry (30 minutes)

When ready to serve, cut the duck into quarters, removing the back bone for other use (bone broth etc.). Prepare a slurry made of 5 tbsp cornflour and 4 tbsp water plus 1 tbsp fish oil (since I'm intolerant to soya as well as gluten, otherwise a gluten free soya sauce may be used) and rub into the duck. Leave on cake rack for ten minutes to drain then dust cornflour liberally over the duck pieces until they are completely covered. In the mean time, in a casserole pot, heat up enough rapeseed oil such that the duck pieces would be completely submerged. Test the heat of the oil by putting the tip of a wooden chopstick into the pan - if bubbles rise from where the chopstick meets the pan, then that oil is at about the 170degree C mark. When the duck pieces are carefully slid into the oil, the oil should immediately froth up around the duck, quite like a submarine emerging from the sea. Fry two pieces of duck at a time for at least 8 minutes, the breast pieces could stay for a further 2 minutes. Do continuously ladle oil over if duck is not completely submerged. When all four pieces are fried and excess oil drained and blotted, raise the temperature of the oil to 185degrees C - this would be where oil froths when you put in the wooden chopstick. Re-fry the duck quarters for about 30 seconds each. 

Serve immediately with sweet sauce, julienne whites of spring onions and cucumber (and rice pancakes for non-freetarians). For an authentic yum cha experience, shred the flesh of the duck with two forks whilst at the table.

My surprise sweet concoction

Rather unprepared for the sauce aspect of the dish, just before frying the duck, I looked into the cupboards and fridge for a "hoisin" / plum sauce substitution and found some mince meat (of the Christmas kind) in our fridge - I made this for Christmas mince pies so there were allergy friendly. Two heaping tablespoons of that was heated with four heaping tablespoons of duck essence and thickened with one teaspoon of the drained cornflour slurry. Unexpectedly yum.

Review of choccy bean cake alla Rachel Khoo

With all the vegan-ism rage especially in the dessert making jurisdiction at the moment, I could easily be mistaken as one of those "foodie-nistas" who readily embraces and undertakes a full head and total body immersion in the newest food trends. Well, foodienista I am not and (hope that I) never hope to be. My food style is only currently in vogue because of my body's irascible dislike of gluten, dairy, eggs, you get the drill...

So when Rachel Khoo published her "vegan valentine's cocoa bean cake", and as we were having a casual dinner party, I decided to give the recipe a try.

The verdict: non of the guests jumped up and down with delight even though they were polite about it, and the Italian said  whilst the "mousse" (the icing) was interesting, the cake itself was not one of the better ones I have made - at this point I had not divulged whose recipe it was. I found the cake a little dry but very promising, especially as breakfast the next day, with coffee drizzled over. With a few tweaks (sorry Rachel), it could be gorgeous! Choccy beans for breakfast, anyone?

Lifestyle: to cream or not to cream

As half the world - the chineses in us - welcomes the year of the Ram, video calls are the preferred form of communication for those who are unable to cross continents home. I was very excited to call the family only for my dearest Mum to greet me with a shocked look followed by an oh-dear-your-skin-looks-terrible-and-your-mascara-is-running verbal onslaught. I had just woken up and, no, I was not wearing mascara... On a day where words are obliged to be sweet to symbolise an equally sweet forthcoming year, I am thankful that Mum let it lie soon after (a very haughty look from myself might have given it away).

But the countless times Mum has "politely" noted the condition of my skin - you look old - is rather beginning to concern me. In addition, I was recently asked about my "beauty" regime and truth be told, not for a lack of products do I go to bed most days without washing or moisturising, unless I am not completely exhausted whence which I might then slather on some cream. But I am told that it is the norm to cleanse, then tone, then apply serum, then cream - all products which I have - but who has the time to actually do it? I do look like a haggard spotty teenager with a very wrinkled neck, so I guess I should really make the time, what with it being the new year of the Ram et al.

Time to love ourselves so that others can love us too, and leave "polite" comments at the tip of the tongue. Oh, do try not to forget the SPF and the neck area; as my dad famously said: You can hide the lines on your face but never those on your neck. Cream it!

"It's in my bones" broth

Broth is the operative word of the year and we've made many a pot especially during winter. As my heritage dictates that even now, I feel the familiar itch for broth every third day or so, we seem to have something on the hob every other day of the year, let alone the winter season. The Italian has it with pasta, "pasta in brodo", and I have it as is or with some green bean noodles. Broth is extremely versatile and can be made in any style, Italian, Chinese, Vietnamese etc. but my absolute favourite is bone broth which may make me seem a little weird when I'm squirreling away bones and carcasses, especially after a roast chicken, where I also skim off any fat from the bottom of the roasting tray and save the gelatinous brown "chicken essence" as stock, fat discarded.

This pot is made from lamb bones, chicken and mallard carcasses, what with all the cooking we've been doing with Larousse. Fear not though if you do not have lamb etc. bones, any bones would do and do add chicken wings. It is hearty and you would need to skim off any excess fat and unsightly things from the surface but it is oh so good...! As you can see below, I kept some of the fat so there is no wonder why my cholesterol is high...

Recipe:
Put 2 red onions chopped into large wedges under a hot grill (or on a griddle pan) to caramelise for 10 minutes. In the mean time, put bones and chicken wings (preferably at least 6) into a stock pot, and cover with cold filtered water. Water level should just cover the bones if you are using chicken bones or if using red meat bones, by about 5cm. On medium to low heat, bring the water to a boil. It is important to bring the broth to a boil slowly to "acclimatise" the bones for maximum release of goodness and minimum release of scum; and if there are any, do skim it off at this stage. Scum that is. Add in the caramelised onions, a bulb of garlic cut horizontally into half, couple of large carrots cut into quarters and 4 (or more if it is a big pot) tomatoes cut into quarters. Add in 1 tbsp whole black peppercorns for every 3 liters of water. Cover, bring to a boil on medium to low heat and turn down to a simmer for at least 4 hours. For the time rich, do make a big pot and let simmer for 12 hours. When simmer time is up, lift the lid and all the fat released should be pooled together at the top (this happens when the broth is at a boil, and is the easiest way to remove fat), and skim off with a ladle in one smooth move. Strain the broth then back on the hob, add salt and dash of black pepper (I sometimes prefer white) to taste and serve piping hot. Leftovers should be brought back to boil then cooled and stored in the fridge (in a pot or bowl) for 3 days or can be frozen (in glass container) for future use.

Note:
1) for a Vietnamese twist, add half a palm sized piece of ginger and same amount of shallots, both treated the same way as the onions, and add 1 star anise per liter of broth.
2) For normal broth, use meat instead of bones in the same way and add zucchini, potatoes and other vegetables if you so choose for a hearty meal. Skip the straining process if there are no small pieces of bones.

Roast chicken friendships

Whilst chatting to some friends I have known since I was a wee girl, I was surprised when they declared that they couldn't cook. Thinking it was just modesty, I paid no heed until one said she was making almond cookies, and the other asked "How many almonds would you need?". Not to be outdone, the reply claimed "I don't know, I will look it up".....  When I wouldn't stop laughing and pointed out that we would probably go by weight instead of number of, utter confusion followed (for once, it was not I who were confused) and a full debate as to whether almonds were countable or otherwise for the purposes of baking ensued. Great friendships are thus wise irresistibly enduring.

In the same conversation, the almond-cookies-baker casually mentioned she did not even know how to roast a chicken because "I don't really feel like putting my hand inside a chicken's ass" (she thought you needed to stuff the chicken in order for it to be roasted). This is a literal quote unquote.

It would be unforgivably amiss of me if I did not at least try to debunk the myth of roasting chicken to my oldest friends. Here goes a step by step guide to succulent and moist roast chicken. To enduring friendships!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

- ONE whole chicken from the supermarket, with feathers and giblets removed but bones still intact. Go for a 1.2kg chicken to start to serve 2

- ONE fresh unwaxed lemon

- ONE whole bulb of garlic (not one clove, one bulb - there would be no need to count how many cloves there are in a bulb of garlic...)

- THREE sprigs of fresh thyme

- ONE tablespoon sea salt (use 1.5 tablespoons if using table salt)

- ONE tablespoon pepper (preferably freshly ground)

- ONE tablespoon olive oil

Method:

Preheat fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius (remember to do this at least ten minutes before putting chicken in). Cut lemon in half. Cut garlic bulb horizontally in half. Put chicken into roasting tray and pat dry with kitchen towel. Sprinkle dash of salt and pepper into chicken cavity. Put one half of lemon, thyme sprigs and one half of garlic bulb into cavity (yes, that would be the ass to you) but note that there really is no need to put your hand in. Put remaining garlic and lemon under the chicken so chicken is essentially balancing on them. This will allow hot air to circulate the chicken. Sprinkle remaining salt and pepper over chicken and drizzle over olive oil. Roast in oven for 40 minutes exactly. Take the chicken out and wrap very loosely with foil and let it rest for 20 minutes. Then put the chicken under the grill at 220degrees for 10 minutes for crispy chicken skin. Serve. Chicken should be just cooked, with a dash of pink. If pinkish is not desirable, increase oven time from 40 minutes to 50 minutes. Always rest chicken for at least 20 minutes.

Wild mushrooms, spinach and yuzu-ed rocket

We've been relatively lucky with fresh(ish) produce and, inspired by Bouchon of Santa Barbara, we attempted to recreate "chanterelle and wild mushrooms served on watercress and spinach with a spinach purée". I am sure the name of the dish is something snazzier but we none of us can remember it.

There were substitutions of course in true duck and thyme style. Nothing too exciting or earth-shattering; the purée was made from rocket instead of spinach. I am not intolerant to spinach which is an exception to the norm, I merely wanted to use up the rocket in the fridge (egad). What we did find though is that rocket is rather stringy, so we had to put it through a sieve to achieve the desired consistency but it was yummy and most of it ended up in my mouth before it got to be "artfully" smeared with my pastry brush on the plate (not a norm but we had dinner guests..).

The mushrooms were meaty and tasty, the spinach, dressed simply, was light and fresh. The (lack of) rocket puree with it's dash of Yuzu, tied it all together. Simple but definitely worth a try!

Recipe serves four as a starter:

400gms Wild and chanterelle mushrooms were wiped with a damp cloth and fried with a little oil, salt and pepper on high heat for about 15minutes, after which half a finely diced garlic and dash of fresh thyme was added. In the mean time, in a pestle and mortar grind 20g rocket leaves with sea salt until it becomes a paste before adding half a garlic, zest and juice of half a lemon, pound then mix in 3-4 tablespoons olive oil and teaspoon of yuzu juice (stuff from heaven). Taste and adjust. Consistency should be at the smearable level, not unlike paint. In a separate bowl, dress watercress and spinach salad (100gm) with salt and olive oil. When the mushrooms are ready, tip into spinach and toss lightly. Serve on rocket purée spread on plate. Could be accompanied with grilled bread but I forgot to do so...

A step backward and into a world of chocolate...

It's one of those weeks where the body needs bed rest and lots of food to recalibrate itself - at least that is what I'd rather call it, instead of the dreaded "setback". Having been almost bed ridden for half the week, I've realised that whilst leaving the house can be trying at times like these, I'm very adept at crawling from bed to kitchen and wonderfully artful at stuffing my face. So much so that I might call in the "secret eaters" police and claim I have no idea how I got to this stage - I positively eat too little, when I'm not eating... Those on the other side of the Atlantic who do not know the delights of the "secret eaters" program, do google!

It's a difficult balance this, eating and sleeping for energy, yet neither delivering when required. But is it so bad? After all it is Valentine's Day soon and therefore the month of love-yourself-very-much. After be-mean-to-be-thin January, February is the complete opposite where we are free to be true to ourselves and our desires and encouraged to indulge-to-impress, be it with chocolate, flowers, steak, yoga, chestnut brownies, etc.

So indulge I did, and only with a bar of gluten and dairy free chocolate, as I could not muster the energy to cook. And it might have been 18x3x1 inches in size and I did not have to share, but I was being nice to myself, and so should you...?

Chestnut brownie: gluten, egg, dairy free

Getting excited is not my usual style; I'm more the water on flame type, occasionally the air around but never the oil, if you get what I mean. Unprecedented as it is, I am rather (read, really) excited about my chestnut brownie. Whilst we have had successes (or so we claim) with recipes from Larousse and Barefoot Contessa, these are tried and tested recipes from real chefs. We, on the other hand, have never had success of this scale in recipes I have created for and by myself! 

However, to caution and be water to flame is my nature and so especially deservedly here - I have not had a "real" brownie in at least two years and so my taste buds would be slightly skewed. The recipe also, by design, calls for half the usual amount of sugar and fat in normal brownie recipes and may not satisfy a palate which is more accustomed to the usual fat-sugar-salt trinity.

But unless my guinea pigs (note the plural here) were all lying to me to protect a false sense of achievement, which are very acceptable and usually encouraged dinner party manners, then the brownies are good. Real good. And "healthy" to some extent too. Recipe included after the picture.

On that belief, we ate with wild abandonment and epic satisfaction. And just this once, I, like chocolate to brownie, was oil to flame. 

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 180degrees (fan). Cream one can of 416gm chestnut purée with 170gm trex (vegetable fat) for five minutes in a large bowl. Add 170gm golden caster sugar - this results in a subtler sweetness but do increase to 250gm if you would prefer a sweet dessert. Cream together for another minute. In the meanwhile, melt 100gm high quality allergy free cocoa powder in 140ml hot water. Add 1 tbsp of instant coffee granules and 1tbsp of vanilla extract (never essence) to the mix. Mix together 45gm potato flour with 150ml water and add this mix to the cocoa mix and stir until well married. In another bowl measure out 110gm almond flour and mix in 1tbsp baking powder and 3/4 tsp salt. Both the chocolate mixture and the dry mixture can be added to the chestnut purée and folded in by hand. Bake in a 12x18 pan in the preheated oven for exactly 22 minutes (I finally got a timer and for once remembered to set it). It is most important to have brownies completely cooled before tucking in so leave to cool for ten minutes and then cover the tin with a tea towel until completely cooled and ready to be eaten. 

We served it with our homemade cashew ice cream - we apologise for being nuts about nuts. 

Strand dining rooms

A fantastic surprise call from an elegant friend on an impromptu two day visit to London led to a last minute booking in The Strand Dining Rooms. Not without classic Duck and Thyme trials of course; we had originally booked a table at Tredwell's but said friend couldn't make it at that time so I changed our reservation and sent a note out to all the attendants... Somehow I missed the guest of honour and guess who turned up at Tredwell's...? Hailing all the way from Singapore and I managed to send her to the wrong restaurant...such is a day in my life.

Profuse apologies later, we started catching up and the poor waiter had to return three times to get us to finally order: both the specials of the day, beef Wellington and silver mullet, and seafood crumble off the menu. The waiter was great, with strong recommendations and with his iPad, extremely conscientious with one's intolerances, a nod here, a discreet shake there, our silent communication as to what one could and couldn't eat. He was even well prepared for dessert-time trials; a rarity for me as waiters usually act as if the main course would have cured me of all my intolerances and I could now eat whatever I desired for dessert.

The silver mullet was tailored specifically for me and it was very good (save for scales, tsk tsk). Stuffed with carrots and almonds, the fish was tasty and cooked just right. I tried the inside of the beef Wellington (to my peril..) and that was cooked to absolute perfection. The wine - I had a sip and wasn't sufficiently enticed to more.

The star of the show, as good as the Wellington was, remains the witty guest of honour and the ensuing gales of laughter. Perhaps company influences the taste of food, but The Strand Dining Rooms is definitely approved, even if based just on the professionalism of our waiter, biased or unbiased as that may be.

Kale crisps!

Kale is a favourite of ours when we are in London and whilst it is no longer trendy in the food fashion world - yes I hear you, food-trend police: kale is sooo three years ago, darling - we still love it. Not boiled, not steamed, not stir fried, but baked in the oven with a generous coating of olive oil, salt and pepper (and a dash of cayenne if you dare) until crispy and a tad brown (10-15 mins in a 190degree oven).

No longer en vogue but still oh-so-yummy, darling, and even the non-veg eater grudgingly succumbs to it, so there!

Sneak Preview of my Allergy free Chestnut Brownie!

A chestnut obsession is driving the other half mad. Creating my new chestnut recipe has been a blast for me but not so for said guinea pig. Or so he claims that he shouldn't like strange brownies as he scoffs it all down, topped with whipped cream and all.

And it is good, and healthy as well! Here's a sneak preview:

Allergy free Puff pastry trials and tribulations..

"Huffed and puffed" pastry has been featuring on my list of to do's for rather a long time and with recent dips in one's recovery just passed, I thought it timely to celebrate with this ground breaking recipe. Or was is? I followed the Larousse recipe for "Puff Pastry with oil" to the letter, save that I made a minor flour substitution...... you know, to accommodate said intolerances.

I'm not quite convinced with the oil situation as after all (my limited understanding of pastry speaks here), isn't it the water in the layers of cold butter trapped in layers of dough which turns into steam when hit by heat which in turn makes a pastry huffed and puffed? No cold butter, no puffing then? An absolutely undeniably resounding no - the "croissant" did no puffing whatsoever and infact was hard enough to break one's resolve to continue, not to mention one's teeth... Yes, it is also rather tragically shaped:

The tragedy was re-enacted with pure sunflower oil which, if you are quite familiar with, isn't as solid as cold butter, resulting in a very soft dough which is terribly difficult to roll and fold, roll and fold, etc. sufficiently. 

Unsatisfied, a third batch was made in which the fat element was substituted with coconut oil from the fridge instead, hoping for the third time lucky charm. 

Well, some sort of pastry (and I use the term here rather loosely) came out from the oven but looks nothing like puff. The second recipe seemed to work best for the other half, who was pretty clear that whatever it was, t'wasn't croissant...

Third on the left, second in the middle, first on the right...and back to the drawing board. I'll keep you posted (ha!)

Paprika-ed cod with shaved zucchini

Friday night dinner was a lonely affair as the other half was off celebrating year end. A fish and vegetables feast was called for and I felt rather pleased to be able to amp up the spicyness of the dish instead of the usual tip toe approach - spice and vegetables are at best tolerated in our household.

The feast was shaved zucchini sautéed in diced shallot, pepper and a whole Thai chilli - the chilli being optional, topped with cod coated in paprika, lemon zest, thyme and another chilli but again optional... Secret smile.

Recipe:

Shave two baby zucchinis with a vegetable peeler. Sweat a small diced shallot and one diced chilli until soft then add the zucchini. S&P (salt and pepper - I blame the tv shows...). Stir fry until just cooked which should be about 3-5 minutes. Plate. Add some oil to the same pan and fry a tablespoon of paprika, thyme and the other chilli, if using, on medium heat for about 30 seconds and put the cod over the fried paprika. Cover the up-facing side of the fish with more paprika, lemon zest and S&P ;). When ready (the piece of fish should come away easily from the bottom of the pan without too much pushing and pulling), flip the fish and cook for 30 seconds and place over the zucchini. Question is, do you dare..?

Recipe testing for allergy free choux..

Save for salt, there is absolutely no ingredient in choux pastry of which I am not intolerant to: butter, tick, flour, tick, eggs, TICK. How can I replace all the key ingredients and still make comely choux?

First trial: I'm attempting a Paris-Brest and so am making a big wheel of choux. I cooked it for ten minutes too long (I really should invest in a timer) and did not turn down the oven... and it was a tad too crunchy, but the insides were cooked to perfection. A way to go - it wasn't quite choux (more like churros!) but we ate it anyway and so only a quarter wheel is left:

Recipe test 1: 40gm trex, 30gm sifted gram flour, 35gm sifted GF+RiceFree flour, 125mls water, 4 tsp egg replacer whipped with 8 tbs water, salt. Boil water and trex on high heat. Beat in both flours until "film" stage. Leave off heat and whip egg replacers with water. On low heat, slowly beat in egg replacer mix into flour mix until mixture becomes pipeable. Stick into oven preheated to 200degrees for 40 minutes.
Next test: 50 gm trex, 150mls water.  Stick into oven preheated to 220degrees for 10 minutes, turn down oven to 180degrees and bake for 20 more minutes. Open oven door, pierce choux's bottom and leave it to cool in the oven.

Free friendly fish curry

Infections and multiple visits to the doctor week just gone have not helped the cooking-through-Larousse-thintastically cause. Instead, with no forward planning, we whipped up a fish "curry" with what we had in our cupboards, with substitution and altogether do without, the name of the game (curry-purists look away now). Well, at least it was allergy free and yummy. Ignore the rice...

Serves two: Sweat half red onion, cubed, with minced garlic, 2 bird's eye chillies for ten minutes before adding salt, 3 tbsp curry powder, 1 tbsp turmeric, and 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (law of substitution..) and fry for further 5 minutes. Add one cubed large potato and fry for further 15 minutes before adding half a can of coconut milk. Simmer until tats are cooked through. Taste and adjust. Add 400gm cubed cod and cover for further five minutes on low heat. Serve!

Allergy free cashew based ice cream

It would seem in the nick of time that we noticed that almost every aspect of my life is food related, including the scents in our home, what with all that lamb and candles, sugo, choux and pho testing and what not. In fact, not only do our cushions, upholstery and hair reek of lunch, it would appear that even the pores of my very body is food-scented.. Mango bodywash, Parsley Seed toner (which makes me smell more like an anti-mosquito spray than parsley but nevermind), Cocoa Butter, Mint Tea body creams and Ginger & Lime hand cream. I had hoped that in sleep we would escape from food but the basil and mint candle is a dead give away.

If only our need for food were satisfied by scents of smell, then I would be a very successful walking talking food-smell vending machine. That or if anyone needs anti-mosquito spray, you know where to go...

In that scented vein, I'm bent on making something which does not require any heat less it releases more smells. My cashew based ice cream is all blend and no heat... And it's dairy, egg and gluten free too.

Recipe:

Soak one cup cashews in one cup water overnight. Blend cashews and water with 1/3 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cut coconut oil, 1 tbsp vanilla extract and salt to taste. Blend as well as your machine allows and chill then freeze, stirring every 30 minutes after first 2 hours.