Have you ever bought a food product which tasted good but you had no idea what to do with it? It happens to me regularly, but usually involves exotic, foreign food. Strangely, I have recently had similar experience with goat yogurt. I like goat cheese a lot, so I did like goat yogurt too, but somehow couldn’t place it in any food category (and definitely not in the same as cow milk yogurt), not to mention a dish where I could use it.

The other day I felt like making a Cucumber and Radish Salad but unfortunately – or rather luckily – I ran out of standard yogurt and sour cream I usually add. Substituting it with goat yogurt, I actually discovered a much more interesting version of this refreshing salad. I have also added some chopped dill harvested from my balcony and couldn’t believe my taste buds! I have no words to describe how terrific proved the mixture of refreshing cucumber, subtle dill scent, slight radish spiciness and subtle goat yogurt flavour.

Here are some other cucumber salad ideas you might like (I have just realised there is the same bowl in all the photos… I guess I liked it a lot last year!):

Cucumber and Seaweed Salad

Cucumber and Chervil Salad

Radish Cucumber and Sour Cream/Yogurt Salad

TIPS: This salad should be made just before serving, otherwise the vegetables will render liquid and the “sauce” will get watery.

Just like my older yogurt/sour cream version, this salad a perfect side-dish or starter in both Western and Asian meals. I can very well see it served with hot and spicy Indian food.

Dill is one of the herbs which freeze very well and taste much better preserved this way rather than dried. You just have to chop it finely before freezing and make sure it is thoroughly dried.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

6-7 big red radishes

1/3 long cucumber

3 heaped tablespoons goat yogurt

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

(salt)

Cut the cucumber in four pieces lengthwise, and then into thin slices.

Cut the radishes in two pieces lengthwise, then into thin slices.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl (taste if you need salt; I didn’t need any) and serve.

This was one of the first recipes I have posted. I hardly had any visitors at the time, so I have decided to dig it up and write about these French biscuits (or cookies). They may look ordinary, but their delicate crumbly texture, buttery taste and a delicate touch of saltiness make them very special.

“Palet” (pronounced without the final “t”) means a “puck” , and “jeu de palets” is a Brittany regional game with pucks which shape is similar to those used in hockey. Brittany is famous for its rich in butter sweets – usually made with salted butter – and one of those is a crumbly cookie, called “palet” in reference to its puck shape. They have a buttery taste, are slightly salty and sweet at the same time, very crumbly and melt in your mouth too quickly… Palets bretons are quite popular all around the  country and can be found in every supermarket, but they are easy to prepare and obviously taste better baked at home.

Together with Crème brûlée palets are a good way to use up egg yolks (if you have made Coconut Cookies for example…or another dish calling for whites uniquely).

There are French internet recipes galore for these cookies. The one I tried for the first time and have always made with success comes the French blog Miamm…Maman Cuisine, where I also found the trick to keep their shape (see below).

TIPS: Click here to see a few ideas of how to use up the leftover egg whites.

You can sprinkle the cookies with coarse salt for an extra crunch and extra saltiness, but I don’t advise it for the first batch you prepare (you can test on one or two biscuits first).

Special equipment: muffins or similar size forms

Preparation: almost two hours (including 1 hour in the fridge)

Calories (the whole batch): about 1700 kcal

Ingredients for 12-15 pucks:

80g (about 3 oz) salted butter (or unsalted butter+1/2 teaspoon salt, but salty butter is better)

80 g (about 3 oz) confectioner’s sugar

140g (about 5 oz) flour

1/3 small package of baking powder (1 1/2 heaped teaspoon) 

2 yolks

(coarse good quality sea salt)

Mix the yolks and the sugar well in a food processor. Add the softened butter, mix again.

Add the flour and the baking powder.

Knead it for 5 minutes.

Form a thick sausage (diameter=the bottom of one whole in a muffin form), wrap it in plastic film and put into the fridge for 1 hour (or more, until the dough becomes hard enough to be easily sliced).

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Take the dough out of the fridge, unwrap it, cut into 1 cm (about 0,4 in) thick slices.

Put them inside the muffin forms (this way they’ll be more or less of equal size and will only rise instead of spreading around).

If you don’t have muffin forms or other cookie forms, simply put the cut cookies on a baking sheet, but at your own responsibility: they’ll probably spread around and become flatter than the ones “imprisoned” in a mould.

(You can sprinkle them with coarse salt for an extra salty crunch.)

Bake for 15-20 minutes till golden.

Since I started to explore Asian cuisine (at least 15 years ago), I have tasted a big array of noodles. Whether made of buckwheat, rice, mung bean or wheat, I am fond of all them, but my absolute number one are the Korean dangmyeon, the main ingredient of the famous japchae. I buy them in huge bags and cook them more often than any other noodle kind, but, in spite of that, I have never prepared them Korean way. I have recently been talking to Sue (from My Korean Kitchen) about the non-traditional – though very simple – way I treat these noodles and decided to share it with you.

Dangmyeon (당면), also spelled dang myun or tang myun, fall into the category of cellophane noodles. They are made of sweet potato starch and are easy to spot in Asian grocery shops: they have a characteristic (not very attractive) brown paper, greyish colour. Why do I like them so much? First of all, they are slightly thicker, chewier than other transparent noodles and have the “bounciness” I am very fond of. Obviously, like all the transparent noodles, these also marvellously absorb the flavours from sauces and seasonings. What makes them really different is that they actually have their own mellow, delicate taste I have never experienced in any type of cellophane noodles.

The first time I bought dangmyeon I didn’t cook Korean at all, so I simply started to treat them like other Asian noodles, i.e. stir-frying them with randomly chosen ingredients and sauces and it has stayed this way. One day my husband convinced me to add some Chinese dark soy sauce in order to obtain a more powerful, deeper flavour. It was a sensational discovery and I strongly encourage you to try it. Whatever meat or vegetables you include in the stir-fry, the deep, mushroomy flavour of dark soy sauce is a terrific pairing for mellow, slightly chewy and bouncy noodles.

TIPS: Apart from the sauce, the meat and vegetables vary according to my mood and, more often, to what I find in the fridge, so feel free to substitute them as you wish.

Chinese dark soy sauce has a very dark brown colour, it is thicker than light soy sauce and it’s sold in every single Asian shop I know. Usually the same Chinese brand carries both light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Sometimes the bottles look almost identical, so pay attention to the description.

Chinese sweet potato starch noodles also exist, but the ones I have tasted lacked the chewiness and bounciness I appreciate in dangmyeon so much.

Preparation: 25 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

50 g chicken breast cut into strips or bite-sized pieces

1 teaspoon sake

half a medium bell pepper

a small courgette

(one fresh chili, sliced)

50 g Korean sweet potato starch noodles

1 small clove garlic

1/5 cm fresh ginger

1 small onion

Sauce:

1 tablespoon Chinese dark soy sauce

1 clove garlic (grated or crushed)

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon sake (or other rice wine)

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon corn starch

(green onion)

Cut up the chicken breast into bite-sized strips.

Grate the ginger.

Combine with the chicken with 1 teaspoon sake and ginger.

Put aside.

Boil about a liter of water, pour into a big bowl or pan. Let the noodles soak in freshly boiled water, covered, until they are soft (it usually takes about 15 minutes, but some people prefer them much softer, so test them every now and then).

Slice the onion, cut the bell pepper into thin strips.

Cut the courgette into very thin lengthwise julienne strips (a julienne grater is the best here).

Warm some oil on a pan or a wok.

Drain the chicken pieces, dry them with paper towel and fry them.

When the chicken starts browning, add the onion and after 5 minutes add the bell pepper and the chili, if you use it, still stirring.

In a small bowl combine the sauce ingredients.

Drain the noodles and put into the wok together with the julienned courgette.

Stir well all the ingredients. Add the sauce and keep on stirring until the sauce starts thickening.

Serve sprinkled with some chopped green onion (not obligatory).

This is one of the most extraordinary things that can be made with rhubarb. The tangy fresh flavours, the pink hue and, most of all, the addictive gooey consistency make this pudding one of my favourite spring sweet treats. One of the rare desserts I prefer when still warm.

Probably a majority of my dear readers have never even heard of kisiel, so I will start with the explanation. Kisiel (pronounced “kishyel”) is a very popular Polish pudding, made with fruit soft drinks or whole fruits with water (and nowadays, alas, most people buy its powdered instant versions…). It is thickened with potato starch (hence the gooey consistency), served warm or cold and usually has a fresh, tangy note. Its unique texture – vaguely reminiscent of Lemon Curd - is as important for me as its flavour. It is a very light, fat-free pudding that can easily be made even lighter if you use a sweetener instead of sugar.

I have learnt only recently that similar fruit dishes exist for example in Germany, Estonia, Lithuania or Finland, but sometimes they mean slightly thickened soft drinks and not puddings. When I saw a Finnish Rhubarb Kiisseli recipe in my Moomins Cookbook (for those of you who don’t know it yet, I am particularly fond of Moomin characters; I have already mentioned this book here), this discovery gave me the idea to include the Moomin family into the photo. The beautiful tray you see above was one of the most touching presents I have ever been offered. I was completely blown away when I received it from my dear friend Charles (from Five Euro Food), who bought it during one of his trips to Sweden. This tray, my infallible mood improver, was perfect to serve kisiel, since both bring back my childhood memories. Thank you so much again, Charles, for your thoughtful kind  gesture.

Since all this has put me in a happy “Moomin” mood, here is the cartoon’s theme song:

Even though the Finnish kiisseli was my inspiration for this post, I have used my own old recipe which is a bit different. I prefer to have this pudding warm, but it can also be served cold.

If you feel like playing with rhubarb, you might like this quick and easy Rhubarb Soft Drink (which by the way is the first step of this pudding’s instructions):

or this refreshing Wobbly Rhubarb Delight I made with agar agar (kanten), and which, I insist, is not a jelly, but a less dense, incredibly light dessert:

TIPS: Potato starch thickening properties can vary, so you might need to adjust its amount during the cooking process. Start with the below amount and if after 3-4 minutes of cooking, the texture is still too liquid, dissolve one more tablespoon starch in a glass with two tablespoons of cold water and add to the pan, constantly stirring (see the instructions below).

This pudding can be served both warm and cold, but I prefer it warm. Taste both to choose your favourite way.

BEWARE! Do not eat or cook rhubarb leaves! They are toxic. Only stalks are edible.

Preparation: 1about 40-50 if you need to prepare the Rhubarb Soft Drink, 15 – 20  min if you already have it

Ingredients (serves four):

500 g (about 1 lb) fresh rhubarb, leaves removed, stalks cut into 2-3 cm pieces (about 1 inch)

2 litres (4 cups) water

sugar or sweetener

4 slightly heaped tablespoons potato starch

First prepare the rhubarb soft drink (if you already have it, skip this step).

Put the rhubarb into a big pan with water.

Bring to a boil at medium heat and cook until the rhubarb completely softens.

Strain while still hot, put aside and wait until the rhubarb drink cools to the room temperature. (You can also prepare it in advance, refrigerate and follow the dessert instructions the following day or even two days afterwards).

Measure 1 liter (4 cups) rhubarb drink and pour it into a pan. (Do not throw away the remaining soft drink, which is delicious!).

Add sugar or sweetener to your taste.

Dissolve the potato starch in additional 4 tablespoons rhubarb drink (make sure it is no longer hot!).

Bring the rhubarb drink to a boil. Pour slowly the dissolved potato starch, constantly stirring.

Cook it until thickened (about 4 minutes).

If your pudding is still liquid after four minutes, put the pan aside.

Dissolve one more tablespoon in 1 tablespoon cold rhubarb drink or water and add it to the pan, stirring. Heat, constantly stirring until it thickens.

Serve warm or cold.

After green salads, maki sushi are my second biggest spring cooking frenzy. I am not able to prepare perfectly shaped and equal rolls, but the taste is there, so my lack of dexterity doesn’t stop me from preparing them regularly (I guess I should write about them more often…). Maki sushi are quick (and become quicker and easier to prepare with practice), cheap, healthy and offer endless combinations. Crunchy, slightly blanched green asparagus gives a fresh seasonal spring touch to maki sushi and confirms once more that asparagus, in spite of its distinct taste, creates marvellous dishes even with such bold ingredients as seaweed. Here I have combined it with mayonnaise and katsuobushi (shaved bonito flakes, see below). I find the result extraordinary, but if you don’t like or cannot find shaved bonito, asparagus alone is an amazing maki sushi filler.

Even though I play rather freely with different ingredients, the idea of asparagus maki sushi came from Shizuoka Gourmet blog, an excellent source of virtual culinary  trips to Japan (or rather to the Shizuoka prefecture!). Without Robert-Gilles’s blog I would never imagine that asparagus and katsuobushi might be a perfect company. Its smoky taste, combined with crunchy fresh asparagus and mayonnaise is stunning. It’s a pity I cannot prepare these maki sushi all year round. Thank you, Robert-Gilles, for this wonderful idea!

If you are fond of asparagus, you might like some of these ideas (click at the images):

Tama Konnyaku with Asparagus

Chawan Mushi (Egg Custard) with Asparagus

Asparagus with Chicken and Miso

Asparagus Tempura

Asparagus Teriyaki Pork Rolls

Asparagus with Cashew Nuts and Chicken

with Ground Beef

with Shrimp, Avocado and Cucumber

Special equipment:

rice cooker (unless you know how to cook the rice in a “normal” pan)

maki rolling mat or a special futomaki roller

Preparation: 20 minutes (+ 1 hour for rice cooking and cooling)

Ingredients (serves 2 – 3):

5 nori seaweed sheets

300g (about 1 1/2 cup) sushi rice (or 500g/about 2 2/3 cups if you prefer “standard”  rolls)

Rice mixture:

4 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon mirin

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Filling:

15 green thin asparagus spears (about 1 cm diameter), 3 for every nori sheet

10 heaped tablespoons katsuobushi

mayonnaise

(grilled white sesame seeds)

soy sauce+wasabi

a bowl of rice vinegar

(marinated ginger)

Cook the rice in the rice cooker (or in a pan if you know how to do it!). Put the hot rice into a bowl and add the rice mixture ingredients. Stir well and leave to cool down.

In the meantime cut off the toughest lower part of the asparagus spears (usually the lower 20%).

Blanch the asparagus spears (about 2 minutes) and let them cool down.

When the rice has cooled down to the room temperature (it can’t be completely cold!), put a nori sheet vertically on the rolling mat, shiny side down.

With fingers dipped in a bowl of rice vinegar spread 1/5th of the rice evenly, leaving a 1 cm gap on the top, far edge.

Arrange the filling ingredients on the rice, in a horizontal line, close to the bottom edge.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Roll the maki starting from the bottom edge, gently pressing after each turn.

Moist the upper edge with rice vinegar before doing the last turn.

Press gently the roll and put it aside.

In order to obtain more or less similarly sized pieces, cut the roll first in two parts, then put them in a row and cut them in two parts, etc..

(It is easier to cut maki with a moist knife blade.)

Arrange them on a plate and serve with wasabi, soy sauce and marinated ginger.

I never get bored with dressed green salads. After years of having it regularly, both as a side-dish and a starter, I am always excited at the discovery of a new dressing, especially when warm spring days arrive and salad leaves are bought with higher frequency. This miso vinaigrette is simple, but original in its creamy consistency and quite complex taste it owes to miso. I have written below a short recipe, but to put it simply, it’s a traditional mustard vinaigrette with miso used instead of mustard. Accidentally this salad was a perfect company for the recently posted Chicken with Soy Sauce, Garlic and Molasses.

Miso has been frequently appearing on my table (see below) for several years now, but I have never thought of putting it into a vinaigrette. I have found this excellent and obvious idea in Japanese Farm Food by Nancy Singleton Hachisu, an American married to a Japanese farmer and living in rural area for several decades. The book contains both classic recipes and Nancy Singleton’s own inventions based on local ingredients. It is also full of stories about family, neighbours, local producers and, in general, describes life in the Japanese countryside. The book is a particularly compelling read, a beautiful object, a good source of recipes and I strongly advise it to all the Japanese cuisine fans, even novices because the majority of the recipes are easy and clearly explained.

For those who haven’t tasted miso (味噌), it’s a thick paste made by fermenting soybeans and/or barley or rice and one of the most important ingredients of the Japanese cuisine (Korean and Chinese cuisines use very similar pastes too). Miso is packed with protein, vitamins and minerals and some people claim it even helps to fight the radiation sickness. In Japan miso has three main colour types: white (shiromiso), red (akamiso), black (kuromiso), and there is also mixed miso (awasemiso). The only downside of miso is that is can be very high in sodium, so look for special “low sodium” misos (some high quality misos don’t even have this mention, but are less salty). Whatever the salt content, white miso has always a milder taste, so it’s a good idea to start one’s adventure with light-coloured miso. Apart from the three basic colours, there are myriads of different misos, depending on the brand or producer, the ingredients, the region…

If you have bought a tub of miso and wonder what to do with it, you might like:

Asparagus and Chicken Stir-Fried with Miso Sauce

-

Garlic Miso Chicken Breast

Miso Soup with Shrimp and Tofu

Mackerel Simmered in Miso

Apparently I am not the only one who eats more salads at the arrival of spring. This week Nami (Just One Cookbook) has posted a gorgeous seaweed salad and a miso (!) dressing, while Gourmantine (Gourmantine’s Blog) has presented no more no less but eight salad dressings. Visit their blogs for more inspiration!

TIPS: The below amounts should only be treated as approximate and adjusted to your taste, the miso kind or brand. (I have slightly modified the original amounts too). I have added some agave syrup to mellow the flavours (not present in the original recipe), but it’s not necessary.

I don’t like my salads drown in sauce, so double the below amounts if you prefer a very moist, rich salad.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves two – three):

1/3 lettuce head, washed and torn into smaller pieces

(cucumber, tomatoes or any other raw vegetables cut into pieces)

Dressing:

3 heaped teaspoons miso of your choice (I wouldn’t advise the very dark, strong miso)

2 teaspoons oil

4 teaspoons rice vinegar

(1 teaspoon syrup or honey in case you need to adjust the taste; I have used agave syrup)

In a glass combine well the vinaigrette ingredients.

Place the salad leaves and other vegetables in a bowl and pour the miso vinaigrette over them just before serving.

I am not scared of twenty-ingredient Indian curries or similar laborious meals. I prepare them quite regularly, but most of the time I don’t have time or patience for long cooking sessions which require  my constant attention. Apart from totally improvised everyday dishes, I have a mental list of straightforward recipes I keep on going back to even when I’m very tired, in a hurry or simply feel lazy. No matter how exotic they seem, such dishes don’t require much attention or time and I manage to memorise them sometimes even before I prepare them. This is exactly the category into which falls this soy sauce and molasses chicken, a slightly modified version of Honey Soy Sauce Chicken posted by Nami from Just One Cookbook.

Sticky chicken pieces marinated in a simple soy sauce mixture looked both attractive and original and seemed so easy, I couldn’t resist testing Nami’s recipe hardly a few days after seeing it. I had different chicken cuts (Nami has used drumettes) and no honey, so I had to modify it slightly. Apart from using halved skinned chicken legs, I have replaced the honey with molasses (also called treacle) and added some garlic (sometimes I just cannot help it… I am a garlic addict). It was one of the most rewarding chicken dishes I have ever had and, most of all, one of the rare meals where I wouldn’t replace legs with my usually preferred chicken breasts. The taste and stickiness reminded me a bit of teriyaki glaze, but with a deeper flavour (probably thanks to dark molasses) and a garlicky kick. Thank you so much, Nami, for this terrific recipe. I will think of you every time I prepare it and something tells me I will do it very often…

If you prepare drumettes instead of legs, check Nami’s recipe here.

TIPS: The baking time depends on the chicken’s rearing conditions: the more the chicken walked, the more time the legs will stay in the oven, i.e. free-range and organic legs will require more time.

I have used molasses (also known as treacle) because I always have them in stock (you will not believe me but it’s mainly in case I suddenly long for my beloved Guinness Gingerbread), but you can substitute them with honey, originally used by Nami, or anything similar (such as a syrup).

Preparation: 45 – 60 minutes + min. several hours in the fridge (it’s best to leave the chicken to marinate overnight)

Ingredients (serves two):

2 chicken legs (skinned or not) cut in half

Marinade:

3 tablespoons molasses (also known as “treacle”) or honey

3 tablespoons soy sauce (you can use more if you have low-sodium soy sauce)

2 tablespoons sake

(salt)

(2 medium garlic cloves)

ground pepper

If you want to skin the legs, do it before you cut them in half. (It’s very easy if you start separating the skin from the meat at the thicker end, helping yourself at first with a small sharp knife; then the skin can usually be torn away with your hand and occasionally cut off with your knife).

Cut the legs in two pieces and prick them all over with a fork.

Put the marinade ingredients in a ziplock bag or other thick plastic bag and mix them well.

Put the chicken pieces in the bag, close it and rub the meat making sure it’s well coated in the marinade.

Put the legs for several hours in the fridge (I left them overnight).

Heat the oven to 200°C.

Place the chicken pieces in a baking dish and bake them until they are tender (it will take 45 – 60 minutes; check it with a fork), basting them with the marinade twice during the baking process.

After 30 minutes check if the meat is not too dark. If it is well browned but not soft yet, cover it well with aluminium foil.

Baste with the marinade from the bottom of the baking dish and serve with a green salad.

Even though most people consider crème brûlée (or burnt cream) a typically French dessert, British sources often cite Trinity College, Cambridge, as the place where it first appeared at the end of the XIXth century. The famous British food writer, Jane Grigson, says (in her excellent English Food) she has come across burnt cream recipes in several ancient English cookery books, some dating back to the XVIIth century. The French claim to be the inventors and also cite a XVIIth century (1691) book “Le Cuisinier royal et bourgeois” by François Massialot as the first occurrence of crème brûlée. The doubt of the origins will probably always haunt both sides of the Channel, but whatever the origins, crème brûlée or burnt cream is an invention of a genius.

The recipe I share with you is the very first I used and certainly the last one, not because it is lighter (half milk, half cream), but because it produces the best crème brûlée I know. I found it in “Le Grand Livre de Cuisine d’Alain Ducasse: Bistrots, Brasseries et Restaurants de Tradition” written by one of the most renowned French chefs, who is also among the three most Michelin-starred in the world. Alain Ducasse is not any diet guru, the book has got nothing to do with any weight loss plans (see the title of his book!) and the recipe wasn’t labelled as lightened. It is simply excellent, elegantly fresh and as such didn’t need any explanations. The addition of milk also illustrates the way the traditional cuisine has been changing in hands of modern French chefs and confectioners, following the way our lifestyles and nutritious needs change, but wisely, i.e. without any taste compromise.

I have already posted this recipe a long time ago, but I thought it merits to be mentioned again, especially since now I know I’m not the only one blogger who looks for lighter desserts and also because some of my friends have recently been trying to lighten their eating habits

If you feel like playing with this classic dessert, I strongly recommend this refreshing and amazing matcha crème brûlée, my second favourite:

TIPS: Blowtorch is a very good investment since, at least from my experience, it’s impossible to obtain the contrasting textures and temperatures crème brûlée is famous for with an oven broiler (the cream warms up). You can use blowtorch on many other custardy desserts and sweet tarts.

Click here for a few ideas of how to use up the leftover egg whites.

If you don’t have brown cane sugar, you can use caster sugar to burn, but the taste is worse.

If you want to prepare a smaller batch (serving max. 4 people), divide the below amounts by two, but use 5 egg yolks.

If you travel to France and order burnt cream in an unknown restaurant, I would strongly advise asking if it’s burnt just before being served. I had several times an unpleasant surprise of soggy caramel and a uniform temperature in restaurants where the cream is burnt before the opening hours and sits for several hours in the fridge.

Special equipment: a blowtorch

Preparation: around 2 hours+a couple of hours in the fridge

Calories (the whole batch, made with skimmed milk, 25% fat cream and including the burnt sugar): about 3200 kcal

Ingredients (serves six – eight, depending on the size of the baking dishes; if you use the ones I did (8-9 cm diameter) you will obtain eight portions):

9 egg yolks

500 ml/17 oz milk

500 ml/17 oz liquid cream (min. 20% fat, without any thickeners)

4 vanilla pods

9 slightly heaped tablespoons caster sugar

about100 g/about 1/2 cup cane sugar (but not the moist one!)

Cut the vanilla pods lengthwise in two.

Put into a saucepan with milk and cream. Bring to the boil, put aside for 30 minutes.

Strain it. Scrape off the vanilla seeds and blend with milk and cream. The seeds are not necessary, but I think the cream looks nicer with small black spots.

Preheat the oven at 100°C.

Mix the yolks with sugar in a big bowl. Pour the warm (not hot!) milk with cream over it and mix again.

Pour the mixture into burnt cream dishes or other small individual ramekins.

Bake it for approximately 45 minutes. (The custards are ready when only their centres are slightly trembling when moved).

Take out the creams and let them cool down. Put into the fridge for several hours.

Just before serving, take the creams out of the fridge and pat dry with paper towel (there will be some water drops on top and it will make the burning difficult).

Sprinkle with dark cane sugar and caramelise it with a special blowtorch.

Serve immediately while the top is still warm and crunchy and the cream below is very cold.

Wild garlic is finally there! Since its season is very short, I am particularly attentive to its appearance at my farmers’ market and try to include it into my meals as often as I can. Possibilities are galore, but this simple stir-fried dish is one of the easiest way to introduce wild garlic to one’s culinary repertoire. I cannot remember how many times I have prepared it, but I am always amazed at the transformation the delicately seasoned chicken undergoes thanks to a handful of green leaves. Sliced and added just before the end of the frying process, wild garlic laces the meat pieces with a subtle garlicky and unique flavour. My beloved cashew nuts create a pleasant difference of textures.

Wild garlic, also called ramsons, ramps, buckrams, bear’s garlic or bear paw garlic, grows all around Europe and in North America (ail des ours, czosnek niedźwiedzi, megyhagyma, aglio orsino…). Unlike its domesticated and well known cousin, wild garlic’s most important part are long wide fragrant leaves (see the photo above) and flowers. Wild garlic has a very distinct garlic scent and apparently a favourite of bears, who would dig out its bulbs (hence the Latin name: Allium Ursinum). While its use in the kitchen is widespread in certain countries, it is almost non-existent in the others and I must admit I discovered its existence thanks to its popularity in Switzerland, but only about two years ago.

Until now I have posted only two other recipes using wild garlic (see below), but it is a very versatile herb. The leaves are equally good raw and cooked, so have a look around your forests and markets and start experimenting with it. You can add it into salads, serve with fish, meat, stir-fries and you should definitely dry it and powder it, so that you profit a bit from wild garlic’s aroma also out of season. You might also like one of the two recipes I have posted:

Wild Garlic Pest with Almonds

Wild Garlic Pillows

TIP: Wild garlic’s long leaves (like the one in the background of the photo above) are very similar to those of the lily of the valley and mixing them up is very dangerous, since the latter are toxic. The strong smell created when the leaves are rubbed is the only way to distinguish them if one is not an experienced ramsons picker. Planting its bulbs the garden (I have learnt it was possible on the Cottage Smallholder website) or buying leaves from a trustworthy market stall are the safest options.

Preparation: about 15 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

1 small chicken breast, skinned

1 generous handful of sliced wild garlic leaves

2 tablespoons cashew nuts

1 teaspoon sake + 1/8 teaspoon salt

Sauce:

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sake

1 teaspoon mirin or syrup or sugar

1 teaspoon cornstarch

Cut the chicken breast into bite-sized pieces.

In a small bowl combine them with salt and sake. Put aside.

Warm a pan, grease it slightly and toast the cashew nuts.

Put them aside.

Slice the wild garlic leaves horizontally (you can leave the stalks or remove them, it’s up to you).

Drain the chicken breast pieces.

Add a tablespoon oil to the pan.

When it warms up, fry the chicken pieces and when they are well cooked, add the cashew nuts and the sliced leaves.

Stir-fry about 20 seconds and then add the sauce.
When it thickens, the dish is ready to be served.

Have you ever heard of ANZAC biscuits? Many of you might be put off by the above unequally shaped, unattractive cookies, but in reality these are one of the most delicious and addictive sweet snacks I know. Until now I have been preparing only their standard version and I wish I had thought of cranberries earlier because I liked them this way even more.

ANZAC stands for “Australian and New Zealand Army Corps”, created during the World War I and these biscuits were created at the same time by women desperate to send nutritious home-made food to their husbands, sons and boyfriends. According to this website, faced with at least two months’ transportation time, a group of women worked out a recipe based on rather healthy Scottish rolled oats biscuits and added only those ingredients which ensured long preservation. There are several theories on why eggs are not used, but their absence certainly makes biscuits last longer.

The first time I baked these biscuits (see the recipe here), I was inspired and encouraged by Mr. Three-Cookies, the cookie and biscuit specialist from Three-Cookies blog, where I found the recipe (actually at Easily Good Eats by the same author). Before tasting ANZAC biscuits for the first time I expected ordinary, but good crunchy biscuits, with a healthy twist, i.e. oats. What I obtained was well beyond my hopes: slightly crunchy, slightly chewy, addictive sweet snacks with a very pleasant  buttery taste, enhanced by baked nutty oats. In short, the mixture of such simple ingredients has created a complex, surprising result I am still fond of, after dozens of batches.

ANZAC biscuits have always been so satisfactory, I haven’t even bothered to modify the basic recipe. However, a couple of days ago, the beautiful Cranberry Coconut Quinoa Loaves posted by Kelly (from Inspired Edibles) convinced me that dried cranberries are a perfect pairing for coconut and this is how I had the idea to tweak my usual recipe. The experiment was a big success, at least for a big fan of chewy cookies like me (the cranberries’ presence has at least tripled the chewiness!). The flat rounded, more or less equal shape was more difficult to obtain with dried fruit inside, but then I’m not a very meticulous cook… Thank you so much, Kelly for such a wonderful inspiration; cranberries and coconut are an excellent pairing, definitely worth further explorations. Thank you again, Mr. Three-Cookies, for making me discover the world of ANZAC biscuits.

If you don’t like or have cranberries, I strongly advise testing the classic recipe first (or simply follow the below recipe eliminating cranberries):

If you are fond of coconut sweets, you might like these too:

Easiest Chewy Coconut Cookies (aka Macaroons)

Coconut, Chocolate and Rum Truffles

Moist Chocolate and Coconut Cake

or the above Moist Coconut Cake but without chocolate

Coffee and Coconut Cream with Agar

Light Chocolate and Coconut Cream (also with agar)

or Matcha and Coconut Cream with Agar

If you want to play with the basic ANZAC recipe, Mr. Three-Cookies has frequently (and successfully) experimented with these amazing biscuits, so check his Three Cookies blog for inspiration.

TIPS: Unless you have a health problem, do not use margarine or any other vegetable shortening. The butter taste and  aroma is so strong, you will lose a big part of the pleasure.

As I have mentioned above, they keep fresh in a tightly closed container for several days (and maybe even more, but I wasn’t able to test more than five days). The biscuits stay crunchy and slightly chewy.

Do not expect vivid red spots on your biscuits: the cranberries will darken during the baking process (the ones you see above are just meant to add a touch of colour to the dark biscuits.)

WARNING: do not taste the raw dough! You will end up eating it straight from the pan while you wait for your previous batch to bake.

Preparation: 1 hour (or 30 minutes if you manage to bake everything in one batch)

Ingredients (I have obtained about 35 biscuits, you will obtain a bit less if you skip cranberries):

70 grams/1 cup rolled oats

90 grams/1 cup desiccated coconut

120 g/1 cup flour

125 g/about 4,5 oz butter

160 g/3/4 cup brown cane sugar

1 tablespoon dark syrup (I used 2 tablespoons molasses)

1 teaspoon baking soda (bi-carbonate of soda, in countries where it is not widely available, for example in France, it can be easily bought in pharmacies)

2 tablespoons boiling water

6 heaped tablespoons dried cranberries

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Melt the butter and syrup or molasses in a big pan.

Combine the flour, the oats, the coconut, the cranberries and the sugar. Add slowly to the melted butter.

At the end combine the boiling water and soda. Pour the mixture into the dough and stir well with a spoon.

Roll small balls (I usually make walnut-sized balls, but this time I wanted smaller biscuits, so I made the balls 1/3 smaller) and put them on a baking sheet (leaving at least 3 cm spaces between each ball since they will spread).

Flatten them slightly (they will flatten even more during the baking process) and bake 10-15 minutes or until golden.

Don’t worry if the dough seems crumbly. It is normal. Just squeeze well the dough when forming balls in your hands and don’t flatten them too much.

Keep them in a tightly closed container. Apparently they keep for ages. All I know is they keep for at least five days, well closed.