Food Lust People Love

Sunday, July 28, 2024

Fresh Blackberry Tarts

Sweet summer berries are the star in these fresh blackberry tarts baked in puff pastry with a hint of balsamic, honey and sea salt. Treat yourself and serve them with thick pouring cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The best thing about summer is all of the fresh produce that is suddenly available from either local sources or at least ones that don’t add airmiles to the price. I think we can all agree that anything picked nearby tastes more like it should since it’s allowed to ripen on the vine or bush instead of in the hold of a truck or airplane.

In the Channel Islands, there are blackberry bushes growing wild! Here they are called brambles and despite the vicious thorns, we wait eagerly for the berries to ripen so we can pick them. Nothing beats free fruit, am I right?

Fresh Blackberry Tarts

Pepperidge Farm frozen puff pastry sheets come in a box of two with a total weight of 1.1 lbs or 490g. I used only one sheet for these four tarts.

Ingredients for four individual tarts

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed but chilled (I used Pepperidge Farm, see note above)

12 oz or 340g fresh blackberries

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 teaspoons butter

Optional to serve: thick pouring cream or vanilla ice cream.

Method

In a mixing bowl, toss the blackberries and the cornstarch together.

Add in the honey, vinegar, sugar and salt. Stir gently to combine. Set aside to macerate for 10 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and prepare a baking pan by lining it with baking parchment or a silicone liner.

Gently unroll the puff pastry and cut it into four equal pieces. Place them in the prepared pan. Fold the sides up slightly, pinching them together to form an outside crust. If the sides don’t want to stick together, wet them with just a drop or two of water to help them adhere to each other.

Give the blackberry bowl a good stir then divide the mixture between the four crusts.

Top with 1/2 teaspoon butter each, cut into little bits.

Bake in your preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until the crusts are puffed and browned.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool. As you can see, some of the juice ran out but the tarts were still juicy and the blackberries were soft.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Serve with fresh cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with blackberries! Check out the links below.

Blackberry and Apple Slaw from Palatable Pastime
Blackberry Cobbler from Mayuri's Jikoni
Blackberry Ricotta Pizza from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Fresh Blackberry Margarita from Karen's Kitchen Stories
Fresh Blackberry Tarts from Food Lust People Love
Jamun/Indian Blackberry Chia Jam from Sneha's Recipe
Roasted Blackberry & Rosemary Goat Cheese from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
Summer Berries Flaugnarde + Olallie Gin Fizz from Culinary Cam

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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Sunday, July 21, 2024

Sesame Cucumber Radish Salad

Fresh and spicy, this sesame cucumber radish salad is a great accompaniment to any pan-fried (or roasted) protein like chicken or fish. It’s light, flavorful and delicious.

This summer the Channel Islands have been unseasonably cold and rainy so I’ve been looking for ways to add a little heat and freshness to our lives. This cucumber radish salad was the perfect side dish for pan-fried salmon with Asian flavors. A little soy, a little ginger and garlic. Perfection.

I can also attest that this salad is even tasty the next day. And still crunchy!

Sesame Cucumber Radish Salad

Don’t get too caught up in the weight of the cucumber. A little more or less won’t matter. Same with the radishes. Want to add more, go for it! If you can’t find English/telegraph cucumbers, use regular ones but scoop the seeds out. This recipe is adapted from one on Budget Bytes.

Ingredients

1/4 cup or 60ml rice vinegar

1 small red chili pepper

4 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 English cucumber (about 7 oz or 200g)

4 radishes

2 green onions

Scant 1/4 cup or about 30g chopped peanuts

Method

Mince the chili pepper as finely as you can. Cut the roots off of the green onions and discard. Cut of the white parts and any harder, thick green parts and mince them.

In a small bowl, combine the rice vinegar, chili pepper and the minced green onion parts. Set aside for five minutes. This tempers the pepper and onion while also infusing the vinegar with heat and flavor, making a more even distribution of the spice throughout the salad.

Slice the cucumber and put it in a bowl.

Now whisk in the sugar, sesame oil, and salt into the vinegar. Set the dressing aside.

Slice the radishes thinly and add them to the cucumber bowl.

Slice the green parts of the onion snd set a small portion aside to garnish before serving.

Pour the dressing over the sliced cucumbers and radishes.

Add in the bigger pile of sliced green onions and stir to combine.

Cover with cling film and refrigerate until ready to eat. Roughly chop the peanuts.

Give the salad a brief stir occasionally. The cucumber will release liquid. How much depends on how long your salad is refrigerated. If it’s a lot, I like to transfer the vegetables to a serving plate before adding the chopped peanuts.

Put the cucumbers and radishes on a serving plate. Spoon over the dressing, straining off most of the liquid but making sure to include the minced green onion and chili peppers.

Top with the chopped peanuts and the sliced green onion parts.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with cucumbers. Many thanks to our host Sue of Palatable Pastime. Check out all the links below.

Cucumber and Avocado Salad from A Day in the Life on the Farm
Cucumber Raita from Cook with Renu
Cucumber Rosettes from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
Roasted Apricots, Cucumber, and Tomato Gazpacho with Alioli from Culinary Cam
Semolina Cucumber Cake from Sneha's Recipe
Sesame Cucumber Radish Salad from Food Lust People Love

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Wednesday, July 17, 2024

Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Orange juice adds a lovely sweetness to these spicy orange braised short ribs. Slow cooking intensifies the flavors and the ribs melt in your mouth.

Despite their "golden riches" symbolism in Chinese culture, I didn’t think that oranges featured in many otherwise Chinese-inspired savory dishes. I certainly don’t remember any from the many years we lived in Malaysia and Singapore where Chinese restaurants abound.

But I was wrong! A simple search reveals, that as usual *deep sigh* everyone from Serious Eats to Kroger. com, for goodness’ sake, has an orange braised beef short rib recipe online. It’s hard to be original in this world. That said, I’m here to tell you, orange juice and zest are great additions and that’s probably why they are popular.

Spicy Orange Braised Short Ribs

Short ribs are such a succulent cut but they do release a lot of fat when slow cooked till tender. If you want to discard most of the fat, cook this ahead of the day you’d like to serve it. You will have time to chill it overnight and remove most of the fat that rises to the top and hardens. My method below includes that step.

Ingredients

3 lbs 5 oz or 1.5kg short ribs

1 tablespoon five-spice powder

Fine sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1/2 cup or 120ml soy sauce

2 cups or 480ml fresh orange juice

1 celery stick, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 thumbs fresh ginger, peeled and minced

2 red chili peppers, minced

2 tablespoons salted black beans, rinsed

1 orange

1 star anise

1 bay leaf

To serve: small handful cilantro, chopped plus more for garnish, if desired

Method

Using a sharp knife, cut off the zest of the orange in strips, as whole as possible, but thin, no white pith. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Peel and slice the ginger. Remove the stems and cut the red chili peppers into two halves and chop the celery stick.

Tuck the spare ribs in a Dutch oven that has a tightly fitting lid and sprinkle them with the five-spice powder, fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Add in the sesame oil, soy sauce then orange juice.

Tuck the chili peppers, ginger, garlic, salted black beans, star anise and bay leaf on and amongst the ribs.

Top with the chopped onions and celery.

Put the pot on the stovetop over medium heat and bring to a low boil. Cover with tightly fitting lid and lower the heat to simmer. Cook for about four hours., checking occasionally to make sure it isn’t drying out.

My LeCreuset Dutch oven really seals well and I don’t have to add water, but I know that not all pots are that great. Add a little water, if needed from time to time.

If you have planned ahead as I mentioned above, pour the cooking liquid into a heatproof bowl. Pick out all the bones that have separated from the meat in the pot and discard them.

Add the meat into the cooking liquid and chill overnight. The next day, carefully remove the solidified fat and discard.

Rewarm the short ribs and stir in the small handful of cilantro.

I recommend serving the ribs with mashed potatoes or rice because of all the lovely gravy. Garnish with extra cilantro, if desired.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 15th edition of the 2024 Alphabet Challenge, brought to you by the letter O. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the O recipes below: