Looks good enough to eat...Korean sweet & spicy sauce

When I was a little girl I liked nothing better than sitting on the sofa looking at the pictures in my mum's cookbooks.  I still do it!  I love recipes with photos - it helps me imagine what the dish will taste like if that makes sense. 

Korean sweet & spicy tofu

I often go online and do a recipe search by image - that's exactly what happened a couple of days ago when I needed some inspiration for a tofu dish.  Not being a vegetarian, it's not something I have much experience cooking with and to be honest, I have had tofu that tasted more like a wet sponge than anything else, so I was a bit wary of what I might end up with. 
Well, this recipe for Korean sweet & spicy tofu (continuing yesterday's theme of world foods) was a revelation!  Before you recoil in horror, this would work equally well with chicken, pork or prawns :-)  The tofu was crispy thanks to a coating of cornflour applied before frying, the sauce was sticky, sweet and spicy and I demolished the lot in seconds.  The sauce is probably one of the best I have made - we will have this again soon with chicken and stir-fry vegetables! 

In 80 meals around the world...Vietnamese spring rolls & spicy peanut dipping sauce

I moved to London in the early '90s and over the next few years got to experience so much food from around the world that I had never had before.  My first Indian curry gave me the hiccups as I wasn't used to the spices and heat from the chilli but I loved every hiccup-y mouthful.  My first Thai food almost had me in tears with delight at the delicate fragrant flavours.  Since then I've eaten Japanese, Mexican, Korean, South African, Tanzanian,...the list goes on.  I feel incredibly lucky to have tasted so many delicious cuisines and can't wait to try many more.  My dream trip would be travelling around the world with Mr Happy Larder and eating in every country of the world - I'd die one very happy & full woman :-)

Spring rolls with spicy peanut dipping sauce

I guess where I live "unusual" ingredients have become so much more accessible and whilst I try and watch out for food miles, I also love trying out new things.  The latest is Vietnamese rice paper wrappers.  These thin rice papers are used to make spring rolls and make a fabulous change from having sandwiches for lunch.  You can have them as they are or fried/baked - on this occasion I tried the "original" version.  Simply soak the papers in warm water for a few seconds, then stuff with your favourite filling and roll up tightly. folding over the sides to create a sealed roll.  I had mine filled with fresh salad veggies, cooked brown rice and some salmon. These little buddies went especially well with my homemade spicy peanut dipping sauce - you can find the recipe below.

Mhm, which country will my culinary journey take me to next? 

"Wales - Japan - Peru" or "The perfect herb dressing"

Summer has arrived in Wales and it's another gloriously sunny day here today!  The dog is lazing in the shade and just looking out into the garden with the washing drying on the line makes me feel happy and grateful.

With it being so hot, I've been craving salads and lighter meals.  I used to love having sushi for a summery lunch at my old job and one particular place had this amazing sauce that came with one of their meals.  It was a herb dressing, mainly with coriander (cilantro) and utterly delicious.  I've been trying to find a recipe for it for ages (they obviously don't disclose theirs) and was surprised to find one not from Japan but Peru.  Very intriguing! 

Anyway, I made a batch and am already addicted to it :-)  It's super easy to make and tastes like the best thing ever (if you like coriander, that is) and very similar to that from the sushi place.  Drizzled on my salad today, it was amazing and it would go equally well with grilled meat or fish or small new potatoes or avocado or...I can imagine it with the salmon burgers I wrote about the other day.  In fact, I am salivating at the thought already, so that will be on the menu later in the week.  Food bliss!

Of white blossoms and white asparagus

The last few days have just flown by and my mum's visit has come to an end - she's now on her way to London to spend time with my brother and his family.  Keith the dog is wondering where the latest member of his pack has disappeared to :-)  We had a lovely time together and just before she had to leave today, we went for another walk, taking pictures of the beautiful blossoms in the park (my mum uses her photos to make really lovely greeting cards).

I've really enjoyed serving homemade cakes, bread and dinners.  One of the dishes we had was actually one that is very popular in Germany at this time of year: white asparagus, new potatoes and cold cuts (usually ham).  My mum brought local asparagus from the market with her.  I can't remember the last time I had this - it's so tasty and very quick to prepare. 

A great idea for cooking the asparagus:  peel the asparagus and use the peel and some salt water to make a broth in which to then cook the asparagus. It intensifies the flavour.  The asparagus itself needs to be cooked for approximately 10 minutes (longer than the green thinner variety available in the UK).  Serve with boiled new potatoes, ham and a creamy mustard sauce (click here for the sauce recipe) - yummy and for me a real taste of home.




 

Quick food for busy people

Wanna play a game?

There are days that are really busy and productive when I can't wait to do stuff and others when I find it hard to get going.  Today was a good busy day, hence the late post.  There were chores to be done and preparations to be made for our building works (more on that another time).  Keith the dog tried his hardest to distract me - it was very difficult to resist.

Being busy usually means that food needs to be quick but we still don't want to compromise on taste.  Yesterday, I made a lovely oven-baked fish dish for dinner which I can highly recommend.

 I love food that can be done in the oven and "forgotten about" - mind you, I almost did with this one and the crust turned out to be a little darker than planned.  Anyway, that aside, this easy and yummy recipe with a Mediterranean twist went down a treat and was prepared and cooked in just over half an hour.  Ideal for those busy times during the week.

Have a lovely weekend!

Pasta perfect...

We were away for the weekend, visiting family - it was lovely to spend time together and very relaxing.  I had made my niece a birthday cake which will feature in one of my next posts but for today I'll write about something my previous posts already touched on: Valentine's Day!

I know people who love it, I know plenty of people who hate it...I guess I am somewhere in the middle.  It's lovely to do something nice and thoughtful for someone but being bombarded with lots of overpriced, fixed menus in restaurants is not my idea of fun or romance.  Maybe making something from scratch is a great way of showing someone you care - not everyone will have the time or inclination for this on 14th February but maybe another day...?

Homemade ravioli...

When this photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, I had never made my own pasta before.  But - in my ever persistent quest to find recipes for this blog - I simply had to give it a go.  I should mention that Mr Happy Larder makes fabulous pasta and his homemade lasagne is to die for (I will sneak a picture & the recipe in when he's not looking ;-)).

So I made ravioli and whilst this recipe does not fall into the category "quick", it still ticks all the boxes for "much easier than I thought it would be".  Plus: you don't need any expensive equipment for this either - just a rolling pin (and if you don't have one of those, then a large empty bottle will also do the trick).  So, here it goes: homemade ravioli with a mushroom filling...and there is a delicious sauce for which you will also find the recipe below.  Enjoy! 

Just enough chilli, just enough sauce

I don't know about you but recipes that ask me to use a quarter of a teaspoon of something that I am unlikely to need again in the next year really drive me mad.  I end up with jars of stuff in the fridge that only get moved when I need to make room for the milk and then I think "oh yeah - should be using that up soon" - only I never do.

Sweet chilli sauce...

For yesterday's stir fry I wanted some sweet chilli sauce and decided to make my own. After a bit of searching I found an easy recipe that resulted in a lovely sauce - exactly as sweet & hot as I like it and no more than we needed. Perfect! The other advantage is that you know exactly what's in it - no glucose-fructose syrup, no additives, no other little horrors. 

I thought it would be really difficult to make this sauce and that it would taste nothing like commercial brands.  I am glad to say I was wrong on both counts and I will try and make more stuff like this from scratch.  I'll keep you posted on any progress.