cooking | wattecanon

Rain usually sends me away and brings me back again. As I arrived last late night, world turned Milan’s rain into Berlin’s ice. Yes, seems I’ve never mentioned, I live in Berlin, Germany, where just beautifully snowed the second time in this winter. I’d rather have enjoyed the snowing if I didn’t have a huge luggage to struggle over the yet humanly sanded walk path. But as the wispy snowflakes fell onto my tired face and gently melted, I knew my skin soaked it then cured the ail.

I am posting the blog postponed again. Nevertheless, I have always cooked on time so far. It was a lovely cooking experience this time in Milan because I cooked for more people. Food means less to me when it isn’t shared. The funny trouble was that cooking in an unacquainted kitchen happened to me less challenging than buying ingredients in an unfamiliar place. Thanks the landlord in this cuisine passionate land has equipped our kitchen with every size and kind of pans. Meanwhile also blaming this land that distributes her groceries into different specialized stores thus few mega-supermarkets where people can get everything needed only at one time. I was lucky eventually getting a golden pumpkin in Carrefour on a Sunday (January 13), since my friend Zizi kept saying that pumpkin was out of season there.

I cooked the January 15 A slow-cooked bean hotpot in the last three hours before my departure to airport. I was so happy when another friend Lulu came home by finishing baking and uttered in the corridor surprisingly ” So the sweet smell comes from our home!” And more exciting when I saw Domee flapped towards dining table after he saw the result as he declared at the beginning that he doesn’t like beans. It was worth the three hours. Sadly I didn’t make to eat with the others together, because it is so easy to miss a flight.

Ciao.

Sincerely

Hot, sweet baked pumpkin

I will be the last person on the earth that cooks with coriander. I know the sauce comes with fish sauce, ginger, chilli and limes, very south-asian indeed but no thanks, how about some romarin de la Province! Yum yum.

Bonus: Rolled pork with mais puree by best wife/husband Antonio

A crisp-crusted hotpot of aubergines and beans

Did Nigel forget to write putting salt into the bean mixture? Zizi claimed for more flavor and Parmesan, even bacon in the beans next time. Anyway, I enjoyed the original spices and didn’t have enough from it. Needa catch flight…

January 11, 2013

JANUARY 9 + 12

Dear Nigel,

Friends just left from dinner 3 hours ago and in one hour I will be on my way to airport, catching early flight to Milan for spending my weekend. I first considered to bring the cooked ham from yesterday (January 9 An old-fashioned ham, a new sauce) to Milan and do there the subsequent dish on January 12, that uses the leftover ham to make a cabbage fry up. Then I thought again, why bother? These two dishes make a perfect ham dinner. However, this time I got a big problem. I had no idea which ham should be got into shopping list. I had been asking myself two days before all the cooking started ” What is a HAM that is going to be boiled ?” “Can any ham just be boiled?… Or rather raw…” I ran to two biggest supermarket and consulted two butchers. Eventually, the ham answer was still not all-purpose. I know now that ham is not just a ham. It can be salted, smoked, boiled for ready to eat, ready to be boiled again or steamed or grilled… I still don’t know which one would be the best for your recipe. Sigh, anyway I bought a 1,3kg longish piece of pork meat that is usually for roasting. The result can be seen below in the pictures. They don’t necessarily tell every information, the one I can describe extra in word is that the ham isn’t good as moist, yet yum!

Ok, slowly it is time to set off. I am looking forward to cooking your next two recipes in Italy.

Sincerely

Ham with artichoke and parsley sauce

Oh please someone tell me that Jerusalem artichoke is also widely named in this beautiful French Topinambour. I couldn’t stand myself letting this little potato-lookings slip away in front of my eyes, twice! Finally I chopped them and turn them to creamy sauce. So earthy till the last squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Hummmm, tasted up! For those baked, hummmmmmmmm!

A ham and cabbage fry up

It is my first time using cloves and juniper berries. So much more spices still to learn. And I know there are also thousand vinegars out there. Thus in this salat, both white wine vinegar and balsamico collide with each other into a new acid scent.

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January 6, 2013

JANUARY 6

Dear Nigel,

How was your twelfth night and Epiphany in this year? Still cut your evergreen and intended to let the branches decompose around the blueberries and cloudberries in your garden? What was your lunch today in this year? I had chicken noodle broth that you must have had on this religious day in a certain year of your life. Still remember? It was a rain cleared day when the soil could be smelt and air was sweet. Although It is raining and cloudy here, the warmth from ginger&cinnamon and the vitality from the greens have cheered this wet winter day totally up!

Sincerely

Chicken noodle broth

The broth is almost how Chinese cook chicken soup. I bought a whole soup chicken yesterday, frozen but at least organic. First time chicken soup cooked without any wine, after the broth is cooked, the whole kitchen is scented with those sweet cinnamon instead. No Thai or Vietnamese basil as no asian supermarket is open on Sunday.

January 4, 2013

JANUARY 1-3

Dear Nigel,

My first day of 2013 started with JANUARY 1 A humble loaf and a soup of roots. I had never baked bread before but was once an enthusiast of cake-baking. Why I stopped baking then? I stopped by the moment that I made to bake my favourite cakes – Chiffon and Yogurt cake with all kinds of fruit. I didn’t even care about all the decorations for the cakes. All of them just looked as beautiful as they ought to be finished from oven and tasted as good as their natural ingredients at their best. My passion is not durable but I am the most earnest person while I get it. I woke up at 10am in first day morning and immersed the rest of the day in a happy hangover from new year’s eve. All the splendid firework has waned in the wind and 2012 did a promising curtain call. Despite muddleheaded, I didn’t forget that I am going to have Nigel Slater’s kitchen diaries for the whole next year. So I picked up my grocery shopper at 8pm. After 2 hours I was standing in my little kitchen with throughout floured hands kneading the stickiest dough that I have ever had in my life.

Sincerely,

A cider loaf

I used 9%alc German dry cider – Apfeltischwein. A very sour but strongly wine scented result.

A soup of bacon and celeriac

It took long to cook bacon and longer to grate celeriac. I put rosemary in the soup. Result faint smokey yum!

The dinner was on the 3rd with more courses from JANUARY 2 A bunch of parsley and JANUARY 3 A crisp salad for a winter’s day.

A salad of pears and cheese with sprouted seeds

I didn’t make the salad neither smart looking nor good tasting. Cress substituted sprout that tastes extremely raw and herby for me. Best girl friend just brought me a nice cheese from Barcelona.