Chard processing day. Lots of stuff in the garden to do this time of year. Unfortunately being away for a month meant I missed the ideal time to harvest the chard that was growing through the winter. All was not lost and I managed to get a decent enough harvest. Clean, remove snails, steam, put into small moulds, squeeze out some water, then freeze for later use.
Captured a hummingbird hawk moth in the garden over the weekend. Feeling less bad about the copious amount of dandelions on my lawn. Quite amazing to see, and stunned at how good mobile camera tech is these days. They're migratory, and fly up from Southern Europe during the warmer months, not being able to survive the Winters here. This is super early, so I wonder if the warmer climate has allowed it to survive.
Slightly unconventional toppings for this ramen. 2 parts tori (chicken) paitan (milky/rich) broth mixed with 1 part niban (secondary) dashi. Pork chasu slices pan fried. Ajitsume tamago (cured soft boiled eggs). Grilled tomatoes, leeks and pak choi.
First outdoor dinner of the year. Chicken stock with simple chasu/tare seasoning. Dried wheat noodles (commercial), thawed pork belly chasu pan fried, micro-poached egg, grilled leek and tenderstem broccoli, chili oil and black garlic oil. Looks like a lot but almost everything was prepped beforehand.
This year I'm fermenting my wild garlic. I won't do a long ferment, just enough to stop it going bad in the fridge too quickly, which has been a concern in the past. I used to make pesto with cheese and pumpkin seeds, then just added salt and oil to finely ground wild garlic and froze. Making this for a ferment is a very simple process. Wash, squeeze dry, shred (I used a mixer, but it won't take long by hand), weigh.
Wild garlic time! Gonna play around a bit with gentle fermentation for these, but for now, steamed on top of rice with some beef bits from a recent stock, micro-teamed then grilled leeks, broccoli, parsley on top of rice. Sauce is chicken stock, tare (ramen seasoning with soy, msg, salt?), chili oil and some pork chasu drippings. Yum.