Autumn is upon us and it is time where thick soups, stews, roasts, pies and loads of yummy rich desserts (especially chocolate) to tie us through the grey and cold weather. This week will be the first of the thick soups to make its appearance.
I am not Italian and I am sure many Italians will have their own secret recipe for Ribollita. It is a Tuscan dish that means ‘reboiled’. There are so many versions of this but it seems that the most Italian recipe involves the use of stale bread in the soup. I had it at the side and hence is it called ‘Almost Ribollita’. The vegetable and bean soup was definitely kept overnight and then reheated the next day, a good drizzle of good olive oil and served with a side of toasted sourdough bread.
I am always on the lookout for simple and yummy meatless recipe every week. This week’s meatless day dish is inspired by Christine’s Stewed Beancurd Puffs with Daikon & Carrot. It fits the bill and it has been awhile since we have cooked with daikon or also known as white radish. Daikon has a nice subtle sweet but clean taste and it takes on flavour really well. I love it chunky in soups or julienne raw and served in salads.
After a trip to Footscray market, I decided to ditch the tofu puffs and got Enoki mushroom, baby corns and fresh shitake mushrooms. This dish is a collaboration of myself and Mister. I prepped the ingredients, he cooked and I took the photos. And I have to say it turned out pretty good.
With all the over indulgence during the last couple of weeks, all I wanted this week was to have more vegetables in my diet. So over the weekend, I roasted a big batch of vegetables that I had with either fish or lamb during the week. It was just with oven roasted sea salt, black pepper and a good dose of olive oil.
And look what I found? Yellow Zucchinis! Don’t they look super bright and cheery?
Chinese New Year is celebrated for 15 days. There is almost a different event for each day of celebration. Vegetarian meals are eaten on some days and certain Gods need to be prayed to on others. The seventh day is the birthday of all human beings. In the past, farmers in the villages will gather and make a almost vegetarian dish that consists of a green soup and seven different types of vegetables to celebrate the occasion. So I thought for this week’s challenge, it will be a good idea to introduce to this really amazing peasant dish that was prepared and cooked by a friend’s mum.
These days many Chinese dialect groups will celebrate by having yeesheng. But the Hakka still have the tradition of having luicha for this occasion instead. The soup is made up of mainly basil, coriander, mint, peanuts, sesame seeds, dried anchovies (ikan bilis) and tea leaves. They are cooked, blended together and then placed in the middle of the table.
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