Showing posts with label Alphabet Challenge 2026. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alphabet Challenge 2026. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 30, 2026

Garlic Lemon Tuna Steaks - Sous Vide

Tender and flavorful, these garlic lemon tuna steaks are well-seasoned and lightly cooked to perfection, vacuum-sealed, with a precision cooker. Just slice to serve! 

Food Lust People Love: Tender and flavorful, these garlic lemon tuna steaks are well-seasoned and lightly cooked to perfection, vacuum-sealed, with a precision cooker. Just slice to serve!

This summer our lovely little island decided to award a few limited fishing licenses for bluefin tuna to local fishermen in our Channel Island waters. It was such a big deal that every time one was caught, it made the news! Write-ups in the local paper with amazing photos. Those are some massive fish!

We’d never tasted bluefin before so you know our next shopping trip to town included a stop at the fish market. I hopped out and left my husband waiting in the car – no need to park – only to pull up short when faced with closed shutters on the fish stalls. I completely forgot that the market closes early on a Thursday!

All hope was not lost though because one of their doors was still open. I knocked and called out and the wonderful fishmonger responded, coming out of his back office. Bless him, he cut me two of the nicest, freshest, reddest tuna steaks I’d ever seen! (He also gifted me with two roe sacs so I could attempt making bottarga.)

I seasoned and simply seared the bluefin steaks because we wanted to really taste the tuna. To see if it was any different from our usual yellowfin. I am here to report that it was very nice but if you had blindfolded me, I don’t think I’d have known the difference. But you know what? Now at least we can say we’ve eaten and enjoyed line-caught, Channel Island bluefin tuna! 

Garlic Lemon Tuna Steaks - Sous Vide

As you can see from my list below, I used yellowfin for this particular recipe. Use whatever lovely, very fresh tuna you can buy. 

Ingredients
2 (6 oz or 170g) yellowfin tuna steaks
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Zest 1/2 lemon
1 clove garlic, lightly crushed
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil

Optional to serve: Cut the ½ lemon you zested into wedges for squeezing

Method
Dry the tuna steaks with paper towels, then season them generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Chill in the refrigerator uncovered for 30 minutes. 


Meanwhile, zest your lemon with a microplane and crush the garlic. 


Set up the precision cooker. In a vessel deep enough to keep the tuna submerged, preheat the water to 110°F or 43.3°C.

Put the lemon zest, garlic, bay leaves and olive oil in a Ziploc bag that is big enough for the tuna steaks not to touch each other. (I used a quart size bag.) Make sure everything is nicely distributed. 


Add the chilled tuna steaks to the bag and gently rub them around so they are coated with the olive oil, lemon zest, bay leaves and garlic.


Close the bag until it is just open on side of the zipper and carefully submerge it in a vessel of cool water to displace the air, zipping it completely closed when all the air is out. 


When your pot of water is at the correct temperature, put the tuna bag in it and secure it to one side. I use clothes pegs for this. Set the cook timer on your precision cooker to 30 minutes. (As you can see, this photo was taken three minutes in.)


When the precision timer turns off, remove the bag from the water.


Leave the tuna steaks in the bag for another five minutes, then remove and chill before slicing. Reserve the contents of the bag for plating up.


I like to use a rolling pin to really mash the garlic inside the bag and, once the tuna is chilled and sliced, I spoon the mashed garlic, lemon zest and olive oil all down the slices. 

Food Lust People Love: Tender and flavorful, these garlic lemon tuna steaks are well-seasoned and lightly cooked to perfection, vacuum-sealed, with a precision cooker. Just slice to serve!

Or, if you prefer, you can serve it sashimi-style with soy sauce, wasabi and pickled ginger.

Food Lust People Love: Tender and flavorful, these garlic lemon tuna steaks are well-seasoned and lightly cooked to perfection, vacuum-sealed, with a precision cooker. Just slice to serve!

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 20th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter T. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the T recipes below:







Pin these Garlic Lemon Tuna Steaks – Sous Vide!

Food Lust People Love: Tender and flavorful, these garlic lemon tuna steaks are well-seasoned and lightly cooked to perfection, vacuum-sealed, with a precision cooker. Just slice to serve!

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Wednesday, September 16, 2026

Scallop Roe Bottarga

Scallop roe bottarga is a condiment made with fresh roe, lots of salt and time. It’s wonderful grated on almost anything, adding a lovely briny flavor.

Food Lust People Love: Scallop roe bottarga is a condiment made with fresh roe, lots of salt and time. It’s wonderful grated on almost anything, adding a lovely briny flavor.

I’ve got to admit that while I love fresh scallops and we buy them from time to time when we are here in the Channel Islands, I’m not really a fan of the roe. I’ve tried cooking it with the scallops but even a bunch of garlic can’t help me get over the texture. They’re just kinda spongy. 

So every time I take them off and discard them, I feel bad. The ones here are so plump and pretty - such a vibrant orange! - that it seems a shame to waste them. A couple of years ago, I was in Phoenicia supermarket in Houston with its great deli counter and stacked shelves of tasty imported goods when I came across bottarga. I had never heard of it before. 

I looked it up when I got home. Bottarga is the salted, cured, dried pouch of fish roe, most commonly from the grey mullet or bluefin tuna. According to my search, it’s an ancient delicacy dating back to Phoenician and Egyptian times, and it remains a staple in Mediterranean cooking, especially in Italy, Sardinia, and Greece.

Well, the small piece of bottarga in the deli section of Phoenicia was quite expensive for something I’d just like to try, so I left it behind but, when faced with throwing out yet more scallop roe, I remembered and it occurred to me that roe is roe, after all, and maybe I could make my own bottarga. 

Turns out I’m not the first person to have this idea because I came across a few recipes/instructions for salting and curing scallop roe and I decided to give it a try. Took me two attempts to get the timings right but I was very pleased with the end result. 

Scallop Roe Bottarga

Avoid cooking or heating bottarga directly, instead, add it as a finishing touch to hot dishes. My recipe is adapted from one on Peckham Kitchen. 

Ingredients
Trimmed scallop roe
Sea salt
Time
Patience!

Method
Soak the roe for 24 hours in a 10% salt solution, i.e. 10g salt for every 100ml cold water, in the refrigerator. 


The next day, remove the roe from the salt water, drain and pat dry with paper towels. 


On a deep plate or shallow bowl where the roe will fit in a single layer, pour sea salt flakes to create a flat, even bed for the roe. Place the roe on top in one layer. Cover the roe with more salt. Place the plate in the refrigerator.


After 24 hours, remove the roe from the salt. Gently brush away any salt that has stuck to it. Mine was completely wet and the salt dissolved both times I made this. I tipped the bowl for this photos so you can see the liquid pooled on the side, if you squint just right. 


Pat the roe dry. Rinse the plate, discarding the salt and any liquid that has collected. 

Wash and dry the plate and cover it with fresh salt. Add the roe and cover it with salt as well. Return the plate to the refrigerator.  


Repeat this process for several days after which time the roes should have firmed up. The first time I made scallop roe bottarga, I did this for four days and determined that a whole week would result in firmer roe. So that’s what I did the second time. 

The traditional method to dry the roe further so it can be grated, is to place it in a single layer of cheesecloth and hang in a cool dry place for 10 to 15 days. This would no doubt work if you have a cool, dry place. Summertime on an island was not ideal. 

I chose a more modern method which is what I recommend if you have access to a dehydrator. Dehydrate the roe, covered in whatever salt is still stuck to them, at 122°F or 50°C for 48 hours. The first batch, with its shorter salting time, needed longer to dry out.

I store mine, still covered in its light layer of salt, in a glass container in the refrigerator, brushing off all of the salt well when I want to grate some. It keeps for ages like that. 

Using a sharp grater, like a microplane, you can sprinkle bottarga on anything that needs a little saltiness – where you might add Parmesan, perhaps - with the added bonus of a delightful briny, marine flavor. It’s magical on buttered pasta! Or scrambled eggs. Or risotto.

Enjoy! 

Food Lust People Love: Scallop roe bottarga is a condiment made with fresh roe, lots of salt and time. It’s wonderful grated on almost anything, adding a lovely briny flavor.

I grated the one I'd rubbed free of salt for these photos. Isn't the color marvelous! Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 19th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter S. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the S recipes below:




Pin this Scallop Roe Bottarga!

Food Lust People Love: Scallop roe bottarga is a condiment made with fresh roe, lots of salt and time. It’s wonderful grated on almost anything, adding a lovely briny flavor.

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Wednesday, September 2, 2026

Roasted Stuffed Chicken Parcels

These roasted stuffed chicken parcels are made with skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, filled with buttery bread dressing and roasted until golden and crispy. 

Food Lust People Love: These roasted stuffed chicken parcels are made with skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, filled with buttery bread dressing and roasted until golden and crispy.

A couple of years back, I popped into my nearby Island butcher just to see what was fresh and on special. I ended up buying a few of his lovely meaty pork sausages but something else in the display case caught my eye.

I had to lean in for a closer look and to read the price label because I had never seen anything quite like it before. Turned out to be stuffed chicken parcels, looking pretty much like the ones I’ve made here. No idea what their stuffing was like because I didn’t buy any but they were so cute that I knew I had to give them a try myself. 

Roasted Stuffed Chicken Parcels

I stuffed mine with half of my classic buttery bread dressing recipe, which I’ve shared the method for again here. If you need photos of the process, you can find those by clicking here. Use the ingredient amounts given below though which are perfect for stuffing about five chicken thighs. 

Ingredients
For the stuffing:
1/2 loaf quality sandwich bread with soft crusts (about 10 oz or 280g)
1/4 cup or 57g butter
1 onion, diced
2 slim stalks celery, de-stringed and diced finely
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup or 120ml chicken stock (made from stock cube is fine!)
1 tablespoon salt-free poultry seasoning
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the chicken: 
5 chicken thighs, deboned, skin on
fine sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
cayenne pepper, optional
trussing string

Olive oil for the roasting pan

Method
For photos of the stuffing method, click here.
Cube the bread and put it in a large mixing bowl.

Put the butter in a large pan with the chopped onion and celery.

Melt the butter over medium heat and cook until the onions and celery are soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add a good pinch of salt, a few grinds of black pepper, along with the cayenne and poultry seasoning.

Pour the buttery celery and onions over the bread cubes in the mixing bowl. Use two spoons like salad tongs to toss and combine.

Sprinkle on the parsley. Add the stock and toss again to combine.

Check for seasoning and stir in more salt and pepper as needed. Depending on the saltiness of your stock, you might not need much (or any) salt.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Note: I found it impossible to find boneless chicken thighs with the skin still on here so I had to debone them myself. If you find yourself in the same position, you need a sharp knife, but it’s easy. Click here to find deboning thigh instructions on Serious Eats. Do not remove the skin! 

Lay the chicken thighs out skin side down. Season them with a sprinkling of salt, black pepper and cayenne, if using. Divide the stuffing between the thighs.


Fold the chicken thigh meat and skin over to enclose the stuffing. Turn the parcels over and secure with trussing string. 


Drizzle a little olive oil in your roasting pan and tuck the parcels in. Season the outside with a sprinkle of salt and a few good grinds of black pepper. Add a sprinkle of cayenne, if desired. 


Roast in your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the skin is a lovely golden brown and the chicken is cooked through. 

Food Lust People Love: These roasted stuffed chicken parcels are made with skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, filled with buttery bread dressing and roasted until golden and crispy.

Remove the trussing string and serve hot. 

Food Lust People Love: These roasted stuffed chicken parcels are made with skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, filled with buttery bread dressing and roasted until golden and crispy.

Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: These roasted stuffed chicken parcels are made with skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, filled with buttery bread dressing and roasted until golden and crispy.

Welcome to the 18th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter R. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the R recipes below:


To check out the Alphabet Challenges for 2024 and 2025, click here.



Pin these Roasted Stuffed Chicken Parcels!

Food Lust People Love: These roasted stuffed chicken parcels are made with skin-on, boneless chicken thighs, filled with buttery bread dressing and roasted until golden and crispy.

.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Baked Quail Egg XO Sauce Appetizers

These baked quail egg XO sauce appetizers are savory, rich and delicious, super easy to make and they are pretty too! Make two, three or as many as you need! 

Food Lust People Love: These baked quail egg XO sauce appetizers are savory, rich and delicious, super easy to make and they are pretty too! Make two, three or as many as you need!

When I made homemade XO sauce last year, I was trying to think of creative ways to use it in non-traditional recipes. I just happened to have a couple fresh quail eggs on hand at the time, along with a baguette. This was just one result!

Baked Quail Egg XO Sauce Appetizers

My husband and I each enjoyed one as a small appetizer and, frankly, wished we had more! Next time I make them, I’ll use a muffin pan and make a few. I suggest you do the same. 

Ingredients
For each appetizer:
Butter or olive oil for greasing a ramekin or muffin pan
1 slice baguette
2 tablespoons XO sauce (homemade from this recipe or store bought)
1 raw quail egg
For garnish: chopped chives

Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C and grease your ramekins or muffin pan with olive oil or butter.

Cut your baguette in thick slices.


Place one slice of baguette in each ramekin or muffin cup. Top with the XO sauce, spread around to cover the baguette. Make an indentation in the middle to help cradle the yolk.


Carefully cut the top off the quail egg shell.


Tip it out onto the XO sauce.


Bake in your preheated oven for 3-6 minutes, checking at 3 minutes and watching closely until the whites are just set and the yolks reach your desired doneness. 


Sprinkle on the chopped chives for garnish. 

We ate these with small spoons to cut the bread base and scoop. So good!

We ate these with small spoons to cut the bread base and scoop. So good! 

We ate these with small spoons to cut the bread base and scoop. So good!

Enjoy! 

Welcome to the 17th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter Q. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the Q recipes below:


Pin these Baked Quail Egg XO Sauce Appetizers!

Food Lust People Love: These baked quail egg XO sauce appetizers are savory, rich and delicious, super easy to make and they are pretty too! Make two, three or as many as you need!

.

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Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Bacon and Pork Patties

Flavorful and tender, these delicious bacon and pork patties are simple to make and are a very tasty alternative to the more traditional beef burger. 

Food Lust People Love: Flavorful and tender, these delicious bacon and pork patties are simple to make and are a very tasty alternative to the more traditional beef burger.

I’ve mentioned more than a few times in this space, my love of Costco's bacon crumbles. There was a little panic on my part a couple of years ago when I thought they had been discontinued because I couldn’t find them in any of my nearby stores. I managed to order some online so a crisis was averted but they are, thank goodness, back in stock again. 

In most cases, I fry the bacon crumbles a little bit so they are nice and crispy before adding them to a recipe but for these bacon and pork patties, the little bit of extra fat helps keep the patties tender and moist. Also, no one really wants crunchy bits in a patty. 

This is also why I blend the onion with the egg. Do I like slices of onion on a burger? Absolutely! Do I want even small chunks of raw onion in my patties? I do not, thank you very much.

Bacon and Pork Patties

As you can see from the ingredients list, I don’t add any salt to the mixture because the bacon crumbles are a bit salty and that’s enough for us. If you are unsure, fry a teaspoon or so of the mixture and give it a taste before forming the patties. You can add salt then if needed.

Ingredients
1 lb or 450g ground pork
1 cup, firmly packed, or 120g bacon crumbles
1 small onion (about 125g)
1 egg
A few generous grinds of black pepper
olive oil

Method
Peel the onion and cut it into chunks. Use a hand blender or food processor to blend the onion and egg until liquidized. 


Put the ground pork and bacon in a large bowl. Add the pureed egg/onion mix and some generous grinds of fresh black pepper. 


Mix the lot together thoroughly. Divide the meat into four even pieces, then form these into patties. Mine each weighed 170g or 6 oz.


To cook them, heat a skillet over a high flame and drizzle in a little olive oil. Cook the patties for several minutes on each side, until they are cooked through and nicely browned. 


Serve on a hamburger bun, or if you want to get fancy, you can make my large cheddar herb scones instead. That's how I served mine! 

Food Lust People Love: Flavorful and tender, these delicious bacon and pork patties are simple to make and are a very tasty alternative to the more traditional beef burger.

These bacon and pork patties would also be great served with a salad or accompanied by some vegetables. 

Food Lust People Love: Flavorful and tender, these delicious bacon and pork patties are simple to make and are a very tasty alternative to the more traditional beef burger.

Enjoy!

Welcome to the 16th edition of Alphabet Challenge 2026, brought to you by the letter P. Many thanks to Wendy from A Day in the Life on the Farm for organizing and creating the challenge. Check out all the P recipes below:
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