Local organic farmers need our support 本地有機農夫需要我們的支持

Visiting the organic market is our routine on Sunday, especially in cool weather because there are abundant high quality salad vegetables, root veg and tomatoes, which are all our staples. I must admit that organic vegetables are a bit expensive, but if you have visited an organic farm you will discover how much time and efforts farmers have to input for the crops and it is fair enough they charge us more.

We visited the FarmFest 2015 today, holding at the Mongkok Stadium from 23 to 25 January. We grabbed some organic fresh produce for the coming two to three days: broccoli, cherry tomatoes, romaine, other lettuces... and a jade perch too, which had already became our dinner tonight.

The jade perch is a species from Australia, it is fast growing with high nutrition value. They were transported to the venue in huge iced buckets. Don't expect the farmers to prepare your fish as fishmongers in the wet markets, I brought the whole fish home and prepared it by myself. I am glad that I still remember how to cut open a fish decently in 2-3 minutes. As far as I can remember, last time I slaughter a fish was in the laboratory in university, instead of scalpels I used my chef knife today.

Parcel-Baked Jade Perch with cherry tomatoes, fennel bulb, onion and herbs

This is the third time I cook fish in a parcel this month. Please refer to Parcel-baked Seabream with Thai Herbs. I love this foolproof method so much! It is absolutely flexible on the choice of herbs and veggies, be creative to pick your favorite herbs or any herbs and spices you have on hand, with some leftover fresh veggies from the fish and you can always have something different.

Apart from salad lettuces, our favorite local winter organic vegetables are fennel bulbs, carrots and beet roots of different colors. Fennel bulbs can be served raw in a salad or stir-fried with meat and seafood, while my favorite is stir-fried the bulb with ostrich steak or pork cheek. I always save the greens for making soup or cook with French blue mussels. For the different carrots, I like to cut them into wedges, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, drizzle with balsamic vinegar and bake in the oven, you can also save the greens for making soup. And for the beet roots, you can simply cut them into large chunks, steamed them, then drizzle with plenty of balsamic vinegar and season with sea salt and pepper, chill them overnight and they'll be very appetizing. Never throw the beet greens away, cook the tender leaves like other leafy vegetables and save the mature leaves for making soup.

To let you have some concept on the local seasonal organic vegetables, I took some pix at the FarmFest 2015.

Please support our local organic farmers!


本地有機農夫需要我們的支持

每星期日到有機巿場已是我們的指定活動，特別由秋季開始，各種沙律菜、根菜和蕃茄都特別多、長得特別好，都是我們最喜歡的常用食材。我承認本地有機蔬菜較傳統種植貴，但只要你參觀過有機農莊，你會發現每樣農產品都要農夫投入很多時間和心力才可能有收成，明白他們取價公道。

我們今天到本地漁農美食迎春嘉年華參觀，活動由 23-25日一連三天在旺角球場舉行。我一口氣買了兩、三天的蔬菜，有西蘭花、不同品種的車厘茄、各式沙律生菜...和寶石魚。而寶石魚己成為我們的晚餐。

寶石魚品種源於澳洲，它勝生長快和營養價值高。魚場把魚放入大冰桶送到會場，我帶回家中仍非常新鮮。但始終是展覽會場而不是巿場，賣魚的人又不是魚販，所以並無即場劏魚、打鱗的服務。雖然我對上一次劏魚己是在大學的實驗室，幸好我的技巧並沒有太生疏，只是把手術刀換成廚刀罷了！

這已是我本月第三次用紙包焗魚，做法請參考 Pat's Cooking Journal 的泰式香草焗海 "魚立"。我非常喜歡這簡單的烹調方法！香草和蔬菜配搭非常彈性，只要加點創意，選擇自己喜歡的香草，又或隨意配搭家中現成香料，加點已有的新鮮蔬菜，每次都有不同風味。

這個月第二次用紙包焗魚：材料有澳洲新薯、車厘茄、茴香球、洋葱、檸檬百里香、蕃茜和迷迭香等。

我最喜歡的冬季本地有機蔬菜，除了沙律生菜，可算是茴香球、各色蘿蔔和紅菜頭。茴香球可以做沙律或炒肉類海鮮等，我最喜歡把球切絲炒鴕鳥肉或豬頸肉，而葉莖則可煮湯或煮法國藍青口。各色蘿蔔七彩繽紛，我最喜歡把它們切角，簡單加入海鹽、胡椒和意大利陳醋烤焗；當然亦會留下葉莖煮湯，是五行湯的重要材料。至於各色紅菜頭，切大塊蒸熟，淋上橄欖油和意大利陳醋，放雪櫃一晚，非常入味醒胃，而嫩葉可以作一般葉菜炒或灼，如果葉較老，當然亦不應浪費，可用來煮雜菜湯。

今天在本地漁農美食迎春嘉年華拍了一些相片，讓大家了解一下近期有供應的蔬果，希望大家多支持本地有機農夫：