Mediterranean Fish Soup

Fish soup photo by Jpazam

When I was little, my dad was taking my brother and I fishing near the harbours or in the rocks, in Saint tropez, where we were spending our summers, we were going early in the morning, and my brother was protesting, always impatient.

It was great fun fishing with the bamboos we'd carefully selected to turn into fishing rods, using various baits. With the mediterranee being so transparent, we could see the fishes approaching most of the time, which was making the activity even more exciting. We were getting small fishes of all sorts, colourful or ugly and rocky, red, rainbow...

and when the fishes were failing to fall in our traps, we'd go in the rocks trying to catch little green crabs, those who add such a great taste to the soup.

Ingredients:
- 1kg of varied small mediterranean rock fishes
- 1 small rock crab
- olive oil
- 3 or 4 tomatoes
- 3 garlics sliced
- thyme - laurel
- pepper
- 1 to 1l 1/2 of water
- as many garlics as guestsplanted on a fork each

Method:
Wash the fishes, roughly scale them. Do not empty them. Heat the oil in a pot at medium fire (preferably not metal) and throw in the fishes. mix the fishes until they are soft and falling apart. Add the three tomatoes, and the garlic, herbs, pepper and water. Simmer for approx 1/2h Pass the fish soup through a vegetable grinder. Prepare croutons , and the rouille (mayonnaise with rouille spice mix) Serve the soup with the croutons, the garlic planted forks and the rouille.

Source: familly recipe from my mum, and fish soup photo by Jpazam, other photos by me.

Thai Chicken Galangal soup

This is one of my favorite thai soups.

I learnt to do it a long time ago, when I was taking Thai cooking classes. The recipe stayed with me and I cook it regularly. It's very delicate and quite easy to make, and very healthy.
I live close to Chinatown, so I am pretty spoilt, but I reckon many of you will find it difficult to find fresh galangal, and all the other ingredients I always have at home. I'd say you could replace it by either fresh ginger or pwdered galagal, however, it wopn't quite be the same. Thai food is best eaten with fresh ingredients. Other than that, the other ingredients should be easy enough to find in normal supermarkets, in Britain anyway.

You will need for 4 people (or two greedy ones):
- 200g chicken Fillet, sliced into mouth size pieces
- 5 slices of fresh galangal
- 2 cups of Coconut milk (a tin of Chaokoh coconut milk will be perfect)
- 1 cup chicken stock or water
- 2 sticks of fresh lemongrass sliced diagonally
- 3-4 Kaffir lime leaves, fresh if possible, dry is ok
- 2 tblsp thai fish sauce
- 1 to 2 tablspn Lime juice
- 5 bird eye chilis, (2 if you are a bit sensitive), sliced diagonally
- 2 sprigs of fresh coriander
- 200g fresh mushrooms, prepared and cut in half

Heat the coconut in a pan, dilute with either chicken stock or water , and once hot, throw in the galangal, mushroom, lemongrass, kafir lime and then the chicken.
Season with the lime juice and fish sauce, the chilis
Simmer for one minute only and then add the coriander to garnish.
Serve right away and enjoy.

This soup is great to warm you up in winter, and obviously can be apreciated in hot weather as well. It
feels very light and satisfying.

It is a typical soup you can find in Thailand, in restaurants or as street food. The photo at the top was taken at my favorite streetfood stall in Koh Samui: John's stall as I mentioned in an earlier post.

The soup can also be made with prawns or seabass instead of chicken.
Also, the same soup can be made without the coconut milk (only chicken soup), but it would then be a Tom Yam soup, very delicious as well.

The best coconut milk available in our shop is the chokaoh brand, as it is made of young coconut scrapped.

I have inserted below a few photos I took during a stay in Thailand, where I visited a coconut harvest at a plantation, near Chiang Mai:

Making coconut milk


Bunny Rabbit coconut grater

Source: My Thai cook teacher Chorchaba, photos: myself.

Sweet and sour cold summer soup & hot sweet grilled gammon on the side

You have never heard of this dish?
Me neither. I just invented it today, and it is definitely worth sharing. I had a very sudden burst of good inspiration. And once again, it is very quick to prepare and is very tasty, and the salad is very healthy.


Per person for the sweet gammon you will need:
- 1 slice of gammon
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- black pepper, coarsely ground.

Prepare the gammon first as it takes 18 minutes to cook.
Lay the slice of gammon on a flat over proof dish or plate, brush it with the maple syrup, sprinkle with the black pepper. Done.
Cook at 200 degrees (last 5 min with the grill on) in the oven for 18-20 min depending on your oven.

Per person for the cold soup you will need:
- 4 little tomatoes cut in quarters or 8/10 cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 1 mango, diced (use the juice too)
-1/4 lime juice
- fish sauce - same amount as the lime juice
- 1 small clove of garlic (optional)
- 1 slice of fresh ginger finely chopped
- a small handful of roasted peanuts
- 1 lemongrass stalk, sliced
- 1 kaffir lime leaf, fresh if possible
- 1/2 a chili pepper (less if you use the Birdeye type)

Mix all the ingredients. Done, how's that for easy!?

Serve the sweet gammon and the soup at the same time, and enjoy. It is very refreshing, very tasty in flavour, rich and satisfying. And there you are, you have your five a day...

The dish looks beautiful and colourful, so if you have guests to impressed and want to spare some efforts, that's the one.

On a funny note, I'd probably describe this dish as Thailando-Canadian!

I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I have!

Recipe and photo: me.

The make-do Phở (Vietnamese noodle soup)

I was talking to @lovingpho's and looking a his great website the other day, as was already thinking of the trip to Vietnam I am planning for the end of the year. I sent lovingpho's address to my friend Marjolaine (see previous posts there, there and there) who in turn sent me her recipe and encouraged me to make my first Phở. Impatient, and missing some of the ingredients, I decided to proceed nevertheless.

So my Phở is definitely not authentic, but was surely tasty. And it took no time to prepare.

Here are Marjolaine's instructions for a quick Phở soup:
Ingredients:
- rice noodles
- Beef slices
- stock (beef used if sliced beef used)
- nước mắm
- ginger
- star anise
- chinese 5 spice
- slices of red chillis
- lime
- ngò gai (culantro, or long coriander)
- Thai basil
- bean sprouts

Heat the beef stock with the spices, ginger, sliced onion and star anise.

In a bowl, place the chilli, herbes, beensprouts, lime, noodles and beef slices. Pour the stock on top and serve.

NOW. I ran out of nước mắm (but I still have some thai fish sauce. not quite the same though. they taste very different..) did not have beef slices, bean sprouts or thai basil, I had cilantro but not culantro, and I had rice flakes only as I also ran out of rice noodle.
BUT, it was lunchtime and I was hungry so decided to go ahead anyway. So here is my heretic alternative:

I used some chicken stock I had, in it I threw finely sliced shallot, 1 star anise, a pinch of chinese 5 spice and some rice flakes (they are flat square type noodles see in the next photos), and the ginger chopped .

In a bowl I prepared: the cilantro (coriander leaves), lime juice, diagonal slices of a bird'seye chilli

I used the vietnamese sausage I had in the fridge:

I cut slices in dice, but with hindsight I should have cut long thin strips.

Then I poured the stock mix on top of the ingredients...

Like for thai food, one of the big secret is the right balance between the fish sauce and the lime (adjust). The soup was great for a speed lunch, but I can't wait to make a proper one, as the flavour with the indicated ingredients will be more delicate of course. I already have quite a lot of the ingredients because I often cook Asian food, but I guess it demands some specialist fresh ingredients, and in the UK, even if it is easy to find them in chinatown (ahem, I live next door from it), in this recession time, some people might find it a bit costly to make.

I am looking forward to taste the original vertsion during my trip in Vietnam, can't wait!

Source: Marjolaine's recipe + my own heretic modifications

Reminiscence of Malaysian street food [2]

A great attraction of the Malaysian food scene is the Hawker center. A place where hawkers are garthered on a small perimeter, some having exercised their skills for years, or for generations, competing for reputation. Gurnley Drive in Georgetown on Pulau Penang is one of these places, and has acquired quite a notoriety. Some Islanders will tell you that it has become more touristy in the last years, but obviously I could not vouch for that, and I decided to see for myself anyway.
Gurnley drive is a long corridor with tables in the middle and hawkers on its sides. I did find that there was a repetition of dishes, and not knowing the reputation of each hawker, I had to try what took my fancy. But before eating I had a walk around, which did not prove to make my decision easier.

I took a few pictures of some interesting stalls, like what I would call the food on stick stall, with fishballs, sausages,seafood (shrimps, baby squids)...:

The Popiah stall, another very famous Malaysian specialty, a cold illed pancake:

The soup stall, which possibly of chinese origin, a huge choice of ingedients from which you choode what will make up your soup: noodles, seafood, tofus, leafy greens, fish ball, fish paste filled vegetables, offals... name it, it's there!

Soup which is prepared for you to take to one of the central tables.

By the way, on some stalls, you seat at the table, and somebody takes your order, and you get to pay at the end of the meal. On most hawker centers, you choose a table, then go and order your food and drinks and pay for it at the different hawkers, then the dishes are brought to you.

I loved one of the sweet stalls, the apom stall, where little banna pancakes (the poms) were baked and folded in two.

At the same stall were also made very thin pancakes that were rolled whilst still hot

No need to say, impossible to starve out there!
In the midst of our meal, came an unexpected downpour of rain, and most people left, although a few stayed under the umbrellas, undisturbed, including us...

I hope you enjoyed this little visit, I have not quite finished my series of posts on Malaysian foods, so keep your eyes peeled...

French Onion soup

In these times of arctic cold in Europe, I revert back to soup mode, warming, and satisfying. The good old French onion soup is working wonders. Easy, rapid, cheap (credit crunch!!), it's the perfect dish.

Ingredients:
- 2 large onions
- 1fingernail of butter + the equivalent in grapeseed oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1 pinch of flour (optional, it makes the soup thicker, but it is gluten...so coeliac avoid or use rice flour!)
- salt
- 1/2 glass dry white wine (cooking wine will do)
- croutons (finely sliced baguette or dices)
- grated gruyere or emmenthal (avoid cheddar: it releases oil and does not taste french!) - vegans avoid
- 1/2l stock (homemade, orready made, byut without MSG, maize starch etc: NATURAL!) - or if vegetarian, find an alternative
I found this one which is suitable:

Shallow fry the onions ?(with 1/2 butter 1/2 oil, just a little bit) so they become golden. Please make sure they don't burn as it gives a bitter taste to the soup.
Add the flour and mix well to coat the onions, cook for a minute or two.

Wet with the stock and top up with water if needed. Simmer gently for 10-15 minutes.
In the mean time prepare some croutons (in the pan if you are courageous, or just toast some thin slices of baguette if you are lazy and healthier!).
Add a little bit of salt (not much, since the gratted cheese is already salted.

There are two ways for serving it.
- you can place some croutons and cheese and gratiner the soupe in the oven under the grill
- or as I prefer, just serve the croutons and cheese on the table, and let the guests serve themselves...

Bon apetit!

Source: my own experience

Red hot soup for cold days

The weather has turned really cold the last few days, and it's meant to go worse (1deg C). So it's so good to go back home and have something hot and warming...

Lazy hurried people, this soup is dedicated to you. It will warm you up in the cold days (chili, ginger):

For 2 people:
- 1 can chopped tomatoes
- a pinch of chili flakes
- 1 clove of garlic finely chopped
- a tsp of sugar

Optional Ingredients to your liking:
- 1 finely chopped onions,
- 1 finely chopped nail sized piece of ginger
- herbs of your choice. basil or cardamon, or thyme, or oregano
- 1 pinch paprika
- Grilled pepper chopped very finely in small sticks

Heat the tomato in a pan, add the garlic, and sugar to your liking to neutralise the acidity and chilli flakes. Once it's hot ,salt pepper, it's ready!

Add herbs and spices to your liking

Variant:
Fry the garlic and onion in a pan, maybe the ginger, add the tomato and grilled peppers, the sugar, once it's hot, add spices, herbs, salt and pepper.

Serve hot with croutons rubbed with a clove of garlic (so that you smell french!).

Source: the fruit of my own laziness

Spiced butternut squash soup

Humm, the weather has gone colder last week, and today, for the first time I smelt autumn in the air. So I decided to make a soup.
I chose a big butternut squash at the market, diced it up, and cooked it in a pan with a nut of butter(for the taste) and a bit of oil (to prevent the butter from burning.), until the flavour starts to come out and the squash is nice and a bit mushy at the surface of the dices.



Then I added:
1 half tin of chaokoh coconut milk
1 tsp of ground ginger
1 tsp of paprika
1 chicken or stock cube (or chicken/vegetable real stock, you can buy it fresh in the shop, and it's miles better than the cube, because all the ingredients are natural.. OR it could be your own stock of course) - don't add any salt if you use stock.
1 tsp of Gado Gado paste

Then adjust with water and simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, just before serving, mash it with a potato masher - I like my soup not too smooth. it's ready. For the deco I sprinkled paprika and crushed roasted hazelnuts.

And I must say, it was absolutely delicious. Full flavored and very satisfying!

Source: moi, inspired by the winter coming...

For the little stories:
The yellow doodle background is a painting I've made and it's not finished, but I don't know what top do with it next... at least, if I don't finish it at least I've used it!
Also, just as I'd finished setting the table and props for the shoot, my camera fell in the soup, would you believe that!!??? So the shoot took longer than planned. I thought you'd like to know about this, one needs to laugh at least once a day - I'll be your laughing stock! -

This recipe is not classed as light because it contains coconut milk which is high ion saturated fats....skip the coconut milk if you want the soup to be 'light'

The fastest soup on earth - 5min top chronos

For the lazy but healthy days (for 2):

Wash, cut, and put directly in your steamer:
- 1 small broccoli,
- 1 green pepper,
- a few Brussels sprouts,
- 1 stem of fresh lemongrass,
- 3 to 5 garlic cloves,

Steam until cooked (set 20 minutes, depending on your steamer)

Pour in blender and add
- wasabi
- salt,
- pepper,
- 1 spoon of Italian olive oil (the one that tastes like freshly cut grass)
- water (to your preferred consistency)

Blend it as much as you like,

Serve!

That's too easy really. Tasty and healthy and very green.