Avocado ginger coconut soup

 This is a recipe based on this month's Fine Cooking magazine. The result was very good, but I used too much lime juice, so it got the "We can serve this to people if you reduce the lime juice" accolade from Madame. The texture is very thick and creamy. It is best served cold - after being in the fridge overnight. 

We had it for dinner one evening, and then I had it for lunch the next day - where I tweaked it to tne down the lime juice. The tweaks will be in the description at the end, not in the main recipe

Ingredients

2 Cans full fat coconut milk (equivalent amount of home made - i.e. 3 1/2 cups #1)

1 stalk of lemon grass, roughly chopped

1 Makrut leaf (Thai Lime) roughly chopped

3" knob of ginger, washed and sliced very finely. No need to peel as it will be discarde

Handful of basil leaves

1 Thai hot pepper

Juice of 4 small limes

4 Avocados - dual use

1 Peach, diced

Salt to taste

Croutons or other crispy things to garnish

Method

Place the coconut milk, lemon grass, makrut leaf, and ginger into a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer for a couple of minutes, and turn the heat off. Add the basil and allow the mixture to cool (ideally at least an hour).

Strain out all of the solids and discard them. Slice the hot pepper and add to the liquid. Peel and deseed the avocados. Mash 3 1/2 of the avocados and add to the coconut liquid, along with the lime juice. Blend until smooth. Add salt to taste at this stage. Chill the soup in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably 2 or ovrnight.

Serve the soup garnished with the remaining avocad, diced and the diced peach and coroutons.

The Promised Tweaks

If, as ours was, your soup is too acidic tasting (i.e. too much lime in our case), then that can be mitigated with some mirin and (surprisingly) balsamic vinegar. Even though balsamic vinegar does add some extra acidity, it also adds sufficient sweetness to counterbalance the lime. Weird, I know. 

Tomato and Mozz Skewers

At a properly socially distanced driveway party last week a friend had made some delicious skewers with tomatoes, Mozzarella, basil and balsamic vinegar. They were so good we had to replicate them and have them all to ourselves.

Ingredients

6 Cherry tomatoes, halved

12 Small Mozzarella balls (Bocconcini) halved

12 Basil leaves torn in half

a few lettuce leaves, torn

Balsamic vinegar (not measured - just for drizzling)

High quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil (not measured - just for drizzling)

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Large crystal sea salt or salt flakes (e.g. Maldon)

Method

On a small wooden cocktail skewer thread (in order) 1/2 of a bocconcini, 1/2 of a basil leaf, half of a cherry tomato, the other half of the same basil leaf, the other half of the bocconcini. Repeat for the other 11 skewers.

On a plate lay out the torn lettuce leaves. Place the skewers artistically over the plate. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar and olive oil, grind pepper over the dish and sprinkle with the coarse salt.

12 minutes 5 ingredients one pot

Well it's not exactly 5 ingredients because one of the ingredients is tapenade (which itself has 5 ingredients - but who doesn't have tapenade on hand?!).

I needed a dish that would cook quickly and easily for a dinner event at home. I wanted something that paired with a very nice Condrieu (the L'Enfer that we bought at Veritas in Dallas).

Condrieu is a Northern Rhone wine made entirely from Viognier. It pairs nicely with fish, but has enough body to stand up to bold flavors too. The recipe is adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe that uses firm white fish. We used scallops instead - sourced from the always excellent TJ's Fish Market in Dallas.

Ingredients (US measures)

1 1/2 cups jasmine rice, rinsed in several changes of water until the water runs clear

2 1/4 cups water (I don't count this is an ingredient!)

6 T black olive tapenade (divided use)

4 large scallops, each cut into 6 individual pieces

2 dozen cherry tomatoes, halved

20 basil leaves, chiffonade (divided use)

Salt/pepper to taste (I don't count these either!). Be careful with the salt - depends on how salty the tapenade is.

Method

Put the rice and water into a large skillet (I used carbon steel) that has a lid. Cover, bring to the boil and cook gently, over low heat for 4 minutes. Stir in 1/2 the tapenade. Add the tomatoes, cover again and cook gently for a further 4 minutes. Add the scallops and 1/2 of the basil, stir, cover and cook for a further 3 minutes. Off heat ad the rest of the tapenade, stir gently, top with the remaining basil and serve.

Yeah, it is actually more than 12 minutes end to end. You do have to cut the tomatoes, chiffonade the basil and cut the scallops. But it really isn't much work - and it comes out well too.

Caprese Salad

Kenji at SeriousEats makes some excellent points about Caprese salad. The keys are:

• Use really fresh tomatoes
• Use really fresh Mozzarella (none of that supermarket pizza topping Mozz.)
• Use really fresh basil, and tear it. (From the garden is the best)
• No vinegar
• Fruity olive oil
• Coarse salt.

So I made it his way tonight. Outstanding. I hadn't previously realized what a dulling effect vinegar has. It was so fresh, so tasty this way. I think there will be a lot more in our future.

Home Made Beef Pho

I have been wanting to make that terrific Vietnamese noodle soup - pho for a long time. The key seems to be getting the broth right. So, I was pleasantly surprised when my issue of Cooks Illustrated (from Americas Test Kitchen) came in and it had a pho approach. As you can imagine, this wasn't a recipe to be followed slavishly, but a set of ideas that I could adopt. The big aha was to use a bunch of ground beef as a stock base. Something that the ATK folks have previously suggested and I have tried before. The simple idea is that you grind up some beef chuck, cover with water and bring to the boil. Throw away the water at this stage, rinse the ground beef, then add store-bought beef stock and other flavorings. The stock comes up well flavored and quite clear. An ideal base for pho.

Ingredients

8 cups beef stock

6 cups water

1 1/2 lb ground beef (I used chuck which I ground myself)

2 medium yellow onions peeled and quartered - divided use

5" ginger piece sliced thinly - no need to peel

6 star anise pods

10 whole cloves

4" stick of cinnamon

12 black peppercorns

1 Kaffir Lime leaf

1/2 cup fish sauce (divided use)

2t salt 

2T plain sugar

1 lb thin rice noodles, soaked in hot water and then quickly boiled

1 bunch cilantro

3 scallions, green parts only, cut on the bias

12 oz rib eye meat, very thinly sliced - easier done if frozen a bit before. 

1 jalapeno pepper sliced thinly, maintaining seeds and ribs

5 oz bean sprouts

a little more fish sauce

1 bunch Thai (or in a pinch regular) basil

2 or 3 T srirarcha 

Lime wedges from 2 limes

Method

Place the ground beef into a large dutch oven and barely cover with water. Bring to the boil over high heat, turn heat down and simmer for a further 2-3 minutes. Strain off and discard the water (and associated scum). Rinse the beef, clean the dutch oven and return the ground beef to the dutch oven. Add the onion, aromatics, fish sauce, salt and sugar to the pot, followed by the beef stock and water. Stir to combine as well as possible. Bring to the boil and then simmer for at least 45 minutes.

Strain the beef and other solids reserving the liquid. Discard the solids. Strain the broth again, this time through cheese cloth until clear.

Soften the noodles in warm water for about 10-15 minutes, then boil them for 1 minute.

Layer the noodles, some thinly sliced onion (from the remaining quarter), the scallion tops, cilantro and beef into preheated soup bowls. Fill the bowls with steaming hot broth

Serve accompanied by sliced jalapenos, basil, srirarcha, fish sauce and lime wedges.

Casserole or Gratin

Whether you call a dish a casserole or a gratin may rather depend on whether you like it or not. Needless to say there is some history around tonight's offering. A whole lot of unrelated events combined to make this a must do.
First, there had been the threat of cold weather and we had a massive amount of basil. Needed to get it in so it wouldn't go to waste. I made basil oil from it. Second, we had some stale bread - no surprise there given the amount we make. Third, Fine Cooking came and it had some gratin recipes. Fourth. Madame has said that she would like more veges. 5th, we had some zucchini, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and onions left over from a farmers' market trip.
Now making vegetable gratins is a bit of an art. because the veges can have a lot of water, it is possible to end up with a rather sorry puddle of water with some limp vegetables lying in it. Now that is a casserole!
The trick for this dish is to roast the watery vegetables first in a pretty low oven - not so much for browning, more to drive off some liquid.

Ingredients

3 Tomatoes, chopped into medium dice.
1 sweet potato peeled and sliced very evenly and thinly
1 large zucchini, peeled and sliced more thickly than the sweet potato
2T neutral oil
1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced and squeezed
1/4 cup heavy cream
6 thyme sprigs
1/2t pepper
1/2t kosher salt
a little adobo from canned chipotles in adobo
1 cup breadcrumbs (freshly made from stale breadmentioned earlier)
3T basil oil
2T chopped parsley

Method

Place the tomatoes, sweet potato and zucchini on an oiled baking sheet, add the thyme, salt and pepper sprinkle with oil and bake at 250F for 90 minutes - uncovered. Just to dry out. When dried, remove from pan, remove the thyme sprigs and place in a bowl with the raw onion. Add the cream, stir and allow to cool so the flavors come together.
About 45 minutes before serving, heat the oven to 450F. Place the vegetable/cream mixture in a grain dish. Warm the basil oil slightly. Combine the breadcrumbs, chopped parsley and basil oil and toss. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top of the vegetable mixture. Bake at 450 for about 30 minutes - covering with foil if the top browns too quickly.
Allow to cool for about 10 minutes and serve.

 

 

As you can see there was no nasty pool of liquid. Also, Madame pronounced it delicious (not, "We can serve this to people" delicious though).

Bottom line - definitely a gratin

Playing with legumes

Tonight's dinner was an experiment. I saw some non-frozen edamame at the supermarket. On the back of the packet it suggested a salad with lentils and some other stuff. Well, I am not one to follow the packet instructions, but I am very happy to liberate ideas and make the results my own. Also, I had some sous-vide pork jowls in the freezer, some shallots, red peppers, tomatoes, various vinegars, sea salt etc. So of course the thing to do for dinner was a roasted edamame salad with red peppers, tomatoes, basil served on top of a lentil/shallot/pork jowl base. It got the "we can serve this to people" accolade from madame, so I guess it was OK. Also, I think it may have cost a whole $3 for about 6 servings. The beer with dinner was a whole lot more than the food!

Ingredients

4 oz cured pork jowl (can substitute pancetta or guanciale) diced very small

1 shallot, minced finely

1 lb of rinsed dry lentils

Water to cover (no I didn't measure it, sorry!)

1 red pepper, diced small

1 yellow pepper diced small

10 oz shelled edamame

2 small tomatoes diced small

8 basil leaves, chiffonade

Vinegar to taste (we used sherry vinegar)

Sea salt to taste

Method

In a sauce pot render the pork product gently. You don't want cripsiness, but you do want the fat to render a bit. When the pork is cooked, add the shallot and mix/stir for about 30 seconds. Add the rinsed, picked-over lentils and cover with water by 1/2". That may be enough water - you can always add more later. Bring to a simmer and cook until the lentils are tender. About 30 minutes.

Pre-heat the oven to 400F. 

Once you have cooked the lentils, spoon some of the mixture into an 8x13 Pyrex or other non reactive pan. This should be to a depth of about 1/3". There will be lots of left overs. Combine the edamame, diced peppers and spread over the lentils, Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, until the edamame are just showing a little color and dryness. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with some sherry vinegar. I don't recommend balsamic here. Red wine or cider vinegar would be fine. Leave to cool.

Before serving, sprinkle the diced tomatoes and basil chiffonade over the edamame. Eat at room temperature. I was using salted jowls, so there was no need to add salt. However if you are using guanciale of pancetta you might need to salt to taste.

Soup and Sandwich

This course was the "lunch" course of the Day in Dinner party. It was the soup course, but like everything at the party, it was to have a slight twist. The soup was a simple tomato/roasted red pepper soup. The twist was the sandwich. With the soup you don't have to be precise about the size of the vegetables - it is going to be blended and strained so it is completely smooth.
Ingredients  - Soup
2 red bell peppers, left whole
2T vegetable oil
2 oz butter
1 large onion (I used yellow) minced
1 shallot minced
3 cloves garlic smashed
3T all purpose flour
1 large and 1 small can of whole tomatoes
2 cups chicken stock
3 sprigs of thyme
salt/pepper to taste
A few drops of extra virgin olive oil for serving
Sea salt crystals
Method - Soup
Heat the oven to 450F and roast the peppers until the skin is well charred (about 45 minutes). Meanwhile heat the oil/butter gently until hot but not brown. Add the onion, shallot, garlic and sweat gently. Do not allow any color to form.
Place the tomatoes into the blender and pulse quickly to break up the larger pieces. It is better to this than to but crushed or sauce tomatoes. This way they are less metallic tasting. Also if you are lucky enough to have some home canned tomatoes (as we were), they will almost always be whole.
Once the onion, shallot and garlic have softened, add the flour to the pot and stir to coat, and make a light roux. Add the tomatoes, stock, thyme to the pot. Stir to incorporate. Peel and roughly chop the roasted peppers (having removed the seeds), add the peppers to the pot.
Bring up to a simmer - gently to avoid sticking. Simmer for about 35 - 40 minutes stirring occasionally.
Puree the soup in the blender in several batches. Do this while it is hot - make sure you place a kitchen towel over the blender while doing this. You do not want hot tomato soup flying around the kitchen!
Strain the soup using a fine strainer and discard anything that remains in the strainer.
Chill overnight to allow the flavors to develop. Reheat when ready.
Ingredients - Sandwiches
16 oz Parmesan cheese - grated finely. Use the highest quality you can
6 oz fresh goat cheese
A good handful of fresh basil leaves
2T milk (may not be needed if the goats cheese is soft and creamy)
1t sherry vinegar
1t extra virgin olive oil
Method - Sandwiches
Make Parmesan tuiles by spreading the Parmesan cheese on a baking sheet

and baking in a 475 degree oven until it is melted and bubbling. (3-4 minutes). Allow to cool a bit. While still flexible (they do become crunchy eventually), cut them out into the shapes you want. I used a 1" ring cutter. One guest remarked that they looked like Communion Wafers.

When ready to make the sandwiches, form the filling pr processing the cheese, basil, milk (if needed), vinegar, oil until a smooth green paste is formed. There is no need for salt because the tuiles have enough salt for the whole sandwich. To make the sandwiches spread a little filling on one tuile and top with another.
Serve alongside the soup.