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Onward to North Africa…in a Bowl!

30 Saturday Jun 2012

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It was a rather kooky wrap up to the workweek this week.  But not at all surprising given it’s my company’s end of fiscal year at the end of June.  Combine that with the 4th of July falling smack in the middle of next week, most everyone plans to get the hell out of town the entire week, plus a weekend on either side.  So lots of scrambling.

Today was spent doing a lot of maintenance in preparation for the upcoming “holiday” week.  I’ll have more on that tomorrow.  I dug deep in my pantry before setting out to run errands looking for yet another new soup recipe, in an older cookbook I haven’t opened in a while.

Yes, I use part of my pantry for cookbook storage.  Someday I will have my dream kitchen with a built-in bookshelf of sorts to hold my cherished cookbooks.  For now they are both in the upper shelves of my pantry and in a portion of a kitchen countertop.

I knew I wanted to whip up a hot and spicy batch of soup today.  We’re still in that icky, rainy, cloudy, chilly-but-sometimes-humid lame-o Seattle weather which is so typical for late June.  Psst:  are you planning to visit Seattle?  We are most welcome to have you at any time…but you’ll be far happier doing it in late July than right now – for real!

So I blew the dust off another cookbook I hadn’t thumbed through in a while:  Mediterranean Hot.  It’s by Aglaia Kremezi.  Wow, this book was published in 1996!  It’s so clear how somewhat dated a book like this is – for example, in the mail-order resources section there are no websites posted – just the names of merchants and their phone numbers.  How the times change!

The recipes, however, are timeless.  They go far, far back in time – some even for centuries, even.  The author provides a wonderful introduction to this book describing the peoples of the Mediterranean region, the seasonings and spices and how pretty much WARS WERE FOUGHT over spices.  Fascinating!

I chose a North African style of soup for tonight’s experiment, and noted how far less chopping and prep time would be needed compared to the other soups I’ve prepared these past few weeks.  There were a few things I took liberty with right off the bat, for both planned and unplanned reasons.  Read on for more.

Spicy North African Soup with Capers – Serves 6

  • 1/4 C olive oil
  • 1 T minced garlic
  • 1 1/2 tsp freshly ground coriander seeds
  • 1 T freshly ground caraway seeds
  • 1 tsp Harissa
  • 1 tsp Aleppo pepper or red pepper flakes
  • 1 T tomato paste
  • 1/4 C fine Semolina flour
  • 1/3 C coarse bulgur
  • 3-4 T fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 C capers preserved in salt, rinsed very well under running water
  • 1 preserved lemon with Hot Paprika, rinsed and cut into fine julienne (more on this at the end of this post – it’s optional and I did not use it)
  • Salt, to taste
  • 4 T chopped cilantro or parsley

Mix the olive oil with the garlic, coriander, caraway, harissa and Aleppo pepper (or pepper flakes) in a saucepan.  Place over medium heat and stir to warm, without letting anything burn.  Add the tomato paste and 4-5 cups of water.

Bring to a boil and add the semolina and bulgur, stirring constantly.  Simmer for 10 minutes and then add the lemon juice, capers and preserved lemon.  Taste and season with salt if desired or some more preserved lemon.

Serve very warm, sprinkled with cilantro or parsley.

Fivenineteen notes: The aroma of this soup is heavenly…and SO different from the South American-style soups I’ve been cooking lately.  The coriander seeds and caraway seeds add a unique, punchy scent to this soup.  [Side note:  at risk of sounding like a broken record…PLEASE do the “smell test” with your spices to make sure they are fresh and pungent before adding to this or any recipe.  The scent of my just-purchased coriander and caraway is heads and shoulders above the lame blandness my older jars had.]

I did not have any Aleppo pepper or Harissa on hand.  I since have ordered some thanks to the nice people at Dean & Deluca. Red pepper flakes are an easy sub for Aleppo pepper, but the Harissa recipe (hot Tunisian chile paste) seemed a bit more involved.  I searched online and learned that an ordinary chile paste was a good substitute.

Although I discovered the lone paste I had on hand was a Thai red curry paste.  Oops.  I was a little worried about that when I got home…and I discovered this while the soup was under way and I was a bit into a large glass of Pinot Gris (heh), so I knew heading back out to grab chile paste at a grocery store was not a good idea. It turned out great with no major flavor conflicts!

Semolina flour:  this is the base for your handmade or machine-made pastas.  Lessons learned – I would add this very gradually while whisking it constantly into the soup instead of dumping it all in at once and then the bulgur on top and then attempting to mix.  The Semolina became very lumpy immediately (hmm, just like when making gravy?) and it was super hard to whisk and separate into the broth after the fact.

This is a vegetarian soup.  I opted to not make it 100% vegetarian by substituting one of the 5 cups of water with a cup of chicken stock.

Enjoy…buon appetito!  And if you are still curious about the preserved lemon recipe (as I am I – I’ve yet to try it), here it is:

Preserved Lemons with Hot Paprika – makes 1 Quart

  • 1 1/2 lbs small lemons
  • about 1/4 C coarse sea salt
  • 2-3 T hot paprika, preferably Hungarian
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • Juice of 4-5 lemons
  • About 1/3 C olive oil

With a very sharp knife, cut the lemons into quarters lengthwise without detaching the pieces completely at the stem end.  Sprinkle salt and a little paprika inside each lemon and place in a 1-quart jar.  Press down on the lemons to fit as many in the jar as possible.  Refrigerate 2-3 days.  The lemons will give off a lot of juice.

Press the lemons in the jar to extract as much juice as possible.  Sprinkle with the turmeric and add more lemon juice to cover the lemons.  Top with 1 inch of olive oil, close the jar, and keep in the refrigerator for 4 weeks until using.

To use, remove the lemons you need, wash under running water, drizzle with olive oil and serve or use as you wish.

A (Memorial) Soup Bender Weekend! Learning About Quinoa…

28 Monday May 2012

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After yesterday’s amazing discovery of a Chilean fish soup I woke up today excited.  And motivated.  Grinning.  Sure it was (is) a sleepy, relaxed Memorial Day, but I felt compelled to do more soup cooking…and to uncover more treasures in this marvelous cookbook – The South American Table!

What did I have to lose?  The leftover fish soup was slowly getting devoured…I had two bowls of it last night (grin) and will likely have another tonight as well.  So deliciously satisfying…without that bloated feeling of “oh man, I ate WAY too much.”

I thought it would be fun to try a vegetarian soup from this cookbook.  While I’m not a vegetarian, I don’t eat meat every day – I just don’t think it’s necessary to do so.  I love trying different alternatives, although I tend to lapse into a pasta-and-pesto dinner habit when I’m not eating meat or too lazy to cook some.

I raved about this cookbook in my last post; there are 450 recipes – 26 of which are soups…and 9 of those are meatless (sopas sin carne)!  Wow!  I definitely have the gazpacho on my list for when the weather gets warmer.   Today this one stole my heart (and my taste buds) and was educational as well.  And, in my typical fashion, another driver to try out a new recipe is to use up something in my pantry or fridge that needs using up!  In this case it was eggs, milk and quinoa.

[Side note:  my version was not truly vegetarian as I opted to use chicken stock, but you can also substitute water or vegetable stock if you prefer]

Chupe de Quinua (Quinoa chowder).  Serves 4 

  • 2 T butter or olive oil
  • 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped (about 1 Cup)
  • 2 cloves garlic, mashed into a paste with 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/2 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
  • 4 C boiling water or chicken or vegetable broth
  • 2 C cooked quinoa
  • 1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1 C milk
  • 1 C fresh or frozen corn kernels
  • 1/2 C fresh or frozen peas, or shelled fava beans, blanched and peeled
  • 4 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 2 large eggs, slightly beaten
  • minced fresh mint and cilantro leaves, for garnish
  • 1 ripe but firm Hass avocado (optional), peeled, pitted and diced 1/4″ thick for garnish

In a heavy 4-quart saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, without letting it color.  Stir in the garlic paste, cumin, paprika and red pepper flakes (if using) and cook for 1 minute.  Add the water (or stock), quinoa and potatoes and simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.  Add the milk, corn and peas and simmer 5 minutes.  Add the cheese and eggs and cook, stirring constantly, until the cheese is melted and the eggs have set.

Serve hot, garnished with the mint and cilantro leaves and avocado, if using.

Fivenineteen notes:  Here’s the author’s delightful introduction to this recipe (she does this for each and every one…love it!)  ” Chowders are everyday items on the tables of the Andean Peoples.  These chowders can be as simple as a combination of squash, wheat or quinoa with potatoes, or they may also include meat or fish.  In Bolivia, beef or lamb is used as well as the dried potatoes called chuno or tunta. The basic seasoning is fairly standard in all the Andean countries, except that in Peru and Bolivia hot ground peppers are added to the sofrito.  (Sofrito is the universal South American seasoning. Its base is always onion, but can include, as it does here, garlic, hot peppers and other flavor elements.)  This is a GREAT soup for vegetarians.”

One of the challenges with this soup was timing.  I noticed that the recipe called for adding stock (or water) already boiling to the ingredients as they cooked, rather than adding it cold and bringing it to a boil.  In the interest of being efficient with time (and the number of pots to wash after cooking) I opted to cook the quinoa first, start the soup cooking in a separate pot and then wash the quinoa pan and boil the stock in it and let the quinoa drain in a colander in the sink.  Voila, only two pots to wash.

The flavors of this chowder were a lot milder than I expected.  Maybe it’s just my preference for spicier soups.  Then I realized I’d made about 50% more quinoa than the recipe called for – too funny!  I’d cooked 1 C dried quinoa, thinking it would make about 2 cups total and neglected to use a measuring cup – yikes.  Turns out 1 C dried quinoa is a little over 3 cups when it’s cooked.

Not to worry, as I’ll definitely add more spices to each serving as I savor the leftovers…it’s a lot easier to add more than try to “water down” a too-spicy meal.

Enjoy!

The World in a Bowl…or the Joy of Soup

27 Sunday May 2012

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I’ve been in deep, gooey love with soup since, well, as long as I can remember.  Back in the day as a kid my Mom served up good ol’ Campbell’s canned soup for lunch quite a bit – chicken noodle, tomato, split pea – and I braved those awful MSG-laden headaches in the aftermath every time.

And I have wonderful memories of digging razor clams with my family at our summer house on the Long Beach peninsula (in Ocean Park, WA).  Mom and Grandma would make clam chowder from scratch…and those clams couldn’t have been any fresher!  I remember putting buckets and buckets of clams down in the beach house basement, covered in cold salt water.  The clams would “clean” themselves (meaning, get rid of a lot of the sand and debris on their own), saving a little time when it came to make the chowder.  I devoured bowls of it I’m sure.  I can still taste it as I write today.  [Side note:  a sign of a great clam chowder is one that’s heavy on the clams, not the ‘filler’ stuff like potatoes.]

Every once in awhile Mom would whip up a huge pot of Cioppino or Bouillabaisse.  I’d come home to those heavenly scents of seafoods and spices simmering joyously in the kitchen…such a luxurious treat! 

Today, cooking soup from scratch is one of my passions.  Save for a few very heavy stew-like soups, I love making hot soup year ’round.  Sure, a nice, cool gazpacho (with a tiny touch of hot sauce) is a perfect, light dinner in warm weather, but hot, spicy soup – interestingly enough – helps me cool down when the temperatures climb.  We don’t have to worry too much about super hot weather in the Seattle area actually.  And I guess what you consider to be “hot weather” is all relative.

It was time to blow the dust off a cookbook I have not used in quite some time, and as I stared at the row of cookbooks on my kitchen counter, this one jumped right out in a ‘pick me, pick me’ fashion:  The South American Table, by Maria Baez Kijac.  This is much, much more than a cookbook.  It’s pretty much a short history of the continent – its mind-blowing diversity of climate and cultures.  And if you’re a geography buff like I am, the introductory chapters of this book will sing to you.

The continent is far larger and more diverse than many of us might imagine.  As Kijac explains, “…it is also farther east than most think – the west coast of South America actually lies almost due south of the U.S. East Coast.  Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the driest places on earth, with some parts going as long as 20 years without rain.  On the other hand, Choco, in western Colombia, has some of the world’s wettest weather.  Patagonia, in southern Argentina, has glaciers and snowy, wind-swept peaks, while the Amazon region is famous for its lush, tropical rain forest.  The Andes, one of the planet’s great mountain ranges, are mostly volcanic.”

From the northern regions on the Caribbean sea, to the far south along the icy waters surrounding Antarctica, the diversity of this continent is astonishing!  And this has tremendous impact upon plants, animals, civilizations and cuisine in every region. 

As you might imagine, it was hard to pick just one new recipe to try.  There are 26 recipes in just the soup section alone!  I hit the jackpot with this one…Caldillo de Congrio a la Neruda (Neruda’s Fish soup).

Serves 6 to 8 (requires some pre-preparation and marinating)

  • 2 pounds Chilean congrio filets (1 1/2 – 2″ thick) or other firm white-fleshed fish such as Chilean sea bass, red snapper or halibut
  • Juice of one lemon
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 medium-sized onions, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
  • 1 tsp sweet paprika
  • 3 cloves garlic, mashed into a paste with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 small carrots, thinly sliced on the diagonal
  • 1 4 oz jar pimento strips, drained
  • 1 T chicken bouillon granules
  • 1 bay leaf
  • Pinch of sugar
  • 1 tsp dried marjoram
  • 1/4 tsp hot pepper sauce or cayenne pepper
  • 1 16 oz can pear-shaped tomatoes, drained and chopped
  • 1 C dry white wine or dry sherry
  • 3 C water
  • 1 C milk
  • 6 medium-sized all-purpose potatoes, peeled, quartered and cooked in water to cover until tender, and drained
  • 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
  • 1/2 C whipping cream (optional)
  • 1/4 C minced fresh parsley leaves for garnish
  • 1/4 C finely chopped scallions (white part and 1″ of green) for garnish

Cut the fish filets into 2 to 3″ pieces.  Sprinkle with the lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed. 

Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large casserole over low heat.  Add the onions and paprika, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes.  Do not let brown.  Stir in the garlic paste, carrots, pimentos, bouillon, bay leaf, sugar, marjoram and hot pepper sauce and cook, stirring constantly, for a couple of minutes.  Add the tomatoes, wine and water and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Discard the bay leaf.  The soup base can be made ahead up to this point.  Let cool, cover and refrigerate until needed.

To finish, bring the soup to a boil over medium heat and add the milk, fish and potatoes.  Cover and simmer until the fish is cooked through, about 8 minutes.  Just before serving, add the shrimp and cook until they turn pink and begin to uncurl, about 1 minute.  Add cream, if using, and heat through.  Taste for salt, pepper and sugar.

Serve in soup plates, sprinkled with parsley and scallions.

Fivenineteen notes:  There is a fair amount of prep work with chopping and peeling.  Please don’t be discouraged by this; the flavors in this soup are mind-blowing.  I opted to first cut up the fish and put it in a large, glass Pyrex bowl to marinate while I prepped the rest of the ingredients.  I quartered a lemon, squeezed each onto the fish pieces, sprinkled a little salt and pepper on them and covered and placed in the fridge.

Congrio is an indigenous fish from the coast of Chile.  Sadly it is not available in the States, but a Chilean sea bass, red snapper or halibut are good substitutes.  At the grocery store, the halibut was $17/lb…and the cod filets were $9/lb.  Given I needed 2 lbs, I opted for the cod and it turned out great.

As I often post in here about spices, it’s extremely important your dried spices are pungent.  Do the smell test prior to adding to your cooking – actually before you go grocery shopping.  If they’re not pungent, throw them out and get replacements.  I cannot emphasize this enough!  Don’t sabotage the true essence of all of your recipe’s flavors by thwarting it with old, wimpy spices!

Tomatoes:  I used a 14.5 oz can of pre-chopped tomatoes instead of purchasing canned pear tomatoes and chopping them myself.  Given there was a lot of other chopping and peeling with this recipe it was a nice timesaver.  Be sure to drain the tomatoes in a small strainer to remove excess liquid (same with the pimentoes too).  Shake the strainer several times to make sure you squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

Potatoes:  the recipe calls for 6; I opted to go with 3 medium to large size.  I cut them into smaller pieces (rather than just quartering) before putting in water to cook slightly.  If you are truly making this to serve 6 to 8 I would probably stick with the full amount of 6 potatoes.

Adding whipping cream:  this is a completely optional step.  I chose to do so to give the broth more of a chowder-y feel, a bit richer than the fish broth on its own.  Either way, the flavors are incredible.

The author always includes a couple of introductory paragraphs describing each recipe – personal memories, or interesting facts about the region each dish comes from.   I am so impressed with this cookbook – you can tell the author has poured her heart and soul into every single page.  Fantastic!

She explains:  “This famous Chilean soup was immortalized by the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, well-known for his love of good food and a ‘happy table.’  In his poem ‘Oda al Caldillo de Congrio’ (Ode to Congrio Soup), he sings the praises of this delicious soup.  The just-married flavors of the earth and sea come to the table so that some lucky people can be introduced to heaven…”

Yep, that’s how good it is.  Enjoy!

Holy Cow, am I Eating Again??

14 Sunday Aug 2011

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Again? Already thinking about what to cook for dinner tonight?  After last night’s Seafood Fest?

I have that wonderful post-bloat feeling of fantastic food at a fantastic party.  And I feel relieved that I don’t have to wear anything snug today.  Just another lazy Sunday, where the only thing on tap is making a run to Goodwill, read and pick up a few things for dinner.  No hockey tonight.  Summer season wrapped up with a disappointing shootout loss in our playoff game.  I had a major Silpada jewelry event that same night which trumped hockey (rare, because hockey is usually on Sunday nights), so I found out about the loss through my teammates.  Bummer.  Is it October yet??

Yes, Goodwill.  A purge here in the ol’ townhouse is very, very overdue.  Sometimes I struggle getting going on a home project.  I get overwhelmed and then end up procrastinating, doing nothing.  I look at the clutter building up here in the home office.  And the guest bedroom which is still crowned the Room of Crap and Good Luck Getting to the Ironing Board.  Hmmmm.  This is NOT OK!! 

So what do I do?  I play a mental game with myself, and break down an overwhelming task into smaller pieces.  Every time I need to go downstairs to the main living room/kitchen level here, I make myself take at least one thing out of the home office or the guest room that needs to go.  And I start a pile downstairs near the dining room.  Repeat as needed!  

Voila – in about 24 hours I had a couple large garbage bags full of old computer shit, knick knacks, books, jewelry, shoes and clothes that are ready for Goodwill! The cute, stuffed polar bear I won at the Puyallup Fair a couple years ago doing Skeeball?  Sorry, dude, you’ll make a kid happy in your next home.  Remember the Left Behind book series from the 1990s?  I’d purchased the entire set over time and never cracked open a single one of them, despite numerous raves from many of my friends – even my grandfather.  Le Sigh.  If I haven’t read them after 15 years sitting in my bookcase then it’s time for someone else to.  Also in the “outta here” pile: a set of 4 glass beer mugs I maybe used once in 20 years.  THAT feels good.  I looked at the hodge podge of a dozen mismatched wine glasses currently on the floor in the guest room and considered getting rid of them too but I decided to keep them.  THOSE are good to have for larger parties.  I just need to box them up and get them out of the guest room!

Larger parties…what a segue. I’ve been looking forward to my new consulting firm’s annual Seafood Fest.  The staff has been buzzing about it ever since I joined the group in July, and I’m sure they’ve been in planning mode far earlier than that. “Are you coming?”  “Can you make it?”  “Can’t wait to see you there!”  I probably heard this every time I sent in a timesheet or collected my pay stub.  The energy was contagious!

And the party was amazing, just as I expected.  Our CEO hosted it in her home as she does every year, and just about everything on the menu was made by her and her team from scratch.  Right down to the homemade ice cream, her signature dessert!  Her home is fantastic for entertaining.  She has a front yard with enough room for a large table and chairs plus a couple of grills and a drink stand, a large kitchen and great room on the main level inside, and a huge back deck with room for multiple round tables, mingling and the incredible view looking west toward Puget Sound and across the water to the Kitsap Peninsula (and I think some of Whidbey Island too).  

I soaked in the view with a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc and enjoyed meeting other fellow consultants and chatting with our CEO, T, and her team!  What a great team.  This really didn’t feel like a work-related party…it felt like family.  Really and truly.  T LOVES to entertain…and it shows.  Party for 80 guests?  No problem, right? 

Seafood fest knocked it out of the park.  I’m kicking myself for not getting any pictures of the food with my phone but it was unbelievable.  This year the theme was Caribbean, so we had jerk chicken and beef on the grill, blackened halibut (our CEO caught the halibut herself off of Vancouver Island earlier this year – she had the video of it playing in the living room!), rice and bean side dishes, salads with papayas and mangoes, chips and wonderful salsas, and even a couple of pizzas!  Dessert was a choice of pineapple or lime-flavored cupcakes, and two kinds of homemade ice cream – pineapple and vanilla with a little cinnamon.  Simply incredible.

And the weather turned out decent too – it was a little cloudy during the day but thankfully burned off later in the evening.  This summer really hasn’t been a summer, so I was happily relieved we had a warm evening last night!

Great people and great food.  There simply is no better combination out there.  And so many reasons to celebrate!

Now it’s time to get started on dinner.  While I might not be super hungry after all that wonderful food last night, it DID inspire me to keep honing my cooking skills.  I’m pretty good at it, I must say!  Practice, practice, practice.

Tonight it’s another dish from the Primal Blueprint Cookbook I’ve posted about a few times before.  Chicken and fennel stew with, onions, garlic in a broth of beer and coconut milk, garnished with fresh parsley.  Can’t wait!