Caudière or Salmon and Mussel Soup

This is a recipe from the Southern Atlantic Coast of France.

I bought frozen mussels and salmon this morning and let it thaw on the counter. The other ingredients were pretty basic and a part in more or less every household: potatoes, onion, garlic and cream.

It is a dish that was traditonally made by fishing families along the Atlanic coast. It is quick to prepare when you have frozen portioned fish and shelled frozen mussels. Going the fresh way it will take a lot longer to clean and cook the mussels, get them out of their shell and cutting the fish up and taking the filets off.

I only had to peel potatoes, onion and garlic and needed to cut the salmon filets in bite size chunks.

Recipe for 2:

250 g defrosted salmon filets

150 g mussels shelled

1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic

1 bouquet garni

1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp oil

1 tsp Veg stock paste + water

50 ml creme fraiche

1 tsp cornstarch + 2 tbsp water

Salt and pepper

Chopped chives

Melt butter in oil and toss in onion and garlic. After 1 min follow with the potato chunks and bouquet garni.

Give that 3 min. Now add enough water that it stands 1 inch above the veggies and add the veg stock paste. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce the heat and cook for 10 min.

Check if the potatoes are done, add the salmon and heat it 3 min, then in with the mussels and the creme fraiche. When the fond is too thin, make a slurry and add the starch. Cook 2 more min and finish with chives. Serve hot.

Pancake Tuesday savoury kind

Tomorrow is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. In Britain this day is called Pancake Day. The eggs and other delicious things have to go.

I had veggies from my green Thai curry left over. Make a soup? Make a salad? No, stuff them in a pancake.

I blanched the veggies and cooled them on icy water that they kept their lovely green color. 

In my fridge resides still a piece of Guanciale. Some tiny slivers joined the veggies. They go in the pan first with a tsp of oil. Then green onion follows and 2 min later the blanched veggies. Seasoned with Italian seasoning and pepper.

The batter came next. It had to rest 30 minutes. I preheated the oven 180 C fan/grill.

I used a 28 cm pan which is oven proof. Oil and butter went in to melt, then the batter. On medium high heat it will take some time until the bottom of the pancake takes color. The moment it does, put the pan in the oven and wait for the color to reach the top.

Get it out and put the veggies in and fold a third of the pancake over.

Batter:

125 g flour

Pinch baking powder

1/4 tsp salt, some ground pepper

2 large free range eggs

150 ml whole milk

50 ml water with gas, Sprudelwasser

Topping:

150 g broccoli florets

100 g sugarsnap peas

1 green onion

2 tbsp butter+ 2 tbsp grapeseed oil

Italian seasoning, pepper

20 hours Pizza dough

On Sunday I want to eat some pizza.

I can drive to our Doner Kebap/ Pizza place and buy one. But I can easily make one myself for less than half the price. And I know what's in it and on it.

I bought some Hungarian salami last week, the spicy kind. 

When you order pepperoni pizza in Italy you will get long green hot peppers on your pizza.

The amount of dough from this recipe is enough for 3 pies or 4 smaller ones. I put 2 balls in the freezer to bake pizza an other day.

Dough recipe:

250 g AP flour

250 g Manitoba flour

20 g fresh yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp runny honey

250 g luke warm water

Olive oil spray for the bowl

I made the dough in my Thermomix. Brought it together afterwards and put the dough ball in a big oiled container with a lid.

It went in the fridge for 20 hours. Then I took the bowl out, took the lid off and covered it with a cloth and let it sit for 70 min in my warm living room.

Toppings:

Tomato passata with oregano

Hungarian salami 

Red bell pepper

Onion

Broccoli florets

Kalamata olives

Fresh mozzarella and grated mozzarella

Salt, pepper, olive oil spray

Bake it at 230 C for 12 min

Onion Cheese Bake

You may ask what should this be? But it is literally onions with cheese.

I saw that on a Reel and decided to give it a try, because I love onions and I love melted cheese. You can serve it as a snack, or for lunch with a dip.

Very simple to prepare. But use very large onions. They are sweeter and retain their structure a lot better than small ones. I even kept the single layer of outer skin on and just peeled it off while eating.

A good portion of curd or Greek yogurt with chives and parsley and some seasoning was served with the cheesy onions. 

Use baking paper and prepare a light layer of Grana Padano, top that with some Emmenthal cheese and Everything Bagel seasoning. Now cut the onions in 1 cm slices and put them on top of the cheeses. Spray them with olive oil. 

Season with smoked paprika, garlic powder, Everything Bagel and pepper. A fine layer of Grana Padano on top.

Preheat the oven to 170 C fan and put the baking sheet in the oven for 10 to 12 min, check often.

 

Green Thai Chicken Curry

I love some spicey food.

This time the 4 chilis on the package of the green curry paste did not lie. Most of my friends would not have eaten that dish. But a little sweat on a cold day is nice.

I bought fresh veggies, but only a a bit of each of them is part of this dish. I have to check what kind of recipe will follow to use the other part. 

I reduced the cooking time by doing some of the mis en place earlier in the morning before I left the house to run some errands. Coming back home around noon made it easier to get the dish together.

The first step was seasoning the chicken legs and putting them in a pan to cook on both sides to get some color. They were finishing in the sauce later. While the chicken was in the pan, I started the rice cooker with the Basmati.

In a small pan I gave the dessicated coconut a toasting. But keep an eye on them, they will go from white to dark in a moment. Get them out of the pan to cool down.

The broccoli florets went in a microwave container with a little water to cook for 5 min.

I bought Green Thai Curry paste, a single package with 4 chilis as a sign of the spice level on the package. It said HOT on the picture too. And it was.

Chopped garlic and ginger went in the pan next. Then the curry paste. Both needed 2 minutes, then the milk followed. Half of the coconut and all the veggies went in. Bring to a boil again, cover and reduce the heat to medium and cook for 25 min or until the chicken is done. Add lime zest and more coconut, fresh basil and check the seasoning if you need salt or some sweetness to balance the dish.

Ingredients for 2:

2 chicken legs

Asia wok seasoning

2 tbsp oil

1 package Green Thai Curry paste

400 ml whole milk

1/2 head of broccoli

65 g sugarsnap peas

2 green onions

2 large garlic cloves

1 knob of ginger

Zest of a lime

30 g toasted dessicated coconut

Basil leaves

2 tsp palm sugar

Salt

1 cup Basmati

Burrata on top of Linguine with Bell Pepper Sauce

Try to get a lot of veggies in your diet? Cook them and blend them. 

The finer the blend, nobody can recognize the ingredients, but the taste is great. The Burrata on top is a creamy addition, but even without it the veggie sauce is amazing.

I did not need the super fine blend and kept the sauce a bit chunky. Hiding the ingredients was not the theme of the day.

Start with olive oil and the onions and the thyme, when they have taken some color, add the roughly chopped peppers. Season well. They need to blister in the pan for more flavour. The garlic follows and the tomato passata.

A bit of agave syrup or sugar for balance and Piment d'Espelette and smoked Paprika  for the final touch.

The sauce might be too thick, just add some of the pasta water. Now blend as fine or coarse as you like and when the linguine are done, transfer them directly from the pot to the pan. That will loosen the sauce a bit more.

Some grated Pecorino, some basil leaves and the ball of Burrata.

Enjoy the pasta dish.

Recipe for 1:

100 g Linguine

1 Burrata

1 big green onion, 1 large shallot, 4 garlic cloves

3 tbsp olive oil

Dried or fresh thyme

1 large red bell pepper

200 g tomato passata

1 tsp agave syrup

2 tbsp Pecorino

Salt, pepper, Piment d' Espelette, smoked Paprika

Basil

Polenta Stew or Portugese Milho

I saw that a while ago on a YT video by Beryl Shereshewsky and it stuck to my mind.

Sometimes I eat Polenta, but not very often. The creamy Mamaliga is my favourite go to recipe when I want some Polenta.

This recipe is poor people food from the Atlantic island of Madeira, which belongs to Portugal.

It is a strange combination of ingredients, but they bring the plain Polenta to the next level.

But first there is work to do. Strip fresh thyme leaves from their stems, it is a bit time consuming. Then chop a lot of garlic. I used a garlic nicer dicer.

Some potatoes should be precooked. I used a 5 min microwave blast.The greens can be collard greens, kale or some other. I used bok choy. Cut in slices. 

Lots of olive oil in a pot and garlic and thyme to sweat off and flavour the oil. Next the bok choy. Seasoned with salt and pepper. The precooked potatoes were peeled and chopped and added and cooked for a couple of minutes.

Polenta is cooked in ratio to water. I used veg stock paste. Usually 1 to 3. But I used 1 to 4. More water to go with all other stuff in the pot. Instant Polenta cooks fast, but it thickens slower when other ingredients are in.

1 knob of butter to get a richer texture was added too.

I used up some Spanish sausage (no Chorizo) to eat with the Polenta Stew.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp fresh thyme

6 garlic cloves

1 bok choy

4 tbsp olive oil

60 g Instant Polenta

4 times the volume in veg stock

1 knob of butter

Sausage

Today I panfried the blocks of leftover Polenta and sausage.

Pork Neck Steak Greek style

Côtelettes de Porc à la Grecque is the original name of this dish from my Gourmand magazine issues. I made my own version of it.

Kritharaki Pasta was added in the end. Not a real one pot dish, because the Greek pasta was cooked for 12 min in a seperate pot. But just eating it with crusty bread would be good too.

I only had to pick up the pork neck steaks in the morning. All other ingredients were already at home.

With this cooking method the steak keeps very succulent and does not dry out.

Recipe for 2:

2 pork neck steaks

2 tbsp olive oil

3 shallots

3 garlic cloves

Salt, pepper, Italian tomato seasoning

6 smaller tomatoes

200 g tomato coulis

2 tbsp tomato paste

Zest of a lemon

12 Kalamata olives

100 g Feta (sheep/goat milk)

12 basil leaves

Some lemon slices for deco

100 g Kritharaki pasta cooked

Season the pork neck steak with salt and pepper. Heat up the olive oil in a big pan and fry the meat on both sides for 5 min each.  Add the chopped shallots and garlic and cook 3 more min. 

Now in with the tomato paste to fry, then the coulis and the fresh tomatoes. Stir well and don't forget to turn the meat.

If you cook pasta on the side, use some of the pasta water to loosen the sauce or just add water.

Cook for 5 more min. Olives and zest of the lemon now. Last but not least add crumbled feta and basil leaves.

Mix in the Kritharaki pasta.

One Pot Red Rice Soup

A rice soup with ground pork and beef is a classic in my family. But using white rice was too boring today.

My assortment of rices is plentiful. I just counted 10 varieties in my head. But there may be more. I was looking for a rice to use in the soup and a plastic container filled with red caught my eye. Yeah, red Basmati from Thailand. 

Years ago I bought French red rice from the Camargue on a trip there. But even the French supermarkets do not have it in stock. 

The soup is a 3:2:1 ratio dish. Lots of veggies, ground meat, rice. It fills you up and is very comforting. And leftovers are very welcome, because the reheated the soup gets thicker and better.

Recipe for 4:

500 g ground pork/beef

1 tbsp oil

Salt and pepper

2 beef stock cubes

2 celery stalks, 3 carrots, 1 leek, 1 onion, 2 garlic cloves

1 red dried chili

1 bay leaf

220 g red Basmati rice

Parsley

In the oil brown the meat and break it down to small bits. After that add onion and garlic first, then gradually add the other veggies. Stir often. After 5 min pour in the water (hot) and add the stock cubes. 

Wash the rice and add it. Look that the water is high enough. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cover.

Cook for 25 min until the rice is done. Add the chopped parsley.

Enough water to cover the ingredients 1 inch above.