Rich White Chicken Ramen

(serves 3)
This is a relatively easy way to make an impressive rich chicken stock for Ramen, on par with those in Ramen restaurants. You won’t need to grind bones and slave over the simmering stock for hours, simply by using soy milk as the secret ingredient. A lazy man’s Torikotsu Ramen if you will. The Chicken Chashu and Caramelized Leek used in this recipe give this Ramen its own character.   

Ingredients 

1. Chicken Wings (8)
2. Chicken Breast (2 halves)
3. Ramen Noodles (3 servings)
4. Bacon (3 slices)
5. Soy Milk (1.5 cups)
6. Eggs (3)
7. Leek (1)
8. Hon Dashi
9. Soya Sauce
10. Chicken Stock Cube (1)
11. Sesame Oil
12. Sesame Seeds
13. Coriander Seed Powder

The Night Before 

1. Rinse the wings, they must be whole, not just the mid-joint. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a pot. Place the wings into the boiling water together with 3 slices of bacon.
2. Cut the leek into half. It should be at least 1 inch in diameter, or else use more than 1 leek to compensate. Place the top half with the leafy portion into the pot and retain the lower half for later use. Keep the pot on a very low simmer for an hour and then leave covered overnight.
3. Brine the 2 pieces of chicken breasts in a solution of 4T salt and 4t soft brown sugar dissolved in 4 cups of cold water. Make sure all the meat is submerged and keep them in the fridge overnight. (refer to the link in the notes below if you haven’t done this before)
4. Boil some water in a different pot and place 3 eggs in the boiling water for 7 minutes and then straight into iced water. This is to get the yolks runny but the whites cooked, the so-called Ajitama style egg. Shell the eggs carefully and soak them in a solution of 1T of soya sauce and 0.5t of soft brown sugar in 1 cup of water. Keep them in the fridge overnight as well. (again refer to the link in the notes if you haven’t done this before)

The Next Day

1. Bring the chicken stock to a simmer again. Boil until the volume is reduced to about 3 cups. In the meanwhile…
2. Rinse the brined chicken breasts thoroughly and marinate in 2T sesame oil, 1t Chinese Wine, 1t coriander seed powder and 2T sesame seeds.
3. Take the boiled eggs out of the fridge and allow them to warm to room temperature.
4. Julienne the remaining half of the leek. Pan fry the leek in 4T of oil until they are light brown. The leek should continue to darken for a while after your turn off the fire.
5. Pour the stock through a strainer to remove any sediment, discard all the solids. Pour the filtered stock back into the pot. Add 1 chicken stock cube, 2t of Hon Dashi and 0.5t of sugar, followed by 1.5 cups of soya milk. Bring to a simmer again.
6. Remove and reserve half the crispy leek from the pan for later use as garnishing. Add some of your chicken soup to the pan with the other half of the crispy leek, stir and pour everything back into the soup pot.
7. Arrange the sesame seeds in the marinade onto the chicken breasts like a crust. In a toaster oven, cook the chicken breasts for 10 minutes at 150oC followed by another 10 min at 200oC. Alternatively you can roast them for about 13 minutes in a regular oven preheated to 180oC. In either case the chicken is done when it begins to shrink. Check visually to make sure you don’t over cook.
8. Allow the breasts to rest and when at room temperature slice them as shown below. Deglaze the baking tray with some of your chicken soup and pour everything back into the soup pot.
9. When the soup has been reduced to 3 cups again, skim off any film that has formed on the surface and it is ready for use. Check for taste and add a bit of water or salt as needed; remember that Ramen soup has to be more salty than regular soup.
10. Cook the raw noodles in a separate pot of boiling water. Strain the noodles and separate them into 3 large bowls. Add boiling soup and top off with the chicken slices, the crispy leek and the eggs sliced in half.

Notes

• If your chicken breast came with the breast bone, cut this out carefully and boil it with the wings. In fact any chicken bones you have on hand can be added to the stock pot. They will increase the gelatin content of your stock. 
• Your soya milk should not be of the sweetened variety. It’s the type some people add to their coffee in place of creamer.
•  If you are unfamiliar with brining, you can refer to this page (but ignoring the poaching part).
• If you are unfamiliar with making runny yolk eggs, you can refer to this page (but ignoring the optional part).
• Use whatever type of noodles you like but if you want to be authentic and can’t find real raw ramen noodles, you can make ramen noodles out of spaghetti following the procedure from this page.

 

Flourless New England Clam Chowder

(serves 10)
New England or Boston Clam Chowder, the ultimate blending of seafood and vegetables in a hearty soup. When you are making America’s most famous soup there are a few things you want. Thicken the chowder without any taste of flour, make the chowder faster without having to wait an eternity for the potatoes to disintegrate, give the chowder rich layers of flavour. After a lot of trial and error, I think I have come up with just the right recipe to achieve all these things. 

Ingredients

1. Canned Clams in Brine (4 x 184g)
2. Bacon (6 slices)
3. Canned Anchovies in Oil (50g wet weight)
4. White Wine (0.5 cup)
5. Potatoes (4 large)
6. Leek (1 stalk)
7. Onions (2)
8. Scallion (10 stalks)
9. Mascarpone (125g)
10. Bread (4 slices)
11. Hon Dashi
12. Sherry
13. Dill Weed

Preparation Part I

1. Cut the crust off 4 slices of bread and leave in the fridge to dry overnight.
2. Peel the potatoes. Boil 2 (not all 4) of them in a large pot with 10 cups of water.
3. While the potatoes are boiling, cube the bread into 1cm pieces and crush them into crumbs in a plastic bag with a mallet. Toast the bread cubes lightly if they are not crispy enough to be smashed.
4. Dice 5 slices of semi-frozen bacon and allow them to thaw.
5. Fish the potatoes from the pot after boiling them for 20 minutes. Keep the water on a low simmer and put the bread crumbs in.
6. Julienne the onions. Partially open a tin of anchovies and pour its oil into a pan. Fry half of the onions on low heat in the pan, stirring occasionally.
7. In the meanwhile dice the remaining 2 potatoes into 1cm cubes. Julienne the scallion and the leek. Don’t add them to the pot just yet; you can put the cut vegetables with the raw onion bits.
8. When the onions have become limp and translucent, mash the anchovies in the tin itself and add to the pan. Stir fry for a minute to mix the anchovy into the onions, turn up the fire and then deglaze the pan with half a cup of white wine. Bring to a boil and after a minute pour the contents of the pan into the simmering pot.
9. Next, stir fry the bacon bits in the same pan. When the bacon fat has rendered and the bacon begins to brown add the brine from the clams, reserving the meat for later use. A minute after it reaches boiling, pour the contents of the pan into the (still simmering) pot.
10. When all the breadcrumbs have melted, mash the 2 cooked potatoes and add the mash to the pot followed by all the vegetable bits (including the raw potato). Add 1T of Hon Dashi pellets, 1T dill weed and 1t sugar. Top up with water such that everything is submerged. Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes stirring occasionally, then leave the pot covered on the stove to cool.
11. When you are about ready to serve your clam chowder, bring the pot back to a boil and add the clam meat. Place 125g of mascarpone in a bowl with some hot liquid from the pot. Mix until all the lumps are gone and pour back into the pot.
12. Add 3T of sherry and 1t black pepper, simmer for a further 5 minutes and then add salt (and sugar) to taste. Serve with oyster or other similar type of unsalted crackers

 Notes

• If you have fresh small neck clams you can add that to the chowder in step 11, but you still need to use the canned clams, for the clam brine.
• Yes I did not use any celery in my recipe, its not essential in my opinion. If you insist on adding some chopped celery, fry them with the onions in step 6.
• If you are using waxy type potatoes, you can keep the skin on the diced potatoes if you prefer. Depending on the size of your potatoes you may need more than 4; I’ve assumed the use of large ones. For a thinner chowder, use only 1 mashed  potato.
• If you don’t have any Hon Dashi, you can substitute in any kind of seafood-type stock cube.
• I also have a more traditional Boston Clam Chowder Recipe here.

 

Singapore-style Prawn Ramen

(serves 5)
Singapore’s Hokkien Prawn Noodles is a favourite of mine, and so is the Shio-Ramen of Hakodate in Japan. In fact they can be considered distant cousins. Both these types of noodles use seafood, pork and salt to flavour their soup so I thought why not try a fusion combination of the two styles. The good thing about prawn stock is you don’t have to boil it for hours and hours for perfection, for extracting the full rich flavour of prawns is a relatively simple process. This makes this Ramen recipe a great option for home cooking.   

Ingredients

1. Large prawns (8=600g)
2. Fish Cake (400g)
3. Noodles or Ramen (5 servings)
4. Shallots (8)
5. Bean sprouts (2 cups)
6. Garlic (1.5 bulbs)
7. Coriander (100g)
8. Chinese Wine
9. Chicken Stock Cube (2)

Please note: the ingredients for Chashu Pork must also be procured but they are not listed above. Refer to the link just below.

Preparation 

1. The night before you have to oven-stew the Chashu Pork according to this recipe. Use only 2T instead of 1/4 cup of soya sauce but otherwise follow the recipe faithfully. Leave the Pork to soak overnight in the cooling oven and the following morning, place the meat(wrapped in clear film) and stewing liquid separately into the fridge.
2. On the day itself, julienne the shallots and put the peeled cloves of 1 bulb of garlic through a press. Fry them together in a pan on low heat in 1/4 cup of oil until they are slightly caramelized. Strain the oil into a bowl and then pour the oil back into the pan, leaving the fried material on the strainer.
3. Cut the heads off the prawns. Heat up the pan again and stir fry the heads in it. When the heads are red, pour in 3T of Chinese wine. Then add  1 cup of water. Cut the heads up with a pair of scissors while they are in the pan and leave to simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Strain the liquid into a large pot and add a fresh cup of water (without wine this time) to the pan. Bring to a boil again, then simmer for 5 minutes, then strain the liquid into the pot again. Repeat for a third time. This is the secret to a rich bright red prawn broth, the hallmark of a quality Singapore Prawn Noodle. Discard what is left of the mashed prawn heads.
5. Shell and devein the prawn bodies. Add as much water as you need so that you end up with five bowls of broth. Bring the broth to a boil and place the prawns into the pot and cook them until they curl up. This will not take too long. Remove the prawns into a bowl and allow them to cool. Reduce the heat to a low simmer.
6. Julienne the top half of your coriander. Tie the stems into a knot and throw them into the pot of broth. Add half of the fried shallot garlic mixture to the pot. Add half the chopped coriander as well. Retain the remaining coriander and fried garlic/shallot as condiments.
7. Add most of the stewing liquid from the pork into the pot followed by 1t of sugar and 2 chicken cubes. Stir and then add salt 1t at a time until the taste is right. Broth that is served with noodles has to be saltier than plain broth, remember this as your are taste testing. Remove the coriander stems at this point.
8. Slice the pork, prawns and fishcake. Keep the sliced pork wet by drenching it with the remaining stewing liquid. Fishcake comes cooked so there is no need to cook it again. Keep the slices covered in the fridge.
9. Boil the bean sprouts in plain water with 1t of salt. When they are limp, drain the water and keep the bean sprouts into a bowl. You can reuse the pot for boiling the noodles.
10. To serve, boil your noodles in a separate pot until they are al dente. At the same time bring your broth to a boil. Divide the noodles into 5 large bowls. Arrange the bean sprouts and various meats over the noodles. For each bowl, pour boiling stock into the bowl and then drain the stock back into the boiling pot – this is to warm up everything. Add broth a second time and garnish with the condiments.

Notes

• Large prawns are quite expensive if bought fresh. It is ok to use frozen prawns. The size of the prawns is important, do not substitute with smaller prawns or the broth will be very weak (soup is not red).
• Most of the greyish stuff in the ‘spine’ of the prawn is roe. When deveining the prawn, you really only want to find and pull out the alimentary canal.
• Besides Ramen, you can use any type of Asian noodles you like, fresh or dried. Do not use pasta or instant noodles.
• I sometimes make chicken stock with chicken feet to add more body to the soup.
• For a more Japanese feel, instead of the stock cubes in step 7, you can use a heaping T of Miso. Japanese Prawn ramen usually has a generous topping of Sakura Shrimp. You can also try adding some to your noodles for that added wow factor. 

 

Pumpkin Soup with Thyme

(serves 6-8)
This is a relatively healthy recipe for those times you want to make a creamy soup without using any cream, milk or flour. Mine is a very basic recipe and there are none of the typical extra ingredients like cheese or onions. Pumpkin and Thyme are already the perfect pairing. Pumpkin is naturally sweet and is perfect for resetting the palete between courses. Thyme on the other hand will give a savoury identity to your soup, and do away with the impression of a mis-timed dessert. This soup can be served hot or cold.

Ingredients 

1. Pumpkin (1/2 of a small one)
2. Chicken Leg with Thigh (1)
3. Bacon (4 slices)
4. Whole Grain Bread (2 slices)
5. Cumin
6. Thyme
7. Chicken Cubes (2)
8. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Preparation (the night before, or in any case as early as possible)

1. Cut your bread into large cubes and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight to dry them into croutons.
2. Heat 4T of olive oil with 3t of thyme in a small pan. About one minute of heat after the oil gets hot should do. Allow this to cool and over several hours, the flavour of thyme will get infused into the oil while the thyme itself softens.
3. The secret to pumpkin soup is a good quality stock. Put 4 cups of water to boil in a pot and then add the chicken leg (or an equivalent amount from another part of the chicken) and the 4 bacon slices. Simmer for at least an hour and leave covered to cool for several more.

Preparation (just before the meal)

1. Your half pumpkin should be about the size of half a soccer ball. Slice it like a watermelon and then remove the pulp, seeds and skin. The skin is somewhat thick and hard to work with, so make your life easier by being generous when cutting the skin off. Make sure there is no tinge of green left when you are done because that part imparts a bitterness you want to avoid. Cut into large chunks. Some ladies might prefer to steam the pumpkin so the flesh of the pumpkin can be scooped out easily, but I find the direct approach more convenient.
2. Discard the meat from your stock and put the pot to boil again. Stir in 2t of cumin. Add two chicken stock cubes followed by the pumpkin pieces once the stock cubes have melted. Add water such that the pumpkin is just covered and simmer for about forty-five minutes.
3. When the pumpkin pieces are soft (see photo below), puree them in the pot using a hand-held blender with a puree attachment. If you don’t have a handheld blender, use a regular blender (and then buy a hand-held).
4. Reheat, sprinkle in a few pinches of pepper and check for taste. Add salt if needed (not likely) or add water if the soup is too thick.
5. Spoon your soup onto their serving plates, topping off with a few croutons each. Finally, drizzle on the thyme infused olive oil (including the thyme) and serve. Instruct your guests to stir before consumption.

Notes

What the pumpkin looks like when it is ready for puree. Water level should just cover the pumpkin.

• If you wish to go the extra mile, make a bit more of the thyme flavoured oil. Use the extra oil (lightly salted) to flavour your bread on both sides before cubing it.
• Cumin is the defacto spice for ‘sweet’ soups like pumpkin and carrot but if you don’t like a curry overtone, try nutmeg instead.
• A more meaty option is to cut the bacon into small bits and then pan fry them to melt the lard off. Add the bacon bits to the soup after the pumpkin is pureed and simmer for an additional 10 minutes. I prefer not to do this as the soup is more interesting if the diners do not know that bacon has been used to flavour your ‘vegetarian’ soup.  
• If you really wish to impress – and this requires redundant hard work, you can serve a mixture of two puree soups in the same dish. I find that chestnut soup is a good match in terms of colour and texture. Its made in pretty much the same way and you can use the same stock for both batches. Add one soup to the soup dish first and then spoon the second carefully into the center to form a circle. Use the end of a fork or spoon to make interesting radiating patterns.

 

What is Hon Dashi?

Hon Dashi is a perfect example of a fantastic flavouring ingredient that few people (outside of Japan) ever use, or even know exists. It’s high time we changed that. Hon Dashi granules are a very versatile ingredient that makes whatever you’re cooking, be it a soup, stew or risotto taste better without distracting the palate from the primary flavours of your recipe. If you’ve ever had miso soup and wondered what makes it taste so good, its not the miso, but the dashi stock that the soup is made from.

Hon Dashi (original flavour) is made primarily from Skipjack Tuna (also known as Bonito) that is dried into blocks and used like Parmesan Cheese. Anyone can make a beautiful clear fish stock by simply adding Hon-Dashi granules to hot water. In addition to having a salty taste as one would expect from stock, Hon Dashi boasts a slightly sweet and uniquely smoky undertone. You can practically use it in any recipe which calls for stock since Hon Dashi stock isn’t fishy. In fact it doesn’t even taste of fish. 

In my humble opinion, stock made from Hon Dashi is superior to any other type of instant stock that I have come across. Why does Hon Dashi have such a wonderful taste? I think it’s because of the double desiccation used in its manufacture which removes all the unwanted smells. I’m no expert but this is roughly how it’s made: The Tuna is first cured with salt over a long period of time until it is bone dry, then rehydrated and boiled in water to form a bullion. The solids are then strained away while the liquid is put through an evaporator and flash frozen. It is then crushed into granules and the granules are then thawed in a vacuum in a second dehydration where the ice sublimates directly into gas. Its a lot more technologically advanced than making your run of the mill stock cubes, sort of like replicating the conditions of outer space if you think about it. The complicated process extracts and removes the fishy odours that set in quickly when seafood is harvested, leaving a natural sweetness that is otherwise elusive.

Hon Dashi granules dissolve to create a basic bouillon called Katsuo Dashi, which is great as a cooking ingredient, but seldom consumed directly. When we refer to the Dashi that one drinks like a consomme, what is called Awase Dashi, some dried kelp (also known as Konbu) is used an second key ingredient to provide additional umami. To make some of this traditional consomme type Dashi you can follow this link to my recipe for Awase Dashi. Although it is not available everywhere, Hon Dashi also comes in a ‘with Konbu’ format (pictured on right) but this is a less flexible option as you then can’t make a bouillon without the kelp flavour. Most Japanese housewives will prefer to stock the classic Hon Dashi granules at home and add infuse the konbu flavour themselves whenever desired.

There is also a variety of Hon Dashi made from dried scallops (also known as Conpoy) instead of Tuna and it merits mention here.This scallop version has an intense shellfish flavour which is perfect for enhancing seafood dishes like Bouillabaisse and Seafood Risotto. This variety is also perfect for making Chinese soups (check out my Consommé page). 

If you have the opportunity, do try using Hon Dashi stock in your cooking. You can actually use it even if no stock is called for, as they come in granules instead of cubes. Try sprinkling on some in place of salt. However you use it, you will be adding that special hint of a flavour that will keep your dinner guests guessing as to what your secret ingredient is.

 

Notes

• No, I do not own any Ajinomoto shares (manufacturer of Hon Dashi) or have any other ulterior motive for recommending this stock – pun unintended.
• If you can’t find Hon Dashi, I have been told it is available at Amazon.com, in the grocery section.
• Keep your opened Hon Dashi sachets in the fridge, I just fold the lip of the sachets over and secure them with a paper clip. They can last for years this way.

 

 

French Onion Soup

(serves 6-8 )
It is amazing that something as simple as onions can make such a fantastic soup. All this thanks to that someone ages ago who discovered that the sugar in onions caramelizes when it is slow cooked in oil, bringing out the onion’s hidden natural sweetness. This is a really labour intensive and time consuming soup, but it’s well worth the effort. You can serve it as is, or oven-baked with a cheese topping.

Ingredients 

1. Oxtail (2 pieces)
2. Onions (4 big)
3. Butter (50g)
4. Bay Leaves
5. Thyme
6. Garlic (4 cloves)
7. Oxo Beef Cubes (2)
8. Sherry

Optional Ingredients

1. Gruyere Cheese (100g)
2. French Baguette (1 short)
3. Flour (2T)
4. Miso (2t)

1. Start by making your stock. Into 5 cups of boiling water, add your ox tail, 4 bay leaves, 4 cloves of garlic, 1T thyme. Mash 2 oxo cubes in a bowl with a bit of hot soup first and add this to the stock as well. 
2. Simmer for at least two hours, or longer if you wish.
3. Slice your 4 onions into 1/4 inch rings. Using a heavy non stick pan, stir-fry the onions in a quater block of butter under low heat for about 45 minutes. The onion rings will slowly caramelize into a deep yellow colour and shrink to one quarter of their original volume. A sign that your onions are done is when they stop whistling. (you can do part 2 and 3 concurrently)
4. Strain the solids from the stock. Ladle some beef stock into the pan and then empty the pan’s contents back into your stock pot.
5. Simmer for a further half hour (you’ll need to stir occasionally as it sticks to the bottom) to bring out the full flavour of the onions.
6. Season with, 2T (or more) of sherry, 2t sugar, 2t miso, a generous sprinkle of black pepper. Stir and add salt to taste.
7. For best results, allow to cool and reheat before serving.

Baked Option (you’ll need ramekins)

1. Have your onion soup refrigerated. This stops the bread from soaking completely through before the cheese browns.
2. Preheat the oven to 180^oC (350^oF).
3. Medium grate your Guyere.
4. Slice six pieces of your french loaf diagonally so they just fit across the remekins and toast  them a bit (again to stop the soup fom soaking through too fast)
5. Pour your cold onion soup into your remekins, filling only 3/4 of the way up. Put a piece of bread on top of soup and then heap cheese on till it covers both the bread and any gaps.
6. Bake till cheese melts and begins to brown, about twenty minutes. Serve immediately.

Notes

• If you want to use flour, sprinkle in 2T of flour 3 minutes before the onions are done frying, and deglaze slowly while stirring. This is a trade off. The flour will bind away some of the oil that would otherwise film on your soup and give it a bit more body. However, you no longer have a clear soup. I do it both ways, depending on what else I am serving during the meal.
• Instead of oxtail you can use beef ribs or any part of the cow that has plenty of connective tissue.
• Isn’t Miso Japanese? What’s it doing in a French soup? Trust me, Miso goes really well with onions. If you have never used it before, check out my post on Miso Paste.
• Why aren’t I using French wine? I prefer sherry as it brings out the sweetness of the onions.
• If you can’t find Gruyere, either Raclette or Emmental are good alternatives. For further details, refer to my Cheese Page.
  

 

Mushroom Soup, with Truffle Oil

(serves 8 )
Had that bowl of mushroom soup at some fancy reastaurant that looks or tastes nothing like canned mushroom soup? This is that soup. Using a generous amount of mushrooms blended in chicken stock brings your mushroom soup to a whole new level, but this recipe goes a bit further. It also uses a little white sauce as a base, to give the soup a nice solid creamy structure.

I just love the intense aroma and taste of truffles. You don’t have to use truffle oil if you don’t want to, but really…if there is one thing that goes perfectly with truffle essence, it’s mushroom soup.  Truffle oil contains very little truffle and is not expensive, and a small bottle of it goes a long way. You won’t regret your investment.

Ingredients

1. Portobello Mushrooms (150g)
2. White Button Mushrooms (150g)
3. Red Onion (1)
4. Flour
5. Milk (1.5 cups)
6. Butter (40g)
7. Sage
8. Coriander Seed Powder
9. Cognac
10. Truffle Oil (optional)

Preparation

1. Start by dicing your mushrooms into smaller pieces (and a few slices if you plan using them decoratively).  You should end up with about 6 cups of chopped mushrooms.
2. Julienne a red onion into small bits. In a soup pot, fry the onion in 2T of butter on low heat for about 8 minutes, until they start whistling.
3. While the onion is sweating, make some chicken stock with 1 chicken cube in 3 cups of hot water. Add the stock to the pot, followed by 1t sugar, 1t coriander seed powder and 1t sage.
   
4. Boil the chopped mushrooms in the stock for 10 minutes, it may seem like you have way too many mushrooms at first, but they will wilt down. You can never have too much mushroom.
5. Next, lightly blend the mushrooms and onion in the stock. I normally just use do the blending in the pot, but you could do it in a food processor if you don’t have an immersion blender. Your objective is to end up with a grainy mushroom texture, not a puree, so go easy on the blending.
6. In a sauce pan on low heat, melt 30g (1/4 of a stick) of butter and then stir fry 2T of flour in the butter until the flour darkens slightly. Stirring-mashing with a spatula the entire time, add 1.5 cups of milk. To avoid lumping, you should pour in only a bit of the milk at a time and hold off on adding more milk until the roux has assimilated all the liquid. You should have a nice thick white sauce when you are done.
7. Next, turn up the heat and stir in some of the mushroom soup, again slowly. When the contents of the saucepan has become fluid,  pour the entire pan’s content back into the soup pot.
8. Add 1T of cognac and reheat. Finally season your soup with salt to taste. To be safe, don’t add too much salt at a time.
9. If you are planning to use truffle oil, drizzle 1t of it on the individual soup dishes themselves just before serving.

Notes

• As you might expect, the key to an exceptional mushroom soup lies in the mushrooms. Portobello is my first choice as it has a large gill surface that imparts lots of flavour and colour to the soup. White Button mushrooms are the perfect partner to Portobello as you want to have a mix of at least one dark and one light variety to create a nice grainy look.
• You can also use shimeji or shitake; or generally any kind of mushrooms with a similar texture to those already mentioned. The more varieties of mushrooms you use, the merrier. Crunchy varieties of mushrooms however, like Straw mushrooms, Oyster mushrooms or Enoki are to be avoided.  
• For a nice visual effect you can try a number of things. Put aside some cooked mushroom slices before blending, and/or also some of the blended mushroom. You can add these as decorative elements after spooning the soup into the dish (refer to the top picture).
• Shouldn’t we use real chicken for the stock? Actually, yes. I usually make my own stock by simmering chicken wings for several hours. Wings (as opposed to, say breast) result in a soup with higher collagen content and better flavour. Using real chicken also allows me to add a porcini stock cube instead of a chicken cube, building even more layers of  flavour. But, I didn’t mention any of this in the main recipe as I don’t want to make things overly complicated.  
• I sometimes use Hon Dashi granules instead of plain salt, it adds a subtle smoky flavour. Preserved anchovies fried with and mashed into the onions is another great supplement to plain salt.   
• High heat in oil is the only way of avoiding a floury taste, so never add flour directly to your soup.
• You can’t add more than a light drizzle of truffle oil. If you want a full blown truffle taste without using fresh truffle shavings, you can try truffle pate instead of truffle oil, which is mostly made from mushrooms anyway. This is my page on truffle produce.

 

Bouillabaisse Soup

(serves 8 )
The ‘authentic’ Bouillabaisse is meant to be a meal in itself. This however is just a recipe for a soup, hence it is called Bouillabaisse Soup. It may not be a true bouillabaisse but this recipe is much much faster than making the real thing, because it allows you to bypass hours of simmering. The important thing is – it tastes just as good.

Ingredients

1. Lobster (2 halves)
2. Tiger Prawns with heads (8)
3. Salmon (300g)
4. Mussles in-shell (8)
5. Smoked Clams (2 tins)
6. Cream of Tomato soup (2 cans).
7. Leek (large, 1 stalk)
8. Garlic (1 bulb = 12 cloves)
9. Bicarbonate of Soda
10. Orange Peel
11. Chopped Basil
12. Saffron Powder
13. Coriander Powder
14. Cognac

Preparation

1. Into a large bowl, empty the 2 cans of tomato soup. Add 1t (flat) of bicarbonate of soda to the condensed soup and stir every few minutes for a quarter of an hour. Fine bubbles will foam up as you stir, this is normal. Allow to sit for a further 15 minutes. Eventually the tomato mixture will darken to a deep red, forming the rich base for your bouillabaisse.
2. While you wait, prepare some fish stock by dissolving 2 fish stock cubes (or 4T of  Hon Dashi pellets) in a cup of hot water. Julienne the white of the leek into thin rings. Peel a garlic bulb. Leave half of the garlic as cloves and put the other half through a garlic press to mince it.
3. Pan fry in some oil your leek rings and the garlic bulbs until the leek softens. Then add the salmon. When the salmon is cooked, check where you think there might be bones (usually near the belly cavity) and remove them. For this soup I like to have all my fish mashed into flakes, but that’s up to you. If you want some whole fish pieces, substitute part of the salmon with cod, and add it right at the end.
4. Finally add the cup of fish stock to deglaze and pour everything into a big pot. Next add the tomato mixture to the pot, followed by a further 2 cups of water. Bring to a simmer and add the rest of the seafood.
5. Also add 1t of orange zest (grated peel), 1t of saffron powder, 1t of powdered coriander seed, the minced garlic and simmer for half an hour and leave covered until its time to serve.
6. Before serving, reboil and then add 2T of cognac, flavour with salt and pepper to taste. I will normally de-shelled the prawns and lobster after they have been boiled in the bouillabaisse, shred the meat then put it back into the soup, leaving the lobster claws and prawn heads as decorative pieces. You can leave them as they are if you are lazy. In each soup dish, arrange a few pieces of seafood in a manner pleasing to the eye and then at the table, dish on the soup in front of your guests and finish off with a generous garnishing of chopped basil (or mint).

Notes

• A whole long story accompanies any bouillabaisse recipe, so here goes….Bouillabaisse is a seafood stew from the Mediterranean which the French, particularly those from Marseille, have laid claim to. In English, I’m told bouillabaisse means to boil and simmer, which is how the dish is made. End of story.
• Purists will insist on using 10 kinds of fish, fennel seeds instead of coriander, Pernod instead of cognac, saffron threads instead of saffron powder etc. Just admit to them this is a fake bouillabaisse. In fact, to save yourself some trouble, never discuss the preparation of your bouillabaisse soup.
• Traditionally when you are served bouillabaisse, it comes with bread. It is also ‘proper’ to serve the seafood separately to be eaten with ‘rouille’, which is just a fancy name for herbed mayonnaise. Don’t bother if you are not in France (oh heaven forbid if someday this gets translated into French). This is just a soup, and over-boiled seafood never tastes good anyway.
• The key shortcut of this recipe is the use of canned tomato soup and bicarbonate of soda. It simulates hours of simmering. If you’re unfamiliar with bicarbonate of soda, look here.
• You can substitute or add any kind of seafood, fresh, frozen or canned, no one will be able to tell the difference after such heavy boiling. I have tried using frozen oysters, and they fit well. Just make sure there is always a generous combination of fish, crustaceans, and shell fish.