Soup Therapy

While spending the holidays with family in Ottawa, I made a huge pot of nice soup. It wasn't really anything fancy but for a group of people who would only need a phone to order takeout in place of a kitchen, homemade soup is something of a treat. Plus I was getting sick of eating shitty food.

As one would expect, I started by caramelizing some onions after which I deglazed the pan with about half a glass of merlot. To this I added carrots, celery, garlic, a red pepper, a de-seeded jalapeno pepper, a can of organic chick peas, two boxes of organic chicken stock, a big can of tomato juice, cayenne pepper, celery seeds, bay leaves, salt and black pepper. Surprisingly the soup was really good. Maybe I was just hungry for good food though.

When we got back home, I replicated the recipe with the addition of salmon, halibut and mackeral. I also changed some of the ingredients such as vegetable stock in place of chicken stock and white wine instead of merlot. The results were different but both were pretty good.

Maple Syrup, Ancho Chili and Rum Caramelized Salmon

Sugar, spice, booze and arguably the best fish ever to swim in water are a match made in heaven. Or in my kitchen.

There's nothing too complicated about this recipe. I fried salmon in a bit of canola oil, flipped it over then poured in some maple syrup, a generous few pinches of smoky dark ancho chili powder, and a splash of white rum (be careful if you have a gas range...you don't want to flambé your forehead). I then turned the salmon in it, letting the edges caramelize as it cooked, making sure not to overheat the sauce thus causing it to burn. Maybe a bit of garlic would have been a good addition. But this worked nonetheless. Simple and yummy.

Grilled Salmon

Salmon is something I consider to be a product that needs no help. Cured, smoked, raw or cooked, salmon has a killer flavour that is a real treat. Here I didn’t try to annihilate the flavour. I simply cut a slit in the salmon fillet, stuffed it with fresh dill, thin onion slices, and lemon. I strapped it all together and voila.

I think that the results would have been best if I’d made a sauce with the dill, the onions and some grill lemon (which is really great if you’ve never tried it...mellows out the juices). The salmon sort of started falling apart and, as usual, I didn’t cook the flesh enough. I have a hard time with that. My well done steaks always come off medium-rare. I need a small meat thermometer or something.

Anyways, the grilled salmon has room for improvement. Maybe basted with maple syrup next time with a small amount of Dijon and dill sauce. Mmm...sounds good.

Pâté au saumon with Funky Salad

I was sitting at my desk at work and suddenly I had a craving for pâté au saumon, a Québécois expat food I grew up on. What this meal is is basically just a meat pie whose protein is salmon. The only salmon that might be found in the middle of the Boreal forest where I'm from are those who are hopelessly lost or cans of this rich pink fish. So it's a Pacific sockeye salmon meat pie in a Québec recipe, made by a guy from Northern Ontario whose presently residing in New Brunswick. How's that for an all-Canadian meal?! (Sorry prairies...)

To offset things, I made a recipe from the best known British chef, Jamie Oliver. When it comes to greens, I would like to consider myself an amature. Truth be told, I think most of us cringe at the thought of paying for and eating something called "dandelion greens".

"Isn't that the crap that grows in my front yard that's full of ants I just can't seem to get rid of?" you ask.

"Why yes," answers the celebrity chef. "Would you like to pay me a ridiculous price to eat them?"

"I think I do Mr. Celebrity Chef. I think I do. Your popularity persuades me."

Ridicule aside, the salad was a bit too expensive for my tastes. Many of the ingredients in this salad recipe aren't readilly available unless you live in a metropolis. These ingredients include fennel, arugula, dandelion leaves, watercress, baby chard, asparagus, and fresh chervil. I found everything except the chard and watercress. They were out of chard so the only thing really not found was the watercress. And the only reason I found any of the other ingredients is because they opened a new grocery store in town and are making an effort to be cutting edge. After a while they'll have wasted so much produce that it'll be back to iceberg and romaine lettuce.

Pat's pâté au saumon

Dough...super flaky and rich...the best ever!!!

200ml shortening

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vinegar

1 egg

200ml water

1. Cut shortening into flour.

2. Add salt, vinegar, the egg and water. Mix well. The dough should be pretty sticky. Refrigerate till ready to use.

Filling

1/4 cup carrot, brunoise (cut julienne and then cut into small cubes)

1/4 cup celery, brunoise

1/3 cup onion, brunoise

1 tbsp olive oil

450g canned sockeye salmon (I just used two 213ml cans)

1 cup cooked and mashed potato flesh (it's good to use leftover baked potatoes)

2 tbsp sour cream

1 egg

1/2 tbsp lemon zest

1/2 tbsp fennel greens and chervil (or dill or parsley...I just happened to have these herbs on hand)

salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sweat the carrot, celery and onion in olive oil till soft. It's best to keep the lid on for this since the goal is to keep the humidity in the pot with the vegetables.

2. Mix together the salmon, mashed potato flesh, sour cream and egg. Fold in sweated vegetables, lemon zest and herbs. Season to taste.

3. Take dough out of fridge, roll out and layer into a greased 8 1/2 inch (or 22cm) wide pie dish. Dump salmon mixture into the prepared pie bottom.

4. Place another sheet of dough on top of the pie and crimp edges. Poke or cut holes in top of pie.

5. Cook pie in 425 degree oven for 10 minutes then bring temperature down to 350 degrees and cook for 30 minutes.

6. Serve hot.

Sorry that my measurement systems are all over the place. That's what happens when you live in a non-metric system country beside the largest metric system country in the world. Maybe it's time for the US to join the rest of the world and convert.

Curried Salmon Soup

Forging on with our soup suppers, I made a sort of Indian-ish/east coast soup whose main features are yellow curry paste and coconut. Being in a medium sized Canadian town, I had to cross my fingers and hope that the only Asian food store in the city would have yellow curry paste. Luckily for me, they did have curry paste and the friendly guy at the counter told me that coconut milk and yellow curry paste with chunks of baguette is a great way to have it. This soup is along those lines. It also looks nothing like the picture in the cookbook...I'm sure those food stylists used dye or something. Stlylists! Phaw!

Curried Salmon Soup

1/4 cup butter

2 onions, roughly chopped

3 tsp mild curry paste

2 cups water

2/3 cup white wine

1 1/4 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup creamed coconut or 1/2 cup coconut cream....I used coconut milk...you work with what you got

2 potatoes, cubed

1 lb salmon filet, skinned and cut into bitesize pieces

4 tbsp chopped fresh flat leaf parsley...use the rest of the bunch to make tabbouleh

salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt butter in a large pan, add the onions and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until beginning to soften. Stir in the curry paste. Cook for 1 minute more.

2. Add the water, wine, cream and creamed coconut or coconut cream, with seasoning. Bring to the boil, stirring until the coconut has dissolved

3. Add the potatoes to the pan. Simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes or until they are tender. Note: I forgot the covered part of this recipe and ended up having to add water as it evaporated all which caused the potatoes to take twice as long to cook. Do not allow the potatoes to break down into the mixture.

4. Add the fish gently so as not to break it up. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until just cooked. Add the parsley and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately.

We gave this one a 3.5 out of 5. And also featured in this entry is the appearance of our new bowls. Sexy, non?