Finnish Salmon Soup

Through an order mishap, I had a spare serving of salmon from my online order at Coastal Seafoods, and not a lot of time to eat it in, what with already making oyster stew, gravlax, and lamb shanks in the coming days. So tonight I made a solo (plus) portion of this salmon soup. Because it is blizzarding, and I was already drinking Austrian mulled wine, so why not carry forth with more warm deliciousness?! 

This soup was really easy and perfect tonight - buttery broth, fresh dill, creamy potatoes and tender salmon - all while the wind howls and the snow falls, what is not to love? This soup is ready in about 30 minutes, and I made the fish broth as suggested, by boiling the salmon skin in water for 10 minutes. It totally works, though it is a pretty light broth. I thought I had some shrimp shells stashed in the freezer somewhere for just this sort of need, but I couldn't locate them if I do. If you have clam broth, or fish stock around, I think that would make things even tastier. But if not, this does the job.

The recipe is from a food blogger I had forgotten about; I made her nut and fruit paleo bread some years ago, and was thinking about making it again in recent days, which is what prompted me to revisit her blog and subsequently see this recipe. The only thing I did differently was to use onion instead of leeks, (I had no leek), and I had a red potato, not a russet. I am pasting her original recipe below. (It was easy to shrink to 1/3, though this would make excellent leftovers.)

Ingredients

• 1 lb skin-on salmon filet
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 large leek, trimmed, sliced, and well rinsed
• 5 cups water (you can also use fish stock)
• 1 lb russet potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 1 cup (10g) fresh dill for garnish, finely chopped, divided
• 1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
• 1/4 tsp allspice, use more to taste
• salt and pepper to taste 

• Remove the skin from the salmon and cut into largish chunks. Remove any small pin bones and discard. Reserve the skin.
• Melt the butter in a soup pot and saute the leeks for 10 minutes, or until nice and soft.
• While the leeks are cooking, put 5 cups of water and the reserved fish skin in a saucepan and bring to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Note: if you are using fish stock you can skip this step.
• Strain the broth and add to the pan with the leeks, along with the potatoes, carrots, and half of the fresh dill. Cook for another 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are just tender.
• Add the salmon chunks to the soup along with the cream and allspice, and gently simmer on low heat until cooked through, just a few minutes. Add the remaining dill, and salt and pepper to taste.
   
  

Gochujang meatballs and Korean potato pancakes

I am a fan of meatballs. They are easy, they are cheap, and they make good leftovers. So I was excited when I came across a Korean style-meatball recipe, primarily meaning the recipe includes gochujang (Korean chili paste), which I had never had before. In the interest of minimizing shopping trips, I checked the co-op when I was there last for gochujang, which they had and I bought. United Noodle would have many more options! I did not read the label until after I made the meatballs, upon which I saw that there is wheat flour in this particular version. I ate some meatballs anyways, and so far am not having gluten intolerant reactions. (I looked up gochujang paste ingredients, which were mostly in Korean, and seem to often include barley, sometimes wheat. So. One could make their own gochujang, at least a modified version of it, if you want gluten allergen certainty.)

I thought the meatballs turned out great - they were more moist than my usual meatballs, which made me wonder if I often overcook them, or if this particular combo of an egg and half cup of almond flour really made the difference. The original recipe from Food52 also included a gochijang/apricot glaze that I did not make, and is probably delicious, because adding a little more sweet usually is! Instead I ate the meatballs with kimchi, which was really nice.

I decided to also try making korean potato pancakes, though I used my veggie julienner rather than a grater (because I only have a very tiny or extra large grater), and I did a combo of rutabega, potato, and a carrot instead of all potato. And added coconut flour and an egg. So. It's maybe more accurate to say korean-inspired potato (and more) pancake. I did add some green onion, and made a sauce with tamari and rice wine vinegar, which is the thing that distinguishes them from my latkes. They were delicious - I mean, you can't go wrong, ever really, with fried potato/root veggie pancake things. (The sauce was also good with the meatballs.)

Gochujang Meatballs, serves 2-4

• 2 green onions, very thinly sliced
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
  
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
  
• 1 pound ground beef
  
• ¹/₂ cup almond flour
  
• 2 tablespoons gochujang (Korean chili paste)
  
• 2 tsp ground ginger
  
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  
• ¹/₂ teaspoon ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Combine all of the ingredients well. Form into 1" balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. I put mine under the broiler for the last few minutes to brown the tops. Serve with kimchi! (Or see original recipe linked above for apricot glaze if you want to eat more appetizer style.)

Gamjajeon-inspired Potato Pancakes, serves 2

• 1 medium red or yellow potato, shredded
  
• 1+ c shredded rutabega
• 1 shredded carrot
• 1/4 small onion, minced
• 1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
• 1 egg
• 1 T coconut flour 
• oil for frying (I used coconut oil)
  

Combine all ingredients. Mixture should be moistened, but still fairly dry. Heat oil in a skillet on med-high heat. Pile handful or large spoonful of veggie mix in pan and flatten. Fry 4-5 minutes on each side, until crisp and browned. Set aside and continue frying until all "batter" is used.

Make a dipping sauce of:

• 1 T tamari
• 1 tsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp honey or sweetener of choice
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp water

*I ate leftover meatballs with Okonomiyaki the next night (this time it was just cabbage, carrots and green onion - no nettles), with the sauce listed there and some mayo. Also very good. I also thought about using meatballs in egg foo young...maybe that is what will happen to the last few!

Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus, and Tarragon

Yesterday's garden harvest included the first 3 spears of Asparagus (I have a fledgling patch that I am in the process of bolstering), a trio of green onions, some dandelion greens for a salad, and fresh tarragon. I actually pulled a lot more dandelions while prepping my community garden plot, but that was mid-day and they didn't make it in my home-bound bucket. I ended up walking home from my garden plot with my rather large metal trash can atop my head (carrying said bucket), because really that is the best way to carry such a vessel. It was a bit awkward and I had to use my arms to keep it up there, but, I mention it because it was a delight from the day, ferrying a large thing the 8 blocks between here and there in such a manner!

At least an hour of my fasting days involves me thinking about what I want to eat for Iftar, so after harvesting the asparagus, I set to consider how to eat them. Maybe wait until Suhur, the pre-dawn Ramadan meal, and have them with eggs? I thought that was the plan until I spied how much tarragon came up, overnight it seems, and decided I wanted potatoes, tarragon, and the asparagus to eat with some steak. I love tarragon. I planted it last year, and it proliferated in great abundance, so I started putting it in everything: roasted carrots, salads, potatoes, chicken, eggs. It reminds me of my teenage years working at Hotel Sofitel where their house salad dressing was a creamy tarragon, and they made a bernaise sauce to go with the pommes frittes. Which, come to think of it, would be really delicious (I just looked it up, bearnaise is a hollandaise-like sauce with tarragon and white wine and vinegar, withe butter and egg). Anyway, the tarragon came back up this year, before the mint, even!

This dish was simple. The tarragon crisps up in the roasting pan with the green onions, the potatoes are crunchy and creamy, and the first asparagus - well i can't wait for more. I am not including amounts here, use whatever you have.

Roasted Potatoes, Asparagus, and Tarragon
potatoes (red or gold are nice), diced
asparagus spears, chopped
green onions, chopped - separate green and white parts
fresh tarragon leaves - as many as you have!
salt & pepper
olive oil

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Start with the potatoes, doused with olive oil in a baking pan, with enough room to all be in one layer. Roast for 12ish minutes. Pull them out, add the asparagus and white parts of the onion, and toss and turn everything so the potatoes land on a new side to brown and the veggies get coated in the olive oil. Roast for another 8-10 minutes, add the tarragon and green onions, and repeat the toss/turn. Roast for a final 8-10 minutes. Salt everything, and serve.

Winter Stew

I was craving a good, hearty stew, and found a package of brisket in my freezer. It was quite a fatty piece of brisket (is that always the case? I'm not sure), which I opted to cook with all the fat intact and keep in the stew. It was my first time using my wood stove as a cook top (other than for heating water or to melt butter or toast seeds) - why have I not done this before?? It was so perfect! I set my dutch oven on top and it simmered away all day as if it were a crock pot.

I followed this recipe for root veggie stew, with barely a tweak. I added rosemary because I have an enormous pot of it next to the counter, which means I put rosemary in just about everything right now. I also served it with sauerkraut, adding it just when I am ready to eat to try and preserve some of the ferment benefits. This stew, particularly, is delicious with the kraut. Maybe it's all the root veggies, or the extra fat, I don't know. But the tangy kraut with the soft veggies and hunks of beef is perfect.

Winter Stew (makes 6-8 servings)
2+ lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-2″ pieces
2 rutabagas, chopped
4 turnips, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
3 small potatoes, chopped
3 stalks celery, diced
1 large onion, diced
3 tomatoes, diced
Olive Oil or butter
1+ cup red wine
2 cups beef bone broth
sea salt
crushed pepper to taste
sprig of rosemary
*sauerkraut to serve (opt)

1. In a cast iron skillet or pan, heat 2-3 tbs olive oil or butter.  Add the onion, celery and carrots.  Saute until the onions are translucent and the celery has cooked through.  Set Aside.
2. In a heavy bottomed dutch oven, heat 2 tbls olive oil (unless your meat is extra fatty like mine, in which case just use the fat on the beef). Brown the stew meat.
3. Add the onion, celery, carrot mixture and tomatoes to the beef stew meat and saute for an additional 3-5 minutes.
4. Incorporate the beef stock, red wine, turnips and rutabagas.
5. Season with sea salt and crushed pepper. Throw in a rosemary twig or two.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 2-3 hours. (I actually simmered mine for about 5 hours until the beef was really tender.)
7. 20 minutes before serving, add the potatoes and simmer until they are soft.
8. Serve with sauerkraut on top.

Resplendent Rosemary plant!

Blog return: GF Sunchoke latkes

I have made all kinds of interesting things lately, and decided to return to blog posting in order to have a recipe compilation location. And because it is fun!!

I harvested my sunchokes in May I think, and still have a drawer-full in my fridge that I am finally turning back to. There were so many other veggies there for awhile! Now, I am lamenting the end of my greens. I made these latkes this morning that were delicious: nutty from the sunchokes, with carrot and potato mixed in. I free-formed the recipe a bit, modeled after this one from an internet search. I am listing the amounts, but obviously vegetable sizes differ. It seems forgiving.

The addition of rosemary and onion are thanks to my friend, self-dubbed the "resident jew," who was here for breakfasting.

Sunchoke-Carrot Latkes - made 15

4 sunchokes
2 golden potatoes
3 carrots
1/3 c oat flour (ground oats)
2 tsp salt (or to taste)
2 eggs
Black pepper
1/2 small red onion, minced
1 T fresh rosemary* chopped
*or try tarragon or thyme
4-6 T Coconut oil for frying


1) Grate or shred carrots, sunchokes, and potatoes. Use a medium sized box grater, or if you have a special grater, use that. I have an old 1970s one like this in the middle right/lower left:

2) Mix all ingredients in a large bowl by hand.

3) Heat a large cast iron skillet on medium-high, and add some coconut oil. When pan is hot, form thin palm-sized pancakes. Fry for 4-5 minutes on each side until crispy. Keep warm in oven until all are made.

We had these with fried eggs and salad. I neglected to consider sriracha at the time, but that would be delicious (as noted in aforementioned recipe source, with poached eggs).

Abgusht

I found this recipe in a novel I read a few years ago called Pomegrante Soup. I modified this recipe from one with Lamb in it that they made in the book.

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1-2 onions, chopped

boneless chicken of your choice ( I like to use some breast meat and some thighs)

1tsp Tumeric

sauté the above, then add:

1 tsp Paprika

1 c. yellow split peas, rinsed well

8c water (about)

chopped carrots

3-6 average size potatoes chopped, Yukon gold is nice

2tsp salt (I am not usually a salt person, but this recipe really benefits from it)

1tsp black pepper

1-2 tomatoes chopped or some tomato paste/sauce

1-2 dried limes (you can get them at Bill’s on West Lake Street)

a pinch of saffron threads dissolved in a few TBLSP hot water

1tsp ground cardamom

1tsp ground cinnamon

1tsp ground cumin

Then cook in a big pot for 1-2hours.

Squeeze and remove dried limes, then mash or food process the stew when cooled for best texture and flavor dispersal.

Potato, Green Bean and Tomato Salad

This potato salad is the best of summer. Red potatoes from the CSA, beans and basil from the farmer's market, and sun gold cherry tomatoes from the garden.

2 lbs small red potatoes, quartered
1/4 lb green beans, halved
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

Vinaigrette:
Blend 2 T. champagne vinegar, 4 T. olive oil, 1/4 cup (or more) chopped basil, 1 clove minced garlic, 1/2 t. salt

Steam potatoes until just tender, adding beans to blanch for the last minute or two of steaming. Put potatoes, beans and tomatoes in a bowl and toss with the vinaigrette.

green bean and potato salad.

My mom's husband has to have a potato at every meal. And, let's admit it, I love a potato as much as the next person. So, when I was charged with making a side dish for dinner at my mom's house, I searched the well-loved Smitten Kitchen for something fun and fresh and delicious; to liven up the potato as side dish. I settled on the Arugula, Potato, and Green Bean Salad with Creamy Walnut Dressing, with a few modifications based on what we had on hand. You can link to Smitten Kitchen's post in the title.

Here are the modifications I made:

-I used romaine and baby greens in place of arugula, but next time I will make the effort to get arugula because I think the peppery flavor would be really delicious with the rest of the ingredients.

-I used olive oil and a little bit of truffle oil in place of walnut oil because we didn't have any. someday, I will plan ahead and get all the ingredients for a recipe, but usually I end up having to substitute at least one thing and I've averted disaster so far.

So, that's how I made it. It was easy and delicious and it pleased everyone, including the potato purist who used to hate eating anything green until he started growing his own vegetables. So, I'll call it a success. Smitten Kitchen comes through once again.

Latkes!

Although it was just Purim, which is not a holiday for latkes, I made some anyways. I have made them before, but never quite so precisely. And never have they turned out so delicious! I made a big batch for future use, refrigerated them, and then heated them up on baking trays to eat crispy and hot (Heat at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or so). I was doubtful, but they tasted just as good as fresh off the griddle. (Note the clever use of grandma's lefse griddle for the latkes - so industrious!)

I have a few latkes left in my freezer so that I can whip up some eggs benedict or eggs florentine anytime...which is a miracle for my gluten free eating habits and my love of eggs benedict. The latke recipe I used is a Smitten Kitchen one (of course). Squeezing the excess potato/onion water out via cheesecloth is GENIUS. I made mine gluten free using Bob's GF baking flour with no discernible difference.

One of these days I will actually find a hollandaise recipe that I like, but until then, I'll eat eggs florentine without the sauce. For these ones I steamed thinly sliced collard greens in salt water, drained them, sauteed them with some butter, and then poached a couple of eggs to put on top.

Braised Pork, Cabbage, and Roasted Potatoes

For my mom's birthday, I made her a birthday feast of Braised Pork with Apples and Cider Sauce, Braised Red Cabbage, and Roasted Potatoes. And Pink Cake for dessert. The pork and cabbage recipes are from "Savoring the Seasons" by Beth Dooley and Lucia Watson.

Braised Pork:
Pork Roast (we used two pieces of pork roast that were about 5lbs total)
4 tbsp butter
3 scallions, chopped
5 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup brandy
3 cups apple cider
3 cups chicken stock
1 tbsp dried thyme
bay leaf
8 peppercorns

preheat oven to 350F.
heat the butter in a large, deep pan over medium high heat. sear the
pork roast on all sides. remove the meat from the pan and add the
scallions, apples, carrots, and onion and sauté. when the veggies are
soft, add the brandy and boil for 1 minute. add the cider, stock,
thyme, bay leaf and peppercorns. place pork roast in a roasting pan
and pour veggies/liquid over the pork. roast in oven for 2 1/4-2 3/4
hours, until meat reaches 160F on a meat thermometer. we served the
veggie/stock/cider mixture on the side and poured over the pork. the
recipe says you can also reduce it and make more of a gravy or puree
the veggies into the stock to make a thicker sauce.

Braised Red Cabbage:
3 strips bacon or 2 tbsp butter
1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 medium head red cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup cider vinegar
2 tart apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1/2 cup apple cider1/3 cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste

in a large, deep skillet, fry the bacon (or if using oil or butter, heat over medium heat). leave the drippings in the pan and drain the
bacon on paper towels. crumble the bacon and set aside for garnish.
sauté the onion until soft and brown. toss the shredded cabbage with the vinegar, then add this, along with the remaining ingredients (except the salt and pepper), to the pot and simmer, uncovered, until the cabbage is bright and tender (it should not get soggy), about 20 minutes. season with salt and pepper to taste.

Roasted Potatoes:
simple and delicious. this is my favorite way to cook potatoes.dice potatoes, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. add whole cloves of garlic, still in the paper.

roast at 400F for 45 min-1 hour, depending on how crispy you like
them. in my case, very crispy.

pierogis

these are based on the roasted yam pierogi recipe in the rebar cookbook, i made some minor changes and improvised on a second filling. we ate them with pickled beets, horseradish and sour cream and they were amazing.

filling #1 (roasted yam+gouda):

2lbs yams

2 tbsp butter

3 leeks, mostly whites, chopped

1 tsp salt

1/2lb smoked gouda, grated

1/2 tsp black pepper

-preheat oven to 400. scrub yams and poke with a fork. place on an oiled baking pan, add 1 cup of water to the pan and roast in the oven until very soft and puffy. cool, then peel or mash until smooth.

-while yams are roasting, saute leeks and salt in butter until lightly golden.

-combine leeks, mashed yams, grated cheese and chives. season with salt and pepper. refrigerate until ready to use. can be made ahead of time.

filling #2 (potato+swiss):

2lbs potatoes

1/2 tsp salt

1/2lb swiss cheese, grated

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 cup minced chives

-boil potatoes until soft, then mash. combine all ingredients. refrigerate until ready to use. can be made ahead of time.

dough:

4 cups flour

3/4 tsp salt

4 egg yolks

1 cup boiling water

2 tbsp vegetable oil

-mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. add remaining ingredients and mix until a smooth dough forms. cover and let rest at room temperature for 30 min.

-divide into quarters and roll out until about 1/8" thick or less. use a glass with a 3" diameter to cut dough into rounds. fill with a good teaspoonful of filling and press edges firmly to seal.

-boil pierogis until they begin to rise to the surface of the water, about 5 minutes. remove with a slotted spoon, drain, and toss with melted butter.

-this recipe makes lots and lots of pierogis, our freezer is filled with pierogis so i can look forward to a winter full of pierogis which makes it worth all the hand rolling and filling and folding that this recipe entails. to freeze, line uncooked pierogi on parchment paper on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. then store in an airtight container.

Potato leek soup

When I got my first apartment in college (and hence my first kitchen) I was totally lost, subsisting largely on cereal, rice and chili from a box. After listening to me gripe enough about my severe lack of good, home-cooked food, my grandma nudged me in the direction of my first potato soup ("Really, honey, it's very easy"). I'll never forget how lovingly she walked me step-by-step through what must have seemed so elementary to her (chicken broth, oil, onions, potatoes).



Fast forward 10 (?!) years and potato soup is still a regular fixture in my fall/winter kitchen. And since it's finally been feeling consistently fall-like I decided to give in and make my first pot of potato leek soup this season. Based loosely on Mark Bittman's and Irene Oster's (that's my grandma) recipes.

Some leeks (2-4), cleaned and thinly chopped
Some potatoes (4-6), diced, skins on when possible
Some salt and pepper
Some butter
Some stock
Some cream, if you want
Some garlic, if you want

In a frying pan, brown the leeks and garlic until they're good and flavorful. If you're feeling ambitious, brown the potatoes a bit too. Deglaze the pan and put everything into a soup kettle. Add enough stock to just cover the leeks and potatoes. Salt and pepper as much as you like and boil until the potatoes are tender. I like the soup better blended, and an immersion blender (about $10 on Craigslist) does the trick nicely. Stir in a bit of cream just before serving if you like a richer soup.

Ok, this is the most important part: MAKE EXTRA. The flavors in this soup improve markedly as it sits in your fridge and waits for the inevitable leftover night.