Improvised Hot and Sour Seafood Soup

 

This was totally improvised based on flavors friends have suggested. 

I have herbs leftover from hosting previous dinners (I’ll have to throw them out soon) and a lot of spices, and I have laver, shrimp, and mussels but nothing else of seafood. (I really do need to get more clams, squid, and fish for my freezer.)

• 3 cups water
• 1 shrimp bouillon
• 1 tblsp hondashi
• half a stalk of lemongrass, roughly chopped
• 1/2 galangal, sliced
• 6-8 Thai basil leaves
• 1 chipotle
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• half cup soaked laver
• 6 large shrimps, peeled and deveined
• 6 mussels
• 1 tblsp sesame oil
• 1 egg, beaten

1. Boil water with shrimp bouillon, hondashi, lemongrass, galangal, Thai basil, chipotle, and lime juice. 
2. Strain the broth and add the laver, shrimp, and mussels to cook through.
3. Stirred in some sesame oil and a beaten egg at the end.

Simplified French Bouillabaisse

I had such a wonderful time making Vietnamese Bouillabaisse (Súp Đồ Biển) for Good Friday, I decided to do a modified version of French Bouillabaisse for my personal Seafood Friday. 

There was no measurement. I think this is an easy dish with throwing in any amount as desired and seasoned to taste. 

1. Sweat the diced onion in olive oil, then add minced garlic and fry over medium heat for a few minutes.
2. Add sliced fennel and sauté until soft. 
3. Add water, shrimp bouillon, white wine, diced carrots, saffron threads, red chili flakes, bouquet garni (bay leaves, thyme, basil, parsley), and fresh tomato, and simmer for 30 minutes before adding seafood (mussels, clams, shrimp, squid,  fish) to cook through. 
4. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 
5. Garnish with fresh chopped parsley. 

The only thing I don’t have and didn’t bother to get was crusty bread for toast. It really is that simple.  

Lamb Shank

 

I decided to do braised lamb shank for Easter Sunday. Lamb and eggs are traditionally eaten on Easter Sunday. I love to cook, but I don’t like cooking for myself. I’m always looking for excuses to host a dinner party.

There is no standard recipe. I took inspiration from a braised lamb shank recipe I’ve seen online and what I’ve eaten in Turkish and Eastern European restaurants and improvised my own.

• 2 lamb shanks (about 1 lb each)
• 1 tblsp each salt, pepper, paprika
• 3 tblsp olive oil 
• 1 tblsp cumin seeds
• 1 large onion, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 cups root vegetables (I used carrot, parsnip, turnip), cut into bite size pieces
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 cups water
• 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 bunch bouquet garni (I used flat leaf parsley, fresh rosemary, fresh thyme, bay leaf), wrapped in cheese cloth
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• mashed potatoes
• rosemary sprigs for garnish

1. Rub the lamb shanks with salt, pepper, and paprika.
2. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and sear the lamb shanks on all sides. Remove and set aside.
3. Add cumin seeds and fry until fragrant.
4. Add onion and sauté until brown.
5. Add broth, water, tomato paste, and bouquet garni and bring to a boil.
6. Add the lamb shank and root vegetables. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn the heat to low. Let simmer for 2 hours.
7. Add the boiled eggs and simmer uncovered for 20-30 minutes. Discard the bouquet garni before serving.
8. Serve over mashed potatoes. Garnish with rosemary sprigs.

Súp Đồ Biển (Vietnamese Bouillabaisse)

 

I decided to do a seafood dinner for Good Friday, so I recreated a Súp Đồ Biển paired with Rambutan Martini.

Súp Đồ Biển

I totally made this up, but it tastes very similar to one I’d had in an upscale French-Vietnamese restaurant (except they used lobster and I used shrimp; sadly it's been off their menu for years). It was a clear broth, not tomato base, and there was no hint of fish sauce, which I do not like (I'd know; fish sauce is very pungent). There are seafood soups on Vietnamese restaurant menus, but I have yet to find a similar Súp Đồ Biển again. They probably put their own Vietnamese twist to a French classic.

• 4 cups water
• 1 tblsp hondashi
• 3 lemongrass stalks, crushed
• 1" galangal, smashed
• pinch of saffron
• 2 cups mixed seafood (I used shrimp, clams, muscles, swai, squid)
• 2 sprigs Thai fresh basil
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• cooked rice vermicelli
• cooked jasmine rice

1. Heat water and add hondashi, lemongrass, galangal, and saffron until boiling.
2. Add the seafood. Bring back to a boil. Cover tightly and turn off the heat. Let steam until the seafood is cooked (about 10 minutes). Discard the lemongrass.
3. Serve with lime wedges, basil, cooked rice vermicelli, and cooked jasmine rice.

Rambutan Martini

Makes 2

I like Martini, I like Lychee Martini, and I like Rambutan, so I decided to make a Rambutan Martini for Good Friday.

• ice
• 1 20 oz can of rambutan in syrup
• 8 oz vodka
• 2 cocktail skewers

1. Thread three rambutans to a skewer.
2. Fill an ice shaker with ice cube. Add vodka and 1/4 cup of syrup and shake vigorously.
3. Strain into martini glasses.
4. Garnish with the skewered rambutan.

My British Phase

I was craving British food, so I placed a “huge” order for the freezer:

back bacon

salad cream

potato bread

white bread

Cornish pasty

soft white baps

haggis

Lorne sausage

pork bangers

sausage rolls

Cornish Pasty (grass-fed beef, potatoes, swede, and onions)

Lorne Sausage Sandwich (with ketchup)

Potato bread, back bacon, banger, tomato, mushroom, (slightly) fried egg

Bacon butty (buttered white bread, back bacon, ketchup)

Lorne sausage, fried egg, back bacon with HP sauce in soft white bap

Sausage Roll (puff pastry with traditional sausage meat) 

toast, baked beans, fried egg, HP sauce, tomato, mushrooms, banger, back bacon

back bacon, banger, Lorne sausage, haggis, fried egg, baked beans, fried mushrooms, grilled tomato, toast, and tattie scone

Vietnamese Egg Coffee

 

I love Vietnamese Egg Coffee. I first read about it last year, and, lo and behold, I found the only restaurant in Chicago that serves it. It’s not particularly hard to make, but it is annoying, because it calls for condensed milk and egg, two things I hardly ever have in my pantry.

What I do have is heavy whipping cream, and I happened to have eggs that I had bought for something else. So, I substituted the condensed milk with whipped cream and sugar. 

• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 oz hot Vietnamese coffee
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 egg yolk

1. Put sugar in a goblet and pour in hot coffee. Stir to dissolve.
2. Whip heavy whipping cream wth sugar until double in volume.
3. Beat egg yolk into whipped cream.
4. Gently pour the eggy whipped cream over an overturned spoon to float on top of the coffee.