Bouillabaisse with Charred Fennel

Bouillabaisse is a bit of fiddle but it is worth it. I have tried to simplify it as much as possible for myself.

200 gms prawn
10 scallops halved
2 slices firm white fish in bite sized pieces
2 sets fish wings
Two crabs picked (large shells reserved) - or 1 tub meat
1 bulb fennel
1 onion in fine dice
1 stick celery in fine dice
1 carrot in fine dice
5 cloves garlic minced
1 tbs tomato paste
1/2 tub cherry tomatoes halved
1 glass white wine
Bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, bay leaf tied in a bunch)
2 chilli minced
1 pinch saffron
1 handful parsley
1 litre chicken stock
Extra virgin olive oil

Remove the fronds from the fennel (for garnish) and separate the leaves of the fennel, cleaning as necessary. Shell the prawns and reserve the larger shell pieces and heads. Char the fennel leaves over flame until slightly smokey in batches. Repeat with prawn shell/heads.

Mince the charred fennel and saute with the onion, celery, carrot, chilli and most of the garlic over a low temperature in extra virgin olive oil until soft. Toss through the cherry tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Once soft add the tomato paste to the mix and cook off. Deglaze with white wine and once the alcohol has also cooked off, pour in the chicken stock, stirring to combine, adding the bouquet garni. Add the saffron, fish wings, prawn shells/heads, (large crab shells if you have them) and simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes. Remove the fish wings and prawn shells (crab too)
and discard. Blend the sauce with a stick blender.

Add the fish pieces and simmer for 2 minutes before adding the prawn, followed by scallop 1 minute later. Finally add the crab and remaining garlic, some chopped parsley and give a gentle stir.
Divide amongst bowls, top with more parsley, a drizzle of extra virgin and some fresh cracked pepper.

Chorizo Fish and Prawn Chowder

This was how I intended to start soup season and would have if those pesky leftover vegies hadn't gotten in the way. This was absolutely delicious although a little labour intensive. My understanding of chowder is that it is meant to be a complex, full flavoured, thick soup with a little kick. To help achieve this I made my own fish stock using some fish wings, prawn shells, garlic, chicken stock, lemon rind, carrot, 1 roughly chopped chilli, onion, coriander stems and roots, silverbeet stem, bare corn cobs and 3 start anise. After that I strained the stock and built me some tasty soup with bits. Unreal.

3 litres fish stock
1 kg chopped peeled potato
1 handful mushrooms in fine dice
2 carrots in fine dice
1 onion fine dice
1 leek in fine dice
2 cobs corn striped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp harrisa
Leaves from 1 bunch coriander chopped
300 gms green prawns shelled in big chunks
2 pieces reef fish in big chunks
1 chorizo
2 slices prosciutto, grilled and crispy
1 handful cherry tomatoes
2 tbs sour cream
Extra virgin olive oil
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes until tender then blitz till smooth. While this happens, cook the chorizo in a frying pan then remove, throw in mushrooms and cook those, remove to a clean bowl. Saute the carrot, onion, leek and garlic with the harrisa in some extra virgin olive oil. Chop the chorizo into small chunks. Add the onion mixture to the potato soup along with the mushroom and simmer for 10 minutes to infuse. Add in the corn, fish, chorizo and prawns and turn off the heat. The fish/prawns should take about 5 minutes to cook. Mince the coriander with the cherry tomatoes and prosciutto. Add the lemon juice to the chowder then test for seasoning and mix through the sour cream. Spoon into bowls, top with some coriander/prosciutto gear, serve with some great toasted  bread.

Mushroom and Bacon Soup with Poached Egg

Hmmmmmm, breakfast in soup format. Except I ate it for dinner... I have been meaning to poach an egg in soup for a while to see if it would work. It kind of does - if you use a microwave after adding it to a bowl. Is it necessary? No but it does taste very good. When I next decide to poach an egg in some soup I will do it separately as the soup was too hot. I used 3 rashers of bacon here but as I used so much mushroom, it was a little hidden. If you try this, use 5 or 6 instead. Seriously worth trying.

1 big bag of mushrooms chopped
1 handful porcini mushrooms (optional)
1 1/2 onions diced
2 cloves garlic chopped
3 rashers bacon chopped
1/2 sprig rosemary stripped
1 L chicken stock
1 L water
1 cup white wine
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 big knob of butter
Salt and pepper
Croutons
Chives
Natural yoghurt
Porcini oil (optional)
1 poached egg per person

Heat the butter over a medium high heat until bubbling, add in the extra virgin. Cook the onion until soft. Throw in the nearly all of the bacon and rosemary and fry until it has some nice colour. Add in the garlic until fragrant then throw in all of the mushroom and porcini mushrooms along with some salt and pepper. Cook down until almost all of the liquid has evaporated (about 15 minutes) keeping an eye on it and stirring occasionally. Deglaze with the white wine and cook until it has all absorbed. Pour in the stock and as much water as you require, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Check for seasoning, blitz with a stick blender and turn off the heat.
Heat some more oil, fry the remaining bacon and remove. In the same pan toast your croutons with some more rosemary.
Poach the eggs.
Spoon into bowls, add a dollop of yoghurt, a poached egg, top with some croutons and bacon, sprinkle with chives and drizzle with porcini oil.

Mushroom, Asparagus, Parsnip and Salsa Verde Soup

Hello again soup season. Soup is the business, get some tasty stuff, simmer it, blend it, maybe add some cream,  serve, top with some tasty stuff and awesome bread - all with very little effort. It doesn't get much better.

1 large parsnip in chunks

500gms mushrooms chopped

1 onion diced

3 cloves garlic minced

2 rashers bacon diced

2 large potatoes in chunks

1 bunch asparagus

1 tbs+ salsa verde

Good splash of white wine

1 L chicken stock

1/2 cup cream

Sour cream

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Toasted crusty bread

Remove the woody end of the asparagus and reserve along with the tips, slice the stems finely. Set aside 2 tbs diced bacon. Saute the onion, garlic and bacon in some extra virgin. When the onion is soft and the mixture is fragrant, add in the mushrooms and cook until they have nice colour. Add in the salsa verde and mix through, cooking for a couple of minutes. Check for seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. Delgaze with white wine. Add the woody asparagus ends, potato, parsnip and enough chicken stock to cover. Bring to the boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until vegetables are tender. Remove the woody asparagus ends. Add in the sliced asparagus and turn off the heat. After five minutes, pour in the cream, blend with a stick blender, adding more stock to reach your desired consistency as necessary. Check for seasoning.

Fry the reserved bacon in a little extra virgin, when almost crispy add in the asparagus tips and cook for a further minute or two, remove and drain on absorbent paper.

Spoon the soup into bowls, add in a tsp of sour cream per bowl, a tsp of salsa verde and top with some bacon/asparagus mixture and a grind of black pepper.

Watercress and Pear Soup

Normal soup with those two things thrown in. It was meant to be watercress and pea but the last minute addition of pear was stronger. Watercress is great gear when you can buy it, yesterday was the first time I had seen it in 6 years and it was cheap too. It is quite peppery and is great in salads and as a garnish. If you like the sound of this but can't find watercress, use rocket perhaps or, maybe even try adding some blue cheese. Blue cheese and pear together are awesome.

1 bunch watercress washed and cleaned
2 leeks cleaned and chopped
1 onion chopped
2 sticks of celery chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
4 or 5 small potatoes chopped
750 ml chicken stock
2 cups frozen peas
1 1/2 pears chopped
Lemon
2 tbs yoghurt  (or more)
Salt and pepper
1 tbs butter
Extra virgin olive oil

Saute the onion, celery, leeks and garlic in the butter in a large saucepan. Add the potato and cover with the stock. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until just tender. After10 minutes add the pear. After 15 minutes add the peas. After 20 minutes, add the watercress, mix in and turn off the heat for a couple more minutes. Add salt and pepper, yoghurt and some lemon juice (start with about 1 tbs) and blend with a stick blender. Check for seasoning adding more salt, pepper, lemon or yoghurt as necessary.
Serve in bowls, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil, with some crusty bread.

Borscht

I roasted 2 large beetroot and boiled the rest in this recipe but if you don't have the time or couldn't be bothered, just boil all of them. If you want to make this even more simple, substitute white balsamic for normal vinegar, the yoghurt for cream or sour cream and, leave out the horseradish, mushroom goo and prosciutto. The reason I have added mushroom here is, the gear we ate in Poland included mushroom pierogi. Pierogi is like ravioli and I was too lazy to make that.

500gms beetroot peeled (6 medium and 2 large)
Rosemary
Salt and Pepper
Olive oil
2 whole garlic cloves
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 onion diced
Parsley
1 tbs white balsamic (more may be necessary)
1 tbs horseradish cream
2 cups stock
3 slices grilled and chopped prosciutto (or crispy bacon)
Yoghurt (or cream)
Mushroom goo (I made a very simple version for this)

Peel all of the beetroot. If bothering to roast, wrap the largest 2 beets in foil with a garlic clove, rosemary, some olive oil, salt and pepper in each and roast in a oven for about 40 minutes at 180C or until tender. Cover the remaining beetroot in water in a small-ish pan and bring to the boil then simmer until tender. Reserve the boiling water. Once cooked, allow to cool then dice, with the roasted versions in bite sized pieces.
Saute the remaining garlic and onion in a large saucepan. Once translucent add the chopped boiled beetroot, stock and about half of the reserved cooking water. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes. Add half of the parsley, yoghurt, the garlic from the roasted beets, the horseradish and vinegar. Use a stick blender and puree into a soup. If the soup needs more liquid add some more of the cooking water. Check the soup for seasoning adding more of whatever it needs (salt, pepper, vinegar, yoghurt or horseradish).
Spoon into bowls and finish with a little chopped parsley, mushroom goo, chopped proscuitto and some more yoghurt.

Maple and Rosemary Roasted Carrot Soup

The tastiest soup I have made. I have finished this dish with four extras, you don't in fact need any but they taste damn good together.

5 carrots halved and quartered
1/2 pumpkin in 4 cm wedges
4 garlic cloves chopped
1 sprig rosemary chopped
1/3 cup maple syrup
2/3 cup olive oil (use less if preferred)
1 tbs butter
1 potato chopped
2 onions chopped
2 stems celery sliced
1 handful of parsley chopped
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups stock
Natural yoghurt
Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup sliced bacon

Pre-heat an oven to 180C. Combine 1/3 cup olive oil, the maple syrup, 2 cloves of crushed garlic, salt and pepper and the rosemary in a bowl. Toss the carrots in the maple mix. Coat the pumpkin slices in a little oil. Place both the carrot and pumpkin on a grease proof lined tray, pouring over any mixture and then into the oven for 30 minutes or so.
In the meantime saute the celery, onion and remaining garlic in the butter, adding the remaining oil if necessary until translucent. Add the white wine and allow to reduce by half. Add the stock and potato, bring to the boil and reduce to medium low. Cook the bacon in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Allow the rendered fat to make the bacon crispy then remove to absorbent paper.
When the oven vegetables are tender and there is some caramelisation, remove, chop roughly and add to the pot, including any crusty bits. Add half the parsley and if necessary add more stock to mostly cover the vegetables. Allow to simmer for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse. Blend the soup to your required consistency, add half the bacon pieces, add more stock if required, maple and seasoning if necessary (it should be subtle).
Serve with more parsley, more bacon, a swirl of extra virgin and a teaspoon of yoghurt.

Potato, Corn and Bacon Soup

I used the stock left over the Garlic Thyme Pot Roasted Chicken recipe. Store bought would be fine, but I recommend that you add a few chopped herbs in with the onion mixture like sage, rosemary, thyme or parsley. I also used the fat that had solidified on top of the stock from the same recipe to fry the potato wedges in. If you have it use it, if not use duck fat if possible or, a combination of butter and olive oil.

1 kg potato chopped
2 1/2 medium onions chopped
Kernels from 2 corn cobs
3 bacon slices chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 cup white wine
1 litre chicken stock
3 tbs cream
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley
Pesto
Chicken fat (duck fat or, butter and olive oil)
4 small potatoes cut into thin wedges
1/2 tbs stripped rosemary

Cook the onion, bacon and garlic in some butter until translucent. Add the wine bringing it the boil for a minute or so. Add the potato and corn and chicken stock, bring to the boil and reduce the temperature to medium low. Cook until the potato is tender. Turn off the heat put the lid on and allow the flavours to develop for an hour. Check for seasoning, sdd the cream and some parsley and blend with a stick blender. Heat the chicken fat in a frying pan, add the rosemary and potato wedges, turning and removing when golden. Serve the soup in bowls with some potato wedges and a sprinkling of pesto.