So as you gathered, I like soup. Here is another one.
Ingredients:
2-3 large red peppers (the peppers I used were HUGE so perhaps 4-5 if they are smaller peppers).
1 medium onion
2-3 hot peppers
3-4 heads of garlic
2 cans of corn (~670 grams)
3-4 carrots
salt and pepper
How It Is Done:
This soup is very very easy to make in that all you really need to do it dice the vegetables and add them to ~1 litre of broth (vegetable or poultry would be best). Bring the mix to a boil and then reduce and simmer until the contents are fork tender.
At this point you can use an immersion blender or a regular blender to puree the contents. After the contents have been pureed add the preferred amounts of salt and pepper and simmer for ~10 mins further.
the soup should be thick and typically all of the corn does not truly puree so there will be some kernels left to give more texture. For the hot peppers I used Thai chillies and it made the soup just nice but not very spicy, so you can gauge and very for how spicy you would like.
For one bowl of this soup I also diced up a hard boiled egg and added it to the soup. This worked quite well, I liked it at least. You might also try it with milk or cream, which I think would be good but I have yet to try.
Well, that's about it. I hope you enjoy this soup if you try it.
RAFTIN'!
Huck
Friday, March 29, 2013
Monday, March 4, 2013
MVE Soup
I thought this soup might be a good idea to put up today as there has not been any mention of soups in a while. This soup is quite rudimentary and is both inspired by and named after a good friend of mine who is a bacon lover. I very much enjoy making soups and so I thought to myself one day "I wonder if I could incorporate eggs and bacon into a soup?" So I set about to try this. The end result was tasty, but I do admit a little tweeking here and there might be needed. Eggs in soup are an interesting entity as it is challenge, I think, to put eggs in soup. A challenge perhaps well worth taking on. I have found in various other soup manifestations that if the right amount of egg and egg cooked the right way are placed in soup it is a truly delicious addition.
So here is how I went about this soup. I wanted it to be a hearty "breakfast in a bowl." Try it for yourself and let me know.
Ingredients
liquid smoke
bacon
lentils
scrambled eggs
salt
black pepper
beef stock
How It's Done
you will see in the ingredients section that I have not provided exact measurements for this soup. That is because it is very much a preference based soup, you have to pick your own balance of items.
1.) pan fry the desired amounts of bacon and scrambled eggs.
2.) bring the beef stock to a boil then add the lentils in with some salt and pepper. Allow this to simmer for ~5 minutes and then reduce the heat to low bubble. After ~5 more minutes add your scrambled eggs and bacon with ~5 dashes of liquid smoke to impart a hickory flavour.
3.) serve hot.
This soup is an experiment. One of the key difficulties that might be dealt with is the addition of the bacon causes it to get "soggy" losing its crispy pan fried delicious taste. The bacon still tastes great, it is just softer. If you would not like this effect, you can add the pan friend bacon as a garnish when the soup is served, allowing it to maintain its crispness longer. Another variation involves pureeing the lentils to have a smooth thick soup base.
I will leave it at that for now, this soup has the potential for lots of alterations, so try one out and I hope you enjoy, as I did.
"It's not as bad as it sounds."
-quoth Huck
So here is how I went about this soup. I wanted it to be a hearty "breakfast in a bowl." Try it for yourself and let me know.
Ingredients
liquid smoke
bacon
lentils
scrambled eggs
salt
black pepper
beef stock
How It's Done
you will see in the ingredients section that I have not provided exact measurements for this soup. That is because it is very much a preference based soup, you have to pick your own balance of items.
1.) pan fry the desired amounts of bacon and scrambled eggs.
2.) bring the beef stock to a boil then add the lentils in with some salt and pepper. Allow this to simmer for ~5 minutes and then reduce the heat to low bubble. After ~5 more minutes add your scrambled eggs and bacon with ~5 dashes of liquid smoke to impart a hickory flavour.
3.) serve hot.
This soup is an experiment. One of the key difficulties that might be dealt with is the addition of the bacon causes it to get "soggy" losing its crispy pan fried delicious taste. The bacon still tastes great, it is just softer. If you would not like this effect, you can add the pan friend bacon as a garnish when the soup is served, allowing it to maintain its crispness longer. Another variation involves pureeing the lentils to have a smooth thick soup base.
I will leave it at that for now, this soup has the potential for lots of alterations, so try one out and I hope you enjoy, as I did.
"It's not as bad as it sounds."
-quoth Huck
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Equine épicé or horse vindaloo
In light of the recent outcry in the news about tainted horse meat lasagna and other debacles I thought it might be nice to post a recipe that ACTUALLY meant to have horse meat in it. As is the trend with this blog Tom and I like, in part, to address cuts or types of meat that are often perceived as odd or outright wrong. Horse definitely falls into this category.
Many individuals are sheepish about engaging in the consumption of horse meat because we see the horse as a nobler beast, like the dog or the cat, that is not meant for consumption. Yet in reality the nature of horse in terms of use exclusively for work and leisure is not necessarily seen as universally paramount. And in this sense, just like beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken etc... horse has been a dietary staple in many places for many years. This concept of ironic perspectives on the foods we eat is well addressed and delved into in more detail in the infamous cookbook "Unmentionable Cuisine" by Calvin W. Schwabe, well worth a read.
I have had horse meat on a number of occasions. It is an interesting product to buy in that it typically gets its own freezer "section" in the pre-cut grocery store meat and more typical for diverse cuts of horse meat there are dedicated Equine butchers. It was once told to me that exclusive horse meat butchers exist because there is some chemical level difficulty that if horse meat is sold fresh next to other meats (beef, pork, etc...) that there is something in the horse meat that will quickly corrupt the other meat varieties rendering them rancid. This is the tale I was told but I have yet to be able to confirm it, though I can't say I really looked high and low for evidence. I was confident in the source who told me so I just took it at face value. Whether it is lore or law it is no big difference. Equine butchers exist. I would one day like to try horse ribs, I think they would make for a tasty slooooowwwwwww cook dish.
I find horse meat to be a little tougher than beef as well as a little richer in flavour. It, to my tastes at least, has a stronger "meaty" taste, if you will allow this horribly ambiguous descriptor to stand, that makes it a bit sweeter as well as noticeably different from other cuts of meat, almost moving closer towards the range in which heart meat would fall...but still a long way from true heart meat in taste...just heading that way.
So down to brass tax. I set out one day to make a horse vindaloo. This vindaloo is in no way particularly special in terms of a unique vindaloo. Rather it is a typical vindaloo with the unique use of horse meat. So we whipped up a spicy horse vindaloo and it went something like this:
Ingredients
200-300 grams horse meat, cubed
1 tsp. cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp. turmeric
5 cloves garlic
8 Thai chilis (vindaloo is meant to be very hot. You can choose the spicy peppers you like and how many you want to use for your own preference of heat of course).
1-2 star anise
500 grams of tomatoes
1 tbsp. ginger paste
ghee or butter or oil
mango pickle--as you like
2 tsp. garam masala
salt
black pepper
How It Is Done:
1.) using the garlic, ginger and chilis combine these three items in a dish and puree making a paste.
2.) in a large pan add the desired amount of ghee or butter or oil. Once liquid add to this the cumin seeds and pan fry for ~1 minute or until slightly browned.
3.) once this occurs add the ginger-garlic-chili paste to the pan and fry for ~1 minute further.
4.) add the turmeric, garam masala, a little salt and the mango pickle.
5.) at this time add the tomatoes to the mix. If pureed or not pureed you can allow this mix to cook for ~3-4 minutes until everything is very soft and then puree this mixture to a smooth consistency.
6.) when you have the pureed base sauce add the cubed horse meat and the 1-2 star anise. Let this concoction simmer over low heat for ~30-40 minutes, or longer, until a desired sauce consistency for your preference has been reached. Close to the time when the dish is done you can add a little black pepper if you like. This is added so late to keep the black pepper taste, so it does not "boil off" so to speak.
This dish will feed a fair amount of people, ~4-6?, or will give you lots of leftovers for later lunches/dinners. In reading this you might think "why the heck did he add mango pickle?" This is a good and fair question. It was just a preference I had. I experimented with this idea once and it worked nicely, so I like to add the mango pickle for the unique tangy-tart taste it imparts.
That is pretty much it, I hope you enjoy.
I-PP-I-SS-I-SS-I-M
Huck
Many individuals are sheepish about engaging in the consumption of horse meat because we see the horse as a nobler beast, like the dog or the cat, that is not meant for consumption. Yet in reality the nature of horse in terms of use exclusively for work and leisure is not necessarily seen as universally paramount. And in this sense, just like beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken etc... horse has been a dietary staple in many places for many years. This concept of ironic perspectives on the foods we eat is well addressed and delved into in more detail in the infamous cookbook "Unmentionable Cuisine" by Calvin W. Schwabe, well worth a read.
I have had horse meat on a number of occasions. It is an interesting product to buy in that it typically gets its own freezer "section" in the pre-cut grocery store meat and more typical for diverse cuts of horse meat there are dedicated Equine butchers. It was once told to me that exclusive horse meat butchers exist because there is some chemical level difficulty that if horse meat is sold fresh next to other meats (beef, pork, etc...) that there is something in the horse meat that will quickly corrupt the other meat varieties rendering them rancid. This is the tale I was told but I have yet to be able to confirm it, though I can't say I really looked high and low for evidence. I was confident in the source who told me so I just took it at face value. Whether it is lore or law it is no big difference. Equine butchers exist. I would one day like to try horse ribs, I think they would make for a tasty slooooowwwwwww cook dish.
I find horse meat to be a little tougher than beef as well as a little richer in flavour. It, to my tastes at least, has a stronger "meaty" taste, if you will allow this horribly ambiguous descriptor to stand, that makes it a bit sweeter as well as noticeably different from other cuts of meat, almost moving closer towards the range in which heart meat would fall...but still a long way from true heart meat in taste...just heading that way.
So down to brass tax. I set out one day to make a horse vindaloo. This vindaloo is in no way particularly special in terms of a unique vindaloo. Rather it is a typical vindaloo with the unique use of horse meat. So we whipped up a spicy horse vindaloo and it went something like this:
Ingredients
200-300 grams horse meat, cubed
1 tsp. cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp. turmeric
5 cloves garlic
8 Thai chilis (vindaloo is meant to be very hot. You can choose the spicy peppers you like and how many you want to use for your own preference of heat of course).
1-2 star anise
500 grams of tomatoes
1 tbsp. ginger paste
ghee or butter or oil
mango pickle--as you like
2 tsp. garam masala
salt
black pepper
How It Is Done:
1.) using the garlic, ginger and chilis combine these three items in a dish and puree making a paste.
2.) in a large pan add the desired amount of ghee or butter or oil. Once liquid add to this the cumin seeds and pan fry for ~1 minute or until slightly browned.
3.) once this occurs add the ginger-garlic-chili paste to the pan and fry for ~1 minute further.
4.) add the turmeric, garam masala, a little salt and the mango pickle.
5.) at this time add the tomatoes to the mix. If pureed or not pureed you can allow this mix to cook for ~3-4 minutes until everything is very soft and then puree this mixture to a smooth consistency.
6.) when you have the pureed base sauce add the cubed horse meat and the 1-2 star anise. Let this concoction simmer over low heat for ~30-40 minutes, or longer, until a desired sauce consistency for your preference has been reached. Close to the time when the dish is done you can add a little black pepper if you like. This is added so late to keep the black pepper taste, so it does not "boil off" so to speak.
That is pretty much it, I hope you enjoy.
I-PP-I-SS-I-SS-I-M
Huck
Friday, March 1, 2013
"Huck's Hocks" (a long distance collaboration)
"Huck's been cooking up a
weird storm over in Italy, and while I'm not much of a cook (more the
fisherman in this operation, but the water is still to cold and high to get out
the fly rod), the other day I picked up some hog hocks. Under Huck's long
distance advice I put them in the slow cooker all day long on low with just a
few ingredients and they turned out wonderful. They tasted like suckering
other kids into doing my chores (which would be
nice about now!):
3 big pig hocks
1 dollop of cheap single malt scotch
1 can of tomato sauce
1.5 cups of BBQ sauce (I used "Sweet Baby Ray's Gourmet Sauce")
1 cup of Bloody Mary Mix (I used Smirnoff's Spice Bloody Mary Mix)
3 whole cloves of garlic
1 quarter of a chopped spanish onion
a shake or two of salt and pepper
How It's Done
Cooked it for about 8 hours, and
came home to a wonderful meal.
If only I could have shared it with
Huck!
Tom
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