I know, it has been AGES since I have written a post. All with having a baby and all, I haven't really had the time to write. I have actually made some delish dishes a few times, but never got to blogging about it. This post is an afterthought (which is why these pictures show the pot minus the two bowls of soup we ate for lunch!). I made a very yummy meal today, while trying to clean out the fridge and get rid of stuff, because we are off to NYC for a month in just 2 days! I apologize in advance for the vagueness of this post, but I will say that many amazing plates come out of just throwing a bunch of good ingredients together! As I always say, it's all about having fun and experimenting in the kitchen. So here goes my first post this year...
So here is what you need:
-2 pieces of cuttlefish
-3 slices of smoked salmon
-2 fish heads or th
-2 onionse skeleton of a fish for the broth
-2 carrots
-1 big tomato
-6 potatoes
-1 small green pepper
-6 pieces of garlic
-a handful of fresh basil
-2 fresh jalapenos (you can substitute for any spicy pepper)
-1/2 stick of butter
-1 pint of heavy cream
-salt and pepper
For Rue:
-1/2 stick of butter
-3-4 tablespoons of flour
-1/4 cup of white wine
-1 cup of milk
First finely cut up the onions, garlic, pepper, tomato and peeled carrots. Next, peel the potato and cut it up in uniformed medium squares. Cut up the 2 cuttlefish in small squares. At the same time, put the fish heads/scales in a pot and boil in about 1 1/2 liter of water for 20 minutes on medium high. Make sure to scoop out any white foam that develops on the top, which leaves you with a nice clean broth. Saute the onions, carrots, garlic and peppers in a large pot with 1/2 stick of butter- which will be the pot that the cho
wder is made in. I used a nice big caste iron one that I LOVE (from IKEA). After about 5 minutes, add the tomatoes and continue sauteing for another 5-10 minutes. Add the potatoes and cuttlefish and pour the broth directly through a fine strainer into the pot with the vegetables. Cut up the spicy peppers in big pieces, throwing away the top slice, as the seeds are the spiciest part of the pepper. You can put the whole pepper in the soup if you like your food very spicy! Add about a tablespoon of salt and some pepper. Turn your pot down to a medium heat and cover halfway (I slant the top so that it's balanced on top but doesn't fully cover the pot) and cook, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes.
In the meantime you're going to make a rue. Melt 1/2 stick of butter on low heat in a small pan, add the 3-4 spoons of flour and whisk until it thickens, add the milk in little by little, stopping once in a while to whisk the mixture and allow to thicken. Once the milk is mixed in, add in the wine and continue to whisk. Once the rue is nice and thick and smooth, remove it from the heat and set it to the side for when you need to incorporate it into the soup. You'll know that your soup is nearly done, when you take out a potato and try it and it's nice and soft- but not falling apart (you don't want mushy soup!). When the soup is at this point, stir in the pint of heavy c
ream and rue. Cook for another 5-8 minutes, then try and add salt and pepper to taste. Lastly, dice up the salmon and chop up the basil and throw it in the soup and cover the soup and let it sit for 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Hopefully it won't take me as long as it took me to write this post to return with another great recipe!
