Portuguese Tomato and Onion Soup with Poached Egg

I had this surprisingly good tomato soup when we visited the rugged and fertile island of Madeira. It was about the only vegetarian option on the menu of most places but was well worth its place, and more than worth its cheap price. Not just any old bowl of soup but a rich homemade style tomato and onion soup bursting with summer flavours in which an egg is poached, and is decked with rustic slices of bread. 

 Now that tomatoes are in season here in France, I decided to have a go making this soup at home. I searched online for recipes and, strangely, the one that seemed most like what I'd eaten in Madeira came from a Canadian blog of mainly Ukranian recipes! I rang my friend in Portugal who, as well as being Portuguese is an excellent chef, so just the person to consult with! She confirmed that the ingredients and method were fairly simple but it takes good ingredients. This recipe really did make good use of the vine-ripened tomatoes I had bought and, had I tried using bland supermarket ones, I would have had to add more ingredients, including tomato passata, to enrich it. The blog whose recipe this one is adapted from recommends using tinned tomatoes rather than hydroponic ones if you can't get tasty fresh tomatoes - after all, tinned tomatoes preserve the tomatoes (grown in suitable climates) soon after they are picked whereas supermarket ones are usually watery hydroponic red balls of nothingness which may have travelled far, been refrigerated and then sat on the supermarket shelves for some time before you buy them. So if at all possible, use local organic tomatoes and onions for freshness and the best flavour.

Portuguese Tomato and Onion Soup with Poached Egg

Serves 6.

4 large yellow onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
8 large juicily ripe tomatoes, chopped OR 2 cans whole tomatoes (1lb. or 454 g each)
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
5 cups water (OR, if using canned tomatoes, 5 cups rich vegetable stock)
6* eggs (*or 1 per person)
12 thick slices stale / day-old French or Italian bread (use slim baguettes)
¼ cup minced parsley / coriander / fresh thyme / basil / savory



Sauté onions slowly - about 15 minutes - until soft and golden.  Add garlic and tomatoes (you can first peel and de-seed tomatoes if you care for such things - I never mind using the whole thing), cover and simmer 1 hour; uncover, and simmer to reduce liquid for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.

Add water or stock, salt and pepper to taste and, if needed, a little sugar (add a pinch at a time, tasting till you get the edge off any bitterness. The soup I made was not at all bitter - it depends on the tomatoes and how well the flavours have cooked together. The other recipe recommended 3T butter as well but I didn't feel it was necessary - it's up to you.

Simmer, uncovered, 1 ½ to 2 hours or until flavours are richly blended.  Cool to room temperature, cover and refrigerate until about 1 hour before serving.  (I reheated just enough for tonight's dinner and put the rest in containers to go in the freezer or you could save leftovers in fridge to eat the next day when the flavours will be even more nicely developed!- soups are great like that!)

Bring soup slowly to serving temperature. Carefully break eggs into soup, spacing them evenly, cover and simmer slowly 5-15 minutes or until eggs are poached to your liking.

Ladle soup into large shallow soup bowls, including an egg with each portion.  Garnish each bowl with bread slices and a sprinkling of herbs.

NB. This is a filling and delicious vegetarian and dairy-free recipe but Luc reckons it would be even better with cheese and chorizo - he would!

Mushroom and Chestnut Ragoût with Potato and Celeriac Mash

Mushrooms are big around here. Well, actually, they're fairly small, the main type grown is the Paris white, known in NZ as the button mushroom. This isn't Paris so I don't know how they got that name (though I'm sure I will once I finally visit the mushroom museum) but I do know that this town /area produces 90% of France's button mushrooms.  

And are there button mushrooms in this recipe? Only if you want there to be. The recipe calls for portobello and dried porcini mushrooms but I used a mix of varieties I don't even know the names of. I just buy them at the market from the mushroom lady. So feel free, as ever, to adapt this recipe to your tastes. I reduced the cream (it called for 5 T, I felt that was too much and I think it could be lovely without any, too). Also, I had no sherry so used balsamic vinegar which I added a tiny bit at a time, tasting until I got it right. The other thing I didn't have was sweet potatoes / kumara so I made a mash using potatoes and celeriac, an idea I'd got from my husband's guy friends who cooked delicious dishes for their New Year's Party - to my surprise as I think a bunch of mates from an agricultural college in NZ probably wouldn't be so gourmet - at least not cooking for each other at a party. But that's the French for you. And of course their mash had heaps of butter. So you could follow suit and go crazy with the butter if you hold back on the cream in the ragout. But the ragout is very rich so don't over-do both!

I'm not sure what you could replace chestnuts with if you can't find any. In Australia I found them for sale in cans. Chestnuts are lovely with their distinct sweet and savoury taste and firm and sort of buttery texture. Perhaps soaked cashews could work? Other ideas?

Mushroom and Chestnut Ragoût Potato and Celeriac Mash

Recipe comes from the 'Simmer' section (so DO, don't rush it!) of the cookbook 'New Vegetarian Kitchen' by Nicola Graimes (UK book).

Serves 4

40g / 1¼ oz dried porcini mushrooms

3 T olive oil

40g / 1½ oz butter

350g / 12 oz shallots, peeled and halved with the base intact, or quartered if large

500g / 1 lb 2 oz portobello mushrooms, thickly sliced

2 tsp dried thyme

125ml / 4fl oz / ½ cup dry sherry (or an alternative. I used 2+ T balsamic vinegar)

250g / 9 oz cooked chestnuts, thickly sliced

2 Tbsp light soy sauce

a few splashes of hot pepper sauce

2-5 Tbsp double cream

leaves from a few parsley sprigs, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

500 g potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks

400 g celeriac, peeled and chopped into large chunks

(or replace potatoes and celeriac with 900g of kumara / sweet potato)

2 large garlic cloves

150 ml / 5 fl oz / scant ⅔ c milk

30 g / 1 oz butter

1 Soak the porcini mushrooms in 150 ml / 5 fl oz / scant ⅔ c boiled water for 20 mins until softened.

2 Heat the olive oil and butter in a large, heavy-based saucepan over a medium-low heat and cook the shallots for 12 minutes, stirring regularly, until softened and golden in places. Add the portobello mushrooms and cook for another 4-5 minutes until tender.

3 Strain the porcini mushrooms, reserving the soaking liquid, and add them to the pan, along with the thyme and sherry. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to low and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half and there is no aroma of alcohol.

4 Add the prcini soaking liquid, chestnuts, soy sauce and hot pepper sauce and simmer for 10-15 minutes until reduced by half. Stir in the cream and heat through gently, then season with salt and pepper.

5 Meanwhile, make the mash. Cook the vegetables (potato and celeriac, or sweet potato) and garlic in boiling salted water for 10 minutes or until tender, then drain and return to the pan. Add the milk and butter, season well with salt and pepper and warm through (or better yet, warm milk and butter before adding - but this makes more dishes). Mash until smooth, then cover with a lid to keep warm.

6 Sprinkle the ragout with parsley and serve with the mash/puree

First Pregnancy Soundtrack

Even cats are dangerous? Toxoplasmosis tests every month...

Why are there so many love songs and so few pregnancy songs? It's a challenging and emotional time, right? Perfect for songwriters - but I'm not one, so here's some songs from my small CD collection I've been listening to.

 I hope you enjoy this playlist I made of 'my favourite songs this pregnancy' (my first). Some are love songs, others are ones I heard from a new perspective - a pregnant lady one - and related to at least some of their lyrics. And there's a couple that are just nice to listen / sing to. 

Track list and a few comments follow youtube link to videos:

Song names and artists:

It's a Hard Life - Queen

I did it for love 

No drinks just when you feel you could use one

Kooks - David Bowie

We bought a lot of things to keep you warm and dry & a funny old crib on which the paint won't dry

The Click Song - Miriam Makeba 

(our baby will hopefully be bilingual - but will I be?)

I'll Be Here Every Day - Capetown Lullaby

Today is just like any other day / wouldn't want it any other way / now that I'm with you

Get Up, Stand Up - Bob Marley and the Whalers

(my husband would sing this to me at 6am when I had to get up in the dark to go to class)

Gonna Be Sick! The Dø

(Feel free to skip this one! Track 6)

Sick as a dog for months - but this one cheered me up!

It's Oh So Quiet - Björk

(Zing! Boom! Not feeling oh so alone with these kicks and stabs)

Cross Oceans - First Aid Kit

(imagining how my life will change... I still want to cross oceans)

Baby Mine - Bette Midler

From your head down to your toes, you're not much, goodness knows

Love Love Love - Tété

(just a lovely little ditty for my itty bitty one)

Not Evident - The Narcoleptic Dancers

Come with me I will tell you a story / where people fight for their territory

Whatever Lola Wants - Della Reese

No regrets!

Nature - The Fourmyula

Talking aloud eases my mind

Gutter Black - Hello Sailor

You in my brain / You in my heart

You're Gonna See a Lot of Me - Lisa Ekdahl

I'll make you love me /  Wait and see

When Life was a Miracle - The No Smoking Orchestra

(Maybe I'll only let people in the delivery suite if they come in a line playing gypsy trumpets)

Good motivation for the new dad to quit smoking!

La Banane - Philippe Katerine

No, I'll never go to the supermarket, rather die. Don't ever want to get dressed, rather die. 

........Just let me eat my banana.

Non Non Non - Camélia Jordana
No, I don't wanna get rid of this beautiful hell / that I'm starting to like / I don't wanna leave my lounge

Singing in My Soul - Tess and Adrian

(it's an acoustic and beautiful duet...sung by a trio)

Sleep - Kimya Dawson

(Even though the baby's not born yet it's still keeping me awake at night)

A New Dialogue - Julia Deans

(Yes, I still want to go out!)

I Want to Break Free - Queen

(I think pregnancy needs some more power ballads)

Soundtrack to Falling in Love - Charlie Winston

('All of me, You've found your way to all of me' - perfect for late pregnancy!)

Here Comes the Sun - Yuna (Beatles cover)

(Finally Spring is coming - and the baby too!)

Natural beauty was one thing I didn't have to give up enjoying

Sleep (instrumental) - Kimya Dawson

(A lovely lullaby from the Juno soundtrack)

When sensitive to smells, good to have some nice things like these Angel's Trumpets

Stop, look, listen...well, mainly listen

Street performer worth your time of day (and hoping he made some money on this day).
Why wasn't the crowd dancing? Because they're Londoners? Maybe if he worked some strobe-light effect dancing into his act... But still, he got the crowd allright.

Animated In Bed - Wonderful Stop Motion

One Love | Playing For Change | Song Around the World

In case I haven't said it before: I love people!
We see so much of the worst of people on the news everyday so here's a song (sing along) to bring back the humanity and the joy and creativity we all share.

 

Korean Noodle Salad (Salad Guksu)

A saucy favourite of mine from Korea. A little like a noodle version of my beloved bibimbab but with a different and fresher dressing/sauce. I've adapted a recipe from Lee MinJung's Step-by-Step Cooking Korean and given you more ideas based on versions of this salad I've eaten.

While this cold salad is just fantastic in hot summers, it's also great for those winter days when you just can't stand the thought of another heavy (and possibly white and stodgy) dish. Here in France I'm eating a lot of tarts, gratins, purees, bread and cheese, pasta - all food I love but that leads me to crave something fresh and colourful. The markets at the moment have a great array of turnips but not many vegetables to get excited about. This is a salad that can be made with few or many vegetables, depending on what you have available. I would have loved to add in some spicy sesame leaves but I have trouble finding ANY Asian ingredients, let alone any as exotic as that! So today's salad was made with just noodles, lettuce and cabbage, carrot, cucumber and on top boiled egg (no good tofu or tempeh to be found either) and seaweed.
It wasn't at all boring though as the sauce is very flavourful and turns this from just a healthy bowl of vegetables into a treat to look forward to.

Serves 2-4 depending on amount of veggies used and serving size. (bowl of salad in photo is one of 3 servings)

Salad Ingredients

soba noodles* 2 bundles
lettuce and/or cabbage 5 leaves cut into thin 4cm lengths

and choose from these other toppings:

cucumber 1 med, cut into thin 4cm lengths**
carrot 1 med, cut into thin 4cm lengths
red capsicum, 1med, cut into thin 4cm lengths
nashi (Asian pear) 1, cut into thin 4cm lengths
cherry tomatoes, 10 cut in half
seasame (perilla) leaves, 2, cut into thin 4cm lengths
radishes, 4, thinly sliced
radish sprouts, small handful
spring onions (scallions/green onions), 2, cut into thin 4cm lengths
seaweed sheets, 2 large /1 package of small salted Korean kim sheets, cut into thin 4cm lengths
kimchee (cabbage or radish type) if you're not a strict vegetarian or vegan (it is often made with small dried fish). I didn't use kimchee but if you do be aware it will affect the flavour of whole dish.
eggs, 1 per person, hard boiled, halved or quartered
OR (vegan option)
tempeh or tofu, marinated, 1/2 block, sliced in 4cm lengths, fried

* If you don't have soba noodles (available in most supermarkets) you can use many other types of noodles including brown rice noodles, buckwheat noodles, sweet potato noodles (chewy!), acorn noodles (great if you can find them), angelhair noodles...
**My new julienne cutter tool - looks similar to a potato peeler - is earning its keep in my kitchen!

Dressing Ingredients

3 T light soy sauce
3 T vinegar (rice vinegar is usual, or I like to use cider vinegar)
3 T fresh lemon juice
2 T agave nectar/ mild honey or 3 T brown sugar
1/2 T vegetarian oyster sauce
1 T crushed garlic
1 1/2 t wasabi
1 T chilli powder / Korean chilli flakes
1 T seasame oil
2 T toasted seasame seeds

more dressing options:
replace the veg oyster sauce and chilli powder with 4 T Korean red chilli paste (gochu jang - great paste to have if you can find it; look for it in Korean or general 'Asian' grocery stores).
you could use a knob of grated ginger and some coriander leaves for un-Korean but still delicious additions

Method

Combine ingredients for dressing and blend well. Refrigerate.

Blanch noodles in boiling water (or if using another type of noodles, cook till just tender) then wash under cold running water. Drain well.

Mix noodles with dressing and half the lettuce and other toppings. Use (clean!) hands to mix ensure thorough mix.

Garnish with remaining lettuce and toppings and serve.
I like to add the seaweed last as it gets soggy and chewy quickly. In the one in the photo I didn't have my favourite small Korean kim sheets so sliced up the kind used for 'california rolls'. I sprinkled the eggs with salt, chilli powder and sesame seeds.