A Simple Salmon Laksa

A storm was making it's way through the southern villages of Czech Republic last Tuesday night. Luckily, we had soup. Not just any soup, but Laksa: a softly spicy, fragrant, Malaysian noodle soup. I hadn't thought of this soup since I was last in New Zealand, where it's made with some frequency, and most kiwis will tell you it's Indonesia's most appreciated contribution to their islands. Sources cite Malaysia as the country of origin, but also Indonesia and Singapore. Whatever the case, the influences are clear on the palate - a bit South-East Asian, a bit Chinese, and appreciated by all.

It reminds me of an incredibly tasty soup made last year, with shrimp and zucchini, but was much more involved due to the long infusion the spices had in the broth. This version, adapted from an 'express' cookbook makes a very tasty broth with less time by NOT chopping the lemongrass and straining it out, but simply giving it a few good whacks to bruise the stalks, and letting them steep whole. The flavour still gets into the broth, but with less time and effort. 
 
Baby bok choy is used, mainly because it just looks so cute while waiting on the counter-top, but the full sized variety would do just fine. We took heed from the Italians here as well, as the garlic is left whole, and scooped out at the end, as to not overpower.

This is a soup of soft, well-blended flavours, and only spicy if you want to add in the chili peppers at the end. It's a work-night favourite of my good friend who made it, as I saw the note 'Awesome!' scribbled in the corner of the recipe. And so it was.

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Love a Heart with (Healthy) Food

Heart Healthy Foods 

(from MedHelp)

Whole Grains

Oatmeal

Beans

Fish

Olive oil

Cinnamon

Pistachios

Walnuts

Flaxseed

Tomatoes

Avocados

Oranges

Blueberries

Cherries

Tea (3-6 cups of black/green)

Coffee (2-4 cups)

Red Wine (1-2 glasses)

One can hate it, or embrace it, but it is near impossible to simply ignore Valentine's day.

Living abroad, I find myself having to defend Valentine's day year after year. Not that I want to, or even that I feel as a good American expatriate that I necessarily have to. It just ends up that way.

Comments on the holiday from my past Czech students were overwhelming focused on the forced emotional element. We'll see about the reactions tomorrow among my new Italian students. Differences?

A large part of the negative image I believe stems from all the usual side effects of an exported holiday. Other cultures see the overpriced junk in the shops, and the nauseatingly clichéd displays of overdone emotion on the sitcoms. They are missing the perspective of holiday nostalgia, meaning, the image of a holiday we have as experienced as a child, and formulated though the lens of nostalgia.

I always attempt to explain that it's not just forced emotion between two young lovers. In fact, I remember it best as a family holiday. The ones with the kids get all the fun with it. Heart-shaped anything sweet is enjoyed immensely. Wearing red, pink, and white to school was something silly my sister and I looked forward to (as well as sporting our new hearted V-day socks and toting an array of garishly designed sparkly pencils to school.)

Valentine's day, to me, is simply a day to think about anyone in your heart. Near or far. And when someone is in your heart, you want to take care of them. Whether that means baking yummy confections with sprinkles, or looking after their health. This week, in honour of Valentines day, I've dug up one of those lists of heart-healthy foods and created a full days menu using every single food on that list. As a foodie afar, it's  the best I can do to love the heart of someone dear - my dad. Like many American seniors (note: he does not object to this title, rather loves it for the prime parking spots it acquires) he has been told to stick to a heart-healthy diet by his doctor. Growing up at the table of his mom n pop's greasy spoon diner, he has somehow not yet satisfied his desire for hamburgers and all things that would make a modern nutritionist shudder.

This menu is for my dad. I think he would like it. It's not too exotic, and its a full day using every food he is supposed to be eating. It's from one heart to another. Happy Birthday dad!

The heart-loving menu:

Brekkie: Muesli-Pancakes with Honeyed Berries

Lunch: Black Bean Chili with Swiss Chard 

Dinner: Pan-fried Fish with Blood Orange and Avocado Salsa

Dessert: Vanilla-Poached Fig, Cherry & Pistachio Parfait

More heart-loving menu recipes in the coming days. 

Black Bean Chili with Swiss Chard

Adapted from Bon Appétit, Mar 2006

Serves 4

Time 50 minutes (plus bean soaking time)

Eat with Rioja

250g dried black beans (1 1/2 cups) (or 2-3 cans worth)

olive oil

2 shallots

2 cloves garlic

2 - 3 large red bell peppers

2 Tb chili powder

1 Tb cumin

1 Tb smoked Spanish paprika

1 can stewed tomatoes

2 1/4 cups (500ml) vegetable broth

1 tsp salt (optional)

1 medium bunch (3 packed cups, chopped) Swiss chard - leaves only

garnish: chopped avocado and/or Manchego (or other sheep's milk cheese, like Pecorino)

1) Soak the beans either overnight, or quickly (cover well with water, bring to boil, turn off heat and let soak for an hour...more or less depending on the size of your beans.)

2) In a large pot, heat the olive oil on low and gently cook the chopped shallots. After 5 minutes, add in the garlic and cook on low for another 2 minutes. 

3) Chop the bell pepper into bite-sized bits, add into the pot and stir the chili powder, cumin, and paprika into the mix. After a minute, when the spices are fragrant, add in the pre-soaked beans (but without their soaking water of course), tomatoes, vegetable broth, and optional salt. Bring to boil, reduce to a simmer and leave it there with a lid on for about 20 minutes.

4) Add in the chopped chard leaves and cook another 5-10 minutes, until they are softened considerably. 

Serve with cheese or avocado atop.

Enjoy.
- Jo

A (and not The) Minestrone

Names are tricky business. When I think about it, people have known about this for ages. I mean, one of Shakespear's most well-known and time-tested soliloquies is based on this point precisely. So a little cross-cultural discussion on the meaning of food names should really come as no surprise.

Minestrone, in my American Italian-deli-experience, is a soup with assorted veggies, beans, tomatoes, herbs, Parmesan, and pasta. So, when I woke up this Sunday and saw that the contents of my refrigerator were positively begging me to make minestrone, I listened.

 

Asking around, and doing a bit of googlework, only increased my confusion. At this point, I really have no idea what a minestrone ought to include. Pasta, or no pasta, that is the question. But after a handful of conversations, I don't think many Italians know the answer either. And does it matter? Do old men with suspenders holding up their trousers get in arm-flailing discussions when their local trattoria messes with the sanctity of minestrone? My Italian friends assured me they do not. But I will keep an eye out for this...just in case.

The problem with names is that they carry such weight. Another surprise came as I learned Italian woman don't take the surname of their husband. Many women in Rome have assured me that this is quite preferred, and other culture's traditions of abandoning one's name upon marriage are really quite silly.

As I am currently between last names, I can appreciate their point. Why complicate an already complicated balance like marriage and family with the added identity-altering pressure of name conventions? 

Names are loaded. The mere idea of changing one bears all kinds of identity re-configuring implications. But is that really necessary? Just because one does or does not change their name, or the name of something, does it really mean something changes? I don't think it has to.

I've long detested the name of my blog. Cumin in the Cupboard made clear sense to my North American friends, but when mentioning it to non-native English speakers, it needed explaining. And names shouldn't need explaining. So I changed it.

For now, we are just sticking with JosieLee..my first and middle name. Nothing cute, kitsch, or clever, as that would imply an expected transformation of blog identity, which you will not find. This space is still about the food I eat and the ideas connected to it. Maybe it will slowly, organically change in the future, as things often do, but big radical changes just seem a bit too try-hard to me. It is what it is.




My soup recipe here is just A minestrone, not THE minestrone. Maybe it's just a minestra. The name doesn't matter. What matters is that it is really quite tasty (even better the next day), and is full of flexibility on what ingredients can be brought to simmer. I find the anchors of this soup to be the pancetta and the Parmesan rinds. For me, it is the flavours imparted by these two salty basics that form the backbone of a minestrone, pasta or no pasta.

Recipe: Minestrone with Borlotti Beans and Chard

Serves: 4 - 6

Eat with: Chianti Classico or Pinot Noir

4.5 oz (125g) pancetta
1 onion, minced

stems of 1 fennel (or celery)

olive oil

4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole

1 large potato, scrubbed and diced

1 large bunch chard

2 16-oz. cans stewed tomatoes

1 1/4 cup dried borlotti beans

6-7 cups chicken broth

1 large Parmesan rind

2 tsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried thyme

1 cup dried tempestine pasta (or use another small pasta shape, or rice/semolina grains/couscous)

Parmesan

The dried beans should be soaked and pre-cooked first. Either soak overnight and then cook in boiling water for 20 minutes while starting the soup. Or do a fast-soak: boil for 30 mins and then let sit in that warm water 1-2 hours. Or just use 2 cans of beans.

1) Finely cube the pancetta, and dice the onion and fennel stems/celery. Peel the garlic cloves, but leave whole. In a large pot with a smidge of olive over low heat, gently cook all for 15 mins, until fragrant and soft.

2) Add in the potato and chard. Cook 5 minutes until the volume of the greens is reduced. Add in the tomatoes, pre-cooked beans, broth, Parmesan rind, and herbs. Bring to boil, reduce, and simmer 45 mins.

3) During the last 10 mins, add in the pasta (or if it's a larger shaped pasta, pre-cook and add in...but tempestine is basically semolina grains...so that can just be added in.)

4) Serve with freshly grated Parmesan over top.

Enjoy!
- Jo

Sunday Soup {Lentil and Smoked Ham}

Lentils so simple,
and easy on my wallet,
tasty in autumn. 
- lentil haiku

As much as all of my American foodie friends are spending every spare moment right now planning and shopping for this coming Thursday, we can't all wait until then to eat. A hearty lentil and ham soup can be lazily thrown together on a Sunday, and eaten leisurely by the cupful as hunger comes and goes whilst pouring over those cookbooks (or web pages).

Mine was a bit thick, so I've written up the recipe with a bit more broth. But if you like it thick, then just add 1 liter of broth, rather than the 1 1/2 suggested.

I also decided to make the broth and root veg creamy,  à la immersion blender, before adding the lentils and ham. But this isn't necessary if one is looking for a more soup-like consistency.


Now let's get that Thanksgiving menu finished!

And yes, you read correctly, I did just start a post with a lentil haiku. It's that kind of a Sunday.

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Detox: Day 1 {Fennel+Grapefruit / Beet+Miso Soup}

The first day of a detox should feel pretty good. It's only one day without the usual stimulants and toxins, so my energy levels were just fine. The only noticeable difference being the amount of time spent in the kitchen - waaaay longer chopping and rinsing all that veg!

Breakfast was a plate of thinly sliced fennel and grapefruit segments, spritzed with lemon juice. I make this as a salad normally, with mixed greens, parmesan shavings, and dressed with lemon/olive oil. But during a detox, just the fennel/grapefruit make for a refreshing, and filling, brekkie. With a nice cup of green tea of course. If you can find a blend with Ginkgo, that should be good for focus and concentration, along with the bit caffeine from the green tea. You might not even miss that coffee!



Lunch was had in a hurry...nothing special, just a plate of fresh greens, tomatoes, and ground pepper followed by some braised brussels sprouts with lemon and my Spike seasoning blend.

Afternoon saw more tea and some mandarins. My detox blend from a Czech bio shop is actually pretty tasty, even without honey.

Dinner saw a bit more of the above-mentioned chopping action - a creamy miso-beet soup with (more) brussels sprouts. It was amazing! The miso flavour is not as pronounced as a typical miso soup, but rather fills in where salt left off. A great write-up on miso for salt is here at Culinate.

The soup was adapted from a fellow detoxing blogger, Honest Fare, who came up with it last year as an unblended soup with asparagus - which she also photographed beautifully! Mine was made at night, and the blending makes it a bit mucky looking in front of the lens.

Since it's November, and there's an abundance of brussels sprouts (for which I've developed a new-found affection), a few substitutions were made. I also wanted something a bit heartier than a light broth with floating veg, so in went the stick blender. It's easy to make, and tastes great on the second day as well.

The day finished with more tea and fruit. It turns out that pomegranates are great as a movie snack - a big bowl of them keeps the hands busy just like popcorn!

Detox Series:
Detox: The Rules

Day 1: Fennel+Grapefruit / Miso+Beet Soup

Day 2: Strawberries+Ginger / Moonblush Tomatoes / Ratatouille

Day 3: Roasted Root Vegetables+Squash

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Lemongrass-Coconut Soup with Shrimp and Veg

Take someone who hasn't been able to get to a Thai restaurant for a very, very long time (me) and give them a freshly discovered source of lemongrass (and a few youtube videos on preparing this stuff) and the most fragrant and delicately infused coconut broth might just emerge.

This soup is an absolutely lovely way to use up some summer veg hanging out in the crisper. The rest of the ingredients I usually have in stock (when the cupboards are full that is) - save for the trip to the Vietnamese market for the lemongrass. I am told lemongrass freezes well, like ginger, so I may soon (theoretically) be making this on a whim.

 Coconut-based soups always sound a bit cloying to me, to be perfectly honest. This one, however, is one part coconut milk and two parts vegetable broth (plus all those spice goodies.) The result is a smooth oh-so-light-as-a-feather texture and flavours that go POW. Can you handle that?


The beauty of this recipe is that the broth bit is absolutely killer. The spice mix infuses its heady aroma for half and hour, and is then strained out to get a divinely silky-smooth broth. Any seafood/tofu/veg could be included in this soup. It really is that flexible...and good!




Disclaimer: this dish is a bit time consuming, so I would double the recipe if you've got room in the fridge or freezer. It also seems to use a minimum of three pots, so be nice to your dishwasher (aka dining companions) in advance.

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Summer Entertaining {Guacamole, Mojitos, Gazpacho, and Sangria}

The cat's outa the bag now. I recently confessed to my girlfriends that my sole reason for growing mint  (besides the fact that it's the only thing which refuses to die through vast epochs of neglect) is for the mojitos. Yep, when it comes to summer drinkies, I'm a passionate imbiber.

When it was decided to kick off a bachelorette party for a dear friend at my place I immediately stopped picking all the good leaves off the mint and started stalking the shops for quality avocados.  









Guacamole and mojitos are my summer entertaining 'gimmes', and gazpacho (a chilled Spanish tomato soup) and sangria often add to the line-up - tasty and light on the tummy. Certainly fits the bill for a night of teeny dresses and tube-tops whirling on a dance floor.


Debauchery or no debauchery, these are all great do-ahead items suitable even for a quiet, sophisticated, patio gathering. You know the type, that 'respectable' get-together where one may or may not end up whirling anyways on a kitchen-cum-dance floor.

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Sick Day Soup {Hoisin Pork and Mushroom}

I have a vague memory of buying the mushrooms. 

The hubs and I went to the doctor after a week or more of fighting off nasty colds. Next to her office was a small grocery store. I wanted to make soup. We wandered in. I had a hankering for a Chinese inspired pork soup. I grabbed a head of napa cabbage and some mushrooms. Pork we still had in abundance. I went home and sat on the bed. No soup came about that afternoon.

Days later, when I finally started feeling a wee better, I was up to the soup making.

Multiple meals of instant ramen noodles and oranges will inspire that kind of motivation I suppose. 

The recipe is based on some old ones I'd written up and simply tweaked to fit what was available in the cupboards.

 I should also note that the recipe includes Chinese five-spice powder, which you may not have on hand. But if you're sick in that putzing around the house kinda way, I bet you could easily whip up your own blend in a spice grinder. I usually do an online search for it and play around with a few recipes. There's a rather detailed description of it here on Serious Eats. Happy spice blending!

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