Chilled Fennel Soup with Halloumi Croutons

Today a recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi for a chilled summer soup. Fennel is one of those vegetables that I never used at home, but I've fallen in love with it. (If you have a chance, look at Simon Hopkinson's entry on 'fennel' in Second Helpings of Roast Chicken.) The fennel is softened with leeks, blended and combined with flavoured Greek yoghurt that adds a smooth creaminess and the freshness of summer herbs. Top the soup with some deep-fried cheese, and you have a winning combination.

Ingredients

• 70ml olive oil, plus extra to finish
• 21/2 tsp fennel seeds [I didn't have any, and they were no where to be found.]
• 3 large fennel bulbs, roughly chopped into 2cm dice
• 2 leeks, roughly chopped into 1cm slices
• 100ml arak, ouzo or Pernod [I improvised. See below.]
• 1.1 litres water
• 2 tbsp chopped thyme
• Zest of 1 lemon, half of it shaved into strips, the rest grated
• 20g chopped dill
• 10g chopped mint
• 5g chopped coriander
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
• 200g Greek yoghurt
• dry breadcrumbs
• Sunflower oil, for frying
• 200g halloumi, cut into 1cm dice [He recommended 2cm, but that's too big to get the right flavour combination.]
• 1 egg, beaten
• Salt and white pepper

Preparation

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the fennel seeds for 30 seconds, until they start giving off their aroma. Add the chopped fennel and leeks, and sauté on a medium-low heat for 10 minutes or so, until soft and sweet – don't let them take on any colour, so add a little water if need be.
   
   
2. Pour in the anise-based liqueur, raise the heat and cook for two minutes, so the alcohol evaporates. Add the water, half the thyme, the lemon strips, three-quarters of a teaspoon of salt and some white pepper, and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Remove the lemon, blitz the soup with a hand-held blender (or in a food processor) and leave to cool. [As I said, I didn't have any Pernod, or ouzo--and at £20/bottle it was too much to ask. Knowing how both taste, I made work around by soaking star anise in hot vodka and adding about a tablespoon of sugar and letting is soak for a couple of hours. If you had more time, it would be even better. Remove the star anise and use as Pernod, etc.]
   
   
3. Once cool, stir in the grated lemon zest, herbs, garlic and yoghurt. Taste (and try not to eat too much); adjust the seasoning, then refrigerate. About 20 minutes before serving, take the soup out of the
   fridge so it's chilled but not fridge-cold.
   
   
4. To make the croutons, mix the breadcrumbs with the remaining thyme. Pour enough oil into a small saucepan so that it comes 2.5cm up the sides and place on medium heat.
   Once bubbles begin to rise to the surface, turn down the heat to medium-low and leave for a minute. Dip the halloumi in beaten egg, shake off any excess and then roll in the thyme breadcrumbs. Deep-fry in batches for a minute, until golden-brown – make sure the oil isn't so hot that the cheese sizzles vigorously when it goes in. Transfer the cooked croutons to kitchen towel to drain. (These are also a temptation to eat. Plan to make a few extra.)
   
   
5. Divide the soup among six bowls, drop in a few warm croutons, drizzle with olive oil and
   serve.

Originally published in The Guardian on 8 August 2011.

Fiadone

For a couple of years now, I have been fascinated with Corsica. It all started several years ago during a trip to Paris when I wandered into a tiny restaurant in the 15eme Arr. called Le Beau Violet (92 Rue Entrepreneurs). It was a single room--the chef, Roger, cooked in clear view and frequently smoked a cigarette despite the laws to the contrary. If you wanted to use the restroom, you needed to leave and walk a few doors down the street. You basically eat what Roger gives you (with the occasional choice;) deferring to his judgement is probably best. Several courses later and close to midnight, I finished the meal with dessert and some myrthe liqueur. The final course was fiadone--a Corsican lemon cheesecake made from brocciu (an AOC whey cheese produced in Corsica).

It's hard to find brocciu outside of Corsica, but you can simulate the experience using ricotta. This is a slightly grainy, lemony cheesecake with no pastry shell. And as far as cheesecakes go, it's simple to make and good for a light, summertime dessert. In the first instance, I was guided by Rolli Lucarotti's Recipes from Corsica; Clotilde has also blogged about it. Here's how to do it.

Ingredients

• 500g brocciu or ricotta
• 150g caster sugar
• 4 large or 5 medium eggs
• zest of 1 large lemon
• 1 Tbsp. eau de vie (I used some limoncello) 
• salt

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF.
2. Separate the yolks from the whites. With the yolks, combine the sugar, zest, limoncello and cheese until smooth. 
3. Add a pinch of salt to the whites and whisk them into soft peaks. Fold some of the egg whites into the cheese mixture, then fold the mixture into the remaining egg whites until combined. 
4. Pour the mixture into a buttered and floured spring form pan. 
5. Bake for 30-35 mins until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least half an hour. 

Not everyone whips their egg whites--but I think this improves the texture. And with a hand-mixer, it's no big task. 

Jalapeño Cheddar Biscuits

To complement the shrimp and grits, I whipped up a quick batch of biscuits with cheddar and jalapeño. A cheesy, spicy take on White Lily cream biscuits, fast and simple. This recipe made 5 biscuits.

Ingredients:

• 1 c. all purpose flour (White Lily isn't sold in the UK.)
• 1 1/3 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2/3 c. heavy cream
• 1/4 mature cheddar cheese, grated
• a few pickled jalapeño peppers, diced
• butter

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 220ºC. Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl. Pour in the heavy cream, grated cheese and chopped jalapeños, and combine with a wooden spoon. The dough will be sticky and wet. (If you have a feel for biscuit dough, this will be a little more sticky than usual. Add some flour if you think it needs it.)
2. Put the dough onto a floured work surface. Tear off balls about 2 inches in diameter and space them on a baking tray.
3. Bake about 12 minutes until the tops are golden brown. When they come out of the oven, put a small pat of butter onto the top of each one. Cool slightly and serve warm.

Fried Cornbread

Last week I bought a couple of kilos of cornmeal and have been looking for something to do with it. Yesterday afternoon, I thought about another distinctly Southern dish from my childhood: fried cornbread. They're super simple.

Ingredients

• 1 c. cornmeal
• 1/2 c. self-rising flour (add 1/2 tsp salt if you are in the UK)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• milk
• 2 jalapeños, seeded and diced or one finely chopped Scotch bonnet (optional)
• diced onions, shallots or scallions (optional)
• 50g grated cheddar cheese

1. Combine cornmeal, flour, egg, and vegetable oil in a bowl. Add enough milk to make a batter. (Just mix in a little bit at a time and pay attention to the consistency.) Stir in your jalapeños and onions.
2. Heat a skillet with a few tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium heat.
3. Using a 1/4 c. measure (or thereabouts), spoon out the batter into the skillet.
4. When the cornbread starts to look dry around the edges, they're ready to flip.

These are great with something that has a broth with them (beans, etc.) We often have them around New Years with black-eyed peas and collard greens.

Gruyère Cheese Soufflé

Anyone with the American imprint of Larousse Gastronomique will certainly have been tempted by the delectable soufflé on the front cover. The power of suggestion was too strong to resist as one of our French sauces (Béchamel) formed one of the basic ingredients in a savoury soufflé. Larousse, while still a treasure trove of culinary information, is often vague on details as it assumes a good bit of background knowledge about food preparation. To fill in some of the details, we kept open a copy of The Professional Chef on the counter. (And as a target, we kept in mind an exquisite soufflé from La Chaumière in Washington DC.)

Ingredients

40g butter
40g all-purpose flour
200 mL milk
80g Gruyère, finely grated
4–5 egg yolks
4–5 egg whites
salt
pepper
nutmeg

Procedure

1. Combine the butter, flour, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to make a Béchamel. (See previous post.)
2. Preheat the oven to 220ºC. d
   
3. Mix the eggs yolks in a bowl and temper them with a few spoonfuls of the sauce one at a time. Then, over medium-low heat combine the tempered yolks with the base mixture. Stir constantly for 3–4 minutes. Do NOT allow this to boil.
4. Add the grated Gruyère to the mixture while stirring. (We added these about the same time that we were combining the egg yolks to keep the mixture just a touch cooler.)
5. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
   
6. Fold the egg whites into the mixture by thirds.
   
7. Spoon the soufflé batter into ramekins that have been buttered and dusted with flour. Leave about 1cm of space between the level of the batter and the rim.
   
8. Turn the oven down to 200ºC (425ºF). Place the soufflés on a baking pan and into the warm oven. Bake without opening the door or moving until the top is a dark, golden brown. Baking time depends on the size of the ramekins. (Small individual servings: 10–12 minutes; larger soufflés may take 16–24 minutes.)
9. Serve immediately.

After spooning out our mixture into our four small ramekins, we still had plenty of batter leftover, so we put the extra into a small Pyrex bowl; in most respects it was even better. The slightly larger diameter allows the soufflé to remain fluffier. This being our first attempt at a soufflé, it was also easier to judge how well cooked it was because we could see through the glass to the base.

Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese Gratin

I'm not going to pretend to have invented this recipe myself; I took it almost verbatim from epicurious. However, I changed a few of the proportions and the cooking temperature, so I feel like there are enough differences to warrant a retyping (though I'm leaving the link in just in case the original sounds better to you).

Ben and I had this last Thanksgiving when we were able to cook together, and this year both of us cooked it separately for our friends/families. So far, it's been popular wherever it went, and I'm definitely making it again (just as soon as I can find leeks and butternut squash at the grocery store--for some reason both places I went today were frustratingly squashless).

You'll need:

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, cut into 3/4- to 1-inch cubes
Olive oil
Coarse salt
2 T (1/2 stick) butter, divided
2 t white or black pepper
3 cups leeks, cut finely
3 t chopped fresh sage, rubbed
1 5.5-ounce log soft fresh goat cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted, husked, coarsely chopped


Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 475˚
2. Place the squash in a large baking dish, pour olive oil, salt, and white pepper on top. Mix.
3. Cook for about half an hour, until the squash is tenderly fork-pokable.
4. While squash is cooking, saute leeks and sage in butter until the mix has cooked down but is not yet brown.
5. When the squash has been removed from the oven, mix the leek mixture in.
6. Lower the oven temperature to 375˚.
7. Layer the squash and leeks, alternating with goat cheese. I started with the squash, then crumbled (well, chevre doesn't really "crumble"... but it doesn't glop or pour, either. I'm at a loss for words) the cheese, and was able to make two more layers of each, with cheese on top.
8. Pour in the cream, making sure that it spreads throughout the dish as evenly as possible.
9. Sprinkle the chopped toasted hazelnuts on top.
10. Bake for about half an hour.

Let the cheesey warmness enfold you in its holiday-licious arms...

Kiwiburger

After going into overdraft on my Lloyds' account due to a Gourmet Burger Kitchen version of this very burger--and consequently owing the bank upwards of £400--and after a move into my new apartment that left me a) tired, b) longing for red meat, and c) eager to try out my new kitchen, I decided to try this complex-tasting yet simple-to-assemble burger.

A warning, though: at almost six inches tall, it's almost impossible to eat without a knife and fork. Still, if you can wrap your mouth around this sweet and tart mound of protein and veggies, you'll never go back to a normal cheeseburger ever again...

For one burger, you need:
1 hamburger patty
2-3 slices of pickled beets, sliced about 1/4 inch thick
1 slice of pineapple, about 1/2 and inch thick
Cheddar cheese (enough to cover one bun)
1 egg
1 slice of tomato
1 hamburger bun (I used a challah roll because I had it on hand, but a crusty sourdough roll is ideal for this hulking sandwich)
Salt and Pepper and Mayo and Ketchup to taste

1. Begin cooking the hamburger patty in a frying pan on medium heat. Salt and pepper both sides of the burger and squeeze out some of the juices as it's cooking.

2. Cut the pineapple, beets, and tomato into the appropriate sizes if you haven't done so already. I only had a whole pineapple in my kitchen and was afraid I wouldn't be able to hack it (literally!), but my large Dehillerin knife was up to the task!

3. Place cheese on bottom of half of bun and microwave for about 30 seconds, until melted.

4. Depress the pineapple slices into the cheese--this will keep them from slipping quite as much.

5. Just before the burger is done, fry an egg in the same pan, salting and peppering to taste. Flip it, and cook until the yolk is runny, then tip it over onto the hamburger and put the burger on the pineapple. The stack is getting taller...

6. Carefully place the beets and tomato on top of the egg, and the bun on top of them. If the yolk breaks, even better! This isn't a delicate sandwich, so you might as well get used to it early on!

7. Ketchup up and eat away!

vegetarian lasagna

2 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced
1 red onion, chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup feta cheese
2 portobello mushrooms, sliced
3 cups fresh baby spinach
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 tbs chopped fresh oregano
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Ground cayenne pepper or red pepper.
12-14 lasagna noodles, or 8 lasagna noodles and a 1/2 cup of rigatoni
9 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 350°F
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil. While it is heating:
3. Mix zucchini, mushrooms, spinach, garlic, onion, 1/2 of the mozzarella, and the feta cheese.
4. Add olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
5. Add basil, oregano, sugar, salt and pepper(s).
6. Boil lasagna noodles for 3-4 minutes, then put four on the bottom layer of a 8x10 glass baking pan.
7. Layer tomatoes on top of the noodles, and spinach/vegetable mixture on top of that.
8. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top, and then place noodles on top of the cheese.
9. Create another layer of tomatoes, vegetable mixture, and noodles.
10. Add the remainder of the veggies and cover with mozzarella cheese.
11. Bake for about 45 minutes, or a little longer if the noodles/vegetables don't seem done.

Serve with olive tapenade and spelt toast :), and best when enjoyed with an episode of Battlestar Galactica.

poire au rochefort

Ingredients:

4 pears, peeled and cored
200g Rochefort
4 Tbsp chives, chopped
4 Tbsp ground walnuts
2 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1/8 c. raisins
½ c. double cream


Preparation:

1. Place pears in a baking dish with 0.5 cm of water. Cover with aluminium foil. Bake at 250ºF for 15–25 minutes until soft.
2. Stuff pears with Rochefort and refrigerate.
3. In a small saucepan, heat up butter, cream, half of the raisins, flour, and remaining Rochefort until hot. Whisk constantly until hot and thickened.
4. Set each pear in the middle of a dish. Cover the pears with the creamy Rochefort sauce. Sprinkle with chives, walnuts, and the remaining raisins.
5. Picture yourself in a Parisian bistro with someone you love. Enjoy.