white pepper

Real Men Eat Watercress (Soup!)

10 Jan 2012
watercress soup with sage

Move aside quiche there a a new super food in town and men love it.

Real men like Napoleon Bonaparte and (yep) Sippity Sup! And we're not the only super-dudes in love with this peppery green bite. It’s said that Hippocrates, the father of medicine, built an entire hospital next to a patch of the stuff because he recognized early on the health benefits it could provide to his patients. Gruff Greek soldiers ate watercress to increase their masculine vigor. Even Roman Emperors said it enabled them to make “bold decisions”. I can vouch for that. I ate Creamy Watercress Soup with Sage and decided to write this super-charged tribute.

In Victorian times elegant ladies jumped on the watercress bandwagon too. It could be purchased in parks and street corners, gathered into posey-style bundles. These daintly little nosegays could be nibbled upon, like an ice cream cone while strolling.

And what a nibble watercress seems to be. It's said to have more vitamin C than oranges, more calcium than milk, more folate than bananas, and more iron than spinach.

But its real attribute is that manly men like it. The Romans even believed it could prevent baldness. Now I ask you what man wouldn't eat watercress with that kind of information available to him? Still, even if you have a full head of hair (or are in fact a lady) eating watercress still has delicious benefits. Most notably it has a peppery crunch that elivens this vibrantly colored creamy soup made with leeks, and potatoes called potage au cresson. My version is a simple (but manly) take on the classic. GREG

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Creamy Watercress Soup with Sage

watercress soup
By jgreghenry Published January 9, 2012
Prep time: 30
Yield:1 (Servings)

Ingredients:

  • 2 T unsalted butter
  • 2 leeks, halved lengthwise, cleaned, white and light greeen parts roughly chopped
  • 1 medium potato, peeled and diced
  • 1 clv garlic, peeled & minced
  • 3 stalks celery, roughly chopped
  • 3 c chicken stock
  • 2 bn watercress (about 1 pound), leaves only, plus more for garnish (optional)
  • 6 leaves of fresh sage, rinsed and chopped
  • 0.5 c heavy cream
  • 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 1 pn each, salt and white pepper, to taste

Directions

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan set over medium heat. Add the leeks, celery and garlic, stirring to coat. Lower the heat and cover the pan, cooking the leeks until softened somewhat, but not yet colored, about 4 minutes. Add the potato and chicken stock. Simmer, uncovered until the potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes. Remove the pot from the pan and stir in the watercress and sage. Set the pan aside to cool somewhat.

Meanwhile mix the cream and egg yolks together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until very smooth. The strain the soup with a fine meshed sieve discarding any solids. Return the soup to the pan, setting it over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the cream and egg yolk mixture. Season with salt and white pepper. Garnish with watercress (optional). Serve warm.

Pretty Pea Soup with Mint & Sour Cream Brings Spring

14 Apr 2011
mint pea soup

What springs to mind this time of year? Why peas of course! As soon as I hear that distinct boing from a spring that has fully sprung. I make this soup, Minted Spring Pea Soup with Sour Cream.

Because peas and mint are a traditional springtime duo. Here they are brought together with the slight tartness and rich body of sour cream. Making for a little bit of pure pea perfection in a cute little bowl. 

Like I said I make this soup every year just as the peas hit their peak of perfection. I suggest you wait for that moment too when making a soup like this. Get the peas too early and they can be small and disappointing. Wait too long in the season and they can get starchy. Get them at just the right moment and you simply won't believe their sweet flavor. 

That's why a soup likes this works so well. Perfect peas take very little in the way of "extras" to make them sing in the spring. With peas this perfect I think simple is best. But I gotta say, the slight brightness and luscious texture in sour cream compliments the natural sugars in fresh spring peas if handled with a deft hand. 

So, please pass the peas because they've peaked. If you don't believe me have a peek... Sorry, I realize alliteration is a dummy's last resort at clever writing, but I have trouble not swinging at that ball when it's lobbed so easily in my direction!

 

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Minted Spring Pea Soup with Sour Cream

Minted English Pea Soup with Sour Cream
By jgreghenry Published April 14, 2011
Prep time: 30
Yield:1 ()

Ingredients:

  • 4 lb english peas in the shells
  • 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 c spring onion, white & light green parts, chopped
  • 1 q vegetable stock
  • 1 t kosher salt, or to taste
  • 0.125 t white pepper
  • 10 mint leaves, minced, plus more left whole as garnish
  • 2 T flat-leafed parsley, minced
  • 0.333333 c sour cream
  • 0 lemon wedges, optional

Directions

Shell all the peas and put them in a bowl. Set aside. Coursely chop the about 2 cups of the pea pods. Then tie them up in a large double layer of cheese cloth. Form a pouch and tie it closed with kitchen twine. Set aside. Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven or large deep skillet set over medium heat. Add the onion, stirring occasionally until it is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the stock, reserved pea pod pouch, salt and pepper. Increase the heat to medium-high, and bring it to a simmer. Use a spoon to submerge the pea pod pouch. Let the mixture cook at a simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove the pea pod pouch, carefully squeezing out as much liquid as possible. Discard. Add the peas, chopped mint, and parsley to the stock and bring the liquid back to a simmer. Cook until the peas turn bright green, and are tender. No more than 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool slightly. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth. Place a fine-mesh over a large bowl. Pour the pureed soup into the sieve. Working in batches, use the back of a wooden spoon to push the liquid through the sieve and into the bowl. Discard solids as you work. Once it has all been strained, wipe the original pan clean and pour the strained soup back into it. Gently rewarm the soup over medium-low heat. Add 1/3 cup sour cream and stir well to blend. Remove from heat and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. You may also need to adjust consistency with a bit more stock. Ladle to soup into small soup bowls. Garnish with more sour cream and a few mint leaves, Serve with lemon wedges on the side to squeeze into the soup to taste. Add

Notes:

serves 4 You may use 2 ten ounce packages of frozen peas alternatively, thereby skipping the need to bundle up the pods for steeping. Source: Adapted from CIA Greystone

Of Course You Can Drink Red Wine with Fish! Spiced Salmon with Braised Shallots & Sunchoke Puree

15 Feb 2011
Spiced Salmon with Wine Braised Shallots, Edamame & Sunchoke Puree from Sippity

I hope to tear down a few walls here today. I plan to do it with an unsual recipe for Spiced Salmon with Wine Braised Shallots, Edamame & Sunchoke Puree, I adapted from Holly Peterson, CIA.

The wall that's about to tumble today is the old belief that red wine is for meat and white wine is for fish. 9 out of 10 people you ask will agree with this premise. And there's a lot of conventional wisdom (and even some science) supporting this malarkey. But like all conventional wisdom (and all malarkey for that matter), it's never as simple as the simpletons would have you believe. It’s a mantra we've heard regularly, so we tend to stick to it rigidly– even when our own palates tell us otherwise.

Sure white wines are generally a good choice for fish. Fish itself is lighter and more delicate in flavor than meat dishes. One of the first 'rules' in pairing food with wine is the proper balance of ‘weight’ and ‘texture’ between the food and wine, so at the most basic level it makes perfect sense to choose white wine with fish and red wine with the heavier textures found in meat.

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