Roast tomato, roast paprika and shrimp gumbo

It was our cookery club Autumn menu, this time the venue was at our good friend and goumet Kalle. As normal the host provides the  "Raumlichkeit" and does the main course, this time it was to be an Autumn Risotto. Alas Martin could not be with us as he was partying on the Havel or the Spree or may be both, I do hope it was on and not in as it is a little cool this time of the year. But I digress (as usual), the rest of the menu is described in my following blog. 

 

Saturday morning was a quick visit to Kiels wonderful "Wochenmarkt" at Exerzierplatz, alas on reaching Exerzierplatz I found not the market but  a tented enclosure with much winnying and naying going on, it was the stabling for the Baltic horse show that was taking place in the adjacent arena. So I then knew that the market would be taking place on the other large platz, The Wilhelmplatz, so a quick leg up to Willi (as it is known in Kiel). I bought my shrimps and visited out favorite vegetable stall, run by Anka and her husband. I then left Linda and Kalle to head for home as I had bread proving and I wanted to get the soup on the go.

Ankas big pumpkins

 



The  Soup

 

To make 6 large servings.

1kg ripe tomatoes

4 large red peppers

500g brown shrimps in their shells

 

To make the stock

1 small onion halved and each half studded with bay leaf held in place with a clove

2 cloves of garlic crushed

White of a leek (about 10 cm long x 3 cm in dia) sliced

1 piece of celeriac (or a stalk of celery) diced

A sprig each of thyme, rosemary and parsley

2 carrots diced

 

Shells from the shrimps

2 L water (or a good stock for a stronger soup)

The remainder of the ingredients

2L of vegetable/fish stock (made with the shells and veg)

125g of sour cream

1 good pinch of smoked Spanish paprika powder

1 twig of rosemary

2 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

 

For the decoration

The flesh from the brown shrimps

1 yellow pepper diced quite small (5mmx5mm)

Flesh of 2 tomatoes (or better sun dried in oil) also diced small

6 sprigs of rosemary

 

Method

1)   Roast the peppers and the tomatoes, remove the skin (this is easiest done by removing them from the oven when the skins start to blacken, put them in a freezer bag and allow to sweat, after about 30 minutes the skins will just come away from the flesh, cut open and remove the seeds, pith  and stalks 

 

2)    Shell the brown shrimps (keeping the meat to one side)

Making the stock

3)   Put the shells in a pan with a table spoon of oil and fry over a high heat, put the soup vegetables in another pan and add the garlic, fry the lot in the rest of the oil until the veg starts to soften, transfer the shells and top up with 2 litre of water (or better still a good vegetable of fish stock stock), add spiked onion and bring to the boil, skim and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

 

4)    Strain through a sieve lined with muslin into a clean pan, squeezing as much of the goodness out as possible (you can of course buy ready made shrimp paste, but this is much more fun).

 

5)    Chop the paprika and tomato flesh (remove the seeds, when you remove the skins) add this to the stock.

6)    Remove the rosemary leaves from the stem and chop quite fine (reserve 6 sprigs to decorate) add this to the soup bring to the boil and simmer for 5minutes.

7)    Add the smoked paprika powder and blend the whole lot either in a blender of use a magic wand (this is a gumbo so it doesn’t have to be really smooth, you’re going to put some more bits in anyway.

 

 

8)    Add the sour cream and blend. Adjust seasoning (salt, pepper and smoked paprika)

9) Add the shrimps allow to warm through (keep 25g back for the butter)

10) Here you can either pour into a terrine and add the diced yellow pepper, and tomatoes, or as I prefer to do, ladle into individual soup bowls and crown with a cream foam topping dusted with smoked paprika and a sprig of rosemary resting on the foam. Or roast a crouton spread with shrimp butter (or potted shrimps) and topped with a solitary unpeeled shrimp. (looks very good, but the shell is a bit of a fumble so most just leave it). Or snip some chive over the top and serve potted shrimp toast as a side accompaniment.

11) I served with the fougasse bread, a shrimp butter, my soup was topped with wasabi foam and rosemary 

 
Making the foam, Linda has a special pot for making foam for coffee, I comandeered this to make my wasabi foam. Warm the milk through ,add a teaspoon of aga-aga powder (this helps to maintain the foam).

Add a thumb nail size piece of ready made wasabi paste and stir in. Put the top on work the plunger a few times and there it is, wasabi foam done. spoon it onto the soup and top with a sprig of rosemary.

 

The fougasse the dough made to Remond Blanc's recipe, great, but he should have said how much dough this makes. Linda has now enough fougasse dough frozen away to make another two loafs.

 

The shrimp butter
75g of salted butter
100g 17% goats cream cheese
25g of shrimps kept back from the soup shrimps.
1 pinch of smoked paprika

Blend the butter and cream cheese together, dice the shrimps into quite big bits and add 50% to the blended butter, blend until quite smooth, then stir in the remainder of the chopped shrimps. Put into pots and decorate with a solitary shrimp.

 

 We drank a nice Grey Burgundy

 

 

Pigeon broth and liver dumplings (Leberknödel)

Leberknödel in a Pigeon and Cèpes broth.

 

 

Carcasses of 6 pigeons (these can be any game birds or small game)

1/2 diced onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbsp of olive oil

1 sprig of rosemary

3 sprigs of thyme

Break the carcasses into smaller pieces then put them in a roasting tin with the rest of the ingredients mixing so all of the pieces are covered in oil. Roast covered with foil at a high temperature (220°C) for about an hour.

Making the broth

 Browned bones and the remnants from the roasting tin

 

1 small onion halved

2cl of red wine (to deglaze the roasting pan)

3 ltrs. of good vegetable stock

2 heaped table spoons of dried soup vegetables

 

1 sprig each of Rosemary and Thyme

2 bay leaves

 

4 cloves

 

Brown the cut side of the onion, stud it with the cloves holding the bay leaves in place, place these in a large pan along with the dried soup veg and herbs

 

Transfer the bones etc. into the pan, cover with stock (I used a vegetable one) and the deglazed juices,

 

 

 

 

 

bring to the boil,

 

 reduce heat to a rolling boil,

 

 skim the scum as it rises,

 

then part cover with a lid and simmer for and hour or so.

Strain through a sieve and set aside to cool (you can skim the fat, but this is easier when completely cold)

Leberknödeln

The pigeon livers

1 small slice of calf’s liver (I would have preferred goose or game liver but alas none to be had)

4 slices of bread soaked in a ladleful of the stock

Chopped herbs (I used Rosemary and Thyme)

Panko crumbs to thicken

Salt and pepper to taste

Dice the livers and bread, put into a kitchen processor (or as I done use a mixing wand), when well mixed start adding the panko crumbs until it comes to a thick consistency, season to taste. Wet your hands and place a ball of the mixture into the palm of one hand and cover by cupping your other hand over it, now using a circular rolling motion (with your hands not your body, ya fool) form into 8 even sized balls.

To finish the broth

8 Leberknödeln

12 pigeon legs and if you like (I do) the hearts and crops as well.

150g of cleaned cèpes

Add the legs of the pigeons (and if using also the diced hearts and crops) to the broth and poach, when tender add the cèpes.

Then add the Leberknödeln and cook until they rise to the surface, it is ready to serve.

Guten Appetit

Miso broth with prawns and noodles then a trip to the Rhine

It was a very rainy Friday and as I had arranged to go down to Bonn for a couple of days, I thought I would make a quick meal for me on the afternoon and get some cassoulet out of the freezer for the evening meal. I decided on a light Miso broth with lots of finely chopped green veg and noodles

Ingredients

1 sachet of Miso soup
1 sachet of Tuna flavouring (dashi no moto)

2 stalks of celery
2 stalks of spring onions
1 cube of fresh ginger (2.5x2.5cm)
1 large garlic clove
3 small tomatoes (quartered)
1 red chilli (hot)
250g of raw prawns
3 pieces of dried anchovies

splash of fish sauce (it depends how salty you like it)
1 dessert spoon of Japanese soy sauce (light)

1 block of egg noodles

Bring plenty of water to the boil and break the noodles into it turn off the heat and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes, drain and set aside.

Bring 700ml of water to the boil, add the Miso soup powder and the dashi no moto. Using a madoline on the finest setting grate the celery, spring onion and ginger into the broth, crush the garlic and add this also.

Next chop the dried fish and add this to the broth.

Add the prawns and allow to cook (not too long or they go like rubber), taste the broth and add the fish and soy sauce, if too salty add more water.

Now add the noodles, the tomatoes and the chilli finely sliced in rings.

Serve at once eat with chop sticks drinking the soup from the bowls as one would do out in Japan.

I had made more than enough so this was also our starter for that evening when Linda got in from Kiel.

The main course was a cassoulet that I had made at the weekend and frozen, I made a new topping of chopped garlic and fresh herbs from my balcony, mixed with sauerteig bread crumbs. I must say that as with all one pot meals (Eintopf) it tastes better the second time around.

We set off for the Rhine and Bad Honeff , we are looking at mobile homes and Bad Honeff has a large outlet for second hand ones, so using this as an excuse (not that we need a one) I had phoned to our dear friends Marga and Ewald that live near Bonn that they would be having visitors on Saturday so get the wine uncorked.

We spent a good hour or so viewing the mobile homes and then drove through the area called the Siebengebirge, a once volcanic area on the East inclines of the Rhine in the area of Bad Honeff and Königswinter, with it's imposing Petersberg above, this sits high above the Rhein looking down on Königswinter, the Petersberg was the government hotel that housed state guests and held many conferences when the German Government was in its temporary home of Bonn. Königswinter does not take its name from anything wintery, but in that it was a wineberg (wine growing area) presented to Konig Karl der Große (Charlemagne) and thereafter called Königs Wintzerort (vineyard), this is of course just one of the speculations as to where the name came from, there are many more, but I like this one, so it must be true.
We caught the ferry to cross the mighty Rhine which was in full spate to Bad Godersberg on the West bank, pity it was raining as from here on a clear day you can see into the Eifel on one bank and the Siebengebirge including Petersberg and the ruins of Burg Drakenfels on the other.
We made our way to Marga's and she had a home made chicken and vegetable soup with eierstich (a beaten egg that has been set and then cut into small dice).

We chatted about mobile homes, they are also thinking of buying one, and as I had promised Marga many years ago that I would take her to the land of Rosemunder Pilchard and Dauphney de Maurier, we said that we would do it in 2013 when we would be retired.

Evening was lamb leg chops, rump steaks, salads and breads, washed down with a few bottles of a very nice red from the Altenahr ( Ewald is a bit of a wine connoisseur and specialises in wines from the Ahr region) he also makes his own liqueurs and schnapps, Linda had to try his Kirsch and try it again and again.

Sunday morning after breakfast I wandered the grounds of Ewalds garden (one of them, as he still has a large vegetable and fruit garden up in the hills).

Ewald's vines, that will produce his house wine later in the year

It was here under the walnut tree that we would have had our Grill-Abend alas the rains came

Haus Ewald and Marga

and got myself a few lemons (3 of each sort)

 I am going to make some preserved lemons to a recipe that our friend Carolyn used for Oranges at Christmas.

Carolyn's spiced Orange Rings

6 firm, medium-sized (bio) oranges

400 ml white wine vinegar

350 g soft brown sugar

Cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp whole cloves

2 blades mace

Wipe oranges well but do not peel. Cut them into thin, even slices. Put them into a saucepan and barely cover with water. Boil and simmer for 30 min. or until soft.

Drain liquid into a clean pan, add vinegar, sugar and spices. Heat gradually until sugar has dissolved.

Put drained slices in a few at a time when it is boiling hard and simmer until rind becomes clear.

Transfer rings to warmed jars until almost full.

Boil syrup again until it begins to thicken (ca. 15 min). Then leave to cool a little and pour over orange rings. Cover at once.

Store a week before using.

I will of course use Ewald's Bio Lemons!!!

The six lemons and Marga gave me her heart!

About mid morning we headed off on a round about way, stopping off for lunch in a nice Gasthof South of Munster for lunch. It was a  buffet a veritable spread, I had a matjes salad, followed by Rinderbraten mit zwiebeln soße  (pot roast beef with an onion sauce) and steamed and gratin potatoes (I did manage to squeeze a small beef roulade onto the plate as well), we could have had desserts but gave it a miss.

As we hit the Emsland out came the sun, the weather changed was warm and I thought once Linda was on the train back up to Kiel, I could get my cycle out and go for an hours pedal, I had reckoned without the weather gods, it came across pitch black and poured, I will never get fit at this rate and no I am not going out in the pouring rain.