I had to find something quick to make for lunch today, I just had 45 min to prepare and eat my lunch so that was a bit of challenge. For a fast food dish, I can say that this was a well done project. This soup is flavorful, nutritious and light, and needless to say quick to prepare, you just need to have the ingredients handy. I always keep chick peas in my pantry. When you don’t have time to cook them, you can use jarred one.

I started with the same way as making dahl, which was my inspiration in this dish. Then you had toasted spices when the soup is cooked and mashed, and instead of cilantro I use two handful of mixed greens (added at the end). Tofu is optional, but I felt like eating tofu today so it added an extra pleasant texture.

The great thing about this soup is that it will satisfy you for the whole day, you will not be hungry around 4-5pm wanting something to chew on. I love that feeling of feeling just right.

Ingredients for 2-3 people

• 1 tbs + 1 olive oil
• 1 tbs onion + 1, chopped
• 1 inch piece ginger, grated
• 1 lb cooked chick peas
• 5 ripe tomatoes, peeled, chopped and seeds removed
• vegetable broth enough to cover the vegetables
• Turmeric
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 handful of baby mixed greens, chopped (spinach, kale, chards, etc…)
• 4 tbs extra firm tofu, cubed
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a pot heat olive oil, then add onions and let it soften. Add cooked chick peas, tomatoes, turmeric, ginger and broth. Let it cook for about 20 minutes.

In a pan, heat olive oil. Add onion, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and let it cook until onions are brown and seeds start to pop. Add garlic and stir for about 20 seconds, then remove from heat.

In a small pan, saute tofu in a little oil until browned on all sides. Remove from heat and keep warm.

When the soup is cooked, using a hand mixer, start mixing the soup but leave some pieces do not mix to a smooth texture. Adjust with salt and pepper. Put back on heat and add spice mixture and chopped greens. Stir until the greens are wilted.

Pour soup on plates, divide 1 tbs of tofu on top of each plate and drizzle with olive oil.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2017/11/a-la-va-vite-tomato-and-chickpea-soup-with-spices-and-saute-tofu/feed/ 1 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2016/05/sanpeijiru-japanese-salmon-and-daikon-soup/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sanpeijiru-japanese-salmon-and-daikon-soup http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2016/05/sanpeijiru-japanese-salmon-and-daikon-soup/#comments Thu, 19 May 2016 22:16:55 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=17813 Sanpeijiru – Soupe Japonaise au saumon et daikon

I had some daikon in my refrigerator and not sure what to make with it, then I remembered some delicious soup with a clear and delicate broth I ate in Japan with lotus roots and fish. I decided to go that route with my daikon. After a bit of research, I found a recipe for a similar soup made with salmon and daikon called ” Sanpeijiru“. I found this recipe on this beautiful blog called “Just One Cookbook“, and since I loved most of the recipes, I thought to try this one out. Sanpeijiru is a specialty from Hokkaido where they eat a lot salmon and potatoes.

One particular thing about Japanese is that they are very particular about their broth and always filter it so that it becomes crystal clear, with absolutely no residue. My Japanese neighbor, Rui is so picky that she uses coffee filter instead of fine strainer to obtain an impeccable broth.

The broth is made of Kombu a thick seaweed, which is the base of most broths, and gives a very delicate flavor. Daikon is a staple of Japanese cuisine (and many parts of Asia too), it’s a thick and white radish used in broth, grated, pickled, in salads, or on sashimi, in so many different forms or shape. It’s high in vitamin C and one root vegetable very low in calories.

I did marinate the salmon with salt and sake, but not for 2 days, just one day. I used scallions instead of the Tokyo Negi and used salmon fillet instead of salmon scraps. I wanted to add some greens such as kale, but I decided to try the original recipe for the first time. Kale is not really a Japanese ingredient so I thought to keep it authentic.

The result is a clear and clean brothy soup, very delicate, and obviously very light. I just feel clean and nourished which is a great feeling.

 Ingredients

• 1 lb salmon fillet
• Palm-sized kombu
• 4 cups water for soup
• 8” (20 cm) daikon radish, peeled and cut in slices then quartered
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut in slices
• 4 scallions, cut in 2 inches long stems and then sliced lengthwise
• 1 potato, peeled and cut in pieces
• 4 Tbsp. sake
• 1 tsp. kosher salt or more

Instructions

Marinate salmon slices in sake, salt and lemon or Yuzu for 2 days. Cut salmon fillets into 4 inches pieces. Bring water to a boil, pat dry salmon fillets and blanch them for 30 seconds in boiling water. Drain and rinse salmon pieces. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and add salmon and kombu and let it cook for about 15-20 min. Filter broth to obtain a clear fine liquid.

Add vegetables to broth and let simmer until tender but not mushy. Remove kombu. Filter some more if necessary. Add sake and adjust with salt.

Celery root reminds me of France and its Celeri Rémoulade…which is raw shredded celery root salad with mayonnaise. Not that I particularly like mayonnaise on salad but I love celery root flavor.

A while ago, my Japanese neighbor introduced me to this Japanese kind of sweet potato called Okinawan potato; it has such a beautiful vibrant purple color. She was telling me about all the wonderful nutrient packed in it and how they eat it in Japan, so it did not take me long to go and buy some. I love Japanese cuisine, and I was curious to taste it especially that it has many antioxidants, one of which gives it its purple color, is called anthocyanin.

In general I don’t eat much potatoes, I find them quite boring, but this one is really different from all the other kinds of sweet potatoes I tasted and I will explore its use further.

Now what do you do with a celery root and Okinawan potato? You can do many things but the cold weather made me decide on a soup.

The small cubes of potatoes and celery mixed to the crayfish add some pleasant texture to the soup, so that part is not optional. You can also use shrimps instead of crayfish.

This is a lovely soup, delicate yet fragrant with lots of character, so definitely a soup that I will make again.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 yellow onion chopped
• 2 celery roots (medium size) peeled and diced + 1 slice cut crosswise in small cubes (1/3 inch) to set aside
• 1 medium size Okinawan potato, peeled and diced + 2 slices cut crosswise in small cubes (1/3 inch) to set aside
• 1 leek, roughly chopped
• vegetable broth (enough to cover the vegetables
• 1 .2 cups cooked crayfish
• lemon oil
• 1 tbs parsley, chopped
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil and add onion. Let them cook until fragrant and translucent. Add all vegetables except for the slice of celery cut in small cubes and the two slices of potatoes cut in small cubes.

Add enough broth to cover the vegetables.

Let cook the soup until all the vegetables are tender. Adjust with salt and pepper.

In a small pan, heat olive oil and saute the small cubes of potatoes and celery root until golden brown outside and soft inside. Add crayfish and saute for a few minutes. Remove from heat and add parsley. Adjust with salt and pepper.

When the soup is cooked. Blend using a hand blender, or mixer.

Divide in plates, and add 1 tbs of crayfish mixture and drizzle with lemon oil. Serve hot

This soup has been made with ingredients that could also be a salad. So if you are tired of lettuce salad, you can turn it into a delightful soup. Soups have a healing and cleansing effect and are so nutritious, so they’re the perfect reason to be part of anyone’s diet.

You can certainly cook lettuce or braise it. Its use is not limited to being eaten raw in salads. Being a leaf, it can be used as spinach or chards or as any other green. Since lettuce tends to be bland, I like to enhance it with fresh herbs. You can also use cannellini beans or chick peas instead of peas.

In France, they often add a tbs of crème fraîche in a velouté, or vegetable cream. I prefer to use yogurt to keep it lighter, it’s a personal choice, but cream would also work. As far as, texture, you can blend it into a fine and smooth texture, I kept it more grainy, it’s all up to your personal tastes.

Ingredients

• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 heads of lettuce
• 300 g peas
• 1/2 bunch chervil + 1 tbs, chopped
• 3 tbs tarragon + 1 tbs, chopped
• Vegetable broth
• salt and pepper
• 1 cup Greek yogurt

Preparation

For the soup

Heat olive oil in a pot. Add onions and let soften, then add lettuce. Let it wilt, add broth (to cover the lettuce mixture). Cover and let cook for about 15 minutes. Add peas and herbs and let cook for an extra 10 minutes. Blend soup in a mixer or hand blender. SErve hot with a tablespoon of cream of herbs.

For the cream of herbs

Mix 1 tbs of tarragon and 1 tbs of chervil with yogurt and stir.

Summer is gone already but I have a hard time switching my mood for fall…I love summer and its long day light, its products and the vacation spirit. Fall has its own character like every other season but I am not looking forward to winter. I don’t know why but I have not been in the soup mood for a long time nor have I been in the mood for seafood. I guess it all goes by phases. In my case, the less I eat something, the less I want to eat it.

I thought a kale soup would be the perfect dish to celebrate fall, it’s such a wonderful ingredient and so versatile, it can be prepared in so many different ways. This recipe combines two lovely ingredients, lacinato kale (or cavolo nero in Italian) and sea scallops. It might be the new trend to eat kale in the US, but in Europe it’s been consumed for ages. Usually trends don’t last, they come and go, so I hope kale is here to stay on the shelves.

For the next two weeks, I will be experimenting new recipes like this one, so I am quite excited to get extra time to play in the kitchen. You can also serve this soup in small glasses as a little appetizer.

Ingredients for 2

For the soup

• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 leek chopped
• 1 small yam, peeled and cubed
• 2 bunches kale, stems removed and chopped
• vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

For the sea scallops (3 each)

• 6 scallops
• toasted sesame seeds
• dried thyme
• salt and pepper
• olive oil for drizzling

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add onion, leeks and yams. Let it cook stiring for about 10 minutes until fragrant. Add kale and cover with broth. Just a bit below kale level. Cook for about 25 minutes until tender. Adjust with salt and pepper. Blend with a hand blender or mixer. If it’s too thick add water or broth.

Mix sesame seeds and thyme together. Coat the scallops on both sides (you can also dip scallops in egg whites before) and using a grill pan, grill on both sides until cooked (two to three minutes per side approximately). Adjust with salt and pepper.

Serve scallops on soup, drizzle with olive oil and extra sesame seeds.

This recipe is neither French nor Italian but Middle Eastern. I first tasted molokhia when I lived in London at a Palestinian lady’s house. My good friend Stephanie and I wanted to learn English so in our 20′s we went to live in London (which needless to say was a long time ago!!). We rented two rooms at this wonderful lady’s house who was a writer mostly focusing on women condition in Islamic countries. That was the first time I ever tasted or heard about molokhia. She treated us with chicken molokhia once in a while which was a feast for us. Molokhia is basically the leaves of jute, a green leafy vegetable, a little bitter. Its texture is a little slimy like okra, so if you like okra, you’ll like molokhia.

Then we went back to France, time went by and living in a small town in France, molokhia was nowhere to be found in the markets in France. Not that long ago (about 20 years later), strolling down the frozen section of a middle eastern store in San Francisco, I found frozen molokhia. I could not believe it! Here I am with three bags of frozen molokhia, and no idea on how to prepare it.

After some intense searching, I found various recipes for molokhia, one of which is a Tunisian version and is made out of dry leaves and prepared with lamb and like a thick stew consistency. The one I tasted 20 years ago was made out of fresh leaves, with chicken and with a consistency of a soup and eaten as a soup. I found a recipe from Cairo similar to what I was used to, so Inspired myself from this recipe – It is usually served with rice but I was in the mood for quinoa, and it just works as well.

 Preparation for 2

• Fish broth
• 2 small tomatoes, peel, seeds removed, and diced
• 2 tbs chopped onion
• 1 bag frozen molokhia
• 1 tsp coriander powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1 jalapeno pepper, diced
• 3 tbs cilantro, chopped
• 8 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 tbs olive oil
• 8 shrimps, peeled and deveined
• salt and pepper
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Preparation

In a medium pot, heat fish stock, then add frozen molokhia, tomatoes, onions, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt and pepper. Cook for about 20 minutes. Add cilantro. In a pan, add olive oil and garlic and cook until fragrant but don’t burn the garlic. Add to the molokhia pot and cook for a few minutes. In the meantime, saute shrimps and keep warm. Add lemon to molokhia, stir well and serve molokhia with shrimps and rice or quinoa.

Beets are so lovely, I love them in any shape or form. It’s the type of vegetable you either love or hate. Most people who tasted this soup, loved it. I guess it has to do with its smooth and delicate flavor. When you think about a beet soup, you imagine something different, and certainly not as good.

The good thing about summer, (even if you don’t know it’s summer by looking at the weather here in San Francisco) is that the stores are filled with exciting seasonal vegetables such as these beautiful spring shallots. Usually, you only find them in May-June so whenever they’re available, I get excited like a kid in a candy store. Like any other fresh vegetable, they need to be consumed fast, unlike the dried shallots.

Ingredients for 3-4

• 2 spring shallots, cut
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut in slices
• 5 medium size beets, peeled and cut in small pieces
• Vegetable broth (just enough to cover the vegetables)
• salt
• yogurt (optional)

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil. Add shallots and cumin. Stir and cook until fragrant. Add beets and carrots. Cook at medium heat for a few minutes mixing well. Add broth and let cook for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Adjust with salt.

Place the cooked vegetable in a blender and puree it.

Serve hot in bowls with yogurt and some green shallot stems.

I love soups and can eat them every day for one month, or I hate soup and cannot eat them for one month. We have a love/hate relationship depending on the moment. As we say in French “c’est tout ou rien!”  (it’s either everything, or nothing).

Obviously I am on my soup month and since romanesco are back on the shelves, it would be too bad not to use them. Romanesco is from the cauliflower family and originated in Italy. It can be prepared like cauliflower or broccoli and I find it quite delicious.

This soup is filled with greens, topped with smoked salmon, so a nutritious and light dish and a whole meal in itself. I blended half the soup and kept some vegetables that I mixed with it at the end, to get some velvety texture combined with chunks.

I added some crème fraîche at the end but this is optional. Crème fraîche acidity goes well with smoked salmon and adds a little finished touch. But if you want to keep it dairy free, skip the cream.

Ingredients for 4

• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 romanesco, cut in florets
• 1.2 cups, diced in quarters
• 2 cups baby spinach
• vegetable broth (enough to cover the vegetables)
• salt and pepper
• smoked salmon, shredded
• crème fraîche (optional)

Preparation

In a large pot heat olive oil, add onion and cumin. Let cook stirring for a few minutes, until onion is translucent and cumin fragrant. Add the vegetables except for the spinach, and the broth. Adjust with salt and pepper.

When the vegetables are cooked, add spinach and let cook for another 5 minutes, until wilted but still green.

Remove soup from heat and remove two ladles of vegetables from the pot, draining the broth and set vegetables aside.

If there is too much broth in the pot, get rid of some otherwise the soup will be too watery. Using an immersion blender, blend soup to obtain a smooth texture. Add the vegetables you have put aside to the soup. Mix well.

Serve soup in plates, top with salmon and add some cream around. Sprinkle with some chopped spinach and serve hot.

]]> http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2015/03/romanesco-soup-with-brussels-sprouts-and-spinach-topped-with-smoked-salmon/feed/ 0 http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2014/07/green-peasant-soup-soup-with-artichokes-peas-lima-beans-and-kale/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=green-peasant-soup-soup-with-artichokes-peas-lima-beans-and-kale http://citronetvanille.com/blog/2014/07/green-peasant-soup-soup-with-artichokes-peas-lima-beans-and-kale/#comments Wed, 23 Jul 2014 04:36:04 +0000 silvia http://www.citronetvanille.com/blog/?p=16571 Soupe paysanne verte – Soupe aux artichauts, haricots de lima, pois et chou vert

I love simple dishes that are filled with delicious vegetables. This is a late spring, early summer soup when all the vegetables are available. It reminds me of some soups my mom made when I was a child with everything that was growing in the garden.

I was debating if I should call this a stew or a soup, I guess it can be called both. If you like artichokes and in the mood for some greens, this would be perfect. You can replace the lima beans with fava beans and kale with spinach or some leafy greens as well.

This soup cooks quite fast, the longest process would be the trimming of the artichokes.

You can serve this soup with toasted baguette slices and shaved parmesan on top. I kept it simple and it was just what I wanted for lunch.

Ingredients for 2

• about 10-12 baby artichokes, trimmed and cut in quarters or halves depending on the size of the artichokes
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 1 scallion, chopped
• 1 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 cup peas (fresh or frozen)
• 1 cup lima beans
• 2 cups baby kale or spinach
• vegetable broth
• salt and pepper to taste
• some toasted baguette (if desired)

Preparation

Trim artichokes and place them in a container filled with water and lemon juice, so they will keep their color and won’t darken.

In a pot, heat olive oil. Add onions and scallion, soften them, then nd add garlic. Add artichokes, peas and beans. Stir well and let cook until fragrant. Add broth and let simmer for about 15-20 minutes until all the vegetable are tender but not overcooked. Add kale and cook for another extra 5 minutes.

Serve hot, drizzle with olive oil and fresh black pepper.

Yesterday the lunch was light since we had been invited by our neighbor’s for the Chinese new year to a restaurant. Usually, if I know my dinner will be more substantial than usual, I balance it out with a light lunch. After all, it’s all about balance…

I love this soup, I love it even more, because of its beautiful dense color. The flavor is naturally sweet, fresh and very delicate. I made two versions, one with a poached egg, and one with a yogurt cream with chopped mint. They’re equally delicious and nutritious. This soup is quick to make, the peas don’t need to cook for a long time to keep their flavor and color, so here we have a quick and delicious soup. The picture with the poached egg is a bit off, the egg got a little messy.

For 2-3 people

• 3/4 large yellow onion chopped
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 1 lb peas either fresh or frozen
• 1.5 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 bunch mint, chopped
• 2 eggs or more (depending on the version)
• 3 tbs plain yogurt (depending on the version)
• vegetable broth
• salt and pepper

Preparation

In a large pot, heat olive oil, add onions and soften them. Add peas, stir and cook for about 1 minute, then add broth. Cook for about 15-20 minutes, then add spinach and mint. Cook for an additional 5 minutes. Adjust with salt and pepper. Blend soup to obtain a smooth mixture.

Poach egg and add to the soup or mix yogurt with some chopped mint and add ti the soup.