Bone marrow and beef broth

Ingredients

1 marrow bone

2 pounds beef

1 onion

2 carrots

1 leek

1/2 celery root

parsley for garnish

1 carrot, cut into chunks

1 cup green beans, cut into chunks

Two factors encouraged me to have another go at making broth this week: officially, it might be spring, but at night, it still gets very chilly. Plus, I finally read "Nourishing traditions" and while I am still half-heartedly experimenting with fermenting my own vegetables (so far I have produced two batches of inedible and possibly poisonous cucumbers... glad they didn't explode in their jars!), I can proudly say that at least I know how to make a good broth.

In winter, for us this is a staple food eaten often as an appetizer before something more substantial, and having read about all of broth's surprising health benefits (it sounds like a superfood!), I am certainly going to prepare this also in summer. To make it more suitable as a spring or summer dish, after straining the broth, I blanched some carrots and green beans in it and added some of the meat, trimmed and cut into small pieces.

The preparation of the broth is pretty straightforward, basically following the same method as in my pho bo recipe.I don't roast my bones (just the onion in the pot), and gradually add in the meat and vegetables, simmering the broth for about 3-4 hours.

However, in our broth ritual, the best part is kept for last - the bone marrow. Lately, bone marrow is making something of a come back as a delicacy, besides its health benefit (consumed in reasonable quantities, of course), it truly is mouthwateringly delicious in texture and taste. We usually spread it on a slice of bread like butter and very lightly salt it. My grandmother used to make the most amazing bone marrow dumplings, and the next time we have broth (hopefully before next winter), I'll share the recipe.

PS: For my vegetarian readers - for a really cool idea how to make excellent vegetable stock from scraps, lock at Green Thyme's blog here. 

Life is good!

Soup of parsley root

Ingredients

2 parsley roots
1/2 cup parsley
3 parsnips
3 quarts broth (vegetable or beef)
chives

Being all about trying to eat as seasonal as possible, here is another recipe idea to make the switch of seasonal food from winter to spring. It is based on some of my beloved root vegetables which provided sweetness, earthiness and warmth during the winter months and comes in the form of a soup, perfect for a chilly spring evening but inspired by the fresh and light green of a day spent outside in the sun!

This is a very simple recipe - you just peel the parsley roots and and parsnips, boil them in broth until soft, add in the parsley and puree. Season to taste with salt and pepper and top with fresh chives.

Life is good!

Pho Bo - Vietnamese beef noodle soup to wait for spring!

Ingredients

Broth:
1 onion
2 inch piece fresh ginger
2 beef marrow bones
3 star anise
3 cloves
1/2 pound piece of beef chuck
1 tbsp salt
3 stalks fresh lemongrass
soy sauce and Sriracha sauce to taste

Fill-ins:
1 pound beef steak
4 - 5 nests of dried rice noodles
4 scallions, cut into rings
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 cup sugar snap peas
1/2 cup bean sprouts
5 shiitake mushrooms
4 lime wedges

We just had one more rainy weekend here to destroy all illusions of spring. Yes, it's gotten a little warmer recently and yes, there are some tiny snow drops and crocuses in the park, and on random sunny days, people have begun populating all the little street cafes again. But is it spring yet? Not really.

To shorten the wait, I am craving the color of fresh, new green. Unfortunately, most of the seasonal dishes for the lent period don't feature a lot of that, because, well, historically, people around this season just didn't have a lot of lush green things to eat. So this weekend, I took a break from the traditional (vegetarian) lenten dishes and made a delightful bowl of beautifully green pho bo, the Vietnamese noodle soup.

And at least one of my lent resolutions will be more than fulfilled with this dish: mindfulness. Because with my ambition to use only fresh ingredients and get a rich and multidimensional broth, it takes a lot of time and planning to achieve a good pho bo. My recipe is slightly adapted from the VietWorldKitchen, where lots of pho secrets and tips can be found.

I began with the broth, which requires around 4 hours of simmering. For perfect flavor and depth of color, I first browned the onion cut in half and the ginger, until they were nearly burned, then added 3 quarts of water and the marrow bones. When the water had come to a boil, I put in the beef chunk, anise, cloves, lemongrass and salt. The 4 hours of simmering were relatively easygoing, just I just sometimes removed the foamy scum from time to time.

Being an avid cook of different meat and bone broths in the European tradition, it was a revelation to experience what a difference the addition of spices like anise, cloves and lemongrass made, transforming the end result from a beloved and well-known staple into something equally soothing but stimulantly exotic.

Around half an hour before planning to eat, I started soaking the dried shiitake mushrooms in some water, and as well as the rice noodles, and put the steak in the freezer. Then came the chopping (cilantro, spring onions, peas, mushrooms) and blanching (noodles, peas, bean sprouts), arranging a little of each in the bowls. Once the meat was frozen enough to be easily cut into thin slices, I cut it and cooked it very briefly in the broth, transferring it to the bowls and covering everything with lots of soup, to be seasoned individually with soy and Sriracha sauce and the lime wedges.

Every minutes of the 4 hours had been time well spent and worth it.

Life is good!

Tribute to Marcella Hazan

With great admiration do I dedicate today’s blog entry to Marcella Hazan, a cook and food writer who - besides having made Italian cuisine accessible to thousands of appreciative followers - to me is one of the biggest champions of simple and seasonal home hooking.

“Cooking is the institution that fosters the development and endurance of familial bonds in many of our worlds.” Marcella Hazan

Coming myself from a family were generations of women have been dedicated and proud home cooks, I am a close observer of all the consequences of processed foods, instant meals and constantly eating out. Not only is it contributing to many of today’s health problems, but equally important, to the demise of having family meals together, sitting around a table and instead of the constant entertainment by a television, actually talking to each other. And with my own wedding day coming closer, I find a great source of optimism in her words for growing old and toothless with the Santoku master.

“While other passions in your life may at some point begin to bank their fires, the shared happiness of good homemade food can last as long as we do." Marcella Hazan

As there is so much to say about Marcella and her way of seeing cooking as a craft, her art of composing well-rounded meals, you can imagine the challenge of choosing one recipe for this tribute. Remaining true to her philosophy of simplicity and straightforwardness, I opted for my own variation of her mussel soup from ‘Essentials of classic Italian cooking”, substituting the mussels with clams and adding half a cup of white wine to make the soup more liquid.

“To put a freshly made meal on the table, even if it is something very plain and simple as long as it tastes good and is not a ready-to-eat something bought at the store, is a sincere expression of affection.” Marcella Hazan


Ingredients
1 pinch of admiration for one of the greatest food writers in history
1 pound clams
1 can diced tomatoes (no salt added)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
½ cup parsley, chopped
½ cup white wine

In my beloved dutch oven, I heated some olive oil and let the garlic fry until golden. Then, I added in the chopped parsley and after another minute or two, the diced tomatoes, including their juice, and half a cup of white wine. As I mentioned above, I usually like my soups on the more liquid side, so if you don’t, strain the tomatoes and skip the wine.

While letting the broth simmer for around ten minutes on low heat, I cleaned the clams, scrubbing them repeatedly under running cold water. Marcella recommends waiting until the oil has separated from the sauce before throwing in the clams, as well as turning the heat up to high, stirring from time to time and waiting until they had all opened their shells (discard any that don't open).

The results were magnificent, a soup filled with the airy lightness of a summer breeze gently stroking over the coast, yet rich with the depths the deepest sea. And to my utter consolation, you can probably even eat it without teeth.

Life is good!




You might be interested in checking out tributes to Marcella (and her recipes!) on these lovely blogs:

Mary - One Perfect Bite
Kathleen - Bake Away With Me
Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkeyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud

Soup for the sick

Ingredients

1 large onion, cut into rings
2 serrano peppers
3 red potatoes
1 pork chop, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic
1 cup Italian parsley, chopped
½ cup fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper
2 portions love and sympathy


When I wake up, I already feel like my head is exploding. It’s just one of those days when you feel sick and cranky and can’t even stomach the idea of leaving your any further than to snuggle under a ton of blankets on your couch. A sudden craving for fennel tea. The shining sun and singing birds cruel sarcasm and a personal attack by the universe.

But as no woman’s an island, I am not alone in my misery, and some time after breakfast, I hear strange sounds coming from the kitchen. It sounds like our beloved Dutch oven being put on the stove, I hear water running and the rhythmic banging of a knife (wanna bet it’s the famous Santoku?) on a cutting board, the sounds of chopping and boiling, opening and closing of the fridge.

What on earth can be happening? This being Saturday, what I remember of our fridge is that it is empty, waiting to be re-filled to get us through another week. Then the smells start emerging to the living room and my couch, poking my nostrils with increasing intensity while I suffer away on my blankets, demonstratively too sick to even schlep myself over to the kitchen to observe what’s going on.

And then out of nowhere, a steaming bowl of soup makes it to my hands, covered with fresh green herbs and rings of raw jalapeno that immediately lift my spirits. Potatoes and thinly sliced pork, savory bits of garlic hiding under the tremendous amounts of sweet rings of onions, and all of it floating in a delicious and fragrant broth that warms the heart.

I don’t know what happened that day in our kitchen and if you are interested in the exact recipe, you’ll have to ask my wonderful someone. From my guess, cut and chop all of the above and boil it in a sturdy pot until the potatoes are done. Season it with tender loving care and good wishes and serve boiling hot, with a kiss.

Life is good!