FOOD: Easy fish soup that's ideal for the cook who wants to make a big impression, without slaving away
I RECENTLY READ A great article by Michael Pollan, author of the excellent In Defense of Food, talking about the downgrading of cooking to what is now a spectator sport, viewed on the US channel Food network. Food Network is available in 100 million homes, and is often more widely viewed than the cable news channels.
Back in the 1990s, Food Network executive Erica Gruen grasped the common misconception that people watched food shows to learn how to cook. The fact is, they don't. So the network started to target a different demographic, moving away from those who love to cook, to those who love to eat. The latter market is much broader, so shows such as Iron Chefbecame compulsive viewing not just for stay-at-home moms, but their children and their husbands, too.
Pollan goes on to explain that Harry Blazer, of market research company, the NPD Group, has been looking at cooking trends in US homes since the 1970s. Years ago, he found that the term “cooking” had become so broad that even the act of heating up a tin of soup, or de-frosting a pizza, were being termed “cooking”.
As a result, the firm decided to crack down on what could be defined as “to cook” and decided that there had to be some assembly of ingredients. This, rather depressingly means that washing lettuce and pouring ready-made dressing on the lettuce is “cooking”, in the same way as making a sandwich is also “cooking”.
I really hope that we’re not that bad over here, but consider this: if we spend more time watching TV food shows than actually cooking, then something may not be quite right with that balance. I am a sucker for watching cookery shows, but I never eat vicariously through them. I don’t mean to sound smug, but I cook at home pretty much every night, and although I recently succumbed to buying a ready-meal in a good supermarket, when I heated it up I genuinely found it hard to swallow. It just wasn’t nice and didn’t give any pleasure. But I do remember a time when I did think that ready-made spaghetti carbonara wasn’t that bad and that frozen pizzas were pretty good. I really believe that when you eliminate that kind of food for a time, they become hard to stomach when re-visited.
Again, I repeat: no judgment. But if we allow ourselves to fall into the trap of ogling the box and consuming good food through virtual mediums, we risk turning our society into Mr and Mrs Blobbies. Chefs and preachy food writers (myself included) will wax lyrical about using the best ingredients and “keeping it simple”. I understand how the latter camp can make you want to hurl oven chips at the preacher standing on the re-cycled soap box, but all I’m suggesting is that it doesn’t have to be fancy to be good.
Spaghetti tossed with olive oil and a clove of garlic, lots of black pepper and a bit of Parmesan is within anyone’s reach. Just try to resist the constant reach for ready-made and far-too-convenient.
Lazy fish soup
I love bouillabaise and classic fish soups, but bouillabaise takes a lot of loving. This recipe is a kind of soupy stew and does not involve bones, stock, and hours of your time. It’s lazy, but tasty and satisfying, and could easily be a meal in itself with the accoutrements. Feel free to play around with whatever fish you want to add. Serves four, generously
3 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 onions, peeled and chopped
2 leeks, peeled and chopped
½ head of celery, chopped
1 fennel, diced
1 bay leaf
½ tsp cayenne pepper
Good splash of Tabasco
Good splash of Lea Perrins
Pinch of dried chilli flakes
2 x 400 g tins tomatoes
1 litre vegetable stock
zest and juice of 1 orange
500g monkfish, cut into chunks
200g frozen prawns (optional)
200g mussels
Chopped parsley
Heat the olive oil in a big, heavy saucepan and sweat the garlic and onions till soft. Add the leeks, celery, fennel and spices. Mix well and sweat for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes, orange juice, zest and stock. Cook on a gentle heat for about 45 minutes to let the flavours develop. Taste, and season with salt and pepper. You can cool it down and refrigerate at this stage, or else add the fish and cook for another 10 minutes on a gentle heat. Make sure the mussels are well rinsed and scrubbed before you put them in, and that they are fully closed. After cooking for 10 minutes, discard any mussels that haven’t opened. Scatter with chopped parsley and serve with the rouille and baguette.
Rouille
2 egg yolks at room temperature
approx 250 ml olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Good pinch cayenne pepper
Good pinch tomato puree
thyme leaves, finely chopped
salt and pepper
2 tbsp stale breadcrumbs
Whisk the egg yolks with a few drops of olive oil. Gradually and very slowly add the oil and when it has started to thicken, you can add it a bit more quickly. After adding about 150ml of oil, add the rest of the ingredients, and taste. You may want to add the rest of the oil, or you may prefer to keep the rouille thicker and stronger.
Parmesan croutes
1 small baguette
olive oil
two garlic cloves, peeled
50-100g Parmesan
Heat an oven to 160 degrees/gas mark three. Slice the baguette into two-centimetre-thick slices and lay them on a baking tray. Brush them generously with olive oil and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden. Once they are a good colour, let them cool down and rub them with a whole garlic clove for extra flavour. You can then sprinkle them with Parmesan and heat again, so the cheese melts or else just serve the croutes with the soup and sprinkle the Parmesan directly into the soup, along with some parsley, lots of black pepper and a blob of rouille. See also www.itsa.ie
