Creamy Smoked Mackerel Soup

Creamy Smoked Mackerel Soup

This soup should have been creamy smoked trout soup, but having decided upon it last Friday evening, the spouse and I were unable to locate any smoked trout in local speciality shops and in town. Eventually I substituted smoked mackerel for the trout. The other ingredients listed the The Soup Book include fish stock (I used cubes), cream, white wine and Worcestershire sauce, with parsley to garnish. The editor's note pertaining to trout advises the reader to use whole moist fillets rather than pre-flaked fish as the latter can be dry. The note also refers the reader to the Marine Conservation Society's website (www.mcsuk.org) for guidelines on fish sustainability. Irish readers might be interested in the marine section of the National Parks and Wildlife Service (www.npws.ie).

It didn't take long to make the soup - the most labour intensive part was skinning and flaking the fish. I'm never too keen on making a roux (see blog of 8th May) but today's experience went smoothly (no pun intended). The older offspring and I had the soup for lunch a little while ago - the others are out a sporting event. It was delicious! I like creamy soups and this was certainly creamy - I'd used thick single cream (not sure how thick single cream differs from double cream!). I also liked the combined tang of the white wine, Worcestershire sauce and lemon juice which counteracted the cream and mackerel oil.

Bees' Nests and Notes

During the week the spouse sent me this link (www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126556246) to a story by Kathleen Masterson entitled Busy bees use flower petals for nest wallpaper. It concerns the Osmia avoseta bee which lays her eggs in tiny nests (one egg in each half-inch nest) made from petals and lined with mud. Fascinating.

"Beekeeping, that's what I'd do." This is the opening line of Victoria Coren's article The curious case of uppity Uppingham which appeared in The Guardian on 9th May (www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/may/09/victoria-coren-education). In this article she compares and contrasts the ways in which episodes of challenging behaviour by students were handled in two schools. Thought provoking.

Does anyone remember Nut Rocker by B Bumble and the Stingers? First released in 1962 and then again ten years later, it's a rock arrangement of March of the Wooden Soldiers from Tchaikowsky's ballet The Nutcracker. Strictly speaking, there's no honey bee connection, but sometimes you just have to have fun. Listen to it here -
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op2U-qGUDkg

Lovage Soup

Lovage Soup Today I made lovage soup, the second recipe by Sophie Grigson in The Soup Book that I have used in the last four days. She introduces the recipe with these remarks: "If you don't grow this old-fashioned herb yourself, ask around among your gardening friends or head down to the nearest garden centre to see if they sell it. " As I mentioned in my last blog entry (18th May), lovage now features among the herbs in my front garden. As the spouse left the camera at home, I took some photographs. Parsley, sorrel and lovage in Minnie's garden. Rosemary, parsley and lovage in Minnie's garden. I had hoped to add chervil to my collection of herbs - there's a recipe for vegetable and chervil soup in The Soup Book - but "Young Stephen" wasn't able to source any for me. At least he tried. Just while I'm mentioning Stephen, I have to reveal that the spouse and the older offspring claim that he has been mention...

North Sea Fish Soup

Shaun Hill is the author of today's soup, North Sea fish soup, and he advises that as the seafood must be "just cooked", dense fish should be cut into small pieces or added earlier. It was a simple soup to make as there was no frying or whizzing. The only panicked moment or ten that I experienced was when I couldn't find the cod loins the spouse had bought. I am terrible when it comes to finding things and can usually rely on the spouse to find whatever it is I'm looking for. It's the main reason I married him. But even he was almost as useless as I was. I could remember riffing on the topic of cod loins earlier in the day. The older offspring had asked: "Why cod loins? Do cod have loins? Do they walk?" Fair point. I remembered asking was it a spelling mistake? Had the packager meant to write "cod lions", and so it continued.All very silly. North Sea fish soup: final addition of the tomato and parsley Ready to eat The ingredient...

Miso Soup with Tuna

Miso Soup with Tuna This weekend I made a soup from the soup and shellfish section of The Soup Book , mainly because I'm aware this is the section through which I have made least progress. Leafing through the fish soup recipes, miso soup with tuna was the first one I came across that I hadn't made (the last fish soup was the creamy scallop bisque in December 2012). I read through the ingredients listed by Carolyn Humphries : what is wakame ? where do I get it and dried shitake mushrooms and miso paste? Apart from those three items, it was easy enough to obtain a carrot, spring onions, ginger, fresh tuna and chives. The spouse made a detour from the usual shopping route to his f avourite fishmonger's shop then went into town for dried wakame. So, at about 5.30pm yesterday evening, I set about making the soup. I made up chicken stock from a cube and left the shitake mushrooms and wakame soaking in cold water while I prepared the vegetables and diced the tuna. Next, I ...

Minnie's Soup Kitchen

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