Crab Gazpacho
I'm trying to catch up in the fish and shellfish section of The Soup Book. I've made less than 60% of the fish soups so far (the same goes for the meat soups) so I chose crab gazpacho for this weekend's effort. The spouse had brought home some cheap pre-packed crab during the week and I thought I'd use it up.
The recipe is by Marie-Pierre Moine and a little on the fiddly side. The ingredients include clams or mussels (I chose the latter), shallot, spring onions, garlic, dry sherry, parsley, fennel seeds, piquante pimenton (which I discovered is a type of paprika after I had substituted a type of whole chilli), tomatoes, boiled eggs, sherry vinegar (never heard of it before), and crab meat. The brown meat is, strictly speaking, not an ingredient of the soup as it is mixed with oil and chopped egg, then spread on croutes and served floating on the soup. I'll come to the crab meat presently.
The spouse was working outside Dublin yesterday, so I had to do the shopping. A rare occurrence. I may go mad with the credit card but I bring home interesting biscuits. Main shopping done, I headed around to the spouse's favourite fish shop to buy mussels. They only had about 320g and I needed 500g, so I decided to use additional shallot, garlic and spring onion when preparing the soup, in case there was a flavour deficit. Because there would be cooking and chilling involved, I decided to start preparing the mussel stock early, thereby forgetting about my appointment with the optician. I cleaned the mussels myself, which I thought was very brave. I threw them into the saute pan with some olive oil, spring onion, garlic, sherry, crushed fennel seeds, and a few other things. Then I strained the mussels, reserving the stock for chilling.
Later on I blended the tomatoes with the stock and some remaining spring onion and garlic, another drop of sherry and some white wine vinegar (my substitute for sherry vinegar). I made a few croutes and started to get ready for dinner. The spouse arrived home, tired and weary. I ladled out soup into the three awaiting bowls (the older offspring may be home for the weekend but he's not at home) then spooned in a little crab meat. There was a second crab mixture which should have involved brown meat mixed with chopped egg and olive oil, but the cheap pre-packed meat didn't come that way. I spread - no, I dolloped this mixture on to the croutes and placed them into the bowl. We sat down to eat. Not the most flavoursome soup I've made. I should have used a freshly prepared crab, as indicated in the recipe, and maybe the tomatoes were overly forced. A bit disappointing, but I won't put it on my list of soups never to be made again.
It's a glorious weekend at the end of an unusually cold and wet month of May, so I'll get away from the laptop and make the most of the sunshine.
Minnie
P.S. Since I first published this entry early this morning, I received the photograph the spouse took of the soup I made yesterday. I then noticed that I had titled the entry crab bisque, when it should have been crab gazpacho. Apologies for any confusion.
I'm trying to catch up in the fish and shellfish section of The Soup Book. I've made less than 60% of the fish soups so far (the same goes for the meat soups) so I chose crab gazpacho for this weekend's effort. The spouse had brought home some cheap pre-packed crab during the week and I thought I'd use it up.
The recipe is by Marie-Pierre Moine and a little on the fiddly side. The ingredients include clams or mussels (I chose the latter), shallot, spring onions, garlic, dry sherry, parsley, fennel seeds, piquante pimenton (which I discovered is a type of paprika after I had substituted a type of whole chilli), tomatoes, boiled eggs, sherry vinegar (never heard of it before), and crab meat. The brown meat is, strictly speaking, not an ingredient of the soup as it is mixed with oil and chopped egg, then spread on croutes and served floating on the soup. I'll come to the crab meat presently.
The spouse was working outside Dublin yesterday, so I had to do the shopping. A rare occurrence. I may go mad with the credit card but I bring home interesting biscuits. Main shopping done, I headed around to the spouse's favourite fish shop to buy mussels. They only had about 320g and I needed 500g, so I decided to use additional shallot, garlic and spring onion when preparing the soup, in case there was a flavour deficit. Because there would be cooking and chilling involved, I decided to start preparing the mussel stock early, thereby forgetting about my appointment with the optician. I cleaned the mussels myself, which I thought was very brave. I threw them into the saute pan with some olive oil, spring onion, garlic, sherry, crushed fennel seeds, and a few other things. Then I strained the mussels, reserving the stock for chilling.
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| Crab gazpacho |
It's a glorious weekend at the end of an unusually cold and wet month of May, so I'll get away from the laptop and make the most of the sunshine.
Minnie
P.S. Since I first published this entry early this morning, I received the photograph the spouse took of the soup I made yesterday. I then noticed that I had titled the entry crab bisque, when it should have been crab gazpacho. Apologies for any confusion.
I believe I had some.
ReplyDeleteYes, you did, my darling.
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