Food and Drink Center

Classic Dishes of Provence - Soupe de Poissons
By Peter Carnes

Soupe de Poissons
(Proven?al Fish Soup)

Ah, the wonderful fish soups of Provence! You can find versions and variants of this soup all along the Mediterranean coast, and in many places inland as well. Served from its own tureen, with the traditional toasted croutons, grated Gruyere and sauce rouille, it’s always hot, spicy, filling and satisfying, and makes an ideal precursor to a lighter main course of plainly grilled fish or seafood.

Do try it!

Ingredients (for 4 servings):

1 kg fresh fish, cleaned, scaled and cut into pieces (You can use a combination of red mullet, sea bass, monkfish, John Dory, brill, red snapper, eel, etc., but don’t use delicate white fish as the flavour will be overwhelmed and lost)

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium onions

2 medium leeks

2 cloves garlic

6 large ripe tomatoes

1 teaspoon tomato pur?e

1 bay leaf

1 sprig fresh thyme

? teaspoon saffron

salt and freshly-ground black pepper

1 glass white wine

2 teaspoons pastis

sauce rouille (see recipe below)

Method:

Start by preparing the vegetables. Peel and chop the onions. Slice the leeks. Peel and crush the garlic. Chop the tomatoes (skins, stalks and all).

In a large, heavy-bottomed casserole dish sweat the onions, leeks and garlic in the olive oil until softened and lightly browned.

Add the roughly chopped tomatoes, the tomato pur?e, the bay leaf, the sprig of thyme and the glass of white wine. Stir well together.

Add the pieces of fish.

Cook all together, stirring frequently, until the fish begins to soften.

Add the saffron, and enough water to just cover the fish.

Bring to the boil. Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Transfer the contents of the pan to a food processor (you’ll probably have to do this in two or more stages) and whiz it all up together. Then pass the whole lot through a large metal sieve, pressing down well on the fish and vegetable debris to extract maximum flavour.

Return to the pan, add the two teaspoons of pastis and reheat.

Serve very hot with the traditional accompaniments of lightly-toasted French bread, grated Gruyere cheese and sauce rouille (see recipe below).

Spread the slices of toasted bread with the rouille, cover with grated cheese and add to the soup, pushing the bread below the surface of the soup to soften and absorb all the flavours.

Sauce Rouille:

The traditional partner to bouillabaisse and soupe de poisons, this fiery, rust-coloured condiment has a multitude of versions and variations. Some people add potatoes some add breadcrumbs some add saffron some add pounded red mullet or rascasse livers!

Rouille always needs more than a hint of heat. This can be provided by dried red chillies, by cayenne pepper or by the North African harissa paste - but heat there must be!

This recipe is sufficient for about 8 servings of soupe de poisons.

Ingredients:

3 plump cloves garlic
3 small dried red chilli peppers
1 egg yolk
1 small potato, peeled and cooked
1 teaspoon French mustard
150ml olive oil
sea salt.

Method:

Peel the garlic. Remove the seeds from the chilli peppers, and chop them (the peppers, not the seeds!)

With a pestle and mortar (or a food processor!) pound the garlic with a pinch of sea salt until it becomes a smooth paste.

Add the cooked potato, the mustard and the chilli peppers. Pound all these together until smooth. Stir the egg yolk in well. Start adding the oil, drop by drop, as if making mayonnaise.

If the result seems too thick, it can be thinned down with a little fish stock - or just with boiling water.

An alternative method is to add a teaspoon of fiery North African harissa paste to 150ml aioli (garlic mayonnaise). But the first method is probably the best.

For more information on the food, wine, restaurants and recipes of Provence please check out the author s website at: http://www.cafe-de-provence.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Carnes
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Blue Lobsters Are Real!
By Greg Smith

Most live american lobsters are naturally colored an olive
green or mottled dark greenish brown. In rare cases,
lobsters come in shades of bright blue, white (albino),
yellow, black, and red have been reported from time to time.
Perhaps the most unusual colors are the “half-and-half”
lobsters with a line straight down their backs where the two
colors meet.

The major pigment in a lobster s shell, astaxanthin, is
actually bright red in its free state but in the lobster s shell
astaxanthin is chemically bound to proteins that change it to
a greenish color. When lobsters are cooked, heat breaks
down these bonds, freeing the astaxanthin so that it reverts
to its normal red color.

So how does a lobster turn bright blue?

A genetic defect has been found that causes a blue lobster
to produce an excessive amount of protein. The protein
wraps around a small, red carotenoid molecule known as
as astaxanthin. The two push together, forming a blue
complex known as crustacyanin which often gives the
lobster shell a bright blue color. About one in a million
lobsters are blue, but when cooked, it turns red like the
other lobsters.

It has been suggested that more than one in a million
lobsters born are blue, but many do not survive because
their bright blue shell brings too much attention to
themselves, making them a prime target for predators.
Scientists also believe that blue lobsters tend to be more
aggressive than their normal colored counterparts. Since
they don’t easily blend in, they have adapted and changed to
be more aggressive to protect themselves.

The blue lobster is truly another gift from Mother Nature that
most people never see. Many professional lobstermen go
through their whole lobstering career without catching or
even seeing a blue lobster. Those that do have the privilege
of catching one, are amazed and excited as it is seen as a
once-in-a-lifetime event and feel a sense of awe when they
experience seeing the strikingly beautiful blue lobster for the
first time. Those that are caught are not normally eaten, but
rather given to aquariums and educational institutions and
kept on display in tanks for others to admire.

Taxonomy of Homarus americanus:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Crustacea
Order: Decapoda
Suborder: Macrura reptantia
Family: Nephrodidae
Genus: Homarus
Species: americanus

This article courtesy of href="http://www.lobsterdelicious.com/">Lobster
Delicious

To see photos go to:
http://www.lobsterdelicious.com/blue-lobster.html

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Banana Bread Is So Easy See Amaryllis Of Hawaii Loves To Cook By Marilyn Jansen
By Marilyn Jansen

Amaryllis starts with seven ripe bananas mashed into a bowl. She sifts flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt into a bowl. She creams together butter and sugar, adds a 1/4 cup of honey and a tsp. of vanilla to the butter mixture, then adds the lightly beaten eggs. She combines the wet and dry ingredients and adds a cup of chopped walnuts, a cup of raisins stirred in at the end, and pours the batter into 2 oiled loaf pans, or several mini loaf pans to bake at 350 degrees 45-60 minutes until done! Sometimes she adds yogurt or 1/2 cup sour cream to the mixture. Many quick breads, like pumpkin bread and zucchini bread, are done this way. It’s so easy!

7 ripe mashed bananas
2 &amp 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 sticks butter at room temperature
1 &amp 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup honey
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup crushed walnuts
1 cup raisins

Banana Pancakes

Anyone can make beautiful banana pancakes.

Use fresh flour and baking powder. Sift dry ingredients.
1 &amp 1/2 cups flour

1 cup milk
3 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder

2 bananas, sliced
1 tsp. salt

2 eggs

Mix wet into dry ingredients just until blended. Add bananas and ladle onto a hot oiled griddle or pan. You know it’s hot enough when a drop of water bounces off the pan.
Let bubbles appear on the pancakes before you flip them.
Drizzle with syrup and dust with powdered sugar.
Try blueberries, apples, peaches, or mango in pancakes or wrapped in crepes!

Basic crepe batter
2 eggs

1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup milk

1/4 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. oil

Lightly beat the eggs, stir in milk &amp oil, gradually stir in flour and salt. Beat until smooth. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours.
Brush a 7-inch crepe pan with oil and heat until hot. Stir batter, add scant 2 tbsp. batter to pan &amp quickly tilt to cover bottom of pan. Cook crepe, turning over until lightly browned on both sides. Makes 12

Have Fun and enjoy the fresh wonderful fruits.

My name is Marilyn Jansen.
I live on the island of Maui pursuing life as a writer and budding artist. I worked as a registered nurse for 14 years until I began to follow my true dream of expressing myself creatively through drawing, painting, writing, designing books, creating jewelry, and fashion designs and developing a line of food products to go with my cookbook. It is so fulfilling to pursue a dream with a passion!

I love to do Hawaiian Quilting, & Hand-painting on t-shirts. I plan to create DVDs of a craft series to go with small books. I have painted on tees for over 25 years and have taught teens and adults how to paint. They love it! It is fun and healing for the body, mind, soul & spirit. When creativity flows we feel alive, energized by the excitement overflowing from us. We also experience relaxation because we let ourselves go! It is my goal to get people interested in gardening, cooking, sewing and art, so they can develop passions of their own. Life is great when we slow down and enjoy the simple things and find beauty in everyday life. See http://www.amaryllisofhawaii.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marilyn_Jansen
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How to Make Sandwich Rolls with Your Bread Machine
By Dennis R Weaver

For that next picnic or family outing, consider making sandwich rolls with your bread machine. They are quick and easy and so much better than what you buy from the stores.

Take any bread machine mix. Mix according to the package directions but set your machine on the “dough” setting so that the machine will mix your bread for you, let it rise and then beep when it is time to bake.

Remove the dough from the machine and divide with a knife into eight equal pieces. Form a round or oval roll with each. Place them on a greased baking sheet with room to expand. Using the heel of your hand, flatten each roll. The elasticity in the dough will tend to make the rolls spring back. Let the dough relax for a few minutes and repeat the process. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until doubledan hour or so depending on the mix and the room temperature.

If you care to put sesame seeds or poppy seeds on your rolls, mix one egg white with one tablespoon of water. Just before baking, brush the mixture onto the tops of the rolls and then sprinkle with seeds. The egg white will keep the seeds in place.

Bake the rolls at 375 degrees for about fifteen minutes or until done. Remove them to a wire rack to cool.

For more articles like this visit The Bakers Library.

© 2004 The Prepared Pantry

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A Loose Leaf Tea Experience
By David Carloni

In America, just about 90 percent of folks drink their tea brewed by tea bag. It is the same routine, pour hot water into a cup and dunk the bag for a few minutes until the water turns a dark red color, add sugar and enjoy.

My question is, what are these folks enjoying?

A few years back, I too was the victim of tea bag tea. I, being an American, remained ignorant of the true way tea was meant to be enjoyed. Not only would I have tea just when I was sick, but along with the 90 percent of Americans I would brew it using fannings.

Fanning are tiny pieces of dried out tea leaves which always end up inside of the tea bags folks use to make their daily brew. Fannings are the lowest grading of tea, and for good reason. They may add a nice full color to your cup, but as for flavor, well, very little.

There are not many natural oils left in these particles to offer a cup that treats the palate. Also, research shows that most of the health benefits of tea are reduced when they are broken down in to such small pieces.

So is there really a better way to enjoy tea and reap the benefits? Yes…

Thanks to an article I read in a newspaper while at work, I was introduced to loose leaf tea. The article was focused around the most delicate form of tea called white tea. Not only did I learn in this article that all tea came from the same Camellia sinensis tea plant, but I also learned about the flavorful and healthy benefits of loose leaf tea. That is when a whole new world opened up for me. I have discovered a new beverage!

Later that day I went on the internet and found an online tea outlet which offered over a hundred varieties of loose teas. Not really knowing much about this form of tea at the time, I placed an order for white peony loose leaf tea, and bought a cup with an infuser.

When it arrived, I brewed it carefully and eagerly took my first sip. My first impression of an airy aroma accompanied by a subtle sweet taste was one I did not expect nor will I forget. “This is tea”, I said out loud, and by the time that cup was finished I became hooked! Since then, I have experienced over one hundred varieties of tea to date.

Tea is a 5000-year-old beverage and the second most consumed drink in the world playing second fiddle only to water. Brewing it using whole loose leaves in an infuser is simply the best way to consume and enjoy this great beverage. There are literally thousands of varieties of tea, all which are processed from the four main white, green, oolong, and black types.

Comparing loose leaf tea to the tea bag is like comparing gourmet coffee to instant coffee. It s like comparing a meal from a fancy restaurant to one from a fast food place. The difference is night and day. Remember this, the only thing that should be dunked in a tea cup is a sweet biscuit or crumpet, not a bag.

Loose leaf tea offers a superior cup full of flavor and health benefits. The brew is rich in powerful antioxidants which many studies suggest can aid in a healthier lifestyle. While tea is not an actual preventative or cure for any deadly health ailment, it has proven to at least help decrease the odds.

Tea for me is like having a warm friend by my side whenever I want. Since I quit smoking, I needed an alternative and tea fits that spot perfectly. Thanks to tea I gave up coffee in the morning and switched to the healthier alternative, black tea.

Loose leaf tea also makes me feel good, keeps my immune system up, and always gives me something new to look forward to since there are still many hundreds of varieties of tea I m yet to sample! Tea, in my opinion is the best beverage period! A super drink for all.

This beverage has inspired me to build a website which at the time of this writing has 107 pages full of rich helpful information about this lovely drink. The goal of this site along with this article is to introduce folks to the other side of tea they are missing out on. With so many varieties, there is bound to be a cup you will call your favorite.

So, the next time you brew tea and find yourself opening that box containing those dried up tea bags, remember that there is a better way, a superior way…and leave the dunking for the donuts!

David Carloni is the creator and webmaster of http://www.the-color-of-tea.com

An online resource guide that offers information, tips, facts, varieties, and the introduction to the simple pleasures of brewing and enjoying loose leaf tea.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_Carloni
http://EzineArticles.com/?A-Loose-Leaf-Tea-Experience&id=657815

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