Soup and Sandwiches II

Hello. It's the morning after the soup before, and I'm not nearly as flatulent as I anticipated, the soup being Brussels Sprout. In fact, with a little tinkering, this soup could be very high on the list of favourites. The accompanying sandwiches weren't really sarnies at all, but the classic crusty bread rolls served with chicken liver sauteed with onion, sherry and cream. But, ahh, the soup!

So. Blanch sprouts, fry bacon and onion till soft, add garlic and softened, halved sprouts, fry some more, and then add it all to some heated stock. Chicken in this instance.

Then puree the whole thing until you have a smooth pale green soup to which you may add cream for extra velevetiness, and serve hot with a dollop of creme fraiche and some parsley. 

I suspect that even the most hardened sproutophobe would consider eating this, but I would, next time, add less bacon, more sprouts, and perhaps some white wine to deglaze the frying pan. 

The chicken liver "sandwiches" were a good complement, although there was some confusion over the status of the sauce with the livers, as it could so easily be confused for soup...

it looks just like an illustration from a book by Marguerite Patten! (god bless her)

The meal was sent on its way with a lovely Vouvray we tasted in Auckland, and liked so much that we bought a case from our friendly, local wine merchant. It's a Marc Bredif 2007 and it makes everything except a big red taste tiny afterwards. Quite superb! Then we had a big red afterwards: A Wolf Blass Cabernet Merlot from 2008. And so to bed. 

soup and sandwiches

It's winter, it's Sunday, it's a tradition...

It didn't take us long to develop some ritualistic eating habits when we arrived in NZ 5 years ago. One that has developed a life of it's own is the Sunday evening winter soup and sandwiches tradition. We are very fond of a couple of friends who live on the other side of Kerikeri. Every other Sunday we alternate venues for the meal, and the scope is huge enough for there to be little repetition of menus. The wine is always in good supply, the fire lit, and the food inevitably hearty, delicious and eventually soporific.

Last Sunday was no exception; our friends made stilton and broccoli soup, and the sandwiches were split baguette filled with rocket and freshly roast chicken. The chicken was a delight as our friends have no oven. They just banked up the wood-burner, and put the chicken into a disposable foil tray, covered it with tinfoil and away it went. Superb! Moist and everything!

We had some very good wines with which to toast the feast; our friends are just back from Waiheke Island, and had brought back some lovely wine from there; the Man O'War Claret-style wine was particularly amazing!

Next Sunday is our turn, and I've some freshly-made snapper fish stock sitting in the freezer; I'm thinking fragrant hot and spicy fish soup (Tom Yum-ish?) and some sort of spring roll... suggestions are always welcome!

Also of note, last Sunday, in the search for culinary heaven, was a demonstration of the legendary Tim-Tam shot! It goes like this:

Make a cup of tea. Take a Tim-Tam biscuit, (I suspect a Penguin in the UK would also work) preferably one of the double choc or the caramel-filled ones, and nibble 2 opposing corners of chocolate coating off. Place one corner in the tea and suck up the tea through the other corner. When tea starts to filter all the way through - double quick!- pop the whole biscuit (which will now be melting and disintegrating) into your mouth in one deft move. You now have a mouthful of molten chocolate, biscuitty goodness and tea. It's surprisingly good, and entertaining, too!

I'm going to try it with warmed Brandy. And then Whisky, and then...