A Recipe for Cooking by Cal Peternell

Author:Cal Peternell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2016-09-05T16:00:00+00:00

* Use different varieties of fish and shellfish if they seem best at the market. Salmon bones are not the best for stock-making, but chunks of wild-caught salmon fillets or steaks would be appropriately summery to cook in it. Clams, mussels, crab, lobster . . . all good.

* Skip the diced tomatoes and instead set a slow-baked tomato in each bowl of soup, for drama and interactivity—soup eaters crush and stir in the tomato as they spoon along.

* Pass a bowl of romesco sauce instead of aïoli.

FISH SOUP IN WINTER

The first time I made a soup like this, it was a disaster. I was working at the wonderful, eccentric Biba restaurant in Boston, under the leadership of Lydia Shire in a kitchen that was inspired, impossible, and never boring. The menu changed seasonally, and one of my new dishes was littleneck clam and sorrel soup. New-menu day was always a three-ring event, with juggling cooks and sous-chefs jumping through flaming hoops while explaining ingredients and techniques as the first orders barreled in. My instructions were: steam open the clams with wine and broth, quickly tip the hot liquid into the blender, add a handful of sorrel leaves, spin to a steaming emerald froth, pour the froth over the clams, and send it quickly to the table before the color faded. But the steam and froth were too much for the blender, blowing its top with a pop and spraying impatient waiters, frantic cooks, and the now-silent room with hot green foam. “Bursting with flavor,” I wish I had said—though I didn’t—as I avoided Lydia’s glare, licked my lips (it was good), wiped the walls, and started another order.

To make this soup, use the Fish Soup for Summer recipe, but leave out the diced tomato from the leek-fennel mixture and omit the tomato, orange peel, and chili from the broth. Just before serving, push a handful of raw sorrel leaves down into your blender and pour a couple of ladlefuls of broth over the sorrel (it’s okay if some of the leeks and fennel get in there, but not okay if fishes do), hold the lid on with a kitchen towel, pulse the blender very briefly a couple of times to release the steam, and then let it rip to spin up all bright green. Stir this lemony liquor back into the pot and serve the soup on the double with crusty bread or toasts and passed bowls of aïoli.

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