Tag Archives: soup

SHOOTING NAKED – CHILLED CORN, PEACH AND BASIL SOUP

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Chilled Corn and Peach Soup with Basil-4421

 

Not that kind of naked.  Naked as in camera-only.  No multiple lights, no radio controls, not even a tripod.  It has been a very long month–the PanMass Challenge, loved ones off to parts known and unknown–and during our single day of work in a week of vacation the last thing I wanted to do was set up lights and softboxes in our little vacation kitchen to make it look and feel transformed.  Sometimes all you can do is just let things be.  We had barely enough plenty of light coming though the windows and I thought why not dance on the edge a little?  Back to basics: camera – light – food.  This is a Chilled Corn and Peach Soup photographed au naturel. 

PESCE ALL’ ACQUA PAZZA–MONKFISH IN CRAZY WATER

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Pesce all' Acqua - Monkfish in Crazy Water-3799

 

Back in the culinary Jurassic when fresh cod cod was actually cheap there was even less expensive fish I prized–monkfish.  All flavor, meaty texture, and almost no bones.  At the time, recently out of college, I was working at an upscale French restaurant that served lotte (as the French call monkfish) in a cream sauce for lunch.  Monkfish had not yet gained enough traction to flop atop American mainstream fish counters.  I bought my first lotte whole from a fishmonger in Haymarket Square in Boston, a toothy goggle-eyed monster that might have escaped from Beowulf’s cave.  I paid $.89/lb for it.  The seafood for this week’s Pesce all’ Acqua Pazza–Monkfish in Crazy Water costs way more than 89¢ a pound, but it’s still half the price of cod and much tastier.

Celery Root and Sunchoke Soup with Gorgonzola

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Hey, wait, didn’t you guys make Celery Root Soup with Gorgonzola last year?  Well, uh, yeah, holy crap, heh-heh, looks like we did.  OMG, I’m living in Groundhog Day.

Unfortunately we didn’t realize it until after we cooked and photographed this soup.  But this is different!  [Insert pleading face.]  Seriously.  This is Celery Root and SUNCHOKE Soup with Gorgonzola.

Did you carve a pumpkin last year?  Did you carve a pumpkin this year?  Did you carve the exact, same face on both?  I thought not.  Keep reading.

Flageolet Soup with Crème Fraiche, Tarragon and Mustard

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After getting back from California we wanted to catch our breath with a simple dish that wouldn’t require a lot of effort. If it went with the the crazy New England weather this week, warm or cold, all the better. Herewith Flageolet Soup with Crème Fraiche, Tarragon and Mustard. Flageolets (fla-as in flag-zhay-oh-lay) are a small, delicate bean, usually (but not always, as you can see in the photos) an alluring pale green. If you examine them closely they’re covered with faint green stripes. They’re removed from the pod before reaching full maturity, which contributes to their delicate flavor. My first encounter with them was an impulse purchase – how could I not buy a package of beans the color of young grasshoppers?