food (condiments, fish, fruit soup)

[cellio]

Dani forwarded me this interesting article about mustard and ketchup. It's long, but I found it worth reading. Basic question: why are there entire sections in the grocery store for mustard, but there are still only a few players for ketchup? (I'm not much of a ketchup person myself; I generally find it boring. For french fries or burgers or hot dogs, my condiment of choice is brown mustard. I've also been known to dip fries in barbeque sauce.)

When I last went fish shopping the person at the counter informed me that they no longer carry grouper (a versatile fish that I like to cook with), but that what they label as "basa" (not bass) is the same fish. Google tells me that both names are used for the same fish, so I guess this means they've changed their source and the sources used different labelling. My basa fillets were a little thinner than the grouper fillets I used to get, but otherwise it seems to be indistinguishable.

This was good: take basa fillets, put in a lightly-oiled casserole (I used olive oil) and drizzle oil on top, coat with "Auntie Arwen's fish blend" (assorted herbs, garlic, onion, I think paprika), bake at 425 for about 10 minutes, then add thinly-sliced havarti cheese on top and bake just until melted.

I went surfing for a recipe for cold cherry soup (not being satisfied with the one I know) and found something that mostly worked. (Dani has previously described a cherry soup with sour cream; the key word seems to be "Hungarian".) Boil water, pitted cherries, and sugar for a while until the cherries soften; in a bowl beat cream (if the cherries are sweet) or sour cream (if not) with a little flour, stir in some of the hot mixture, and then pour everything into the pot and simmer (don't boil). Chill well before serving. The flour's job, I presume, is to thicken the broth, but even though I beat it with the cream for a while, I got little globs of flour in the resulting soup. Maybe I used too much flour? (I had non-sour cherries, so I used cream. The recipe didn't specify the type of cream; I used heavy and will probably try light next time.)

Tonight after Shabbat Dani wanted to go to Longhorn, a steak house at the waterfront (don't know if that's a chain or a local instance). They have two non-shellfish fish dishes, both salmon. The grilled salmon was very good, and the steamed broccoli was tasty and not overcooked. The seasoned fries were reasonable, though I failed to procure brown mustard for them and had to settle for yellow. I didn't see anything vegetarian on the menu, but I like salmon so I'd definitely go there again.

But next time we'll sit at a table, not a booth. This isn't the first restaurant I've been to lately where the seats in the booths are really far from the table. In some (like Gullifty's), if I sit all the way back my feet don't touch the floor. So I end up having to sit on the front of the seat, with no back support at all. I'm short, but I don't think I'm farther out than one standard deviation. Are restaurants now planning booth layouts around very large people? (Ironically, the very large people I've had occasion to observe seem to prefer tables with chairs.)

Comments

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

Another way to thicken the cherry soup is to use gelatin instead of flour. (I'd recommend putting the gelatin into the hot mixture rather than the sour cream and stirring thoroughly to avoid clumps.) The fruit soup recipe I use calls for gelatin, and it seems to work pretty well.

[cellio]

I didn't think of gelatin. (Actually, I've never cooked with gelatin, so that probably makes sense.) Some recipes I found called for cornstarch instead of flour. Next time I'll try either gelatin or cornstarch. (What proportion of gelatin do you use?)

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

I generally don't cook with gelatin either and wouldn't have thought of it if I hadn't been using a recipe that called for it! I use one standard box of gelatin for every 3-4 pounds of frozen fruit. (I can give you the recipe, if that will make it any easier to follow.)

[cellio]

Thanks! If it's not too much trouble, I'd welcome the recipe.

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

It's very easy. Put 3-4 pounds of frozen fruit (any kind) into a larger soup pot to thaw -- the larger the soup pot the better. Once thawed, add enough water to cover the fruit. Bring to a boil and then let simmer for at least 5 minutes. (I strongly recommend that you watch the pot once it boils as the liquid tends to bubble up and overflow -- hence the preference for a large pot.) Remove from heat and use colander or strainer to put liquid into a bowl. Add one box of gelatin (any flavor) to the liquid and blend thoroughly. Put the remaining fruit pieces into a blender or food processor to make a puree. Add puree to liquid and blend thoroughly. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.

[cellio]

Thanks! That sounds easy. (I assumed there would be more ingredients, which is why I asked for the recipe. This sounds nice -- and hey, parve. :-) )

[ichur72.livejournal.com]

I think it's a great summer recipe -- it does well as an appetizer or dessert and tastes best when it's hot outside. It also has a nice simple flavor. (There's not enough gelatin in it to interfere with the taste of the fruit, at least not to my palate.)