It’s Soup, Glorious Soup Month over at Veggie Venture, and while I wouldn’t dream of cooking up a piping hot pot of soup in this Sydney weather, there’s a whole range of cold soups that shouldn’t be ignored.. vicchysoise, gazpacho, and their ilk.

At it’s most basic form, soy beans are fantastic eaten straight from their freshly steamed pods, sprinkled with nothing more complicated than a few flakes of sea salt. You can also make a wonderful chilled soup out of the tender beans. Nevermind the shade of green that reminds me of the house I grew up in, in the 70’s; this soup is light, clean-tasting and was a great prelude to yesterday’s main dish of Dory Namban-Zuke, which also contained a handful of the green beans as a garnish.

The recipe comes from Shunju : New Japanese Cuisine by Takashi Sugimoto and Marcia Iwatate.

Chilled Green Soybean Soup :
(Edamame no surinagashi)

Serves 4

3 1/3 tablespoons mirin
4 cups water
2 tablespoons natural sea salt
3 cups edamame (podded green soybeans)
3/4 cup katsuo dashi (bonito stock)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 1/3 tablespoons milk
pinch natural sea salt
4 sprigs chervil

Put mirin in a saucepan and boil off the alcochol content to leave about 2 tablespoons. Cool and reserve.

Bring the water and sea salt to a boil in a large pot of water over high heat and boil soybeans for 5 minutes. Drain and plunge into a bowl of iced water. When completely cooled, drain and pat dry.

Peel the thin skin off the beans. Set 4 beans aside to garnish, then puree the remainder in a blender with the stock. Add mirin, sugar, and milk and continue to blend. Pass the mixture through a fine sieve and mash any remaining bits. Taste and add salt if necessary. Chill.

Pour chilled soup into cups and float one soybean and a sprig of chervil in each.

One of the many cooking related presents I received for Christmas, was a beautiful Ferrari-red Le Creuset pot – something I had coveted for a long time, but never got round to getting for myself. It was gorgeous, and I wanted to use it straight away, but there’s something about the two words, “Summer” and “Braising”, that just don’t seem to gel together. It’s as if Yogi Bear held up the pot against the searing heat of Summer and scratching his head, said, “Hmm.. something wrong here!”

Lucky for me, no one ever listens to Yogi, not even Boo Boo. The original idea for a simple Saturday meal was to braise some octopus, then maybe grill it on the BBQ or have it cold (between two buns? Or does that sound too salacious? And what of the chorizo?). The addition of chorizo stems from my love of said sausage and my willingness to add it to almost anything possible. That, and possibly subconscious messages yelling at me from when I saw it mentioned on Spitoon, which caused me to pick up some chorizo when I was shopping for ingredients.

The best ways to cook octopus are, either really fast over high heat so that the meat doesn’t have time to toughen, or slowly over low heat, which breaks down and tenderises the octopus. Just as a matter of personal preference, I favour the second method. Nothing like little baby octopi paddling around in a rich tomatoey sauce.

This recipe is an adaptation of one that features in From the Boathouse, a collection of recipes from The Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay, when Yvan Meunier was head chef. The sprinkling of gremolata (they use “dried gremolata” in the book) is a great idea because the combination of herbs and zesty lemon really enlivens and puts more of a Summer stamp on the dish.

Braised Baby Octopus with Chorizo and Gremolata:

1 kg baby octopus, cleaned
100ml olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 spanish onion or 4-5 eschallots (aka shallot or french shallot), diced
generous pinch of dried chilli flakes
1 small chorizo, thickly sliced
1 tin tomatoes (440g)
slurp of Forum Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar

Gremolata:

2 tablespoons chopped parsley
zest of 2 lemons, chopped
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped

For the gremolata, combine the chopped parsley, zests and garlic.

Heat the olive oil in your brand spanking new Le Creuset pot. Lightly fry the garlic, onion and chilli to soften. Add the octopus, tomato, chorizo and vinegar. At this stage, it will look like it might be too dry to be a stew, but as the octopus cooks, it will release some more liquid. Bring to boil then turn down the heat and simmer very gently for 30-40 minutes until the octopus is tender. Adjust the seasoning.

The octopus can now be served straight away, piping hot, or at room temperature, or even cold, with a glass of beer. Today we had it warm, with some steamed potatoes, scattered black olives, and topped with a dollop of aioli and the gremolata.

For more ideas to stew over, check out this new event being hosted over at Spitoon.

A beautiful New Year’s Day. An opportune moment to rediscover the art of couch-potato-ing, and the perfect time for recovery. Not from the excesses of the night before, but from lack of sleep, due to the fire alarms going off at 4-5 o’clock throughout the whole of our apartment building this early morning. It’s cause remains a mystery still. All I know is that one alarm went off, and the other felt lonely so it started screeching too. Just like a koel.

Foggy mind notwithstanding, you can’t possibly go wrong when putting together these Cheddar biscuits. The recipe comes from Baking with Passion by Dan Lepard and Richard Whittington; a cookbook from an artisanal bakery in London. I spied this book several months ago in a discount bookstore and bought it on a whim. The Benedict Bar and Oatmeal and Raisin Cookie recipes alone, have made the purchase worthwhile. These cheese biscuits, originally Parmesan (but mature Cheddar is an acceptable substitute), are delicious : crispy, buttery, lightly salty. The food processor virtually does all the necessary work and all you need to do after that is pour yourself a glass of tipple (Port, in this case, if it’s not too “last year” for your tastes).

Cheddar Biscuits:

335g plain flour
300g mature Cheddar, freshly grated
300g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons Maldon salt, ground fine
1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1-2 Tablespoons cold bottled spring water

1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tablespoons white sesame seeds
2 Tablespoons black sesame seeds

Put the flour, freshly grated Cheddar and chilled diced butter in a food processor with the cayenne, salt and black pepper. Whiz to a crumb, then slowly add the cold water through the feeder tube until the dough forms into a ball.

Scrape out on to a lightly floured surface and roll into a cylinder. You will cut the biscuits from this, so size the roll accordingly. Cling-wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Brush the cylinder with beaten egg and roll in the mixed sesame seeds to coat all over. Wrap and chill for a further hour.

Preheat the oven to 180’C. Cut the cylinder into 5mm slices and lay these on non-stick baking trays, leaving at least 2cm space around them. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.