lemon grass

Thai bouillabaisse

by Heguiberto on September 15, 2011

I always ordered this dish when eating out at the Thai Pavilion restaurant in Astoria, Queens, my favorite Thai place when we lived in New York. There they called it Potek. It was this clear aromatic and spicy broth with loads of fish and shellfish. After moving to San Francisco, I learned to make it myself because I got tired of asking at restaurants whether they could accommodate my needs by making the soup with vegetable broth or just plain water. Plus I like making Thai food.

Thai bouillabaisse with salmon and clams

Thai bouillabaisse with salmon and clams

The soup can be like Tom Yum on steroids. Beyond shrimp, potek is packed with other types of seafood, such as fish, clams, mussels, sea scallops, crab claws or lobster. Heaven! You can use the seafood of your choice, like I did here: this time, just salmon and clams.

key ingredients for Thai bouillabaisse

key ingredients for Thai bouillabaisse

Thai bouillabaisse

7½ cups water
2 stalks lemon grass, smashed with a cleaver
4 kaffir lime leaves
1 inch piece of galangal root, cut into chunks
½ cup cilantro, chopped
10 mint leaves
10 Thai basil leaves
½ Thai red chili pepper cut in thin rounds
1 tsp garlic chili pepper
½ tsp sugar
7 tbsp fish sauce
Kosher salt
3 small individual pieces of sushi grade king salmon
1 lb clams
1 cup button mushrooms, quartered

Bring water to a boil then add lemon grass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal root. Simmer for about 10 minutes so flavors meld. Add garlic chili paste, sugar, salt and fish sauce. Adjust flavor with more fish sauce, salt or chili sauce for spicier results. Add clams and cook for a couple of minutes or until they begin to open, add mushroom followed by the salmon. Remove from heat. Let it poach in the broth. Toss in Thai basil, red chili, mint and cilantro. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with a side of Thai Jasmine rice.

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poached King salmon in lemon butter sauce

by Heguiberto on September 8, 2011

poached King salmon in lemon butter sauce

poached King salmon in lemon butter sauce

I got this huge and expensive slab of King salmon at our favorite fish market in the Mission the other day. I wanted to try my hand at poaching salmon in court bouillon. Recipes for court bouillon abound! In the end what I realized is that this is just a clear broth. You can basically make with any vegetable you find in your refrigerator, plus some acidic agent, such as white wine or lemon juice. You don’t have to go all Julia Child about it and spend the entire day slaving in the kitchen, though that is fine, too. In my case I used what was at hand for a fairly traditional broth, with the addition of a stalk of lemon grass, which gave this broth a bit of a South East Asian flare.

king salmon poaching in lemon grass court bouillon

king salmon poaching in lemon grass court bouillon

poached King salmon in lemon butter sauce

3 ½ lb slab king salmon, skin on but de-scaled

for court bouillon:

½ cups dry white wine
1 whole scallion
½ onion
1 stalk of lemon grass, smashed with a cleaver
Black pepper corns
Kosher salt
1 stalk of celery
Few strands of parsley
1 piece of fennel stalk
1 carrot

for lemon butter sauce:

1 stick butter
¼ cup lemon juice
2 tbsp capers
4 tbsp chives chopped

Fill a pot with enough water to cover the salmon. Add all court bouillon ingredients to it, bring to a boil, reduce temperature and simmer for about 30 minutes. Discard vegetables. Let court bouillon cool down.

Lay salmon, skin-down, in a large pan so that it lies flat. Submerge with cooled court bouillon. Bring to a simmer and cook until done, about 10 to 15 minutes. If you choose to cut the salmon into smaller pieces before poaching, it may take as little as 3-5 minutes.

Using a large spatula carefully remove salmon from bath and place it on a serving platter. Keep warm.

Add butter and lemon juice to a saucepan on medium-high. Whisk until melted, remove from heat and add capers and 3 tbsp of chives. Mix well.

Sprinkle remaining chives over salmon and serve with lemon butter on the side.

Remember to keep the leftover broth and use it as a base for other soups. It is very aromatic.

On the night I served this, we had our friends Amie, Whitney, John, Chris and Valéria over for dinner. Amie and Whitney surprised us with a nice card, gift, some fruit tarts and a vegan chocolate cake celebrating our 3rd year wedding anniversary. It was a fun evening!

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Thai tomato, coconut and Dungeness crab soup

by Heguiberto on September 5, 2011

Thai tomato, coconut and Dungeness crab soup

Thai tomato, coconut and Dungeness crab soup

I had this tomato soup at a dinner party recently. My boss, Elliot, hosted at his place. It was a fun evening filled with good chat, many delectable savory dishes and lovely wine! Thank you Elliot for being such a good cook and host! I wanted to ask for the recipe but didn’t get the chance as I had to leave a bit early to take care of our bully Clarence.

A few days later while browsing one of the latest issues of Bon Appétit magazine I found the recipe. Yoo-hoo! But then I misplaced it. Turns out they posted it online.

This past weekend we had our friends Jasmine and Prof. T over for dinner. I wanted to awe not only them but Steven too with this flavorful Thai inspired soup. Jasmine said “this is gourmet eating,” which is exactly what I said when I dined at Elliot’s, and it is. This soup really entices your palate with fragrant sweet and sour flavors and silky, creamy textures without being heavy or dense. This is definitely something that I will make again. And since tomatoes are in season now, I am already thinking of experimenting with different heirlooms to change the color: yellow, chocolate, green zebra varieties? If you can’t find crab, I am sure shrimp, or even lobster would do.

Thai tomato, coconut and Dungeness crab soup

3 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch scallions–approx 6– chopped fine, white and dark green parts included
2 stalks of fresh lemon grass, tough outer layer removed, sliced thinly
1 Serrano pepper, seeds partially removed, minced
2½ lb ripe tomatoes
½ cup light unsweetened coconut milk
1½ tbsp fish sauce
Juice of one lime or more, depending on how sour you like it, plus some lime wedges for garnish
Juice of one orange
½ lb fresh Dungeness crab meat
Kosher salt
½ cup pea shoots
1 clove garlic smashed

Bring a saucepan full of water to a boil. Meanwhile using a paring knife make a cross incision at bottom of each tomato, and cut the woody top off. Place them in boiling water until skin begins to curl. Drain, let cool a bit, remove skins and cube them. Set aside.

Place 2tbsp olive oil, scallions and lemon grass in a sauce pan. Sauté until scallions wilt. Add tomatoes and cook for about 8 minutes, long enough to bring it to a boil. Add coconut, orange juice, fish sauce and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool down for few minutes.

Add remaining olive oil to a skillet, followed by garlic. Sauté until aromatic. Add fresh crab. Turn heat off and cook for a minute. Sprinkle with salt, discard garlic clove. Set aside

Using a stick blender, wiz soup until puréed and smooth. Stir in lime juice. Add salt and more lime juice, if needed. Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish with Dungeness crab meat and pea shots. Have lime wedges on the side for the table.

Michele from the blog That’s so Michelle made the same recipe. Check it out here.

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spicy Thai vegetable soup for the soul

by Heguiberto on January 11, 2010

Steven and I both got hit with bad colds last weekend. We felt like crap with body aches, coughing, difficulty breathing… you get the picture. Ugh! While suffering miserably, by chance, I picked up the latest edition of Vegetarian Times. They’ve a recipe for a soup that sounded exactly like what we needed to get better. It’s earthy with sweet and sour flavors. The magazine claims it’s also supposed to nurture your digestive, circulatory and respiratory systems. I totally believe it because some of the ingredients in the soup are the same things my mom used to give me when I was a kid to help recover from illness. The spiciness of the soup certainly helped clear my respiratory tract right away!

spicy Thai soup for the soul

I’ve made South East Asian inspired soups before, though usually with fish sauce. So this vegetarian/vegan soup is sort of intriguing. I’ve adapted the recipe to my taste and to the ingredients that I had handy at home.

Spicy Thai Vegetable Soup for the Soul

Paste for broth:

some key ingredients for spicy Thai soup for the soul

16 dried Mexican chiles de arbol
10 peeled garlic cloves
½ tsp kosher salt
1½ stalk lemon grass, light green part only, outer extra tough layer discarded, minced
4 minced shallots
2½ tbsp dark Miso paste

For the soup:

8 cups water or vegetable broth
4 tbsp light soy sauce
4 cups roughly chopped Napa cabbage
4 cups roughly chopped arugula
½ cup fresh mint leaves
½ cup cilantro
¾ cup firm tofu, cubed
¾ cup white mushrooms, quartered

Soak chiles in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain and chop them up fine. Grind chiles, garlic, shallots and lemon grass in a food processor. Add miso and run processor to incorporate into a thick aromatic paste. At this point your respiratory system will be already starting to clear while your kitchen will be invaded with amazing garlicky and peppery aromas.

Put water or vegetable broth in a large pan and bring to a boil. Add chile/miso paste. Stir to dissolve. Add soy sauce, mushrooms and Napa Cabbage. Cook for about four minutes. Add tofu cubes and cook for two more minutes. Remove from heat. Add arugula, mint and cilantro. Adjust flavor with more soy sauce if necessary. Serve with a side dish of rice.

just because he's cute

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poached king salmon spicy Thai tom yum soup

by Heguiberto on October 7, 2009

this poached king salmon spicy Thai tom yum soup is so good, we forgot to take a picture!

this poached king salmon spicy Thai tom yum soup is so good, we forgot to take a picture!

For our recent Thai-themed night, I made this fabulous tom yum soup to go with my almost vegetarian pad Thai. This soup has wonderfully fresh, spicy, sour, herbal and earthy flavors; and it’s incredibly easy to make. I learned the recipe in the 1990’s while living in UK. There I worked for a few months in the kitchen of The Blue Elephant, a popular Thai restaurant in Fulham – South West London. There I assisted with pretty much everything except for the actual cooking. When I was not super busy doing stuff, I loved watching Madam Too prepare dishes like fried rice with fresh crab meat, pad Thai, various soups and vegetable dishes like snow peas, broccoli, and Chinese cabbage with oyster sauce among many, many other dishes. It was exciting because most of the ingredients they used were unknown to me at that time. Brazilian cuisine focuses more on salt and less on herbs and spices. To me, this Thai place was at first dreadful, because the flavors seemed so alien, but gradually, as my senses were awakened, it offered me a doorway into a new, thrilling eating world!

I bought all the ingredients for this soup in the Sunset district. There is an Asian supermarket a few blocks west of Irving and 22nd Market that carries most of the products that I needed. That store is a cultural food experience! Besides a lot of canned, jarred and dried ingredients, they have an exciting selection of sushi grade fish and other Japanese delicacies. That’s where I got this appetizing king salmon.

some key ingredients: galangal, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves

some key ingredients: galangal, lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves

Unfortunately, my guests, Steven and I were so excited by this soup that we gobbled it down completely before taking a picture. Besides being completely delicious, it was quite photogenic, too. Oh well. So admire my artistic rendering of empty bowls while you enjoy your own…

Poached King Salmon Spicy Thai Tom Yum Soup

5 & 1/2 cup water or vegetable broth
1 inch of galangal root, cut into a few pieces
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 stalks lemon grass, cut into approximately 5 inch sticks and flattened with a cleaver

I use Squid Brand Fish Sauce

I use Squid Brand Fish Sauce

2 dried chili, cut roughly and crushed
¼ tsp of garlic chili paste or chili oil
5 tbsp of fish sauce (or more)
½ tsp sugar
¼ lb button mushrooms, thickly sliced
¾ lb king salmon, cut into 4 pieces
Leaves from 2 sprigs of mint
Leaves from 2 sprigs of Thai basil
1/3 cup cilantro leaves

How to:
Bring water or vegetable broth to boiling. Add kaffir lime leaves, galangal root and lemon grass. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add fish sauce, sugar and mushrooms. Stir then taste to adjust flavors. Add salmon and poach it for about 3 minutes. Add fresh herbs. Transfer to individual bowls and serve at once. It really is good!

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