Archive for April, 2007

(Sorry, no pictures. It was green.)

After watching Gordon Ramsay make scrambled eggs, I sought after more wisdom, and saw him make a broccoli soup. It was so simple, so plain. I had to try. I of course did my own alterations, described here.

• salted water
• broccoli
• Maytag blue cheese
• 2 leeks, chopped in quarters
• butter, pepper
• 1 half lemon, squeezed

So the major components here are water, broccoli, leek, and the cheese. First, I took a good 30 minutes to cook the leeks in butter. Medium-low heat, they get real meltingly delicious. Some gained a brown color. If you were doing a lot of soup, you could also roast leeks.

Then the rest is quite simple, really. Boil the broccoli in salted water for 3-4 minutes. This is a tad longer than Ramsay, but the florets were still bright green. I also used the stem of broccoli, save for the ultimate end piece. Put the boiled vegetable in the blender, along with the leeks, some of the water, and several slabs of the Maytag cheese, to taste. Blend well in a blender, and serve right out of the blender.

It’s a thick, smooth, pretty nutritious soup. The cheese flavor comes through, it’s deliciously green, and the leek flavor is at the back, nicely warming the flavors. Before the final whizz in the blender, I added a touch of lemon juice for bite.

Well-recommended. While I made entire bowls, this would make for an awesome starter in a multi-course meal in a smaller cup, alongside a garlicky crouton. Ramsay added goat cheese to his, on top. I prefer the blue/bleu.

• Ginger Smoked Salmon Salad
• Telaggio-Cauliflower Soup
• Crepes with Marscapone and Berry Sauce

Ginger Smoked Salmon Salad

I took Charlie Trotter’s smoked salmon, with tea and ginger, and combined this with simple lettuce, dressed in a ginger dressing. It was a nice, light first course.

Telaggio-Cauliflower Soup

I started with butter and olive oil, and sautéed one sweet onion with some garlic.

Next, I deglazed the pan with wine, and added some vegetable stock. I finally added some bread pieces and the whole head of cauliflower.

After preparing the soup “base,” I added two parsnips to the pot, and then changed attention to the bread croutons.

I lightly toasted baguette slices, and prepared a topping with sun-dried tomatoes, rice-wine vinegar (lemon juice would have been a better choice, if available), parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, tabasco-sauce, roasted red peppers, and roasted artichokes plus olive oil.

After the soup had simmered for 45 minutes, I transferred it to a blender.

It took several batches to do the entire pot.

Meanwhile, I placed the spread in a ramekin and put the toasts, salads, and topping on the table.

The soup was then augmented with creamy (stinky) telaggio cheese and salt, to taste. Each bowl was topped with parsley and black truffle oil.

Crepes with Marscapone and Berry Sauce

Meanwhile, I made some crepes and stacked them for dessert.

Each crepe was smeared inside, before folding, with marscapone cheese.

A sauce was prepared with blueberries and strawberries.

It contains: brandy, orange juice, brown sugar, sugar-mounted berries, Chambord, and Cointreau. At the end, it can be mounted with butter.

Everyone enjoyed dessert!

When people find out that you like to cook, the inevitable question is: “What do you like to cook?” or “What do you cook?”

Food.

Seriously, what do they want, your secret recipes recalled, on the spot?

I have never thought of this answer, but I just did now, and it seems an appropriate response.

“Search on Flickr for the tag ‘messychef’ and you’ll see what I cook.” Until we can all carry a (good) Web around with us in our pockets, that will have to do.

I had the idea of making a verdant, spring risotto based on asparagus.

• 1 bunch asparagus
• risotto rice (aborio)
• olive oil
• salt, pepper
• boiling water
• chicken stock
• red pepper flakes
• 1 lemon; zest removed
• parmesan cheese
• Italian parsley, chopped
• prosciutto, chopped (San Daniele)
• one onion, chopped/minced
• 4 cloves garlic

In hot extra-virgin olive oil, sauté the onion. Once it begins to take on color, add garlic, pepper flakes, and rice. Stir for 3-4 minutes until well coated, and the rice is toasted. As this process begins, blanche the asparagus in boiling, salted water. Remove asparagus after 4 minutes. Add asparagus water to the rice, stirring.

In this recipe, you will use 2 parts salted water, 1 part wine, and 2 parts chicken stock for the risotto liquid.

Mid-way through cooking, add salt and pepper, and add the lemon zest. I separated the tips and stalk of the asparagus. Marinate the tips in the juice from one lemon; chop the rest in manageable, small chunks. Near the end of cooking, add the small pieces, and stir-in the parsley.

To finish the dish, add the tops of asparagus, half of the lemon juice, and add grated parmesan cheese. Top each plate with shreds of uncooked prosciutto ham.

For dessert, I served tiramisù, the Italian favorite. Since it is laborious to make well, I used the most delicious made, from Cavanna Pasta here in Richmond’s far west-end. It is really primo, grade-AA, delicious Italian dessert, with marscapone cheese.

“Yumm-o!” Rachael might say.

I have eaten once at Azurro, off River Road in Richmond. I recall taking my mother there for dinner (yet, she paid), and finding a hair in my creamy ravioli dish.

Four years later, it called me back, after reading in Style Weekly that it’s rated as one of Richmond’s top 50.

We were seated without reservation, outside. We sat, with menus, and water, for over 15 minutes. Everyone around us was receiving service and attention. We sat.

We left.

I am not sure what prompted this behavior. I went back to the front desk to complain, but the line was too long for Azurro to suck up any more of my time. The wait was both insulting and discouraging. The menu looked great, but I took my business elsewhere.