Onion soup (Κρεμμυδόσουπα γαλλική)

It's very cold today; not freezing in European terms, just very cold. Good soup weather, if you ask me, but since we ate fried young cod yesterday with lentil soup, I don't really want fish soup, or traditional Greek meat soup for that matter, which is madein exactly the same way as fish soup, except that fish is replaced with chunks of beef. To make matters worse, Greek beef tends to be tough and stringy - we are a nation of meat-eaters, but we don't raise good meat. Greeks aren't very creative in terms of their soups unfortunately, so I've gone for something French today, my favorite, onion soup. The recipes online (try elise and delia) all use roughly the same ingredients, with the same cooking style: caramelise thinly sliced onions in a saucepan, then add white wine, beef stock and seasonings. Let the soup simmer away till it takes on a golden brown colour. Enjoy it with some crusty bread topped with grated cheese, grilled on top of the soup, and a glass of white wine. A good stomach warmer, and a simple meal.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

MORE ONION/LEEK RECIPES:
Pocahed salt cod
Leek and potato soup
Leek pie
Sausages and onions

Psarosoupa (Ψαρόσουπα - fish soup)

We still have NOT turned the heating on in Hania, but we DID have our first thunderstorm for the season this week - a fantastic display of roars and flashes reminded us that winter is finally here. It's not very cold yet, but even so, the sun still shines enough to turn a cold dawn into a humid morning. This cold weather is a good reason to make fish soup, an easy but somewhat demanding meal, containing such a variety of ingredients that it will suit everyone's tastes. It's not a meal that can be frozen, but it provides two completely different kinds of dishes, which compensates for the extra effort required to make this meal.

I use frozen fish to make this meal, although fresh fish can be used - but it's too expensive in Hania. A family of four could need 25 euro worth of fresh fish to make a decent fish soup - no thanks, not for my purse. Choose a fish species that has lots of thick meat on it. I like the taste and texture of red mullet. I also used another large plump fish which we call fangri in Greece. The more variety, the more delicious the soup will taste. You also need a variety of winter vegetables. The traditional Greek ones for this soup are carrot, onion, celery, courgettes and potatoes. I hate using courgettes in the winter, as they can only be grown in a greenhouse (these are my husband's choice); my 'foreign' additions include broccoli and brussel sprouts, but I would also add any other firm green vegetable that is in season. By the way, the ingredients and the method for making this soup are exactly the same as for meat soup, except that you use chunks of beef instead of fish (of course, ha, ha, ha).

I like to use five pieces of fish for this meal, and any amount of vegetables that I have available. The boiled veges make a wonderful hot or cold salad, with the traditional Greek olive oil-lemon-and-salt dressing. When preparing the vegetables and fish, clean them and leave everything whole. In a large pot, place the vegetables that need the most cooking to become tender, eg carrots. At the top of the pot, place the vegetables that need the least cooking, eg celery. Let the pot boil away until the veges are done. Then carefully lift them out and place them on a large dish, each kind heaped on its own. It will look beautiful. Now place the fish, slightly thawed with as few scales as possible in the pot and let them cook till done (when the flesh is tender); it doesn't need a long time. Lift the fish out of the pot when done and remove the skin, bones and innards, and place it on top of the veges or on the side in its own mound. It doesn't matter if it breaks up. Put the fish and vege platter aside. At this point, you can choose to serve the platter on its own, or make the soup and serve that on its own or accompanied by the fish and veges. We usually eat the platter contents in one meal, and I make the soup for the evening meal, to warm us up on a cold winter's night.

Now take the wonderfully aromatic stock you have just created with the fish and vegetables, and strain it through a colander into another pot; at this point, you are probably wondering how many items of crockery and kitchen utensils you will have lightly scented with the smell of the sea. Don't worry, you're almost there... Take a small piece of fish, half a potato, half a carrot, a bit of onion, a few leaves of brussel srpouts and a bit of courgette (which I wouldn't use myself) and blend them to a soft pulp with two large fresh tomatoes. If they don't blend well, add some stock to help in the liquidisation. Pour the pulp into the stock, and heat it up. When it is warm, add just enough rice to turn the stock into a soup (and not a pilau rice dish). Season the soup with salt and pepper, and add some olive oil so that the soup is not watery. The soup must be served immediately. Serve it in soup plates, and set a small plate for each diner to allow them to help themselves to the warmed-up platter of fish and vegetables. There should be lemon halves, salt and a bottle of olive oil on the table to allow each person to dress the fish and veges to their liking. If you serve it on its own, it can also be accompanied by a variety of cheeses. Don't forget the crunchy sourdough bread and a good glass of white wine!

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

MORE FISH RECIPES:
Bakaliaros (cod)
Hake
Bakaliaros - bakaliaraki
Octopus stew
Shrimp in lemon
Squid stew
Squid fried
Taramasalata
Mussels sauce

MORE SOUPS:
Chicken stock
Poached fish soup
Fennel soup
Avgolemono
Leek and potato potage
Lentil soup
Bean soup
Black-eyed bean soup
French onion soup
Pumpkin soup

Pilafi (Κρητικό πιλάφι με κοτόπουλο - chicken and rice)

Here's a really simple chicken and rice dish that's very nourishing. It is an excellent meal for hungry children who have been playing at school all day long, when they come home at four o'clock (like mine do in winter). By the way, this is the traditional wedding meal, served at all weddings in the region of Hania. All you need to make this dish is some chicken (for a wedding, lamb is more commonly used), BLUE ROSE, BASMATI, JASMINE or another variety of LONG-GRAIN rice (which can be mixed eg basmati and blue rose), some lemon juice and some salt. Brown rice, wild rice and par-boiled rice are NOT suitbale for this dish.

Use one piece of fatty chicken (leave the skin on) per person to be served. Free-range chickens with yellow skin and fat pockets are usually used for this kind of rice dish. I can remember my mother adding butter to deep-frozen New Zealand Tegel chicken to turn the stock into pilafi. You can buy the chicken in pieces, or get a fresh one and chop it up. You don't need to use all the pieces, and it's handy to have some ready in the freezer, or you can buy it last minute from the supermarket. Place them in a pot and fill the pot with water, till it covers at least two inches of the chicken. The best cuts are the ones with lots of fat, which is useful for the stock (the fat will melt in the stock and be discarded later - it is not for eating). Boil away the chicken in the pot (lid on), till the chicken is very soft (practically falling away from the bone).

When the chicken is done, take it out of the pot, drain it, and put it aside. Strain the broth of all impurities, using a sieve, into another pot. Now clean the first pot. Measure out a small wine-glass of white long-grain rice per serving into a separate bowl. Then measure out three small wine-glasses of broth per small wine-glass of rice, into the cleaned-out pot. The measurements are very important, so that the rice will be cooked to the correct consistency. As a guide, the photo shows the appropriate measure of rice and broth using the green cup (2 cups rice=6 cups broth) which fits an average lemon. If there is not enough broth, add water; if there is too much broth, discard the remaining, or freeze it for later use. The broth must be placed in the pot and warmed up BEFORE you add the rice, otherwise the rice will go lumpy. Add salt to taste, give it a good stir, and let the broth come to the boil. At this point, add some lemon juice to your liking.

Now stand over the pot, and stir the pilafi every now and then to make sure it will not stick to the bottom of the pot. Don't over-stir, as the rice will be too lumpy. From this point on, it will not take more than 15 minutes for the rice to be done. You will see the broth congealing, and it is at this point that you must decide when the rice is done to your liking (crunchy - less cooking time; grainy - more cooking time; do not let it go mushy, or it will not taste so good). This dish takes practice to get the rice right! If the rice is still not cooked to your liking, and it is starting to stick to the bottom of the pot, add some more water, and mix it in.

Once it is ready, serve the pilafi with a ladle onto individual plates, with a piece of chicken per serving. It may look a little runny, but it will slowly congeal to the right consistency. Serve it with a tomato or lettuce salad and a good white wine (water for the children!). It tastes spicier with some freshly grated pepper sprinkled over the rice. My children prefer to douse it with Greek strained yoghurt mixed into the rice. If this isn't available, sour cream is just as good.

To help busy people, this dish can be prepared in stages. You can boil the chicken any time up to 48 hours before the rice is to be cooked. Leave the chicken in the broth in the pot in the fridge. When you are ready to cook the rice, heat up the pot as is, till the chicken is heated through, and proceed to take it out and put aside. The broth can be frozen for later use, but the rice dish, once cooked, cannot be frozen. It can, however, be re-heated in the microwave (for best results), and eaten as part of a leftovers meal.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.