myfrenchkitchen

Back from Hawai’i, I’m inspired to do some “island painting” and eat more seafood, especially fish. I’m alittle disappointed in the availability of fish and seafood there as well as exotic fruits. I expected a wealth of seafood and a whole range of interesting and different fish meals. We could find loads of pasta meals and New York steaks and hamburgers and chips, even French resturants, with Mahi Mahi quite frequently, but for the rest, exciting fish meals were scarce. We also had to drive quite deep into Kona island to find guavas , which we picked from a tree and they were absolutely delicious! But maybe the season wasn’t producing what I was looking for. At least it got me back into the “fish and fruit” zone again and the first thing I did when arriving back home – apart from loading a first bundle of washing – was to take off to the fish market and buy fish for our dinner! For now, a little appetizer – ocean inspired, to get going…

…baguette slices with seaweed salsa…

With a glass of cold, dry white wine, it is a good and easy little appetizer to tantalize the tastebuds while waiting for your fish to appear on the table. You can also be sure of many health benefits in seaweeds. In french we call it salade de mer, which literally means sea salad, composed of different sea weeds, found at health and Asian stores. It is healthy cocktail of vitamins and proteins and minerals.

The quantities are relative. Start with a little and add more as you proceed. Here is what I did:

2 TBSP of salade de la mer(a mixture of dried seaweeds)
1 heaped teaspoon of chopped , rinsed capers
a pinch of fennel fleur de sel
TBSP of rice vinegar
TBSP of mirrin
TBSP olive oil
Toasted slices of seeded baguette

Mix all the ingredients together and leave for about 10 minutes for the seaweed to absorb the oils and vinegars. Taste again and adjust seasoning. Serve in a little bowl along with toasted baguette slices.

* Suggestions:

The seaweed can be replaced by finely shredded white meat fish, or fish can be added along with the seaweed.
A drop or two of white balsamic vinegar can be added with lime/lemon juice and shallot wine vinegar, instead of the rice vinegar and mirrin, for a different interpretation.
The salsa can be eaten with fish, like tuna or a cod or any other “gentle flavoured” white fish”.
A cold dry white wine, like a chenin blanc is a good companion.
Don’t leave the seaweed salsa standing for too long, since it becomes “rubbery” after a while.
The seaweed mixture can be found at health stores or at Asian stores.

…ingredients…

Since Hartman was at the convention and meetings most of the time, I had ample time to sketch…

…flamingos and koi…

…reflections and flora…

A short tour through our trip to Hawai’i:

…sunsets from our room, different every evening!…

…Kona coffee to wake up and start the day with…

…bananas and guavas on the tree…

…a shea shore and a coast of volcano rock…

…shades of blue…

…for the energetics!…

More Hawai’i photos can be seen here at Myfrenchkitchen: Travel

We are leaving for Hawaii tomorrow for ten days. I’m looking forward to this break – I am really a bit tired and fatigued! Maybe summer was just too much fun!

I didn’t want to buy extra food for dinner tonight. The point is after all to clean the fridge when leaving. I had broccoli in the fridge. And it is cold and raining. And I still have to pack and clean up. So dinner was to be a broccoli soup. Or rather…a velouté. I always have a problem with broccoli soup. I can never get it to be tasty. It always tastes like over cooked broccoli. Awful.

…velouté de brocoli et fleur de sel à la vanille…

I sautéed two shalots in olive oil. Then added a big broccoli head with enough vegetable stock to cover the broccoli completely. I let it simmer until the broccoli stems were tender. Removed from the heat and with a hand blender, blended until smooth. I added some milk and a swirl of cream for thickness and mixed through, placed back on the heat and slowly brought back to boil and removed from the heat. I Seasoned with some vanilla salt(fleur de sel with scraped seeds from a vanilla seedpod) and a turn of the pepper mill. Still tasted bland. So I added a handful of chopped fresh tarragon, the grated skin of a lime, some lime juice to taste, and a drizzle of white balsamic vinegar. After mixing the soup again with the handmixer, I strained it through a fine sieve to get a velouté. Tasted again. Not too bad, but still not what I’m looking for in a broccoli velouté. I served it warm in bowls with a dollop of mayonnaise and a last sprinkling of the vanilla fleur de sel. The maynnaise adds a nice touch to the soup I thought.

I’d love to try a nice broccoli soup recipe, because I DO love broccoli! So, If you’re reading here and you have a nice broccoli soup recipe, please leave a link to your recipe in the comment section, so we can all delight in what’s good! If you don’t have a link, you can shortly describe your recipe in the comments.

I’m off packing now and will be back beginning of October. Until then: Try, Test and Taste…always!

…trying to get to Hawaii…