Lemony Shrimp Soup

Jana — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:23:36 +0000

I felt like Snow White while making this soup. While I hummed about the kitchen, ingredients seemed to wing out of the fridge and into the soup as if little adorable doe eyed woodland creatures were helping them along. Before I knew it, I had a beautiful soup that seemed to have created itself.

I love those days.

I’d puttered about with a shrimp soup idea for awhile, but without any concrete ideas. I just knew I was tired of shrimp scampi. And my spicy Asian stir-fried shrimp. I was in a shrimp rut. (A shrut?) So when I began making the soup, I was determined not to use any of my normal shrimpy ingredients. No parsley, no red pepper flakes, no soy sauce.

The part that gives an extra pinch of fairy dust to this recipe is that everything (apart from the shrimp) was just lying around my fridge. The lemon had been lying naked in a drawer since I zested it last week. The onion and leek were left over from the cooking class I taught on Sunday. I always have quarts of whey sitting around as I make my own mozzarella cheese every week. And the collards were leftovers from last night’s dinner. Whenever I’ve attempted such “leftover soups” before, the individual ingredients, like ugly step sisters, have never played well together. But in this soup, they all seemed to grow up and realize each other weren’t so bad.

This soup even got it’s own “happily ever after” ending at dinner. Mr. Quotidian, the ever skeptical prince, pronounced throughout all the kingdom that this was a “soup-er soup.”

A note about the whey: This is actual, real, living, whey. It was drained off of cheese, not mixed from a powder. They are two completely different products and should not be substituted for one another. However, if you are not like me and do not have excess quarts of whey sitting in your fridge, a good chicken stock (or shrimp/fish stock- even better!) would substitute quite nicely.

Lemony Shrimp Soup

1 lb of fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
Juice from one lemon
1 onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped, white and pale green parts only
2 tbs lard, butter, or olive oil
1 1/2- 2 qts whey
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 tbs dried sage
1 tbs herbs de provence
1 cup cooked collard greens
salt and pepper
1/4 of a preserved lemon- I used Jenny’s recipe from the Nourished Kitchen, chopped fresh lemon could be substituted
2-tbs yogurt

Pour the lemon juice over the shrimp and let them marinate while you prepare the rest of the soup. Melt the fat in a large soup pot. When the surface shimmers, add the onions and leek with a pinch of salt and sweat until soft, about 2 minutes. If they start browning, turn down the heat. Pour in the whey, then add the chopped garlic and herbs. Bring the whey to just below a boil. Add the shrimp cook for another minute or so. The shrimp are done when they turn bright pink. Add the cooked collards and turn off the heat. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and garnish with a spoonful of yogurt and a generous pinch of preserved lemon.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at the Nourishing Gourmet.

Roasted Broccoli

Jana — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:58:07 +0000

I love roasted vegetables. Roasting intensifies flavors instead of seeping them into water, the way boiling does. Of all vegetables that I’ve roasted, broccoli comes in second only to potatoes. Broccoli just seems to be meant for the oven. The whole stalk caramelizes and all of the little “leaves” get crispy. Add Parmesan cheese to that, and what not to love? Velveeta cannot compare.

2-3 heads of broccoli
1 lemon
Parmesan (opt)
2 tbs olive oil
salt

Preheat oven to 350° to 425°. Higher is better, but if you’re sharing the oven with other dishes, the lower temperature will still get the job done.

Cut broccoli into florets. Turn it upside down and hold the end of the stem. Starting at the bottom of the crown, slice diagonally through the florets. If any pieces come off too big, cut them in half. Don’t forget about the stem! If it looks tough, peel it first. Then slice it into roughly the same size as your florets.

Place the broccoli in an even layer on a half sheet pan and drizzle olive oil over them. Zest the lemon over the top. Then roll it gently on the counter, cut in half and squeeze the juice over the broccoli, using your fingers to strain out the seeds. Grate cheese over the top. Sprinkle a pinch of salt.

Roast for 20-25 minutes. Taste test. Add a little more lemon or cheese if you want. Serve immediately.

Collected Quotidian » lemon

Lemony Shrimp Soup

Roasted Broccoli