Thai salmon (or other fish) soup with ginger and lime juice

Last night I wanted to make soup with our new Sitka Salmon delivery, and wanted something brothy rather than a milk-based chowder, which is what I've made before. Looking through my file of saved recipes, I found this one, copied a while back from a friend's cookbook. The original recipe called for some ingredients not available to me, but it suggested substitutes that I used (lime juice instead of tamarind liquid, cilantro leaves rather than roots), and the soup came out great--more tasty than I imagined it would from such a simple recipe.  The soup alone isn't quite enough for a full dinner; we had some crackers and guacamole on the side.

I've given two sets of instructions, one for making the whole recipe at once, and one for dividing it in half, to eat on two separate nights, which is how David and I generally cook. Usually I just cook a whole recipe and heat up leftovers, but when cooking fish, I like to cook the fish on the same night I'm serving it. For this recipe, I made all the broth (including what would have been garnishes at the end), set aside half, and will add the rest of the salmon on the second night.

SALMON (or other fish) SOUP WITH GINGER AND LIME JUICE

adapted from Quick and Easy Thai

serves 4

3 cups water

3 T. coarsely chopped shallots (about 1 large bulb)

1/4 c. chopped cilantro, divided in half

1/2 t. freshly ground pepper

3-inch chunk of fresh ginger

3/4 lb salmon or other meaty fish fillets (e.g. cod, tilapia), cut into about 1" chunks

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

2 T. fish sauce

2 T. brown sugar

1/4 t. salt

2 T. thinly sliced green onions

1.     Cut up the ginger into small chunks and then mince it in a food processor.  Add the shallots, 2 T. cilantro, pepper. Process, adding 1/2 cup of the water as you process, to make a fairly smooth paste.

2.     In a medium saucepan, combine the paste with the remaining 2-1/2 cups water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

3.     Add the lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, salt, and the cut-up salmon.  Return soup to a boil and simmer until the salmon is just cooked through (about 2 minutes of total cooking time).  Stir in the green onions and remaining cilantro leaves.

If serving just 2 people and you want to cook the salmon fresh when having leftovers on a second night:

Do steps 1 and 2, as above.

3.  Add the lime juice, fish sauce, brown sugar, salt, green onions, and remaining cilantro leaves.  Divide the broth in half (about 2 cups each portion) and put one portion in the refrigerator, along with half the cut-up salmon.

4.  Put the other portion of broth back in the saucepan, add half the cut-up salmon, bring to a boil and simmer until the salmon is just cooked through (about 2 minutes of total cooking time).

5. For a second night, repeat step 4.

Thai Hot and Sour Soup

THAI HOT AND SOUR CHICKEN SOUP
adapted from http://www.steamykitchen.com/28246-thai-hot-and-sour-chicken-soup-recipe-video.html

On the lookout for ways to use the fresh lemon grass I have in the garden, I picked out this recipe, and David made it a couple of days ago.  It was sooooo good!  A complex taste that was both comforting and enlivening.  I couldn't help myself from oohing and aahing throughout the eating of the soup.

David made this just as directed, substituting lime peel for the kaffir lime leaves. He used fresh mushrooms (just regular button mushrooms) instead of canned straw mushrooms.  He added bean thread noodles and about a cup of snow peas (cut in half).  If you want to make a vegetarian version, you could use vegetable broth and substitute tofu for the chicken.

• 3 cups chicken stock
• 4 slices fresh ginger
• grated peel from half a lime 
• 2 stalks lemongrass, cut into 2" lengths and bruised (can substitute peel from other half of the lime) 
• 1 fresh jalapeno, sliced 
• 1/2 pound skinless, boneless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes 
• handful of sliced mushrooms
• cup of snow peas, cut in half
• cellophane (bean thread) noodles, soaked for 10 minutes in hot water and cut with scissors into 2-inch lengths) optional
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 T. freshly squeezed lime juice (1 lime)
• fresh cilantro leaves

In a pot, add the chicken stock, ginger, kaffir/lime peel, lemongrass and chile slices. Bring to a simmer, cover, and then turn the heat to low. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Strain out and discard the spent herbs. (You can taste the soup at this point, if you would like it more spicy, keep the chile pepper slices in the stock and discard just before serving.)

Add in the chicken pieces, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. Bring back to a simmer on medium heat and then cook for an additional 2 minutes. Add cellophane noodles (if using) and cook 2 minutes. Add snow peas and cook for another minute.

Stir in the fish sauce, lime juice and cilantro leaves.