Sunday is Food Day: Catfish Rice and Carrot Soup

Unsurprisingly, much of the time spent since my return to NC has been on food-related issues. There was a slight, er, incident in the freezer in my absence but the damage appears to be localized and minimal. Mostly I just needed to re-stock the larder and cook some food for what promises to be a busy week. Two-and-a-half recipes follow.

Recipe one, lifted from Bittman mostly:

Catfish with Rice

Ingredients:

• 3 cups fish or chicken stock (I used chicken, as it was what I had)
• 1 1/2 cups long-grain rice, rinsed and drained
• 2-3 medium tomatoes, cored, chopped and mashed (w/their juices)
• 3 tbsp. butter, melted
• 2 tsp. garlic, minced
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1/2 cup Madeira or other sweet wine
• 1-1 1/2 lb. catfish or other mild, firm fish, cut into bite-sized pieces

Procedure:

1. Bring stock to a gentle boil in medium sacuepan or wide skillet with lid
2. Add rice and bring to a boil
3. Turn heat to medium-low and cover; cook for 15 min.
4. Turn heat to low and stir in tomatoes with their juices, shallot, garlic, butter and Madeira.
5. Gently fold in fish, cover, and simmer for 15 min.
6. Serve hot and enjoy!

Verdict:

Tasting halfway through I knew that this wasn't quite doing it for flavor – nice, but needed something more. So I began preparing a supplementary sauce (below); if I'd had to do it again I'd probably have added a bit of salt to the rice, along with some paprika and saffron. Maybe 1/2 chopped onion. However, all that said – it was really nice, delicate and all the tastes that were there, were good.

Totally-Improvised Accompaniment Sauce to Above Dish

Ingredients:

• 4 oz. red wine
• ajvar (several tbsp.)
• 3 cippolino onions, diced
• olive oil
• 6 preserved capers
• several large dashes paprika
• fewer dashes cayenne

Procedure:

1. Heat olive oil to medium
2. Add onions and cook until soft
3. Add spices, stir in, and then add half of wine
4. Cook wine down for several minutes, stir in ajvar, and add capers and remaining wine
5. Cook down to desired consistency

Verdict:

Very nice and works quite well over the rice

Carrot-Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

• 4-6 carrots, cut into 1/4" sections
• 1 sweet potato, cubed
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp. fresh ginger root, minced
• 2 sprigs fresh sage, cut
• 2 cups water

Procedure:

1. Bring stock to low boil and add onions; cover and cook for 5-10 min.
2. Add bay leaves, sage, cover and cook for 2-3 min.
3. Add sweet potato and cook 10 min.
4. Add carrots and cook 5 min.
5. Uncover and add ginger; cook 10 min.
6. Cover and cook 20 min, or until most of stock is cooked off.
7. Add water, bring to boil for 2 min. and turn off heat
8. Let cool and transfer to food processor; blend to desired consisentency
9. Serve hot or cold

Verdict:

Sweet, flavorful, and not planned at all. A win!

Sweet Potato Psuedo-Curry

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. sweet potato, chop into 1/2" cubes
• 1 large onion, sliced lengthwise thinly
• 3-4 medium tomatoes / large can of tomatoes (diced, crushed or whole), diced
• garam masala
• cumin
• salt
• butter
• milk
• yogurt

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F
• Place sweet potatoes in baking pan; cover in garam masala and cumin
• When oven is ready, place pan in oven; bake until charred and slightly softened, and set aside
• Heat butter in large skillet; add onions and cumin to taste, cook until softening
• Add tomatoes and milk; cook down to sauce, adding cumin and garam masala to taste
  
• Add sweet potatoes and yogurt to thicken sauce; cook until sweet potatoes are softened further, adding yogurt and milk to desired creaminess of sauce, and salt to taste
• Serve with rice

Verdict: The first of my invented psuedo-curries (dating to my "making it all up as I went along" days in New Cross Gate), this is a long-time stand-by. I always receive comments along the lines of, "I don't think I've ever had sweet potato curry before," which is almost always correct as it's not a common ingredient in Indian cooking, at least as expressed in American restaurants serving Indian food. No, just a post-national bastardization of two of my favorite foods - tomato-based curries and the sweet, sweet, sweet potato.