4-6 servings

We recommend baking the sweet potatoes on a bed of salt in the oven. Baking makes their taste sweeter and more concentrated, whereas when you cook them in water, they absorb water and lose some of their sweetness.

About 1/2kg coarse salt

5 medium sweet potatoes (wash but do not peel them)

4 sage leaves

1/2 liter milk

1/2 liter double cream

1/2 liter vegetable stock

50g pine nuts or blanched almonds

1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

1/2 level tsp ground cumin

1/2 level tsp curry powder

Salt and white pepper

1 spring onion, green part only

5 cloves of garlic confit (see below)

To serve  

50g cold butter, cut into cubes

Almond oil (see below)

Ginger oil (see below)

Black pepper

Preheat the oven to hot (220C/ 450F/ gas 7). Cover the bottom of a small baking tray with coarse salt. Place the sweet potatoes on the salt and bake for about an hour, until the potatoes are soft.

Halve the potatoes lengthwise and scoop out their flesh with a spoon into a saucepan. Add the sage leaves, milk, cream, stock, pine nuts or almonds, ginger and spices, bring to the boil and as soon as the soup boils, take it off the heat. Puree the soup with a hand-held blender or in a food processor and then push through a fine mesh sieve back into the cleaned saucepan. Season with salt and white pepper.

Cut the spring onion lengthwise into as thin strips as possible ("hair"), and keep them in ice water until ready to serve.

To serve: Bring the soup to the boil (if it's too thick, add a few tablespoons of vegetable stock). Add the butter and whisk with a hand held blender or a wire whisk.

Pour the soup into bowls and place some spring onion hairs in the center of each bowl. Pour some drops of almond oil and a teaspoon of ginger oil into each bowl; grind some pepper above and serve.

Garlic confit

Separate the cloves from a garlic head, but don't peel the cloves. Put them in a small saucepan and cover with oil. Cook on the lowest possible flame for about half an hour. Cool and keep in an air-tight container up to 6 months.

Almond oil

Put 100g blanched almonds and 1 cup corn oil in a small saucepan and heat over a low flame for 10 minutes. Be careful not to bring the oil to the boil. Cool and set aside for 24 hours. Strain the oil through a fine mesh sieve layered with cheesecloth and keep in a closed bottle.

Ginger oil

Prepare in the same way, using 100g peeled fresh ginger, cut into strips.

SERVES 4

4 cloves of garlic confit (see below)

1 1/2 cups black lentils

1 medium white onion

2 carrots

1 celery root

1 parsley root

1 leek (white part only)

3 tablespoons olive oil + additional oil for the crostini and for serving

2 cups dry white wine

3 sprigs thyme

1 1/2 liters chicken or vegetables stock (or a combination of both)

8 scallops, horizontally halved

4 rosemary sprigs

Salt and black pepper

2 slices whole wheat bread

Grated parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Dried chili flakes

1 teaspoon chopped preserved lemon

Prepare the garlic confit: Separate the cloves from one head of garlic (do not peel the cloves). Put in a small saucepan and cover with oil. Cook on the lowest flame for about half an hour. Cool and reserve in a closed jar for up to half a year.

Rinse the lentils and dry in a colander (no need to soak). Peel, rinse and cut the vegetables into small cubes (1/2 cm).

Heat the oil in a pot and sauté the vegetables until softened. Add the lentils, stir and sauté for another minute.  Add the wine and cook until reduced by 2/3. Add the garlic, thyme and stock and bring to the boil. Remove scum from surface using a spoon. Reduce the heat and cook for about 35 minutes, until lentils are completely soft.

Prepare the scallop skewers: Remove the leaves from the top half of the rosemary stalks. Skewer 4 scallop halves on each sprig, and season with salt and pepper.  Heat   some olive oil in a frying pan and sear the skewers until the scallops are golden on both sides.

Prepare the crostini: Heat the broiler of your oven.  Cut the bread slices into 8 rectangular shapes of about 5X7 cm. Drizzle with olive oil and strew some cheese on each rectangular.  Place the crostini on a baking tray, place under the broiler and grill for 3-4 minutes, until the cheese melts and the bread is golden.

To serve:  Reheat the soup if needed, add cumin, chili and preserved lemon and season with salt and pepper. Divide the soup among 4 serving bowls and place two warm crostini in the center of each bowl. Drizzle with some olive oil, place a scallop rosemary skewer above and serve immediately.

]]> https://mantaray.co.il/index.php/archives/552/feed 0 https://mantaray.co.il/index.php/archives/550 https://mantaray.co.il/index.php/archives/550#comments Sat, 21 Mar 2015 08:52:01 +0000 http://mantaray.co.il/?p=550 להמשיך לקרוא TOMATO SOUP WITH SHRIMPS AND VODKA ←]]> TOMATO SOUP WITH SHRIMPS AND VODKA

SERVES 4

2 cans (480 gram) peeled plum tomatoes

1/4 cup olive oil + 2 tablespoons

2 medium red onions, roughly chopped

2 red bell peppers, grilled or charred over an open flame and peeled

2 rosemary sprigs

4 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon sweet paprika

Dried chili flakes, sugar, salt, freshly ground black pepper

2 liters vegetable stock

1/4 cup corn or soy oil

1/2 cup celery leaves

16 shrimps, peeled

Salt and pepper

4 shots Ketel One Vodka

Strain the tomatoes and wring them between your palms

In a heavy soup pot, heat the 1/4 cup olive oil, add the onions and fry on medium heat until golden. Add the grilled and peeled peppers, tomatoes, rosemary and garlic and stir well for 4 minutes. Add the white wine and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add the paprika, some chili flakes, a little sugar, salt and pepper. Stir and add the stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and cook for about 30 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprigs and puree the soup using a hand blender.

 Before serving: Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the celery leaves until crisp. Remove and lay on kitchen towels. Add the olive oil to the pan and fry the shrimps for about 2 minutes, until orange colored. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve: Reheat the soup and taste for seasoning. Divide the shrimps among 4 soup bowls. Pour the hot soup into the bowls and scatter the crisp celery leave above. Pour a shot of vodka into each bowl and serve immediately, or serve the vodka aside together with the soup.

SERVES 4

1 kg Jerusalem artichokes, peeled

1/2 liter milk

1 liter vegetable stock

4 sprigs fresh thyme

4 whole allspice berries

2 bay leaves

Salt and black pepper

1/2 cup double cream

4 slices bacon, chopped

1 cup corn oil

2 tablespoons olive oil

16 shrimps, peeled

Slice 4 Jerusalem artichokes very thinly (preferably using a mandolin) and set aside.

In a large soup pot, place the remainder of the artichokes with the milk, stock, thyme sprigs, allspice and a little salt and black pepper and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and cook for 40 minutes, until the artichokes are soft.

Reserve about a 1/3 of the soup liquids and puree the rest using a hand blender until very smooth. Pass the puree through a sieve into a clean pot and add the cream.

Before serving: Fry the chopped bacon in very little oil, and when crisp and browned, remove and spread on paper towels. Heat the corn oil and fry the reserved artichoke slices until crisp and golden. Remove and lay on kitchen paper. Heat the olive oil in a clean frying pan and fry the shrimps for about 2 minutes, until orange-colored. Remove and set aside.

Reheat the soup, and if it is too thick, add some of the reserved soup liquids. Taste for seasoning.

To serve: Divide the bacon and the shrimps among 4 soup bowls. Pour the soup and scatter the Jerusalem artichoke fries above. Serve immediately.