It has been an uneventful week. I did some hiking, chatted to a few ducks and collected a few catkins to arrange with some mossy birch branches that I picked up on the swampy and, in places, still snowy beach.
Since both of us are going overseas next week, our Friday night dinner was going to be the last one we had together for a while. We decided to chill out at home on Friday night with some jazz on the stereo and a hot meal.
Back home I used to enjoy smoking a variety of foods myself. I had an old wok to do some stovetop smoking as well as a dedicated smoker for the outdoors. Of course, due to our temporary residence in Helsinki all my posessions are in storage in Sydney. It was a bonus to discover these foil parcels in the local supermarket that makes smoking fish or chicken in your oven or on a grill very quick and easy. They come complete with smoke flavour inside. You just add the fish or chicken and firmly close the parcel before placing in a hot oven or on a grill.
I decided to make our favourite curried, smoked salmon soup and breadsticks flavoured with dill and sea salt.
Curried Salmon Soup
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Medium Onions, roughly chopped
2 Medium Potatoes, chopped into cubes
2 teaspoons Green Curry Paste
2 teaspoons Hot Curry Powder
150 ml White Wine (or water)
1 Can Coconut Cream
Approx 400-500 g Salmon Fillet, cut into bite size strips (I like to use cold, smoked salmon, but you can use raw salmon if you prefer it)
4 Tablespoons fresh Parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
2 teaspoons Pepper, coarsely ground
- Heat the olive oil in a deep pan or wok and gently brown the onions.
- Add the curry paste and powder and keep frying for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the potatoes and mix through. If in a hurry, par-boil the potatoes in the microwave.
- Add the wine and coconut cream and a little seasoning.
- Cook on a medium heat till the potatoes are soft.
- Add the salmon and cook for only a few minutes till the salmon is cooked or heated through.
- Adjust the seasoning and dish up into warm bowls.
- Sprinkle the parsley over the soup before serving.
It serves 4 normal people or 2 greedy ones.
Dill Twists
The dill in these breadsticks complement the salmon. Make the breadsticks several hours before the soup as the dough takes a few hours to rise.
1 ½ Cups lukewarm Water
1 ½ teaspoons dry Yeast or equivalent fresh Yeast
1 teaspoon Sugar
½ teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon dried or chopped fresh Dill
2 ½ to 3 Cups unbleached all-purpose Flour
Egg Wash: 1 Egg White beaten with 2 teaspoons Water
- Mix the yeast and sugar in ½ cup of the water and leave to froth.
- Mix the dill and salt with 2 cups of flour.
- Add the yeast mix and the rest of the warm water and mix through.
- Work in the rest of the flour as necessary and knead the mix till it stops sticking and is smooth. Work in enough extra flour to make a firm dough.
- Let it rise in the oven with the oven light switched on till it has tripled in size. It will take about 2 hours.
- Deflate the dough and knead a few times more and let it rise again for 30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough into a rectangle and cut into strips, or divide into about 16 pieces and roll by hand to form the breadsticks. Twist or shape them irregularly to resemble a bunch of twigs.
- Place on a baking mat or baking paper on two baking/cookie sheets.
- Let them rise for another 30 minutes. After 20 minutes, preheat the oven to 180 C.
- Paint the breadsticks with the egg white and water mix and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
- Bake in the top of the oven for 20 minutes, swopping the two sheets around half way through the baking.
Dessert required no effort. I purchased a few dark chocolate truffles while shopping for the new camera and we followed that with a little espresso and a smoky whiskey from the isle of Islay.
On Monday morning I am flying to Manchester to visit my cousin who lives on the southside of that city in a picturesque little village called Sandbach. We are planning excursions to Chatsworth House and Llandudno in Wales. I will also spend a day in Stratford-upon-Avon to catch up with an old friend, Hannah, who lived in Australia for some years before moving back to Britain. I am looking forward to exploring a few restaurants while catching up with everyone. I will also be posting photos from my new camera.
