Sunday, January 27, 2013

Carrot and Rutabaga (swede) soup with lime

Carrot and yellow rutabaga (swede) soup with lime

I am a big fan of winter vegetables. Carrots, beetroots, celeriac, rutabaga (aka swede in Europe), potatoes, salcify, ... In European climate they store well either in the cold stores or in some countries even in the ground. For example in the UK where the climate is milder carrots can be stored in the ground over winter. In Estonia it would not be the case as the temperatures fall and stay well under zero (Celcius) and the fields are covered in snow for weeks if not months in good winters.

These days the farmers´market on the main square in the Swiss capital has been pushed to one side making room for a temporary skating rink. In very cold days some of the farmers don´t come out and in their usual places under the arches of the market streets would be a few yawning gaps. Still there is plenty of choice to fill up each basket and trolley bag with winter vegetables, a wide range of apples and pears, fresh eggs, cheeses, butter as well as fish and meat.

Behind one of the vegetable counters is a couple, perhaps in their fifties. The man, always in winter wearing a blue knitted hat that stands up like an Egiptian pyramid on his head, his ears reaching above the rim of the hat keeping the pyramid steady on both sides. He is very energetic and talks funny in a loud voice, often measuring the vegies by eye or a feel of their weight by hand. My pound of potatoes turned out to be just over 600g when I weighed them at home. The funniest part is getting the change back, some of it is "for the taxes", the coins often "for a cup of coffee" or some other treat. :-) I bet his wife is having a laugh at home like their customers are entertained on Saturday mornings.

Carrot and yellow rutabaga (swede) soup with lime
Ingredients (for 4 as a starter or 2 as a supper)

2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium shallot onion (ca 50g), sliced
3-4 garlic cloves
1 rutabaga (ca 200g), peeled and cut into cubes
250g carrots, cut into cubes 
800ml vegetable stock
1 stalk of lemongrass
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 tbsp desiccated coconut
salt, pepper
1 tbsp cream or coconut milk  
1 tbsp lime juice
1 green onion stalk, finely chopped 

Carrot, swede, onion, ginger, garlic, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass

Heat the oil in a pan and cook the onions until glassy, add the garlic and cut vegetables. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes before adding the stock, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, desiccated coconut. Bring to boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes until carrots and rutabaga are soft. They both have similar cooking time.

Purée with a mixer, add the cream and season to taste with salt, pepper and lime juice.
Serve hot with green onions.

Swede and carrot soup seasoned with lime and lemongrass

You may also like these soups:
White swede (rutabaga) and celeraic soup (with fish)
Spicy sweet potato soup
Leek and potato soup with blue Stilton
Carrot soup with courgette (zucchini) and fresh salmon 

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Winter: White swede (rutabaga) and celeriac soup with or without fish

White swede (rutabaga) and celeriac soup

Almost all food magazines I leafed through today at the kiosk dedicate a section on soups as the perfect winter food. Rightly so, however I doubt if anyone would really sit outside, read a book and enjoy a bowl of soup in winter in the northern hemisphere anywhere above the 47° N latitude like a beautiful photo was suggesting in one of these magazines.

I was waiting to board a flight around 4pm in early January in Helsinki and was looking out of the airport window. This was the time just before the evening darkness fell. My view through the frame was the dark blue sky, bordering black, a tick darker wall of forest on the horizon at the edge of the tarmac, a lonely yellow lamp not reaching past the gate, no other building in sight. The pressing "kaamos" (polar night, also referred to as winter tiredness) was only interrupted by an occasional plane rolling in to its gate somewhere. It was dark.

In the north where the darkness rules many months paradoxically the start of winter on the 21st December is actually the first step to the light again. That step is noticable already in the first days of January when the day is just a few minutes longer and life takes on a more optimistic note even if just psychologically. Most of the cold is still ahead....

Time for a bowl of soup with two winter vegetables: white fleshed swede and celeriac.
Swede is known as rutabaga in North America. If you are sensitive to the slightly bitter taste of swede then in the combination with the sweet note of celeriac that bitterness is not felt at all.

White swede (rutabaga) and celeriac soup
Ingredients (2 portions)
1 celeriac
1 white swede
bay leaf
5-6 grains of allspice
2 leaves of leek
800 ml vegetable stock
2 tablespoons sour cream or crème fraîche
a small bunch of cress
salt and black or cayenne pepper

400g bream, cod or salmon, cut into 2cm cubes
2 tablespoons (rape seed) oil

White fleshed swede (rutabaga), celeriac, leek, bay leaf, allspice

Cut the celeriac and swede into small cubes and place in a pan together with a bay leaf, grains of allspice, leek and add the stock. Cook for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
Remove from heat and take out the bay leaf, allspice and leek. Using a blender or hand mixer purée into a soup. Season with salt and pepper and mix in the cream.

Briefly fry the fish

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the fish for 3-4 minutes turning sides.

Serve the soup with chopped cress and portion the fish directly at serving.
Also tastes great without the fish as a vegetarian option.

Cream of swede and celeriac with fish